'Crib,' he said carelessly; and then, after examining the face of the
excavation: 'S'pose we ain't likely to cut the lode this shift, Dick?

Dick shook his head thoughtfully.

'No,' he said. 'Allowin' for the underlay, we should strike her about
fifteen feet in.'

The other boys had now joined their mates. Each on his way down had
gravely followed the example of Jacker, who was supposed to be the boss
of the incoming shift. As the fathers labour their sons play, and for
months these boys had been digging in this old mine, off and on, with
enthralling mystery. The excavation in which Dick and Ted were seated
represented the joint labour of the members of the Mount of Gold
Quartz-mining Company, though the very existence of the mine was unknown
to a single soul outside the juvenile syndicate.

On the surface all signs of the shaft had long since been obliterated.
The quarrymen blasting into the side of the hill years back had made a
small opening into the disused pit at some distance from the top, and
this opening was accidentally discovered by Dick and Jacker one day
during a hunt for a wounded rabbit. Investigation proved the mine to be
of no great depth, and, thanks to the pumps of the Silver Stream, as dry
as a bone. A company of reliable small boys was formed with exceeding
caution and a fine observance of rule and precedent; for Dick Haddon did
nothing by halves, and forgot nothing that might give an air of reality
to the creations of his exuberant fancy.

The original intention of the Mount of Gold Quartz-mining Company was to
strike a reef five yards wide, composed entirely of gold, and to