The boy, with his bundle hanging from his shoulder, started down fearlessly.

Presently he came to where a second prop was fastened to the first with spikes and strong rope.

Here he paused a moment, and called: 'Hello, be-e-low there!' Jacker's character had undergone a rapid change; he was now quite an innocent and law-abiding person, a working shareholder in the Mount of Gold Quartz-mining Company.
'On top!' answered a cautious voice from the depths.
'Look up--man on! And now, having observed the formalities, Jacker continued his descent, and in a few moments dropped from the primitive ladder and found a footing on a few planks thrown from one drive to another, across what was really an old shaft.

At his back was a drive running into darkness; before him was a small irregular excavation lit with a single candle, and sitting in this, dressed, or, more correctly, undressed, like miners at their work, were Dick Haddon and Ted McKnight.
Jacker threw his bundle on the floor of the drive.
'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.