So for several days Philip held the drill and Tim did the striking.

At first Philip was impatient to see the result of every blast, and was always back and peering among the smoke the moment after the explosion.

But there was never any encouraging result; and therefore he finally lost almost all interest, and hardly troubled himself to inspect results at all.

He simply labored on, stubbornly and with little hope.
Tim staid with him till the last moment, and then took up his job at the Golden Brier, apparently as depressed by the continued barrenness of their mutual labors as Philip was himself.

After that, Philip fought his battle alone, day after day, and slow work it was; he could scarcely see that he made any progress.
Late one afternoon he finished drilling a hole which he had been at work at for more than two hours; he swabbed it out, and poured in the powder and inserted the fuse; then filled up the rest of the hole with dirt and small fragments of stone; tamped it down firmly, touched his candle to the fuse, and ran.