Two を in a single sentence - how to understand it?

Question

In the book I'm reading (「キッチン」 by 吉本{よしもと}ばなな) I have found the following sentence: > うしろで雄一がぞうきんを手に床をふいてくれていた。 I guess it can be translated to something like (sorry for a quite literal translation): "Behind (me) Yuuichi was wiping the floor with a cloth using his hands". This sentence has two を. One of them (床をふいてくれていた) I understand as marking the direct object (floor) of the verb (wipe). I cannot understand what the other を is doing there (ぞうきんを). What meaning does it have? What grammatical pattern is used in here?

Answer 1

うしろで雄一がそうきんを手に、床をふいてくれていた。

ぞうきんを手に＝　the rug in his hands,

床をふいてくれていた＝was wiping the floor.

Behind (me/her/him), Yuuichi was wiping the floor with the rug in his hand

*(Some items) を手に＝common expression of "having (the item) in his/her hand(s).

Xを手に、Yをしています。

X＝items. (ぞうきん、カメラ、ナイフ）

Y=names of activities.（そうじ、旅行、料理）

Answer 2

I think it would be more understandable if you add a comma between に and 床 as うしろで雄一がぞうきんを手に、床をふいてくれていた. Basically this sentense tells you two things.

1. うしろで雄一がぞうきんを手にしていた。(Behind me, Yuuichi was holding a cleaning cloth in his hand.)

2. 雄一が床をふいてくれていた。(Yuuichi was wiping the floor (for me))

My adding 手にしていた is the past progressive form of 手にする, which means "to hold something in one's hand." So, を after ぞうきん is also the direct object marker, but the verb is not in the sentence.