They remain invisible, hidden beneath the carcass, which from time to time seems to return to life, shaken from end to end by the backs of the workers.

An observer not in the secret would be somewhat astonished to see the dead creature move.

From time to time, one of the sextons, almost always a male, emerges and goes the rounds of the animal, which he explores, probing its velvet coat.

He hurriedly returns, appears again, once more investigates and creeps back under the corpse.
The tremors become more pronounced; the carcass oscillates, while a cushion of sand, pushed outward from below, grows up all about it.

The Mole, by reason of his own weight and the efforts of the grave-diggers, who are labouring at their task beneath him, gradually sinks, for lack of support, into the undermined soil.
Presently the sand which has been pushed outward quivers under the thrust of the invisible miners, slips into the pit and covers the interred Mole.