"Whoop-ee!" cried Jimmy, "he'll find the vein and things, and we'll be having gold as plenty as blackberries!"
"Just what I was talking about yesterday when you laughed," broke in Lucy. "I said I'd go down in a bucket; don't you know I did?"
Edith was gazing spellbound at the yawning chasm.
"Look at those rickety steps! The men will get killed! 'Twill all cave in!"
"No danger," said Nate, "there are walls down there, stone walls, papa says, that keep it all safe."
He meant "galleries," but had forgotten the word.
"Well, I don't care if there are five hundred stone walls, I guess the men could drown all the same!" said Edith. "That water ought to be let out, Nate Pollard! If the colonel is coming next week why don't they let out the water this very day and give the place a chance to dry off."
She spoke in a tone of the gravest anxiety, as if she understood the matter perfectly, and felt the whole care of the mine. Indeed, the mine had become suddenly very interesting to all the children. It certainly looked like a rough, wild, frightful hole; nothing more than a hole; but if there were gold down there in "nuggets," why, that was quite another matter; it became at once an enchanted hole; it was as delightful as a fairy story.
"I hope it's true that they've sent for that colonel," said Kyzie.
"Of course it's true," replied Nate, who did not like to have his word doubted.