`` to my amazement the bones assembled themselves in the form of a man laid out for burial , and now he continued his exhortations , and making a whipping gesture with his hand , as though sewing , he brought to him an immense spool of heavy wire , copper , or gold , or what , i could n't tell , and now with the gesture repeated over and over `` e made the wire thread the entire skeleton together as if it were beads .