astle Cliff was "a funny place anyway."

"What little bits of houses! Did they dry up too?"

"Oh, those are just the cabins and bunk-houses that were built for the
miners, ever so long ago when the mine was going. Fixed up into cottages
now for summer boarders. Do you want to see the mine?"

They went around behind the shaft-house and beyond the old saw-mill.

"O my senses!" cried Edith, "is that the old gold mine, that monstrous
great thing? Isn't it horrid?"

They all agreed that it was "perfectly awful and dreadful," and that it
made you shudder to look into it; and that they were glad baby Eddo was
safely out of the way. The mine was a deep, irregular chasm, full of
dirty water and rocks. It had a hungry, cruel look; you could almost
fancy it was waiting in wicked glee to swallow up thoughtless little
children.

"It doesn't seem as if anybody could ever have dug for gold in that
horrid ditch," exclaimed Kyzie.

"You'd better believe they did, though," said the young guide. "They
used to get it out in nuggets, cart-loads of it."

He was not quite sure of the nuggets, but liked the sound of the word.

"Yes, cart-loads of it. I tell you 'twas the richest mine in the whole
Cuyamaca Mountains."

"Too bad the gold gave out," said Kyzie, gazing regretfully into the
watery depths.

"But it didn't give out! Why, there's gold enough left down there to buy
up the whole United States! They lost the vein, that's all"

"The vein? What's a vein?" asked Edith.

"Well, you see," replied the guide, "gold goes along underground in
streaks; they call it veins. The miners had to stop digging here because
they lost track of the streak. But they'll find it again."

"How do _you_ know?" asked Jimmy-boy, who thought Nate was putting on
too many airs.

"Because Mr. Templeton said so. They've sent for Colonel Somebody from
I--forget where. He's a splendid mining engineer, great for finding lost
veins. He'll be here next week and bring a lot of men."

"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."