“That was sixty years ago.”
“Exactly.”
Marcus glanced at the map again.
“Eli, you spent three afternoons reading library books. That doesn’t outweigh eighty years of that pond just being a pond.”
Eli felt the frustration rise.
He swallowed it.
Arguing harder would not change anything.
So he asked a different question.
“If I’m wrong, what happens?”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“If I’m wrong about the well, nothing. Right?”
“Probably.”
“If I’m right?”
Marcus did not answer.
Eli continued.
“A cow steps through. Tractor gets too close. Four-wheeler. Somebody walking.”
“Enough.”
“I’m not asking to dig it up.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“Let me test the ground from shore.”
“How?”
“Probe it. Mark soft areas. Maybe drag something across the bottom later.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“You are not swimming in that pond.”
“I didn’t say swimming.”
“You are not going into deep water.”