Outside, the wind had shifted south, bringing warmer air and the smell of thawing fields. Planting was close enough that Dale could list every remaining job on one hand, and none of them could be done properly with the tractor in pieces. He took off his cap, rubbed the back of his neck, and finally asked Silas what he thought. The old mechanic answered that they needed a complete inspection before choosing between replacement and repair.
The engine could not remain assembled if they hoped to understand the damage. Dale spent that day helping prepare the tractor for disassembly, working with the grim focus of a man who had accepted that the quickest-looking solution was no longer available. Jonah labeled connections, arranged parts on the bench, and took careful notes as the block became exposed. Silas supervised from a chair nearby, identifying old fasteners that were easy to damage and reminding them that a rushed teardown could create a second problem while they were trying to solve the first.
By evening the full crack could be seen more clearly. Its visible path crossed a section of the water jacket and turned toward a raised area near a mounting boss, with signs that the damage extended farther beneath the surface. There was no reason to pretend it was a simple exterior leak. Jonah studied the branching shape, then went to the shelf where he had kept the first practice casting that failed because he had stopped mapping too soon.
He brought that ruined part to the bench and set it beside the engine block. Dale looked from one fracture to the other, noticing similarities that he would not have recognized a month earlier. Jonah explained the failed pressure test and the second attempt, including the uncomfortable fact that his original repair had looked perfect until the hidden crack announced itself. He did not try to make the lesson sound heroic.
"I know how easy it is to miss something," Jonah told him. "That's why I won't tell you I can fix this until we've inspected all of it." Dale listened, then asked the question Jonah had been dreading. "And if you inspect it and still miss something?" Jonah looked toward Silas before answering that they would test the repair as carefully as they could, and if the evidence did not support using the block, they would stop.