Mick and Mairton are gravediggers whose job is to disinter the bones of seven-year-old corpses and smash them to dust to make room for the new arrivals. Gossip has it that Mick murdered his wife, so Mick arranges that Tom, Mairton's policeman brother, should be at her disinterment. But the bones are missing. Mairton gives the game away by mentioning a locket which was buried with his wife — but Tom, desperate for promotion, turns a blind eye.