The work of mining went on. Gus had his own claim to work but now and then he would walk over to see how his neighbors were making out. By lunch time the hole had reached a depth of ten feet.
“Let’s knock off,” Teddy suggested. “I’m hungry.”
“Wait a couple more minutes,” Roy suggested. “Hey, pull up!”
Roy was digging from the bottom of the shaft, filling with dirt a basket that Silent had brought, and Teddy was engaged in pulling up the basket by means of a rope tied to the corners, and emptying it.
“We’ll have to board that up this afternoon,” Silent declared, stopping for a moment the construction of a sluice-box. “We don’t want no accidents to happen.”
“You mean a cave-in?” Nick asked. “Say, we will have to watch out for that! Be a fine thing if—”
“Don’t get so blamed close!” Silent interrupted. “Roy’s down there. Want to shower him with dirt?”
“Yea, that’s right,” Nick agreed, stepping back. “Jiminy, I—”
Whatever it was that he was going to add remained unsaid, for at that moment the soil at the top of the hole began to slide.
“Golly! I knew that should have been shored up!” Silent shouted. “Roy, get out of there!”