When he judged that he had taken out more than half the contents, he took the iron box from the annealing oven.

It was hard to carry it under the arm by which he walked with a stick, the other hand being necessary to move the crutch, and as he reached the jar he felt that it was slipping.

He bent forward and it fell with a crash, bedding itself in the smashed glass.

Zorzi drew a long breath of satisfaction, for the hardest part of the work was done.
He tried to heave up the sack from the corner, but it was far too heavy, and he was obliged to bring back more than half of what it held by bucketfuls, before he was able to bring the rest, dragging it after him across the floor.

It was finished at last, he had shaken out the sack carefully over the jar's mouth, and he had moved the sand-chest back to its original position.