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+Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers on the Trail, by Willard F. Baker
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Boy Ranchers on the Trail
+       or, The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers
+
+Author: Willard F. Baker
+
+Posting Date: February 12, 2013 [EBook #6573]
+Release Date: September, 2004
+First Posted: December 28, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tiffany Vergon, Charles
+Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
+
+OR
+
+_The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers_
+
+By WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     I THE ROUND-UP
+
+    II A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT
+
+   III STARTLING NEWS
+
+    IV THE SCRATCHED SAFE
+
+     V THE BROKEN BOTTLE
+
+    VI MISSING STEERS
+
+   VII FOUR EYES
+
+  VIII THROWING THE ROPE
+
+    IX THE FIRE
+
+     X SERIOUS QUESTIONS
+
+    XI THE WATCH TOWER
+
+   XII IN SPITE OF ALL
+
+  XIII THE SIGNAL
+
+   XIV FOUR EYES-NO EYES
+
+    XV A BIG RAID
+
+   XVI ON THE TRAIL
+
+  XVII WILD COUNTRY
+
+ XVIII THE BOILING SPRING
+
+   XIX IN A MAZE
+
+    XX A SURPRISE
+
+   XXI IN PURSUIT
+
+  XXII BUD'S DISCOVERY
+
+ XXIII THE FIGHT
+
+  XXIV A DESPERATE CHANCE
+
+   XXV LIEUTENANT WAYNE
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ROUND-UP
+
+
+"Come on, Nort! It's your turn to cut out the next one!"
+
+"S'pose I make a mux of it, Bud!"
+
+"Shucks! You won't do that! You've roped a calf before!"
+
+"Yes, but not at a big round-up like this. If I make a fizzle the
+fellows will give me the laugh!"
+
+"What if they do? Everybody knows you haven't been at it long,
+and you've got to make a start. Besides, anybody's likely to make
+a mistake. That's why they put rubbers on the ends of pencils.
+Ride in now and snake out the next one, Nort!"
+
+"All right, Bud! Here goes!"
+
+Blaze, the pony Nort Shannon was riding toward the bunch of
+cattle gathered at Diamond X ranch for the big, spring round-up,
+leaped forward at the sound of his master's voice, and in
+response to the little jerk of the reins and the clap of heels
+against his sides. Into the herd of milling, turning and twisting
+cattle the intelligent animal made his way, needing hardly any
+guidance from Nort. The lad, by a mere touch, corrected the
+course of Blaze slightly, and in a moment he was heading for a
+calf which bawled loudly.
+
+"Get him, Nort!" cried a voice from among the cowboys looking on.
+
+"Don't get me fussed, Dick!" Nort shouted back to his brother,
+who sat astride his pony near Bud Merkle. "It'll be your turn
+next!"
+
+Into the herd he wormed his way on Blaze, dodging here and there,
+but with his eyes ever on the calf he hoped to cut out so it
+could be branded. Nort leaned forward in his saddle, and then his
+cousin and brother, eagerly watching from outside the herd, saw
+the boy rancher's hand shoot up.
+
+Through the air the rope went, turning, twisting, writhing and
+uncoiling like a snake. In an instant it had flipped around the
+hind legs of a calf.
+
+"Good!" yelled Dick.
+
+"Even Babe couldn't 'a' done better!" complimented Bud,
+enthusiastically.
+
+"'Tisn't over yet!" gasped Nort, for he had hard work ahead of
+him, and the dust raised by thousands of hoofs was choking. "Wait
+'till I get it to the branding corral!"
+
+He leaned over in his other stirrup, causing the lariat to pull
+taut and, the next instant the calf flopped on its side.
+
+"Snake him out, Blaze!" cried Nort to his pony, and the animal
+turned and dragged the prostrate calf along over the ground, an
+operation not as cruel as it sounds as the surface was inches
+thick in soft dust, like flour.
+
+"That's the boy, Nort!" called his cousin Bud. "I knew you could
+do it! Now then, Dick! Let's see how you'll make out!"
+
+"I can't throw a rope as good as Nort," answered the stouter lad,
+as he urged his pony, Blackie, into the herd. "But here goes!"
+
+Meanwhile Nort had dragged the calf he had cut out to the corral
+where the branding was going on. Two cowboys, stationed there for
+the purpose, leaped forward and threw the calf over on its side,
+for it had managed to struggle to its feet when Nort ceased
+dragging it. One man twisted a front leg of the struggling
+creature back in a hammerlock and knelt on its neck. The other
+took hold of the upper hind leg, and with this hold prevented the
+calf from sprawling along on the ground.
+
+"Sit on him!" called Mr. Merkel, owner of Diamond X and other
+ranches. He was superintending the round-up of his herds and
+those entrusted to Bud, Nort and Dick in the first business
+venture of the boy ranchers. "Sit on him!" yelled Bud's father.
+
+Accordingly the men sat on the calf, thus, with the holds they
+had secured, keeping it under restraint with the least possible
+pain to the small creature.
+
+"Branding iron!" sang out Slim Degnan, foreman of the ranch.
+
+A little blaze was flickering on the ground, not far from where
+the calf Nort had cut out was thrown and held. In a moment the
+fire-tender had seized the branding iron, and, a second or two
+later, it was being pressed on the calf's flank.
+
+The creature bawled loudly, and kicked out, thereby nearly
+throwing off the men who were sitting on it. But the branding was
+all over in a moment, and the men leaped up, releasing the
+animal.
+
+The calf stood, dazed for the time being, after it had scrambled
+to its feet, and then trotted out of the corral, lashing its side
+with its little tail. Plainly branded on it now, never to be
+completely effaced, was the mark of the ownership of Mr. Merkel--an
+X inside a diamond.
+
+"Next!" called the branders:
+
+"Here comes Dick!" shouted Bud, as Nort rode up beside him. "And
+he got his calf!"
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the brother. "I guess we're learning the business!"
+
+"Surest thing you know!" asserted the son of the owner of Diamond
+X. "I told you it wasn't so hard, and you've done the same thing
+before."
+
+"But not at such a big round-up," remarked Nort, as he prepared
+to ride in again and cut out another calf.
+
+"Yes, it is big," admitted Bud, as he made ready for his share in
+the affair--his task being the same as that of his cousins--to
+cut out the calves for branding purposes. "It sure is a big
+round-up."
+
+It had been in progress for days. Twice a year on the big,
+western ranches, the cattle are driven in from the outlying
+ranges, to be tallied, inspected, marked and shipped away. The
+spring and fall round-ups are always busy seasons at any ranch.
+
+During the times between round-ups the new calves attained their
+growth, but they needed to have branded into their hides the
+marks of their owners. Then, too, some yearlings escaped branding
+at times, either by remaining out of sight at the round-up, or in
+the attending confusion.
+
+Unbranded calves who had partly attained their growth, were
+termed "mavericks," and when the herds of different owners
+mingled, there was, usually, a division of the mavericks, since
+it could not be accurately told who owned them.
+
+The title maverick was derived from a stock man of that name,
+whose practice was to claim _all_ unbranded calves in a
+herd. His cowboys would ride about, cutting out the unmarked
+animals, with the cool statement:
+
+"That's a maverick," meaning that it belonged to their "boss."
+
+And so the name has commonly become associated with any
+half-grown, unbranded calf.
+
+Mr. Merkel was the owner of several ranches, Square M, Triangle B
+and Diamond X, not to mention Diamond X Second, or Flume Valley,
+of which his son Bud, and the latter's cousins, Norton and
+Richard Shannon, were the nominal proprietors.
+
+The cattle from Flume Valley, or "Happy Valley" as Bud called it
+after the mystery of the underground water was solved, were in
+the round-up with the others from his father's ranches.
+
+For days preceding the lively doings I have just described, the
+cowboys, called in from distant ranges, had driven the cattle
+toward the central assembling point--the corrals at Diamond X.
+
+Slowly the longhorns, the shorthorns and cattle with no horns at
+all, had been "hazed" in from their feeding grounds toward
+Diamond X. The cow punchers had galloped hard all day, and they
+had ridden herd at night, to keep the animals from straying. At
+night this was not so hard, for the animals were glad to rest
+during the darkness.
+
+But during the day there was always some steer--often more than
+one--that wanted to run away from the herd. As this might start a
+stampede it was necessary to drive the "striker" back, and this
+was, often enough, a difficult task.
+
+Bud, Nort and Dick had borne their share of this difficult round-up
+task, and now, when the thousand or more of steers, calves and
+mavericks had been gathered at Diamond X, the work of tallying
+them, branding those that were without marks and shipping away
+the best was well under way.
+
+In and out of the herd rode the boy ranchers, doing their best
+alongside of more seasoned "punchers." Calves were cut out,
+thrown and branded, to be quickly released and again mingle with
+the herd.
+
+  "Oh, I'm Captain Jinks,
+   Of the Horse Marines!"
+
+One of the cowboys, wiping the dust and sweat from his face, with
+his big, red silk handkerchief, or, rather, neckerchief, started
+this song. It was taken up by half a score of loud voices.
+
+"Yi-yippy!" came in stentorian tones from Yellin' Kid. "This is
+the life!"
+
+But as, just then, his pony slipped and he missed the throw he
+made for a calf, it is doubtful if Yellin' Kid felt as gay as he
+sounded.
+
+"Hot work; eh, boys?" asked Mr. Merkel, when Dick, Nort and Bud
+rode past to get drinks of water.
+
+"But it's great, all the same!" answered Dick, with shining
+eyes--eyes that gleamed amid a face dark with the tan of the
+western sun and grimy with the dust of the western plains.
+
+"Glad you like it!" commented the proprietor of Diamond X as he
+kept on with his tallying. "How they coming, Slim?" he asked his
+foreman.
+
+"Couldn't be better! Old Buck Tooth is doing a heap sight more
+than I ever dreamed a Zuni could."
+
+"Bud said that his old Indian helper was up to snuff!" commented
+Mr. Merkel. "I'm glad to know it. Heard anything from Double Z?"
+he asked, and there was an anxious note in his voice.
+
+"No, Hank and his gang seem to have quieted down after what I
+told 'em!"
+
+"Well, I hope he doesn't make trouble for Bud and the boys.
+They're going back to Happy Valley to-night."
+
+"So I understand. Oh, shucks! Don't worry about Hank! He's all
+talk--he and that blustery foreman of his, Ike Johnson!"
+
+There had been a dispute between the cowboys of Diamond X and
+those of Double Z, a ranch owned by the notorious Hank Fisher, a
+few days before the round-up, the subject of dispute being the
+ownership of certain mavericks. It had ended with the triumph of
+Slim Degnan, foreman of Mr. Merkel's holdings.
+
+And so the round-up went on, the heat, the dust, the noise and
+confusion increasing as calf after calf, maverick after maverick,
+was branded, and the steers to be shipped were cut out, to be
+hazed over to the railroad stock yards.
+
+And yet, with all the seeming confusion, there was order and
+system in the work.
+
+"Well, I guess this is the last," remarked Mr. Merkel to his son,
+as Bud, with his cousins, rode slowly up to the ranch house, when
+the final calf had been cut out and the tally made. "You boys
+going back after grub?"
+
+"Yep," answered Bud, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice.
+He, like his cousins, was too tired. For the day had been a
+grueling one, with the heat and hard work.
+
+"You sure did make out a whole lot better than I ever thought you
+would," said Mr. Merkel, as he rode along with his son and
+nephew's. "Putting water into that valley made a big difference."
+
+"I should say so!" exclaimed Bud. "Our stock will lay over
+anything you will ship from any of your three ranches, Dad!"
+
+"I wouldn't wonder but what you are right, Bud! Well, let's wash
+up and eat."
+
+One by one the cowboys drifted in, some singing ranch songs in
+spite of their weariness. Bud and his cousins were through with
+their meal first, and, having persuaded his sister, Nell, to pack
+a basket of doughnuts, pie and cheese for him, Bud signalled to
+his cousins to join him out at the pony corral.
+
+"Let's get an early start back to Happy Valley," he urged. "It's
+a long enough ride, anyhow."
+
+"You said it!" commented Nort.
+
+"Well, there's one thing we don't have to worry about, and that
+is not finding any water running into the reservoir," added Dick,
+as he slipped in through the gate and caught one of his ponies--not
+Blackie, who was tired out from the round-up. Each cow puncher,
+including the boy ranchers, had several animals in his "string."
+
+"No, I guess, since we solved the mystery of the water supply,
+we'll have no more trouble," agreed Bud.
+
+The boy ranchers rode over the trail to their own camp--it was
+actually a camp, for permanent ranch buildings had not yet been
+erected in Happy Valley, though some were projected. Tents formed
+the abiding place of our heroes, and as they were only there
+during the summer months the canvas shelters served very well,
+indeed.
+
+The moon rose, shining down from a starlit sky, as the rough but
+faithful and sturdy cow ponies ambled along. Now the boy ranchers
+would be down in some swale, or valley, and again topping one of
+the foothills which led to Buffalo Ridge or Snake Mountain,
+between which elevations lay Happy Valley, where the cattle of
+Diamond X Second were quartered.
+
+"There she is--the old camp," murmured Dick, as they started down
+the slope which led to the collection of tents erected against
+the earthen and stone bank of the reservoir.
+
+"And maybe I won't hit the hay!" exclaimed Bud, with a yawn. "We
+don't have to get up to-morrow until we're ready."
+
+"Oh, boy!" cried Nort in delight.
+
+They rode forward, and were almost at their camp when Bud, who
+had trotted ahead, pulled his pony to a sudden stop and cried
+out:
+
+"Hold on there! Who are you and where are you going?"
+
+At the same moment his cousins saw the moon gleaming on the .45
+gun which Bud drew from his holster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT
+
+
+"What's the matter, Bud?" asked Dick, as he urged his animal
+forward in a jump, until he was beside his cousin.
+
+"Some one's up there around the tunnel entrance," responded Bud
+Merkel. "I saw 'em dodge back out of the light." Then, raising
+his voice, he cried: "Come on, now! None of your tricks! I've got
+you covered!"
+
+"I don't see any one," spoke Nort.
+
+"They're there, all right," asserted Bud. "Come on, fellows," he
+exclaimed, "we'll have to look into this. There was trouble
+enough with getting water to stay in Happy Valley, without
+letting some Greaser in to queer the works again! Come on!"
+
+He and his cousins rode their horses up the rather steep and
+winding trail that led from the bottom of the reservoir to the
+top, where a big iron pipe, sticking out under the mountain like
+the head of some great serpent, brought from the distant Pocut
+River a stream, without which it would have been impossible to
+raise cattle in the valley the boy ranchers claimed as particularly
+their own.
+
+"Who you reckon it is?" asked Nort, as his pony scrambled up
+between the animals of Dick and Bud.
+
+"Oh, some prowler that may have been rustling our grub while we
+were over at the round-up," was the answer.
+
+"They couldn't get any cattle, for there aren't any to get,"
+observed Dick. This was true, as all the animals had been driven
+from Happy Valley over to Diamond X. Later such as were not
+shipped away, and many of the calves and mavericks would be
+returned to fatten up and grow in readiness for the spring
+tallying.
+
+"I don't just like this!" murmured Bud, as he again urged his
+pony forward. "Have your guns ready, fellows!"
+
+And while they are thus riding toward the place where a strange
+tunnel pierced Snake Mountain, I shall take this opportunity to
+present, more formally than I have yet had a chance to do, my new
+readers to the boy ranchers. For that is what Bud Merkel, and
+Nort and Dick Shannon called themselves, being that, in fact.
+
+Bud was a western lad, the son of Henry Merkel, who had been a
+ranchman all his mature years. He lived at Diamond X ranch, with
+his wife and daughter Nell. Some time before this present story
+opens Bud's cousins from the east had come to spend the summer
+with him, while their father and his wife made a trip to South
+America.
+
+Nort and Dick, though "tenderfeet" at the beginning, had quickly
+fallen into the ways of the west, and in the first volume of this
+series, "The Boy Ranchers," I was privileged to tell you how they
+helped solve a mystery that revolved around Diamond X.
+
+This mystery had to do with two college professors, and a
+strange, ancient animal. But it would not be fair to my new
+readers to disclose, here, all the secrets of that book.
+
+So successful was the first summer which Nort and Dick spent at
+their uncle's ranch, that they were allowed to repeat it the
+following season. But this time there was a change. As related in
+the second volume, "The Boy Ranchers in Camp," Mr. Merkel had, by
+utilizing an ancient underground water-course beneath Snake
+Mountain, and by making a dam in Pocut River, brought water to a
+distant valley he owned.
+
+This valley was originally called Buffalo Wallow, the source of
+the name being obvious. But once water was brought through the
+underground course, and piped to a reservoir, whence it could be
+distributed to drinking troughs for the cattle, and also used to
+irrigate the land, it enabled a fine crop of fodder to be grown.
+With the bringing of the water to Buffalo Wallow, or Flume
+Valley, as Bud called the place, it was possible to do what had
+never been done before--raise cattle there. Bud's father let him
+take this valley ranch as his own, and Nort and Dick were boy
+partners associated with their western cousin, Mr. Shannon
+putting up part of the needed capital to make the start for his
+sons.
+
+All would have gone well except for the mysterious stoppage of
+the flow of water, which stoppage, if continued, would mean
+disaster.
+
+How the water fight at Diamond X Second (as the valley ranch was
+sometimes called) ended, and how the strange mystery was solved,
+is the story in the second volume, and I absolutely refuse to go
+into more details about it here. It would not be playing the game
+square.
+
+At any rate the water was finally turned back into the
+underground tunnel, and then, in order to better guard this vital
+necessity, Mr. Merkel had the entrance to the tunnel boarded
+up--egress being possible only when heavy doors, at either end, were
+unlocked.
+
+I might say that while the tunnel was the old water-course of a
+vanished river, the shaft under the mountain appeared, in.
+ancient times, to have been used by the Aztecs, or some Mexican
+tribes, for hiding their store of gold away from the Spaniards.
+There were secret passages and rooms in the tunnel, to say
+nothing of hidden water gates.
+
+Who had constructed these, and what actual use had been made of
+them was, of course, lost in the dim and ancient past. But that
+it was the Aztecs, or some allied race, was the statement of
+learned men who examined the tunnel.
+
+After the water fight at Diamond X Second had terminated in favor
+of the boy ranchers, and great copper levers that operated the
+hidden water gates had been removed, the tunnel was boarded up,
+and was now seldom entered.
+
+But now, as Bud and his cousins rode back from the big round-up,
+and the western lad had, as he thought, seen some one sneaking
+about the forbidden gate, there was a feeling of apprehension in
+the hearts of himself and cousins.
+
+They had now reached the top level of the reservoir which held a
+storage supply of water. The reservoir was a great semi-circular
+bank of earth and atones, wide enough on top for two to ride
+abreast.
+
+"I don't see any one," remarked Nort, straining his eyes to
+pierce the gloom and shadows into which the face of the tunnel
+and the locked gate were thrown by the moonlight and clouds.
+
+"Nor I," added Dick.
+
+"Well, I saw some one!" insisted Bud. "It was a man, as sure as
+snakes, and he seemed to be trying to open the big gate."
+
+This gate was made of heavy bolted planks and was set on hinges
+in a jamb of other planks and boards that closed the reservoir
+end of the tunnel water-course. A similar barrier and big door
+was at the Pocut River end.
+
+"Well, if he was here, he seems to be gone," observed Nort "Maybe
+it was a sheep herder, Bud."
+
+"Well, if any of that gentry think they can drive their flock
+over here, and water their woolies at my expense, they're
+mistaken," declared Bud with emphasis. "Sheep men have to be, I
+reckon, but they're out of place in a cow country. Hello, there!"
+he called, loudly. "Come on out and show yourself!"
+
+But there was no answer, and the only sound, aside from the
+creaking of the damp saddle leathers, was the splashing of water
+as it flowed from the big pipe and into the reservoir.
+
+"Guess he lit out," observed Bud, thrusting his gun back into the
+holster.
+
+"Or else you didn't see him," chuckled Nort. "Maybe your eyes are
+full of dust, same as mine are, from that round-up."
+
+"Oh, I saw somebody all right!" declared Bud. "Might 'a' been one
+of Buck Tooth's Indian friends making a call, but--"
+
+He suddenly ceased speaking and leaned over in his saddle to gaze
+earnestly at something on the ground. It was something that
+glittered and shone in the mystic moonlight as Nort and Dick
+could see. "What's that?" inquired the latter.
+
+In answer Bud slipped from his saddle and picked up the object
+which the moonlight had revealed.
+
+"What in the world is this?" asked the boy rancher, as he held up
+a curious instrument. "Is this the start of another mystery!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+STARTLING NEWS
+
+
+Leaping from their saddles, Nort and Dick hurried to the side of
+their cousin, chum and partner in the ranch venture. Eagerly they
+looked over his shoulder while he examined the strange object he
+had picked up, almost at the very door leading into the
+mysterious tunnel.
+
+The instrument--for such it seemed to be--consisted of a shiny,
+nickeled part, which was what had reflected the moonlight, thus
+attracting Bud's attention to it. In addition there were two
+flexible tubes, of soft rubber, joining into one where they met
+the shiny metal.
+
+The two tubes each terminated in hard rubber ends, pierced with a
+tiny hole, and on the end of the single tube was a bright metal
+disk. The whole formed a strange object, picked up as it was from
+the ground, and especially when the boy ranchers feared they had
+some cause for alarm.
+
+"What in the world is it?" asked Bud, as he dangled it in front
+of his cousins. "I never saw anything like it before. Wait! I
+have it! Yellin' Kid said he was going to send to Kansas City for
+a flute he could play on. This must be part of it! He dropped it
+here; though that couldn't 'a' been him sneaking around the
+tunnel. But this is Yellin' Kid's musical instrument all right!
+Oh, won't I rag him, though! I wonder which end you blow in?"
+
+"That isn't a musical instrument!" declared Nort, taking it from
+Bud's hand.
+
+"Not What is it then?" asked the western ranch lad.
+
+"It's a stethoscope," declared Nort.
+
+"Whew! x I didn't know Yellin' Kid could play one of
+_them_!" exclaimed Bud. "He must be more musical than any of
+us thought!"
+
+"'Tisn't musical, I tell you!" cried Nort, half laughing. "This
+is a _stethoscope_--it's what a doctor listens to your lungs
+or heart with when you're sick."
+
+"He never listened to mine!" boasted Bud, "at least not since I
+can remember, for I've never been sick."
+
+"Well, I have," admitted Nort, "and so has Dick. You remember Dr.
+Thompson using one of these, don't you?" he asked his stout
+brother.
+
+"Sure I do! And there's some other name for it besides plain
+stethoscope," declared Dick. "It's a long word--bi--di--"
+
+"Binaural stethoscope! That's it!" broke in Nort. "I remember,
+now. I thought I'd never be able to say those words, but they
+come back to me now. Binaural stethoscope."
+
+"'Tisn't good to eat, or shoot with, is it!" asked Bud, as he
+again took the instrument and turned it over and over in his
+hands.
+
+"Eat! Shoot!" laughed Nort. "No, I tell you it's to listen to
+your heart beats, or lungs. Binaural means, simply, that it's
+fixed so you can listen with both ears at the same time. And
+stethoscope comes from two Greek words, stethos, the breast, and
+skopen, to view. It means, literally, to view inside the chest,
+but of course the doctors who use the stethoscope don't really do
+that. They only listen through the ear pieces--these," and he
+held up the two rubber tubes ending in hard nipples, pierced with
+small holes.
+
+"What's the other end for!" asked Bud, indicating the shiny disk
+of metal that dangled from the single tube.
+
+"That's the part the doctor holds on your chest or over your
+heart," Dick answered. "Sometimes the doctor puts it to your back
+to listen to your breathing from that side."
+
+"Well, who in the world would have a--a binaural stethoscope out
+here!" asked Bud. "Yon reckon Doc. Tunison dropped it!" he went
+on, referring to the local veterinarian. "Shucks no! Cow doctors
+don't use 'em, not that I ever heard of," declared Nort. "Though
+Doc. Tunison is up to date."
+
+"He sure was in discovering that it was germs which caused the
+epidemic outbreak in our stock last year," remarked Bud.
+
+"Yes, we got out of that mighty lucky," chimed in Dick. "What's
+become of Pocut Pete?" he asked, referring to a scoundrel of a
+cowboy.
+
+"Oh, Del Pinzo and Hank Fisher had pull enough to get him out of
+jail, after he'd served only part of his term for infecting our
+stock," said Bud. He had reference to something which is
+explained in the volume immediately preceding this. Del Pinzo was
+a notorious Mexican half-breed who, more than once, had made
+trouble for the boy ranchers. Hank Fisher was the owner of Double
+Z ranch, adjoining that of Square M, one of Mr. Merkel's, and
+also adjoining Happy Valley. Pocut Pete was believed to be a tool
+of these two unscrupulous men, and Del Pinzo had at his command
+Several Greasers who slipped back and forth over the Mexican
+border, not far from which were located the holdings of Mr.
+Merkel and the boy ranchers.
+
+"Well, this is a stethoscope all right," went on Nort, as Bud
+turned toward his pony, with the evident intention of mounting.
+
+"And I'd give a lot to know what it's doing here, and who dropped
+it," spoke Bud. "Let's look around a little more. I'm not at all
+satisfied with this. I sure saw, some one here, and this proves
+it," and he stuffed the doctor's instrument into his pocket.
+
+"It doesn't prove that the man you saw--or thought you just
+saw--sneaking around here dropped it," spoke Nort. "We've been away
+for a week, and it may have been dropped any day within that
+time."
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud. "But who was monkeying around here as we rode
+back to camp? That's what I want to know!"
+
+However, search as the boy ranchers did, they found no midnight
+visitor. All was quiet at their camp, save for the distant howl
+of a coyote, and the splash of the water into the reservoir. All
+the stock had been driven away from Happy Valley to the big
+round-up at Diamond X, but soon the fertile glade would again be
+dotted with hungry cattle.
+
+"Well, I reckon we'll have to give up," said Bud, when a thorough
+search had been made, and no one discovered.
+
+"The tunnel door doesn't show any signs of an attempt having been
+made to bust it; does it?" asked Dick.
+
+"Not as far as I can see, in this light," Bud replied. "We'll
+take a stroll up here in the morning," he went on as he thrust
+the stethoscope into his pocket. "Now for a little grub, and then
+to hit the hay. Oh, boy! But I to tired!"
+
+So were the others, and after rummaging among their camp stores,
+and eating some crackers and canned peaches, the boys, having
+picketed their horses, turned in, rolled up in their blankets,
+and were asleep almost as soon as their heads were on the
+pillows, which were, as a matter of fact, stuffed with hay.
+
+An examination, next morning, disclosed nothing more in the
+neighborhood of the tunnel entrance than their own and, their
+ponies' feet marks, until Bud, with an exclamation, pointed to
+several cigarette stubs on the ground, and a number of half-burned
+matches.
+
+"Some one was here last night--or yesterday!" he declared. "And
+they stood in this one spot for some time--either resting or
+spying."
+
+"What would they be spying on!" asked Dick.
+
+"Search me!" frankly admitted Bud. "But since we had that water
+fight I'm suspicious of everything. Those cigarette stubs are
+fresh, and were dropped last night, or yesterday. None of us use
+'em, and though some of our cow punchers do they haven't been
+here lately enough to have left this fresh evidence. The stubs
+are new ones."
+
+"Well, maybe there was some one here last night," said Dick.
+
+"I'm positive of it!" declared Bud. "Let's take another look at
+the big door lock."
+
+Even a close inspection, however, failed to disclose any signs of
+the great portal, or its heavy padlock having been tampered with.
+Nor were there any marks tending to show where an effort had been
+made to force boards off the frame in which the door was set.
+
+"Well, we'll just have to wait," said Bud, as he turned to go
+back down to the tents. "Hello," he suddenly added, as he gazed
+off up the valley. "Here comes somebody, riding like all
+possessed, too!"
+
+The boy ranchers watched the approach of the solitary horseman,
+and, as he drew nearer Bud exclaimed:
+
+"It's Buck Tooth!"
+
+It was, in fact, that same Zuni Indian, who had been engaged as a
+sort of camp cook and ranch hand by Bud's father, later being
+transferred to Bud's service. Buck Tooth was devoted to the boy
+ranchers.
+
+"What's matter, Buck! What for you ride so _pronto_
+fashion!" asked Bud as the Indian, a superb horseman, drew rein
+close to the boy ranchers. "You race, maybe, Buck Tooth!"
+
+"Yep--race tell you bad news!" half-grunted the Zuni.
+
+"Bad news!" faltered Bud. "Is it my mother--dad---"
+
+"Them all well," said Buck Tooth. "But got bad news all same. You
+see anybody out here?" and he slipped from his saddle to rest his
+almost winded steed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SCRATCHED SAFE
+
+
+Eagerly the boy ranchers gathered about Buck Tooth. The Indian,
+as if rather ashamed of the hurry and emotion that had possessed
+him, grew quieter as he threw the reins down over his pony's
+head, as an intimation to the animal not to stray. Then the Zuni
+turned toward Bud and his cousins.
+
+"This is the second time you gave me bad news, Buck," remarked
+the western lad. "Remember?"
+
+"How?" asked the Indian sharply.
+
+"I say this is the second time you've brought news of something
+bad. You were the first to tell me about the water stopping in
+the reservoir. And from then on we had some rousing times; didn't
+we, fellows?" asked Bud, turning to his chums.
+
+"That's right!" assented Nort.
+
+"But what's going on now?" Dick wanted to know.
+
+"You said it!" exclaimed Bud. "I should let Buck Tooth tell it,
+instead of keeping him gassing away about the past. What's the
+row, Buck?"
+
+"Robbers!" was the Indian's answer.
+
+"Robbers? At Diamond X?" cried Bud.
+
+"Did they get anything?" Dick wanted to know.
+
+"Anybody hurt?" asked Nort.
+
+"Get some money--nobody hurt only Babe--him get broken leg,"
+half-grunted the Indian.
+
+"Babe has a broken leg in a fight with robbers?" gasped Bud.
+"Shoot it along a little faster, Buck! I'm sorry I didn't let you
+ride harder at first. How much did they get? Was it rustlers, and
+I'll bet a cookie with a raisin in that Del Pinzo and his gang
+had a hand in the fracas! Did Babe shoot any of 'em?"
+
+"Babe him try--but too fat," said the Indian, with as near to a
+chuckle as ever he achieved, "Fall down--bust leg. Your
+_padre_ no can tell how much money gone, but big iron box
+not opened."
+
+"Oh, they didn't get to the safe, then!" exclaimed Bud with
+relief in his voice. For he knew, at this season of the spring
+round-up, that many thousands of dollars, from the sale of
+cattle, were often kept in his father's safe. "But go ahead,
+Buck! Tell us more about it. Step on her! Give her the gas! Open
+the throttle!"
+
+"Hu?" grunted the Zuni, questioningly. "I step on somet'ing?"
+"You're only mixing him up!" declared Nort "Let him take his own
+time, Bud."
+
+"If I do he'll be until noon giving us the facts. And if the
+robbers looted dad's office, even if they didn't get the safe
+open, they may have lit out with a tidy sum, and we ought to take
+the trail after 'em. That's what Buck came here for, likely! To
+get us on the chase from this end. Go ahead! Shoot!" he
+requested, meaning a verbal fire, not actual.
+
+Whether Buck Tooth would have succeeded, under these confusing
+directions, in making a quick, dear statement of the matter is a
+question that was not settled. For, just as the Indian was about
+to resume, Dick looked off toward the distant hills, which lined
+the trail between Diamond X proper, and Happy Valley, and the lad
+exclaimed:
+
+"Here comes one of the robbers now, riding like Sam Hill!"
+
+Bud and Nort leaped to the side of their partner, their hands on
+their weapons, but, after a glimpse of the approaching horseman,
+having shaded his eyes with his hands, Bud cried:
+
+"That isn't a robber! It's Yellin' Kid. I know his riding. I
+reckon he's come to give us the straight of it!"
+
+Which proved to be the case.
+
+"Buck outrode me," admitted Yellin' Kid as he drew rein, and his
+voice was not as loud as usual. "We started at th' same time,
+shortly after midnight when th' break was made, but that Indian's
+cayuse shore can step some! An' Buck can ride--let me tell you!"
+
+"You shot a ringer that time!" asserted Bud. "But what happened!
+And is Babe badly hurt!"
+
+"No! He just twisted his ankle gettin' out of his bunk in a hurry
+t' take a pot shot at th' bunch that tried to hold us up. Doc.
+Tunison says he'll be all right in a week."
+
+"But Tunison is a horse doctor!" objected Bud, for Babe, the fat
+assistant foreman of Diamond X, was a prime favorite with him and
+his cousins.
+
+"Yes, shore he is! Why not? A horse doctor for a cow puncher!"
+chuckled Yellin' Kid. "But here's the yarn."
+
+Thereupon, having turned his pony out to graze with the Indian's,
+Yellin' Kid told the boys what had happened.
+
+"We started some of the cattle from th' round-up brandin' over to
+th' railroad," the cowboy stated, "an' followin' th' usual
+preliminaries we all settled down for th' night, after you
+fellows rode off. An' let me tell you I was glad t' hit my bunk!
+
+"Well, some time near midnight we, out in th' bunkhouse, was
+roused up by shootin' from your father's bungalow, Bud. Course
+that couldn't mean but one thing, an' we all got our guns an'
+rushed out, natcherally. But all we saw was a bunch ridin' off in
+th' darkness, your father firin' at 'em, Bud.
+
+"Come t' find out, your mother had been woke up by a noise in th'
+office where th' safe was. She called your father an' he took a
+look, with his gun, of course. He saw a man in a mask tryin' t'
+open th' strong box, and your dad gave th' usual countersign.
+
+"But th' burglar wheeled, an' popped one at your dad, not hittin'
+him I'm glad t' say, an' out th' winder he jumped, th' burglar, I
+mean. Then the rest of th' gang, which was waitin', rode off,
+shootin' some, as your dad was doin'.
+
+"Come t' find out, they'd got a few hundred dollars from the desk
+where your dad left th' cash, Bud, but th' main part was in th'
+safe, an' _that_ they couldn't get open. Course soon as we
+knowed what was up we organized a posse, an' started off--all but
+Babe. He fell--or rolled--out of his bunk an' twisted his leg,
+somehow.
+
+"Anyhow, Buck an' I was told off t' ride this way, partly t' let
+you fellers know what had happened, an' partly t' see if there
+was any trace of th' skunks what robbed your dad down here in
+Happy Valley. How about it? Seen anybody?"
+
+"Well, yes, we did see some one sneaking around here when we
+arrived last evening," Bud answered. "But that was long before
+the robbery."
+
+"And tell him what we found!" urged Dick
+
+"Oh, yes, a stethoscope," went on Bud. "But that has nothing to
+do with the matter. Maybe some doctor, or medical student, is out
+here for his health, and dropped it as he rode over our place."
+
+"What's a slitherscope!" asked Yellin' Kid. "Anything like a
+Triceratops?"
+
+"No!" laughed Nort. "We'll show you. But say, what can we do
+toward getting these robbers?"
+
+"We've got t' trail 'em," spoke the older cowboy, as he turned to
+go to the tents with the boy ranchers, Buck Tooth following with
+the two half-winded ponies. "Soon as I get my breath----"
+
+"That's right!" interrupted Bud. "Come on up and sit down. I'll
+make you some coffee. I forgot you'd ridden all night."
+
+"Half of it, anyhow," asserted Yellin' Kid. "An' I rode hard! But
+so did Buck Tooth, only you'd hardly know it. He sure can make
+his cayuse cover th' ground!"
+
+Indeed the Indian showed little signs of the hard riding he had
+accomplished between midnight and dawn. And when he and Yellin'
+Kid were having a belated morning cup of coffee further details
+of the story were told.
+
+Who the robbers were, and how many there were in the gang that
+attempted to force the safe at Diamond X, were matters left to
+further enlightenment. Mr. Merkel had only seen one in his
+office, bending over the safe, and this one had fled at the
+command of "hands up!" Then the others had raced away, amid a
+fusillade of shots which they returned.
+
+It was so dark--the moon of the early night having been clouded
+over--that the direction taken by the robbers had not been
+ascertained.
+
+"They probably scattered," declared Yellin' Kid. "It would be th'
+safest way--for them! But there's a chance some might 'a' come
+this way, so your dad wanted you t' be on the watch."
+
+"We will!" declared Bud. "And when some of the boys come back on
+the job here, and we get our allotment of cattle so things settle
+down to normal, I'm going back to the ranch and have a talk with
+dad."
+
+"'Twouldn't be a bad idea," agreed Yellin' Kid. "But where's that
+mouth organ you said you found?"
+
+"A stethoscope," laughed Bud. "Here it is," and he exhibited the
+medical instrument.
+
+"Hum!" mused the cowboy. "It might be a burglar tool for all I'd
+know the difference. But now, if it's agreeable t' you fellers,
+let's have a look around. Maybe some of them burglars got a chunk
+of lead in him and he's hidin' out around here."
+
+However, a search in the vicinity of Happy Valley camp disclosed
+nothing, and then Bud and his cousins set about getting back into
+the routine that had been interrupted by the round-up.
+
+"The first thing we've got to do," Bud declared, "is to mend that
+break in the telephone line. If that had been working last night
+you could have called us up, Kid, instead of you and Buck having
+to ride out here."
+
+"Yes, we wished th' line was working" admitted the cowboy. "But
+it wouldn't have been of much use, it seems. Them burglars didn't
+come out this way. However, it's just as well t' have it fixed."
+
+There was a system of telephones connecting Bud's camp with his
+father's main ranch and also the two branch ones, and the system
+was likewise hooked-up with the long distance. But a recent wind,
+just before the round-up, had blown down some poles in Happy
+Valley, putting Bud's line out of commission. This was why he and
+his chums could not be reached by wire from Diamond X.
+
+The poles were set up in the next few days, when some cowboys
+arrived to again take up their duties with Bud, Nort and Dick;
+for the cattle not sold were again sent back to the valley range
+to fatten for the fall, and they needed to be looked after.
+
+Meanwhile, a search of the surrounding country had failed to
+disclose any trace of the robbers, and their identity remained
+hidden. They had gotten away with about $500, missing a much
+larger sum in the safe. The authorities were notified, and a
+posse scoured the region, but fruitlessly.
+
+"Let's have a look at the safe they tried to open, Dad," begged
+Bud, when he and his cousins had ridden over to pay a week-end
+visit to the home ranch. "Did they try to drill it for an
+explosive?"
+
+"I don't believe so, son. In fact, I haven't looked at the safe
+very closely, except to notice that it was all right. And I took
+the money out of it over to the bank next day."
+
+Bud and his cousins looked at the strong box in which Mr. Merkel
+kept his money and valuable papers. It was a large, old-fashioned
+safe, proof from any fire that might visit the ranch, and beyond
+the ability of ordinary burglars to open, without the use of
+explosives or special tools.
+
+And as Bud leaned over to look at the heavy door he saw something
+that caused him to ask:
+
+"Were these here before the attempted robbery, Dad?"
+
+"What there, Bud?"
+
+"These scratches on the front of the door. It does look as if
+they tried to drill the safe!"
+
+Bud pointed to several parallel marks on the steel door. The
+scratches were deep in the paint, and seemed to radiate toward
+the shiny nickel dial of the combination. "Scratches!" repeated
+Mr. Merkel, coming over to look. "No, I never noticed them
+before. Why, she is clawed up some," he admitted. "But I can't
+say that they haven't been there since I got the safe, which was
+just before the round-up. Yes, she sure is clawed up some," and
+he spoke as if some mountain lion had done the damage to his
+strong box.
+
+But here Bud's sister, Nell, took a hand in the proceedings.
+
+"Those scratches are new ones--they were made by the burglar,"
+declared the girl, whom Nort and Dick thought the prettiest they
+had ever seen. "I know, for I dusted your office, Dad, the day
+the round-up ended, and the door was as shiny then as a new
+penny."
+
+"Then the burglar did it," decided Bud. "And it shows we have to
+deal with a regular gang of safe robbers, instead of just
+ordinary cattle rustlers!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE BROKEN BOTTLE
+
+
+Bud's opinion, expressed with such conviction, coupled with the
+fact that Nell, his sister, was sure the safe had not been
+scratched the day before the robbery, made it look as though men
+practiced in the evil art of burglary had been at work.
+
+"When I saw the fellow, bending over my safe," said Mr. Merkel,
+"it appeared to me he was only trying to work the combination. I
+have a hard job, myself, remembering how to do it, account of the
+safe being a new one. And I was so surprised, at first, that I
+just stood there, like a locoed steer, watching him. Then I let
+out a yell, told him to throw his hands up, and things began to
+happen."
+
+"But, instead of just trying to open your safe, by working the
+combination, same as I've heard of burglars doing by filing down
+their fingers with sandpaper to make 'em sensitive, he was
+getting ready to blow it open," declared Bud.
+
+"Does look so. She sure is clawed!" commented Mr. Merkel again.
+
+"Mercy! It's a wonder we weren't all blown up in our sleep!"
+exclaimed Bud's mother. "You boys'll stay to dinner," she added,
+as if glad to change the subject.
+
+"We aimed to," said Bud with a grin at his cousins. "We manage
+pretty well most times, with what we cook, and what Buck Tooth
+hands out in the grub line. But we sure do like a home-feed once
+in a while."
+
+"Or twice!" added Nort, while Dick nodded his agreement.
+
+But though it was evident that some professional burglar had
+endeavored to open the Merkel safe, that was all the conclusion
+which could be arrived at. No additional clues were found and,
+for a time, matters settled down into the ordinary run at Diamond
+X.
+
+Summer was coming, with its heat, and Bud was glad there would be
+no interruption in the water supply that flowed into Happy Valley
+from the Pocut River, coming through the ancient underground
+passage.
+
+"For we'll need plenty of water in hot weather," he told Jus
+cousins.
+
+At Diamond X Second, as the outfit of the boy ranchers was often
+called, was now a goodly herd of animals eating the rich, Johnson
+grass and other fodder, getting fattened in readiness for sale in
+the fall, when there would be another round-up.
+
+Besides Bud, Nort and Dick, there was now, at the camp in the
+valley, Buck Tooth the Zuni Indian, Yellin' Kid and Snake Purdee,
+two efficient and veteran cow punchers who had been transferred
+from Diamond X First, meaning by that the main ranch.
+
+While Bud was a true son of the west, and while Nort and Dick
+had, some time ago, passed out of the tenderfoot class, still Mr.
+Merkel felt that his son and his nephews needed the aid and
+guidance of cattlemen older than themselves. So the "outfit," as
+the aggregation at a ranch is called, was quite a happy family.
+
+"If we could only catch those burglars, and get back your dad's
+money, I'd feel better, though," declared Snake Purdee, as he
+rode in from the Diamond X ranch one day, to announce, among
+other news items, that Babe, the fat assistant foreman, was able
+to be about again.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud. "It isn't so much the money loss, as it is the
+knowledge that such a bunch of men is loose in a neighborhood.
+Del Pinzo and that Hank Fisher bunch are bad enough, but I don't
+believe they had a hand in this."
+
+"I wouldn't put it past them!" stated Yellin' Kid in his usual,
+loud tones. "Th' skunks!"
+
+"But dad said he didn't recognize the fellow he surprised at his
+safe," spoke Bud. "Of course he didn't have much chance. But if
+it had been Del Pinzo--"
+
+"Don't worry!" broke in Snake Purdee. "That Greaser wouldn't do a
+job like that himself; or Hank Fisher, either. They'd get some
+one else to take the risk. However, what's th' use gassin' about
+it? I guess the money's gone for good. But I'm glad they didn't
+get th' safe open!"
+
+"So'm I," chimed in Bud. "Some of our cash would have vanished
+then." For he and his cousins had a share in the money received
+from the sale of steers at round-up time.
+
+So, following the robbery at Diamond X, matters quieted down. Bud
+still kept the stethoscope, and word of the finding of the
+strange instrument traveled to other ranches. It was called by
+such a variety of names (the cowboys having twisted the original
+and proper one) until the boy ranchers had difficulty, at times,
+in understanding the reference when they were asked about it.
+
+But no one claimed it, and no trace was found of the person who,
+it was presumed, had dropped it the night our heroes saw some one
+disappear near the boarded-up entrance to the ancient tunnel.
+
+"Come on, let's try a bit of shooting!" proposed Nort one
+evening, when grub had been served at the camp, and he and his
+brother were left with Buck Tooth. Snake and Yellin' Kid had
+ridden off on an all-night tour of duty, to a distant part of
+the ranch. A choice bunch of steers had started to wander farther
+off than Bud thought it was wise to let them. They were,
+evidently, in search of another variety of fodder, but that could
+not save them from some passing band of Greasers, or other cattle
+thieves.
+
+"Haze 'em back this way," Bud had requested his two cowboys.
+"They'll be safer over here."
+
+So Yellin' Kid and Snake had ridden away as the early evening
+shadows were falling and, to pass the time until the hour for
+seeking their bunks, the boy ranchers sought some amusement.
+Shooting at a mark was one form, and Nort and Dick were
+endeavoring to become as expert as their western cousin in the
+use of the .45.
+
+"Shooting suits me," agreed Bud. "I'll soon have to cut down my
+handicap if you fellows keep on the way you're going," for in the
+tests of skill Bud had always discounted his own ability in order
+to be fair.
+
+"Well, don't scale it down too much," begged Dick. "Nort hasn't
+got me skinned, but I'm not up to you."
+
+"Well, let's see how you'll do," suggested Bud.
+
+As a mark a bottle was stuck on a stick which was thrust into the
+ground at the foot of the sloping bank which enclosed the
+reservoir. Shooting against this earthen bank insured that no
+wild bullets would injure any one.
+
+"You go first, Bud," suggested Dick. "We want to get a line on
+you."
+
+Accordingly Bud walked to the marked-off place, drew his heavy
+revolver, raised it and brought it down on the mark--the bottle
+on the stick. There was a sharp crack, followed instantly by the
+tinkle of glass, and that bottle was no more.
+
+"Busted it clean!" cried Nort. "I wish I could do that!"
+
+Another flask was provided, and Nort shot at this. His aim was
+fairly good, but he was allowed to go five feet nearer than Bud
+had stood, that distance being the western lad's handicap. But
+Nort only chipped away part of the bottom of the bottle with his
+first shot, and it took three to shatter it completely.
+
+"Watch me do better than that!" cried Dick, as he took his place
+where his brother had stood, and raised his gun. "I'll crack it
+first shot!"
+
+His weapon was still in the air, and he had not brought it to a
+level with the bottle when there sounded, from somewhere out in
+the valley back of where the boy ranchers stood, the sound of a
+shot.
+
+The bullet zipped viciously over their heads, and, as they
+instinctively ducked, they heard the crash of the broken bottle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MISSING STEERS
+
+
+Like a flash Bud, who had been standing beside Nort, to watch
+the effect of Dick's try, turned and faced outward to view the
+darkening valley, whence had come the sound of that shot. Nort
+turned also, but Dick seemed to think one of his companions had
+played a trick on him.
+
+"That isn't fair!" cried the stout lad. "What'd you want to go
+and bust that bottle for, Nort?"
+
+"I didn't do it!" asserted his brother.
+
+"Nor I," added Bud in a low voice. "The shot came from out
+there," and he indicated the long and fertile valley, over which
+the purple evening shadows were falling. "Duck, fellows!" he
+suddenly cried, and he pulled Nort beside him in the grass.
+
+Dick, who caught the words of warning, and saw what his cousin
+had done, also dropped down, so that, a second or two after the
+firing of the strange shot that had shattered the bottle, only
+the heads of the boy ranchers showed above the grass, and then
+only slightly. "What's the idea?" asked Dick, as silence followed
+the measure of safety.
+
+"Whoever it was that fired might shoot again," replied End.
+
+"Who was it?" asked Nort.
+
+"That's what we've got to find out," answered Bud in a low voice.
+
+"Could it have been either Snake or Yellin' Kid, riding back and
+breaking that bottle over our heads, to show what good shots they
+were?" asked Dick.
+
+"No, I hardly think so," replied his cousin. "They're both good
+shots, all right, and they could have broken that flask from the
+distance it was broken. But they wouldn't throw a scare into us
+this way. Besides, they haven't any time to fool around. They
+have an all-night ride ahead of them."
+
+"What makes you think the bottle was busted from some distance,
+Bud!" Dick wanted to know.
+
+"The way the bullet sounded," was the answer. "It was almost
+spent when it got here, but it had force enough to break the
+glass, and would have damaged us if it hit us. I thought whoever
+played that fool trick might try another shot, so I yanked you
+down, Nort."
+
+"Glad you did! I might not have thought of it. But whoever it was
+doesn't seem to be going to shoot again."
+
+"No," agreed Bud, after a little period of silence, during which
+no other menacing crack of a weapon was heard. "But we'll wait a
+little longer."
+
+Through the fast-gathering darkness the boys looked out from
+their semi-hiding places across the valley. No wisp of smoke, and
+no movement of horse or rider was to be observed. And silence
+once more settled down on Happy Valley--not quite so happy as it
+had been. For, following the clearing-up of the mystery of the
+water supply, new and sinister events seemed pending for the boy
+ranchers.
+
+But, as yet, there were only straws, showing which way the evil
+wind was blowing.
+
+"Could it have been a chance shot?" asked Dick, raising himself a
+little to get a better look.
+
+"That bullet was aimed straight for the bottle, over our heads,"
+declared Bud. "It was no chance shot."
+
+"One of ours couldn't have glanced, could it?" Dick wanted to
+know.
+
+"Surely not!" affirmed Bud. "Why, no one had shot for some time.
+I'd just put the new bottle on the stick for you."
+
+"Yes, and I was just going to shoot, when somebody took the
+bullet out of my gun, so to speak," went on Dick, grimly jesting.
+
+"Do you think they were shooting at--us?" asked Nort,
+hesitatingly.
+
+Bud did not answer for the moment, and when he did it was to say,
+as he suddenly arose:
+
+"If they did I'm going to give 'em another chance. And I'm going
+to do some shooting on my own account!" He had his gun in his
+hand, for he had so held it since he had shattered the first
+bottle, and now it was grasped in readiness for instant action.
+
+"We're with you!" cried Nort and Dick, as they emerged from their
+recumbent positions in the grass, and hastened to the side of
+their cousin.
+
+But though they looked across the valley, now half shrouded in
+gloom, and up and down, as far as they could see, no one was in
+sight. Here and there were small herds of their cattle. Back at
+the camp tents Buck Tooth was performing his evening duties, or
+"chores," as Bud called them. The Indian paid no attention to the
+shooting, for he knew the boys had gone to practice, and he could
+not be expected to realize that one of the shots was, possibly, a
+hostile one.
+
+I use the word "possibly" with reason, for, as yet, there was
+nothing to show that it was not either an accident, or had not
+been fired by some passing cowboy who, from a distance, seeing
+the bottle on a stick, could not resist a chance to "take a
+crack" at it. And yet this last theory would seem to be a poor
+one. For if the shot had been a joke the one who had fired it
+would, in all reason, it appeared, have shown himself soon after.
+
+"No one seems to show up," remarked Nort at length, in a low
+voice.
+
+"Then we'd better look for 'em before it gets too dark," declared
+Bud. "Come on! Let's get our horses."
+
+"Isn't it taking a chance, riding out to look for some one who
+may have fired at us purposely?" asked Dick.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud, after a moment's thought, "but life out west
+is all more or less of a chance and risk. You take a risk, every
+time you ride at more than a foot-pace, of your pony stepping
+into some prairie dog's hole and not only laming himself, but
+killing you. But you don't stop riding on that account."
+
+"No," agreed Nort.
+
+"And we take a chance every time we ride herd," went on Bud. "The
+steers may stampede, and before we can get 'em to milling, they
+may rush over us. But I notice neither of you ever back out of
+that job; do you?"
+
+"No," agreed Nort, adding: "Well, then, I reckon going after this
+unknown shooter isn't taking such a long chance."
+
+"I'm with you!" exclaimed Dick.
+
+Briefly telling Buck Tooth what had happened, the boy ranchers
+rode off at a fast pace, to take advantage of what little light
+of day remained. They headed, as nearly as they could ascertain
+it, in the direction whence the single shot had come. But it is
+hardly needless to say they found no one, and no sign that could
+be construed into a tangible clue.
+
+"We'll tell Snake and Yellin' Kid about it when they come back,"
+decided Bud, as he and his cousins returned to camp when darkness
+had completely fallen. For it was useless, after that, to search
+for the perpetrator of the joke.
+
+Or was it a joke?
+
+That is what the boy ranchers asked themselves more than once.
+
+Contrary to their half-formed expectations, the night passed
+quietly. There was no disturbance among the cattle, and no
+midnight visitors invaded the camp. But, for all this, the slumbers
+of our heroes were not easy. Perhaps they had premonitions of
+coming disaster.
+
+For disaster came, with the return, early on the morning of the
+next day, of Snake and Yellin' Kid.
+
+"They're after you, Bud!" shouted the cowboy with the loud voice.
+"They're after you!"
+
+"Who?" asked Bud, as he and his cousins came out to meet the
+cowboys.
+
+"Rustlers!" was the grim answer. "There's a lot of your steers
+missin' from that far herd! Rustlers, Bud! Rustlers!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FOUR EYES
+
+
+For a moment Bud Merkel seemed unable to comprehend the bad news
+thus brought to him by his cowboy helpers and friends. Nort and
+Dick, also, were shocked by the intelligence. But Bud quickly
+recovered. Perhaps it was because of his heritage of the west--the
+ability to face danger and disaster with grim courage, part
+of his father's stock in trade.
+
+"Rustlers, eh?" repeated Bud, and his voice was steadier than
+Yellin' Kid or Snake Purdee expected to find it. "Did they get
+many?"
+
+"Quite a bunch," answered Yellin' Bad. "We rounded up as many as
+we could, and--"
+
+"You mean you rounded up the _rustlers_?" asked Nort,
+eagerly.
+
+"No, what was left of the steers," answered Snake. "Guess we
+wouldn't be back here alone--that is, just us two, if we'd had a
+run-in with the rascals. We didn't see 'em, but we did find
+traces of 'em. What are you going to do, Bud? Get on their
+trail?"
+
+"Let's talk it over, first," suggested the boy rancher, and he looked
+at Nort and Dick, for they were partners with him on this venture of
+trying to raise cattle in Happy Valley--which would have been
+almost a desert save for the water that came through the strange
+mountain tunnel.
+
+"Tell us about it," urged Dick.
+
+"Well, there isn't so much to tell," replied Yellin' Kid, his
+voice a bit lower, now that there was serious business afoot.
+"Snake an' I started there, to haze back th' steers as you; told
+us, Bud. But when we'd rounded up th' herd, drivin' 'em in from
+where a lot of 'em had strayed, we saw, right away, that th'
+count was short. First we thought a bunch was hidin' out on us,
+but we made a pretty good search an' then we got th' evidence."
+
+"The evidence?" exclaimed Nort.
+
+"Yes, we saw where the rustlers had been at work. They must 'a'
+been there a day before we arrived. They probably cut out a good
+bunch of cattle an' drove 'em off. But they didn't drive 'em
+all."
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked Bud. "Do you mean that we have a
+few left?" and he laughed uneasily.
+
+"Oh, there's more'n a _few_," said Snake. "But by evidence
+Kid means we saw where they'd been blurrin' the brand--the
+Diamond X brand!"
+
+"Oh, they're doing that; are they?" asked Bud, sharply.
+
+"Yes, we found th' ashes of two or three brandin' fires," went on
+Yellin' Kid, "an' we picked up th' broken handle of a brandin'
+iron. No marks on it, like there was on the other," he said,
+referring to the time one of the irons from Double Z had been
+found on the range of the boy ranchers. "But we brought it along,
+anyhow," and he exhibited a broken and charred piece of wood.
+
+"But we found more than that," he continued. "We found one steer
+they'd killed, for beef likely, after they'd blurred th' brand.
+There wasn't much left. What th' rustlers didn't take th'
+buzzards did. But there was enough of th' hide left to show what
+work they were up to--blurring th' brand."
+
+This, as you have learned from the previous books of this series,
+consists in burning some other mark over the legitimate brand on
+cattle, so that the original one can not be made out. Then the
+animal may be claimed by whoever has it. Blurring a brand, that
+is, making it illegible, or changing one brand into another, are
+two of the methods used by unscrupulous men to steal cattle.
+
+The boy ranchers well understood what was meant by the news
+brought them by the two cowboys. The next thing to decide on was
+what course to pursue. "Did they leave any trail?" asked Bud.
+
+"Well, we didn't stop t' hunt for it, as long as it wasn't a
+plain one," Snake answered. "Likely we could 'a' picked it up.
+But as long as there had been a raid we decided th' best thing t'
+do was t' save th' rest of th' cattle, an' then come an' tell
+you, Bud."
+
+"How many cattle do you think they took?" asked Nort.
+
+"Oh, I should say fifty," answered Yellin Kid, "includin' th' one
+they killed for beef. Probably they blurred th' brands on th'
+others an' drove 'em off--an' I shouldn't be a bit s'prised," he
+went on, "but what we'd find most of your cattle, Bud, walkin'
+around on Double Z."
+
+"Hank Fisher; eh?" exclaimed Dick.
+
+"Yes, an' that slick Mexican half-breed of his, Del Pinzo!"
+declared Snake. "Anyhow, they got away with a bunch of your
+steers, Bud, an' now what are we goin' t' do? Are we goin' t' sit
+back an' let 'em laugh at us?"
+
+"Not much!" declared the boy rancher. "But let's get this
+straight. I wonder why they didn't drive off the whole herd while
+they were at it?"
+
+"Probably it was too big a contract for 'em," remarked Yellin'
+Kid. "An' then, too, they might not 'a' had men enough, or th'
+cattle may 'a' stampeded."
+
+"An' maybe they was scared off," added Snake.
+
+"Yes," agreed his partner on the ride from which they had just
+returned, "that may have been so. Somethin' may have scared th'
+rustlers. But if I get a chance at 'em, I'll throw a bigger scare
+int' 'em!" and he significantly tapped the grim .45 at his hip.
+
+"Any trace of which way they went?" asked Bud.
+
+"There is--up to a certain point," admitted Snake.
+
+"What do you mean?" the boy rancher asked.
+
+"Well, I mean we could trace the cattle down the valley up to
+that low place between the hills-a sort of pass. And then all
+trace of 'em was lost."
+
+"Lost!" repeated Nort.
+
+"Yes, sir, lost!" declared Snake. "You couldn't see any more
+signs of 'em than if they'd been lifted up in one of them flying
+machines and histed up over the mountain! That's th' funny part
+of this raid."
+
+"There have been some other queer things around here," said Dick.
+"There was that bottle last night."
+
+"What was that?" asked Snake, quickly.
+
+"There was some promiscuous shooting around here last night,"
+said Bud. "I'll tell you about it as soon as we get the straight
+of this rustler business. Maybe there's some connection. But I
+wonder----"
+
+He was interrupted by a voice singing, and the song was one of
+the usual cowboy refrains, though the voice was rather better
+than usual.
+
+At first the boy ranchers thought it might be Old Billee Dobb
+who, with Buck Tooth, had been out to a distant part of the
+valley to see if he could get on the track of a mountain lion which
+had been killing cattle. But a glance showed the approaching
+singer, who was also a rider, to be a stranger. He sat astride a big,
+black horse, much larger than the ordinary cow pony, and as he
+approached the camp the sun glinted in curious fashion on his face.
+
+"Four eyes!" exclaimed Snake, meaning, thereby, that the stranger
+wore glasses. The rising sun had reflected on their lens. On came
+"Four Eyes," singing as he advanced, until, when he came within
+hailing distance, he drew rein, saluted the assembled company
+with a half-military gesture and called out:
+
+"Any chance of a job here?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THROWING THE ROPE
+
+
+Silence followed this greeting and question, and then the two boy
+ranchers, and their cowboy friends, waited for Bud to speak, he
+being, in a sense, the head of the new organization. Though Dick
+and Nort held equal shares, purchased for them by their father,
+the two lads who had lived so long in the east deferred to the
+boy of the west in this matter, thinking, naturally, that he
+would better be able to handle it.
+
+"Looking for a place?" asked Bud, genially enough, as he surveyed
+the newcomer, from the top of his broad-brimmed range hat to the
+pawing hoofs of his black steed, for the horse was impatiently
+digging in the dirt.
+
+"Yep!" was the answer. "I'm looking for a place." The voice was
+pleasant, and there was none of that clipping off of the final
+"g" in his words, so common a practice among most of the cowboys.
+Perhaps they didn't have time to use the proper endings. "I'm
+dead anxious to ride for some outfit," went on "Four Eyes," as he
+had been dubbed and as he came to be called, as long as he
+remained with Diamond X Second. "Your father sent me over here,"
+he added.
+
+"My father!" exclaimed Bud. "Do you know him? I don't know you!"
+he added quickly, for he sensed that the stranger, in some
+manner, had managed to pick him from all the others as the son of
+the proprietor of Diamond X.
+
+"I don't claim to know your father, only having met him once,
+when I rode up, yesterday, to ask for a job," went on Four Eyes.
+"I slept out last night--back there," he added with a wave of 'is
+quirt in the direction of Diamond X. "Had supper with the boys at
+your father's ranch, and he told me you might be needing some
+one. If you don't----" He paused suggestively, evidently ready to
+ride on and try his luck elsewhere if there was no chance in the
+valley.
+
+"I may need some one," Bud said. In fact, he was in need of an
+additional hand, and since this latest action on the part of
+rustlers he wanted help more than ever, for he was about to put
+into execution a plan for getting on the trail of these
+marauders. "But how'd you know who I was?" he asked, anxious to
+ascertain how the stranger had picked him out, as distinguished
+from Nort or Dick.
+
+"Oh, your father looks like you," was the easy answer, given with
+a laugh, in which Snake, Yellin' Kid and the boy ranchers joined.
+"When he said he didn't need any riders, adding that perhaps you
+might, I decided to take a chance."
+
+"All right. I can use another hand--or, rather, _we_ can,"
+and Bud waved his hand toward his cousins. "You can turn your
+pony into the corral," he added, "and we'll give you something to
+eat--unless you've had breakfast?" he questioned.
+
+"Not so much but what I can eat more. Thanks! My name's Henry
+Mellon. I've ridden some for Curly Q and Long L if you want any
+references."
+
+"I reckon my dad sized you up all right," spoke Bud.
+
+"I reckon he did!" laughed Henry Mellon, or Four Eyes, as I shall
+call him, following the custom of the others on the ranch. "I
+wouldn't want to try to put anything over on him."
+
+"It isn't exactly healthy," agreed Bud, for his father bore an
+enviable reputation for finding out the truth about matters in
+that "cow country."
+
+"Ever ride for Double Z?" asked Yellin' Kid, and the loud tone's
+of his voice appeared to startle the newcomer.
+
+"Why, no," was the answer. "I can't say that I have. One of Mr.
+Merkel's ranches?" he asked.
+
+"No. It's Hank Fisher's place," spoke Snake. "Glad to meet up
+with you," he added, riding forward and extending his hand.
+"That's quite a hoss you got there. Beckon he can go some!"
+
+"Well, he doesn't take dust from many," was the cautious
+admission, as the new cowboy shook hands all around. "He'll be
+glad of a rest, though, for I've ridden hard lately. I suppose I
+can use another?" he asked Bud.
+
+"Sure," was the answer. "Snake here, or Yellin' Kid, will show
+you which ones you can add to your string. See you later,
+fellows," Bud called to his cowboy helpers, as he motioned to
+Nort and Dick to follow him to their own private tent.
+
+"What do you think of it, Bud?" asked Nort, when they were alone,
+and the new cowboy was being made to feel at home by Snake,
+Yellin' Kid, and Old Billee, who had by this time ridden in. The
+smell of cooking arose from the tent that Buck Tooth had turned
+into a kitchen.
+
+"You mean him?" and Bud nodded toward where the cowboys were
+congregated in friendly talk.
+
+"No, I mean about the rustlers."
+
+"Oh, they're bad! No question about it--they're _bad!_"
+declared Bud. "As soon as we get a chance we'll ride over and
+take a look at the place. It doesn't seem reasonable that they
+can drive a bunch of cattle off down the valley, and then have
+all traces of 'em disappear as if they'd gone up in an airship."
+
+"That's right!" chimed in Dick. "Do you s'pose this Four Eyes saw
+the rustlers?"
+
+"He didn't come from that direction," declared the western lad.
+
+"He _says_ he didn't," spoke Nort. And when Nort accented
+that one word Bud looked at his cousin quickly.
+
+"Don't you believe what he says?" Bud asked.
+
+"All the same I'd call up your father," went on Nort.
+
+Bud hesitated a moment and then said:
+
+"I will! No use taking chances. He may be all right, but it won't
+do any harm to know it. I like his looks, though we don't often
+get a cowboy with glasses. I'll call dad!"
+
+Which he did, on the telephone, learning from his father that Mr.
+Merkel knew nothing about the stranger, though he "sized him up,"
+as being all right.
+
+But Mr. Merkel had done more than this. He had called, on the
+telephone, or had been in communication, otherwise, with the late
+employers of Henry Mellon, and the cowboy was well spoken of. He
+was a reliable hand, it was said.
+
+"So we don't have to worry about _him_," Bud told his
+cousins. "But we do have to take some action about these
+rustlers! Hang 'em! I wish they were all bottled up in the
+tunnel!"
+
+"That's right!" chimed in Dick.
+
+"Are we going on their trail?" asked Nort.
+
+"If we can pick it up," agreed Bud. "Anyhow, we'll take a ride
+over that way. What with cattle missing, and queer shots being
+fired behind your back, we're likely to be in for as lively a
+time as when we had the water fight!"
+
+"Or locating a Triceratops!" added Nort with a laugh.
+
+After breakfast, and the finishing of the usual "chores" about
+camp, the boy ranchers prepared to ride over and look at the
+place where the raid had been made. "What cattle had not been
+taken--and it was only a small part of the herd that had been
+driven off--were now nearer the camp headquarters, having been
+hazed over by Snake and Yellin' Kid. Mr. Merkel had been told of
+the theft, and had advised prompt action on the part of his son
+and nephews.
+
+"Four Eyes seems to be making himself right at home," remarked
+Dick, as the three boys started toward the corral, intending to
+saddle their ponies and ride over to the scene of the
+cattle-rustling operations.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud.
+
+Henry Mellon was in the midst of Old Billee, Buck Tooth, Snake
+and Yellin' Kid, and, as the boy ranchers watched, they saw N
+Four Eyes twirling his lariat above his head.
+
+"What's he doing?" asked Dick.
+
+"Oh, just showing 'em some fancy roping," Bud answered.
+
+"Let's go over," suggested Nort. "I'd like to get on to a few
+tricks, myself."
+
+They found Four Eyes attempting some of the more difficult feats
+of rope throwing. After twirling his lasso about his head, the
+rope forming a perfect circle, he changed the direction from
+horizontal to perpendicular, and nimbly leaped backward and
+forward through the swiftly circling lariat.
+
+Snake tried this, but his spurs caught and there was a queer
+mix-up of man and rope. Snake could equal the newcomer's feat in
+twirling the rope around his head horizontally, but failed, as
+did Yellin' Kid, in the other trick.
+
+"It's just a knack," said Four Eyes, modestly enough. "I had a
+lot of spare time, and I practiced some of these fancy twists. I
+can rope four horses at once."
+
+"Yes you can--not!" challenged Snake.
+
+"I'll prove it--of course they have to be going in the same
+direction," stipulated the new cowboy.
+
+"Even with that I doubt it," went on Snake. "I've heard of that,
+but I never saw it done."
+
+"If you fellows will ride past me I'll rope you all," and Four
+Eyes indicated Snake, Yellin' Kid, Old Billee and Buck Tooth.
+They mounted horses, and as Bud, Nort and Dick watched, the
+newcomer prepared for the test.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE FIRE
+
+
+"Say when!" called Snake to the spectacle-wearing cowboy, as the
+reptile-fearing cow puncher and his companions prepared to let
+themselves be roped by the new arrival--providing he could do it.
+
+"I'll be ready in a moment," remarked Henry Mellon, and Bud and
+his cousins could not but note how differently he spoke from the
+average run of ranch hands.
+
+"More like one of those college professors who were after the
+ten-million-year-old Triceratops," remarked Nort, commenting on
+the talk.
+
+"Yes, he is a bit cultured in his speech," assented Bud. "Guess
+he hasn't been out west long."
+
+"Then how can he be such a wonderful roper?" Dick wanted to know,
+for there was no doubt about the ability of Four Eyes, even if he
+had not yet made good oh his boast of putting his lariat around
+four galloping horses at once.
+
+"Oh, well, it comes natural to some people," said Bud, "and then,
+too, he may have been in Mexico. Some of the Greasers are pretty
+slick with the horsehair. But let's watch."
+
+By this time the four cow punchers, counting Buck Tooth as one,
+for the Indian was a good herdsman, had lined themselves up about
+a hundred feet from where Four Eyes sat on his horse--not the
+same black one he had ridden in, but another, of Bud's stock,
+that had been assigned him.
+
+"Ready?" asked Yellin' Kid.
+
+"All ready! Come a running!" shouted Four Eyes, and even here he
+did not drop a "g."
+
+In an instant the four horses were in motion, coming together, in
+line, down the stretch which the newcomer faced. In another
+moment Four Eyes had ridden across the path of the oncoming
+steeds, and on the ground he spread out his lasso in a great
+loop, leaning over in his saddle to do this. He retained hold of
+the rope end that was fastened to his saddle, and then, having
+spread the net, as it were, he pulled up on the opposite side of
+the course down which the four were now thundering in a cloud of
+dust.
+
+"Can he do it?" asked Nort.
+
+"He can that way--yes," Bud said. "It's a trick! I thought he was
+going to make a throw."
+
+"It's a good trick, though, if he does it," declared Dick.
+
+In another instant all four horses ridden by the cowboys and the
+Indian were within the spread-out loop of Four Eyes as it lay on
+the ground. And then something happened.
+
+With a mere twist of his wrist, as it seemed, Henry Mellon
+snapped the outspread rope upward and, reining back his horse, he
+suddenly pulled the lasso taut.
+
+It was completely around the sixteen legs of the four horses,
+holding them together, the rope itself being half way down from
+the shoulder of each animal.
+
+"He did it! By the great rattler and all the little rattlers, he
+did it!" shouted Yellin' Kid, as he pulled his horse to a stop,
+an example followed by the others. For though they might all
+(save one, perhaps) have pulled out of the encircling rope, there
+possibly would have been an accident. One, or more, of the horses
+would have stumbled, or been pulled to the ground. And there was
+no need of that in what was only a friendly contest.
+
+"You did it!" declared Yellin' Kid, as Four Eyes loosed his rope
+and it fell to the ground, the riders guiding their horses out of
+the loop. "You shore did it!"
+
+"But it was a trick!" declared Old Billee. "'Tw'an't straight
+ropin'!"
+
+"Yes, it's a trick, but not every one can do it," said the new
+cowboy.
+
+"Betcher I can!" declared Snake.
+
+He tried--more than once, but failed. It was not as easy as it
+looked, in spite of the fact that it was a trick.
+
+"No one can throw, with any accuracy, a loop big enough to take
+in four horses on the run," declared Four Eyes when it had been
+demonstrated that he alone, of all the "bunch" at the Happy
+Valley ranch, could do what he had done. "At least if they can,
+I've never seen it. Two, maybe, or three, but not four. Putting
+your rope on the ground, and snapping it up as the horses get in
+it, is the only way I know."
+
+"I wish you'd show me," spoke Nort.
+
+"I will," promised Four Eyes. "You don't often have need for a
+trick like it, but it may come in useful some day."
+
+Then he showed the boys the knack of it, though it was evident
+they were not going to master the "how" in a hurry.
+
+Other feats in roping were indulged in by the cowboys, but none
+was as expert as Four Eyes. He seemed to possess uncanny skill
+with the lariat, though some of his tricks could be duplicated by
+Snake, Yellin' Kid and even by the boy ranchers.
+
+But life on a western ranch is not all fun and jollity, though as
+much of this as possible is indulged in to make up for the
+strenuous times that are ever present. So, after the roping
+exhibition was over, and the newcomer had been assigned certain
+duties, Bud, Nort and Dick rode down the valley, intending to
+look over the place where the steers had been stolen, and the
+carcass of one left as a grim reminder of the raid.
+
+Otherwise all in Happy Valley was peaceful. The water was running
+into the reservoir, through the pipes that connected with the
+mysterious underground course, once utilized, it was thought, by
+the ancient Aztecs.
+
+Here and there, feeding on the rich bunch and Johnson grass, were
+the cattle in which the boy ranchers were so vitally interested.
+The most distant herd had been driven in by Snake and Yellin'
+Kid--the herd on which the raid had been made. Like black specks
+on the green floor of the valley were the cattle, dotted here and
+there.
+
+"If we have luck this season we ought to round up a good bunch
+this fall," observed Bud, as he rode with his cousins.
+
+"Yes," agreed Nort. "The water can't be shut off now, and we have
+nothing to worry about."
+
+"Except rustlers," put in Dick.
+
+"And the fellow who broke the bottle for us," added Bud. "I'd
+like to know who he was."
+
+"It was a bit queer," Nort admitted. "But I believe it was some
+passing cow puncher playing a joke on us. This cattle stealing is
+no joke, though, and it's got to stop!"
+
+"You let loose an earful that time," spoke Bud, in picturesque,
+western slang. "We'll have to let the bottle-breaker wait for a
+spell, until we size up this rustler question. We may have to get
+up a sheriff's posse and clean out the rascals."
+
+"If we can find 'em," grimly added Dick.
+
+It was some distance to the place where Yellin' Kid and Snake
+Purdee had seen evidences of the raid, and it was long past noon
+when the boys reached it. They had stopped for "grub" on the way,
+having carried with them some food. Water they could get from one
+of the several concrete troughs that had been installed, the
+fluid coming through pipes from the reservoir.
+
+"Here's where they killed the steer, or yearling," Bud said,
+pointing to a heap of bones.
+
+It was all that remained from the feast of the buzzards.
+
+"And here's where they started to drive off the cattle,
+evidently," added Nort, pointing to where a plain trail, made by
+the feet of many animals, led away from the ground that was more
+generally trampled by a large herd.
+
+"Let's follow it," urged Dick. "We want to see when it gets to
+the disappearing point."
+
+"That's right!" chimed in Bud.
+
+They urged their ponies slowly along the trail left by the
+rustlers. It seemed to go down the valley to the place where the
+hills lowered on either side to form a sort of pass. It was in
+this pass that the two cowboys said the trail was lost.
+
+"We've got some distance to go, yet," observed Bud, as they
+paused to look and make sure they had not lost the trail.
+
+"And, after all, maybe we'll only find the same thing Snake and
+Kid did--nothing!" said Nort.
+
+"Well," began Bud, "we've got to get to the bottom of this, and
+if we don't in one way we will----"
+
+He was interrupted by a shout from Dick.
+
+"Look!" cried the stout lad. "There's a fire! The grass is on
+fire, Bud!"
+
+The western lad gave a quick look in the direction Dick
+indicated. It was off to the right from the trail they had been
+following.
+
+"It is a fire--regular prairie fire," Bud murmured.
+
+"Could any of the reservation Indians be on the rampage and have
+set it?" asked Nort.
+
+"I don't know! We've got to find out about it!" shouted Bud.
+"Come on, fellows!" And, wheeling his horse, he abandoned the
+trail of the rustlers, and galloped toward the fire, followed by
+Nort and Dick.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SERIOUS QUESTIONS
+
+
+Some time before the boy ranchers reached the scene of the grass
+fire toward which they were riding, they caught the smell of the
+burning fodder. That it was only grass which was aflame they had
+known before this, for that was all there was to ignite in that
+section of the valley. There were no buildings as yet, tents
+taking their place. Though Bud and his father planned to erect
+substantial structures if this year was successful.
+
+"A lot of good fodder going up in smoke, Bud!" yelled Nort, as he
+rode beside his cousin.
+
+"If it isn't any worse than that we're lucky," was the answer.
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Dick.
+
+"I mean if we don't lose any cattle. The grass isn't any good
+after it dries up on the ground, the way this has. But if the
+fire starts a stampede of cattle--that will mean a loss."
+
+"Do you think that's what the game is?" asked Nort, encouraging
+his pony, Blaze, by patting the animal's neck.
+
+"I can't see what else it is, unless the fire started when some
+one threw down a burning match or cigarette, and most cow
+punchers aren't that careless. Our fellows wouldn't do it, and I
+don't believe any other ranchers around here would, except on
+purpose."
+
+"You mean the Double Z bunch?" asked Dick.
+
+"Sort of heading that way," replied Bud, significantly.
+
+Together the boy ranchers rode on toward the fire, silently for a
+time, the only sounds being the thud of their ponies' feet and
+the creak of saddle leathers and stirrups. The smell of the
+burning grass was more pronounced now, and the pall of black
+smoke was rolling upward in a larger cloud.
+
+"It's a big fire!" exclaimed Nort. "How can we stop it, Bud?"
+
+"It will soon burn out," the western lad replied. "I happen to
+know where this grass is. It's a place where we couldn't very
+well bring water to, and if it doesn't rain much, as it hasn't
+lately, the fodder gets as dry as tinder. There's a sort of
+swale, or valley, filled with this dry grass and it's just
+naturally burning itself off."
+
+"Then no very great harm will be done; will there?" asked Dick.
+
+"Not much, unless the cattle get frightened and start to
+stampede. That's what I'm afraid of, and why I'm riding over
+there. We can't hope to put out the fire." Owing to the fact that
+the grass was so dry that no cattle would feed on it, there were
+no steers in the immediate vicinity of the blaze Had the fodder
+been cut it would have made excellent hay, but it would need to
+be cut green to bring this about. As it was, the tall grass had
+just naturally dried up as it attained its growth.
+
+"It doesn't take even as much as a blaze like this to start a
+stampede," said Bud, as he and his cousins rode nearer to the
+burning grass, They could feel the heat of it, now. "It's queer
+how frightened animals are of fire," went on the rancher's son.
+"There must have been some wonderful sights out here, years ago,
+when there were millions of buffalo, and when there were prairie
+fires, miles in width, driving them before it."
+
+"I should say so!" chimed in Nort. "I've read some of those
+stories in Cooper's books. He's great; isn't he!"
+
+"You delivered the goods that time!" remarked Bud.
+
+"I wish the west was like that now," voiced Dick. "With Indians
+and buffalo all over."
+
+"There are a few Indians left yet," said Bud. "They're mostly on
+reservations, except when they make a break, ride off and act up
+bad. I guess we stock raisers are better off without the wild
+Indians.
+
+"As for the buffalo, they were mighty valuable, and if we could
+raise them as well as cattle, we'd make a lot of money. The
+government is trying to get several herds started, but it's no
+easy task. Why, there are almost as many buffalo in New York city
+as there is out west now."
+
+"Where!" asked Nort, not thinking for the moment.
+
+"In Bronx Park," answered Bud. "I haven't seen 'em but I've read
+about 'em."
+
+"Oh, yes. So have I," agreed Nort. "I forgot about them. Whew!
+It's getting hot," he added, as a shift in the wind brought into
+their faces a wave of heated and smoke-filled air.
+
+"We'd better not keep on any nearer," decided Bud. "Let's ride
+around to the other side, and see what we can see."
+
+Accordingly they turned to the right, as the fire seemed less
+fierce on that quarter, and continued on. They had been riding
+over a stretch of the valley carpeted with rich, dark green and
+fairly damp grass. Bud and his cousins knew that when the fire
+reached this stretch it would die out for lack of fuel.
+
+In fact the blaze, as they could see, was confined to an area
+about a mile square, but of irregular shape. So far none of the
+cattle in sight had shown more than momentary fear of the blaze.
+They had run some distance from it and then stopped, sometimes
+going on with their eating, and again pausing to look with
+fear-widened eyes at the sight of the leaping tongues of fire.
+
+"But we can't tell what's going on behind that smoke screen,"
+declared Bud. "Some rustlers may have started it to hide their
+work."
+
+"Any of your men over in that direction?" asked Dick.
+
+"They aren't supposed to be," Bud replied. "Of course some of 'em
+may have ridden over when they saw the smoke, same as we did. But
+I don't see how any of 'em could have reached here as soon as we
+did."
+
+Together they rode on, circling to the right to get around the
+edge of the fire.
+
+"She's dying out," observed Dick.
+
+"Yes, it can't burn much longer," admitted Bud. "And no great
+damage done, either, unless we find something we haven't yet
+seen."
+
+But when they had completed the circuit around the edge of the
+blazing grass, and could ride across the fire-blackened area, and
+behind what was still a thick screen of smoke, they saw something
+which caused them great surprise.
+
+This was not the sight of a bunch of stampeding cattle, though it
+was what Bud and his cousins folly; expected to encounter. There
+were some cattle on this side of the fire, but they had run far
+enough away to be out of danger, and beyond where they could be
+frightened into a frenzied rush.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Nort, pointing.
+
+"Four Eyes!" exclaimed Dick.
+
+"By the great horned toad and Zip Foster--yes!" agreed Bud, and
+his cousins knew he must be stirred to unusual depths of feeling
+to use this name. Zip Foster had not been mentioned in several
+weeks. The mysterious personage, on whom Bud called in times of
+great excitement, was almost a stranger, of late, in Happy
+Valley. In fact Dick and Nort never could get Bud to talk about
+Zip. But that is a story which will be told in its proper place,
+and due season.
+
+"It _is_ Four Eyes!" went on Bud, as he and his cousins
+recognized in the form of a distant rider that of Henry Mellon,
+the new cowboy. "And what he's doing here is more than I can
+imagine. I'm going to find out, though!"
+
+The spectacled cow puncher was riding swiftly along, on a course
+that ran parallel to the direction of the fire. He was on the
+edge of the burned area, and galloping-away from the boys. But he
+was not beyond seeing or hailing distance.
+
+"Hello there!" shouted Bud, dropping his reins and making a
+megaphone of his hands.
+
+Four Eyes heard the call--there was no doubt of that, for he
+turned in his saddle and looked back. Then he must have seen the
+boys, for he waved his hat at them. Next he pointed ahead, as if
+to indicate that he was in pursuit of some one, and kept on,
+never slacking his pace.
+
+"Come on!" shouted the impulsive Nort. "Let's catch up to him!"
+
+He was about to spur his pony forward, but Bud caught the bridle.
+
+"No use," said the western lad. "He's too far ahead, and our
+horses are too played out If he comes back well hear about it. If
+he doesn't--"
+
+"Why, don't you think he'll come back!" interrupted Pick.
+
+"It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't," Bud answered. "There are
+some queer things going on around here, and he may be one of 'em.
+Though I haven't any reason to suspect him--yet!" he quickly
+added.
+
+"What are we going to do!" asked Dick, as he saw his cousin
+slacking his pony's pace. "Shall we go on to the end of the
+rustler's trail, or follow Four Eyes."
+
+"Neither one," answered Bud. "At least not just yet," he added,
+as he saw Nort and Dick look at him curiously. "Let Four Eyes go,
+for the time being. He may have seen some cowboys he'd like to
+interview about this fire, and be after them. Or he may not. As
+for getting on the trail of the rustlers, we'd have to ride back
+quite a distance to do that, and it would be dark when we picked
+it up again. Too late to do anything."
+
+"Are we going back to camp?" asked Dick.
+
+"No, let's stay right here. We've got grub, and water isn't so
+far off. We'll just camp out for the night."
+
+"Suits me," assented Dick.
+
+"Same here," agreed Nort.
+
+It was something the boys had often done. They carried blankets
+and tarpaulins on their saddles, ready for this emergency, and
+they "packed" sufficient rations for several substantial, if not
+elaborate, meals. They had a coffee pot, a frying pan, bacon and
+prepared flour, and flapjacks were within their range of
+abilities as cooks.
+
+Pausing to note that the fire was rapidly dying out, that there
+was no cattle stampede in their vicinity, and noting that Four
+Eyes was now almost out of sight, the boy ranchers rode on to the
+nearest water-hole, and there prepared to spend the night, though
+it was still several hours until darkness should fall. But the
+horses were tired, for they had been run hard after the fire, and
+the boys decided to rest them. The lads, themselves, were fresh
+enough to have kept on, had there been occasion for it.
+
+"Well, I'm glad this was no worse," observed Bud, as they sat
+down, having picketed their steeds, and looked at the receding
+pall of smoke. "I only hope the fellows at camp won't be
+worried."
+
+"I guess they know we can take care of ourselves--at least we
+have so far," spoke Nort.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud. "You fellows have done pretty well since you
+came out here--you aren't tenderfeet any longer, not by all the
+shots that ever broke bottles."
+
+"Say, what do you think of that, anyhow?" asked Dick, as he
+chewed reflectively on a bit of grass.
+
+"I don't know what to think," asserted Bud. "There are a lot of
+serious questions we have to settle if we're going to keep on
+with this ranch."
+
+"Why, we are going to keep on, aren't we?" asked Nort.
+
+"I should say so!" cried Bud. "We're going to stick here,
+rustlers or not! And those are the only fellows I'm worrying
+about," and he tossed a lump of dirt in the fire which Dick was
+starting.
+
+"Are there always rustlers to worry about on a ranch?" asked
+Nort.
+
+"More or less," answered his cousin. "Especially when you have a
+place so near Double Z. I don't accuse Hank Fisher of being a
+rustler, exactly," he went on, "though I think Del Pinzo is.
+That's been proved, but it didn't do much good, for he broke jail
+and they can't seem to land him."
+
+"What makes Hank Fisher and that Double Z bunch so sore at you?"
+asked Dick.
+
+"I guess it's because we're beating them at the cattle game,"
+answered Bud. "And because dad dammed the Pocut River and took
+some water for this valley. As if that hurt Hank!" he added. "But
+he makes that an excuse. However, I'll fight him to the finish!"
+
+"And we're with you!" added Dick and Nort.
+
+After supper they sat around the fire, talking of various
+matters. But ever and again the question troubled them of whether
+or not they could get on the trail of the rustlers. And, too,
+they wondered what could be the object of Four Eyes.
+
+Night settled down, quiet save for the occasional snorting of the
+ponies. The boys wrapped themselves in their blankets and crawled
+between their tarpaulins with their feet to the smouldering fire.
+They talked until drowsiness stole over them and then, having
+decided to maintain no watch, they all three slumbered.
+
+What time it was that Bud awakened he did not know. But awaken he
+did, and suddenly.
+
+And the cause of his awakening was the sound of a horse rapidly
+ridden, and, evidently, approaching the place where he and his
+cousins had camped for the night.
+
+"Who's there?" cried Bud suddenly, and without preface. Under the
+blanket his hand sought his weapon.
+
+"Who's there!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE WATCH TOWER
+
+
+Quickly the galloping hoofbeats came to a pause. With a motion of
+his foot, as he sat up amid his blanket and tarpaulin, Bud kicked
+into the fire a stick of greasewood which flared up, revealing a
+rider on a panting horse standing over the boy ranchers, all
+three of whom were now awake.
+
+"Four Eyes!" cried Bud, for the flaring fire had revealed that
+cowboy. He had accepted his nickname in perfect grace.
+
+"That's who," was the good-natured answer. "I saw the fire as I
+was riding back, and I thought you'd be here."
+
+"Where were you riding _to_?" asked Bud, pointedly, his
+fingers releasing their grip on the .45 under the blanket. "I
+thought you were with Old Billee."
+
+"I was supposed to be," answered Four Eyes, "until my horse got
+out of the corral and Billee said I could trail him. That's what
+I was doing when I saw you behind the fire. I knew it was almost
+burned out, so I didn't stop, or come back to explain."
+
+"Yes, the fire didn't amount to much, though how it was started
+is another question," said Bud. "You say your black horse got
+out?"
+
+"Yes, jumped the corral fence. He's a bad one at that."
+
+"You didn't get him back," observed Nort, for he and Dick, as
+well as Bud, had noticed that the new cow puncher bestrode one of
+the extra ponies kept at the camp corral for use in relieving the
+regular animals.
+
+"No, he got clean away," and Henry Mellon did not seem to worry
+much about it. "All I have to say," he went on, "is that some one
+will get a mighty good mount, outside of his habit of jumping out
+of corrals."
+
+"You may get him back--if whoever picks him up knows where he
+belongs," said Bud. For in that cow country it was still regarded
+as a great crime to steal a horse, or keep one known to belong to
+some one else.
+
+"Oh, I'll prospect a bit farther for him tomorrow, maybe," said
+Four Eyes. "I didn't want to ride too far this evening, so I
+turned back. Did you get on any trail of the rustlers?" he asked,
+for he had been aware of the object of the boys' ride.
+
+"We switched off to come over to the fire," said Bud. "Did you
+notice anything about it?"
+
+"It was burning pretty good when I struck here, from over at your
+camp," was the answer. "I saw that it wasn't likely to do much
+damage, so I didn't ride back to tell Billee and the others."
+
+"Did you see any one suspicious?" Bud went on, getting up and
+putting more wood on the fire.
+
+"No, I didn't," answered Four Eyes, quietly. "Of course anyone
+would have had time to start the fire, and get well away before I
+arrived on the scene--judging by the way it was burning," he
+said. "Though I can't see what object anyone could have, and I'm
+inclined to think a passing cow puncher--not one of your crowd
+but some one else--may have flipped a cigarette butt into the
+grass where it smouldered for some time."
+
+"That may have happened," Bud admitted. "As for an object, if the
+fire had stampeded the cattle it would have given some bunch of
+Greasers or rustlers a chance to get away with a few steers."
+
+"Oh, yes, of course," agreed Four Eyes. "Well, I didn't see
+anybody. Guess I may as well turn in here. No use riding back to
+the camp to-night. It'll soon be morning."
+
+"That's right, turn in," invited Bud. His suspicions had
+vanished.
+
+"There's some cold coffee if you want it," added Nort.
+
+"Guess I'll put it on to heat," said Henry Mellon. "It's a bit
+chilly."
+
+"What time is it?" asked Dick, as the cowboy stirred up the
+embers and set the blackened coffee pot on over some stones that
+had been made into a rude fireplace.
+
+"Two o'clock," announced Four Eyes, with a glance at his watch.
+
+The boy ranchers watched him idly as he made and drank the
+coffee, munching some hard crackers he carried in one of his
+pockets. Then, rolling up in their blankets, the quartette went
+to sleep.
+
+Morning came, in due course, without any untoward incidents
+having occurred. The boys looked across the fire-swept area to
+where, beyond it, many cattle could be observed grazing. There
+was no further vestige of fire. The heavy dew had extinguished
+the last, smouldering spark.
+
+"Well, I'm going back to the camp," announced Four Byes, as they
+got the simple breakfast. And how appetizing was that aroma of
+sizzling bacon and strong coffee! "Want me to tell 'em anything
+for you!" he asked Bud.
+
+"Tell 'em about the fire," was the request. "And say we're going
+on the trail of the rustlers. We'll be back to-day, though,
+around night, for we haven't grub enough to carry us farther."
+
+"What you going to do about your horse?" asked Dick.
+
+"What can I do?" asked Henry Mellon, in turn. "I can't spend all
+my time hunting him, when I've got to ride herd."
+
+"We'll be on the lookout," Nort said.
+
+"Hope you have luck," commented the strange cowboy, as he took
+off his glasses and wiped them on his silk neckerchief. "I'm lost
+without Cinder, though this pony isn't so bad," and he patted the
+neck of the animal he was riding.
+
+A little later the boy ranchers were taking a short cut across
+the fire-blackened strip, to get on the trail of the men who had
+driven off their cattle, while Four Eyes turned the head of his
+pony toward camp.
+
+"Well, it looks as if this was where the trail ended," announced
+Bud, several hours later.
+
+"Mighty funny, to come to an end so suddenly," commented Dick.
+
+The three boys had reached one end of the many small valleys into
+which the larger vale was divided. They had been following the
+trail of the cattle that had been driven off--it was plain enough
+until they reached a rocky and shale-covered defile between two
+small hills. Then, for some reason or other, all "sign" came to
+an abrupt end. There were no further marks of hoofs in the earth,
+and none of the ordinary marks to indicate that cattle and horses
+had been beyond a certain point.
+
+"It's just as Snake said," observed Dick. "They must have driven
+the animals here and then lifted them over the hill in an
+aeroplane."
+
+"They couldn't!" declared Nort.
+
+"I know they couldn't. But how else do you account for it?" asked
+his brother.
+
+"They may have driven 'em through the pass, and then scattered
+dirt and stones over the trail to hide it," suggested Bud.
+
+"Let's look a little farther then," remarked Dick.
+
+They did, but without discovering any clues. It was as though the
+rustlers had driven the cattle to the bottom of a rocky and
+bush-covered slope, and then as if the side of the hill had suddenly
+opened, providing a way through.
+
+"Like some old fairy yarn!" declared Bud. "This gets me!"
+
+"If we could only have gotten on the trail of the rascals sooner,
+Bud, we might have learned the secret," spoke Nort. "We ought to
+keep better watch!"
+
+"How could we?" asked Bud. "We shoot off on the trail, now, as
+soon as we hear of anything."
+
+"Yes, but we ought to get on the jump quicker," insisted his
+cousin. "If we had an airship, for instance!" and he laughed at
+the impracticability of his remark.
+
+"You can see pretty nearly the whole of the valley from the top
+of Snake Mountain," spoke Dick, when he and Bud had joined in the
+laugh at Nort's airship idea. "If one of us could be up there--"
+
+"We'd have to be there all the while!" interrupted Bud. "There's
+no telling when the rustlers will come. Talk about being on the
+watch! It's all right to say so, but how you going to work it?"
+
+Dick suddenly uttered an exclamation.
+
+"What's the matter?" his brother wanted to know. "See a snake?"
+
+"No, but I've got the idea! A watch tower! Why not build one at
+our camp--or up on the side of the hill back of the reservoir? We
+could make it of logs--high enough to give us a good view. It
+wouldn't be much of a trick to climb up in the watch tower three
+or four times a day and survey the place. A watch tower is the
+thing, Bud!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN SPITE OF ALL
+
+
+Nort and Bud stared at Dick for several seconds without making
+any remark. They were sitting on their ponies, completely baffled
+by the manner in which the trail of the rustlers had suddenly
+"petered out." And they had been about to turn and go back to
+camp when Dick made his enthusiastic remark.
+
+"A watch tower?" repeated Bud.
+
+"Sure!" declared his cousin. "We used to build 'em when I
+belonged to the Boy Scouts. Remember, Nort?"
+
+"Sure! It begins to come back to me. We used to bind saplings
+together and make quite a high perch. The idea was that you might
+be able to see your way if you got lost," he explained to Bud.
+
+"Not a bad idea, either," commented the western lad. "I begin to
+see your drift, as the wind said to the snowstorm. You mean to
+build a sort of high platform up by the reservoir, Dick?"
+
+"Yes, a watch tower of logs, strong enough to hold one or two
+fellows. You could make ladders so's we could reach the top
+platform, or we could scramble up if we left hand and foot holds
+where we lopped the branches off saplings."
+
+"That's right!" cried Bud, now almost as enthusiastic as was his
+cousin. "And with a good pair of glasses, or a telescope such as
+dad has at the ranch, we could see all over the valley."
+
+"Let's make it!" cried Nort, and the matter was settled as
+quickly as that.
+
+Something of the excitement that had moved them must have been
+visible on the faces of the boys when they returned to camp, for
+Old Billee, greeting them in the absence of the other cowboys,
+asked:
+
+"Did you land 'em, Bud?"
+
+"Who; the rustlers? No. Couldn't see where they'd vanished to any
+more than, as one of the boys said, as if an airship had been
+used. But we got an idea, Billee."
+
+"They're valuable--sometimes," agreed the veteran cow puncher
+cautiously.
+
+"We hope this one is going to be!" frankly laughed Bud. "We're
+going to build a watch tower, and take turns staying up in it
+with a telescope. We can see almost the whole valley if we get
+high enough, and as there aren't many patches of woodland where
+the rascals can hide, we hope to spot the rustlers as soon as
+they begin their tricks."
+
+"Well, you may do it," and again the cowboy was very cautious. "I
+never heard of cattle rustlers bein' caught that way, but when
+other means fail, try suthin' diffrunt! We'll tackle th' tower!"
+
+And as the other cowboys, even Four Eyes, pronounced the scheme
+worth trying, it was put into operation. Mr. Merkel, to whom Bud
+communicated his idea over the telephone, rather laughed at it.
+
+"How about nights?" asked the ranchman. "No matter how high you
+are up after dark you can't see any better."
+
+"But most of the raids of the rustlers have been in daylight,"
+declared Bud.
+
+"It's about fifty-fifty," his father told him. "However, it won't
+do any harm to try it. Only don't fall off that watch tower of
+yours. I'll come out and look at it when you get it done."
+
+The boy ranchers and their cow punchers started work the next
+day. Dick and Nort remembered, in a dim way, how, as Boy Scouts,
+they had helped erect towers, hastily constructed of saplings.
+Their recalled knowledge, together with the natural adaptability
+and skill of the cowboys, finally succeeded in there being
+evolved, and erected, on the aide of the valley rather a
+pretentious tower. "It must look like an oil well derrick from a
+distance," observed Nort, when it was al most completed.
+
+"What do we care how it looks, if it does the trick?" retorted
+Bud. "From that perch, and with this telescope dad let me take, I
+can tell the color of a cow clear to the end of our valley."
+
+There was no question but what the watch tower did provide an
+excellent vantage point. From its top platform, reached by rude
+ladders, any unusual movement in the entire valley could be seen
+during the day.
+
+It was planned that the boys--and by this I mean the hired
+cowboys also--should take turns in being on watch in the tower
+during certain periods each day. A schedule was drawn up by Bud
+and his cousins, and put into operation as soon as the tower was
+completed.
+
+"And now we'll catch the rustlers at work!" boasted Bud.
+
+But alas for their hopes! In spite of all their precautions, and
+setting at naught the hard work of constructing the tower, there
+was another raid on the cattle in Happy Valley, about a week
+after the wooden perch had been set up.
+
+It was not a disastrous raid, and only a half score of steers
+were driven off from one of the more distant herds. But the raid
+took place, and at night. It was discovered one morning, just as
+Bud was going up into the tower, where a seat and sheltered place
+had been built.
+
+"They fooled us, Bud," said Old Billee, riding in from a distant
+part of the valley.
+
+"Fooled us? How?"
+
+"They let us watch by day, an' they come an' robbed by night!
+Another bunch of steers gone!"
+
+"Well--by Zip Foster!" cried Bud, slamming his hat down on the
+ground. "I'm getting tired of this!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE SIGNAL
+
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Dick, hastening from the tent where he
+had been making a new loop on his lariat, in preparation for
+practicing some of the stunts worked by Four Eyes.
+
+"Have you discovered something from the tower?" asked Nort.
+
+"Yes, I've discovered that the tower isn't any good!" exclaimed
+Bud with emphasis. "Oh, it isn't your fault, Dick," he went on,
+as he saw that his cousin looked a bit crestfallen. "The tower is
+all right."
+
+"Then you saw some rustlers from it?" asked Nort.
+
+"No, that's the trouble," said Bud, ruefully. "We didn't see them
+but they were here all right--last night. Tell us about it,
+Billee," he requested.
+
+"Well, there isn't an awful lot to tell," said the veteran cow
+puncher. "I was just prospectin' around, over on that new growth
+of Johnson grass, like you told me to, an' I saw where a steer
+had been killed, an' they had eat most of it, too, by th' signs."
+
+"You mean the rustlers?" asked Nort.
+
+"Rustlers, Greasers, Del Pinzo's bunch--anything you like t' call
+'em," asserted Billee. "Somebody, that hadn't any right t' do it,
+druv off our cattle!"
+
+"And I say it's about time it was stopped!" declared Bud with as
+great positiveness as before. This time he picked up the hat he
+had dashed to the ground and dusted it off. "I'm going to do
+something desperate!" he declared.
+
+"What, son?" asked Old Billee mildly. "They's allers been
+rustlers in this cow country, an' they'll allers be some, I
+reckon. Course if you can git 'em in th' _act_, they's nothin' t' do
+but shoot 'em up. But when you can't git 'em--"
+
+"That's what I'm going to do!" declared Bud. "I'm going to get on
+the trail of these rustlers and clean 'em out! Tell us more about
+it, Billee. No use getting up in the watch tower now," he added,
+gloomily enough. "We've got other work cut out for us. Go ahead,
+Billee! Shoot!"
+
+"Let me give you a word of advice first, Buddy boy," spoke the
+veteran cowboy as he slowly got off his pony, an act of grace for
+which the animal was, doubtless, duly thankful. Billee was no
+featherweight, though he was as active as need be, in spite of
+his bulk.
+
+"What's the advice?" asked Bud good-naturedly. His first hot
+anger was beginning to cool.
+
+"Well, my advice is to leave these rustler alone," said Old
+Billee. "They's allers been rustlers here an' they'll allers be
+here. Every cow country has 'em. They're like th' old pirates
+that used t' hold up th' ships. Taking tribute, so t' speak."
+
+"But our country didn't pay that tribute long!" exclaimed Dick,
+remembering the brilliant exploits of Decatur against the
+corsains of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. "'Millions for defense,
+but not a cent for tribute'!" quoted Dick in a ringing voice.
+
+"That's what I say!" chimed in Nort.
+
+"Well, it _is_ tribute, in a way," admitted Old Billee. "I
+was going t' say if you'd let th' rustlers make off with a few
+steers now an' then it would save trouble. They're used t' takin'
+a few. But if you fight 'em then they'll make a big raid with a
+big gang, an' mebby, take all you got, Bud!"
+
+"I'd like to see 'em try it!" cried the western lad. "And I won't
+sit by and have my cattle stolen; will we, fellows?" he appealed
+to his cousins.
+
+"Not on your life!" declared Nort and Dick.
+
+"Well, I shore do like t' hear you talk that-a-way," said Old
+Billee. "I didn't think you'd do it. Course it ain't no fun t'
+sit still an' let these onery Greasers walk off with your cattle.
+But, as I say, it's sometimes easier'n 'tis t' fight 'em. Lots of
+th' ranchmen do pay tribute in a way. Your father was one of th'
+fust t' fight 'em, Bud, but even he has sorter give up now, an'
+he don't raise no terrible row when a few of his steers get hazed
+off."
+
+"Well, dad has more, and losing a few doesn't put a crimp in
+him," said Bud. "It's different with us, and I'm not going to
+stand it. Zip Foster wouldn't and I'm not going to!" and again he
+dashed his hat on the ground, thereby startling Billee's horse.
+
+"Say, why don't you get Zip Foster over to help chase the
+rustlers?" asked Dick, slyly nudging Nort. They had long been
+trying to get Bud to a "show down" on the identity of this
+mysterious personage.
+
+"Oh, I reckon we can do it ourselves," and Bud seemed to regret
+mentioning the name of his favorite.
+
+"Just what are you aimin' t' do, son?" asked Billee, as Snake and
+Yellin' Kid rode up, ready for their day's work out on the range
+among the cattle.
+
+"I don't exactly know, but it's going to be something and
+something hard!" asserted Bud. "Are there any clues over there,
+Billee, to give us a lead?"
+
+"Not many, Bud. Just th' usual. They come onto a few scattered
+steers, killed one roasted what they wanted of it, slipped off
+the hide an' left th' rest t' th' buzzards. Then they druv off
+th' remainder. I didn't foller th' trail, for I could see they
+was half a dozen rustlers in th' bunch, an' it ain't exactly
+healthy for one man t' trail a crowd like that even if he was a
+two-gun man, which I don't lay no claim t' bein' no how,"
+concluded the veteran modestly. They all knew he would be brave
+enough in an even fight. But they all recognized the fact that it
+would have been foolish for him, alone, to have attempted to
+trail a gang of desperate men.
+
+"Well, I'm going to see what we can do," Bud declared. "If you've
+sized up all there was to see over there, Billee," and he nodded
+in the direction of the latest raid on Diamond X Second, "there's
+no use in me going over. I think I'll go have a talk with dad,"
+he concluded. "I want action!"
+
+"So do we!" added Dick.
+
+"Then come along!" invited his cousin.
+
+A little later the boy ranchers were riding out of the valley, on
+their way to the main ranch of Diamond X. They would not be back
+until late that night, or, possibly, until the following morning,
+for Bud wanted to have a good, long talk with his father, and
+decide on some plan of action, that would drive out the rustlers
+and keep them away.
+
+As Old Billee had said, probably an older and more experienced
+rancher would have put up with a few losses for the sake of peace
+and quietness. But Bud, like most lads of his age, was impulsive.
+And, as he had said, the loss of even a few steers meant possible
+failure to him and his cousins, just starting in the ranch
+business as they were.
+
+"Was that a black one?" suddenly asked Bud, as Nort's horse shied
+at something.
+
+"A black what!" Nort wanted to know.
+
+"A black jack rabbit that ran across the trail in front of you
+just now," Bud resumed. "If it was, it will bring bad luck, as
+Old Billee would say," and he laughed.
+
+"No, it was a sort of gray one, part white," Nort answered, for
+it was one of those immense hares that had leaped across the
+trail, almost under the feet of his pony.
+
+"That means we'll have part bad luck and part good," declared
+Dick.
+
+And some hours later, when they had reached Bud's home, and Nell
+was serving peach pie and glasses of milk to the boy ranchers,
+Nort paused long enough in his eating to remark:
+
+"_This_ is the good luck, Bud."
+
+"You declaimed something that time!" agreed his brother.
+
+Mr. Merkel listened to what Bud and his cousins told them of the
+raids on Happy Valley.
+
+"Well, you haven't suffered any more than the average ranchman,
+just starting in," said Bud's father. "The rustlers always seem
+to pick on a newcomer."
+
+"Well, they'll find I'm a sort of prickly pear to pick on!"
+asserted Bud. "Dad, can't we clean out these rascals?"
+
+"Well, it's your ranch, Bud! You can do anything you like, within
+reason, but I wouldn't like to see you take any foolish risks."
+
+"There's got to be some risks," declared Bud. "I'm not looking to
+get out of 'em. But don't you think it would be a good thing if
+we could get rid of this Del Pinzo gang for good?"
+
+"Sure, Bud. I'll give you all the help I can, and I'll spare you
+one or two more men if you need 'em--for a time, that is, as
+we're pretty busy here."
+
+"All right. When we're ready I'll call on you," said Bud, as
+though he had great plans in preparation. As a matter of fact, as
+he admitted later, he really did not know what he was going to
+do, but he was not going to admit that to his father. In other
+words he was "putting up a bluff," and I have some reason for
+suspecting that Mr. Merkel knew this. However he gave no sign. In
+spite of the pie, cake and other good things set out by Nell and
+Mrs. Merkel, Bud and his chums decided to ride back to their camp
+that night. It was dark at the start, but the moon would be up
+later, and the trail was well known.
+
+The boy ranchers rode leisurely along, for there was no special
+hurry in getting back. It might reasonably be supposed that the
+rustlers would not again make a raid within a few days at least.
+And Old Billee, Yellin' Kid, Snake Purdee and Four Eyes, to say
+nothing of Buck Tooth, were well able to look after matters in
+Happy Valley.
+
+And thus proceeding at a foot pace, it was well after midnight
+when the boys started down the last slope that led into the
+valley proper. In daylight it would have been possible, from this
+part of the trail, to have observed the tents and the reservoir.
+But now all was shrouded in darkness.
+
+No, not altogether darkness, for as the boys rode forward there
+suddenly glimmered in the gloom a light, high up in the air. At
+first Bud thought it was a star, but a moment later as it moved
+from side to side, and then up and down, he exclaimed:
+
+"Look, fellows! A signal!"
+
+"Signal!" repeated Dick.
+
+"Yes. Over at our camp! See! There's a light on our watch tower."
+
+"Maybe there's been another raid!" said Nort.
+
+"Or going to be one!" spoke Bud, grimly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+FOUR EYES--NO EYES
+
+
+Thudding along, their ponies seemingly as eager to reach the
+ranch camp as were the boys themselves, Bud, Nort and Dick raced
+toward the mysterious light. For that it was mysterious they all
+agreed, and that it was flashing from the top of the watch tower
+they had built to spy for rustlers was another conclusion.
+
+"Do you s'pose it can be Old Billee, or Yellin' Kid signalling to
+us?" asked Nort, as he galloped between Bud and Dick.
+
+"They wouldn't know we were coming," Bud answered. "I said we
+might not be back until to-morrow."
+
+"That's so. But who do you think is signalling?" asked Dick.
+
+"And who are they signalling to?" Nort wanted to know. "That's
+what we've got to find out," spoke Bud, grimly. "And it's what
+we're going to find out in a short time! Come on, Sock!" he
+called to his pony. "This is only exercise for you!"
+
+Indeed the animals had not been hard pressed, and this burst of
+speed was rather a relief than anything else. Together the boy
+ranchers hastened toward their camp.
+
+For some time the lantern--it was evidently that and not a
+torch--was waved to and fro, parallel to the horizon, and again up
+and down. It was so evidently a signal, or a series of them, that the
+boys no longer questioned this theory.
+
+But who the signaller was, and to whom he was flashing his
+message in the dark night--those were other questions. And they
+were questions that needed answering.
+
+"It must be one of our men," remarked Bud. "No one else could get
+into camp and climb the tower without a row being raised."
+
+"How do you know there hasn't been a row?" asked Dick.
+
+"What do you mean?" countered Bud.
+
+"I mean there may have been a fight," Dick went on. "Maybe the
+rustlers have surprised our camp, put Yellin' Kid and the rest of
+our bunch out of business and are signalling to the main crowd to
+come up and drive off the cattle. I might as well say that as
+think it," he added. "And that's what I've been thinking the last
+few minutes."
+
+This dire suggestion struck Bud and Nort silent for a moment. And
+then, more because he did not want to believe it, than because he
+did not believe it possible, Bud exclaimed: "I don't believe any
+such thing!"
+
+"I don't want to believe it!" said Nort. "But of course there may
+have been a fight."
+
+"If there was, there's a lot of dead Greasers and rustlers
+scattered around, you can depend on that!" declared Bud, grimly.
+
+"Yes, I reckon Old Billee, Snake and the rest would give a good
+account of themselves," asserted Dick.
+
+"And they wouldn't be taken by surprise, either," added Nort.
+
+"Not likely," affirmed his cousin.
+
+Again they directed their gaze toward the flashing signal on the
+tower. Once more they saw it slowly raised and lowered, and then
+swept from side to side.
+
+"Are they spelling out a message in Morse or Continental code?"
+asked Bud.
+
+"It does look like the Morse," said Nort. "We learned that when
+we were Boy Scouts. I can make out some letters, but they don't
+spell anything that has any sense to it."
+
+"Maybe it's in Spanish," suggested Bud, who was not familiar with
+the method of spelling words by flags or lanterns. "There's a lot
+of Greasers around here who don't know anything but Spanish."
+
+"That's so," agreed Nort. "I didn't think of that. I'll try and
+catch what the next word is, and maybe you'll know it, Bud," for
+the western lad understood some of the language of Mexico.
+
+But just when Nort was directing his attention to the signal
+flashes Dick, who had ridden on a little ahead, suddenly called:
+
+"Is that a fire?"
+
+They looked to where he pointed and, for a moment, thought it was
+another blaze in the dried grass. For the eastern skyline that
+had been only dimly seen was now outlined in a red flare.
+
+"It is a fire!" asserted Nort.
+
+"It's the moon rising!" said Bud.
+
+And so it proved. The moon was coming up, big, round and red,
+and, when below the horizon, cast a reflection not unlike a fire.
+The boys laughed with relieved spirits as they rode on. But when
+Nort next directed his attention to the flashing lantern it was
+no longer signalling. In the direction of the watch tower there
+was only blackness, for the moon's rays had not yet reached it.
+
+"Looks as if they'd quit," said Dick.
+
+"Maybe they thought the moonlight would give 'em away," suggested
+Nort.
+
+"We'll soon know about it," declared Bud, with grim meaning.
+
+They were now within a short distance of the tents, gleaming
+white in the moonbeams. From one of the larger canvas shelters
+shone a ruddy light, showing dark figures within. And then was
+borne to the ears of the boys the sound of laughter.
+
+"That doesn't seem to indicate a raid or fight," spoke Nort.
+
+"You can't be sure," Bud remarked. "We'd better be careful. Let's
+dismount and go on foot."
+
+They left their ponies, throwing the reins over the heads of the
+animals, and cautiously approached the tents of the cow punchers
+on foot. This tent was, practically, the "bunk house," the
+assembling place of the men after their hours of work. But before
+the boys reached this their approach was evidently heard. For a
+figure came to the flap and a challenging voice called:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Old Billee!" cried Bud, as he and his chums recognized the
+tones, and with the recognition came a sense of relief.
+
+"Oh, you're back; are you, Bud?" asked the veteran cowboy. "I
+thought I heard some one."
+
+"Who's up on the watch tower with a lantern?" called Bud, once it
+was certain that no disaster had occurred.
+
+"Watch tower?" repeated Yellin' Kid, coming to the flap to stand
+beside Old Billee.
+
+"Lantern?" added Snake.
+
+"Somebody's signalling," went on Bud.
+
+"You'd better come out and we'll have a look. Are you all here?"
+
+"All of us," answered Old Billee. "Come on, Four Eyes!" he cried.
+"Tumble out of your bunk. There's somethin' doin'!"
+
+"Four Eyes must have gone to bed early," said Bud to his cousins
+as they stood outside the tent. For Billee's call indicated that
+the spectacled cowboy had retired.
+
+"Hi! Four Eyes!" shouted Yellin' Kid, in a voice that would have
+awakened the proverbial Seven Sleepers. "Turn out!"
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Buck Tooth came up to
+the bunk tent from his own special nook for sleeping. And then,
+the voice of Snake Purdee announced:
+
+"Four Eyes isn't here!"
+
+"Isn't here!" repeated Billee. "Why, I saw him turn in a while
+ago, when we started t' play cards."
+
+"He isn't here now," declared Snake. "His bunk is empty, and he
+didn't go out the front way, I'll wager on that. There's
+something queer going on all right!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A BIG RAID
+
+
+Into the bunk tent of the older cowboys crowded the young ranch
+lads. Doubt, suspicion and wonder mingled in their minds, and
+foremost of all were two outstanding matters--the mysterious
+signalling light, and the disappearance of Four Eyes--if, indeed,
+that individual had really taken himself off.
+
+"Are you sure he was here?" asked Bud, when, after the first
+break of surprise, questions were in order.
+
+"Sure," replied Yellin' Kid. "We all come in here, after th'
+chores was done, t' have a friendly game of cards an' smoke. We
+didn't look for you back until late, if at all."
+
+"And was Four Eyes with you then?" asked Nort.
+
+"You couldn't exactly say he was _with_ us," replied Snake.
+"An' yet he wasn't _away_ from us. He pretended he didn't
+want t' play cards, an' he said he was so doggoned tired an'
+sleepy that he was goin' t' turn in. I told him that bein' in th'
+same tent with a whisperin' infant like Yellin' Kid, wasn't
+perzactly healthy for sleep, but Four Eyes said he didn't mind.
+So he turned int' his bunk, an' pulled th' covers tip over his
+head, though I don't see how he stood it, for it isn't winter,
+not by a long shot, an' this place was full of smoke. Anyhow he
+done it, an' t' keep th' light out of his eyes, so he said, he
+pulled a chair up in front of his bunk like you see it now, an'
+stuck his coat over it."
+
+Snake pointed to a chair, now twisted awry from in front of the
+cot that the missing cowboy had occupied. His coat, draped over
+the back, effectually screened him from observation when lying on
+the bed.
+
+"He did that so's he could slip out an' get away!" spoke Yellin'
+Kid, justifying the sarcastic name of "whispering infant," that
+Snake had bestowed on him.
+
+"But how did he get out?" asked Dick.
+
+"And what for?" Bud wanted to know,
+
+"He got out this way!" said Old Billee quietly, as he leaned over
+the cot and pushed with his hand against the side of the tent. A
+right-angled opening was disclosed, cut with a sharp knife. The
+loose point was at the bottom, and once Four Eyes had slipped
+out, the cut flap hung down in place, not disclosing, in the dim
+light, that the canvas had been cut.
+
+"He got out that way," went on Old Billee, "because th' tent
+sides, bein' fast t' th' board floor, wouldn't let him crawl out
+very easy. He's a slick one, Four Eyes is!"
+
+"But why should he slip out this way? Did he do anything? And who
+was doing that signalling?" exclaimed Bud.
+
+"I reckon you'll find, son, that the signallin' an' th' vamoosin'
+of our late friend Four Eyes had some connection," spoke Old
+Billee. "We, bein' intent on our game of cards, didn't know
+nothin' at all 'bout it till you fellows rode up. Now it's about
+time we got int' action!"
+
+"You win!" declared Yellin' Kid loudly. "There's suthin' queer
+prospectin' around these diggings an' I'd like t' know what it
+is!"
+
+"I guess we all would," spoke Bud. "And we'd better start right
+in to find out about it. Come on, boys," he called to his
+cousins, but the older cow punchers took the invitation to
+themselves also, and soon, with lanterns and flashlights (which
+handy little contrivances the boy ranchers nearly always carried)
+they began the search.
+
+First they made sure that Four Eyes was playing no trick on them
+by hiding under one of the cots in the bunk tent. Though, as Bud
+pointed out, it would pass the bounds of fun to have cut the
+canvas shelter as it was cut.
+
+But no trace of Four Eyes was to be found.
+
+"He's gone, hide, hair, horns, brand an' everythin'!" was the way
+Old Billee expressed it.
+
+"How about his horse?" asked Nort.
+
+"He didn't get his black one back," remarked Snake. "But he may
+have sort of helped himself to one of yours, Bud."
+
+This was found to be the case when the corral was visited. It
+could hardly have been expected, in that country of great
+distances, that the missing cowboy would not take a horse.
+
+"And now let's have a look at the tower," suggested Bud, when a
+rapid survey, under the fitful moonlight, had been made in the
+vicinity of the camp, and no trace of the missing man discovered.
+"Some one was signalling from up there, and it must have been
+Four Eyes."
+
+"It _could_ have been some one else," suggested Dick, not
+because he believed that, but because he wanted to sift all the
+evidence and get to the bottom of matters.
+
+"Yes, it may have been a wandering cowboy, Greaser or some
+Indian, far from his native reservation," Bud admitted. "But I'm
+saying it was Four Eyes, though why he did it I can't imagine."
+
+Nor could any of the others. Or, if they had a theory, they did
+not give voice to it, though, afterward, one and all said they
+had associated the missing cowboy with the rustlers.
+
+But a search on and near the hastily-built watch tower disclosed
+nothing. On the top platform, whence, doubtless, the signalling
+lantern had been waved, no light was found. There were burned
+matches and cigarette stubs, to be sure, but these were as much
+the discarded property of Yellin' Kid or Snake, as of Four Eyes,
+for they all had taken turns doing sentry duty, and, as it was
+lonesome up on the high perch, smoking was indulged in.
+
+"Well, he's away, and that's all there is to it," said Bud, when
+the search was over. "Now all we've got to do is to wait for
+something to happen."
+
+"Do you think something will happen?" asked Nort.
+
+"Well, things have been happening ever since we came out here,"
+observed Dick. "First it was the finding of the Triceratops. Then
+it was the water fight in the mysterious tunnel, and now it's the
+rustlers after our cattle. Isn't that enough to happen?"
+
+"Oh, yes," admitted Nort. "But I thought Bud meant something
+special was about due."
+
+"It wouldn't surprise me if it did happen," declared the western
+lad. "But I wasn't thinking of anything out of the usual. Only
+the combination--Four Eyes missing and us seeing the light makes
+me suspicious. So I'm ready for anything."
+
+"And I'm ready for my bunk!" declared Dick, with a yawn. "It's
+most morning! Let's turn in!"
+
+They did, but none of the boy ranchers rested well, for they were
+too worried.
+
+What did it all mean? And what events portended? These were
+questions they wished soon would be answered.
+
+The morning did not bring the return of Four Eyes, nor in the
+better light were any more clues discovered at the Watch Tower.
+Looking from its height, over the peaceful valley, the boy
+ranchers saw nothing evil, and there was no hint of coming
+disaster other than in the suspicions engendered by the recent
+strange happenings.
+
+"Do you suppose that signalling could have meant an Indian
+uprising?" asked Nort.
+
+"Cracky! If it does we'll have to fight 'em, won't we?" asked
+Dick, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"I don't imagine the Indians around here have any notion of
+rising," said Bud. "They have done such things, years ago, but I
+doubt if they have enough spirit left for it now. They are too
+well satisfied with their lot. But of course it's possible,
+though Buck Tooth says he doesn't look for anything of the sort.
+But then he's been with white men so long he isn't really much of
+an Indian any more."
+
+"Well, if there's any Indian fighting to be done I want to do my
+share!" declared Dick, and his brother nodded in confirmation.
+
+But as several days passed, and nothing more happened than the
+usual hard work on the ranch, the apprehensions of the boys began
+to disappear. They made inquiries about Four Eyes, but no one on
+the neighboring ranches had seen him. Mr. Merkel expressed
+himself as greatly disappointed in the character of the cowboy he
+had sent to his son.
+
+"Maybe you got off lucky, with only a cut tent," the ranchman
+observed. "But better be on your guard, son."
+
+"We will, Dad," replied the western lad.
+
+It was about a week after the signal lights had been observed,
+the disappearance of Four Eyes coinciding, that, as Bud and his
+cousins were eating "grub" in camp one noon, they heard shots
+fired off to the north, and in the direction of the trail between
+Happy Valley and Diamond X ranch.
+
+"What's that?" asked Nort, starting from his seat.
+
+"Stampede, maybe," suggested Dick, for the boys knew that the
+older cowboys were in that direction, rounding up a small herd
+which had been purchased and that was to be shipped east.
+ Bud hurried to the entrance of the tent and what he saw caused
+him to cry:
+
+"Come on, boys! It's the rustlers again! They're making a raid!
+Get your guns!"
+
+In less time than you would have deemed possible, unless you had
+seen it, the boy ranchers were in the saddle, and were galloping
+toward the scene of the shooting. The sounds were more plain,
+now, and as they straightened out on the trail they could see
+where a fight was in progress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Yellin' kid, Old Billee and Snake Purdee were standing off the
+attacks of more than double their number. This was the spectacle
+that greeted Bud, Nort and Dick as they swept up the trail and
+toward the sound and sight of the firing. For now they could see
+the little puffs of smoke which preceded the discharges of the
+guns. Light, traveling faster than sound, brought to the eyes of
+the boys the puffs of burned gunpowder before the report echoed.
+
+"This is the meaning of that night-signalling!" cried Nort, as he
+galloped beside his cousin.
+
+"Looks so," was the answer. "They're getting bold and desperate
+to try to rustle our stock in the day time."
+
+"You said it!" exclaimed Dick, as he looked to make sure he had a
+good supply of cartridges.
+
+As the boy ranchers drew nearer the scene of the conflict they
+could observe that the herd, which their cowboys had been driving
+in, was now in confusion. And no wonder, with more than half a
+score of wildly-excited men riding among them, shouting and
+firing heavy revolvers.
+
+For distant shouts borne to the ears of our heroes told of the
+excitement under way. As nearly as Bud, Nort and Dick could tell
+from their vantage point, eight or ten Mexicans, Greasers or
+other undesirable characters, had swept down from the north on
+Old Billee, Snake and Yellin' Kid as the latter were hazing the
+cattle along to the trail which led to the distant railroad
+station. Naturally the cowboys of Happy Valley had turned on
+their attackers and the fight resulted.
+
+It was evidently the intention of the rustlers (for of their
+character there was little doubt) to drive off as many of the
+Diamond X Second stock as possible. And if they had to kill or
+maim the watchers it meant little to them.
+
+But, so far, none seemed to have been seriously hurt, for no
+horses were running around with empty saddles, and no bodies were
+prostrate on the ground. I think, if the truth were known, that
+the first shooting on both sides was so wild that no one thought
+to take accurate aim, which is difficult on the back of a rushing
+cow pony, and with a heavy .45 gun.
+
+It was, essentially, a running fight and Bud, Dick and Nort were
+urging their ponies forward as rapidly as possible to get their
+share of it. However, they were not destined to come to close
+grips with the enemy. For as they drew nearer to the scene of
+conflict, their guns out, and eager in their own hearts for
+action, yelling encouragement to their comrades, the boy ranchers
+saw their foes suddenly swing away.
+
+This sudden giving up on the part of the rustlers was due either
+to a signal from one of their number that the raid was a failure,
+or else they saw reinforcements, in the persons of the boys, and
+had no desire for a more nearly even battle.
+
+At any rate, with wild yells, the rustlers pulled up their
+ponies, and turned off down the trail, riding at break-neck
+speed. Yellin' Kid and Snake, with shouts of defiance, swept
+after them, and might have caught them except for what happened
+to Old Billee. The veteran suddenly reeled in his saddle, and
+would have fallen, except that, as he lagged behind his two
+companions, Bud rushed up to him and held him in place.
+
+"Are you hit, Billee?" Bud cried.
+
+"Only just a scratch, but it seems like it took th' tucker out o'
+me mighty suddin," gasped the old man. "Beckon I'd better get
+down. I'd 'a' fallen if you hadn't rid up, Bud."
+
+"That's what I thought when I saw you reel."
+
+By the time Bud, with his cousins, was helping Old Billee to the
+ground, Yellin' Kid and Snake turned and saw what had happened.
+They then gave up all thoughts of pursuing the retreating
+rustlers and came riding back, winded and excited, but none the
+worse for their encounter with the rascals.
+
+"Did they get you, Billee?" asked Snake, a gleam in his eyes that
+portended no good to the perpetrators of the deed if he ever
+caught them.
+
+"Only a scratch," said the old cowboy, but rather faintly. He put
+his hand to his side, and quickly opening his garments, as he sat
+on the ground, his friends saw that the wound was more than that.
+
+However, the bullet had glanced off the ribs, and aside from
+having lost considerable blood, which accounted for his weakness,
+Old Billee was little the worse off.
+
+"I think we got one of 'em," announced Snake. "I saw him holdin'
+pretty desprit like t' his saddle."
+
+"What started it? Who were they?" asked Bud, as the last of the
+raiders swept out of sight amid the rolling hills of the valley.
+
+"Oh, some of Del Pinzo's gang, you can make sure of that," said
+Yellin' Kid. "They just rid down on us an' started t' fire. We
+saw what their game was all right, an' come back at 'em. They
+didn't get one steer, Bud!" he added, proudly enough.
+
+"That's good," said the boy rancher.
+
+"But they did an awful lot of shootin'," added Snake. "I thought
+sure we'd all be hit, but Old Billee was th' only one what got
+it. I never heard so much Fourth of July since I was a kid."
+
+"It was a lot of shooting, according to the results," spoke Bud,
+as he watched Snake bandaging Billee's wound, for the cowboys
+carried a primitive first-aid kit. "I wonder if that meant
+anything?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Nort.
+
+But Bud did not answer.
+
+Making sure that none of the cattle had been hit, and managing,
+after rather strenuous work, in quieting the herd, the boy
+ranchers and their friends started back toward camp, Old Billee
+taking it as easily as possible, for his side was getting stiff
+and painful.
+
+While they were yet some distance away from the white tents that
+corresponded to the usual ranch buildings, Bud and his companions
+saw riding toward them a solitary figure.
+
+"It's Buck Tooth," declared Dick.
+
+"And if he doesn't bear evil tidings I miss my guess," murmured
+Bud.
+
+Evil tidings they were, in very truth. For as the Zuni came near
+enough he was seen to be much excited. Drawing rein, he made a
+sweeping, comprehensive gesture with one hand, toward the south
+end of the valley, and exclaimed: "All gone!"
+
+"What's all gone?" asked Bud, a great fear clutching at his
+heart.
+
+"Cattle!" answered the Indian. "Rustlers drive 'em all 'way,
+while you shootin' off there!" and he pointed toward the scene of
+the recent conflict.
+
+For an instant Bud said nothing. Then, with trembling lips, which
+alone betrayed his feeling, he remarked:
+
+"That was it! They divided their gang and started a fake fight up
+at one end, to draw us there, while they worked against our big
+herd at the other end. It was a slick piece of work. No wonder
+they shot more than they hit. They wanted to keep us away from
+the south of the valley."
+
+"I guess you've struck it, Bud," said Snake, grimly. "They sure
+fooled us, an' I never smelled a rat! Whew!"
+
+Bud, with lips that were firmer now, touched spurs to his pony
+and hastened toward the tents and corral.
+
+"What you aimin' to do?" called Yellin' Kid after him.
+
+"I'm going to get on the trail of those rustlers," grimly
+announced Bud Merkel, "and I'm not coming back until I land 'em!
+Come on, fellows," he called to his cousins. "Let's pack up for a
+long hike on the trail!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WILD COUNTRY
+
+
+Following after Bud, his cousins and the older cowboys swept
+along toward the home camp--to the tents which served the
+purposes of ranch buildings. Yellin' Kid trotted beside Old
+Billee, who, however, now that his bullet-scarred side had been
+bandaged, rode with more ease.
+
+"What you goin' t' stop for?" asked Snake, when he saw Bud
+turning in toward the corral where spare ponies were kept.
+"Aren't you going after the rustlers?"
+
+"Yes, when we get packed up for a long ride!" Bud answered
+grimly. "What's the good of riding over just to look at the place
+where they drove off our cattle? I can see that any time. What I
+want to do is to get on their trail."
+
+"And not give up until we land 'em!" added Nort.
+
+"That's talking!" cried his brother. "Did you see any of 'em,
+Buck Tooth?" he asked the Indian, beside whom he was riding.
+
+"Me see too many," was the grim answer, which explained why the
+Zuni had probably not gone in pursuit. "They ride like what you
+call--jack-rabbits."
+
+"They can't keep that pace up long," declared Bud, as he slipped
+from the saddle, having turned his horse into the corral. "They
+can start the steers off with a hip-hurrah, but they'll have to
+slow down if they don't want to kill 'em, and that wouldn't pay.
+They'd get some fresh beef and the hides, but they'd waste more
+than they'd get out of it."
+
+"What do you imagine they really plan to do, and who are they?"
+asked Dick, as he and his brother followed Bud to their own
+special tent.
+
+"I can only guess who they are, and your guess is as good as
+mine," the western lad answered.
+
+"Then I'll say Del Pinzo and the Hank Fisher gang," ventured
+Nort.
+
+"And I'll agree," replied Bud. "They have two motives, now, for
+working against us. One because we've beaten 'em in two innings--the
+time of the Triceratops and in the underground river game.
+But getting our cattle--or the cattle of any other rancher--is
+reward enough in itself at the price beef is selling for now.
+They want to make a lot of money, and ruin us because we've come
+to Happy Valley. But they'll find that we can bat a little, too,"
+added Bud, carrying out the simile of a baseball game. "And it's
+going to be our turn at the plate mighty soon!"
+
+"The sooner the better," declared Nort, and his brother nodded in
+agreement.
+
+When Old Billee's wound had been further attended to, with the
+more adequate remedies kept in camp, there was a gathering of the
+"clan," so to speak, in the tent where the boys and their cowboy
+helpers usually ate.
+
+"Then you aren't going to chase over to where they drove off your
+cattle right away; is that it, Bud?" asked Snake.
+
+"I don't see any use," said the young western ranch lad. "All
+we'd see would be the marks of the trail, and they'll stay for
+some time, if it doesn't rain, which isn't likely. What I want to
+do is to pack enough grub--and other things," he added significantly
+with a motion toward his .45, "for a long trip. We've got to get at the
+bottom of how they drive off our cattle, and manage to get them out
+of the valley without leaving a trace.
+
+"That's the puzzle we have to solve, as we found out about the
+hidden water. Up to now the raids of Del Pinzo and his crowd--assuming
+that they are the ones--have been small. They're the kind that's
+always going on, and a lot of the cattlemen, and Dad among 'em, seem
+to shut their eyes to the thefts. I'm not going to do that. But what
+I started to say was that, up to now, the raids have been small ones.
+Very likely they thought we wouldn't make much fuss over the steers
+we lost.
+
+"But this is a big raid, and the others were only leading up to
+it. They played to get us out of the south end of the valley, and
+away from our big herd so they could drive it off unmolested."
+
+"And they sure did it," added Nort.
+
+"But they haven't gotten clear away yet!" snapped out Bud. "We're
+going to take after them! They can't go fast with a big bunch of
+cattle, and we're bound to catch them sooner or later!"
+
+"They'll probably put up a fight," observed Old Billee, who was
+feeling much easier, now.
+
+"That's what I'm counting on, and that's why I don't want any
+slip-up!" exclaimed Bud. "I'm going to call on Dad for some
+reinforcements."
+
+"Oh, we can handle that Del Pinzo gang!" boasted Yellin' Kid.
+
+"We could if they'd fight fair and even, maybe," assented Bud.
+"But they'll be on the lookout for trouble, now, and they'll have
+a big gang of Greasers with them. And while, ordinarily, one
+cowboy is a match for half a dozen of the ornery Mexicans, you've
+got to be on the watch for treachery. There's no use tackling
+this thing unless we have a big enough crowd to meet the biggest
+bunch Del Pinzo can muster."
+
+"Well, there's some sense in that," admitted Snake. "I'm not
+afraid of any bunch of rustlers that Hank Fisher can scare up,"
+he went on, "but it isn't a man's personal feelings we got to
+consider. It's for the good of this ranch. And, as Bud says, we
+want to make a clean-up this inning."
+
+"That's why I'm going to have help," Bud remarked, as he went to
+call his father on the telephone.
+
+Mr. Merkel whistled when he heard the disastrous news.
+
+"I didn't think they'd go at it wholesale, that way, Bud," he
+told his son over the wire. "But you've got the right idea. Go
+after 'em and clean 'em up! When you take the trail don't turn
+back until you've finished the job. I'll send you as many men as
+I can spare, Slim Degnan with 'em!"
+
+"Slim? That's good!" cried Bud. "Now we'll make a clean up. But
+don't get worried, Dad, if you don't hear from us in several
+days, or a couple of weeks. We'll probably be out of the reach of
+a telephone."
+
+"Yes, I realize that! Well, good luck to you. When you going to
+start?"
+
+"First thing in the morning. Old Billee was shot up a little, so
+I'll leave him and Buck Tooth to look after what cattle we have
+left. Can Slim and the others get here in time to start in the
+morning?"
+
+"They can if I send them over in the jitney which will be
+quicker, and save them some hard riding. Have you got ponies
+enough for them?"
+
+"Yes, plenty. Get 'em over here in the gasolene gig and we'll do
+the rest!" laughed Bud, though he was in anything but a laughing
+mood, His mind was grimly set on getting back his cattle, and in
+punishing the evil gang of rustlers that was dominating that
+section of the "cow country," as ranch localities are sometimes
+called.
+
+Immediately on hanging up the receiver, Bud Merkel started in on
+a busy time. Nor were his cousins less engaged. Once the boy
+ranchers bad determined to "hit the trail," they planned to "do
+the trick up brown," as Nort expressed it.
+
+Bud proved himself to be well fitted for the task in hand, in
+spite of his youth. But he had been well trained by his father,
+and life on Diamond X had put him in trim for hard fighting. It
+was not the first time he had had to do with cattle raids, though
+it was his own first experience on a large scale, and he was
+vitally interested. He followed the plans he had seen his father
+put into operation more than once.
+
+Saddles, girths and lariats were looked to, as were all the
+various trappings of the ponies, without which the raid could not
+be undertaken in that country of far distances. Then it was
+necessary to pack sufficient "grub" to last for at least a week,
+in case no provisions could be come upon.
+
+As for shelter, each man, and by that term I also include the boy
+ranchers, had a pair of blankets and a tarpaulin to spread under
+him on the ground. The days were hot, but the nights were cool in
+spite of camp fires.
+
+Of course each one "packed a gun," some of the cowboys two, and
+there was no lack of ammunition.
+
+Old Billee felt badly at not being able to go. But his wound was
+giving him more pain than he liked to admit, and after vainly
+protesting that he simply must go, he agreed that perhaps it was
+best for him to remain behind.
+
+In the "jitney," as Mr. Merkel dubbed his auto, several cowboys
+from Diamond X (including the veteran foreman Slim) reached Happy
+Valley in due season. They were fitted out with ponies, and after
+the situation had been talked over, and every precaution against
+failure taken, they were ready to start early on the morning
+following the big raid.
+
+The outfit of the boy ranchers had been sadly depleted by the
+descent of the unscrupulous gang, and what cattle remained had
+been driven to the feeding grounds in the vicinity of the
+reservoir, where Buck Tooth, Old Billee and one man from Diamond
+X could watch over them.
+
+"Are we all ready?" asked Bud, as he and his cousins, followed in
+example by the older cowboys vaulted to saddles.
+
+"I reckon so," announced Slim, as he slewed around his holster
+with its newly-oiled .45.
+
+"Let's go!" said Bud, briefly, and away they started.
+
+They made trail, first, to the scene of the raid. As Bud and the
+others had anticipated, there were plenty of signs showing where
+the cattle had been driven off. A large herd was missing, and it
+must have taken a number of rustlers to have rounded them up and
+started them toward Double Z, or whatever place was to be used to
+change, or blur the brands, so the cattle could be sold to some
+innocent purchaser, perhaps. Though there were not wanting, in
+that country, not-so-innocent-purchasers of rustled cattle.
+
+"They'll have to keep near grass and water," said Slim, as he
+rode along with Bud and his cousins. "So we'll do the same."
+
+"Yes, they can't make a dry drive very far," Bud agreed. "They
+followed this range, it seems."
+
+On reaching the scene of the raid the trail led off to the left,
+along a tow mountain range or wild and rugged peaks, some,
+evidently, of volcanic origin. At the foot of this range was
+grass in plenty, and, occasionally, a water hole, made possible
+by the fact that End's father had brought the waters of the Pocut
+River to the valley by means of the tunnel flume.
+
+"The trail's plain enough for a blind man to follow," said
+Yellin' Kid, who rode beside Snake.
+
+"But it's going to get harder in a little while," spoke Snake.
+"We're getting into wilder country, and rocks don't take much of
+an impression. See, it's peterin' out now."
+
+He pointed to the surface of the ground over which they were then
+traveling. The grass and earth were more and more scanty, and in
+some places there were patches of shale and rock, on which even
+an iron-shod hoof would leave no mark.
+
+"Yes, it's a wild country," agreed Bud. "I've never been over as
+far as this, and I don't believe our cattle ever get here. There
+isn't enough feed," he added, as he looked around.
+
+The cavalcade was now in a sort of narrow gorge, or gully, with
+rocky walls on either side, and only scant vegetation on the
+bottom, where some bunch grass grew. The water seemed to have
+disappeared.
+
+"They can't drive cattle on a trail like this very far," said
+Slim, looking about with critical eyes.
+
+"And yet they did come in this gulch," said Bud, for the "signs"
+were still plain.
+
+"Oh, yes, they've been here," agreed Slim. "It sure is a queer
+trail they picked. I don't see--"
+
+He did not finish the sentence. Somewhere In that lonely and wild
+section of Happy Valley a single shot rang out, making the echoes
+vibrate loudly, and awakening a distant coyote, who sent up a
+mournful howl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE BOILING SPRING
+
+
+"What's that?" asked Bud suddenly, his voice seeming almost as
+loud as that of Yellin' Kid's. The horses had been reined to a
+halt as soon as the shot sounded, and there was stillness which
+made the boy rancher's exclamation appear more vociferous than
+would otherwise have been the case. "What's that?" asked Bud
+again.
+
+"Some one fired," answered Nort.
+
+"Brilliant!" chuckled Dick. "Bright answer!"
+
+"Almost as bright as my question," conceded Bud, who was willing
+to admit when he had "pulled a bloomer," as some Englishmen might
+term it. "It was a shot, though," he added. "I wonder if we'll
+hear any more?"
+
+They all paused, in listening attitudes; the boy ranchers, the
+cowboys associated with them in the Happy Valley venture and the
+others sent with Slim to help run down the rustlers, on whose
+trail they now were.
+
+But no further firing followed in the three or four minutes they
+waited there in that lonely gorge, the only sounds being those
+caused by the restless movements of the steeds.
+
+"I wonder if some one shot at us, or if that was a signal!"
+remarked Nort, as Bud gave the sign to advance.
+
+"I didn't hear any bullet singin' out this way," drawled Slim.
+"Not that I'm hankerin' to," he quickly added.
+
+"Then it might have been a signal," went on Nort.
+
+"What makes you say that?" Bud questioned.
+
+"Because it would seem that if the rustlers are ahead of us,
+trying their best to get far enough away, or to get to some
+secret hiding place, that they might leave some behind, on the
+trail, to give warning when we show up," went on Nort.
+
+"Yes, that might be so," slowly admitted Bud. "In fact I think it
+was, probably, a signal, and it may have been given by the same
+one who gave signals before."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Dick.
+
+"I mean Four Eyes, and the lantern flashes we saw from the watch
+tower that night we rode in," Bud answered. "I believe Four Eyes
+was and still is, in with the rustlers, and that he gave a signal
+to show that everything was ready for the raid."
+
+"But the raid didn't take place until some time after we saw
+those flashing lights," said Dick.
+
+"It takes some time to get a cattle-rustling gang together,"
+declared Bud. "I wish we could find Four Eyes."
+
+His gaze roved the sides of the lonely gorge, and sought to
+pierce the maze of the trail ahead. But as it wound in and out,
+following the windings of the defile, he could not see far in
+that direction.
+
+"If it was Four Eyes, he played his game mighty slick!" declared
+Yellin' Kid. "He fooled us all, includin' your paw, Bud!"
+
+"Well, if we get on his trail, and can connect him with the
+rustlers, which it won't be hard to do, I'm thinking, he won't
+play any more tricks," declared the western lad vindictively and
+with righteous anger. "But if that was a warning shot, and that's
+what it seems it must have been, we'd better take some precautions
+ourselves."
+
+"Such as what-like?" asked Slim, willing to let Bud take the
+lead, as the search for the rustlers was distinctly an affair of
+the boy ranchers.
+
+"We ought not to go ahead, all in a bunch," decided Bud. "We may
+run into a bunch of Greasers at some turn of the trail, and if we
+have scouts out we can handle the situation better."
+
+"I was going to suggest it," said Slim, "but I thought you'd
+think of it yourself, Bud, being as you're your paw's son."
+
+Bud was pleased at the implied compliment, and, a little later,
+as they advanced, they were divided into three small parties,
+with rear and vanguard, to insure against a surprise in back,
+which might easily happen.
+
+And so they advanced through the defile, keeping watch on both
+sides of the trail. There were still evidences that a herd of
+cattle had been driven along the rocky defile, but because of the
+rocky floor, if such it may be called, the signs were faint, and
+only an experienced westerner could have picked them up. But the
+boy ranchers were accompanied by experienced cow punchers, who
+knew every trick of the trail.
+
+Bud had insisted that it was one of his rights to ride in the
+advance guard, with Yellin' Kid, and it was while they were
+performing this duty, of watching for a surprise, that they saw,
+just around the bend of the trail, some wisps of white vapor
+floating up.
+
+"There they are!" exclaimed Bud in a hoarse whisper, pointing.
+"They've stopped there--or some of 'em have. Or maybe it's the
+person who fired the warning shot."
+
+"Might be," admitted Yellin' Kid, toning his voice down somewhat
+to suit the occasion. "Better let me get off and crawl ahead,
+Bud. I'm used to that. You hold the horses."
+
+Bud realized the sense of this proposition, and he held the reins
+of the Kid's horse, while that cow puncher slipped from the
+saddle, and, on all fours, crept toward the wall of rock which
+rose abruptly at a turn of the trail shutting off a view beyond.
+
+Bud watched Yellin' Kid closely, the lad's hand on the butt of
+his .45, and occasionally he glanced back to catch the first
+glimpse of the main party, so he might warn them. He saw the
+wisps of vapor rising and floating toward him.
+
+"Not much smoke," mused Bud. "They're using very dry
+wood--regular Indian trick. I wonder----"
+
+A moment later he heard Yellin' Kid shout, and it was such a cry
+as indicated pain. Yet Bud had heard no shot.
+
+"I wonder if they knifed him?" was the thought that flashed into
+Bud's brain. He cast caution to the winds and galloped forward,
+making a great racket, and casting loose the reins of the Kid's
+steed.
+
+The sight that met Bud's eyes was enough to startle him, though
+it was not what he expected to see.
+
+For he beheld Yellin' Kid standing in front of a pillar of white
+vapor, or, rather, the cowboy was dancing about, holding one hand
+in the other, and using excited slang at a rate that soon would
+exhaust his vocabulary, Bud thought.
+
+But, more strange than anything else, was the fact that there was
+no sign of a fire, to cause the white vapor, nor was there any
+indication that anyone besides Yellin' Kid and Bud were in the
+immediate neighborhood. No rustlers had started the blaze which
+caused the white clouds to drift upward.
+
+"What's the matter, Kid?" asked Bud, as he saw that something had
+happened. "Where's the fire?"
+
+"Under there!" and the cowboy pointed to the ground. "Keep away
+from it. Don't go near that spring, an' whatever you do, don't
+put your hand in. I did, an' I'm sorry for it!"
+
+"Spring! Fire! What is it, anyhow!" asked Bud, as he slid from
+the saddle and ran forward.
+
+"It's a boilin' spring, that's what it is!" declared Yellin' Kid.
+"Boilin' hot an' it near took th' skin from my hand! What you see
+is steam--not smoke! Horned toads and hoop-skirts! It's as hot as
+Buck Tooth's tea kettle! Look out for the boilin' spring!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN A MAZE
+
+
+Bud stood in amazement looking at Kid and listening to what the
+excited cowboy was saying. Then the gaze of the western boy
+rancher turned toward a depression in the ground, whence arose
+what he and Yellin' Kid had thought was smoke but which, in
+reality, was steam from a hot spring.
+
+"A boiler, eh?" repeated Bud. "First I ever knew we had any so
+near Happy Valley."
+
+"Me, either," went on Kid. "I suspicioned what it was when I got
+close and couldn't smell any wood burnin'. Then I put my hand
+out, but the steam fooled me. I didn't know the top of the water
+was so close, an' I dipped right down into it. Whew! It was hot!"
+
+"Did it scald you?" asked Bud.
+
+"Pretty nigh it," answered the cowboy, exhibiting a very red
+hand.
+
+At this moment a noise behind the two attracted their attention.
+They turned to see pointed at them the black openings of two .45
+guns, and they had glimpses of eager eyes looking over the sights
+of the weapons. "Don't shoot! I'll come down!" laughed Bud, in
+imitation of what was the current saying concerning the famous
+Davy Crockett.
+
+"What is it?" asked Nort, owner of one of the menacing guns, as
+he arose and slid his .45 into the holster.
+
+"Did they get away?" Dick wanted to know, as he stood beside his
+brother. The two boys had left the main body and worked their way
+up to join the vanguard, in the persons of Bud and Kid.
+
+"There wasn't anyone to get away," Bud answered grimly. "It was
+only a boiling spring, and we took the steam of it for smoke."
+
+"Boiling spring!" cried Nort. "I never saw one before."
+
+"Me, either," added his brother, and together they looked at the
+depression in the ground, filled with scalding hot water. At
+times it bubbled up, like some great kettle over a fire, and then
+the steam was as thick as the smoke at some camp fire when green
+wood is used. Again the spring was comparatively quiet.
+
+"I've seen 'em before," remarked Bud, "though I didn't know we
+had any so near Happy Valley. There's lots of 'em out in the
+Yellowstone Park region, and in other places, some not many miles
+from here."
+
+"Any volcanoes?" asked Nort.
+
+"Or geysers?" Dick queried.
+
+"Not that I know of," Bud answered. "You don't need volcanoes to
+make boiling springs, though I suppose the hot water must be
+boiled over some internal fire beneath the earth's surface. And
+these same fires do, sometimes, make volcanoes.
+
+"But I've never seen any volcanoes around here; have you,
+fellows?" and he appealed to the cowboys.
+
+"Not since I came up from Mexico," one answered. "I was close to
+one there. And I've seen Old Faithful, and some of the other
+geysers in the Yellowstone."
+
+"They put soap in some to make 'em spout, don't they?" asked
+Dick, who remembered to have read something to that effect.
+
+"So I've heard," the cowboy said, "though it isn't supposed to be
+done. It sort of wears out the geyser, I believe, though I don't
+know much about such things. Anyhow, I don't know of any around
+here, though I have seen a few boiling springs, farther to the
+south."
+
+"Yes, I have, too," Bud admitted. "Well, here's one, and she sure
+is hot," he added, as a sudden activity on the part of the
+phenomenon sent up another cloud of steam. "We could boil eggs
+there if we had any."
+
+"We brought some along," Dick said, "but they're hard-boiled
+already. No use doing the job over. Say, but this is interesting!" he
+added, as the spring suddenly spouted up a little way, almost like
+a miniature geyser.
+
+"It would be more interesting if we could get closer on the trail
+of that gang of cattle thieves, and take away our steers," said
+Bud. "I wonder if the poor animals hurried in here for water, and
+couldn't drink it because it was hot?" He recalled days of
+helping haze cattle on long trails, when the creatures were
+tormented by thirst, and he knew how they suffered.
+
+"There are a few signs that they've been in here," remarked Slim,
+as the party was gathered around the boiling spring. "But they
+aren't here now."
+
+"Not much use in us staying here, either," commented Bud, as he
+looked around on the bleak and cheerless prospect. Except for the
+boiling spring there was no sign of natural life. All about were
+great and small rocks, piles of shale and jagged stones, as
+though the place had been swept by a prehistoric fire. They were
+in one of the twists and turns of the rocky defile, and it was a
+rocky pass, with no trees or grass growing except near the top,
+and these appeared to be a sort of overgrowth from the grass and
+foliage growing down above.
+
+"No, they didn't stop here long," declared Yellin' Kid. "They
+passed on, an' that's what we got to do."
+
+"Might as well stay here and have grub, now we're dismounted,"
+suggested Nort.
+
+The idea was voted a good one, and was soon put into operation.
+They ate and talked of what had passed and what lay before them.
+Of the latter they could only conjecture, but it is safe to say
+that not one of them in his wildest imagination ever conjectured
+such an ending to their trailing as actually occurred.
+
+"Well, let's get on," called Bud, when appetites had been
+satisfied--that is all but those of the horses. There was no
+grass for them, though they did manage to drink some of the water
+from the boiling spring where it had collected in little pools,
+and had cooled. But this would never have sufficed for hundreds
+of cattle.
+
+Once more they were on the way, and shortly afterward they left
+the grim and rocky defile for a more fertile region, where there
+was grass for the animals. But they were still down between a
+range of high hills which towered on either side.
+
+The trail twisted and turned, this way and that, winding back and
+forth. But ever there was to be seen, here and there, signs that
+the herd of cattle had been driven this way. Faint the signs
+were, at times, and at last they disappeared altogether.
+
+"Where have they gone?" asked Nort.
+
+"Looks like they dropped down a hole, but there isn't any hole
+here," said Yellin' Kid.
+
+"Oh, we'll pick the trail up later on," suggested Bud.
+
+But even as they started off once more Bud, who had just
+consulted a compass he carried, uttered a cry of amazement.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Slim.
+
+"We're going the wrong way," declared Bud. "We're heading north
+instead of south. We're all turned around! Something's wrong!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SURPRISE
+
+
+Some of those in the rear, who had heard Bud's exclamation, but
+who had not clearly heard what he said, came crowding up. Among
+them was Snake Purdee, and his eyes sparkled with hidden emotion
+as he inquired:
+
+"Did you see any rattlers? This is just the place for 'em!"
+
+"Yes, we came acrost a nest of baby ones what had lost their
+mother, an' they're countin' on you t' bring 'em up on th'
+bottle!" laughed Slim. The men, more or less, poked fun at Snake
+because of his great fear of reptiles, and Slim could not forego
+this chance.
+
+But Snake understood the game, and realized that he had nothing
+to fear. He shot a look at Slim, however, which indicated that
+there would be an attempt, later, to get even.
+
+"What's wrong?" asked Slim, for in his endeavor to play a joke on
+Snake he had not paid much attention to what Bud was saying.
+
+"We're all turned around," spoke the western lad. "All in a maze.
+We started out, heading south, and we've kept, generally, to that
+direction ever since. But now we're heading back north. Looks
+like we'd lost the trail."
+
+Slim and some of the more experienced cowboys studied the trail
+for several minutes. Surely it did seem to "peter out," as
+Yellin' Kid expressed it, though it had been fairly plain up to
+this point.
+
+"They couldn't get up on either side," declared Nort, looking at
+the steep, rocky walls which hemmed the trailers in right and
+left.
+
+"And they haven't gone on ahead, for there isn't a sign," added
+Dick, who had ridden up the defile for some little distance,
+returning to make his report. "Nothing short of an air ship could
+have lifted up a bunch of cattle from this gorge and set 'em down
+farther on."
+
+"Unless they went through a hole in one of the side walls,"
+suggested Slim, "like that underground river you fellows
+discovered in the tunnel."
+
+"There are no side passages here," declared Bud. And he seemed to
+hold the correct view of it, the others agreeing, after a careful
+inspection of the rocky and shale-covered walls on either hand.
+"It looks just as if they came up to this point and--vanished!"
+
+"Pretty slick work--I'll give Del Pinzo credit for that," said
+Slim, as if it were already established that the wily Greaser
+halfbreed had made the descent on Happy Valley. "How he and his
+bunch could haze cattle this far into a rocky pass, an' then make
+'em disappear, gets me!"
+
+"It shore do!" shouted Yellin' Kid.
+
+"But that doesn't change the fact that we're all switched
+around," declared Bud. "We're going north instead of south!"
+
+"Not so hard to account for that," said Snake. "This vale just
+naturally twists and turns like a windin' river. I wouldn't
+wonder but what we'd been going north other times, only you never
+noticed your compass, Bud."
+
+"Well, maybe so," admitted the boy rancher, rather dubiously.
+"But it looks as if we were back-trailing, instead of keeping on
+after those rascals."
+
+"We're keeping on all right!" asserted Slim. "By some hook or
+crook they've fooled us, but we haven't passed 'em, that's
+certain, and they must be somewhere up ahead. It would take Rocky
+Mountain goats to scramble up there," he added, motioning toward
+the steep walls of the gorge. "Some trick ponies might do it, but
+no cattle ever could, unless they're like some of them Swiss
+cheese brand I seen in pictures!"
+
+"Then do you think we should keep on?" asked Dick.
+
+"I shore do!" declared the foreman.
+
+"Forward march!" cried Bud, with a little laugh. "We want to get
+our cattle back, and catch the rustlers who took 'em!"
+
+And so, though all signs of the trail seemed to have vanished,
+they kept on. Night saw them in even a wilder region, though
+there was a spring of water--not boiling this time--and some
+grass for the animals. So it was decided to camp there and take
+up the search in the morning.
+
+They were in the enemy's country in every sense of the word, and
+could afford to take no chances. So after a fire had been built,
+and coffee made, bacon and flapjacks being the other items on the
+bill of fare, the men and boys were told off into watches.
+
+Bud and Slim, Nort and Snake, and Dick and Yellin' Kid were
+assigned to divide the night among them working as partners in
+the order named. The others were to be allowed to roll up and get
+what sleep they could, Bud and Slim taking the first watch.
+
+That passed off uneventfully, as did the vigil of Nort and Snake,
+nothing more important occurring than the distant howls of the
+coyotes.
+
+When it was the turn of Dick and Yellin' Kid they rolled out,
+albeit sleepy and tired, to stand guard until morning, when the
+trail would again be taken up.
+
+"Zimmy! But it's chilly!" said Kid in a low voice, as lie tossed
+some wood on the fire and wrapped his blanket more closely about
+him.
+
+"Yes, it always is just before sunrise," added Dick. "I wonder
+what we'll find after daylight?"
+
+"I hope we find that ornery bunch!" murmured Yellin' Kid, keeping
+down his voice so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+
+"So do I," said Dick.
+
+Then they sat about the fire, occasionally strolling around the
+improvised camp, to make sure that none of their enemies were
+creeping up on them in the darkness.
+
+The stars shone clear and bright in the sky above, and
+occasionally a little wind swept up the dismal defile. Now and
+then a loose stone rattled down the sides of shale and volcanic
+rock, and at such times Dick, and even Yellin' Kid started, and
+felt for their guns. But all the alarms were false ones.
+
+That is, the watchers decided they were, for no sight was had of
+anyone until Dick, after a stroll about the fire, suddenly
+started back and whispered to Yellin' Kid:
+
+"Isn't that a head looking up over that rock?"
+
+The Kid glanced to where Dick directed his gaze, and, in an
+instant, the cowboy had his weapon out and leveled. His finger
+was even pressing the trigger when he laughed silently and thrust
+the .45 back in its leather case. "Why didn't you shoot?" asked
+Dick.
+
+"It was an owl," answered Kid. "It was his ears you seen stickin'
+up! Listen!"
+
+And, a moment later, there was the mournful hooting of the
+nocturnal bird, which had flown away, but on such downy-feathered
+wings that it made no sound.
+
+"An owl!" murmured Dick. Then he was glad he had not shot first,
+as he had intended. He would only have awakened the others and
+been laughed at for his pains. Sometimes, he reflected, it was
+better to hold your fire, even in the west, that region of quick
+action.
+
+Soon there was a little grayish, pinkish light to be observed
+over the edge of the eastern hill. It grew slowly, and daylight
+came, though it was some time before the sun itself was seen, so
+deep were the searchers down in the defile.
+
+After breakfast they set out again, looking carefully for signs
+of the rustlers, but they saw none, and at last they decided
+that, in some mysterious manner, their quarry had given them the
+slip.
+
+"Though I don't see how they did it," declared Slim, somewhat
+vexed that he and his men were not better able to pick up the
+trail.
+
+"There must be some side passage--like that!" suddenly declared
+Yellin' Kid, leaping from his horse and then, as suddenly
+disappearing from the sight of his companions. "Hey! What's the
+idea! Where'd he go?" asked Snake.
+
+"In this side passage," answered Yellin' Kid, as suddenly
+reappearing. "Look, here's a crack, or fissure in the rock, I saw
+it from where I sat on my pony. It goes off from th' main trail,
+but I can't see where it leads."
+
+They all dismounted and investigated. As the Kid had said, it was
+a traverse defile, opening out of the main one and almost at
+right angles. The opening was concealed behind a great pinnacle
+of rock, so that the cleft was only visible from a certain point,
+and it was at this point that the Kid saw it.
+
+"Where does it go to?" asked Bud as they entered, single file. It
+was only wide enough for that.
+
+"We've got to follow and see!" said Slim.
+
+"If there was a place like that, back where we discovered we were
+in a maze, it would have been easy enough for the rustlers to
+have driven the cattle through, one at a time," observed Nort.
+
+"But there wasn't any such place!" declared Bud. "We made sure of
+that. But where does this lead?"
+
+That was what they all conjectured, and they were soon to learn.
+As they rode along, the side cleft widened, until there was room
+enough for three to ride abreast. And it was while thus
+progressing that Dick, who was in the lead with Slim and Snake,
+made a surprising discovery. He rode around a turn in the new
+trail, and at the sight of something beyond, in the smaller,
+rocky defile, he set up such a shout as brought all his
+companions to his side.
+
+"What is it?" shouted Bud.
+
+"Look!" answered Dick, pointing. "Del Pinzo and big gang!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN PURSUIT
+
+
+Two deep-throated shouts echoed amid the winding mazes of the
+small canyon leading off from the main gulch that the boy
+ranchers and their friends had been following. One shout followed
+closely on that of Dick, announcing his amazing discovery. The
+other came from the band of rascals whose hiding place had at
+last been spied out, and by a mere chance at that.
+
+One shout was that of joyful anticipation, and this came from
+Bud, Dick, Nort and the friends from Diamond X. This shout had in
+it an anticipation of righteous punishment to be inflicted on
+those who had stolen the cattle.
+
+The other shout was of baffled rage that their hiding place had
+been discovered. This shout came from Del Pinzo and his gang.
+
+For it was the lawless Mexican half-breed and his followers,
+numbering in all more than two score, whom Dick had seen as he
+made the turn in that winding and narrow gorge. At a place where
+the rocky defile flared out, making a sort of amphitheatre there
+were gathered about a spring of water, their horses tethered
+where they could crop the scanty herbage, the crowd of which our
+friends had long been in pursuit.
+
+Following the two shouts--one of pleased discovery and the other
+of baffled rage at being discovered--there was quick action.
+
+"Here they are!" shouted Bud, as soon as he had joined Dick, and
+had seen what the latter had fairly stumbled upon. "Here's the
+Del Pinzo crowd!"
+
+Up came riding Nort, Slim, Snake and the others.
+
+"Oh, boy! We've got 'em just where we want 'em," was the
+exclamation of Yellin' Kid. And I leave you to judge in what tone
+he uttered the words.
+
+"Unlimber, boys!" called Slim Degnan, grimly and significantly as
+he whipped out his .45. "There's likely to be action!"
+
+"Hold on! Wait a minute!" counseled Snake, as Bud and his cousins
+were about to urge their horses forward. The cowboy reached out,
+and his hand fell with a firm grip on the bridle of Bud's steed.
+
+"What's the idea?" asked that boy rancher. "Now we've found the
+rascals, can't we go in and clean 'em up?"
+
+"That's natural Bud, most natural," conceded Snake. "But what's
+th' use runnin' your head in a bee's nest if yon can git th'
+honey some other way?"
+
+"You mean it won't be safe to ride up to 'em and fight 'em?'?"
+asked Nort.
+
+"Somethin' like that, yes, son," answered the cowboy. "I think
+Del Pinzo an' his crowd have been waitin' for just such a chance
+as this. They'd ask nothin' better than t' have us rush 'em, an'
+then they'd have a good excuse for sayin', afterward, that they
+popped us off in self-defense."
+
+"Snake's right!" declared Yellin' Kid, modulating his voice
+somewhat. "We'd better play this hand cautious like."
+
+Seeing that this was the sentiment of the more experienced men,
+Bud and his cousins held back, and a moment later, urged by the
+cowboys, the ranch lads had turned aside and the whole body of
+pursuers had retreated to a position somewhat away from the turn
+of the trail where Dick had looked through the defile and had
+seen the rascals encamped.
+
+"What's the next move?" asked Nort, as the party gathered
+together, giving their horses a breathing spell, for which the
+animals were, doubtless, very thankful.
+
+"We'd better look for some shelter," advised Snake, "an' then see
+what we can do toward learnin' th' intentions of this bunch of
+bad actors."
+
+"You mean sort of spy 'em out?" asked Dick.
+
+"That's it," chimed in Yellin' Kid. "If this is goin' to be a
+fight, an' it shore looks as if there was, we want to take all
+th' advantage we can. They outnumber us two to one!"
+
+This was true enough. The fleeting glimpse our friends had of the
+outlaws, through the crack in the rocky wall, showed that there
+were more than two score under the leadership of the unscrupulous
+Del Pinzo.
+
+Following the skilful advice of the cowboys, Bud and his cousins
+took their places behind some sheltering rocks, leading their
+horses in with them, for much depended on their mounts. Without
+them it meant giving up the chase. And even if one pony was
+killed or wounded, it meant that its owner would have to make his
+way back on foot, which was neither pleasant nor safe.
+
+"Get your guns ready," said Slim. "There's going to be action,
+but not just yet. We want this to be a winnin' fight if we can
+make it so."
+
+Once within comparative shelter, and feeling somewhat calmer
+after the first wild excitement, Bud, Nort and Dick looked to
+their older companions for further advice.
+
+"Somebody's got t' go back t' that crack, unbeknownst t' them
+scoundrels, an' see what they're doin'," decided Slim.
+
+"S'pose they're there yet?" asked Bud.
+
+"Either that, or they've taken the alarm an' are on their way, or
+they're doin' just what we are--gittin' ready for a fight," said
+the foreman grimly. "An' what it is they're doin' we want t'
+know. Snake, you're pretty good at Indian tactics. S'pose you
+sneak up there an' take a look in."
+
+"All right," was the ready answer.
+
+Of course Bud, Nort and Dick, each and every one of them, wished
+they had been selected for this duty. But while they were rapidly
+learning the ways of the west, in dealing with desperate
+characters, it was better at this time to have an experienced man
+spy out the movements of Del Pinzo and his gang. This Snake set
+out to do.
+
+"An' while he's gone, th' rest of us want t' sort of make up our
+minds what t' do," said Slim. "If that bunch is gettin' ready
+t'rush us, same as we may be able to do on our own hook, we want
+t' have some plan of action."
+
+So a sort of council of war was held, during the absence of
+Snake, who was soon lost to sight among the rocks, the cowboy
+making his way in a crouching, crawling position that almost
+resembled the reptiles he so feared and hated.
+
+There was some low-voiced talk among the remaining cowboys, in
+which talk Bud and his cousins had no part. For a moment the lads
+feared there was some scheme afoot to put them in places of
+safety, out of danger so to speak. And the boy ranchers weren't
+going tamely to submit to this.
+
+"I say, Slim," exclaimed Bud, with this fear in mind, "we are
+going to do our share in this fighting, you know!"
+
+"Shore I know it!" grunted the foreman. "You'll have all th'
+scrappin' you want, if these fellows don't vamoose without firin'
+a shot! We was just talkin' of the best place t' put you."
+
+"Oh," murmured Bud, "all right."
+
+After some little talk, and a survey of the ground to which the
+pursuers had retreated in order to make a temporary stand, each
+person's position was designated, and then guns were loosed in
+holsters and the supply of cartridges was looked to.
+
+"As soon as Snake comes back we'll know what t' do," Slim said.
+
+"He ought to be along soon now," remarked Dick.
+
+Hardly had he spoken than there was a noise among the loose rocks
+and boulders some distance up the gulch--in the direction the
+spying-out cowboy had taken.
+
+"Here he comes!" exclaimed Bud, and his hand went to his gun, for
+it was very possible that Snake would be pursued, and have to
+retreat on the run.
+
+However the alarm proved to be a false one, for, after waiting
+some time, Snake not having appeared, it was surmised that some
+rock had become loose and rolled down the steep side of the
+gulch.
+
+The waiters and watchers were just beginning to get a bit
+worried, and Bud was on the point of suggesting that he be
+allowed to go look for Snake, when the cowboy came back.
+
+So quietly did he approach, and so unexpected was his appearance
+that Nort and Dick, on whose side of the improvised "fort" Snake
+first showed himself, were startled.
+
+"If that had been any of the Del Pinzo crowd they'd have been on
+top of us before we knew it," confessed Nort.
+
+"Not much!" laughed Bud. "Slim has seen Snake coming along this
+last three minutes; haven't you, Slim?"
+
+"Yep! I noticed him, but I didn't say anythin'," acknowledged the
+foreman. "I seen that he was alone. But what's the verdict,
+Snake?" he asked, anxiously. "Are they gittin' ready t' come at
+us here, or are they leavin'?"
+
+"Neither one," was the answer, "but they're gettin' ready to do
+suthin! They're all in a bunch in the middle of that place,
+holdin' a confab, I reckon. It's hard to say what they are up to.
+But I got a hunch that if we rushed 'em we could throw a scare
+int' 'em, anyhow."
+
+"Do you think they know we're here?" asked Bud.
+
+"Oh, sure!" was the answer. "At least they saw us an' heard us
+when we reached that crack. But of course they can only guess
+what we're up to now, when we didn't rush 'em first shot. They
+might have known, though, what our plans was, if I hadn't cracked
+their spy on the head!" said Snake, calmly.
+
+"You did what?" asked Slim.
+
+"Just as I got t' th' place where I could look in," went on the
+cowboy, "I saw one of them Greasers up t' the same trick I was
+tryin' to pull off. He was sneakin' down this way, but I saw him
+first. Caught a glimpse of his head around the edge of a rock; I
+just reached out with my gun and tapped him on the noodle."
+
+"Kill him?" asked Dick.
+
+"No. Guess not. Just stretched him out so he can't go back an'
+tell any tales for a time. Now the way I figger it is this:
+They'll be waitin' for a report on what their spy sees, same as
+you was waitin' for me t' come back. Only their spy won't show up
+for a couple o' hours, an' that gives us a chance to act."
+
+"What had we better do?" asked Yellin' Kid.
+
+"Rush 'em!" instantly decided Snake. "Let's git t' that openin'
+as quiet as we can, an' rush right for 'em! This rest has
+freshened our horses, an' we're in better shape now."
+
+"Not so much so, as far as horses go," dubiously declared Slim.
+"They're pretty badly spent, and can't do much racin'. But I
+guess maybe it is better for us t' get into action, instid of
+waitin' for that bunch t' come here. As Snake says, they'll be
+lookin' for their spy t' come back, an' maybe we can take 'em
+unawares."
+
+So, after some further talk, it was decided to mount again, ride
+to the opening that led from the main trail into the hiding place
+of the outlaws, and boldly attack them.
+
+True, our friends were outnumbered, but they had right on their
+side, and this sometimes makes a difference. Also they would have
+a little advantage, they hoped, in making the attack somewhat
+unexpectedly. For though Del Pinzo and his crowd knew the
+ranchmen were in the neighborhood they would, as Snake believed,
+await the return of the spy they had sent out, before doing
+anything.
+
+"An' that spy won't come t' his senses very soon," declared the
+avenging cowboy. "When he does he'll have an awful headache!"
+
+As quietly as possible they made their way to the opening. Slim,
+as a sort of captain, was in advance of the others and looked in.
+He came back to say:
+
+"They're gettin' ready for suthin'! They're all standin' near
+their horses, an' seem to be plannin' a move. Get ready t' rush
+in when I give the word!"
+
+There was a final look to arms and saddle leathers, and then the
+foreman cried:
+
+"Get into action!" at the same time spurring forward his pony, an
+example followed by all the others as they rushed into the
+defile.
+
+And action there was, but not exactly of the kind the boy
+ranchers and their friends anticipated. For Del Pinzo (easily
+recognized among the lesser lights of rascaldom) with his
+followers, after their first angry shouts, leaped for their
+horses. And their agility in that respect spoke well for their
+preparedness. In an instant, it seemed, every one of the two
+score, and more, was in saddle, and headed out of the defile.
+They were retreating--riding away from the following avengers,
+and going, it seemed, further into the maze of winding clefts
+amid the mountains.
+
+To the credit of Del Pinzo--if credit it be and if he be entitled
+to get credit--he rode at the rear, not starting his horse until
+all his men had raced away ahead of him.
+
+And then, as Bud, Dick and the others pressed into the defile
+after them, the Greaser turned and fired once, but with such
+quick action that eye could scarce follow the motion of his hand
+and weapon.
+
+There was a sharp crack and the hat of Yellin' Kid, who rode
+immediately behind Bud, sailed off his head, at the same time
+that a bullet zipped viciously over the pursuers.
+
+"Close call that, Kid!" remarked Snake, leaning over as his horse
+galloped forward, and picking up his friend's hat.
+
+"Close nothin'!" snapped out Yellin' Kid. "That was fancy
+shootin'! If Del Pinzo wanted to get me he could 'a' done it. He
+can mark out th' pips on a ten spot card with his eyes shut,
+almost! He shot my hat off just to show he wasn't aimin' t' spill
+no innocent blood! But wait until I get him! I'll make him sweat
+for that! A hole through brim an' crown! Why couldn't he be
+decent about it an' make it one?" grumbled Yellin' Kid as Snake
+handed him the hat.
+
+"Never mind that!" shouted Slim Degnan. "If we're going t' get
+them fellers we got t' ride!"
+
+That was evident, for even as he spoke Del Pinzo, the last of the
+outlaws, disappeared around a turn in the defile. He was "hazing"
+his men along to some other hiding place, it appeared. And he and
+his rascally followers seemed to know their ground, for they rode
+at break-neck pace, without fear of what lay beyond and unseen.
+It is likely they had traveled that route before.
+
+Another advantage lay with the rustlers. Their horses were fresh,
+for from the negligent attitudes assumed by the men when Dick had
+discovered them, it was evident they had been at ease for some
+time, whereas the pursuers had been on the trail a long time, and
+the way had been rough and stony.
+
+So it is nothing to the discredit of the boy ranchers that they
+and their friends were distanced in the first wild rush following
+the discovery and alarm.
+
+"Come on!" cried Bud. "Come on!" and he and Dick for the moment
+were in the lead, the canyon being wide enough, here, for several
+to ride abreast. "We've got to get 'em!"
+
+"And we won't stop until we do!" added his cousin.
+
+But they reckoned not with the roughness of the way, the start
+the rustlers had, their fresher horses and the fact that Del
+Pinzo and his crowd were more familiar with the trail than were
+the boy ranchers. So though our heroes rode on as fast as they
+could go with comparative safety, they did not, for some time at
+least, again come within sight of the enemy.
+
+"Wait there! Hold on a little!" finally called Slim to Bud, Dick
+and Nort, who, in their youthful and natural eagerness, had
+forged to the front in a bunch. "Pull up! This isn't a hundred
+yard dash! It's going to be a long race!"
+
+Bud was beginning to believe this, and some of his first
+exuberance was disappearing. He was getting more cool-headed.
+
+"Let's take it a bit easy," he said to Nort and Dick. "I guess
+we've got a long trail to follow."
+
+"But we've got to get 'em!" declared Dick.
+
+"You got rid of something that time!" commented his brother,
+meaningly, if slangily. "We're going to make 'em give back our
+cattle!"
+
+"Say!" suddenly cried Bud. "That's the queer part of it! Where
+are the steers?"
+
+And for the first time it occurred to the minds of the boy
+ranchers that of that quarry they had come most in search of they
+had had not a glimpse. Not a steer was in sight!
+
+Something of the amazement they felt must have been depicted on
+their faces, for when Slim rode up to where the boy ranchers had
+halted he asked:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Where are the cattle?" asked Bud, shouting almost as loudly as
+Yellin' Kid would have done. "Did you notice they didn't have a
+one with them, Slim?"
+
+"Yes. Are you just waking up to that, Bud?"
+
+"I reckon I am. But what does it mean?"
+
+"It means that there's a deeper game being played than we have
+any idea of, son. We've got to go some to get to the bottom!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+BUD'S DISCOVERY
+
+
+Once it became evident that catching the rustlers was likely to
+be the work of a long chase on the trail, the whole party of
+pursuers came to a halt beside the boy ranchers. And after some
+rapid talk of what might lay beyond their stopping place, in a
+lonely, wild and desolate section of the defile, the conversation
+switched to what had surprised Bud and his cousins--the absence
+of the cattle.
+
+"I s'posed they were driving the steers ahead of 'em all along,"
+admitted North "They drove the animals off our ranch, and I
+didn't think but what they were hazing 'em along to some place
+where they could change or blur the brands, and then sell 'em."
+
+"That's what I thought, too," acknowledged Dick.
+
+"Well, I must say I didn't think much about it," confessed Bud.
+"When I saw Del Pinzo and his gang in there all I wanted to do
+was to come to hand-grips with 'em. I forgot all about the
+cattle. But after we'd chased along a bit I did begin to wonder
+where my animals were--_our_ animals, I should say," he
+corrected himself with a glance at his cousins. However, they
+understood.
+
+"They must have gotten the cattle over to Double Z, or wherever
+it is they dispose of 'em," suggested Dick.
+
+"They couldn't--not in this short time," declared Slim. "We
+followed 'em too close. Besides, there isn't a sign of any cattle
+having been here, nor in that place where we surprised th' head
+Greaser and his gang. Not a sign of cattle!"
+
+He looked up and down the gorge, as did the other cowboys. But
+not even the sharpest eye could detect the faintest "sign" of the
+steers having been driven along the passage.
+
+"They must have them hidden somewhere," said Dick. "We'd better
+go back to the place where the sign petered out. There must be
+some opening there out of the main canyon."
+
+"If there is it's so well hid that it takes sharper eyes than
+I've got to find it," declared Snake, and he was noted for his
+far-seeing and clear vision.
+
+"Go _back_!" exclaimed North impulsively. "We aren't going
+back, are we, until we get Del Pinzo and his gang?"
+
+"Shoot 'em up--that's what I advise!" cried Yellin' Kid. There
+was a moment's pause, and Bud spoke.
+
+"We're got two things to do," said the boy rancher. "One is to
+get our cattle back, and the other is to nab the rustlers. But
+it's more important to get the cattle, I think.
+
+"If we don't do that our ranch experiment will be a failure," he
+went on. "But, of course, for the sake of other ranchers, it
+would be a mighty good thing if we could put Del Pinzo and his
+rustler crowd out of business."
+
+"Can't we do both?" asked Nort.
+
+"That's what I was coming to," his cousin continued. "If we can
+get on the trail of the hidden steers--for hidden they are, I'm
+sure--we can haze them back to the valley. Then we can keep on
+after this crowd," and he nodded toward the winding trail that
+led down the narrow defile.
+
+"Then you think we'd better go back!" asked Dick.
+
+"Let's see what Slim says" answered Bud. Naturally he would turn
+to his father's foreman for advice.
+
+"Oh, you're leavin' it t' me, are you?" asked Slim, as he
+finished rolling his cigarette, a feat he could accomplish with
+one hand. Then he lighted it, took a satisfying puff and went on:
+"If you ask my advice I'd say to go back an' see if you can't
+locate the cattle. As Bud remarks, they're dollars an' cents. Th'
+rustlers aren't, though it would be a mighty good stunt t' wipe
+'em off th' face of this cow country. But maybe we can attend to
+_them_ later."
+
+"Turn back she is!" exclaimed Bud, accepting, as did the others,
+the advice of Slim as being final. "We'll see if we can find the
+cattle, and then haze them to a safe place. After that we'll nab
+Del Pinzo and his bunch--if we can," he added, as a saving
+clause.
+
+"Suits me!" remarked Yellin' Kid, taking off his hat and looking
+at the two bullet holes. "That nabbin' part is what I want t'
+play at," and his grin suggested that when he and the Greaser met
+there would be some interesting happenings.
+
+It having been thus decided that the pursuit would be abandoned
+for the time being, a sort of council of war was held to settle
+on the next course.
+
+"I say grub!" exclaimed Bud, knowing that the suggestion would
+come with better grace from him than from some of the men who
+were working for him and his father. "Let's eat!"
+
+There was no debate on this question and when the ponies had
+been turned loose to graze on what scanty grass they could find,
+a fire was made and preparations started for feeding the hungry
+posse. For they were that--both hungry and a posse, bent on the
+capture of the lawless rustlers. Though, for the time, righteous
+revenge was given over to the more practical side of the
+question--getting back the cattle.
+
+Probably you do not need to be told that little time was wasted
+over the meal, simple as it was. Cowboys, on the trail, or
+otherwise engaged in their work of the ranch or range, do not
+spend much time over the pleasures of the appetite. There is a
+time for feasting, and a time for chasing cattle rustlers, and
+there was no sense in combining the two. That, evidently, was the
+thought in the minds of Bud and his friends, for they hurried
+through their eating, and, having rested the horses, were soon in
+saddles again.
+
+"Now," remarked Bud, talking the matter over with Slim, "what is
+the best plan?"
+
+"To get back, as fast as we can, t' th' place where we saw th'
+last signs of th' cattle," was the foreman's answer. "The
+unravelin' of th' skein of mystery, t' use a poetical expression,
+Bud, is there!"
+
+They all agreed with this view of it, and after a short ride down
+the defile, to see, if by chance, any of the Del Pinzo crowd
+might be in evidence, or returning, the back trail was taken.
+
+"We aren't going to discover much this day," observed Bud, as he
+rode slowly along between Nort and Dick.
+
+"Why, did you see a black rabbit?" Nort asked, remembering what
+had happened when a similar incident occurred, just before the
+strange events narrated in the chapter preceding this.
+
+"No, I didn't see a black jack," Bud answered. "But it won't be
+long until dark, for we don't get the full benefit of the
+afternoon sun down in this gorge. And we can't do anything except
+by daylight. No use looking for sign in the dark."
+
+"That's right," agreed Nort. "But I was afraid it was a black
+rabbit you'd seen."
+
+"As if we didn't have enough bad luck without that," commented
+Dick. "It's as bad, losing your herd as it is not to have enough
+water to give 'em what they need," and he referred to the time
+when, by the efforts of this same Del Pinzo, the supply for the
+reservoir of Happy Valley was cut off.
+
+"Oh, well, it might be worse," observed Bud, with a sort of
+cheerful, philosophical air, for he was of rather a happy
+disposition.
+
+"How?" asked Snake, for he was rather "sore" because Del Pinzo
+and the rustlers had escaped. Perhaps Snake felt that he might
+have gone in and captured the outlaws single-handed when he was
+on the lone spying expedition.
+
+"Well, I might never have had any cattle for those fellows to
+steal," went on Bud. "But say, boys," he went on, as they came to
+a place where the trail seemed to divide. "Let's take this other
+road back. It looks a bit easier, and we want to favor the ponies
+all we can."
+
+"Go ahead," advised Slim, to whom Bud looked for confirmation of
+his plan. "Anything that makes it easier for th' horses makes it
+more sure for us. And we may have a long hunt ahead of us."
+
+The care taken by the boy ranchers and their friends of their
+animals was not exaggerated, nor unusual. In the West so much
+depends on a man's horse--his comfort and very life, often--that
+it is a foolish fellow, indeed, who will not bestow at least some
+thought and care on his horse. The animal becomes a trusted
+companion and friend to the cowboys and prospectors.
+
+So, in order, as he hoped, to provide an easier means of getting
+back to the place they wished to reach, Bud led the way along a
+different trail on the retreat.
+
+It was practically a retreat, though one they had selected for
+themselves, since the outlaws had distanced them.
+
+It was rather a dejected bunch of boy ranchers and their friends
+that were now back-trailing. There was not much talk, after the
+excitement of the attack which had "petered out," and even Bud,
+gay and cheerful as he usually was, now seemed to have little to
+say.
+
+It was Dick who startled them all by suddenly exclaiming:
+
+"Look ahead there! Isn't that a man on the trail?" He, with Nort
+and Bud were in advance of the others. Dick pointed toward the
+place where he thought he saw something suspicious.
+
+"I don't glimpse anything," observed Nort.
+
+"Nor I," said his cousin.
+
+"He's gone now," Dick stated. "But I did see some one, and I'm
+almost sure it was a Greaser. Looked just like one of their
+hats."
+
+"What is it!" called Slim, for he caught snatches of the rather
+excited talk of the boys.
+
+"Dick thought he saw one of the Del Pinzo gang," answered Bud.
+
+"Maybe he's the fellow I cracked on the head," suggested Snake.
+For they had lost sight of that individual in the mad rush into
+the canyon, and had not seen him when they turned back.
+
+"Say, wouldn't it be a good thing to capture him?" asked Bud
+eagerly. "We could make him tell where the others are, and where
+our cattle are hidden."
+
+"If we can get him," conceded Slim.
+
+"There he is again!" cried Dick. "Come on, fellows!"
+
+Disregarding, or forgetting the travel-weary horses, the ranch
+lad urged his own steed ahead at as rapid a pace as the animal
+could be induced to develop in a spurt.
+
+"Take it easy!" advised Nort to his brother, but he might as well
+have called to the wind, for Dick was off and away.
+
+"I don't see anything!" cried Bud, and though he had looked
+eagerly forward at Dick's call he had glimpsed neither hat nor
+face of any personage who might be suspected of being one of the
+Del Pinzo gang.
+
+But, even with that, Bud was not going to miss a chance to be in
+at the finish of whatever was about to happen, so he spurred his
+animal forward.
+
+"Come on, boys!" cried Slim to his comrades. "We can't let those
+youngsters tackle this game alone--'specially when if there's one
+of the rustlers there may be more. _Pronto_!"
+
+He galloped forward, as did the others, along the new trail that
+Bud had suggested taking. But Dick was in the lead, and, in a few
+seconds, was out of sight beyond an outcropping ledge of rock,
+which narrowed the trail at this particular point.
+
+"Watch your step there, boys!" cried Snake, as he saw What was
+likely to prove a bad turning. "I don't see how Dick got around
+it as he did, taking it at the gallop," he went on.
+
+And, as it happened, Dick had not exactly made it, for when Bud
+and Nort reached the dangerous turn, slightly after Dick had
+disappeared abound it, they saw no sight of their companion.
+
+"Pull up!" cried Bud sharply. "There's something wrong!" Nort was
+beginning to think so himself, and he hauled his steed back with
+such good will and energy that the animal was almost on its
+haunches.
+
+"Where in the world did he go?" cried Bud.
+
+Nort asked the same question, for there lay the narrow trail
+before them, running along a ledge, with a shelving bank of shale
+and sand on one side and a towering face of rock on the other.
+
+Snake Purdee raced at such speed around the turn, in spite of his
+own admonition to the boy ranchers, that the cowboy nearly ran
+down Bud and Nort.
+
+"Where's Dick?" cried Snake, at once aware that the stout lad was
+not in sight.
+
+"He's vamoosed--somewhere," said Bud. "Maybe he met-up with that
+Greaser and----"
+
+At that moment, however, there came a cry, unmistakably of
+distress, seemingly from some distance ahead and down below the
+high and narrow trail on which the party had come to a halt.
+
+"There's Dick now!" cried Nort, recognizing his brother's voice.
+
+"Where in the world is he?" asked Bud, looking about.
+
+In answer Snake pointed down the sloping bank of shale and sand,
+and there, at the bottom, was Dick, half buried in the soft
+material, and his horse, with twisted saddle, was standing near
+by, looking rather the worse for wear. And if the countenance of
+the animal had been visible it would doubtless have shown pained
+surprise.
+
+"What's' the matter? What you doing down there?" called Nort to
+his brother, as Dick proceeded to extricate himself from the sand
+and shale that covered him almost to his neck.
+
+"You don't s'pose I'm down here for fun, do you?" floated up the
+somewhat sarcastic answer. "I came around that turn too fast and
+the horse just sat down at the edge and slid here. It's lucky I'm
+not killed!"
+
+"It sure is!" agreed Slim. "You want to take a strange trail
+easy, boy. Are you hurt--or your horse?"
+
+Dick was about two hundred feet below them at the foot of the
+slope. He got up and limped over to his animal.
+
+"Guess he's all right," was the reply.
+
+"How about you?" asked Bud, for Dick had followed the real
+westerner's habit of looking first to his steed.
+
+"Oh, I'm scratched up a bit, and lame," was the rueful reply,
+"but I guess nothing is busted unless it's one of my girths."
+
+The others watched him, while he straightened his saddle, which
+had slipped around under the horse. Then Dick called up:
+
+"It's all right. I can ride him, I reckon," which he proved by
+vaulting into the saddle.
+
+"How am I going to get back up there, though?" he asked. "It's as
+slippery as an iceberg."
+
+"You can't get up," Snake called down. "Don't try it. The trail up
+here goes along the same direction as the one down there. Keep on
+it until we join you."
+
+Which Dick did, his pony, fortunately, proving to have suffered
+no injuries in the unexpected slide down the hill. And thus, by a
+narrow margin, was an accident diverted. For had the slope down
+which Dick plunged, because of taking the turn too suddenly, been
+of rock, both he and the horse might have been badly hurt, if not
+killed.
+
+"Keep a lookout for that Greaser," called Dick up to his chums
+above him.
+
+"I don't believe you saw any," retorted Slim. "There aren't any
+signs of him here."
+
+Nor were there, though the cowboys made careful scrutiny. And
+afterward Dick admitted that he might have mistaken the
+fluttering of a bush for the hat of someone he thought a member
+of Del Pinzo's gang. In a short time the upper path merged into
+the trail below, and Dick rejoined his friends, exhibiting some
+scratches sustained in his perilous slide.
+
+Together the posse rode on, making a trail back to the main
+defile, and out of the one down which the Greaser and his gang
+had turned, where they had been discovered by Dick. And then
+Bud's prediction came true. The sun, which never shone directly
+into the main canyon for any great length of time, began to set,
+bringing gloom into the defile long before it would make its
+appearance on the level country up above.
+
+Seeing the gathering darkness, Slim advised calling a halt, and
+this was done several miles beyond the place where the last trace
+of the stolen cattle had been observed.
+
+"Shall we camp here!" asked Bud, deferring to the foreman, as was
+natural under the circumstances.
+
+"We've got grass and water," Slim remarked, indicating a spring
+toward which, even then, some of the horses were hastening.
+"Water for the ponies and us, grass for the animals, and there
+ought to be some grub left."
+
+"There is," said Snake Purdee, who had assumed, or been given (it
+did not much matter which) the office of commissary. "We brought
+along plenty."
+
+"And we may need it before we reach the end of the trail,"
+remarked Bud. "I don't believe it's going to be easy to find
+where those cattle disappeared to."
+
+"There's only two ways, or at th' most three, in which they could
+be kept away from us," said Slim, as he slid from his saddle.
+
+"What are they?" asked Dick, who, like his brother, was always
+eager to learn from a true son of the West, such as was the
+foreman of Diamond X.
+
+"Well," Slim resumed, "they've either been driven down some side
+passage, or gorge, such like as we found Del Pinzo in, or they
+were back-tracked to th' open an' driven off there th' same night
+they was run off."
+
+"That might be," admitted Bud. "I didn't think of a back track."
+
+"Well, I did," Slim said, "but the signs of it was so faint I
+passed it up."
+
+A back trail, I might explain, is where an animal, or several of
+them, or even a human, for that matter, turns and retraces the
+way first traveled. A fox, fleeing before the hounds, will often
+do this, and as the scent does not indicate the direction in
+which Reynard is running, the dogs are often deceived.
+
+But in the case of the fox the imprints of the animal's paws are
+so light that perhaps only with a microscope could it be told
+when he had "back-tracked." Except, of course, in some place
+where soft mud might retain the impression of both trails.
+
+In the case of a large body of cattle, also, though the scent
+would not be relied upon, it would be difficult for the casual,
+or, in some cases, even the trained observer, to say where the
+herd had been turned and driven back over the same course
+originally taken.
+
+Thus pursuers would be baffled. And when to this is added the
+fact that the floor of the gorge was of rock, in the main, which
+did not take, or retain, any impressions, the puzzle was all the
+more difficult to solve.
+
+"Well, we'll see what happens in the morning," observed Bud, as
+preparations for the camp went on.
+
+The usual watches were set that night, two of the posse being
+constantly on guard. It was rather nervous work for the boy
+ranchers, especially Nort and Dick, as they started at every
+chance sound which seemed to echo so loudly in the darkness. And
+once Dick, who was taking the tour of duty with Yellin' Kid,
+suddenly fired at an object he saw moving.
+
+It was only a luckless coyote, as was evidenced by the howl of
+pain that followed the report of Dick's gun, and then the night
+was made hideous and sleepless, for the time, by the chorus of
+weird howls from the other slinking beasts who were hanging
+about, hoping for something to eat.
+
+However, it was nearly morning when Dick did his shooting, and a
+little later they all turned out for an early breakfast, the odor
+of the coffee and sizzling bacon producing an aroma finer than
+that of the most costly French perfume.
+
+"And now for the day's work!" exclaimed Bud, when they were once
+more ready to set off on the trail.
+
+"And may we find something!" was the fervent petition of Dick.
+
+Off they started, refreshed by the night's halt and eager for
+what lay before them.
+
+I shall not weary you by a recital of all the minor incidents of
+the day, how they found many false trails and leads, several of
+which at first seemed promising, but all of which led to nothing.
+
+It was Bud who made the real discovery which, eventually, led to
+the solving of the mystery. Bud had alighted from his pony, when
+the halt was made for the noonday lunch, and was climbing up the
+side of the rocky hill which extended for miles and formed one
+wall of the gorge.
+
+"Looking for gold?" asked Dick, as he saw his cousin pick up and
+examine several rocks.
+
+"Sure!" was the laughing answer. "Might find the bones of another
+Triceratops, too!"
+
+Bud reached forward to pick up something else, and a rock slipped
+from beneath his foot. He had been resting heavily on it, and the
+sudden lurch threw him backward. To save himself he clutched at
+the nearest object, which happened to be a bush growing in the
+side of the hill. For a moment it seemed that this would save the
+lad from at least sliding down the declivity, but the bush was
+not deeply rooted and, in another moment pulled out in the ranch
+boy's hands. He flung up his arms, and almost toppled over
+backward, but managed to throw himself forward, and then he slid
+down several feet.
+
+"Hurt!" called up Dick, ready to hasten to his cousin's aid.
+
+"No, but my shoes are full of gravel. Next time I come up a place
+like this I----"
+
+Bud suddenly ceased speaking, and began to scramble up the side
+of the shale-covered hill almost as fast as he had slid down.
+Then, as he reached the place whence the bush had pulled out he
+seemed to be looking into some crevice or opening.
+
+A moment later he turned, looked down on the party gathered in
+the defile below him, and shouted:
+
+"I've found 'em! I've found 'em! Here they are, in one of the
+queerest places you can imagine! Come up here and look!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE FIGHT
+
+
+Scrambling up the side of the gorge, slipping and sliding back,
+almost like the frog in the well, Dick, Nort and the cowboys
+reached Bud's side. He maintained his footing only by constantly
+working his way upward, for the shale, at this point, was almost
+like fine sand, and kept slipping down, taking the boy rancher
+with it. But there were bushes growing here and there, and by
+holding to these, taking care not to pull them out by the roots,
+Bud managed to stay about where he had been when he made the
+amazing discovery.
+
+For it was an amazing discovery, as all the others admitted when
+they reached his side, and looked through the fissure which had
+been disclosed when Bud pulled out the big bush by which he tried
+to save himself a fall.
+
+"What is it?' cried Nort.
+
+"And where are they?" demanded Dick.
+
+"It's our cattle! They're inside there--a place like a football
+stadium only there aren't any seats," explained Bud, breathlessly.
+By this time he was surrounded by the others, all maintaining a
+precarious foothold in the shifting shale. And what they saw
+caused them all to join with Bud in wondering amazement.
+
+For there, in what was a great natural bowl of the earth, with
+partly sloping green sides, and with a floor covered by grass,
+with a pool of sparkling water in the centre, were the missing
+cattle! The whole of the big herd that had been driven away from
+Happy Valley was there, it seemed. There they were, in that vast,
+natural amphitheatre with food and water at hand, and, apparently,
+as content as when they grazed on the range of the boy ranchers.
+
+"By all the rattlers that ever rattled!" cried Snake. "We sure
+have found 'em!"
+
+"And they're all right, too!" added Yellin' Kid, as he gazed
+through the crack which had been opened when Bud pulled out the
+bush. For it was only through the crack that they were able to
+view the steers contentedly feeding and drinking within that vast
+bowl. That is what it was--bowl much more immense in size than
+the one where Yale battles with Princeton and Harvard. More
+immense than the Palmer Stadium at Old Nassau. The walls towered
+higher, and it was greater in diameter. It was almost a perfect
+bowl in shape--that is as perfect as so natural a formation could
+be.
+
+"But how did the cattle ever get in there!" exclaimed Nort.
+
+"And how are we going to get them out?" asked Dick.
+
+For it seemed, at first sight, that there was no entrance or
+egress. And certainly nothing could get in over the top, or out
+that way. For though the sides of the great, natural bowl were
+green up to a certain distance, beyond that, and between the rim
+and a point half way down, they were almost perpendicular in
+straightness. And, being of rock, they would, it seemed, afford
+scarcely a foot or hand-hold for the most expert "human fly."
+
+"There must be a way in," declared Slim.
+
+"And out, too," added Yellin' Kid. "Those rustlers never would
+have driven th' steers in here unless there was some way of
+getting 'em out."
+
+"But what is this place, anyhow!" asked Nort. "It looks like the
+Yale bowl, but it never could have been built by man."
+
+"It wasn't," said Bud. "It's the crater of an extinct volcano. It
+has been filled up, with land-slides, probably, and the winds and
+the birds have brought grass seeds here, year after year, until
+it makes a regular corral for cattle. There's water, too, which
+isn't surprising. That's what it is, an old volcano crater. I
+heard there was one around here, but I never had time to look for
+it."
+
+"Yes, I've heard of it myself," admitted Slim, "but I didn't think
+it was like this. Let's have another look."
+
+Dick and Nort moved aside to give the foreman a place of
+advantage, and when he had looked through a spot where the crack
+was wider he said: "I see where they can get th' cattle out.
+Here, take a look, Bud," and Slim handed the ranch lad a pair of
+field glasses that had been brought along in case of emergency.
+They were of value now.
+
+"Down at th' far end, and a little to the left of centre," Slim
+directed Bud's gaze. "There's a sort of fence of trees piled up.
+That's th' entrance all right--or one of 'em."
+
+"You're right!" agreed Bud when he had taken a careful
+observation. "But is there more than one!"
+
+"Must be," said Slim. "The rustlers never drove th' cattle in
+away around _there_. They sent 'em in from _this_ end. Th' trail
+ends right here, an' it's here where th' rustlers drove th'  cattle in."
+
+"But where?" asked Bud. "There isn't a sign of an opening!"
+
+"Because they closed it after them," went on the foreman. "I
+begin to see it now. There must have been a break in the wall of
+the old crater right about here. They drove th' cattle in an' it
+was an easy matter t' let some of th' dirt slide down an' fill it
+up again. Let's take a look with a view t' seein' if I'm right."
+It is easier to find a clue when you know just what you are
+looking for. And it did not take long for the experienced eyes of
+the cow punchers to discover where earth and shale from above had
+been recently dislodged and allowed to slide down to cover what
+must have been the same sort of natural opening into the side of
+the wall as that at the far end, closed by a fence of trees. This
+was to keep the cattle in without men being needed to ride herd.
+
+"Yes, it does look as if they'd taken 'em in here," said Bud,
+when it was found that the trail of the steers led to the foot of
+the crater wall, where all signs stopped. "If we had looked up a
+little, instead of sticking so close to the ground, we might have
+seen this clue before."
+
+"All in good time," observed Slim. "The question is, now, how can
+we get in there?"
+
+"It will be easy enough," suggested Nort. "All you'll have to do
+will be to enlarge the crack we looked through."
+
+"That's all right for us getting inside that crater," observed
+Dick, "but what about our horses? They can't scramble up there."
+
+"Then what can we do?" asked Bud. "Ride around to the other
+entrance?"
+
+"That would take too long," answered the foreman. "I fancy that
+Del Pinzo and his gang are on their way to this natural corral
+now, t' drive out th' cattle they stole from us. We've got t' get
+ahead of 'em!"
+
+"But how?" Bud wanted to know.
+
+"I think we can dig out enough of th' shale an' dirt they slid
+int' th' opening, so that we can get th' horses through," Slim
+answered. "We ought t' have shovels, but we can use sticks t' dig
+with. It will take longer, but it's the best we can do."
+
+Little time was lost in putting this plan into operation. With a
+hatchet, which formed part of their camp equipment, some strong
+poles were cut from one of the few trees that grew on the slope
+of the gorge, and with these digging operations began. It was
+slow work, but many hands were engaged and soon an opening was
+made so that entrance could be had to the original crack in the
+rocky side of the bowl. For it was by this crack that the cattle
+had been driven in. And the crack had only been partly filled
+with broken rock and earth to conceal it from view.
+
+"Yes, they did come in this way!" cried Bud as he and the others
+urged their horses through the opening and into the bowl proper--the
+crater of the extinct volcano. "Look, plenty of signs!" There
+was no doubt of it. The rustlers had driven the cattle into the
+defile, hazed them along until they reached the opening into this
+great natural hiding place, and then the rest was easy.
+
+The animals had been run into this solitary place, passing
+through the narrow, fissure-like opening in the rocky wall, a
+crack similar to, but larger, than the opening through which Bud
+had made his discovery. Then shale and dirt had been started, in
+a miniature avalanche, down the side of the slope, effectually
+hiding the means by which the cattle were secreted away.
+
+"No wonder we thought an airship had been used," commented Dick.
+
+Before them lay the vast crater of the old volcano, inactive for
+centuries. Nature had covered the hard lava with a layer of soil
+in which grew rich grass. And nature had further made the place
+an ideal corral for cattle by supplying a large spring of water.
+It was a "rustler's paradise," to quote Slim Degnan.
+
+As the boy ranchers rode into the amphitheatre, the cattle at the
+far end, and in the middle, stopped grazing to look at them.
+
+"We're friends of yours!" called Bud, waving his hat in the joy
+at finding his lost stock.
+
+"Yes, but here come some fellows who aren't!" shouted Yellin'
+Kid.
+
+"Where?" asked Bud, quickly.
+
+"There!" Kid pointed to the far end of the crater, if one may use
+the word "end" in referring to a circular bowl.
+
+The cowboy posse saw, riding at top speed into the great
+depression, a crowd of men, who, as they came nearer, could be
+recognized as the Del Pinzo gang. The Greaser leader was not in
+evidence, however.
+
+"They're after the cattle!" cried Nort.
+
+"Well, they won't get 'em without a fight!" shouted Bud.
+
+He drew his weapon, an example followed by the others, and as the
+two parties, one representing law and order and the other the
+wild, reckless element, started toward each other, the fight
+began.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A DESPERATE CHANCE
+
+
+"Come on, fellows; Come on!" yelled Bud, as he clapped his heels
+against the sides of his pony and rushed toward the rustlers.
+"Give 'em all they got coming!"
+
+"We're with you!" cried Nort.
+
+"A fight to the finish!" shouted Dick.
+
+The boy ranchers had their weapons out, as, indeed, had every one
+of the following cowboys. Nor was Del Pinzo's gang a whit behind
+in this, though their lawless leader did not seem to be present.
+The sun gleamed on the flashing ornaments of silver worn by some
+of the Mexican Greasers as they rode to the fray.
+
+"Don't ride too far, Bud!" called Slim, for the boys were
+inclined to be reckless.
+
+"We've got to ride 'em down or they'll have all the cattle out of
+that far opening before we get there!" Bud answered. And, as he
+replied he fired one shot in the air, over the heads of the
+enemy. For Bud bore in mind his father's injunction, not to shoot
+to wound unless it was absolutely necessary. And Bud thought
+perhaps a strong show of force would awe the rustlers, causing
+them to retreat.
+
+However, they were in too strong force for this. And as the boy
+ranchers and their friends rode on into the vast, natural,
+volcanic bowl, and were able to take note of their foes, they saw
+that the rustlers outnumbered them two to one.
+
+Bud's shot--the first of the fight--was the signal for general
+firing, though, as usual in such engagements, the initial
+fusilade was wild on both sides; mercifully so, it seemed
+ordered, for no one was hurt by the opening volley.
+
+"There's going to be a hot time!" shouted Yellin' Kid, as he
+spurred forward. "And I don't see th' skunk that spoiled my hat!
+Where is he?"
+
+"Del Pinzo would rather his men'd get th' lickin's!" answered
+Snake. "He's hidin' out, I reckon."
+
+"I'd like to find his hole!" said Yellin' Kid.
+
+The clashing forces were nearer each other now, with the bunch of
+Happy Valley steers in between, but off to one side. In order
+that you may better understand what follows, and the positions of
+the contending parties, I will explain the situation briefly.
+
+The boy ranchers and their friends had ridden in on what I might
+call the north end of the volcanic crater, in which bowl the
+rustlers had hidden the cattle. The opening by which the cattle
+had been placed in the bowl had been closed by a slide of dirt
+and shale but this had been partly cleared away by our friends so
+they could ride through the crack.
+
+At what may be termed the south end of the crater was a larger
+opening, wide enough, in fact, for several horsemen to ride
+abreast or a large herd of cattle to be driven through. This
+opening had been roughly fenced off to keep in the cattle. And it
+was through this opening that the rustlers had ridden, advancing
+to meet the force of the boy ranchers coming from the north.
+
+The cattle had been feeding in the centre of the bowl, but as the
+two parties began the fight, the steers drew off to the west. It
+was evidently the intention of the rustlers to take out the
+cattle if possible. Whether they could succeed in driving them
+away in spite of the pursuit of the rightful owners, or whether
+they hoped to hide them in some other secret place did not
+develop.
+
+At any rate, here were the two contending parties racing toward
+each other, and firing as they galloped forward. And when they
+were all out in the open it was evident that the rustlers far
+outnumbered the boy ranchers and their friends.
+
+One thing, however, was in favor of Bud and the others with him.
+They had advanced farther into the bowl than had the rustlers,
+and were past the centre when the actual fray began. Using the
+illustration of a football game, to which I am tempted because of
+the location of the fray, I might remark that the ball was now
+over the centre line and well into the enemy's territory. It was
+up to Bud and his followers to rush it over for a touchdown.
+
+But the rustlers were not going to give up without a sharp fight.
+They had come to take away the cattle, and this they now
+endeavored to do. Several Greasers separated from the main body
+and began to circle around with the evident intention of cutting
+out a bunch of steers, to drive them to the larger opening, where
+the fence had been torn down.
+
+"We've got to stop that!" shouted Slim. "Here, Snake, you and Kid
+ride over and see what you can do!"
+
+The two cowboys, shouting at the tops of their voices, wheeled to
+one side and started toward half a dozen Greasers. The odds were
+not so great as they seemed, for right and justice were on the
+side of the cowboys.
+
+Suddenly Dick, who was riding between Bud and Nort, gave a little
+cry, and his weapon dropped from his right hand, on which a spot
+of blood appeared.
+
+"Hit?" asked Nort.
+
+"Only a scratch," Dick answered. He halted his pony, snatched his
+neckerchief off and, with the help of his brother, bound up the
+wound. It was decidedly more than a scratch, being a deep cut
+where a glancing bullet had hit, and Dick's hand would be out of
+commission for some time.
+
+"But I can fire with my left," he added, a feat to which he was
+equal, "and Star guides by knee pressure." He was riding a pony
+he had taught to obey directions by means of pressure of the
+cowboy's knees on either side. And Dick had been practicing left
+hand shooting for some time. His gun restored to him, he rode on
+with his brother and cousin.
+
+With sudden yells, accompanied by as sudden a rush, a band of the
+Greasers now rode straight for Bud, Dick, Nort and some of the
+Diamond X outfit with our heroes. So fierce was the attack, and
+in such numbers, that there was nothing for our friends to do but
+retreat, for the time being at least.
+
+This attack took place in a part of the bowl where there were a
+large number of immense boulders scattered. Seeing that these
+formed a natural protection, or breastwork, Bud called to his
+cousins and the men to get behind the stones.
+
+"Make the horses lie down!" was his advice. "We'll fight Indian
+fashion!"
+
+And, at this point, at least, this became the style of the
+battle. The Greasers rode fast, endeavoring to cut off Bud and
+his party, but the latter reached the haven of rocks first, and
+with the horses on their sides, positions the steeds were glad
+enough to assume, doubtless, the advantage was on the side of the
+boy ranchers.
+
+They were protected by rocks, from behind which they could fire,
+while the enemy was in the open. But the enemy far outnumbered
+our friends, and the latter, for the time being, were in the
+position of persons besieged.
+
+For, no sooner had the Greasers seen what was the object of Bud
+and his followers, than the lawless ones took such small shelter
+as they could find, some behind their prostrate horses, and began
+firing at the boy ranchers' party. And as the renegade Mexicans
+were, in a number of cases, armed with rifles, the odds against
+Bud and his chums were increased. True, the Greasers were not
+good marksmen, but a rifle in the hands of even a poor shooter is
+often more than a match for a .45 revolver in the hands of an
+expert.
+
+"Pick 'em off!" cried Bud, as bullets zinged their way in among
+the rocks behind which he and his friends were hidden. "Pick 'em
+off, but don't expose yourself!"
+
+This was good advice if it could have been followed, but to fire
+effectively it was necessary for those of the Diamond X outfit to
+take aim over, or to one side, of the rocks, and when this was
+done, some part of the body was exposed. At such times the
+watching Greasers fired.
+
+It was now an actual state of siege as far as Bud and his
+immediate companions were concerned, and they were outnumbered.
+Several of Bud's party, including Nort this time, had been
+slightly wounded. But, in turn, they had wounded some Greasers,
+too, one vitally, as was learned later.
+
+Meanwhile, Snake and Kid were having their own troubles with the
+party of Greasers they had been sent off to intercept and prevent
+from driving off the cattle. More Mexicans had joined their
+comrades, and Kid and Snake were obliged to beat a retreat,
+joining Slim and his forces, who were fighting the main, and
+larger body of rustlers.
+
+And it was while these two separate fights were going on, and
+while the Greasers that had forced Kid and Snake to retire were
+gathering together a bunch of cattle to drive out of the main
+opening, that Dick, who was readjusting the bandage on his hand,
+saw something that made his heart sink.
+
+This was a sight of another body of Greasers riding into the bowl
+from the south end--a body of Mexican horsemen led by Del Pinzo
+himself.
+
+"I guess it's all up with us now," said Dick to his brother,
+calling the latter's attention to the reinforcements of the
+enemy. "That's what that half-breed was hanging back for. He
+wanted to get us well mixed up, and now he'll drive off the
+cattle."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Nort. "It does look that way. What we going to
+do, Dick?"
+
+The two brothers were behind a great boulder, off to one side.
+Bud and some of the cowboys were replying to a brisk fire on the
+part of the besieging Greasers.
+
+For a moment, after having tied the bandage on his hand, Dick did
+not answer. Then, as if an inspiration came to him, he said:
+
+"It's only a chance, Nort, and a desperate chance at that. But
+maybe we can do it! Did you ever read Kipling's 'Drums of the
+Fore and Aft'?"
+
+"Sure! But what's that got to do with this?"
+
+"A lot. You and I are going to be the 'Drums' and these are going
+to play the tune," and he tapped his .45. "Come on," he added,
+motioning to his brother. "As I said, it's a desperate chance,
+but it may do the trick!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+LIEUTENANT WAYNE
+
+
+Not to mystify you, when there is no need for it, I will say that
+the scheme Dick had hit upon was simple enough. If you recall
+Kipling's famous story you know that two drummer boys, of a
+British regiment in India, when the main body was being defeated
+by a horde of natives, slipped quietly off to one side, and, by
+hiding behind rocks, played the fife and beat the drum to such
+advantage that the heathens thought another regiment was
+approaching to take them in the rear, while the British force was
+so heartened by hearing the familiar strains that they rallied,
+the retreat was stopped and the day won.
+
+Dick and Nort had no fife or drum, and, if they had possessed
+those instruments, it is doubtful if they could have performed on
+them with any credit to themselves.
+
+Each of them was slightly wounded, but they possessed their guns
+and had a plentiful supply of ammunition, and it was Dick's idea
+to use this. "We'll slide out, crawl along that gully there," and
+he pointed to Nort the one he meant, "and we'll take 'em on the
+flank. By keeping behind the rocks, and firing fast, we can make
+'em think, maybe, that another force is coming."
+
+"You well said it--_maybe_," murmured Nort. "But at that,
+the idea isn't so bad. They may hold us here all day, and with
+Slim and his bunch having their hands full, it looks as if the
+cattle would be driven off."
+
+For while some of the rustlers were holding Bud and his band in
+check behind the rocks, and while others were fighting Slim and
+his cowboys, still others were driving the cattle toward the
+opening in the old volcano bowl. It was Dick's idea that if by a
+cross fire on the part of himself and his brother, hidden among
+the rocks, they could scare away the band besieging Bud and his
+friends, a diversion might be created which would rout the enemy.
+At any rate, it was worth trying.
+
+Bud was busy, as Nort and Dick slipped off, tying a bandage on
+the arm of one of the cowboys who had been shot. And the brothers
+were glad to try their desperate venture unnoticed, for they did
+not want to explain. And they did not want to be observed going
+away, as it looked a little like desertion in the face of the
+enemy. But, for the time being, there was a lull in the fighting.
+The Greasers who had been holding Bud's force behind the rocks,
+had quieted down. The fighting between Slim and his cowboys out
+in the open, however, was going on fiercely, and several had
+fallen on both sides.
+
+Once Dick and Nort were down in a gully, off to the right of the
+rocks behind which the band had taken shelter, the eastern lads
+were screened from observation, both by their friends and by the
+Greasers.
+
+"Cut along, North!" advised Dick, and, in spite of their wounds,
+the boy ranchers ran in crouching positions, their guns in
+readiness.
+
+It did not take them long to reach a point which they regarded as
+favorable for the trick they were going to play--for it was
+nothing more nor less than a trick. If they could succeed, by
+quick firing, in deceiving the enemy, and causing a retreat, a
+sudden rush on the part of Bud and his friends might turn the
+scale.
+
+"All ready?" asked Dick of his brother, as they reached some
+sheltering rocks on the flank of the party besieging Bud.
+
+"Wait until I lay a lot of cartridges ready on the ground. It
+will be easier to reload them."
+
+"Good idea. I'll do the same."
+
+It was rather awkward for Dick, with his wounded right hand, to
+reload his gun, but he could manage after a fashion, though not
+so well as Nort, whose hurt was in his upper left arm. The lads
+saw to it that their weapons were ready, with a goodly supply of
+cartridges in front of them. Nort looked across at Dick, behind
+the sheltering rock, and at a nod from the latter they both began
+firing.
+
+The effect on the Greasers, poorly screened as they were, was
+instantaneous. Several leaped to their feet and turned in
+surprise toward the sound of firing on their flank. These made
+good targets, and by firing at them Dick and Nort brought more
+than one to the ground.
+
+Bud and his companions, hearing the firing in a new direction,
+where, as yet they did not know they had supporters, were also
+taken by surprise, but it was of another nature.
+
+"Come on! Rush 'em!" yelled Bud, when he had looked around, and,
+missing Dick and Nort, guessed what had happened. "We've got 'em
+in a cross fire now! Rush 'em!"
+
+But the Greasers, disheartened by the firing of Dick and Nort on
+their flank, did not stop to be rushed. Those who were able
+leaped up and ran toward their horses, which had strayed off to
+one side. Bud and his party emerged from behind the rocks, firing
+as they rushed the enemy.
+
+"This is the stuff, Dick!" shouted Nort, as he reloaded his gun
+and sent another fusilade of bullets into the ranks of the now
+retreating Greasers.
+
+"I'm glad it worked!" remarked the proposer of the Kipling
+scheme. "Now we can go help Slim and his bunch. They're having
+trouble!"
+
+Indeed the tide of battle did seem to be turning against the
+foreman and his forces. They were outnumbered, and had lost
+several cowboys, by wounds if not by death--just which it was
+impossible to determine then. And, meanwhile, the other Greasers,
+under the leadership of the wily Del Pinzo, were hazing the
+cattle toward the main entrance.
+
+"Good work, boys! Great work!" Bud greeted his cousins with as he
+rode out to meet them, when the besieging Greasers had been
+routed by the cross fire of the two lads. "How'd you think of
+it?"
+
+"It was Dick," spoke Nort.
+
+"It was Kipling!" Dick answered.
+
+"Get mounted and join us!" Bud requested. "We've got to help
+Slim!"
+
+This was evident, as the foreman and his cowboys were now hard
+pressed. But as Nort and Dick rejoined Bud, having leaped to
+their saddles they, as well as the others from Diamond X caught
+sight of something which, for the moment made them sick at heart.
+
+For the sight was that of another body of horsemen riding into
+the old volcano bowl. On they cantered, the sun glinting on their
+arms.
+
+"More of Del Pinzo's rustlers!" burst out Bud. "We may as well
+give up! They're too many for us!"
+
+But he did not pull rein, intending it seemed, to fight it out to
+the bitter end. A cry from Dick was the cause of wonderment. He
+pointed to the new body of advancing horsemen.
+
+"Look! Look!" Dick shouted. "Those aren't Greasers! They aren't
+rustlers or Del Pinzo's gang! They're United States troopers! By
+all the jack rabbits that ever jumped we've got the rustlers now!
+The United States cavalry is on the job!"
+
+And a moment later, as the notes of a bugle gave a musical order,
+causing the advancing troop to deploy to right and left, it was
+evident that the tide of battle had turned in favor of the boy
+ranchers and their friends.
+
+For the newcomers were, in reality, a troop of United States
+regulars, and with a dash and vim, exceeded nowhere in the world,
+and among no other fighters, this band of grim-faced men entered
+into action. Carbines were unslung and their short and ugly bark
+was added to the din.
+
+"Come on, fellows!"
+
+"Now we've got 'em!"
+
+"Over the line!"
+
+"Touchdown!"
+
+These were only a few of the excited shouts of the boy ranchers
+themselves, while the cowboys of Diamond X riding into the fray
+with new hearts, sent up their shrill, yipping yells. It was all
+over then but the shouting, so to speak. The Greasers were fairly
+trapped--Del Pinzo and all his gang. In vain they attempted to
+ride around and escape by the main entrance. But the troopers had
+stationed a guard there, and the bowl was "bottled up." One or
+two Greasers, sneaking around to the north, did manage to escape
+through the crack by which Bud and his friends had entered,
+though the main body was captured and the cattle saved.
+
+"Whew, but that was hot work!" commented Bud, toward sundown,
+when the rustlers had been caught, disarmed and corraled under
+guard.
+
+"You told the truth for once," remarked Dick, whose wound had
+been rebandaged by the surgeon accompanying the troopers.
+
+"And I guess this is the end of Del Pinzo," remarked Nort, for
+the outlaw Greaser half-breed had been caught red-handed, so to
+speak.
+
+"I hope so," mused Bud. "But we paid a price for it."
+
+"And so did they," observed Slim. "We accounted for quite a few,
+but I'm sorry for our boys." Several of the Diamond X outfit had
+been grievously wounded, and one was killed outright. But the
+casualties on the side of the enemy were greater.
+
+The fight was over. The cattle of the boy ranchers were saved,
+and the rustlers captured. Tired horses were staked out near
+grass and water, and while the cavalry established their camp,
+Bud and his friends began to wonder how it was the troopers had
+arrived in the nick of time.
+
+"Well, it was more by chance than anything else," said Captain
+Parker, who was in command. "We'd been on the trail of these
+outlaws for some time, and finally we saw a chance to corner
+them. It was due to the work of Lieutenant Wayne that we were
+able so to effectually bag them here, though. He has been on
+scout duty in this section for some time, endeavoring to get information
+so that we might round up this gang."
+
+"Lieutenant Wayne," repeated Bud, wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, here he comes now. He says he knows you boys."
+
+"Knows us!" murmured Dick, as a trooper approached, saluting his
+superior and smiling at the boy ranchers. "Yes, don't you know
+me?" asked Lieutenant Wayne, holding out his hand to Bud.
+"Perhaps if I had on my glasses, you would be better able to----"
+
+"Four Eyes!" burst out Nort. "At least--I beg your pardon--Henry--er--Mr.
+Mellon--Lieutenant Wayne!" he stammered.
+
+"Yes, Four Eyes!" was the laughing answer of the trooper. "Those
+glasses were only fakes! I wore them as a sort of disguise, and
+very effectual they were, it seems."
+
+"Four Eyes!" gasped Bud. "And were you in the United States
+cavalry all the while?"
+
+"Yes, on scout, or detached duty," was the answer. "The
+government has had many complaints of this band of Del Pinzo's
+rustlers, and we were detailed to put them out of business. I was
+assigned to go on duty as a cowboy, which wasn't so hard, as I
+had been one nearly all my life before joining the army. I worked
+on several ranches, picking up bits of information here and
+there, and I completed all I needed to get in Happy Valley," he
+added.
+
+"And we never tumbled!" remarked Dick.
+
+"Glad you didn't!" laughed Lieutenant Wayne, to give him his
+proper title. "I thought you were suspicious of me, more than
+once, though," he said.
+
+"We were, after you built that signal lantern on the watch tower--you
+did do that, didn't you?" asked Bud.
+
+"Yes, but only as a decoy for the rustlers. I managed to overhear
+some of their plans, and part of their scheme called for a light
+on the tower when the time was ripe for a raid on your cattle,
+boys. So I flashed the signal myself, and, indirectly, it led to
+this capture today. For I joined my troop right after that, and
+we have been rounding the rascals up ever since.
+
+"We knew they had made a big raid at your place, but we didn't
+know where they had hidden the cattle until I happened to think
+of this old crater, which I discovered one day when I was working
+for you, Bud. So we made our way here and--well, this is the end,
+I believe," he added, as he looked over at the bunch of miserable
+prisoners.
+
+"I hope it's the end," said Bud. "We want to get back to
+business. And I'm sorry we suspected you, Lieutenant."
+
+"Oh, that's all right. In fact, I'm glad you did. It shows I
+lived up to the character I was supposed to represent."
+
+There is little more to tell. That night, around the campfire
+many things, hitherto a mystery, were explained. The stethoscope
+the boys found was the property of Lieutenant Wayne. He had
+dropped it when paying a secret visit to Happy Valley. He had
+intended to pose as a doctor to deceive the rustlers, but, on
+losing the stethoscope he gave up that plan. It is needless to
+say that he had nothing to do with the robbery at Diamond X, the
+real thieves never being discovered. Lieutenant Wayne apologized
+for cutting his way from Bud's tent the night he disappeared
+after the signal from the tower. This was the only way he could
+disappear and accomplish his plans, he said. And it was he who
+had fired and broken the bottle, and had also fired mysterious
+signal shots, in order to play up to his character of being in
+with the rustlers.
+
+"Though the bottle-breaking was only a joke I indulged in," he
+admitted, "I'm sorry it worried you so."
+
+The soldier, of course, had nothing to do with the prairie fire,
+and who set it, if it was set, was not discovered. Lieutenant
+Wayne finally recovered his black horse Cinder, the animal having
+made its way back to Curly Q ranch, where the officer once posed
+as a cowboy.
+
+The cattle first stolen by the rustlers were not recovered, but
+it was found that when they seemed they had been spirited off in
+an airship they had been merely back-tracked and hidden until an
+opportune time to dispose of them. Del Pinzo's gang was in
+hiding, waiting for a chance to drive off the main body of
+steers, when they were surprised by our heroes. Whether Hank
+Fisher was in with the rustlers was not decided, though
+suspicions pointed toward him. The outlaws were sentenced to long
+terms after being captured by the troopers, and their secret
+meeting place, having been discovered, was destroyed.
+
+After these explanations had been made, it was decided not to try
+to drive the cattle out of the crater until the next day.
+
+The night passed without incident, though none of the boy
+ranchers turned in early. They were too excited, and they wanted
+to talk over what had happened.
+
+The existence of the old crater was not generally known, but Del
+Pinzo and his rustlers appeared to have the secret of it. They
+had driven off Bud's cattle, put them into the natural corral and
+then filled in, with dirt, the only entrance visible from the
+defile trail leading from Happy Valley. They intended to use the
+larger opening out of the bowl, to the south, to get the cattle
+away. But their plans were frustrated.
+
+The next day the troopers drove off before them the discomfitted
+Del Pinzo and his disheartened followers, Yellin' Kid taking the
+Mexican's elaborate hat to replace the cowboy's with the bullet
+holes. Lieutenant Wayne said farewell to the boy ranchers,
+promising to come and see them again, in his real character.
+
+The wounded were transported as tenderly as possible out of the
+main egress from the bowl, it being impractical to use the other.
+And it was from this larger entrance, after the fence had been
+torn away, that the cattle were driven, by a long winding trail
+amid the mountains back to Happy Valley. Only a few were lost by
+the raid, which was the largest ever perpetrated by the rustlers
+in that part of the country.
+
+"But I guess, now that the troopers have Del Pinzo, and not the
+local authorities with their flimsy town jails, that this Greaser
+won't be foot-loose for some time," observed Bud, when, once
+more, the boy ranchers were back in camp.
+
+"I don't want to hear his name again," murmured Dick, nursing his
+wounded hand.
+
+"And to think that Four Eyes was working in our interests when we
+thought him a spy! That was pretty good!" laughed Nort.
+
+"Yes, it all worked out pretty well," spoke Bud. "And do you know
+what I'd like to do? I'd like Dad to buy that old volcano crater
+for us. It would be a peach of a place where we could winter a
+herd of cattle, and have 'em fat for spring selling. I'm going to
+speak to him about it," he concluded.
+
+"Well, you can speak right now, for here he comes, and your
+mother and sister, too," added Dick, as Mr. Merkel's auto chugged
+down the trail from Diamond X.
+
+"Well, boys, I hear you beat Del Pinzo at his own game!" greeted
+the rancher, while Nell expressed her sorrow at Dick's wound, to
+the somewhat jealous regard of Nort, whose hurt was more slight.
+
+"Yes, he's where he won't blur any more brands right away," Bud
+answered. "But it looked like touch and go for a while. The
+troopers came just in time!"
+
+"Well, you fellows seem to know how to take care of yourselves
+and the cattle," observed Bud's father. "Guess I'll turn one of
+my main ranches over to you. What say?"
+
+But the boys did not answer. They were busy eating slices of a
+large chocolate cake that Nell had brought over. This is reason
+enough, isn't it? However, the adventures of our heroes did not
+end with the capture of the rustlers. And those of you who wish
+to follow them further may do so in the next volume of this
+series which will be entitled: "The Boy Ranchers Among the
+Indians; or Trailing the Yaquis." In that volume we shall meet
+many of our old friends again, and, should Bud permit it, I may
+tell you about Zip Foster. But with the capture of Del Pinzo, and
+his rustlers, this book is finished.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers on the Trail, by Willard F. Baker
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers on the Trail, by Willard F. Baker
+
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Boy Ranchers on the Trail
+
+Author: Willard F. Baker
+
+Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6573]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 28, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tiffany Vergon, Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
+
+OR
+
+_The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers_
+
+By WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     I THE ROUND-UP
+
+    II A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT
+
+   III STARTLING NEWS
+
+    IV THE SCRATCHED SAFE
+
+     V THE BROKEN BOTTLE
+
+    VI MISSING STEERS
+
+   VII FOUR EYES
+
+  VIII THROWING THE ROPE
+
+    IX THE FIRE
+
+     X SERIOUS QUESTIONS
+
+    XI THE WATCH TOWER
+
+   XII IN SPITE OF ALL
+
+  XIII THE SIGNAL
+
+   XIV FOUR EYES-NO EYES
+
+    XV A BIG RAID
+
+   XVI ON THE TRAIL
+
+  XVII WILD COUNTRY
+
+ XVIII THE BOILING SPRING
+
+   XIX IN A MAZE
+
+    XX A SURPRISE
+
+   XXI IN PURSUIT
+
+  XXII BUD'S DISCOVERY
+
+ XXIII THE FIGHT
+
+  XXIV A DESPERATE CHANCE
+
+   XXV LIEUTENANT WAYNE
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ROUND-UP
+
+
+"Come on, Nort! It's your turn to cut out the next one!"
+
+"S'pose I make a mux of it, Bud!"
+
+"Shucks! You won't do that! You've roped a calf before!"
+
+"Yes, but not at a big round-up like this. If I make a fizzle the
+fellows will give me the laugh!"
+
+"What if they do? Everybody knows you haven't been at it long,
+and you've got to make a start. Besides, anybody's likely to make
+a mistake. That's why they put rubbers on the ends of pencils.
+Ride in now and snake out the next one, Nort!"
+
+"All right, Bud! Here goes!"
+
+Blaze, the pony Nort Shannon was riding toward the bunch of
+cattle gathered at Diamond X ranch for the big, spring round-up,
+leaped forward at the sound of his master's voice, and in
+response to the little jerk of the reins and the clap of heels
+against his sides. Into the herd of milling, turning and twisting
+cattle the intelligent animal made his way, needing hardly any
+guidance from Nort. The lad, by a mere touch, corrected the
+course of Blaze slightly, and in a moment he was heading for a
+calf which bawled loudly.
+
+"Get him, Nort!" cried a voice from among the cowboys looking on.
+
+"Don't get me fussed, Dick!" Nort shouted back to his brother,
+who sat astride his pony near Bud Merkle. "It'll be your turn
+next!"
+
+Into the herd he wormed his way on Blaze, dodging here and there,
+but with his eyes ever on the calf he hoped to cut out so it
+could be branded. Nort leaned forward in his saddle, and then his
+cousin and brother, eagerly watching from outside the herd, saw
+the boy rancher's hand shoot up.
+
+Through the air the rope went, turning, twisting, writhing and
+uncoiling like a snake. In an instant it had flipped around the
+hind legs of a calf.
+
+"Good!" yelled Dick.
+
+"Even Babe couldn't 'a' done better!" complimented Bud,
+enthusiastically.
+
+"'Tisn't over yet!" gasped Nort, for he had hard work ahead of
+him, and the dust raised by thousands of hoofs was choking. "Wait
+'till I get it to the branding corral!"
+
+He leaned over in his other stirrup, causing the lariat to pull
+taut and, the next instant the calf flopped on its side.
+
+"Snake him out, Blaze!" cried Nort to his pony, and the animal
+turned and dragged the prostrate calf along over the ground, an
+operation not as cruel as it sounds as the surface was inches
+thick in soft dust, like flour.
+
+"That's the boy, Nort!" called his cousin Bud. "I knew you could
+do it! Now then, Dick! Let's see how you'll make out!"
+
+"I can't throw a rope as good as Nort," answered the stouter lad,
+as he urged his pony, Blackie, into the herd. "But here goes!"
+
+Meanwhile Nort had dragged the calf he had cut out to the corral
+where the branding was going on. Two cowboys, stationed there for
+the purpose, leaped forward and threw the calf over on its side,
+for it had managed to struggle to its feet when Nort ceased
+dragging it. One man twisted a front leg of the struggling
+creature back in a hammerlock and knelt on its neck. The other
+took hold of the upper hind leg, and with this hold prevented the
+calf from sprawling along on the ground.
+
+"Sit on him!" called Mr. Merkel, owner of Diamond X and other
+ranches. He was superintending the round-up of his herds and
+those entrusted to Bud, Nort and Dick in the first business
+venture of the boy ranchers. "Sit on him!" yelled Bud's father.
+
+Accordingly the men sat on the calf, thus, with the holds they
+had secured, keeping it under restraint with the least possible
+pain to the small creature.
+
+"Branding iron!" sang out Slim Degnan, foreman of the ranch.
+
+A little blaze was flickering on the ground, not far from where
+the calf Nort had cut out was thrown and held. In a moment the
+fire-tender had seized the branding iron, and, a second or two
+later, it was being pressed on the calf's flank.
+
+The creature bawled loudly, and kicked out, thereby nearly
+throwing off the men who were sitting on it. But the branding was
+all over in a moment, and the men leaped up, releasing the
+animal.
+
+The calf stood, dazed for the time being, after it had scrambled
+to its feet, and then trotted out of the corral, lashing its side
+with its little tail. Plainly branded on it now, never to be
+completely effaced, was the mark of the ownership of Mr. Merkel--
+an X inside a diamond.
+
+"Next!" called the branders:
+
+"Here comes Dick!" shouted Bud, as Nort rode up beside him. "And
+he got his calf!" "Good!" exclaimed the brother. "I guess we're
+learning the business!"
+
+"Surest thing you know!" asserted the son of the owner of Diamond
+X. "I told you it wasn't so hard, and you've done the same thing
+before."
+
+"But not at such a big round-up," remarked Nort, as he prepared
+to ride in again and cut out another calf.
+
+"Yes, it is big," admitted Bud, as he made ready for his share in
+the affair--his task being the same as that of his cousins--to
+cut out the calves for branding purposes. "It sure is a big
+round-up."
+
+It had been in progress for days. Twice a year on the big,
+western ranches, the cattle are driven in from the outlying
+ranges, to be tallied, inspected, marked and shipped away. The
+spring and fall round-ups are always busy seasons at any ranch.
+
+During the times between round-ups the new calves attained their
+growth, but they needed to have branded into their hides the
+marks of their owners. Then, too, some yearlings escaped branding
+at times, either by remaining out of sight at the round-up, or in
+the attending confusion.
+
+Unbranded calves who had partly attained their growth, were
+termed "mavericks," and when the herds of different owners
+mingled, there was, usually, a division of the mavericks, since
+it could not be accurately told who owned them.
+
+The title maverick was derived from a stock man of that name,
+whose practice was to claim _all_ unbranded calves in a
+herd. His cowboys would ride about, cutting out the unmarked
+animals, with the cool statement:
+
+"That's a maverick," meaning that it belonged to their "boss."
+
+And so the name has commonly become associated with any half-
+grown, unbranded calf.
+
+Mr. Merkel was the owner of several ranches, Square M, Triangle B
+and Diamond X, not to mention Diamond X Second, or Flume Valley,
+of which his son Bud, and the latter's cousins, Norton and
+Richard Shannon, were the nominal proprietors.
+
+The cattle from Flume Valley, or "Happy Valley" as Bud called it
+after the mystery of the underground water was solved, were in
+the round-up with the others from his father's ranches.
+
+For days preceding the lively doings I have just described, the
+cowboys, called in from distant ranges, had driven the cattle
+toward the central assembling point--the corrals at Diamond X.
+
+Slowly the longhorns, the shorthorns and cattle with no horns at
+all, had been "hazed" in from their feeding grounds toward
+Diamond X. The cow punchers had galloped hard all day, and they
+had ridden herd at night, to keep the animals from straying. At
+night this was not so hard, for the animals were glad to rest
+during the darkness.
+
+But during the day there was always some steer--often more than
+one--that wanted to run away from the herd. As this might start a
+stampede it was necessary to drive the "striker" back, and this
+was, often enough, a difficult task.
+
+Bud, Nort and Dick had borne their share of this difficult round-
+up task, and now, when the thousand or more of steers, calves and
+mavericks had been gathered at Diamond X, the work of tallying
+them, branding those that were without marks and shipping away
+the best was well under way.
+
+In and out of the herd rode the boy ranchers, doing their best
+alongside of more seasoned "punchers." Calves were cut out,
+thrown and branded, to be quickly released and again mingle with
+the herd.
+
+  "Oh, I'm Captain Jinks,
+   Of the Horse Marines!"
+
+One of the cowboys, wiping the dust and sweat from his face, with
+his big, red silk handkerchief, or, rather, neckerchief, started
+this song. It was taken up by half a score of loud voices.
+
+"Yi-yippy!" came in stentorian tones from Yellin' Kid. "This is
+the life!"
+
+But as, just then, his pony slipped and he missed the throw he
+made for a calf, it is doubtful if Yellin' Kid felt as gay as he
+sounded.
+
+"Hot work; eh, boys?" asked Mr. Merkel, when Dick, Nort and Bud
+rode past to get drinks of water.
+
+"But it's great, all the same!" answered Dick, with shining
+eyes--eyes that gleamed amid a face dark with the tan of the
+western sun and grimy with the dust of the western plains.
+
+"Glad you like it!" commented the proprietor of Diamond X as he
+kept on with his tallying. "How they coming, Slim?" he asked his
+foreman.
+
+"Couldn't be better! Old Buck Tooth is doing a heap sight more
+than I ever dreamed a Zuni could."
+
+"Bud said that his old Indian helper was up to snuff!" commented
+Mr. Merkel. "I'm glad to know it. Heard anything from Double Z?"
+he asked, and there was an anxious note in his voice.
+
+"No, Hank and his gang seem to have quieted down after what I
+told 'em!"
+
+"Well, I hope he doesn't make trouble for Bud and the boys.
+They're going back to Happy Valley to-night." "So I understand.
+Oh, shucks! Don't worry about Hank! He's all talk--he and that
+blustery foreman of his, Ike Johnson!"
+
+There had been a dispute between the cowboys of Diamond X and
+those of Double Z, a ranch owned by the notorious Hank Fisher, a
+few days before the round-up, the subject of dispute being the
+ownership of certain mavericks. It had ended with the triumph of
+Slim Degnan, foreman of Mr. Merkel's holdings.
+
+And so the round-up went on, the heat, the dust, the noise and
+confusion increasing as calf after calf, maverick after maverick,
+was branded, and the steers to be shipped were cut out, to be
+hazed over to the railroad stock yards.
+
+And yet, with all the seeming confusion, there was order and
+system in the work.
+
+"Well, I guess this is the last," remarked Mr. Merkel to his son,
+as Bud, with his cousins, rode slowly up to the ranch house, when
+the final calf had been cut out and the tally made. "You boys
+going back after grub?"
+
+"Yep," answered Bud, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice.
+He, like his cousins, was too tired. For the day had been a
+grueling one, with the heat and hard work.
+
+"You sure did make out a whole lot better than I ever thought you
+would," said Mr. Merkel, as he rode along with his son and
+nephew's. "Putting water into that valley made a big difference."
+
+"I should say so!" exclaimed Bud. "Our stock will lay over
+anything you will ship from any of your three ranches, Dad!"
+
+"I wouldn't wonder but what you are right, Bud! Well, let's wash
+up and eat."
+
+One by one the cowboys drifted in, some singing ranch songs in
+spite of their weariness. Bud and his cousins were through with
+their meal first, and, having persuaded his sister, Nell, to pack
+a basket of doughnuts, pie and cheese for him, Bud signalled to
+his cousins to join him out at the pony corral.
+
+"Let's get an early start back to Happy Valley," he urged. "It's
+a long enough ride, anyhow."
+
+"You said it!" commented Nort.
+
+"Well, there's one thing we don't have to worry about, and that
+is not finding any water running into the reservoir," added Dick,
+as he slipped in through the gate and caught one of his ponies--
+not Blackie, who was tired out from the round-up. Each cow
+puncher, including the boy ranchers, had several animals in his
+"string."
+
+"No, I guess, since we solved the mystery of the water supply,
+we'll have no more trouble," agreed Bud.
+
+The boy ranchers rode over the trail to their own camp--it was
+actually a camp, for permanent ranch buildings had not yet been
+erected in Happy Valley, though some were projected. Tents formed
+the abiding place of our heroes, and as they were only there
+during the summer months the canvas shelters served very well,
+indeed.
+
+The moon rose, shining down from a starlit sky, as the rough but
+faithful and sturdy cow ponies ambled along. Now the boy ranchers
+would be down in some swale, or valley, and again topping one of
+the foothills which led to Buffalo Ridge or Snake Mountain,
+between which elevations lay Happy Valley, where the cattle of
+Diamond X Second were quartered.
+
+"There she is--the old camp," murmured Dick, as they started down
+the slope which led to the collection of tents erected against
+the earthen and stone bank of the reservoir.
+
+"And maybe I won't hit the hay!" exclaimed Bud, with a yawn. "We
+don't have to get up to-morrow until we're ready."
+
+"Oh, boy!" cried Nort in delight.
+
+They rode forward, and were almost at their camp when Bud, who
+had trotted ahead, pulled his pony to a sudden stop and cried
+out:
+
+"Hold on there! Who are you and where are you going?"
+
+At the same moment his cousins saw the moon gleaming on the .45
+gun which Bud drew from his holster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A CURIOUS INSTRUMENT
+
+
+"What's the matter, Bud?" asked Dick, as he urged his animal
+forward in a jump, until he was beside his cousin,
+
+"Some one's up there around the tunnel entrance," responded Bud
+Merkel. "I saw 'em dodge back out of the light." Then, raising
+his voice, he cried: "Come on, now! None of your tricks! I've got
+you covered!"
+
+"I don't see any one," spoke Nort.
+
+"They're there, all right," asserted Bud. "Come on, fellows," he
+exclaimed, "we'll have to look into this. There was trouble
+enough with getting water to stay in Happy Valley, without
+letting some Greaser in to queer the works again! Come on!"
+
+He and his cousins rode their horses up the rather steep and
+winding trail that led from the bottom of the reservoir to the
+top, where a big iron pipe, sticking out under the mountain like
+the head of some great serpent, brought from the distant Pocut
+River a stream, without which it would have been impossible to
+raise cattle in the valley the boy ranchers claimed as particularly
+their own.
+
+"Who you reckon it is?" asked Nort, as his pony scrambled up
+between the animals of Dick and Bud.
+
+"Oh, some prowler that may have been rustling our grub while we
+were over at the round-up," was the answer.
+
+"They couldn't get any cattle, for there aren't any to get,"
+observed Dick. This was true, as all the animals had been driven
+from Happy Valley over to Diamond X. Later such as were not
+shipped away, and many of the calves and mavericks would be
+returned to fatten up and grow in readiness for the spring
+tallying.
+
+"I don't just like this!" murmured Bud, as he again urged his
+pony forward. "Have your guns ready, fellows!"
+
+And while they are thus riding toward the place where a strange
+tunnel pierced Snake Mountain, I shall take this opportunity to
+present, more formally than I have yet had a chance to do, my new
+readers to the boy ranchers. For that is what Bud Merkel, and
+Nort and Dick Shannon called themselves, being that, in fact.
+
+Bud was a western lad, the son of Henry Merkel, who had been a
+ranchman all his mature years. He lived at Diamond X ranch, with
+his wife and daughter Nell. Some time before this present story
+opens Bud's cousins from the east had come to spend the summer
+with him, while their father and his wife made a trip to South
+America.
+
+Nort and Dick, though "tenderfeet" at the beginning, had quickly
+fallen into the ways of the west, and in the first volume of this
+series, "The Boy Ranchers," I was privileged to tell you how they
+helped solve a mystery that revolved around Diamond X.
+
+This mystery had to do with two college professors, and a
+strange, ancient animal. But it would not be fair to my new
+readers to disclose, here, all the secrets of that book.
+
+So successful was the first summer which Nort and Dick spent at
+their uncle's ranch, that they were allowed to repeat it the
+following season. But this time there was a change. As related in
+the second volume, "The Boy Ranchers in Camp," Mr. Merkel had, by
+utilizing an ancient underground water-course beneath Snake
+Mountain, and by making a dam in Pocut River, brought water to a
+distant valley he owned.
+
+This valley was originally called Buffalo Wallow, the source of
+the name being obvious. But once water was brought through the
+underground course, and piped to a reservoir, whence it could be
+distributed to drinking troughs for the cattle, and also used to
+irrigate the land, it enabled a fine crop of fodder to be grown.
+With the bringing of the water to Buffalo Wallow, or Flume
+Valley, as Bud called the place, it was possible to do what had
+never been done before--raise cattle there. Bud's father let him
+take this valley ranch as his own, and Nort and Dick were boy
+partners associated with their western cousin, Mr. Shannon
+putting up part of the needed capital to make the start for his
+sons.
+
+All would have gone well except for the mysterious stoppage of
+the flow of water, which stoppage, if continued, would mean
+disaster.
+
+How the water fight at Diamond X Second (as the valley ranch was
+sometimes called) ended, and how the strange mystery was solved,
+is the story in the second volume, and I absolutely refuse to go
+into more details about it here. It would not be playing the game
+square.
+
+At any rate the water was finally turned back into the
+underground tunnel, and then, in order to better guard this vital
+necessity, Mr. Merkel had the entrance to the tunnel boarded up--
+egress being possible only when heavy doors, at either end, were
+unlocked.
+
+I might say that while the tunnel was the old water-course of a
+vanished river, the shaft under the mountain appeared, in.
+ancient times, to have been used by the Aztecs, or some Mexican
+tribes, for hiding their store of gold away from the Spaniards.
+There were secret passages and rooms in the tunnel, to say
+nothing of hidden water gates.
+
+Who had constructed these, and what actual use had been made of
+them was, of course, lost in the dim and ancient past. But that
+it was the Aztecs, or some allied race, was the statement of
+learned men who examined the tunnel.
+
+After the water fight at Diamond X Second had terminated in favor
+of the boy ranchers, and great copper levers that operated the
+hidden water gates had been removed, the tunnel was boarded up,
+and was now seldom entered.
+
+But now, as Bud and his cousins rode back from the big round-up,
+and the western lad had, as he thought, seen some one sneaking
+about the forbidden gate, there was a feeling of apprehension in
+the hearts of himself and cousins.
+
+They had now reached the top level of the reservoir which held a
+storage supply of water. The reservoir was a great semi-circular
+bank of earth and atones, wide enough on top for two to ride
+abreast.
+
+"I don't see any one," remarked Nort, straining his eyes to
+pierce the gloom and shadows into which the face of the tunnel
+and the locked gate were thrown by the moonlight and clouds.
+
+"Nor I," added Dick.
+
+"Well, I saw some one!" insisted Bud. "It was a man, as sure as
+snakes, and he seemed to be trying to open the big gate."
+
+This gate was made of heavy bolted planks and was set on hinges
+in a jamb of other planks and boards that closed the reservoir
+end of the tunnel water-course. A similar barrier and big door
+was at the Pocut River end.
+
+"Well, if he was here, he seems to be gone," observed Nort "Maybe
+it was a sheep herder, Bud."
+
+"Well, if any of that gentry think they can drive their flock
+over here, and water their woolies at my expense, they're
+mistaken," declared Bud with emphasis. "Sheep men have to be, I
+reckon, but they're out of place in a cow country. Hello, there!"
+he called, loudly. "Come on out and show yourself!"
+
+But there was no answer, and the only sound, aside from the
+creaking of the damp saddle leathers, was the splashing of water
+as it flowed from the big pipe and into the reservoir.
+
+"Guess he lit out," observed Bud, thrusting his gun back into the
+holster.
+
+"Or else you didn't see him," chuckled Nort. "Maybe your eyes are
+full of dust, same as mine are, from that round-up."
+
+"Oh, I saw somebody all right!" declared Bud. "Might 'a' been one
+of Buck Tooth's Indian friends making a call, but--"
+
+He suddenly ceased speaking and leaned over in his saddle to gaze
+earnestly at something on the ground. It was something that
+glittered and shone in the mystic moonlight as Nort and Dick
+could see. "What's that?" inquired the latter.
+
+In answer Bud slipped from his saddle and picked up the object
+which the moonlight had revealed.
+
+"What in the world is this?" asked the boy rancher, as he held up
+a curious instrument. "Is this the start of another mystery!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+STARTLING NEWS
+
+
+Leaping from their saddles, Nort and Dick hurried to the side of
+their cousin, chum and partner in the ranch venture. Eagerly they
+looked over his shoulder while he examined the strange object he
+had picked up, almost at the very door leading into the
+mysterious tunnel.
+
+The instrument--for such it seemed to be--consisted of a shiny,
+nickeled part, which was what had reflected the moonlight, thus
+attracting Bud's attention to it. In addition there were two
+flexible tubes, of soft rubber, joining into one where they met
+the shiny metal.
+
+The two tubes each terminated in hard rubber ends, pierced with a
+tiny hole, and on the end of the single tube was a bright metal
+disk. The whole formed a strange object, picked up as it was from
+the ground, and especially when the boy ranchers feared they had
+some cause for alarm.
+
+"What in the world is it?" asked Bud, as he dangled it in front
+of his cousins. "I never saw anything like it before. Wait! I
+have it! Yellin' Kid said he was going to send to Kansas City for
+a flute he could play on. This must be part of it! He dropped it
+here; though that couldn't 'a' been him sneaking around the
+tunnel. But this is Yellin' Kid's musical instrument all right!
+Oh, won't I rag him, though! I wonder which end you blow in?"
+
+"That isn't a musical instrument!" declared Nort, taking it from
+Bud's hand.
+
+"Not What is it then?" asked the western ranch lad.
+
+"It's a stethoscope," declared Nort.
+
+"Whew! x I didn't know Yellin' Kid could play one of
+_them_!" exclaimed Bud. "He must be more musical than any of
+us thought!"
+
+"'Tisn't musical, I tell you!" cried Nort, half laughing. "This
+is a _stethoscope_--it's what a doctor listens to your lungs
+or heart with when you're sick."
+
+"He never listened to mine!" boasted Bud, "at least not since I
+can remember, for I've never been sick."
+
+"Well, I have," admitted Nort, "and so has Dick. You remember Dr.
+Thompson using one of these, don't you?" he asked his stout
+brother.
+
+"Sure I do! And there's some other name for it besides plain
+stethoscope," declared Dick. "It's a long word--bi--di--"
+
+"Binaural stethoscope! That's it!" broke in Nort. "I remember,
+now. I thought I'd never be able to say those words, but they
+come back to me now. Binaural stethoscope."
+
+"'Tisn't good to eat, or shoot with, is it!" asked Bud, as he
+again took the instrument and turned it over and over in his
+hands.
+
+"Eat! Shoot!" laughed Nort. "No, I tell you it's to listen to
+your heart beats, or lungs. Binaural means, simply, that it's
+fixed so you can listen with both ears at the same time. And
+stethoscope comes from two Greek words, stethos, the breast, and
+skopen, to view. It means, literally, to view inside the chest,
+but of course the doctors who use the stethoscope don't really do
+that. They only listen through the ear pieces--these," and he
+held up the two rubber tubes ending in hard nipples, pierced with
+small holes.
+
+"What's the other end for!" asked Bud, indicating the shiny disk
+of metal that dangled from the single tube.
+
+"That's the part the doctor holds on your chest or over your
+heart," Dick answered. "Sometimes the doctor puts it to your back
+to listen to your breathing from that side."
+
+"Well, who in the world would have a--a binaural stethoscope out
+here!" asked Bud. "Yon reckon Doc. Tunison dropped it!" he went
+on, referring to the local veterinarian. "Shucks no! Cow doctors
+don't use 'em, not that I ever heard of," declared Nort. "Though
+Doc. Tunison is up to date."
+
+"He sure was in discovering that it was germs which caused the
+epidemic outbreak in our stock last year," remarked Bud.
+
+"Yes, we got out of that mighty lucky," chimed in Dick. "What's
+become of Pocut Pete?" he asked, referring to a scoundrel of a
+cowboy.
+
+"Oh, Del Pinzo and Hank Fisher had pull enough to get him out of
+jail, after he'd served only part of his term for infecting our
+stock," said Bud. He had reference to something which is
+explained in the volume immediately preceding this. Del Pinzo was
+a notorious Mexican half-breed who, more than once, had made
+trouble for the boy ranchers. Hank Fisher was the owner of Double
+Z ranch, adjoining that of Square M, one of Mr. Merkel's, and
+also adjoining Happy Valley. Pocut Pete was believed to be a tool
+of these two unscrupulous men, and Del Pinzo had at his command
+Several Greasers who slipped back and forth over the Mexican
+border, not far from which were located the holdings of Mr.
+Merkel and the boy ranchers.
+
+"Well, this is a stethoscope all right," went on Nort, as Bud
+turned toward his pony, with the evident intention of mounting.
+
+"And I'd give a lot to know what it's doing here, and who dropped
+it," spoke Bud. "Let's look around a little more. I'm not at all
+satisfied with this. I sure saw, some one here, and this proves
+it," and he stuffed the doctor's instrument into his pocket.
+
+"It doesn't prove that the man you saw--or thought you just saw--
+sneaking around here dropped it," spoke Nort. "We've been away
+for a week, and it may have been dropped any day within that
+time."
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud. "But who was monkeying around here as we rode
+back to camp? That's what I want to know!"
+
+However, search as the boy ranchers did, they found no midnight
+visitor. All was quiet at their camp, save for the distant howl
+of a coyote, and the splash of the water into the reservoir. All
+the stock had been driven away from Happy Valley to the big
+round-up at Diamond X, but soon the fertile glade would again be
+dotted with hungry cattle.
+
+"Well, I reckon we'll have to give up," said Bud, when a thorough
+search had been made, and no one discovered.
+
+"The tunnel door doesn't show any signs of an attempt having been
+made to bust it; does it?" asked Dick.
+
+"Not as far as I can see, in this light," Bud replied. "We'll
+take a stroll up here in the morning," he went on as he thrust
+the stethoscope into his pocket. "Now for a little grub, and then
+to hit the hay. Oh, boy! But I to tired!"
+
+So were the others, and after rummaging among their camp stores,
+and eating some crackers and canned peaches, the boys, having
+picketed their horses, turned in, rolled up in their blankets,
+and were asleep almost as soon as their heads were on the
+pillows, which were, as a matter of fact, stuffed with hay.
+
+An examination, next morning, disclosed nothing more in the
+neighborhood of the tunnel entrance than their own and, their
+ponies' feet marks, until Bud, with an exclamation, pointed to
+several cigarette stubs on the ground, and a number of half-
+burned matches.
+
+"Some one was here last night--or yesterday!" he declared. "And
+they stood in this one spot for some time--either resting or
+spying."
+
+"What would they be spying on!" asked Dick.
+
+"Search me!" frankly admitted Bud. "But since we had that water
+fight I'm suspicious of everything. Those cigarette stubs are
+fresh, and were dropped last night, or yesterday. None of us use
+'em, and though some of our cow punchers do they haven't been
+here lately enough to have left this fresh evidence. The stubs
+are new ones."
+
+"Well, maybe there was some one here last night," said Dick.
+
+"I'm positive of it!" declared Bud. "Let's take another look at
+the big door lock."
+
+Even a close inspection, however, failed to disclose any signs of
+the great portal, or its heavy padlock having been tampered with.
+Nor were there any marks tending to show where an effort had been
+made to force boards off the frame in which the door was set.
+
+"Well, we'll just have to wait," said Bud, as he turned to go
+back down to the tents. "Hello," he suddenly added, as he gazed
+off up the valley. "Here comes somebody, riding like all
+possessed, too!"
+
+The boy ranchers watched the approach of the solitary horseman,
+and, as he drew nearer Bud exclaimed:
+
+"It's Buck Tooth!"
+
+It was, in fact, that same Zuni Indian, who had been engaged as a
+sort of camp cook and ranch hand by Bud's father, later being
+transferred to Bud's service. Buck Tooth was devoted to the boy
+ranchers.
+
+"What's matter, Buck! What for you ride so _pronto_
+fashion!" asked Bud as the Indian, a superb horseman, drew rein
+close to the boy ranchers. "You race, maybe, Buck Tooth!"
+
+"Yep--race tell you bad news!" half--grunted the Zuni.
+
+"Bad news!" faltered Bud. "Is it my mother--dad---"
+
+"Them all well," said Buck Tooth. "But got bad news all same. You
+see anybody out here?" and he slipped from his saddle to rest his
+almost winded steed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SCRATCHED SAFE
+
+
+Eagerly the boy ranchers gathered about Buck Tooth. The Indian,
+as if rather ashamed of the hurry and emotion that had possessed
+him, grew quieter as he threw the reins down over his pony's
+head, as an intimation to the animal not to stray. Then the Zuni
+turned toward Bud and his cousins.
+
+"This is the second time you gave me bad news, Buck," remarked
+the western lad. "Remember?"
+
+"How?" asked the Indian sharply.
+
+"I say this is the second time you've brought news of something
+bad. You were the first to tell me about the water stopping in
+the reservoir. And from then on we had some rousing times; didn't
+we, fellows?" asked Bud, turning to his chums.
+
+"That's right!" assented Nort.
+
+"But what's going on now?" Dick wanted to know.
+
+"You said it!" exclaimed Bud. "I should let Buck Tooth tell it,
+instead of keeping him gassing away about the past. What's the
+row, Buck?"
+
+"Robbers!" was the Indian's answer.
+
+"Robbers? At Diamond X?" cried Bud.
+
+"Did they get anything?" Dick wanted to know.
+
+"Anybody hurt?" asked Nort.
+
+"Get some money--nobody hurt only Babe--him get broken leg,"
+half-grunted the Indian.
+
+"Babe has a broken leg in a fight with robbers?" gasped Bud.
+"Shoot it along a little faster, Buck! I'm sorry I didn't let you
+ride harder at first. How much did they get? Was it rustlers, and
+I'll bet a cookie with a raisin in that Del Pinzo and his gang
+had a hand in the fracas! Did Babe shoot any of 'em?"
+
+"Babe him try--but too fat," said the Indian, with as near to a
+chuckle as ever he achieved, "Fall down--bust leg. Your
+_padre_ no can tell how much money gone, but big iron box
+not opened."
+
+"Oh, they didn't get to the safe, then!" exclaimed Bud with
+relief in his voice. For he knew, at this season of the spring
+round-up, that many thousands of dollars, from the sale of
+cattle, were often kept in his father's safe. "But go ahead,
+Buck! Tell us more about it. Step on her! Give her the gas! Open
+the throttle!"
+
+"Hu?" grunted the Zuni, questioningly. "I step on somet'ing?"
+"You're only mixing him up!" declared Nort "Let him take his own
+time, Bud."
+
+"If I do he'll be until noon giving us the facts. And if the
+robbers looted dad's office, even if they didn't get the safe
+open, they may have lit out with a tidy sum, and we ought to take
+the trail after 'em. That's what Buck came here for, likely! To
+get us on the chase from this end. Go ahead! Shoot!" he
+requested, meaning a verbal fire, not actual.
+
+Whether Buck Tooth would have succeeded, under these confusing
+directions, in making a quick, dear statement of the matter is a
+question that was not settled. For, just as the Indian was about
+to resume, Dick looked off toward the distant hills, which lined
+the trail between Diamond X proper, and Happy Valley, and the lad
+exclaimed:
+
+"Here comes one of the robbers now, riding like Sam Hill!"
+
+Bud and Nort leaped to the side of their partner, their hands on
+their weapons, but, after a glimpse of the approaching horseman,
+having shaded his eyes with his hands, Bud cried:
+
+"That isn't a robber! It's Yellin' Kid. I know his riding. I
+reckon he's come to give us the straight of it!"
+
+Which proved to be the case.
+
+"Buck outrode me," admitted Yellin' Kid as he drew rein, and his
+voice was not as loud as usual. "We started at th' same time,
+shortly after midnight when th' break was made, but that Indian's
+cayuse shore can step some! An' Buck can ride--let me tell you!"
+
+"You shot a ringer that time!" asserted Bud. "But what happened!
+And is Babe badly hurt!"
+
+"No! He just twisted his ankle gettin' out of his bunk in a hurry
+t' take a pot shot at th' bunch that tried to hold us up. Doc.
+Tunison says he'll be all right in a week."
+
+"But Tunison is a horse doctor!" objected Bud, for Babe, the fat
+assistant foreman of Diamond X, was a prime favorite with him and
+his cousins.
+
+"Yes, shore he is! Why not? A horse doctor for a cow puncher!"
+chuckled Yellin' Kid. "But here's the yarn."
+
+Thereupon, having turned his pony out to graze with the Indian's,
+Yellin' Kid told the boys what had happened.
+
+"We started some of the cattle from th' round-up brandin' over to
+th' railroad," the cowboy stated, "an' followin' th' usual
+preliminaries we all settled down for th' night, after you
+fellows rode off. An' let me tell you I was glad t' hit my bunk!
+
+"Well, some time near midnight we, out in th' bunkhouse, was
+roused up by shootin' from your father's bungalow, Bud. Course
+that couldn't mean but one thing, an' we all got our guns an'
+rushed out, natcherally. But all we saw was a bunch ridin' off in
+th' darkness, your father firin' at 'em, Bud.
+
+"Come t' find out, your mother had been woke up by a noise in th'
+office where th' safe was. She called your father an' he took a
+look, with his gun, of course. He saw a man in a mask tryin' t'
+open th' strong box, and your dad gave th' usual countersign.
+
+"But th' burglar wheeled, an' popped one at your dad, not hittin'
+him I'm glad t' say, an' out th' winder he jumped, th' burglar, I
+mean. Then the rest of th' gang, which was waitin', rode off,
+shootin' some, as your dad was doin'.
+
+"Come t' find out, they'd got a few hundred dollars from the desk
+where your dad left th' cash, Bud, but th' main part was in th'
+safe, an' _that_ they couldn't get open. Course soon as we
+knowed what was up we organized a posse, an' started off--all but
+Babe. He fell--or rolled--out of his bunk an' twisted his leg,
+somehow.
+
+"Anyhow, Buck an' I was told off t' ride this way, partly t' let
+you fellers know what had happened, an' partly t' see if there
+was any trace of th' skunks what robbed your dad down here in
+Happy Valley. How about it? Seen anybody?"
+
+"Well, yes, we did see some one sneaking around here when we
+arrived last evening," Bud answered. "But that was long before
+the robbery."
+
+"And tell him what we found!" urged Dick
+
+"Oh, yes, a stethoscope," went on Bud. "But that has nothing to
+do with the matter. Maybe some doctor, or medical student, is out
+here for his health, and dropped it as he rode over our place."
+
+"What's a slitherscope!" asked Yellin' Kid. "Anything like a
+Triceratops?"
+
+"No!" laughed Nort. "We'll show you. But say, what can we do
+toward getting these robbers?"
+
+"We've got t' trail 'em," spoke the older cowboy, as he turned to
+go to the tents with the boy ranchers, Buck Tooth following with
+the two half-winded ponies. "Soon as I get my breath----"
+
+"That's right!" interrupted Bud. "Come on up and sit down. I'll
+make you some coffee. I forgot you'd ridden all night."
+
+"Half of it, anyhow," asserted Yellin' Kid. "An' I rode hard! But
+so did Buck Tooth, only you'd hardly know it. He sure can make
+his cayuse cover th' ground!"
+
+Indeed the Indian showed little signs of the hard riding he had
+accomplished between midnight and dawn. And when he and Yellin'
+Kid were having a belated morning cup of coffee further details
+of the story were told.
+
+Who the robbers were, and how many there were in the gang that
+attempted to force the safe at Diamond X, were matters left to
+further enlightenment. Mr. Merkel had only seen one in his
+office, bending over the safe, and this one had fled at the
+command of "hands up!" Then the others had raced away, amid a
+fusillade of shots which they returned.
+
+It was so dark--the moon of the early night having been clouded
+over--that the direction taken by the robbers had not been
+ascertained.
+
+"They probably scattered," declared Yellin' Kid. "It would be th'
+safest way--for them! But there's a chance some might 'a' come
+this way, so your dad wanted you t' be on the watch."
+
+"We will!" declared Bud. "And when some of the boys come back on
+the job here, and we get our allotment of cattle so things settle
+down to normal, I'm going back to the ranch and have a talk with
+dad."
+
+"'Twouldn't be a bad idea," agreed Yellin' Kid. "But where's that
+mouth organ you said you found?"
+
+"A stethoscope," laughed Bud. "Here it is," and he exhibited the
+medical instrument.
+
+"Hum!" mused the cowboy. "It might be a burglar tool for all I'd
+know the difference. But now, if it's agreeable t' you fellers,
+let's have a look around. Maybe some of them burglars got a chunk
+of lead in him and he's hidin' out around here."
+
+However, a search in the vicinity of Happy Valley camp disclosed
+nothing, and then Bud and his cousins set about getting back into
+the routine that had been interrupted by the round-up.
+
+"The first thing we've got to do," Bud declared, "is to mend that
+break in the telephone line. If that had been working last night
+you could have called us up, Kid, instead of you and Buck having
+to ride out here."
+
+"Yes, we wished th' line was working" admitted the cowboy. "But
+it wouldn't have been of much use, it seems. Them burglars didn't
+come out this way. However, it's just as well t' have it fixed."
+
+There was a system of telephones connecting Bud's camp with his
+father's main ranch and also the two branch ones, and the system
+was likewise hooked-up with the long distance. But a recent wind,
+just before the round-up, had blown down some poles in Happy
+Valley, putting Bud's line out of commission. This was why he and
+his chums could not be reached by wire from Diamond X.
+
+The poles were set up in the next few days, when some cowboys
+arrived to again take up their duties with Bud, Nort and Dick;
+for the cattle not sold were again sent back to the valley range
+to fatten for the fall, and they needed to be looked after.
+
+Meanwhile, a search of the surrounding country had failed to
+disclose any trace of the robbers, and their identity remained
+hidden. They had gotten away with about $500, missing a much
+larger sum in the safe. The authorities were notified, and a
+posse scoured the region, but fruitlessly.
+
+"Let's have a look at the safe they tried to open, Dad," begged
+Bud, when he and his cousins had ridden over to pay a week-end
+visit to the home ranch. "Did they try to drill it for an
+explosive?"
+
+"I don't believe so, son. In fact, I haven't looked at the safe
+very closely, except to notice that it was all right. And I took
+the money out of it over to the bank next day."
+
+Bud and his cousins looked at the strong box in which Mr. Merkel
+kept his money and valuable papers. It was a large, old-fashioned
+safe, proof from any fire that might visit the ranch, and beyond
+the ability of ordinary burglars to open, without the use of
+explosives or special tools.
+
+And as Bud leaned over to look at the heavy door he saw something
+that caused him to ask:
+
+"Were these here before the attempted robbery, Dad?"
+
+"What there, Bud?"
+
+"These scratches on the front of the door. It does look as if
+they tried to drill the safe!"
+
+Bud pointed to several parallel marks on the steel door. The
+scratches were deep in the paint, and seemed to radiate toward
+the shiny nickel dial of the combination. "Scratches!" repeated
+Mr. Merkel, coming over to look. "No, I never noticed them
+before. Why, she is clawed up some," he admitted. "But I can't
+say that they haven't been there since I got the safe, which was
+just before the round-up. Yes, she sure is clawed up some," and
+he spoke as if some mountain lion had done the damage to his
+strong box.
+
+But here Bud's sister, Nell, took a hand in the proceedings.
+
+"Those scratches are new ones--they were made by the burglar,"
+declared the girl, whom Nort and Dick thought the prettiest they
+had ever seen. "I know, for I dusted your office, Dad, the day
+the round-up ended, and the door was as shiny then as a new
+penny."
+
+"Then the burglar did it," decided Bud. "And it shows we have to
+deal with a regular gang of safe robbers, instead of just
+ordinary cattle rustlers!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE BROKEN BOTTLE
+
+
+Bud's opinion, expressed with such conviction, coupled with the
+fact that Nell, his sister, was sure the safe had not been
+scratched the day before the robbery, made it look as though men
+practiced in the evil art of burglary had been at work.
+
+"When I saw the fellow, bending over my safe," said Mr. Merkel,
+"it appeared to me he was only trying to work the combination. I
+have a hard job, myself, remembering how to do it, account of the
+safe being a new one. And I was so surprised, at first, that I
+just stood there, like a locoed steer, watching him. Then I let
+out a yell, told him to throw his hands up, and things began to
+happen."
+
+"But, instead of just trying to open your safe, by working the
+combination, same as I've heard of burglars doing by filing down
+their fingers with sandpaper to make 'em sensitive, he was
+getting ready to blow it open," declared Bud.
+
+"Does look so. She sure is clawed!" commented Mr. Merkel again.
+
+"Mercy! It's a wonder we weren't all blown up in our sleep!"
+exclaimed Bud's mother. "You boys'll stay to dinner," she added,
+as if glad to change the subject.
+
+"We aimed to," said Bud with a grin at his cousins. "We manage
+pretty well most times, with what we cook, and what Buck Tooth
+hands out in the grub line. But we sure do like a home-feed once
+in a while."
+
+"Or twice!" added Nort, while Dick nodded his agreement.
+
+But though it was evident that some professional burglar had
+endeavored to open the Merkel safe, that was all the conclusion
+which could be arrived at. No additional clues were found and,
+for a time, matters settled down into the ordinary run at Diamond
+X.
+
+Summer was coming, with its heat, and Bud was glad there would be
+no interruption in the water supply that flowed into Happy Valley
+from the Pocut River, coming through the ancient underground
+passage.
+
+"For we'll need plenty of water in hot weather," he told Jus
+cousins.
+
+At Diamond X Second, as the outfit of the boy ranchers was often
+called, was now a goodly herd of animals eating the rich, Johnson
+grass and other fodder, getting fattened in readiness for sale in
+the fall, when there would be another round-up.
+
+Besides Bud, Nort and Dick, there was now, at the camp in the
+valley, Buck Tooth the Zuni Indian, Yellin' Kid and Snake Purdee,
+two efficient and veteran cow punchers who had been transferred
+from Diamond X First, meaning by that the main ranch.
+
+While Bud was a true son of the west, and while Nort and Dick
+had, some time ago, passed out of the tenderfoot class, still Mr.
+Merkel felt that his son and his nephews needed the aid and
+guidance of cattlemen older than themselves. So the "outfit," as
+the aggregation at a ranch is called, was quite a happy family.
+
+"If we could only catch those burglars, and get back your dad's
+money, I'd feel better, though," declared Snake Purdee, as he
+rode in from the Diamond X ranch one day, to announce, among
+other news items, that Babe, the fat assistant foreman, was able
+to be about again.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud. "It isn't so much the money loss, as it is the
+knowledge that such a bunch of men is loose in a neighborhood.
+Del Pinzo and that Hank Fisher bunch are bad enough, but I don't
+believe they had a hand in this."
+
+"I wouldn't put it past them!" stated Yellin' Kid in his usual,
+loud tones. "Th' skunks!"
+
+"But dad said he didn't recognize the fellow he surprised at his
+safe," spoke Bud. "Of course he didn't have much chance. But if
+it had been Del Pinzo--"
+
+"Don't worry!" broke in Snake Purdee. "That Greaser wouldn't do a
+job like that himself; or Hank Fisher, either. They'd get some
+one else to take the risk. However, what's th' use gassin' about
+it? I guess the money's gone for good. But I'm glad they didn't
+get th' safe open!"
+
+"So'm I," chimed in Bud. "Some of our cash would have vanished
+then." For he and his cousins had a share in the money received
+from the sale of steers at round-up time.
+
+So, following the robbery at Diamond X, matters quieted down. Bud
+still kept the stethoscope, and word of the finding of the
+strange instrument traveled to other ranches. It was called by
+such a variety of names (the cowboys having twisted the original
+and proper one) until the boy ranchers had difficulty, at times,
+in understanding the reference when they were asked about it.
+
+But no one claimed it, and no trace was found of the person who,
+it was presumed, had dropped it the night our heroes saw some one
+disappear near the boarded-up entrance to the ancient tunnel.
+
+"Come on, let's try a bit of shooting!" proposed Nort one
+evening, when grub had been served at the camp, and he and his
+brother were left with Buck Tooth. Snake and Yellin' Kid had
+ridden off on an all-night tour of duty, to a, distant part of
+the ranch. A choice bunch of steers had started to wander farther
+off than Bud thought it was wise to let them. They were,
+evidently, in search of another variety of fodder, but that could
+not save them from some passing band of Greasers, or other cattle
+thieves.
+
+"Haze 'em back this way," Bud had requested his two cowboys.
+"They'll be safer over here."
+
+So Yellin' Kid and Snake had ridden away as the early evening
+shadows were falling and, to pass the time until the hour for
+seeking their bunks, the boy ranchers sought some amusement.
+Shooting at a mark was one form, and Nort and Dick were
+endeavoring to become as expert as their western cousin in the
+use of the .45.
+
+"Shooting suits me," agreed Bud. "I'll soon have to cut down my
+handicap if you fellows keep on the way you're going," for in the
+tests of skill Bud had always discounted his own ability in order
+to be fair.
+
+"Well, don't scale it down too much," begged Dick. "Nort hasn't
+got me skinned, but I'm not up to you."
+
+"Well, let's see how you'll do," suggested Bud.
+
+As a mark a bottle was stuck on a stick which was thrust into the
+ground at the foot of the sloping bank which enclosed the
+reservoir. Shooting against this earthen bank insured that no
+wild bullets would injure any one.
+
+"You go first, Bud," suggested Dick. "We want to get a line on
+you."
+
+Accordingly Bud walked to the marked-off place, drew his heavy
+revolver, raised it and brought it down on the mark--the bottle
+on the stick. There was a sharp crack, followed instantly by the
+tinkle of glass, and that bottle was no more.
+
+"Busted it clean!" cried Nort. "I wish I could do that!"
+
+Another flask was provided, and Nort shot at this. His aim was
+fairly good, but he was allowed to go five feet nearer than Bud
+had stood, that distance being the western lad's handicap. But
+Nort only chipped away part of the bottom of the bottle with his
+first shot, and it took three to shatter it completely,
+
+"Watch me do better than that!" cried Dick, as he took his place
+where his brother had stood, and raised his gun. "I'll crack it
+first shot!"
+
+His weapon was still in the air, and he had not brought it to a
+level with the bottle when there sounded, from somewhere out in
+the valley back of where the boy ranchers stood, the sound of a
+shot.
+
+The bullet zipped viciously over their heads, and, as they
+instinctively ducked, they heard the crash of the broken bottle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MISSING STEERS
+
+
+Like a flash Bud, who had been standing beside Nort, to watch
+the effect of Dick's try, turned and faced outward to view the
+darkening valley, whence had come the sound of that shot. Nort
+turned also, but Dick seemed to think one of his companions had
+played a trick on him.
+
+"That isn't fair!" cried the stout lad. "What'd you want to go
+and bust that bottle for, Nort?"
+
+"I didn't do it!" asserted his brother.
+
+"Nor I," added Bud in a low voice. "The shot came from out
+there," and he indicated the long and fertile valley, over which
+the purple evening shadows were falling. "Duck, fellows!" he
+suddenly cried, and he pulled Nort beside him in the grass.
+
+Dick, who caught the words of warning, and saw what his cousin
+had done, also dropped down, so that, a second or two after the
+firing of the strange shot that had shattered the bottle, only
+the heads of the boy ranchers showed above the grass, and then
+only slightly. "What's the idea?" asked Dick, as silence followed
+the measure of safety.
+
+"Whoever it was that fired might shoot again," replied End.
+
+"Who was it?" asked Nort.
+
+"That's what we've got to find out," answered Bud in a low voice.
+
+"Could it have been either Snake or Yellin' Kid, riding back and
+breaking that bottle over our heads, to show what good shots they
+were?" asked Dick.
+
+"No, I hardly think so," replied his cousin. "They're both good
+shots, all right, and they could have broken that flask from the
+distance it was broken. But they wouldn't throw a scare into us
+this way. Besides, they haven't any time to fool around. They
+have an all-night ride ahead of them."
+
+"What makes you think the bottle was busted from some distance,
+Bud!" Dick wanted to know.
+
+"The way the bullet sounded," was the answer. "It was almost
+spent when it got here, but it had force enough to break the
+glass, and would have damaged us if it hit us. I thought whoever
+played that fool trick might try another shot, so I yanked you
+down, Nort."
+
+"Glad you did! I might not have thought of it. But whoever it was
+doesn't seem to be going to shoot again."
+
+"No," agreed Bud, after a little period of silence, during which
+no other menacing crack of a weapon was heard. "But we'll wait a
+little longer."
+
+Through the fast-gathering darkness the boys looked out from
+their semi-hiding places across the valley. No wisp of smoke, and
+no movement of horse or rider was to be observed. And silence
+once more settled down on Happy Valley--not quite so happy as it
+had been. For, following the clearing-up of the mystery of the
+water supply, new and sinister events seemed pending for the boy
+ranchers.
+
+But, as yet, there were only straws, showing which way the evil
+wind was blowing.
+
+"Could it have been a chance shot?" asked Dick, raising himself a
+little to get a better look.
+
+"That bullet was aimed straight for the bottle, over our heads,"
+declared Bud. "It was no chance shot."
+
+"One of ours couldn't have glanced, could it?" Dick wanted to
+know.
+
+"Surely not!" affirmed Bud. "Why, no one had shot for some time.
+I'd just put the new bottle on the stick for you."
+
+"Yes, and I was just going to shoot, when somebody took the
+bullet out of my gun, so to speak," went on Dick, grimly jesting.
+
+"Do you think they were shooting at--us?" asked Nort,
+hesitatingly.
+
+Bud did not answer for the moment, and when he did it was to say,
+as he suddenly arose:
+
+"If they did I'm going to give 'em another chance. And I'm going
+to do some shooting on my own account!" He had his gun in his
+hand, for he had so held it since he had shattered the first
+bottle, and now it was grasped in readiness for instant action.
+
+"We're with you!" cried Nort and Dick, as they emerged from their
+recumbent positions in the grass, and hastened to the side of
+their cousin.
+
+But though they looked across the valley, now half shrouded in
+gloom, and up and down, as far as they could see, no one was in
+sight. Here and there were small herds of their cattle. Back at
+the camp tents Buck Tooth was performing his evening duties, or
+"chores," as Bud called them. The Indian paid no attention to the
+shooting, for he knew the boys had gone to practice, and he could
+not be expected to realize that one of the shots was, possibly, a
+hostile one.
+
+I use the word "possibly" with reason, for, as yet, there was
+nothing to show that it was not either an accident, or had not
+been fired by some passing cowboy who, from a distance, seeing
+the bottle on a stick, could not resist a chance to "take a
+crack" at it. And yet this last theory would seem to be a poor
+one. For if the shot had been a joke the one who had fired it
+would, in all reason, it appeared, have shown himself soon after.
+
+"No one seems to show up," remarked Nort at length, in a low
+voice.
+
+"Then we'd better look for 'em before it gets too dark," declared
+Bud. "Come on! Let's get our horses."
+
+"Isn't it taking a chance, riding out to look for some one who
+may have fired at us purposely?" asked Dick.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud, after a moment's thought, "but life out west
+is all more or less of a chance and risk. You take a risk, every
+time you ride at more than a foot-pace, of your pony stepping
+into some prairie dog's hole and not only laming himself, but
+killing you. But you don't stop riding on that account."
+
+"No," agreed Nort.
+
+"And we take a chance every time we ride herd," went on Bud. "The
+steers may stampede, and before we can get 'em to milling, they
+may rush over us. But I notice neither of you ever back out of
+that job; do you?"
+
+"No," agreed Nort, adding: "Well, then, I reckon going after this
+unknown shooter isn't taking such a long chance."
+
+"I'm with you!" exclaimed Dick.
+
+Briefly telling Buck Tooth what had happened, the boy ranchers
+rode off at a fast pace, to take advantage of what little light
+of day remained. They headed, as nearly as they could ascertain
+it, in the direction whence the single shot had come. But it is
+hardly needless to say they found no one, and no sign that could
+be construed into a tangible clue.
+
+"We'll tell Snake and Yellin' Kid about it when they come back,"
+decided Bud, as he and his cousins returned to camp when darkness
+had completely fallen. For it was useless, after that, to search
+for the perpetrator of the joke.
+
+Or was it a joke?
+
+That is what the boy ranchers asked themselves more than once.
+
+Contrary to their half-formed expectations, the night passed
+quietly. There was no disturbance among the cattle, and no
+midnight visitors invaded the camp. But, for all this, the slumbers
+of our heroes were not easy. Perhaps they had premonitions of
+coming disaster.
+
+For disaster came, with the return, early on the morning of the
+next day, of Snake and Yellin' Kid.
+
+"They're after you, Bud!" shouted the cowboy with the loud voice.
+"They're after you!"
+
+"Who?" asked Bud, as he and his cousins came out to meet the
+cowboys.
+
+"Rustlers!" was the grim answer. "There's a lot of your steers
+missin' from that far herd! Rustlers, Bud! Rustlers!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FOUR EYES
+
+
+For a moment Bud Merkel seemed unable to comprehend the bad news
+thus brought to him by his cowboy helpers and friends. Nort and
+Dick, also, were shocked by the intelligence. But Bud quickly
+recovered. Perhaps it was because of his heritage of the west--
+the ability to face danger and disaster with grim courage, part
+of his father's stock in trade.
+
+"Rustlers, eh?" repeated Bud, and his voice was steadier than
+Yellin' Kid or Snake Purdee expected to find it. "Did they get
+many?"
+
+"Quite a bunch," answered Yellin' Bad. "We rounded up as many as
+we could, and--"
+
+"You mean you rounded up the _rustlers_?" asked Nort,
+eagerly.
+
+"No, what was left of the steers," answered Snake. "Guess we
+wouldn't be back here alone--that is, just us two, if we'd had a
+run-in with the rascals. We didn't see 'em, but we did find
+traces of 'em. What are you going to do, Bud? Get on their
+trail?"
+
+"Let's talk it over, first," suggested the boy rancher, and he looked
+at Nort and Dick, for they were partners with him on this venture of
+trying to raise cattle in Happy Valley--which would have been
+almost a desert save for the water that came through the strange
+mountain tunnel.
+
+"Tell us about it," urged Dick.
+
+"Well, there isn't so much to tell," replied Yellin' Kid, his
+voice a bit lower, now that there was serious business afoot.
+"Snake an' I started there, to haze back th' steers as you; told
+us, Bud. But when we'd rounded up th' herd, drivin' 'em in from
+where a lot of 'em had strayed, we saw, right away, that th'
+count was short. First we thought a bunch was hidin' out on us,
+but we made a pretty good search an' then we got th' evidence."
+
+"The evidence?" exclaimed Nort.
+
+"Yes, we saw where the rustlers had been at work. They must 'a'
+been there a day before we arrived. They probably cut out a good
+bunch of cattle an' drove 'em off. But they didn't drive 'em
+all."
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked Bud. "Do you mean that we have a
+few left?" and he laughed uneasily.
+
+"Oh, there's more'n a _few_," said Snake. "But by evidence
+Kid means we saw where they'd been blurrin' the brand--the
+Diamond X brand!"
+
+"Oh, they're doing that; are they?" asked Bud, sharply.
+
+"Yes, we found th' ashes of two or three brandin' fires," went on
+Yellin' Kid, "an' we picked up th' broken handle of a brandin'
+iron. No marks on it, like there was on the other," he said,
+referring to the time one of the irons from Double Z had been
+found on the range of the boy ranchers. "But we brought it along,
+anyhow," and he exhibited a broken and charred piece of wood.
+
+"But we found more than that," he continued. "We found one steer
+they'd killed, for beef likely, after they'd blurred th' brand.
+There wasn't much left. What th' rustlers didn't take th'
+buzzards did. But there was enough of th' hide left to show what
+work they were up to--blurring th' brand."
+
+This, as you have learned from the previous books of this series,
+consists in burning some other mark over the legitimate brand on
+cattle, so that the original one can not be made out. Then the
+animal may be claimed by whoever has it. Blurring a brand, that
+is, making it illegible, or changing one brand into another, are
+two of the methods used by unscrupulous men to steal cattle.
+
+The boy ranchers well understood what was meant by the news
+brought them by the two cowboys. The next thing to decide on was
+what course to pursue. "Did they leave any trail?" asked Bud.
+
+"Well, we didn't stop t' hunt for it, as long as it wasn't a
+plain one," Snake answered. "Likely we could 'a' picked it up.
+But as long as there had been a raid we decided th' best thing t'
+do was t' save th' rest of th' cattle, an' then come an' tell
+you, Bud."
+
+"How many cattle do you think they took?" asked Nort.
+
+"Oh, I should say fifty," answered Yellin Kid, "includin' th' one
+they killed for beef. Probably they blurred th' brands on th'
+others an' drove 'em off--an' I shouldn't be a bit s'prised," he
+went on, "but what we'd find most of your cattle, Bud, walkin'
+around on Double Z."
+
+"Hank Fisher; eh?" exclaimed Dick.
+
+"Yes, an' that slick Mexican half-breed of his, Del Pinzo!"
+declared Snake. "Anyhow, they got away with a bunch of your
+steers, Bud, an' now what are we goin' t' do? Are we goin' t' sit
+back an' let 'em laugh at us?"
+
+"Not much!" declared the boy rancher. "But let's get this
+straight. I wonder why they didn't drive off the whole herd while
+they were at it?"
+
+"Probably it was too big a contract for 'em," remarked Yellin'
+Kid. "An' then, too, they might not 'a' had men enough, or th'
+cattle may 'a' stampeded."
+
+"An' maybe they was scared off," added Snake.
+
+"Yes," agreed his partner on the ride from which they had just
+returned, "that may have been so. Somethin' may have scared th'
+rustlers. But if I get a chance at 'em, I'll throw a bigger scare
+int' 'em!" and he significantly tapped the grim .45 at his hip.
+
+"Any trace of which way they went?" asked Bud.
+
+"There is--up to a certain point," admitted Snake.
+
+"What do you mean?" the boy rancher asked.
+
+"Well, I mean we could trace the cattle down the valley up to
+that low place between the hills-a sort of pass. And then all
+trace of 'em was lost."
+
+"Lost!" repeated Nort.
+
+"Yes, sir, lost!" declared Snake. "You couldn't see any more
+signs of 'em than if they'd been lifted up in one of them flying
+machines and histed up over the mountain! That's th' funny part
+of this raid."
+
+"There have been some other queer things around here," said Dick.
+"There was that bottle last night."
+
+"What was that?" asked Snake, quickly.
+
+"There was some promiscuous shooting around here last night,"
+said Bud. "I'll tell you about it as soon as we get the straight
+of this rustler business. Maybe there's some connection. But I
+wonder----"
+
+He was interrupted by a voice singing, and the song was one of
+the usual cowboy refrains, though the voice was rather better
+than usual.
+
+At first the boy ranchers thought it might be Old Billee Dobb
+who, with Buck Tooth, had been out to a distant part of the
+valley to see if he could get on the track of a mountain lion which
+had been killing cattle. But a glance showed the approaching
+singer, who was also a rider, to be a stranger. He sat astride a big,
+black horse, much larger than the ordinary cow pony, and as he
+approached the camp the sun glinted in curious fashion on his face.
+
+"Four eyes!" exclaimed Snake, meaning, thereby, that the stranger
+wore glasses. The rising sun had reflected on their lens. On came
+"Four Eyes," singing as he advanced, until, when he came within
+hailing distance, he drew rein, saluted the assembled company
+with a half-military gesture and called out:
+
+"Any chance of a job here?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THROWING THE ROPE
+
+
+Silence followed this greeting and question, and then the two boy
+ranchers, and their cowboy friends, waited for Bud to speak, he
+being, in a sense, the head of the new organization. Though Dick
+and Nort held equal shares, purchased for them by their father,
+the two lads who had lived so long in the east deferred to the
+boy of the west in this matter, thinking, naturally, that he
+would better be able to handle it.
+
+"Looking for a place?" asked Bud, genially enough, as he surveyed
+the newcomer, from the top of his broad-brimmed range hat to the
+pawing hoofs of his black steed, for the horse was impatiently
+digging in the dirt.
+
+"Yep!" was the answer. "I'm looking for a place." The voice was
+pleasant, and there was none of that clipping off of the final
+"g" in his words, so common a practice among most of the cowboys.
+Perhaps they didn't have time to use the proper endings. "I'm
+dead anxious to ride for some outfit," went on "Four Eyes," as he
+had been dubbed and as he came to be called, as long as he
+remained with Diamond X Second. "Your father sent me over here,"
+he added.
+
+"My father!" exclaimed Bud. "Do you know him? I don't know you!"
+he added quickly, for he sensed that the stranger, in some
+manner, had managed to pick him from all the others as the son of
+the proprietor of Diamond X.
+
+"I don't claim to know your father, only having met him once,
+when I rode up, yesterday, to ask for a job," went on Four Eyes.
+"I slept out last night--back there," he added with a wave of 'is
+quirt in the direction of Diamond X. "Had supper with the boys at
+your father's ranch, and he told me you might be needing some
+one. If you don't----" He paused suggestively, evidently ready to
+ride on and try his luck elsewhere if there was no chance in the
+valley.
+
+"I may need some one," Bud said. In fact, he was in need of an
+additional hand, and since this latest action on the part of
+rustlers he wanted help more than ever, for he was about to put
+into execution a plan for getting on the trail of these
+marauders. "But how'd you know who I was?" he asked, anxious to
+ascertain how the stranger had picked him out, as distinguished
+from Nort or Dick.
+
+"Oh, your father looks like you," was the easy answer, given with
+a laugh, in which Snake, Yellin' Kid and the boy ranchers joined.
+"When he said he didn't need any riders, adding that perhaps you
+might, I decided to take a chance."
+
+"All right. I can use another hand--or, rather, _we_ can,"
+and Bud waved his hand toward his cousins. "You can turn your
+pony into the corral," he added, "and we'll give you something to
+eat--unless you've had breakfast?" he questioned.
+
+"Not so much but what I can eat more. Thanks! My name's Henry
+Mellon. I've ridden some for Curly Q and Long L if you want any
+references."
+
+"I reckon my dad sized you up all right," spoke Bud.
+
+"I reckon he did!" laughed Henry Mellon, or Four Eyes, as I shall
+call him, following the custom of the others on the ranch. "I
+wouldn't want to try to put anything over on him."
+
+"It isn't exactly healthy," agreed Bud, for his father bore an
+enviable reputation for finding out the truth about matters in
+that "cow country."
+
+"Ever ride for Double Z?" asked Yellin' Kid, and the loud tone's
+of his voice appeared to startle the newcomer.
+
+"Why, no," was the answer. "I can't say that I have. One of Mr.
+Merkel's ranches?" he asked.
+
+"No. It's Hank Fisher's place," spoke Snake. "Glad to meet up
+with you," he added, riding forward and extending his hand.
+"That's quite a hoss you got there. Beckon he can go some!"
+
+"Well, he doesn't take dust from many," was the cautious
+admission, as the new cowboy shook hands all around. "He'll be
+glad of a rest, though, for I've ridden hard lately. I suppose I
+can use another?" he asked Bud.
+
+"Sure," was the answer. "Snake here, or Yellin' Kid, will show
+you which ones you can add to your string. See you later,
+fellows," Bud called to his cowboy helpers, as he motioned to
+Nort and Dick to follow him to their own private tent.
+
+"What do you think of it, Bud?" asked Nort, when they were alone,
+and the new cowboy was being made to feel at home by Snake,
+Yellin' Kid, and Old Billee, who had by this time ridden in. The
+smell of cooking arose from the tent that Buck Tooth had turned
+into a kitchen.
+
+"You mean him?" and Bud nodded toward where the cowboys were
+congregated in friendly talk.
+
+"No, I mean about the rustlers."
+
+"Oh, they're bad! No question about it--they're _bad!_"
+declared Bud. "As soon as we get a chance we'll ride over and
+take a look at the place. It doesn't seem reasonable that they
+can drive a bunch of cattle off down the valley, and then have
+all traces of 'em disappear as if they'd gone up in an airship."
+
+"That's right!" chimed in Dick. "Do you s'pose this Four Eyes saw
+the rustlers?"
+
+"He didn't come from that direction," declared the western lad.
+
+"He _says_ he didn't," spoke Nort. And when Nort accented
+that one word Bud looked at his cousin quickly.
+
+"Don't you believe what he says?" Bud asked.
+
+"All the same I'd call up your father," went on Nort.
+
+Bud hesitated a moment and then said:
+
+"I will! No use taking chances. He may be all right, but it won't
+do any harm to know it. I like his looks, though we don't often
+get a cowboy with glasses. I'll call dad!"
+
+Which he did, on the telephone, learning from his father that Mr.
+Merkel knew nothing about the stranger, though he "sized him up,"
+as being all right.
+
+But Mr. Merkel had done more than this. He had called, on the
+telephone, or had been in communication, otherwise, with the late
+employers of Henry Mellon, and the cowboy was well spoken of. He
+was a reliable hand, it was said.
+
+"So we don't have to worry about _him_," Bud told his
+cousins. "But we do have to take some action about these
+rustlers! Hang 'em! I wish they were all bottled up in the
+tunnel!"
+
+"That's right!" chimed in Dick.
+
+"Are we going on their trail?" asked Nort.
+
+"If we can pick it up," agreed Bud. "Anyhow, we'll take a ride
+over that way. What with cattle missing, and queer shots being
+fired behind your back, we're likely to be in for as lively a
+time as when we had the water fight!"
+
+"Or locating a Triceratops!" added Nort with a laugh.
+
+After breakfast, and the finishing of the usual "chores" about
+camp, the boy ranchers prepared to ride over and look at the
+place where the raid had been made. "What cattle had not been
+taken--and it was only a small part of the herd that had been
+driven off--were now nearer the camp headquarters, having been
+hazed over by Snake and Yellin' Kid. Mr. Merkel had been told of
+the theft, and had advised prompt action on the part of his son
+and nephews.
+
+"Four Eyes seems to be making himself right at home," remarked
+Dick, as the three boys started toward the corral, intending to
+saddle their ponies and ride over to the scene of the cattle-
+rustling operations.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud.
+
+Henry Mellon was in the midst of Old Billee, Buck Tooth, Snake
+and Yellin' Kid, and, as the boy ranchers watched, they saw N
+Four Eyes twirling his lariat above his head.
+
+"What's he doing?" asked Dick.
+
+"Oh, just showing 'em some fancy roping," Bud answered.
+
+"Let's go over," suggested Nort. "I'd like to get on to a few
+tricks, myself."
+
+They found Four Eyes attempting some of the more difficult feats
+of rope throwing. After twirling his lasso about his head, the
+rope forming a perfect circle, he changed the direction from
+horizontal to perpendicular, and nimbly leaped backward and
+forward through the swiftly circling lariat.
+
+Snake tried this, but his spurs caught and there was a queer mix-
+up of man and rope. Snake could equal the newcomer's feat in
+twirling the rope around his head horizontally, but failed, as
+did Yellin' Kid, in the other trick.
+
+"It's just a knack," said Four Eyes, modestly enough. "I had a
+lot of spare time, and I practiced some of these fancy twists. I
+can rope four horses at once."
+
+"Yes you can--not!" challenged Snake.
+
+"I'll prove it--of course they have to be going in the same
+direction," stipulated the new cowboy.
+
+"Even with that I doubt it," went on Snake. "I've heard of that,
+but I never saw it done."
+
+"If you fellows will ride past me I'll rope you all," and Four
+Eyes indicated Snake, Yellin' Kid, Old Billee and Buck Tooth.
+They mounted horses, and as Bud, Nort and Dick watched, the
+newcomer prepared for the test.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE FIRE
+
+
+"Sat when!" called Snake to the spectacle-wearing cowboy, as the
+reptile-fearing cow puncher and his companions prepared to let
+themselves be roped by the new arrival--providing he could do it.
+
+"I'll be ready in a moment," remarked Henry Mellon, and Bud and
+his cousins could not but note how differently he spoke from the
+average run of ranch hands.
+
+"More like one of those college professors who were after the
+ten-million-year-old Triceratops," remarked Nort, commenting on
+the talk.
+
+"Yes, he is a bit cultured in his speech," assented Bud. "Guess
+he hasn't been out west long."
+
+"Then how can he be such a wonderful roper?" Dick wanted to know,
+for there was no doubt about the ability of Four Eyes, even if he
+had not yet made good oh his boast of putting his lariat around
+four galloping horses at once.
+
+"Oh, well, it comes natural to some people," said Bud, "and then,
+too, he may have been in Mexico. Some of the Greasers are pretty
+slick with the horsehair. But let's watch."
+
+By this time the four cow punchers, counting Buck Tooth as one,
+for the Indian was a good herdsman, had lined themselves up about
+a hundred feet from where Four Eyes sat on his horse--not the
+same black one he had ridden in, but another, of Bud's stock,
+that had been assigned him.
+
+"Ready?" asked Yellin' Kid.
+
+"All ready! Come a running!" shouted Four Eyes, and even here he
+did not drop a "g."
+
+In an instant the four horses were in motion, coming together, in
+line, down the stretch which the newcomer faced. In another
+moment Four Eyes had ridden across the path of the oncoming
+steeds, and on the ground he spread out his lasso in a great
+loop, leaning over in his saddle to do this. He retained hold of
+the rope end that was fastened to his saddle, and then, having
+spread the net, as it were, he pulled up on the opposite side of
+the course down which the four were now thundering in a cloud of
+dust.
+
+"Can he do it?" asked Nort.
+
+"He can that way--yes," Bud said. "It's a trick! I thought he was
+going to make a throw."
+
+"It's a good trick, though, if he does it," declared Dick.
+
+In another instant all four horses ridden by the cowboys and the
+Indian were within the spread-out loop of Four Eyes as it lay on
+the ground. And then something happened.
+
+With a mere twist of his wrist, as it seemed, Henry Mellon
+snapped the outspread rope upward and, reining back his horse, he
+suddenly pulled the lasso taut.
+
+It was completely around the sixteen legs of the four horses,
+holding them together, the rope itself being half way down from
+the shoulder of each animal.
+
+"He did it! By the great rattler and all the little rattlers, he
+did it!" shouted Yellin' Kid, as he pulled his horse to a stop,
+an example followed by the others. For though they might all
+(save one, perhaps) have pulled out of the encircling rope, there
+possibly would have been an accident. One, or more, of the horses
+would have stumbled, or been pulled to the ground. And there was
+no need of that in what was only a friendly contest.
+
+"You did it!" declared Yellin' Kid, as Four Eyes loosed his rope
+and it fell to the ground, the riders guiding their horses out of
+the loop. "You shore did it!"
+
+"But it was a trick!" declared Old Billee. "'Tw'an't straight
+ropin'!"
+
+"Yes, it's a trick, but not every one can do it," said the new
+cowboy.
+
+"Betcher I can!" declared Snake.
+
+He tried--more than once, but failed. It was not as easy as it
+looked, in spite of the fact that it was a trick.
+
+"No one can throw, with any accuracy, a loop big enough to take
+in four horses on the run," declared Four Eyes when it had been
+demonstrated that he alone, of all the "bunch" at the Happy
+Valley ranch, could do what he had done. "At least if they can,
+I've never seen it. Two, maybe, or three, but not four. Putting
+your rope on the ground, and snapping it up as the horses get in
+it, is the only way I know."
+
+"I wish you'd show me," spoke Nort.
+
+"I will," promised Four Eyes. "You don't often have need for a
+trick like it, but it may come in useful some day."
+
+Then he showed the boys the knack of it, though it was evident
+they were not going to master the "how" in a hurry.
+
+Other feats in roping were indulged in by the cowboys, but none
+was as expert as Four Eyes. He seemed to possess uncanny skill
+with the lariat, though some of his tricks could be duplicated by
+Snake, Yellin' Kid and even by the boy ranchers.
+
+But life on a western ranch is not all fun and jollity, though as
+much of this as possible is indulged in to make up for the
+strenuous times that are ever present. So, after the roping
+exhibition was over, and the newcomer had been assigned certain
+duties, Bud, Nort and Dick rode down the valley, intending to
+look over the place where the steers had been stolen, and the
+carcass of one left as a grim reminder of the raid.
+
+Otherwise all in Happy Valley was peaceful. The water was running
+into the reservoir, through the pipes that connected with the
+mysterious underground course, once utilized, it was thought, by
+the ancient Aztecs.
+
+Here and there, feeding on the rich bunch and Johnson grass, were
+the cattle in which the boy ranchers were so vitally interested.
+The most distant herd had been driven in by Snake and Yellin'
+Kid--the herd on which the raid had been made. Like black specks
+on the green floor of the valley were the cattle, dotted here and
+there.
+
+"If we have luck this season we ought to round up a good bunch
+this fall," observed Bud, as he rode with his cousins.
+
+"Yes," agreed Nort. "The water can't be shut off now, and we have
+nothing to worry about."
+
+"Except rustlers," put in Dick.
+
+"And the fellow who broke the bottle for us," added Bud. "I'd
+like to know who he was."
+
+"It was a bit queer," Nort admitted. "But I believe it was some
+passing cow puncher playing a joke on us. This cattle stealing is
+no joke, though, and it's got to stop!"
+
+"You let loose an earful that time," spoke Bud, in picturesque,
+western slang. "We'll have to let the bottle-breaker wait for a
+spell, until we size up this rustler question. We may have to get
+up a sheriff's posse and clean out the rascals."
+
+"If we can find 'em," grimly added Dick.
+
+It was some distance to the place where Yellin' Kid and Snake
+Purdee had seen evidences of the raid, and it was long past noon
+when the boys reached it. They had stopped for "grub" on the way,
+having carried with them some food. Water they could get from one
+of the several concrete troughs that had been installed, the
+fluid coming through pipes from the reservoir.
+
+"Here's where they killed the steer, or yearling," Bud said,
+pointing to a heap of bones.
+
+It was all that remained from the feast of the buzzards.
+
+"And here's where they started to drive off the cattle,
+evidently," added Nort, pointing to where a plain trail, made by
+the feet of many animals, led away from the ground that was more
+generally trampled by a large herd.
+
+"Let's follow it," urged Dick. "We want to see when it gets to
+the disappearing point"
+
+"That's right!" chimed in Bud.
+
+They urged their ponies slowly along the trail left by the
+rustlers. It seemed to go down the valley to the place where the
+hills lowered on either side to form a sort of pass. It was in
+this pass that the two cowboys said the trail was lost.
+
+"We've got some distance to go, yet," observed Bud, as they
+paused to look and make sure they had not lost the trail.
+
+"And, after all, maybe we'll only find the same thing Snake and
+Kid did--nothing!" said Nort.
+
+"Well," began Bud, "we've got to get to the bottom of this, and
+if we don't in one way we will----"
+
+He was interrupted by a shout from Dick.
+
+"Look!" cried the stout lad. "There's a fire! The grass is on
+fire, Bud!"
+
+The western lad gave a quick look in the direction Dick
+indicated. It was off to the right from the trail they had been
+following.
+
+"It is a fire--regular prairie fire," Bud murmured.
+
+"Could any of the reservation Indians be on the rampage and have
+set it?" asked Nort.
+
+"I don't know! We've got to find out about it!" shouted Bud.
+"Come on, fellows!" And, wheeling his horse, he abandoned the
+trail of the rustlers, and galloped toward the fire, followed by
+Nort and Dick.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SERIOUS QUESTIONS
+
+
+Some time before the boy ranchers reached the scene of the grass
+fire toward which they were riding, they caught the smell of the
+burning fodder. That it was only grass which was aflame they had
+known before this, for that was all there was to ignite in that
+section of the valley. There were no buildings as yet, tents
+taking their place. Though Bud and his father planned to erect
+substantial structures if this year was successful.
+
+"A lot of good fodder going up in smoke, Bud!" yelled Nort, as he
+rode beside his cousin.
+
+"If it isn't any worse than that we're lucky," was the answer.
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Dick.
+
+"I mean if we don't lose any cattle. The grass isn't any good
+after it dries up on the ground, the way this has. But if the
+fire starts a stampede of cattle--that will mean a loss."
+
+"Do you think that's what the game is?" asked Nort, encouraging
+his pony, Blaze, by patting the animal's neck.
+
+"I can't see what else it is, unless the fire started when some
+one threw down a burning match or cigarette, and most cow
+punchers aren't that careless. Our fellows wouldn't do it, and I
+don't believe any other ranchers around here would, except on
+purpose."
+
+"You mean the Double Z bunch?" asked Dick.
+
+"Sort of heading that way," replied Bud, significantly.
+
+Together the boy ranchers rode on toward the fire, silently for a
+time, the only sounds being the thud of their ponies' feet and
+the creak of saddle leathers and stirrups. The smell of the
+burning grass was more pronounced now, and the pall of black
+smoke was rolling upward in a larger cloud.
+
+"It's a big fire!" exclaimed Nort. "How can we stop it, Bud?"
+
+"It will soon burn out," the western lad replied. "I happen to
+know where this grass is. It's a place where we couldn't very
+well bring water to, and if it doesn't rain much, as it hasn't
+lately, the fodder gets as dry as tinder. There's a sort of
+swale, or valley, filled with this dry grass and it's just
+naturally burning itself off."
+
+"Then no very great harm will be done; will there?" asked Dick.
+
+"Not much, unless the cattle get frightened and start to
+stampede. That's what I'm afraid of, and why I'm riding over
+there. We can't hope to put out the fire." Owing to the fact that
+the grass was so dry that no cattle would feed on it, there were
+no steers in the immediate vicinity of the blaze Had the fodder
+been cut it would have made excellent hay, but it would need to
+be cut green to bring this about. As it was, the tall grass had
+just naturally dried up as it attained its growth.
+
+"It doesn't take even as much as a blaze like this to start a
+stampede," said Bud, as he and his cousins rode nearer to the
+burning grass, They could feel the heat of it, now. "It's queer
+how frightened animals are of fire," went on the rancher's son.
+"There must have been some wonderful sights out here, years ago,
+when there were millions of buffalo, and when there were prairie
+fires, miles in width, driving them before it."
+
+"I should say so!" chimed in Nort. "I've read some of those
+stories in Cooper's books. He's great; isn't he!"
+
+"You delivered the goods that time!" remarked Bud.
+
+"I wish the west was like that now," voiced Dick. "With Indians
+and buffalo all over."
+
+"There are a few Indians left yet," said Bud. "They're mostly on
+reservations, except when they make a break, ride off and act up
+bad. I guess we stock raisers are better off without the wild
+Indians.
+
+"As for the buffalo, they were mighty valuable, and if we could
+raise them as well as cattle, we'd make a lot of money. The
+government is trying to get several herds started, but it's no
+easy task. Why, there are almost as many buffalo in New York city
+as there is out west now."
+
+"Where!" asked Nort, not thinking for the moment.
+
+"In Bronx Park," answered Bud. "I haven't seen 'em but I've read
+about 'em."
+
+"Oh, yes. So have I," agreed Nort. "I forgot about them. Whew!
+It's getting hot," he added, as a shift in the wind brought into
+their faces a wave of heated and smoke-filled air.
+
+"We'd better not keep on any nearer," decided Bud. "Let's ride
+around to the other side, and see what we can see."
+
+Accordingly they turned to the right, as the fire seemed less
+fierce on that quarter, and continued on. They had been riding
+over a stretch of the valley carpeted with rich, dark green and
+fairly damp grass. Bud and his cousins knew that when the fire
+reached this stretch it would die out for lack of fuel.
+
+In fact the blaze, as they could see, was confined to an area
+about a mile square, but of irregular shape. So far none of the
+cattle in sight had shown more than momentary fear of the blaze.
+They had run some distance from it and then stopped, sometimes
+going on with their eating, and again pausing to look with fear-
+widened eyes at the sight of the leaping tongues of fire.
+
+"But we can't tell what's going on behind that smoke screen,"
+declared Bud. "Some rustlers may have started it to hide their
+work."
+
+"Any of your men over in that direction?" asked Dick.
+
+"They aren't supposed to be," Bud replied. "Of course some of 'em
+may have ridden over when they saw the smoke, same as we did. But
+I don't see how any of 'em could have reached here as soon as we
+did."
+
+Together they rode on, circling to the right to get around the
+edge of the fire.
+
+"She's dying out," observed Dick.
+
+"Yes, it can't burn much longer," admitted Bud. "And no great
+damage done, either, unless we find something we haven't yet
+seen."
+
+But when they had completed the circuit around the edge of the
+blazing grass, and could ride across the fire-blackened area, and
+behind what was still a thick screen of smoke, they saw something
+which caused them great surprise.
+
+This was not the sight of a bunch of stampeding cattle, though it
+was what Bud and his cousins folly; expected to encounter. There
+were some cattle on this side of the fire, but they had run far
+enough away to be out of danger, and beyond where they could be
+frightened into a frenzied rush.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Nort, pointing.
+
+"Four Eyes!" exclaimed Dick.
+
+"By the great horned toad and Zip Foster--yes!" agreed Bud, and
+his cousins knew he must be stirred to unusual depths of feeling
+to use this name. Zip Foster had not been mentioned in several
+weeks. The mysterious personage, on whom Bud called in times of
+great excitement, was almost a stranger, of late, in Happy
+Valley. In fact Dick and Nort never could get Bud to talk about
+Zip. But that is a story which will be told in its proper place,
+and due season.
+
+"It _is_ Four Eyes!" went on Bud, as he and his cousins
+recognized in the form of a distant rider that of Henry Mellon,
+the new cowboy. "And what he's doing here is more than I can
+imagine. I'm going to find out, though!"
+
+The spectacled cow puncher was riding swiftly along, on a course
+that ran parallel to the direction of the fire. He was on the
+edge of the burned area, and galloping-away from the boys. But he
+was not beyond seeing or hailing distance.
+
+"Hello there!" shouted Bud, dropping his reins and making a
+megaphone of his hands.
+
+Four Eyes heard the call--there was no doubt of that, for he
+turned in his saddle and looked back. Then he must have seen the
+boys, for he waved his hat at them. Next he pointed ahead, as if
+to indicate that he was in pursuit of some one, and kept on,
+never slacking his pace.
+
+"Come on!" shouted the impulsive Nort. "Let's catch up to him!"
+
+He was about to spur his pony forward, but Bud caught the bridle.
+
+"No use," said the western lad. "He's too far ahead, and our
+horses are too played out If he comes back well hear about it. If
+he doesn't--"
+
+"Why, don't you think he'll come back!" interrupted Pick.
+
+"It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't," Bud answered. "There are
+some queer things going on around here, and he may be one of 'em.
+Though I haven't any reason to suspect him--yet!" he quickly
+added.
+
+"What are we going to do!" asked Dick, as he saw his cousin
+slacking his pony's pace. "Shall we go on to the end of the
+rustler's trail, or follow Four Eyes."
+
+"Neither one," answered Bud. "At least not just yet," he added,
+as he saw Nort and Dick look at him curiously. "Let Four Eyes go,
+for the time being. He may have seen some cowboys he'd like to
+interview about this fire, and be after them. Or he may not. As
+for getting on the trail of the rustlers, we'd have to ride back
+quite a distance to do that, and it would be dark when we picked
+it up again. Too late to do anything."
+
+"Are we going back to camp?" asked Dick.
+
+"No, let's stay right here. We've got grub, and water isn't so
+far off. We'll just camp out for the night."
+
+"Suits me," assented Dick.
+
+"Same here," agreed Nort.
+
+It was something the boys had often done. They carried blankets
+and tarpaulins on their saddles, ready for this emergency, and
+they "packed" sufficient rations for several substantial, if not
+elaborate, meals. They had a coffee pot, a frying pan, bacon and
+prepared flour, and flapjacks were within their range of
+abilities as cooks.
+
+Pausing to note that the fire was rapidly dying out, that there
+was no cattle stampede in their vicinity, and noting that Four
+Eyes was now almost out of sight, the boy ranchers rode on to the
+nearest water-hole, and there prepared to spend the night, though
+it was still several hours until darkness should fall. But the
+horses were tired, for they had been run hard after the fire, and
+the boys decided to rest them. The lads, themselves, were fresh
+enough to have kept on, had there been occasion for it.
+
+"Well, I'm glad this was no worse," observed Bud, as they sat
+down, having picketed their steeds, and looked at the receding
+pall of smoke. "I only hope the fellows at camp won't be
+worried."
+
+"I guess they know we can take care of ourselves--at least we
+have so far," spoke Nort.
+
+"Yes," agreed Bud. "You fellows have done pretty well since you
+came out here--you aren't tenderfeet any longer, not by all the
+shots that ever broke bottles."
+
+"Say, what do you think of that, anyhow?" asked Dick, as he
+chewed reflectively on a bit of grass.
+
+"I don't know what to think," asserted Bud. "There are a lot of
+serious questions we have to settle if we're going to keep on
+with this ranch."
+
+"Why, we are going to keep on, aren't we?" asked Nort.
+
+"I should say so!" cried Bud. "We're going to stick here,
+rustlers or not! And those are the only fellows I'm worrying
+about," and he tossed a lump of dirt in the fire which Dick was
+starting.
+
+"Are there always rustlers to worry about on a ranch?" asked
+Nort.
+
+"More or less," answered his cousin. "Especially when you have a
+place so near Double Z. I don't accuse Hank Fisher of being a
+rustler, exactly," he went on, "though I think Del Pinzo is.
+That's been proved, but it didn't do much good, for he broke jail
+and they can't seem to land him."
+
+"What makes Hank Fisher and that Double Z bunch so sore at you?"
+asked Dick.
+
+"I guess it's because we're beating them at the cattle game,"
+answered Bud. "And because dad dammed the Pocut River and took
+some water for this valley. As if that hurt Hank!" he added. "But
+he makes that an excuse. However, I'll fight him to the finish!"
+
+"And we're with you!" added Dick and Nort.
+
+After supper they sat around the fire, talking of various
+matters. But ever and again the question troubled them of whether
+or not they could get on the trail of the rustlers. And, too,
+they wondered what could be the object of Four Eyes.
+
+Night settled down, quiet save for the occasional snorting of the
+ponies. The boys wrapped themselves in their blankets and crawled
+between their tarpaulins with their feet to the smouldering fire.
+They talked until drowsiness stole over them and then, having
+decided to maintain no watch, they all three slumbered.
+
+What time it was that Bud awakened he did not know. But awaken he
+did, and suddenly.
+
+And the cause of his awakening was the sound of a horse rapidly
+ridden, and, evidently, approaching the place where he and his
+cousins had camped for the night.
+
+"Who's there?" cried Bud suddenly, and without preface. Under the
+blanket his hand sought his weapon.
+
+"Who's there!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE WATCH TOWER
+
+
+Quickly the galloping hoofbeats came to a pause. With a motion of
+his foot, as he sat up amid his blanket and tarpaulin, Bud kicked
+into the fire a stick of greasewood which flared up, revealing a
+rider on a panting horse standing over the boy ranchers, all
+three of whom were now awake.
+
+"Four Eyes!" cried Bud, for the flaring fire had revealed that
+cowboy. He had accepted his nickname in perfect grace.
+
+"That's who," was the good-natured answer. "I saw the fire as I
+was riding back, and I thought you'd be here."
+
+"Where were you riding _to_?" asked Bud, pointedly, his
+fingers releasing their grip on the .45 under the blanket. "I
+thought you were with Old Billee."
+
+"I was supposed to be," answered Four Eyes, "until my horse got
+out of the corral and Billee said I could trail him. That's what
+I was doing when I saw you behind the fire. I knew it was almost
+burned out, so I didn't stop, or come back to explain."
+
+"Yes, the fire didn't amount to much, though how it was started
+is another question," said Bud. "You say your black horse got
+out?"
+
+"Yes, jumped the corral fence. He's a bad one at that."
+
+"You didn't get him back," observed Nort, for he and Dick, as
+well as Bud, had noticed that the new cow puncher bestrode one of
+the extra ponies kept at the camp corral for use in relieving the
+regular animals.
+
+"No, he got clean away," and Henry Mellon did not seem to worry
+much about it. "All I have to say," he went on, "is that some one
+will get a mighty good mount, outside of his habit of jumping out
+of corrals."
+
+"You may get him back--if whoever picks him up knows where he
+belongs," said Bud. For in that cow country it was still regarded
+as a great crime to steal a horse, or keep one known to belong to
+some one else.
+
+"Oh, I'll prospect a bit farther for him tomorrow, maybe," said
+Four Eyes. "I didn't want to ride too far this evening, so I
+turned back. Did you get on any trail of the rustlers?" he asked,
+for he had been aware of the object of the boys' ride.
+
+"We switched off to come over to the fire," said Bud. "Did you
+notice anything about it?"
+
+"It was burning pretty good when I struck here, from over at your
+camp," was the answer. "I saw that it wasn't likely to do much
+damage, so I didn't ride back to tell Billee and the others."
+
+"Did you see any one suspicious?" Bud went on, getting up and
+putting more wood on the fire.
+
+"No, I didn't," answered Four Eyes, quietly. "Of course anyone
+would have had time to start the fire, and get well away before I
+arrived on the scene--judging by the way it was burning," he
+said. "Though I can't see what object anyone could have, and I'm
+inclined to think a passing cow puncher--not one of your crowd
+but some one else--may have flipped a cigarette butt into the
+grass where it smouldered for some time."
+
+"That may have happened," Bud admitted. "As for an object, if the
+fire had stampeded the cattle it would have given some bunch of
+Greasers or rustlers a chance to get away with a few steers."
+
+"Oh, yes, of course," agreed Four Eyes. "Well, I didn't see
+anybody. Guess I may as well turn in here. No use riding back to
+the camp to-night. It'll soon be morning."
+
+"That's right, turn in," invited Bud. His suspicions had
+vanished.
+
+"There's some cold coffee if you want it," added Nort.
+
+"Guess I'll put it on to heat," said Henry Mellon. "It's a bit
+chilly."
+
+"What time is it?" asked Dick, as the cowboy stirred up the
+embers and set the blackened coffee pot on over some stones that
+had been made into a rude fireplace.
+
+"Two o'clock," announced Four Eyes, with a glance at his watch.
+
+The boy ranchers watched him idly as he made and drank the
+coffee, munching some hard crackers he carried in one of his
+pockets. Then, rolling up in their blankets, the quartette went
+to sleep.
+
+Morning came, in due course, without any untoward incidents
+having occurred. The boys looked across the fire-swept area to
+where, beyond it, many cattle could be observed grazing. There
+was no further vestige of fire. The heavy dew had extinguished
+the last, smouldering spark.
+
+"Well, I'm going back to the camp," announced Four Byes, as they
+got the simple breakfast. And how appetizing was that aroma of
+sizzling bacon and strong coffee! "Want me to tell 'em anything
+for you!" he asked Bud.
+
+"Tell 'em about the fire," was the request. "And say we're going
+on the trail of the rustlers. We'll be back to-day, though,
+around night, for we haven't grub enough to carry us farther."
+
+"What you going to do about your horse?" asked Dick.
+
+"What can I do?" asked Henry Mellon, in turn. "I can't spend all
+my time hunting him, when I've got to ride herd."
+
+"We'll be on the lookout," Nort said.
+
+"Hope you have luck," commented the strange cowboy, as he took
+off his glasses and wiped them on his silk neckerchief. "I'm lost
+without Cinder, though this pony isn't so bad," and he patted the
+neck of the animal he was riding.
+
+A little later the boy ranchers were taking a short cut across
+the fire-blackened strip, to get on the trail of the men who had
+driven off their cattle, while Four Eyes turned the head of his
+pony toward camp.
+
+"Well, it looks as if this was where the trail ended," announced
+Bud, several hours later.
+
+"Mighty funny, to come to an end so suddenly," commented Dick.
+
+The three boys had reached one end of the many small valleys into
+which the larger vale was divided. They had been following the
+trail of the cattle that had been driven off--it was plain enough
+until they reached a rocky and shale-covered defile between two
+small hills. Then, for some reason or other, all "sign" came to
+an abrupt end. There were no further marks of hoofs in the earth,
+and none of the ordinary marks to indicate that cattle and horses
+had been beyond a certain point.
+
+"It's just as Snake said," observed Dick. "They must have driven
+the animals here and then lifted them over the hill in an
+aeroplane."
+
+"They couldn't!" declared Nort.
+
+"I know they couldn't. But how else do you account for it?" asked
+his brother.
+
+"They may have driven 'em through the pass, and then scattered
+dirt and stones over the trail to hide it," suggested Bud.
+
+"Let's look a little farther then," remarked Dick.
+
+They did, but without discovering any clues. It was as though the
+rustlers had driven the cattle to the bottom of a rocky and bush-
+covered slope, and then as if the side of the hill had suddenly
+opened, providing a way through.
+
+"Like some old fairy yarn!" declared Bud. "This gets me!"
+
+"If we could only have gotten on the trail of the rascals sooner,
+Bud, we might have learned the secret," spoke Nort. "We ought to
+keep better watch!"
+
+"How could we?" asked Bud. "We shoot off on the trail, now, as
+soon as we hear of anything."
+
+"Yes, but we ought to get on the jump quicker," insisted his
+cousin. "If we had an airship, for instance!" and he laughed at
+the impracticability of his remark.
+
+"You can see pretty nearly the whole of the valley from the top
+of Snake Mountain," spoke Dick, when he and Bud had joined in the
+laugh at Nort's airship idea. "If one of us could be up there--"
+
+"We'd have to be there all the while!" interrupted Bud. "There's
+no telling when the rustlers will come. Talk about being on the
+watch! It's all right to say so, but how you going to work it?"
+
+Dick suddenly uttered an exclamation.
+
+"What's the matter?" his brother wanted to know. "See a snake?"
+
+"No, but I've got the idea! A watch tower! Why not build one at
+our camp--or up on the side of the hill back of the reservoir? We
+could make it of logs--high enough to give us a good view. It
+wouldn't be much of a trick to climb up in the watch tower three
+or four times a day and survey the place. A watch tower is the
+thing, Bud!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN SPITE OF ALL
+
+
+Nort and Bud stared at Dick for several seconds without making
+any remark. They were sitting on their ponies, completely baffled
+by the manner in which the trail of the rustlers had suddenly
+"petered out." And they had been about to turn and go back to
+camp when Dick made his enthusiastic remark.
+
+"A watch tower?" repeated Bud.
+
+"Sure!" declared his cousin. "We used to build 'em when I
+belonged to the Boy Scouts. Remember, Nort?"
+
+"Sure! It begins to come back to me. We used to bind saplings
+together and make quite a high perch. The idea was that you might
+be able to see your way if you got lost," he explained to Bud.
+
+"Not a bad idea, either," commented the western lad. "I begin to
+see your drift, as the wind said to the snowstorm. You mean to
+build a sort of high platform up by the reservoir, Dick?"
+
+"Yes, a watch tower of logs, strong enough to hold one or two
+fellows. You could make ladders so's we could reach the top
+platform, or we could scramble up if we left hand and foot holds
+where we lopped the branches off saplings." "That's right!" cried
+Bud, now almost as enthusiastic as was his cousin. "And with a
+good pair of glasses, or a telescope such as dad has at the
+ranch, we could see all over the valley."
+
+"Let's make it!" cried Nort, and the matter was settled as
+quickly as that.
+
+Something of the excitement that had moved them must have been
+visible on the faces of the boys when they returned to camp, for
+Old Billee, greeting them in the absence of the other cowboys,
+asked:
+
+"Did you land 'em, Bud?"
+
+"Who; the rustlers? No. Couldn't see where they'd vanished to any
+more than, as one of the boys said, as if an airship had been
+used. But we got an idea, Billee."
+
+"They're valuable--sometimes," agreed the veteran cow puncher
+cautiously.
+
+"We hope this one is going to be!" frankly laughed Bud. "We're
+going to build a watch tower, and take turns staying up in it
+with a telescope. We can see almost the whole valley if we get
+high enough, and as there aren't many patches of woodland where
+the rascals can hide, we hope to spot the rustlers as soon as
+they begin their tricks."
+
+"Well, you may do it," and again the cowboy was very cautious. "I
+never heard of cattle rustlers bein' caught that way, but when
+other means fail, try suthin' diffrunt! We'll tackle th' tower!"
+
+And as the other cowboys, even Four Eyes, pronounced the scheme
+worth trying, it was put into operation. Mr. Merkel, to whom Bud
+communicated his idea over the telephone, rather laughed at it.
+
+"How about nights?" asked the ranchman. "No matter how high you
+are up after dark you can't see any better."
+
+"But most of the raids of the rustlers have been in daylight,"
+declared Bud.
+
+"It's about fifty-fifty," his father told him. "However, it won't
+do any harm to try it. Only don't fall off that watch tower of
+yours. I'll come out and look at it when you get it done."
+
+The boy ranchers and their cow punchers started work the next
+day. Dick and Nort remembered, in a dim way, how, as Boy Scouts,
+they had helped erect towers, hastily constructed of saplings.
+Their recalled knowledge, together with the natural adaptability
+and skill of the cowboys, finally succeeded in there being
+evolved, and erected, on the aide of the valley rather a
+pretentious tower. "It must look like an oil well derrick from a
+distance," observed Nort, when it was al most completed.
+
+"What do we care how it looks, if it does the trick?" retorted
+Bud. "From that perch, and with this telescope dad let me take, I
+can tell the color of a cow clear to the end of our valley."
+
+There was no question but what the watch tower did provide an
+excellent vantage point. From its top platform, reached by rude
+ladders, any unusual movement in the entire valley could be seen
+during the day.
+
+It was planned that the boys--and by this I mean the hired
+cowboys also--should take turns in being on watch in the tower
+during certain periods each day. A schedule was drawn up by Bud
+and his cousins, and put into operation as soon as the tower was
+completed.
+
+"And now we'll catch the rustlers at work!" boasted Bud.
+
+But alas for their hopes! In spite of all their precautions, and
+setting at naught the hard work of constructing the tower, there
+was another raid on the cattle in Happy Valley, about a week
+after the wooden perch had been set up.
+
+It was not a disastrous raid, and only a half score of steers
+were driven off from one of the more distant herds. But the raid
+took place, and at night. It was discovered one morning, just as
+Bud was going up into the tower, where a seat and sheltered place
+had been built.
+
+"They fooled us, Bud," said Old Billee, riding in from a distant
+part of the valley.
+
+"Fooled us? How?"
+
+"They let us watch by day, an' they come an' robbed by night!
+Another bunch of steers gone!"
+
+"Well--by Zip Foster!" cried Bud, slamming his hat down on the
+ground. "I'm getting tired of this!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE SIGNAL
+
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Dick, hastening from the tent where he
+had been making a new loop on his lariat, in preparation for
+practicing some of the stunts worked by Four Eyes.
+
+"Have you discovered something from the tower?" asked Nort.
+
+"Yes, I've discovered that the tower isn't any good!" exclaimed
+Bud with emphasis. "Oh, it isn't your fault, Dick," he went on,
+as he saw that his cousin looked a bit crestfallen. "The tower is
+all right."
+
+"Then you saw some rustlers from it?" asked Nort.
+
+"No, that's the trouble," said Bud, ruefully. "We didn't see them
+but they were here all right--last night. Tell us about it,
+Billee," he requested.
+
+"Well, there isn't an awful lot to tell," said the veteran cow
+puncher. "I was just prospectin' around, over on that new growth
+of Johnson grass, like you told me to, an' I saw where a steer
+had been killed, an' they had eat most of it, too, by th' signs."
+
+"You mean the rustlers?" asked Nort.
+
+"Rustlers, Greasers, Del Pinzo's bunch--anything you like t' call
+'em," asserted Billee. "Somebody, that hadn't any right t' do it,
+druv off our cattle!"
+
+"And I say it's about time it was stopped!" declared Bud with as
+great positiveness as before. This time he picked up the hat he
+had dashed to the ground and dusted it off. "I'm going to do
+something desperate!" he declared.
+
+"What, son?" asked Old Billee mildly. "They's allers been
+rustlers in this cow country, an' they'll allers be some, I
+reckon. Course if you can git 'em in th' _act_, they's nothin' t' do
+but shoot 'em up. But when you can't git 'em--"
+
+"That's what I'm going to do!" declared Bud. "I'm going to get on
+the trail of these rustlers and clean 'em out! Tell us more about
+it, Billee. No use getting up in the watch tower now," he added,
+gloomily enough. "We've got other work cut out for us. Go ahead,
+Billee! Shoot!"
+
+"Let me give you a word of advice first, Buddy boy," spoke the
+veteran cowboy as he slowly got off his pony, an act of grace for
+which the animal was, doubtless, duly thankful. Billee was no
+featherweight, though he was as active as need be, in spite of
+his bulk.
+
+"What's the advice?" asked Bud good-naturedly. His first hot
+anger was beginning to cool.
+
+"Well, my advice is to leave these rustler alone," said Old
+Billee. "They's allers been rustlers here an' they'll allers be
+here. Every cow country has 'em. They're like th' old pirates
+that used t' hold up th' ships. Taking tribute, so t' speak."
+
+"But our country didn't pay that tribute long!" exclaimed Dick,
+remembering the brilliant exploits of Decatur against the
+corsains of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. "'Millions for defense,
+but not a cent for tribute'!" quoted Dick in a ringing voice.
+
+"That's what I say!" chimed in Nort.
+
+"Well, it _is_ tribute, in a way," admitted Old Billee. "I
+was going t' say if you'd let th' rustlers make off with a few
+steers now an' then it would save trouble. They're used t' takin'
+a few. But if you fight 'em then they'll make a big raid with a
+big gang, an' mebby, take all you got, Bud!"
+
+"I'd like to see 'em try it!" cried the western lad. "And I won't
+sit by and have my cattle stolen; will we, fellows?" he appealed
+to his cousins.
+
+"Not on your life!" declared Nort and Dick.
+
+"Well, I shore do like t' hear you talk that-a-way," said Old
+Billee. "I didn't think you'd do it. Course it ain't no fun t'
+sit still an' let these onery Greasers walk off with your cattle.
+But, as I say, it's sometimes easier'n 'tis t' fight 'em. Lots of
+th' ranchmen do pay tribute in a way. Your father was one of th'
+fust t' fight 'em, Bud, but even he has sorter give up now, an'
+he don't raise no terrible row when a few of his steers get hazed
+off."
+
+"Well, dad has more, and losing a few doesn't put a crimp in
+him," said Bud. "It's different with us, and I'm not going to
+stand it. Zip Foster wouldn't and I'm not going to!" and again he
+dashed his hat on the ground, thereby startling Billee's horse.
+
+"Say, why don't you get Zip Foster over to help chase the
+rustlers?" asked Dick, slyly nudging Nort. They had long been
+trying to get Bud to a "show down" on the identity of this
+mysterious personage.
+
+"Oh, I reckon we can do it ourselves," and Bud seemed to regret
+mentioning the name of his favorite.
+
+"Just what are you aimin' t' do, son?" asked Billee, as Snake and
+Yellin' Kid rode up, ready for their day's work out on the range
+among the cattle.
+
+"I don't exactly know, but it's going to be something and
+something hard!" asserted Bud. "Are there any clues over there,
+Billee, to give us a lead?"
+
+"Not many, Bud. Just th' usual. They come onto a few scattered
+steers, killed one roasted what they wanted of it, slipped off
+the hide an' left th' rest t' th' buzzards. Then they druv off
+th' remainder. I didn't foller th' trail, for I could see they
+was half a dozen rustlers in th' bunch, an' it ain't exactly
+healthy for one man t' trail a crowd like that even if he was a
+two-gun man, which I don't lay no claim t' bein' no how,"
+concluded the veteran modestly. They all knew he would be brave
+enough in an even fight. But they all recognized the fact that it
+would have been foolish for him, alone, to have attempted to
+trail a gang of desperate men.
+
+"Well, I'm going to see what we can do," Bud declared. "If you've
+sized up all there was to see over there, Billee," and he nodded
+in the direction of the latest raid on Diamond X Second, "there's
+no use in me going over. I think I'll go have a talk with dad,"
+he concluded. "I want action!"
+
+"So do we!" added Dick.
+
+"Then come along!" invited his cousin.
+
+A little later the boy ranchers were riding out of the valley, on
+their way to the main ranch of Diamond X. They would not be back
+until late that night, or, possibly, until the following morning,
+for Bud wanted to have a good, long talk with his father, and
+decide on some plan of action, that would drive out the rustlers
+and keep them away.
+
+As Old Billee had said, probably an older and more experienced
+rancher would have put up with a few losses for the sake of peace
+and quietness. But Bud, like most lads of his age, was impulsive.
+And, as he had said, the loss of even a few steers meant possible
+failure to him and his cousins, just starting in the ranch
+business as they were.
+
+"Was that a black one?" suddenly asked Bud, as Nort's horse shied
+at something.
+
+"A black what!" Nort wanted to know.
+
+"A black jack rabbit that ran across the trail in front of you
+just now," Bud resumed. "If it was, it will bring bad luck, as
+Old Billee would say," and he laughed.
+
+"No, it was a sort of gray one, part white," Nort answered, for
+it was one of those immense hares that had leaped across the
+trail, almost under the feet of his pony.
+
+"That means we'll have part bad luck and part good," declared
+Dick.
+
+And some hours later, when they had reached Bud's home, and Nell
+was serving peach pie and glasses of milk to the boy ranchers,
+Nort paused long enough in his eating to remark:
+
+"_This_ is the good luck, Bud."
+
+"You declaimed something that time!" agreed his brother.
+
+Mr. Merkel listened to what Bud and his cousins told them of the
+raids on Happy Valley.
+
+"Well, you haven't suffered any more than the average ranchman,
+just starting in," said Bud's father. "The rustlers always seem
+to pick on a newcomer."
+
+"Well, they'll find I'm a sort of prickly pear to pick on!"
+asserted Bud. "Dad, can't we clean out these rascals?"
+
+"Well, it's your ranch, Bud! You can do anything you like, within
+reason, but I wouldn't like to see you take any foolish risks."
+
+"There's got to be some risks," declared Bud. "I'm not looking to
+get out of 'em. But don't you think it would be a good thing if
+we could get rid of this Del Pinzo gang for good?"
+
+"Sure, Bud. I'll give you all the help I can, and I'll spare you
+one or two more men if you need 'em--for a time, that is, as
+we're pretty busy here."
+
+"All right. When we're ready I'll call on you," said Bud, as
+though he had great plans in preparation. As a matter of fact, as
+he admitted later, he really did not know what he was going to
+do, but he was not going to admit that to his father. In other
+words he was "putting up a bluff," and I have some reason for
+suspecting that Mr. Merkel knew this. However he gave no sign. In
+spite of the pie, cake and other good things set out by Nell and
+Mrs. Merkel, Bud and his chums decided to ride back to their camp
+that night. It was dark at the start, but the moon would be up
+later, and the trail was well known.
+
+The boy ranchers rode leisurely along, for there was no special
+hurry in getting back. It might reasonably be supposed that the
+rustlers would not again make a raid within a few days at least.
+And Old Billee, Yellin' Kid, Snake Purdee and Four Eyes, to say
+nothing of Buck Tooth, were well able to look after matters in
+Happy Valley.
+
+And thus proceeding at a foot pace, it was well after midnight
+when the boys started down the last slope that led into the
+valley proper. In daylight it would have been possible, from this
+part of the trail, to have observed the tents and the reservoir.
+But now all was shrouded in darkness.
+
+No, not altogether darkness, for as the boys rode forward there
+suddenly glimmered in the gloom a light, high up in the air. At
+first Bud thought it was a star, but a moment later as it moved
+from side to side, and then up and down, he exclaimed:
+
+"Look, fellows! A signal!"
+
+"Signal!" repeated Dick.
+
+"Yes. Over at our camp! See! There's a light on our watch tower."
+
+"Maybe there's been another raid!" said Nort.
+
+"Or going to be one!" spoke Bud, grimly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+FOUR EYES--NO EYES
+
+
+Thudding along, their ponies seemingly as eager to reach the
+ranch camp as were the boys themselves, Bud, Nort and Dick raced
+toward the mysterious light. For that it was mysterious they all
+agreed, and that it was flashing from the top of the watch tower
+they had built to spy for rustlers was another conclusion.
+
+"Do you s'pose it can be Old Billee, or Yellin' Kid signalling to
+us?" asked Nort, as he galloped between Bud and Dick.
+
+"They wouldn't know we were coming," Bud answered. "I said we
+might not be back until to-morrow."
+
+"That's so. But who do you think is signalling?" asked Dick.
+
+"And who are they signalling to?" Nort wanted to know. "That's
+what we've got to find out," spoke Bud, grimly. "And it's what
+we're going to find out in a short time! Come on, Sock!" he
+called to his pony. "This is only exercise for you!"
+
+Indeed the animals had not been hard pressed, and this burst of
+speed was rather a relief than anything else. Together the boy
+ranchers hastened toward their camp.
+
+For some time the lantern--it was evidently that and not a
+torch--was waved to and fro, parallel to the horizon, and again up
+and down. It was so evidently a signal, or a series of them, that the
+boys no longer questioned this theory.
+
+But who the signaller was, and to whom he was flashing his
+message in the dark night--those were other questions. And they
+were questions that needed answering.
+
+"It must be one of our men," remarked Bud. "No one else could get
+into camp and climb the tower without a row being raised."
+
+"How do you know there hasn't been a row?" asked Dick.
+
+"What do you mean?" countered Bud.
+
+"I mean there may have been a fight," Dick went on. "Maybe the
+rustlers have surprised our camp, put Yellin' Kid and the rest of
+our bunch out of business and are signalling to the main crowd to
+come up and drive off the cattle. I might as well say that as
+think it," he added. "And that's what I've been thinking the last
+few minutes."
+
+This dire suggestion struck Bud and Nort silent for a moment. And
+then, more because he did not want to believe it, than because he
+did not believe it possible, Bud exclaimed: "I don't believe any
+such thing!"
+
+"I don't want to believe it!" said Nort. "But of course there may
+have been a fight."
+
+"If there was, there's a lot of dead Greasers and rustlers
+scattered around, you can depend on that!" declared Bud, grimly.
+
+"Yes, I reckon Old Billee, Snake and the rest would give a good
+account of themselves," asserted Dick.
+
+"And they wouldn't be taken by surprise, either," added Nort.
+
+"Not likely," affirmed his cousin.
+
+Again they directed their gaze toward the flashing signal on the
+tower. Once more they saw it slowly raised and lowered, and then
+swept from side to side.
+
+"Are they spelling out a message in Morse or Continental code?"
+asked Bud.
+
+"It does look like the Morse," said Nort. "We learned that when
+we were Boy Scouts. I can make out some letters, but they don't
+spell anything that has any sense to it."
+
+"Maybe it's in Spanish," suggested Bud, who was not familiar with
+the method of spelling words by flags or lanterns. "There's a lot
+of Greasers around here who don't know anything but Spanish."
+
+"That's so," agreed Nort. "I didn't think of that. I'll try and
+catch what the next word is, and maybe you'll know it, Bud," for
+the western lad understood some of the language of Mexico.
+
+But just when Nort was directing his attention to the signal
+flashes Dick, who had ridden on a little ahead, suddenly called:
+
+"Is that a fire?"
+
+They looked to where he pointed and, for a moment, thought it was
+another blaze in the dried grass. For the eastern skyline that
+had been only dimly seen was now outlined in a red flare.
+
+"It is a fire!" asserted Nort.
+
+"It's the moon rising!" said Bud.
+
+And so it proved. The moon was coming up, big, round and red,
+and, when below the horizon, cast a reflection not unlike a fire.
+The boys laughed with relieved spirits as they rode on. But when
+Nort next directed his attention to the flashing lantern it was
+no longer signalling. In the direction of the watch tower there
+was only blackness, for the moon's rays had not yet reached it.
+
+"Looks as if they'd quit," said Dick.
+
+"Maybe they thought the moonlight would give 'em away," suggested
+Nort.
+
+"We'll soon know about it," declared Bud, with grim meaning.
+
+They were now within a short distance of the tents, gleaming
+white in the moonbeams. From one of the larger canvas shelters
+shone a ruddy light, showing dark figures within. And then was
+borne to the ears of the boys the sound of laughter.
+
+"That doesn't seem to indicate a raid or fight," spoke Nort.
+
+"You can't be sure," Bud remarked. "We'd better be careful. Let's
+dismount and go on foot."
+
+They left their ponies, throwing the reins over the heads of the
+animals, and cautiously approached the tents of the cow punchers
+on foot. This tent was, practically, the "bunk house," the
+assembling place of the men after their hours of work. But before
+the boys reached this their approach was evidently heard. For a
+figure came to the flap and a challenging voice called:
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"Old Billee!" cried Bud, as he and his chums recognized the
+tones, and with the recognition came a sense of relief.
+
+"Oh, you're back; are you, Bud?" asked the veteran cowboy. "I
+thought I heard some one."
+
+"Who's up on the watch tower with a lantern?" called Bud, once it
+was certain that no disaster had occurred.
+
+"Watch tower?" repeated Yellin' Kid, coming to the flap to stand
+beside Old Billee.
+
+"Lantern?" added Snake.
+
+"Somebody's signalling," went on Bud.
+
+"You'd better come out and we'll have a look. Are you all here?"
+
+"All of us," answered Old Billee. "Come on, Four Eyes!" he cried.
+"Tumble out of your bunk. There's somethin' doin'!"
+
+"Four Eyes must have gone to bed early," said Bud to his cousins
+as they stood outside the tent. For Billee's call indicated that
+the spectacled cowboy had retired.
+
+"Hi! Four Eyes!" shouted Yellin' Kid, in a voice that would have
+awakened the proverbial Seven Sleepers. "Turn out!"
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Buck Tooth came up to
+the bunk tent from his own special nook for sleeping. And then,
+the voice of Snake Purdee announced:
+
+"Four Eyes isn't here!"
+
+"Isn't here!" repeated Billee. "Why, I saw him turn in a while
+ago, when we started t' play cards."
+
+"He isn't here now," declared Snake. "His bunk is empty, and he
+didn't go out the front way, I'll wager on that. There's
+something queer going on all right!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A BIG RAID
+
+
+Into the bunk tent of the older cowboys crowded the young ranch
+lads. Doubt, suspicion and wonder mingled in their minds, and
+foremost of all were two outstanding matters--the mysterious
+signalling light, and the disappearance of Four Eyes--if, indeed,
+that individual had really taken himself off.
+
+"Are you sure he was here?" asked Bud, when, after the first
+break of surprise, questions were in order.
+
+"Sure," replied Yellin' Kid. "We all come in here, after th'
+chores was done, t' have a friendly game of cards an' smoke. We
+didn't look for you back until late, if at all."
+
+"And was Four Eyes with you then?" asked Nort.
+
+"You couldn't exactly say he was _with_ us," replied Snake.
+"An' yet he wasn't _away_ from us. He pretended he didn't
+want t' play cards, an' he said he was so doggoned tired an'
+sleepy that he was goin' t' turn in. I told him that bein' in th'
+same tent with a whisperin' infant like Yellin' Kid, wasn't
+perzactly healthy for sleep, but Four Eyes said he didn't mind.
+So he turned int' his bunk, an' pulled th' covers tip over his
+head, though I don't see how he stood it, for it isn't winter,
+not by a long shot, an' this place was full of smoke. Anyhow he
+done it, an' t' keep th' light out of his eyes, so he said, he
+pulled a chair up in front of his bunk like you see it now, an'
+stuck his coat over it."
+
+Snake pointed to a chair, now twisted awry from in front of the
+cot that the missing cowboy had occupied. His coat, draped over
+the back, effectually screened him from observation when lying on
+the bed.
+
+"He did that so's he could slip out an' get away!" spoke Yellin'
+Kid, justifying the sarcastic name of "whispering infant," that
+Snake had bestowed on him.
+
+"But how did he get out?" asked Dick.
+
+"And what for?" Bud wanted to know,
+
+"He got out this way!" said Old Billee quietly, as he leaned over
+the cot and pushed with his hand against the side of the tent. A
+right-angled opening was disclosed, cut with a sharp knife. The
+loose point was at the bottom, and once Four Eyes had slipped
+out, the cut flap hung down in place, not disclosing, in the dim
+light, that the canvas had been cut.
+
+"He got out that way," went on Old Billee, "because th' tent
+sides, bein' fast t' th' board floor, wouldn't let him crawl out
+very easy. He's a slick one, Four Eyes is!"
+
+"But why should he slip out this way? Did he do anything? And who
+was doing that signalling?" exclaimed Bud.
+
+"I reckon you'll find, son, that the signallin' an' th' vamoosin'
+of our late friend Four Eyes had some connection," spoke Old
+Billee. "We, bein' intent on our game of cards, didn't know
+nothin' at all 'bout it till you fellows rode up. Now it's about
+time we got int' action!"
+
+"You win!" declared Yellin' Kid loudly. "There's suthin' queer
+prospectin' around these diggings an' I'd like t' know what it
+is!"
+
+"I guess we all would," spoke Bud. "And we'd better start right
+in to find out about it. Come on, boys," he called to his
+cousins, but the older cow punchers took the invitation to
+themselves also, and soon, with lanterns and flashlights (which
+handy little contrivances the boy ranchers nearly always carried)
+they began the search.
+
+First they made sure that Four Eyes was playing no trick on them
+by hiding under one of the cots in the bunk tent. Though, as Bud
+pointed out, it would pass the bounds of fun to have cut the
+canvas shelter as it was cut.
+
+But no trace of Four Eyes was to be found.
+
+"He's gone, hide, hair, horns, brand an' everythin'!" was the way
+Old Billee expressed it.
+
+"How about his horse?" asked Nort.
+
+"He didn't get his black one back," remarked Snake. "But he may
+have sort of helped himself to one of yours, Bud."
+
+This was found to be the case when the corral was visited. It
+could hardly have been expected, in that country of great
+distances, that the missing cowboy would not take a horse.
+
+"And now let's have a look at the tower," suggested Bud, when a
+rapid survey, under the fitful moonlight, had been made in the
+vicinity of the camp, and no trace of the missing man discovered.
+"Some one was signalling from up there, and it must have been
+Four Eyes."
+
+"It _could_ have been some one else," suggested Dick, not
+because he believed that, but because he wanted to sift all the
+evidence and get to the bottom of matters.
+
+"Yes, it may have been a wandering cowboy, Greaser or some
+Indian, far from his native reservation," Bud admitted. "But I'm
+saying it was Four Eyes, though why he did it I can't imagine."
+
+Nor could any of the others. Or, if they had a theory, they did
+not give voice to it, though, afterward, one and all said they
+had associated the missing cowboy with the rustlers.
+
+But a search on and near the hastily-built watch tower disclosed
+nothing. On the top platform, whence, doubtless, the signalling
+lantern had been waved, no light was found. There were burned
+matches and cigarette stubs, to be sure, but these were as much
+the discarded property of Yellin' Kid or Snake, as of Four Eyes,
+for they all had taken turns doing sentry duty, and, as it was
+lonesome up on the high perch, smoking was indulged in.
+
+"Well, he's away, and that's all there is to it," said Bud, when
+the search was over. "Now all we've got to do is to wait for
+something to happen."
+
+"Do you think something will happen?" asked Nort.
+
+"Well, things have been happening ever since we came out here,"
+observed Dick. "First it was the finding of the Triceratops. Then
+it was the water fight in the mysterious tunnel, and now it's the
+rustlers after our cattle. Isn't that enough to happen?"
+
+"Oh, yes," admitted Nort. "But I thought Bud meant something
+special was about due."
+
+"It wouldn't surprise me if it did happen," declared the western
+lad. "But I wasn't thinking of anything out of the usual. Only
+the combination--Four Eyes missing and us seeing the light makes
+me suspicious. So I'm ready for anything."
+
+"And I'm ready for my bunk!" declared Dick, with a yawn. "It's
+most morning! Let's turn in!"
+
+They did, but none of the boy ranchers rested well, for they were
+too worried.
+
+What did it all mean? And what events portended? These were
+questions they wished soon would be answered.
+
+The morning did not bring the return of Four Eyes, nor in the
+better light were any more clues discovered at the Watch Tower.
+Looking from its height, over the peaceful valley, the boy
+ranchers saw nothing evil, and there was no hint of coming
+disaster other than in the suspicions engendered by the recent
+strange happenings.
+
+"Do you suppose that signalling could have meant an Indian
+uprising?" asked Nort.
+
+"Cracky! If it does we'll have to fight 'em, won't we?" asked
+Dick, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"I don't imagine the Indians around here have any notion of
+rising," said Bud. "They have done such things, years ago, but I
+doubt if they have enough spirit left for it now. They are too
+well satisfied with their lot. But of course it's possible,
+though Buck Tooth says he doesn't look for anything of the sort.
+But then he's been with white men so long he isn't really much of
+an Indian any more."
+
+"Well, if there's any Indian fighting to be done I want to do my
+share!" declared Dick, and his brother nodded in confirmation.
+
+But as several days passed, and nothing more happened than the
+usual hard work on the ranch, the apprehensions of the boys began
+to disappear. They made inquiries about Four Eyes, but no one on
+the neighboring ranches had seen him. Mr. Merkel expressed
+himself as greatly disappointed in the character of the cowboy he
+had sent to his son.
+
+"Maybe you got off lucky, with only a cut tent," the ranchman
+observed. "But better be on your guard, son."
+
+"We will, Dad," replied the western lad.
+
+It was about a week after the signal lights had been observed,
+the disappearance of Four Eyes coinciding, that, as Bud and his
+cousins were eating "grub" in camp one noon, they heard shots
+fired off to the north, and in the direction of the trail between
+Happy Valley and Diamond X ranch.
+
+"What's that?" asked Nort, starting from his seat.
+
+"Stampede, maybe," suggested Dick, for the boys knew that the
+older cowboys were in that direction, rounding up a small herd
+which had been purchased and that was to be shipped east.
+ Bud hurried to the entrance of the tent and what he saw caused
+him to cry:
+
+"Come on, boys! It's the rustlers again! They're making a raid!
+Get your guns!"
+
+In less time than you would have deemed possible, unless you had
+seen it, the boy ranchers were in the saddle, and were galloping
+toward the scene of the shooting. The sounds were more plain,
+now, and as they straightened out on the trail they could see
+where a fight was in progress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Yellin' kid, Old Billee and Snake Purdee were standing off the
+attacks of more than double their number. This was the spectacle
+that greeted Bud, Nort and Dick as they swept up the trail and
+toward the sound and sight of the firing. For now they could see
+the little puffs of smoke which preceded the discharges of the
+guns. Light, traveling faster than sound, brought to the eyes of
+the boys the puffs of burned gunpowder before the report echoed.
+
+"This is the meaning of that night-signalling!" cried Nort, as he
+galloped beside his cousin.
+
+"Looks so," was the answer. "They're getting bold and desperate
+to try to rustle our stock in the day time."
+
+"You said it!" exclaimed Dick, as he looked to make sure he had a
+good supply of cartridges.
+
+As the boy ranchers drew nearer the scene of the conflict they
+could observe that the herd, which their cowboys had been driving
+in, was now in confusion. And no wonder, with more than half a
+score of wildly-excited men riding among them, shouting and
+firing heavy revolvers.
+
+For distant shouts borne to the ears of our heroes told of the
+excitement under way. As nearly as Bud, Nort and Dick could tell
+from their vantage point, eight or ten Mexicans, Greasers or
+other undesirable characters, had swept down from the north on
+Old Billee, Snake and Yellin' Kid as the latter were hazing the
+cattle along to the trail which led to the distant railroad
+station. Naturally the cowboys of Happy Valley had turned on
+their attackers and the fight resulted.
+
+It was evidently the intention of the rustlers (for of their
+character there was little doubt) to drive off as many of the
+Diamond X Second stock as possible. And if they had to kill or
+maim the watchers it meant little to them.
+
+But, so far, none seemed to have been seriously hurt, for no
+horses were running around with empty saddles, and no bodies were
+prostrate on the ground. I think, if the truth were known, that
+the first shooting on both sides was so wild that no one thought
+to take accurate aim, which is difficult on the back of a rushing
+cow pony, and with a heavy .45 gun.
+
+It was, essentially, a running fight and Bud, Dick and Nort were
+urging their ponies forward as rapidly as possible to get their
+share of it. However, they were not destined to come to close
+grips with the enemy. For as they drew nearer to the scene of
+conflict, their guns out, and eager in their own hearts for
+action, yelling encouragement to their comrades, the boy ranchers
+saw their foes suddenly swing away.
+
+This sudden giving up on the part of the rustlers was due either
+to a signal from one of their number that the raid was a failure,
+or else they saw reinforcements, in the persons of the boys, and
+had no desire for a more nearly even battle.
+
+At any rate, with wild yells, the rustlers pulled up their
+ponies, and turned off down the trail, riding at break-neck
+speed. Yellin' Kid and Snake, with shouts of defiance, swept
+after them, and might have caught them except for what happened
+to Old Billee. The veteran suddenly reeled in his saddle, and
+would have fallen, except that, as he lagged behind his two
+companions, Bud rushed up to him and held him in place.
+
+"Are you hit, Billee?" Bud cried.
+
+"Only just a scratch, but it seems like it took th' tucker out o'
+me mighty suddin," gasped the old man. "Beckon I'd better get
+down. I'd 'a' fallen if you hadn't rid up, Bud."
+
+"That's what I thought when I saw you reel."
+
+By the time Bud, with his cousins, was helping Old Billee to the
+ground, Yellin' Kid and Snake turned and saw what had happened.
+They then gave up all thoughts of pursuing the retreating
+rustlers and came riding back, winded and excited, but none the
+worse for their encounter with the rascals.
+
+"Did they get you, Billee?" asked Snake, a gleam in his eyes that
+portended no good to the perpetrators of the deed if he ever
+caught them.
+
+"Only a scratch," said the old cowboy, but rather faintly. He put
+his hand to his side, and quickly opening his garments, as he sat
+on the ground, his friends saw that the wound was more than that.
+
+However, the bullet had glanced off the ribs, and aside from
+having lost considerable blood, which accounted for his weakness,
+Old Billee was little the worse off.
+
+"I think we got one of 'em," announced Snake. "I saw him holdin'
+pretty desprit like t' his saddle."
+
+"What started it? Who were they?" asked Bud, as the last of the
+raiders swept out of sight amid the rolling hills of the valley.
+
+"Oh, some of Del Pinzo's gang, you can make sure of that," said
+Yellin' Kid. "They just rid down on us an' started t' fire. We
+saw what their game was all right, an' come back at 'em. They
+didn't get one steer, Bud!" he added, proudly enough.
+
+"That's good," said the boy rancher.
+
+"But they did an awful lot of shootin'," added Snake. "I thought
+sure we'd all be hit, but Old Billee was th' only one what got
+it. I never heard so much Fourth of July since I was a kid."
+
+"It was a lot of shooting, according to the results," spoke Bud,
+as he watched Snake bandaging Billee's wound, for the cowboys
+carried a primitive first-aid kit. "I wonder if that meant
+anything?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Nort.
+
+But Bud did not answer.
+
+Making sure that none of the cattle had been hit, and managing,
+after rather strenuous work, in quieting the herd, the boy
+ranchers and their friends started back toward camp, Old Billee
+taking it as easily as possible, for his side was getting stiff
+and painful.
+
+While they were yet some distance away from the white tents that
+corresponded to the usual ranch buildings, Bud and his companions
+saw riding toward them a solitary figure.
+
+"It's Buck Tooth," declared Dick.
+
+"And if he doesn't bear evil tidings I miss my guess," murmured
+Bud.
+
+Evil tidings they were, in very truth. For as the Zuni came near
+enough he was seen to be much excited. Drawing rein, he made a
+sweeping, comprehensive gesture with one hand, toward the south
+end of the valley, and exclaimed: "All gone!"
+
+"What's all gone?" asked Bud, a great fear clutching at his
+heart.
+
+"Cattle!" answered the Indian. "Rustlers drive 'em all 'way,
+while you shootin' off there!" and he pointed toward the scene of
+the recent conflict.
+
+For an instant Bud said nothing. Then, with trembling lips, which
+alone betrayed his feeling, he remarked:
+
+"That was it! They divided their gang and started a fake fight up
+at one end, to draw us there, while they worked against our big
+herd at the other end. It was a slick piece of work. No wonder
+they shot more than they hit. They wanted to keep us away from
+the south of the valley."
+
+"I guess you've struck it, Bud," said Snake, grimly. "They sure
+fooled us, an' I never smelled a rat! Whew!"
+
+Bud, with lips that were firmer now, touched spurs to his pony
+and hastened toward the tents and corral.
+
+"What you aimin' to do?" called Yellin' Kid after him.
+
+"I'm going to get on the trail of those rustlers," grimly
+announced Bud Merkel, "and I'm not coming back until I land 'em!
+Come on, fellows," he called to his cousins. "Let's pack up for a
+long hike on the trail!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+WILD COUNTRY
+
+
+Following after Bud, his cousins and the older cowboys swept
+along toward the home camp--to the tents which served the
+purposes of ranch buildings. Yellin' Kid trotted beside Old
+Billee, who, however, now that his bullet-scarred side had been
+bandaged, rode with more ease.
+
+"What you goin' t' stop for?" asked Snake, when he saw Bud
+turning in toward the corral where spare ponies were kept.
+"Aren't you going after the rustlers?"
+
+"Yes, when we get packed up for a long ride!" Bud answered
+grimly. "What's the good of riding over just to look at the place
+where they drove off our cattle? I can see that any time. What I
+want to do is to get on their trail."
+
+"And not give up until we land 'em!" added Nort.
+
+"That's talking!" cried his brother. "Did you see any of 'em,
+Buck Tooth?" he asked the Indian, beside whom he was riding.
+
+"Me see too many," was the grim answer, which explained why the
+Zuni had probably not gone in pursuit. "They ride like what you
+call--jack-rabbits."
+
+"They can't keep that pace up long," declared Bud, as he slipped
+from the saddle, having turned his horse into the corral. "They
+can start the steers off with a hip-hurrah, but they'll have to
+slow down if they don't want to kill 'em, and that wouldn't pay.
+They'd get some fresh beef and the hides, but they'd waste more
+than they'd get out of it."
+
+"What do you imagine they really plan to do, and who are they?"
+asked Dick, as he and his brother followed Bud to their own
+special tent.
+
+"I can only guess who they are, and your guess is as good as
+mine," the western lad answered.
+
+"Then I'll say Del Pinzo and the Hank Fisher gang," ventured
+Nort.
+
+"And I'll agree," replied Bud. "They have two motives, now, for
+working against us. One because we've beaten 'em in two innings--
+the time of the Triceratops and in the underground river game.
+But getting our cattle--or the cattle of any other rancher--is
+reward enough in itself at the price beef is selling for now.
+They want to make a lot of money, and ruin us because we've come
+to Happy Valley. But they'll find that we can bat a little, too,"
+added Bud, carrying out the simile of a baseball game. "And it's
+going to be our turn at the plate mighty soon!"
+
+"The sooner the better," declared Nort, and his brother nodded in
+agreement.
+
+When Old Billee's wound had been further attended to, with the
+more adequate remedies kept in camp, there was a gathering of the
+"clan," so to speak, in the tent where the boys and their cowboy
+helpers usually ate.
+
+"Then you aren't going to chase over to where they drove off your
+cattle right away; is that it, Bud?" asked Snake.
+
+"I don't see any use," said the young western ranch lad. "All
+we'd see would be the marks of the trail, and they'll stay for
+some time, if it doesn't rain, which isn't likely. What I want to
+do is to pack enough grub--and other things," he added significantly
+with a motion toward his .45, "for a long trip. We've got to get at the
+bottom of how they drive off our cattle, and manage to get them out
+of the valley without leaving a trace.
+
+"That's the puzzle we have to solve, as we found out about the
+hidden water. Up to now the raids of Del Pinzo and his crowd--
+assuming that they are the ones--have been small. They're the
+kind that's always going on, and a lot of the cattlemen, and Dad
+among 'em, seem to shut their eyes to the thefts. I'm not going
+to do that. But what I started to say was that, up to now, the
+raids have been small ones. Very likely they thought we wouldn't
+make much fuss over the steers we lost.
+
+"But this is a big raid, and the others were only leading up to
+it. They played to get us out of the south end of the valley, and
+away from our big herd so they could drive it off unmolested."
+
+"And they sure did it," added Nort.
+
+"But they haven't gotten clear away yet!" snapped out Bud. "We're
+going to take after them! They can't go fast with a big bunch of
+cattle, and we're bound to catch them sooner or later!"
+
+"They'll probably put up a fight," observed Old Billee, who was
+feeling much easier, now.
+
+"That's what I'm counting on, and that's why I don't want any
+slip-up!" exclaimed Bud. "I'm going to call on Dad for some
+reinforcements."
+
+"Oh, we can handle that Del Pinzo gang!" boasted Yellin' Kid.
+
+"We could if they'd fight fair and even, maybe," assented Bud.
+"But they'll be on the lookout for trouble, now, and they'll have
+a big gang of Greasers with them. And while, ordinarily, one
+cowboy is a match for half a dozen of the ornery Mexicans, you've
+got to be on the watch for treachery. There's no use tackling
+this thing unless we have a big enough crowd to meet the biggest
+bunch Del Pinzo can muster."
+
+"Well, there's some sense in that," admitted Snake. "I'm not
+afraid of any bunch of rustlers that Hank Fisher can scare up,"
+he went on, "but it isn't a man's personal feelings we got to
+consider. It's for the good of this ranch. And, as Bud says, we
+want to make a clean-up this inning."
+
+"That's why I'm going to have help," Bud remarked, as he went to
+call his father on the telephone.
+
+Mr. Merkel whistled when he heard the disastrous news.
+
+"I didn't think they'd go at it wholesale, that way, Bud," he
+told his son over the wire. "But you've got the right idea. Go
+after 'em and clean 'em up! When you take the trail don't turn
+back until you've finished the job. I'll send you as many men as
+I can spare, Slim Degnan with 'em!"
+
+"Slim? That's good!" cried Bud. "Now we'll make a clean up. But
+don't get worried, Dad, if you don't hear from us in several
+days, or a couple of weeks. We'll probably be out of the reach of
+a telephone."
+
+"Yes, I realize that! Well, good luck to you. When you going to
+start?"
+
+"First thing in the morning. Old Billee was shot up a little, so
+I'll leave him and Buck Tooth to look after what cattle we have
+left. Can Slim and the others get here in time to start in the
+morning?"
+
+"They can if I send them over in the jitney which will be
+quicker, and save them some hard riding. Have you got ponies
+enough for them?"
+
+"Yes, plenty. Get 'em over here in the gasolene gig and we'll do
+the rest!" laughed Bud, though he was in anything but a laughing
+mood, His mind was grimly set on getting back his cattle, and in
+punishing the evil gang of rustlers that was dominating that
+section of the "cow country," as ranch localities are sometimes
+called.
+
+Immediately on hanging up the receiver, Bud Merkel started in on
+a busy time. Nor were his cousins less engaged. Once the boy
+ranchers bad determined to "hit the trail," they planned to "do
+the trick up brown," as Nort expressed it.
+
+Bud proved himself to be well fitted for the task in hand, in
+spite of his youth. But he had been well trained by his father,
+and life on Diamond X had put him in trim for hard fighting. It
+was not the first time he had had to do with cattle raids, though
+it was his own first experience on a large scale, and he was
+vitally interested. He followed the plans he had seen his father
+put into operation more than once.
+
+Saddles, girths and lariats were looked to, as were all the
+various trappings of the ponies, without which the raid could not
+be undertaken in that country of far distances. Then it was
+necessary to pack sufficient "grub" to last for at least a week,
+in case no provisions could be come upon.
+
+As for shelter, each man, and by that term I also include the boy
+ranchers, had a pair of blankets and a tarpaulin to spread under
+him on the ground. The days were hot, but the nights were cool in
+spite of camp fires.
+
+Of course each one "packed a gun," some of the cowboys two, and
+there was no lack of ammunition.
+
+Old Billee felt badly at not being able to go. But his wound was
+giving him more pain than he liked to admit, and after vainly
+protesting that he simply must go, he agreed that perhaps it was
+best for him to remain behind.
+
+In the "jitney," as Mr. Merkel dubbed his auto, several cowboys
+from Diamond X (including the veteran foreman Slim) reached Happy
+Valley in due season. They were fitted out with ponies, and after
+the situation had been talked over, and every precaution against
+failure taken, they were ready to start early on the morning
+following the big raid.
+
+The outfit of the boy ranchers had been sadly depleted by the
+descent of the unscrupulous gang, and what cattle remained had
+been driven to the feeding grounds in the vicinity of the
+reservoir, where Buck Tooth, Old Billee and one man from Diamond
+X could watch over them.
+
+"Are we all ready?" asked Bud, as he and his cousins, followed in
+example by the older cowboys vaulted to saddles.
+
+"I reckon so," announced Slim, as he slewed around his holster
+with its newly-oiled .45.
+
+"Let's go!" said Bud, briefly, and away they started.
+
+They made trail, first, to the scene of the raid. As Bud and the
+others had anticipated, there were plenty of signs showing where
+the cattle had been driven off. A large herd was missing, and it
+must have taken a number of rustlers to have rounded them up and
+started them toward Double Z, or whatever place was to be used to
+change, or blur the brands, so the cattle could be sold to some
+innocent purchaser, perhaps. Though there were not wanting, in
+that country, not-so-innocent-purchasers of rustled cattle.
+
+"They'll have to keep near grass and water," said Slim, as he
+rode along with Bud and his cousins. "So we'll do the same."
+
+"Yes, they can't make a dry drive very far," Bud agreed. "They
+followed this range, it seems."
+
+On reaching the scene of the raid the trail led off to the left,
+along a tow mountain range or wild and rugged peaks, some,
+evidently, of volcanic origin. At the foot of this range was
+grass in plenty, and, occasionally, a water hole, made possible
+by the fact that End's father had brought the waters of the Pocut
+River to the valley by means of the tunnel flume.
+
+"The trail's plain enough for a blind man to follow," said
+Yellin' Kid, who rode beside Snake.
+
+"But it's going to get harder in a little while," spoke Snake.
+"We're getting into wilder country, and rocks don't take much of
+an impression. See, it's peterin' out now."
+
+He pointed to the surface of the ground over which they were then
+traveling. The grass and earth were more and more scanty, and in
+some places there were patches of shale and rock, on which even
+an iron-shod hoof would leave no mark.
+
+"Yes, it's a wild country," agreed Bud. "I've never been over as
+far as this, and I don't believe our cattle ever get here. There
+isn't enough feed," he added, as he looked around.
+
+The cavalcade was now in a sort of narrow gorge, or gully, with
+rocky walls on either side, and only scant vegetation on the
+bottom, where some bunch grass grew. The water seemed to have
+disappeared.
+
+"They can't drive cattle on a trail like this very far," said
+Slim, looking about with critical eyes.
+
+"And yet they did come in this gulch," said Bud, for the "signs"
+were still plain.
+
+"Oh, yes, they've been here," agreed Slim. "It sure is a queer
+trail they picked. I don't see--"
+
+He did not finish the sentence. Somewhere In that lonely and wild
+section of Happy Valley a single shot rang out, making the echoes
+vibrate loudly, and awakening a distant coyote, who sent up a
+mournful howl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE BOILING SPRING
+
+
+"What's that?" asked Bud suddenly, his voice seeming almost as
+loud as that of Yellin' Kid's. The horses had been reined to a
+halt as soon as the shot sounded, and there was stillness which
+made the boy rancher's exclamation appear more vociferous than
+would otherwise have been the case. "What's that?" asked Bud
+again.
+
+"Some one fired," answered Nort.
+
+"Brilliant!" chuckled Dick. "Bright answer!"
+
+"Almost as bright as my question," conceded Bud, who was willing
+to admit when he had "pulled a bloomer," as some Englishmen might
+term it. "It was a shot, though," he added. "I wonder if we'll
+hear any more?"
+
+They all paused, in listening attitudes; the boy ranchers, the
+cowboys associated with them in the Happy Valley venture and the
+others sent with Slim to help run down the rustlers, on whose
+trail they now were.
+
+But no further firing followed in the three or four minutes they
+waited there in that lonely gorge, the only sounds being those
+caused by the restless movements of the steeds.
+
+"I wonder if some one shot at us, or if that was a signal!"
+remarked Nort, as Bud gave the sign to advance.
+
+"I didn't hear any bullet singin' out this way," drawled Slim.
+"Not that I'm hankerin' to," he quickly added.
+
+"Then it might have been a signal," went on Nort.
+
+"What makes you say that?" Bud questioned.
+
+"Because it would seem that if the rustlers are ahead of us,
+trying their best to get far enough away, or to get to some
+secret hiding place, that they might leave some behind, on the
+trail, to give warning when we show up," went on Nort.
+
+"Yes, that might be so," slowly admitted Bud. "In fact I think it
+was, probably, a signal, and it may have been given by the same
+one who gave signals before."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Dick.
+
+"I mean Four Eyes, and the lantern flashes we saw from the watch
+tower that night we rode in," Bud answered. "I believe Four Eyes
+was and still is, in with the rustlers, and that he gave a signal
+to show that everything was ready for the raid."
+
+"But the raid didn't take place until some time after we saw
+those flashing lights," said Dick.
+
+"It takes some time to get a cattle-rustling gang together,"
+declared Bud. "I wish we could find Four Eyes."
+
+His gaze roved the sides of the lonely gorge, and sought to
+pierce the maze of the trail ahead. But as it wound in and out,
+following the windings of the defile, he could not see far in
+that direction.
+
+"If it was Four Eyes, he played his game mighty slick!" declared
+Yellin' Kid. "He fooled us all, includin' your paw, Bud!"
+
+"Well, if we get on his trail, and can connect him with the
+rustlers, which it won't be hard to do, I'm thinking, he won't
+play any more tricks," declared the western lad vindictively and
+with righteous anger. "But if that was a warning shot, and that's
+what it seems it must have been, we'd better take some precautions
+ourselves."
+
+"Such as what-like?" asked Slim, willing to let Bud take the
+lead, as the search for the rustlers was distinctly an affair of
+the boy ranchers.
+
+"We ought not to go ahead, all in a bunch," decided Bud. "We may
+run into a bunch of Greasers at some turn of the trail, and if we
+have scouts out we can handle the situation better."
+
+"I was going to suggest it," said Slim, "but I thought you'd
+think of it yourself, Bud, being as you're your paw's son."
+
+Bud was pleased at the implied compliment, and, a little later,
+as they advanced, they were divided into three small parties,
+with rear and vanguard, to insure against a surprise in back,
+which might easily happen.
+
+And so they advanced through the defile, keeping watch on both
+sides of the trail. There were still evidences that a herd of
+cattle had been driven along the rocky defile, but because of the
+rocky floor, if such it may be called, the signs were faint, and
+only an experienced westerner could have picked them up. But the
+boy ranchers were accompanied by experienced cow punchers, who
+knew every trick of the trail.
+
+Bud had insisted that it was one of his rights to ride in the
+advance guard, with Yellin' Kid, and it was while they were
+performing this duty, of watching for a surprise, that they saw,
+just around the bend of the trail, some wisps of white vapor
+floating up.
+
+"There they are!" exclaimed Bud in a hoarse whisper, pointing.
+"They've stopped there--or some of 'em have. Or maybe it's the
+person who fired the warning shot."
+
+"Might be," admitted Yellin' Kid, toning his voice down somewhat
+to suit the occasion. "Better let me get off and crawl ahead,
+Bud. I'm used to that. You hold the horses."
+
+Bud realized the sense of this proposition, and he held the reins
+of the Kid's horse, while that cow puncher slipped from the
+saddle, and, on all fours, crept toward the wall of rock which
+rose abruptly at a turn of the trail shutting off a view beyond.
+
+Bud watched Yellin' Kid closely, the lad's hand on the butt of
+his .45, and occasionally he glanced back to catch the first
+glimpse of the main party, so he might warn them. He saw the
+wisps of vapor rising and floating toward him.
+
+"Not much smoke," mused Bud. "They're using very dry wood--
+regular Indian trick. I wonder----"
+
+A moment later he heard Yellin' Kid shout, and it was such a cry
+as indicated pain. Yet Bud had heard no shot.
+
+"I wonder if they knifed him?" was the thought that flashed into
+Bud's brain. He cast caution to the winds and galloped forward,
+making a great racket, and casting loose the reins of the Kid's
+steed.
+
+The sight that met Bud's eyes was enough to startle him, though
+it was not what he expected to see.
+
+For he beheld Yellin' Kid standing in front of a pillar of white
+vapor, or, rather, the cowboy was dancing about, holding one hand
+in the other, and using excited slang at a rate that soon would
+exhaust his vocabulary, Bud thought.
+
+But, more strange than anything else, was the fact that there was
+no sign of a fire, to cause the white vapor, nor was there any
+indication that anyone besides Yellin' Kid and Bud were in the
+immediate neighborhood. No rustlers had started the blaze which
+caused the white clouds to drift upward.
+
+"What's the matter, Kid?" asked Bud, as he saw that something had
+happened. "Where's the fire?"
+
+"Under there!" and the cowboy pointed to the ground. "Keep away
+from it. Don't go near that spring, an' whatever you do, don't
+put your hand in. I did, an' I'm sorry for it!"
+
+"Spring! Fire! What is it, anyhow!" asked Bud, as he slid from
+the saddle and ran forward.
+
+"It's a boilin' spring, that's what it is!" declared Yellin' Kid.
+"Boilin' hot an' it near took th' skin from my hand! What you see
+is steam--not smoke! Horned toads and hoop-skirts! It's as hot as
+Buck Tooth's tea kettle! Look out for the boilin' spring!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN A MAZE
+
+
+Bud stood in amazement looking at Kid and listening to what the
+excited cowboy was saying. Then the gaze of the western boy
+rancher turned toward a depression in the ground, whence arose
+what he and Yellin' Kid had thought was smoke but which, in
+reality, was steam from a hot spring.
+
+"A boiler, eh?" repeated Bud. "First I ever knew we had any so
+near Happy Valley."
+
+"Me, either," went on Kid. "I suspicioned what it was when I got
+close and couldn't smell any wood burnin'. Then I put my hand
+out, but the steam fooled me. I didn't know the top of the water
+was so close, an' I dipped right down into it. Whew! It was hot!"
+
+"Did it scald you?" asked Bud.
+
+"Pretty nigh it," answered the cowboy, exhibiting a very red
+hand.
+
+At this moment a noise behind the two attracted their attention.
+They turned to see pointed at them the black openings of two .45
+guns, and they had glimpses of eager eyes looking over the sights
+of the weapons. "Don't shoot! I'll come down!" laughed Bud, in
+imitation of what was the current saying concerning the famous
+Davy Crockett.
+
+"What is it?" asked Nort, owner of one of the menacing guns, as
+he arose and slid his .45 into the holster.
+
+"Did they get away?" Dick wanted to know, as he stood beside his
+brother. The two boys had left the main body and worked their way
+up to join the vanguard, in the persons of Bud and Kid.
+
+"There wasn't anyone to get away," Bud answered grimly. "It was
+only a boiling spring, and we took the steam of it for smoke."
+
+"Boiling spring!" cried Nort. "I never saw one before."
+
+"Me, either," added his brother, and together they looked at the
+depression in the ground, filled with scalding hot water. At
+times it bubbled up, like some great kettle over a fire, and then
+the steam was as thick as the smoke at some camp fire when green
+wood is used. Again the spring was comparatively quiet.
+
+"I've seen 'em before," remarked Bud, "though I didn't know we
+had any so near Happy Valley. There's lots of 'em out in the
+Yellowstone Park region, and in other places, some not many miles
+from here."
+
+"Any volcanoes?" asked Nort.
+
+"Or geysers?" Dick queried.
+
+"Not that I know of," Bud answered. "You don't need volcanoes to
+make boiling springs, though I suppose the hot water must be
+boiled over some internal fire beneath the earth's surface. And
+these same fires do, sometimes, make volcanoes.
+
+"But I've never seen any volcanoes around here; have you,
+fellows?" and he appealed to the cowboys.
+
+"Not since I came up from Mexico," one answered. "I was close to
+one there. And I've seen Old Faithful, and some of the other
+geysers in the Yellowstone."
+
+"They put soap in some to make 'em spout, don't they?" asked
+Dick, who remembered to have read something to that effect.
+
+"So I've heard," the cowboy said, "though it isn't supposed to be
+done. It sort of wears out the geyser, I believe, though I don't
+know much about such things. Anyhow, I don't know of any around
+here, though I have seen a few boiling springs, farther to the
+south."
+
+"Yes, I have, too," Bud admitted. "Well, here's one, and she sure
+is hot," he added, as a sudden activity on the part of the
+phenomenon sent up another cloud of steam. "We could boil eggs
+there if we had any."
+
+"We brought some along," Dick said, "but they're hard-boiled
+already. No use doing the job over. Say, but this is interesting!" he
+added, as the spring suddenly spouted up a little way, almost like
+a miniature geyser.
+
+"It would be more interesting if we could get closer on the trail
+of that gang of cattle thieves, and take away our steers," said
+Bud. "I wonder if the poor animals hurried in here for water, and
+couldn't drink it because it was hot?" He recalled days of
+helping haze cattle on long trails, when the creatures were
+tormented by thirst, and he knew how they suffered.
+
+"There are a few signs that they've been in here," remarked Slim,
+as the party was gathered around the boiling spring. "But they
+aren't here now."
+
+"Not much use in us staying here, either," commented Bud, as he
+looked around on the bleak and cheerless prospect. Except for the
+boiling spring there was no sign of natural life. All about were
+great and small rocks, piles of shale and jagged stones, as
+though the place had been swept by a prehistoric fire. They were
+in one of the twists and turns of the rocky defile, and it was a
+rocky pass, with no trees or grass growing except near the top,
+and these appeared to be a sort of overgrowth from the grass and
+foliage growing down above.
+
+"No, they didn't stop here long," declared Yellin' Kid. "They
+passed on, an' that's what we got to do."
+
+"Might as well stay here and have grub, now we're dismounted,"
+suggested Nort.
+
+The idea was voted a good one, and was soon put into operation.
+They ate and talked of what had passed and what lay before them.
+Of the latter they could only conjecture, but it is safe to say
+that not one of them in his wildest imagination ever conjectured
+such an ending to their trailing as actually occurred.
+
+"Well, let's get on," called Bud, when appetites had been
+satisfied--that is all but those of the horses. There was no
+grass for them, though they did manage to drink some of the water
+from the boiling spring where it had collected in little pools,
+and had cooled. But this would never have sufficed for hundreds
+of cattle.
+
+Once more they were on the way, and shortly afterward they left
+the grim and rocky defile for a more fertile region, where there
+was grass for the animals. But they were still down between a
+range of high hills which towered on either side.
+
+The trail twisted and turned, this way and that, winding back and
+forth. But ever there was to be seen, here and there, signs that
+the herd of cattle had been driven this way. Faint the signs
+were, at times, and at last they disappeared altogether.
+
+"Where have they gone?" asked Nort.
+
+"Looks like they dropped down a hole, but there isn't any hole
+here," said Yellin' Kid.
+
+"Oh, we'll pick the trail up later on," suggested Bud.
+
+But even as they started off once more Bud, who had just
+consulted a compass he carried, uttered a cry of amazement.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Slim.
+
+"We're going the wrong way," declared Bud. "We're heading north
+instead of south. We're all turned around! Something's wrong!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A SURPRISE
+
+
+Some of those in the rear, who had heard Bud's exclamation, but
+who had not clearly heard what he said, came crowding up. Among
+them was Snake Purdee, and his eyes sparkled with hidden emotion
+as he inquired:
+
+"Did you see any rattlers? This is just the place for 'em!"
+
+"Yes, we came acrost a nest of baby ones what had lost their
+mother, an' they're countin' on you t' bring 'em up on th'
+bottle!" laughed Slim. The men, more or less, poked fun at Snake
+because of his great fear of reptiles, and Slim could not forego
+this chance.
+
+But Snake understood the game, and realized that he had nothing
+to fear. He shot a look at Slim, however, which indicated that
+there would be an attempt, later, to get even.
+
+"What's wrong?" asked Slim, for in his endeavor to play a joke on
+Snake he had not paid much attention to what Bud was saying.
+
+"We're all turned around," spoke the western lad. "All in a maze.
+We started out, heading south, and we've kept, generally, to that
+direction ever since. But now we're heading back north. Looks
+like we'd lost the trail."
+
+Slim and some of the more experienced cowboys studied the trail
+for several minutes. Surely it did seem to "peter out," as
+Yellin' Kid expressed it, though it had been fairly plain up to
+this point.
+
+"They couldn't get up on either side," declared Nort, looking at
+the steep, rocky walls which hemmed the trailers in right and
+left.
+
+"And they haven't gone on ahead, for there isn't a sign," added
+Dick, who had ridden up the defile for some little distance,
+returning to make his report. "Nothing short of an air ship could
+have lifted up a bunch of cattle from this gorge and set 'em down
+farther on."
+
+"Unless they went through a hole in one of the side walls,"
+suggested Slim, "like that underground river you fellows
+discovered in the tunnel."
+
+"There are no side passages here," declared Bud. And he seemed to
+hold the correct view of it, the others agreeing, after a careful
+inspection of the rocky and shale-covered walls on either hand.
+"It looks just as if they came up to this point and--vanished!"
+
+"Pretty slick work--I'll give Del Pinzo credit for that," said
+Slim, as if it were already established that the wily Greaser
+halfbreed had made the descent on Happy Valley. "How he and his
+bunch could haze cattle this far into a rocky pass, an' then make
+'em disappear, gets me!"
+
+"It shore do!" shouted Yellin' Kid.
+
+"But that doesn't change the fact that we're all switched
+around," declared Bud. "We're going north instead of south!"
+
+"Not so hard to account for that," said Snake. "This vale just
+naturally twists and turns like a windin' river. I wouldn't
+wonder but what we'd been going north other times, only you never
+noticed your compass, Bud."
+
+"Well, maybe so," admitted the boy rancher, rather dubiously.
+"But it looks as if we were back-trailing, instead of keeping on
+after those rascals."
+
+"We're keeping on all right!" asserted Slim. "By some hook or
+crook they've fooled us, but we haven't passed 'em, that's
+certain, and they must be somewhere up ahead. It would take Rocky
+Mountain goats to scramble up there," he added, motioning toward
+the steep walls of the gorge. "Some trick ponies might do it, but
+no cattle ever could, unless they're like some of them Swiss
+cheese brand I seen in pictures!"
+
+"Then do you think we should keep on?" asked Dick.
+
+"I shore do!" declared the foreman.
+
+"Forward march!" cried Bud, with a little laugh. "We want to get
+our cattle back, and catch the rustlers who took 'em!"
+
+And so, though all signs of the trail seemed to have vanished,
+they kept on. Night saw them in even a wilder region, though
+there was a spring of water--not boiling this time--and some
+grass for the animals. So it was decided to camp there and take
+up the search in the morning.
+
+They were in the enemy's country in every sense of the word, and
+could afford to take no chances. So after a fire had been built,
+and coffee made, bacon and flapjacks being the other items on the
+bill of fare, the men and boys were told off into watches.
+
+Bud and Slim, Nort and Snake, and Dick and Yellin' Kid were
+assigned to divide the night among them working as partners in
+the order named. The others were to be allowed to roll up and get
+what sleep they could, Bud and Slim taking the first watch.
+
+That passed off uneventfully, as did the vigil of Nort and Snake,
+nothing more important occurring than the distant howls of the
+coyotes.
+
+When it was the turn of Dick and Yellin' Kid they rolled out,
+albeit sleepy and tired, to stand guard until morning, when the
+trail would again be taken up.
+
+"Zimmy! But it's chilly!" said Kid in a low voice, as lie tossed
+some wood on the fire and wrapped his blanket more closely about
+him.
+
+"Yes, it always is just before sunrise," added Dick. "I wonder
+what we'll find after daylight?"
+
+"I hope we find that ornery bunch!" murmured Yellin' Kid, keeping
+down his voice so as not to awaken the sleepers.
+
+"So do I," said Dick.
+
+Then they sat about the fire, occasionally strolling around the
+improvised camp, to make sure that none of their enemies were
+creeping up on them in the darkness.
+
+The stars shone clear and bright in the sky above, and
+occasionally a little wind swept up the dismal defile. Now and
+then a loose stone rattled down the sides of shale and volcanic
+rock, and at such times Dick, and even Yellin' Kid started, and
+felt for their guns. But all the alarms were false ones.
+
+That is, the watchers decided they were, for no sight was had of
+anyone until Dick, after a stroll about the fire, suddenly
+started back and whispered to Yellin' Kid:
+
+"Isn't that a head looking up over that rock?"
+
+The Kid glanced to where Dick directed his gaze, and, in an
+instant, the cowboy had his weapon out and leveled. His finger
+was even pressing the trigger when he laughed silently and thrust
+the .45 back in its leather case. "Why didn't you shoot?" asked
+Dick.
+
+"It was an owl," answered Kid. "It was his ears you seen stickin'
+up! Listen!"
+
+And, a moment later, there was the mournful hooting of the
+nocturnal bird, which had flown away, but on such downy-feathered
+wings that it made no sound.
+
+"An owl!" murmured Dick. Then he was glad he had not shot first,
+as he had intended. He would only have awakened the others and
+been laughed at for his pains. Sometimes, he reflected, it was
+better to hold your fire, even in the west, that region of quick
+action.
+
+Soon there was a little grayish, pinkish light to be observed
+over the edge of the eastern hill. It grew slowly, and daylight
+came, though it was some time before the sun itself was seen, so
+deep were the searchers down in the defile.
+
+After breakfast they set out again, looking carefully for signs
+of the rustlers, but they saw none, and at last they decided
+that, in some mysterious manner, their quarry had given them the
+slip.
+
+"Though I don't see how they did it," declared Slim, somewhat
+vexed that he and his men were not better able to pick up the
+trail.
+
+"There must be some side passage--like that!" suddenly declared
+Yellin' Kid, leaping from his horse and then, as suddenly
+disappearing from the sight of his companions. "Hey! What's the
+idea! Where'd he go?" asked Snake.
+
+"In this side passage," answered Yellin' Kid, as suddenly
+reappearing. "Look, here's a crack, or fissure in the rock, I saw
+it from where I sat on my pony. It goes off from th' main trail,
+but I can't see where it leads."
+
+They all dismounted and investigated. As the Kid had said, it was
+a traverse defile, opening out of the main one and almost at
+right angles. The opening was concealed behind a great pinnacle
+of rock, so that the cleft was only visible from a certain point,
+and it was at this point that the Kid saw it.
+
+"Where does it go to?" asked Bud as they entered, single file. It
+was only wide enough for that.
+
+"We've got to follow and see!" said Slim.
+
+"If there was a place like that, back where we discovered we were
+in a maze, it would have been easy enough for the rustlers to
+have driven the cattle through, one at a time," observed Nort.
+
+"But there wasn't any such place!" declared Bud. "We made sure of
+that. But where does this lead?"
+
+That was what they all conjectured, and they were soon to learn.
+As they rode along, the side cleft widened, until there was room
+enough for three to ride abreast. And it was while thus
+progressing that Dick, who was in the lead with Slim and Snake,
+made a surprising discovery. He rode around a turn in the new
+trail, and at the sight of something beyond, in the smaller,
+rocky defile, he set up such a shout as brought all his
+companions to his side.
+
+"What is it?" shouted Bud.
+
+"Look!" answered Dick, pointing. "Del Pinzo and big gang!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN PURSUIT
+
+
+Two deep-throated shouts echoed amid the winding mazes of the
+small canyon leading off from the main gulch that the boy
+ranchers and their friends had been following. One shout followed
+closely on that of Dick, announcing his amazing discovery. The
+other came from the band of rascals whose hiding place had at
+last been spied out, and by a mere chance at that.
+
+One shout was that of joyful anticipation, and this came from
+Bud, Dick, Nort and the friends from Diamond X. This shout had in
+it an anticipation of righteous punishment to be inflicted on
+those who had stolen the cattle.
+
+The other shout was of baffled rage that their hiding place had
+been discovered. This shout came from Del Pinzo and his gang.
+
+For it was the lawless Mexican half-breed and his followers,
+numbering in all more than two score, whom Dick had seen as he
+made the turn in that winding and narrow gorge. At a place where
+the rocky defile flared out, making a sort of amphitheatre there
+were gathered about a spring of water, their horses tethered
+where they could crop the scanty herbage, the crowd of which our
+friends had long been in pursuit.
+
+Following the two shouts--one of pleased discovery and the other
+of baffled rage at being discovered--there was quick action.
+
+"Here they are!" shouted Bud, as soon as he had joined Dick, and
+had seen what the latter had fairly stumbled upon. "Here's the
+Del Pinzo crowd!"
+
+Up came riding Nort, Slim, Snake and the others.
+
+"Oh, boy! We've got 'em just where we want 'em," was the
+exclamation of Yellin' Kid. And I leave you to judge in what tone
+he uttered the words.
+
+"Unlimber, boys!" called Slim Degnan, grimly and significantly as
+he whipped out his .45. "There's likely to be action!"
+
+"Hold on! Wait a minute!" counseled Snake, as Bud and his cousins
+were about to urge their horses forward. The cowboy reached out,
+and his hand fell with a firm grip on the bridle of Bud's steed.
+
+"What's the idea?" asked that boy rancher. "Now we've found the
+rascals, can't we go in and clean 'em up?"
+
+"That's natural Bud, most natural," conceded Snake. "But what's
+th' use runnin' your head in a bee's nest if yon can git th'
+honey some other way?"
+
+"You mean it won't be safe to ride up to 'em and fight 'em?'?"
+asked Nort.
+
+"Somethin' like that, yes, son," answered the cowboy. "I think
+Del Pinzo an' his crowd have been waitin' for just such a chance
+as this. They'd ask nothin' better than t' have us rush 'em, an'
+then they'd have a good excuse for sayin', afterward, that they
+popped us off in self-defense."
+
+"Snake's right!" declared Yellin' Kid, modulating his voice
+somewhat. "We'd better play this hand cautious like."
+
+Seeing that this was the sentiment of the more experienced men,
+Bud and his cousins held back, and a moment later, urged by the
+cowboys, the ranch lads had turned aside and the whole body of
+pursuers had retreated to a position somewhat away from the turn
+of the trail where Dick had looked through the defile and had
+seen the rascals encamped.
+
+"What's the next move?" asked Nort, as the party gathered
+together, giving their horses a breathing spell, for which the
+animals were, doubtless, very thankful.
+
+"We'd better look for some shelter," advised Snake, "an' then see
+what we can do toward learnin' th' intentions of this bunch of
+bad actors."
+
+"You mean sort of spy 'em out?" asked Dick.
+
+"That's it," chimed in Yellin' Kid. "If this is goin' to be a
+fight, an' it shore looks as if there was, we want to take all
+th' advantage we can. They outnumber us two to one!"
+
+This was true enough. The fleeting glimpse our friends had of the
+outlaws, through the crack in the rocky wall, showed that there
+were more than two score under the leadership of the unscrupulous
+Del Pinzo.
+
+Following the skilful advice of the cowboys, Bud and his cousins
+took their places behind some sheltering rocks, leading their
+horses in with them, for much depended on their mounts. Without
+them it meant giving up the chase. And even if one pony was
+killed or wounded, it meant that its owner would have to make his
+way back on foot, which was neither pleasant nor safe.
+
+"Get your guns ready," said Slim. "There's going to be action,
+but not just yet. We want this to be a winnin' fight if we can
+make it so."
+
+Once within comparative shelter, and feeling somewhat calmer
+after the first wild excitement, Bud, Nort and Dick looked to
+their older companions for further advice.
+
+"Somebody's got t' go back t' that crack, unbeknownst t' them
+scoundrels, an' see what they're doin'," decided Slim.
+
+"S'pose they're there yet?" asked Bud.
+
+"Either that, or they've taken the alarm an' are on their way, or
+they're doin' just what we are--gittin' ready for a fight," said
+the foreman grimly. "An' what it is they're doin' we want t'
+know. Snake, you're pretty good at Indian tactics. S'pose you
+sneak up there an' take a look in."
+
+"All right," was the ready answer.
+
+Of course Bud, Nort and Dick, each and every one of them, wished
+they had been selected for this duty. But while they were rapidly
+learning the ways of the west, in dealing with desperate
+characters, it was better at this time to have an experienced man
+spy out the movements of Del Pinzo and his gang. This Snake set
+out to do.
+
+"An' while he's gone, th' rest of us want t' sort of make up our
+minds what t' do," said Slim. "If that bunch is gettin' ready
+t'rush us, same as we may be able to do on our own hook, we want
+t' have some plan of action."
+
+So a sort of council of war was held, during the absence of
+Snake, who was soon lost to sight among the rocks, the cowboy
+making his way in a crouching, crawling position that almost
+resembled the reptiles he so feared and hated.
+
+There was some low-voiced talk among the remaining cowboys, in
+which talk Bud and his cousins had no part. For a moment the lads
+feared there was some scheme afoot to put them in places of
+safety, out of danger so to speak. And the boy ranchers weren't
+going tamely to submit to this.
+
+"I say, Slim," exclaimed Bud, with this fear in mind, "we are
+going to do our share in this fighting, you know!"
+
+"Shore I know it!" grunted the foreman. "You'll have all th'
+scrappin' you want, if these fellows don't vamoose without firin'
+a shot! We was just talkin' of the best place t' put you."
+
+"Oh," murmured Bud, "all right."
+
+After some little talk, and a survey of the ground to which the
+pursuers had retreated in order to make a temporary stand, each
+person's position was designated, and then guns were loosed in
+holsters and the supply of cartridges was looked to.
+
+"As soon as Snake comes back we'll know what t' do," Slim said.
+
+"He ought to be along soon now," remarked Dick.
+
+Hardly had he spoken than there was a noise among the loose rocks
+and boulders some distance up the gulch--in the direction the
+spying-out cowboy had taken.
+
+"Here he comes!" exclaimed Bud, and his hand went to his gun, for
+it was very possible that Snake would be pursued, and have to
+retreat on the run.
+
+However the alarm proved to be a false one, for, after waiting
+some time, Snake not having appeared, it was surmised that some
+rock had become loose and rolled down the steep side of the
+gulch.
+
+The waiters and watchers were just beginning to get a bit
+worried, and Bud was on the point of suggesting that he be
+allowed to go look for Snake, when the cowboy came back.
+
+So quietly did he approach, and so unexpected was his appearance
+that Nort and Dick, on whose side of the improvised "fort" Snake
+first showed himself, were startled.
+
+"If that had been any of the Del Pinzo crowd they'd have been on
+top of us before we knew it," confessed Nort.
+
+"Not much!" laughed Bud. "Slim has seen Snake coming along this
+last three minutes; haven't you, Slim?"
+
+"Yep! I noticed him, but I didn't say anythin'," acknowledged the
+foreman. "I seen that he was alone. But what's the verdict,
+Snake?" he asked, anxiously. "Are they gittin' ready t' come at
+us here, or are they leavin'?"
+
+"Neither one," was the answer, "but they're gettin' ready to do
+suthin! They're all in a bunch in the middle of that place,
+holdin' a confab, I reckon. It's hard to say what they are up to.
+But I got a hunch that if we rushed 'em we could throw a scare
+int' 'em, anyhow."
+
+"Do you think they know we're here?" asked Bud.
+
+"Oh, sure!" was the answer. "At least they saw us an' heard us
+when we reached that crack. But of course they can only guess
+what we're up to now, when we didn't rush 'em first shot. They
+might have known, though, what our plans was, if I hadn't cracked
+their spy on the head!" said Snake, calmly.
+
+"You did what?" asked Slim.
+
+"Just as I got t' th' place where I could look in," went on the
+cowboy, "I saw one of them Greasers up t' the same trick I was
+tryin' to pull off. He was sneakin' down this way, but I saw him
+first. Caught a glimpse of his head around the edge of a rock; I
+just reached out with my gun and tapped him on the noodle."
+
+"Kill him?" asked Dick.
+
+"No. Guess not. Just stretched him out so he can't go back an'
+tell any tales for a time. Now the way I figger it is this:
+They'll be waitin' for a report on what their spy sees, same as
+you was waitin' for me t' come back. Only their spy won't show up
+for a couple o' hours, an' that gives us a chance to act."
+
+"What had we better do?" asked Yellin' Kid.
+
+"Rush 'em!" instantly decided Snake. "Let's git t' that openin'
+as quiet as we can, an' rush right for 'em! This rest has
+freshened our horses, an' we're in better shape now."
+
+"Not so much so, as far as horses go," dubiously declared Slim.
+"They're pretty badly spent, and can't do much racin'. But I
+guess maybe it is better for us t' get into action, instid of
+waitin' for that bunch t' come here. As Snake says, they'll be
+lookin' for their spy t' come back, an' maybe we can take 'em
+unawares."
+
+So, after some further talk, it was decided to mount again, ride
+to the opening that led from the main trail into the hiding place
+of the outlaws, and boldly attack them.
+
+True, our friends were outnumbered, but they had right on their
+side, and this sometimes makes a difference. Also they would have
+a little advantage, they hoped, in making the attack somewhat
+unexpectedly. For though Del Pinzo and his crowd knew the
+ranchmen were in the neighborhood they would, as Snake believed,
+await the return of the spy they had sent out, before doing
+anything.
+
+"An' that spy won't come t' his senses very soon," declared the
+avenging cowboy. "When he does he'll have an awful headache!"
+
+As quietly as possible they made their way to the opening. Slim,
+as a sort of captain, was in advance of the others and looked in.
+He came back to say:
+
+"They're gettin' ready for suthin'! They're all standin' near
+their horses, an' seem to be plannin' a move. Get ready t' rush
+in when I give the word!"
+
+There was a final look to arms and saddle leathers, and then the
+foreman cried:
+
+"Get into action!" at the same time spurring forward his pony, an
+example followed by all the others as they rushed into the
+defile.
+
+And action there was, but not exactly of the kind the boy
+ranchers and their friends anticipated. For Del Pinzo (easily
+recognized among the lesser lights of rascaldom) with his
+followers, after their first angry shouts, leaped for their
+horses. And their agility in that respect spoke well for their
+preparedness. In an instant, it seemed, every one of the two
+score, and more, was in saddle, and headed out of the defile.
+They were retreating--riding away from the following avengers,
+and going, it seemed, further into the maze of winding clefts
+amid the mountains.
+
+To the credit of Del Pinzo--if credit it be and if he be entitled
+to get credit--he rode at the rear, not starting his horse until
+all his men had raced away ahead of him.
+
+And then, as Bud, Dick and the others pressed into the defile
+after them, the Greaser turned and fired once, but with such
+quick action that eye could scarce follow the motion of his hand
+and weapon.
+
+There was a sharp crack and the hat of Yellin' Kid, who rode
+immediately behind Bud, sailed off his head, at the same time
+that a bullet zipped viciously over the pursuers.
+
+"Close call that, Kid!" remarked Snake, leaning over as his horse
+galloped forward, and picking up his friend's hat.
+
+"Close nothin'!" snapped out Yellin' Kid. "That was fancy
+shootin'! If Del Pinzo wanted to get me he could 'a' done it. He
+can mark out th' pips on a ten spot card with his eyes shut,
+almost! He shot my hat off just to show he wasn't aimin' t' spill
+no innocent blood! But wait until I get him! I'll make him sweat
+for that! A hole through brim an' crown! Why couldn't he be
+decent about it an' make it one?" grumbled Yellin' Kid as Snake
+handed him the hat.
+
+"Never mind that!" shouted Slim Degnan. "If we're going t' get
+them fellers we got t' ride!"
+
+That was evident, for even as he spoke Del Pinzo, the last of the
+outlaws, disappeared around a turn in the defile. He was "hazing"
+his men along to some other hiding place, it appeared. And he and
+his rascally followers seemed to know their ground, for they rode
+at break-neck pace, without fear of what lay beyond and unseen.
+It is likely they had traveled that route before.
+
+Another advantage lay with the rustlers. Their horses were fresh,
+for from the negligent attitudes assumed by the men when Dick had
+discovered them, it was evident they had been at ease for some
+time, whereas the pursuers had been on the trail a long time, and
+the way had been rough and stony.
+
+So it is nothing to the discredit of the boy ranchers that they
+and their friends were distanced in the first wild rush following
+the discovery and alarm.
+
+"Come on!" cried Bud. "Come on!" and he and Dick for the moment
+were in the lead, the canyon being wide enough, here, for several
+to ride abreast. "We've got to get 'em!"
+
+"And we won't stop until we do!" added his cousin.
+
+But they reckoned not with the roughness of the way, the start
+the rustlers had, their fresher horses and the fact that Del
+Pinzo and his crowd were more familiar with the trail than were
+the boy ranchers. So though our heroes rode on as fast as they
+could go with comparative safety, they did not, for some time at
+least, again come within sight of the enemy.
+
+"Wait there! Hold on a little!" finally called Slim to Bud, Dick
+and Nort, who, in their youthful and natural eagerness, had
+forged to the front in a bunch. "Pull up! This isn't a hundred
+yard dash! It's going to be a long race!"
+
+Bud was beginning to believe this, and some of his first
+exuberance was disappearing. He was getting more cool-headed.
+
+"Let's take it a bit easy," he said to Nort and Dick. "I guess
+we've got a long trail to follow."
+
+"But we've got to get 'em!" declared Dick.
+
+"You got rid of something that time!" commented his brother,
+meaningly, if slangily. "We're going to make 'em give back our
+cattle!"
+
+"Say!" suddenly cried Bud. "That's the queer part of it! Where
+are the steers?"
+
+And for the first time it occurred to the minds of the boy
+ranchers that of that quarry they had come most in search of they
+had had not a glimpse. Not a steer was in sight!
+
+Something of the amazement they felt must have been depicted on
+their faces, for when Slim rode up to where the boy ranchers had
+halted he asked:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Where are the cattle?" asked Bud, shouting almost as loudly as
+Yellin' Kid would have done. "Did you notice they didn't have a
+one with them, Slim?"
+
+"Yes. Are you just waking up to that, Bud?"
+
+"I reckon I am. But what does it mean?"
+
+"It means that there's a deeper game being played than we have
+any idea of, son. We've got to go some to get to the bottom!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+BUD'S DISCOVERY
+
+
+Once it became evident that catching the rustlers was likely to
+be the work of a long chase on the trail, the whole party of
+pursuers came to a halt beside the boy ranchers. And after some
+rapid talk of what might lay beyond their stopping place, in a
+lonely, wild and desolate section of the defile, the conversation
+switched to what had surprised Bud and his cousins--the absence
+of the cattle.
+
+"I s'posed they were driving the steers ahead of 'em all along,"
+admitted North "They drove the animals off our ranch, and I
+didn't think but what they were hazing 'em along to some place
+where they could change or blur the brands, and then sell 'em."
+
+"That's what I thought, too," acknowledged Dick.
+
+"Well, I must say I didn't think much about it," confessed Bud.
+"When I saw Del Pinzo and his gang in there all I wanted to do
+was to come to hand-grips with 'em. I forgot all about the
+cattle. But after we'd chased along a bit I did begin to wonder
+where my animals were--_our_ animals, I should say," he
+corrected himself with a glance at his cousins. However, they
+understood.
+
+"They must have gotten the cattle over to Double Z, or wherever
+it is they dispose of 'em," suggested Dick.
+
+"They couldn't--not in this short time," declared Slim. "We
+followed 'em too close. Besides, there isn't a sign of any cattle
+having been here, nor in that place where we surprised th' head
+Greaser and his gang. Not a sign of cattle!"
+
+He looked up and down the gorge, as did the other cowboys. But
+not even the sharpest eye could detect the faintest "sign" of the
+steers having been driven along the passage.
+
+"They must have them hidden somewhere," said Dick. "We'd better
+go back to the place where the sign petered out. There must be
+some opening there out of the main canyon."
+
+"If there is it's so well hid that it takes sharper eyes than
+I've got to find it," declared Snake, and he was noted for his
+far-seeing and clear vision.
+
+"Go _back_!" exclaimed North impulsively. "We aren't going
+back, are we, until we get Del Pinzo and his gang?"
+
+"Shoot 'em up--that's what I advise!" cried Yellin' Kid. There
+was a moment's pause, and Bud spoke.
+
+"We're got two things to do," said the boy rancher. "One is to
+get our cattle back, and the other is to nab the rustlers. But
+it's more important to get the cattle, I think.
+
+"If we don't do that our ranch experiment will be a failure," he
+went on. "But, of course, for the sake of other ranchers, it
+would be a mighty good thing if we could put Del Pinzo and his
+rustler crowd out of business."
+
+"Can't we do both?" asked Nort.
+
+"That's what I was coming to," his cousin continued. "If we can
+get on the trail of the hidden steers--for hidden they are, I'm
+sure--we can haze them back to the valley. Then we can keep on
+after this crowd," and he nodded toward the winding trail that
+led down the narrow defile.
+
+"Then you think we'd better go back!" asked Dick.
+
+"Let's see what Slim says" answered Bud. Naturally he would turn
+to his father's foreman for advice.
+
+"Oh, you're leavin' it t' me, are you?" asked Slim, as he
+finished rolling his cigarette, a feat he could accomplish with
+one hand. Then he lighted it, took a satisfying puff and went on:
+"If you ask my advice I'd say to go back an' see if you can't
+locate the cattle. As Bud remarks, they're dollars an' cents. Th'
+rustlers aren't, though it would be a mighty good stunt t' wipe
+'em off th' face of this cow country. But maybe we can attend to
+_them_ later."
+
+"Turn back she is!" exclaimed Bud, accepting, as did the others,
+the advice of Slim as being final. "We'll see if we can find the
+cattle, and then haze them to a safe place. After that we'll nab
+Del Pinzo and his bunch--if we can," he added, as a saving
+clause.
+
+"Suits me!" remarked Yellin' Kid, taking off his hat and looking
+at the two bullet holes. "That nabbin' part is what I want t'
+play at," and his grin suggested that when he and the Greaser met
+there would be some interesting happenings.
+
+It having been thus decided that the pursuit would be abandoned
+for the time being, a sort of council of war was held to settle
+on the next course.
+
+"I say grub!" exclaimed Bud, knowing that the suggestion would
+come with better grace from him than from some of the men who
+were working for him and his father. "Let's eat!"
+
+There was no debate on this question and when the ponies had
+been turned loose to graze on what scanty grass they could find,
+a fire was made and preparations started for feeding the hungry
+posse. For they were that--both hungry and a posse, bent on the
+capture of the lawless rustlers. Though, for the time, righteous
+revenge was given over to the more practical side of the
+question--getting back the cattle.
+
+Probably you do not need to be told that little time was wasted
+over the meal, simple as it was. Cowboys, on the trail, or
+otherwise engaged in their work of the ranch or range, do not
+spend much time over the pleasures of the appetite. There is a
+time for feasting, and a time for chasing cattle rustlers, and
+there was no sense in combining the two. That, evidently, was the
+thought in the minds of Bud and his friends, for they hurried
+through their eating, and, having rested the horses, were soon in
+saddles again.
+
+"Now," remarked Bud, talking the matter over with Slim, "what is
+the best plan?"
+
+"To get back, as fast as we can, t' th' place where we saw th'
+last signs of th' cattle," was the foreman's answer. "The
+unravelin' of th' skein of mystery, t' use a poetical expression,
+Bud, is there!"
+
+They all agreed with this view of it, and after a short ride down
+the defile, to see, if by chance, any of the Del Pinzo crowd
+might be in evidence, or returning, the back trail was taken.
+
+"We aren't going to discover much this day," observed Bud, as he
+rode slowly along between Nort and Dick.
+
+"Why, did you see a black rabbit?" Nort asked, remembering what
+had happened when a similar incident occurred, just before the
+strange events narrated in the chapter preceding this.
+
+"No, I didn't see a black jack," Bud answered. "But it won't be
+long until dark, for we don't get the full benefit of the
+afternoon sun down in this gorge. And we can't do anything except
+by daylight. No use looking for sign in the dark."
+
+"That's right," agreed Nort. "But I was afraid it was a black
+rabbit you'd seen."
+
+"As if we didn't have enough bad luck without that," commented
+Dick. "It's as bad, losing your herd as it is not to have enough
+water to give 'em what they need," and he referred to the time
+when, by the efforts of this same Del Pinzo, the supply for the
+reservoir of Happy Valley was cut off.
+
+"Oh, well, it might be worse," observed Bud, with a sort of
+cheerful, philosophical air, for he was of rather a happy
+disposition.
+
+"How?" asked Snake, for he was rather "sore" because Del Pinzo
+and the rustlers had escaped. Perhaps Snake felt that he might
+have gone in and captured the outlaws single-handed when he was
+on the lone spying expedition.
+
+"Well, I might never have had any cattle for those fellows to
+steal," went on Bud. "But say, boys," he went on, as they came to
+a place where the trail seemed to divide. "Let's take this other
+road back. It looks a bit easier, and we want to favor the ponies
+all we can."
+
+"Go ahead," advised Slim, to whom Bud looked for confirmation of
+his plan. "Anything that makes it easier for th' horses makes it
+more sure for us. And we may have a long hunt ahead of us."
+
+The care taken by the boy ranchers and their friends of their
+animals was not exaggerated, nor unusual. In the West so much
+depends on a man's horse--his comfort and very life, often--that
+it is a foolish fellow, indeed, who will not bestow at least some
+thought and care on his horse. The animal becomes a trusted
+companion and friend to the cowboys and prospectors.
+
+So, in order, as he hoped, to provide an easier means of getting
+back to the place they wished to reach, Bud led the way along a
+different trail on the retreat.
+
+It was practically a retreat, though one they had selected for
+themselves, since the outlaws had distanced them.
+
+It was rather a dejected bunch of boy ranchers and their friends
+that were now back-trailing. There was not much talk, after the
+excitement of the attack which had "petered out," and even Bud,
+gay and cheerful as he usually was, now seemed to have little to
+say.
+
+It was Dick who startled them all by suddenly exclaiming:
+
+"Look ahead there! Isn't that a man on the trail?" He, with Nort
+and Bud were in advance of the others. Dick pointed toward the
+place where he thought he saw something suspicious.
+
+"I don't glimpse anything," observed Nort.
+
+"Nor I," said his cousin.
+
+"He's gone now," Dick stated. "But I did see some one, and I'm
+almost sure it was a Greaser. Looked just like one of their
+hats."
+
+"What is it!" called Slim, for he caught snatches of the rather
+excited talk of the boys.
+
+"Dick thought he saw one of the Del Pinzo gang," answered Bud.
+
+"Maybe he's the fellow I cracked on the head," suggested Snake.
+For they had lost sight of that individual in the mad rush into
+the canyon, and had not seen him when they turned back.
+
+"Say, wouldn't it be a good thing to capture him?" asked Bud
+eagerly. "We could make him tell where the others are, and where
+our cattle are hidden."
+
+"If we can get him," conceded Slim.
+
+"There he is again!" cried Dick. "Come on, fellows!"
+
+Disregarding, or forgetting the travel-weary horses, the ranch
+lad urged his own steed ahead at as rapid a pace as the animal
+could be induced to develop in a spurt.
+
+"Take it easy!" advised Nort to his brother, but he might as well
+have called to the wind, for Dick was off and away.
+
+"I don't see anything!" cried Bud, and though he had looked
+eagerly forward at Dick's call he had glimpsed neither hat nor
+face of any personage who might be suspected of being one of the
+Del Pinzo gang.
+
+But, even with that, Bud was not going to miss a chance to be in
+at the finish of whatever was about to happen, so he spurred his
+animal forward.
+
+"Come on, boys!" cried Slim to his comrades. "We can't let those
+youngsters tackle this game alone--'specially when if there's one
+of the rustlers there may be more. _Pronto_!"
+
+He galloped forward, as did the others, along the new trail that
+Bud had suggested taking. But Dick was in the lead, and, in a few
+seconds, was out of sight beyond an outcropping ledge of rock,
+which narrowed the trail at this particular point.
+
+"Watch your step there, boys!" cried Snake, as he saw What was
+likely to prove a bad turning. "I don't see how Dick got around
+it as he did, taking it at the gallop," he went on.
+
+And, as it happened, Dick had not exactly made it, for when Bud
+and Nort reached the dangerous turn, slightly after Dick had
+disappeared abound it, they saw no sight of their companion.
+
+"Pull up!" cried Bud sharply. "There's something wrong!" Nort was
+beginning to think so himself, and he hauled his steed back with
+such good will and energy that the animal was almost on its
+haunches.
+
+"Where in the world did he go?" cried Bud.
+
+Nort asked the same question, for there lay the narrow trail
+before them, running along a ledge, with a shelving bank of shale
+and sand on one side and a towering face of rock on the other.
+
+Snake Purdee raced at such speed around the turn, in spite of his
+own admonition to the boy ranchers, that the cowboy nearly ran
+down Bud and Nort.
+
+"Where's Dick?" cried Snake, at once aware that the stout lad was
+not in sight.
+
+"He's vamoosed--somewhere," said Bud. "Maybe he met-up with that
+Greaser and----"
+
+At that moment, however, there came a cry, unmistakably of
+distress, seemingly from some distance ahead and down below the
+high and narrow trail on which the party had come to a halt.
+
+"There's Dick now!" cried Nort, recognizing his brother's voice.
+
+"Where in the world is he?" asked Bud, looking about.
+
+In answer Snake pointed down the sloping bank of shale and sand,
+and there, at the bottom, was Dick, half buried in the soft
+material, and his horse, with twisted saddle, was standing near
+by, looking rather the worse for wear. And if the countenance of
+the animal had been visible it would doubtless have shown pained
+surprise.
+
+"What's' the matter? What you doing down there?" called Nort to
+his brother, as Dick proceeded to extricate himself from the sand
+and shale that covered him almost to his neck.
+
+"You don't s'pose I'm down here for fun, do you?" floated up the
+somewhat sarcastic answer. "I came around that turn too fast and
+the horse just sat down at the edge and slid here. It's lucky I'm
+not killed!"
+
+"It sure is!" agreed Slim. "You want to take a strange trail
+easy, boy. Are you hurt--or your horse?"
+
+Dick was about two hundred feet below them at the foot of the
+slope. He got up and limped over to his animal.
+
+"Guess he's all right," was the reply.
+
+"How about you?" asked Bud, for Dick had followed the real
+westerner's habit of looking first to his steed.
+
+"Oh, I'm scratched up a bit, and lame," was the rueful reply,
+"but I guess nothing is busted unless it's one of my girths."
+
+The others watched him, while he straightened his saddle, which
+had slipped around under the horse. Then Dick called up:
+
+"It's all right. I can ride him, I reckon," which he proved by
+vaulting into the saddle.
+
+"How am I going to get back up there, though?" he asked. "It's as
+slippery as an iceberg." "You can't get up," Snake called down.
+"Don't try it. The trail up here goes along the same direction as
+the one down there. Keep on it until we join you."
+
+Which Dick did, his pony, fortunately, proving to have suffered
+no injuries in the unexpected slide down the hill. And thus, by a
+narrow margin, was an accident diverted. For had the slope down
+which Dick plunged, because of taking the turn too suddenly, been
+of rock, both he and the horse might have been badly hurt, if not
+killed.
+
+"Keep a lookout for that Greaser," called Dick up to his chums
+above him.
+
+"I don't believe you saw any," retorted Slim. "There aren't any
+signs of him here."
+
+Nor were there, though the cowboys made careful scrutiny. And
+afterward Dick admitted that he might have mistaken the
+fluttering of a bush for the hat of someone he thought a member
+of Del Pinzo's gang. In a short time the upper path merged into
+the trail below, and Dick rejoined his friends, exhibiting some
+scratches sustained in his perilous slide.
+
+Together the posse rode on, making a trail back to the main
+defile, and out of the one down which the Greaser and his gang
+had turned, where they had been discovered by Dick. And then
+Bud's prediction came true. The sun, which never shone directly
+into the main canyon for any great length of time, began to set,
+bringing gloom into the defile long before it would make its
+appearance on the level country up above.
+
+Seeing the gathering darkness, Slim advised calling a halt, and
+this was done several miles beyond the place where the last trace
+of the stolen cattle had been observed.
+
+"Shall we camp here!" asked Bud, deferring to the foreman, as was
+natural under the circumstances.
+
+"We've got grass and water," Slim remarked, indicating a spring
+toward which, even then, some of the horses were hastening.
+"Water for the ponies and us, grass for the animals, and there
+ought to be some grub left."
+
+"There is," said Snake Purdee, who had assumed, or been given (it
+did not much matter which) the office of commissary. "We brought
+along plenty."
+
+"And we may need it before we reach the end of the trail,"
+remarked Bud. "I don't believe it's going to be easy to find
+where those cattle disappeared to."
+
+"There's only two ways, or at th' most three, in which they could
+be kept away from us," said Slim, as he slid from his saddle.
+
+"What are they?" asked Dick, who, like his brother, was always
+eager to learn from a true son of the West, such as was the
+foreman of Diamond X.
+
+"Well," Slim resumed, "they've either been driven down some side
+passage, or gorge, such like as we found Del Pinzo in, or they
+were back-tracked to th' open an' driven off there th' same night
+they was run off."
+
+"That might be," admitted Bud. "I didn't think of a back track."
+
+"Well, I did," Slim said, "but the signs of it was so faint I
+passed it up."
+
+A back trail, I might explain, is where an animal, or several of
+them, or even a human, for that matter, turns and retraces the
+way first traveled. A fox, fleeing before the hounds, will often
+do this, and as the scent does not indicate the direction in
+which Reynard is running, the dogs are often deceived.
+
+But in the case of the fox the imprints of the animal's paws are
+so light that perhaps only with a microscope could it be told
+when he had "back-tracked." Except, of course, in some place
+where soft mud might retain the impression of both trails.
+
+In the case of a large body of cattle, also, though the scent
+would not be relied upon, it would be difficult for the casual,
+or, in some cases, even the trained observer, to say where the
+herd had been turned and driven back over the same course
+originally taken.
+
+Thus pursuers would be baffled. And when to this is added the
+fact that the floor of the gorge was of rock, in the main, which
+did not take, or retain, any impressions, the puzzle was all the
+more difficult to solve.
+
+"Well, we'll see what happens in the morning," observed Bud, as
+preparations for the camp went on.
+
+The usual watches were set that night, two of the posse being
+constantly on guard. It was rather nervous work for the boy
+ranchers, especially Nort and Dick, as they started at every
+chance sound which seemed to echo so loudly in the darkness. And
+once Dick, who was taking the tour of duty with Yellin' Kid,
+suddenly fired at an object he saw moving.
+
+It was only a luckless coyote, as was evidenced by the howl of
+pain that followed the report of Dick's gun, and then the night
+was made hideous and sleepless, for the time, by the chorus of
+weird howls from the other slinking beasts who were hanging
+about, hoping for something to eat.
+
+However, it was nearly morning when Dick did his shooting, and a
+little later they all turned out for an early breakfast, the odor
+of the coffee and sizzling bacon producing an aroma finer than
+that of the most costly French perfume.
+
+"And now for the day's work!" exclaimed Bud, when they were once
+more ready to set off on the trail.
+
+"And may we find something!" was the fervent petition of Dick.
+
+Off they started, refreshed by the night's halt and eager for
+what lay before them.
+
+I shall not weary you by a recital of all the minor incidents of
+the day, how they found many false trails and leads, several of
+which at first seemed promising, but all of which led to nothing.
+
+It was Bud who made the real discovery which, eventually, led to
+the solving of the mystery. Bud had alighted from his pony, when
+the halt was made for the noonday lunch, and was climbing up the
+side of the rocky hill which extended for miles and formed one
+wall of the gorge.
+
+"Looking for gold?" asked Dick, as he saw his cousin pick up and
+examine several rocks.
+
+"Sure!" was the laughing answer. "Might find the bones of another
+Triceratops, too!"
+
+Bud reached forward to pick up something else, and a rock slipped
+from beneath his foot. He had been resting heavily on it, and the
+sudden lurch threw him backward. To save himself he clutched at
+the nearest object, which happened to be a bush growing in the
+side of the hill. For a moment it seemed that this would save the
+lad from at least sliding down the declivity, but the bush was
+not deeply rooted and, in another moment pulled out in the ranch
+boy's hands. He flung up his arms, and almost toppled over
+backward, but managed to throw himself forward, and then he slid
+down several feet.
+
+"Hurt!" called up Dick, ready to hasten to his cousin's aid.
+
+"No, but my shoes are full of gravel. Next time I come up a place
+like this I----"
+
+Bud suddenly ceased speaking, and began to scramble up the side
+of the shale-covered hill almost as fast as he had slid down.
+Then, as he reached the place whence the bush had pulled out he
+seemed to be looking into some crevice or opening.
+
+A moment later he turned, looked down on the party gathered in
+the defile below him, and shouted:
+
+"I've found 'em! I've found 'em! Here they are, in one of the
+queerest places you can imagine! Come up here and look!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE FIGHT
+
+
+Scrambling up the side of the gorge, slipping and sliding back,
+almost like the frog in the well, Dick, Nort and the cowboys
+reached Bud's side. He maintained his footing only by constantly
+working his way upward, for the shale, at this point, was almost
+like fine sand, and kept slipping down, taking the boy rancher
+with it. But there were bushes growing here and there, and by
+holding to these, taking care not to pull them out by the roots,
+Bud managed to stay about where he had been when he made the
+amazing discovery.
+
+For it was an amazing discovery, as all the others admitted when
+they reached his side, and looked through the fissure which had
+been disclosed when Bud pulled out the big bush by which he tried
+to save himself a fall.
+
+"What is it?' cried Nort.
+
+"And where are they?" demanded Dick.
+
+"It's our cattle! They're inside there--a place like a football
+stadium only there aren't any seats," explained Bud, breathlessly.
+By this time he was surrounded by the others, all maintaining a
+precarious foothold in the shifting shale. And what they saw
+caused them all to join with Bud in wondering amazement.
+
+For there, in what was a great natural bowl of the earth, with
+partly sloping green sides, and with a floor covered by grass,
+with a pool of sparkling water in the centre, were the missing
+cattle! The whole of the big herd that had been driven away from
+Happy Valley was there, it seemed. There they were, in that vast,
+natural amphitheatre with food and water at hand, and, apparently,
+as content as when they grazed on the range of the boy ranchers.
+
+"By all the rattlers that ever rattled!" cried Snake. "We sure
+have found 'em!"
+
+"And they're all right, too!" added Yellin' Kid, as he gazed
+through the crack which had been opened when Bud pulled out the
+bush. For it was only through the crack that they were able to
+view the steers contentedly feeding and drinking within that vast
+bowl. That is what it was--bowl much more immense in size than
+the one where Yale battles with Princeton and Harvard. More
+immense than the Palmer Stadium at Old Nassau. The walls towered
+higher, and it was greater in diameter. It was almost a perfect
+bowl in shape--that is as perfect as so natural a formation could
+be.
+
+"But how did the cattle ever get in there!" exclaimed Nort.
+
+"And how are we going to get them out?" asked Dick.
+
+For it seemed, at first sight, that there was no entrance or
+egress. And certainly nothing could get in over the top, or out
+that way. For though the sides of the great, natural bowl were
+green up to a certain distance, beyond that, and between the rim
+and a point half way down, they were almost perpendicular in
+straightness. And, being of rock, they would, it seemed, afford
+scarcely a foot or hand-hold for the most expert "human fly."
+
+"There must be a way in," declared Slim.
+
+"And out, too," added Yellin' Kid. "Those rustlers never would
+have driven th' steers in here unless there was some way of
+getting 'em out."
+
+"But what is this place, anyhow!" asked Nort. "It looks like the
+Yale bowl, but it never could have been built by man."
+
+"It wasn't," said Bud. "It's the crater of an extinct volcano. It
+has been filled up, with land-slides, probably, and the winds and
+the birds have brought grass seeds here, year after year, until
+it makes a regular corral for cattle. There's water, too, which
+isn't surprising. That's what it is, an old volcano crater. I
+heard there was one around here, but I never had time to look for
+it."
+
+"Yes, I've heard of it myself," admitted Slim, "but I didn't think
+it was like this. Let's have another look."
+
+Dick and Nort moved aside to give the foreman a place of
+advantage, and when he had looked through a spot where the crack
+was wider he said: "I see where they can get th' cattle out.
+Here, take a look, Bud," and Slim handed the ranch lad a pair of
+field glasses that had been brought along in case of emergency.
+They were of value now.
+
+"Down at th' far end, and a little to the left of centre," Slim
+directed Bud's gaze. "There's a sort of fence of trees piled up.
+That's th' entrance all right--or one of 'em."
+
+"You're right!" agreed Bud when he had taken a careful
+observation. "But is there more than one!"
+
+"Must be," said Slim. "The rustlers never drove th' cattle in
+away around _there_. They sent 'em in from _this_ end. Th' trail
+ends right here, an' it's here where th' rustlers drove th'  cattle in."
+
+"But where?" asked Bud. "There isn't a sign of an opening!"
+
+"Because they closed it after them," went on the foreman. "I
+begin to see it now. There must have been a break in the wall of
+the old crater right about here. They drove th' cattle in an' it
+was an easy matter t' let some of th' dirt slide down an' fill it
+up again. Let's take a look with a view t' seein' if I'm right."
+It is easier to find a clue when you know just what you are
+looking for. And it did not take long for the experienced eyes of
+the cow punchers to discover where earth and shale from above had
+been recently dislodged and allowed to slide down to cover what
+must have been the same sort of natural opening into the side of
+the wall as that at the far end, closed by a fence of trees. This
+was to keep the cattle in without men being needed to ride herd.
+
+"Yes, it does look as if they'd taken 'em in here," said Bud,
+when it was found that the trail of the steers led to the foot of
+the crater wall, where all signs stopped. "If we had looked up a
+little, instead of sticking so close to the ground, we might have
+seen this clue before."
+
+"All in good time," observed Slim. "The question is, now, how can
+we get in there?"
+
+"It will be easy enough," suggested Nort. "All you'll have to do
+will be to enlarge the crack we looked through."
+
+"That's all right for us getting inside that crater," observed
+Dick, "but what about our horses? They can't scramble up there."
+
+"Then what can we do?" asked Bud. "Ride around to the other
+entrance?"
+
+"That would take too long," answered the foreman. "I fancy that
+Del Pinzo and his gang are on their way to this natural corral
+now, t' drive out th' cattle they stole from us. We've got t' get
+ahead of 'em!"
+
+"But how?" Bud wanted to know.
+
+"I think we can dig out enough of th' shale an' dirt they slid
+int' th' opening, so that we can get th' horses through," Slim
+answered. "We ought t' have shovels, but we can use sticks t' dig
+with. It will take longer, but it's the best we can do."
+
+Little time was lost in putting this plan into operation. With a
+hatchet, which formed part of their camp equipment, some strong
+poles were cut from one of the few trees that grew on the slope
+of the gorge, and with these digging operations began. It was
+slow work, but many hands were engaged and soon an opening was
+made so that entrance could be had to the original crack in the
+rocky side of the bowl. For it was by this crack that the cattle
+had been driven in. And the crack had only been partly filled
+with broken rock and earth to conceal it from view.
+
+"Yes, they did come in this way!" cried Bud as he and the others
+urged their horses through the opening and into the bowl proper--
+the crater of the extinct volcano. "Look, plenty of signs!" There
+was no doubt of it. The rustlers had driven the cattle into the
+defile, hazed them along until they reached the opening into this
+great natural hiding place, and then the rest was easy.
+
+The animals had been run into this solitary place, passing
+through the narrow, fissure-like opening in the rocky wall, a
+crack similar to, but larger, than the opening through which Bud
+had made his discovery. Then shale and dirt had been started, in
+a miniature avalanche, down the side of the slope, effectually
+hiding the means by which the cattle were secreted away.
+
+"No wonder we thought an airship had been used," commented Dick.
+
+Before them lay the vast crater of the old volcano, inactive for
+centuries. Nature had covered the hard lava with a layer of soil
+in which grew rich grass. And nature had further made the place
+an ideal corral for cattle by supplying a large spring of water.
+It was a "rustler's paradise," to quote Slim Degnan.
+
+As the boy ranchers rode into the amphitheatre, the cattle at the
+far end, and in the middle, stopped grazing to look at them.
+
+"We're friends of yours!" called Bud, waving his hat in the joy
+at finding his lost stock.
+
+"Yes, but here come some fellows who aren't!" shouted Yellin'
+Kid.
+
+"Where?" asked Bud, quickly.
+
+"There!" Kid pointed to the far end of the crater, if one may use
+the word "end" in referring to a circular bowl.
+
+The cowboy posse saw, riding at top speed into the great
+depression, a crowd of men, who, as they came nearer, could be
+recognized as the Del Pinzo gang. The Greaser leader was not in
+evidence, however.
+
+"They're after the cattle!" cried Nort.
+
+"Well, they won't get 'em without a fight!" shouted Bud.
+
+He drew his weapon, an example followed by the others, and as the
+two parties, one representing law and order and the other the
+wild, reckless element, started toward each other, the fight
+began.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A DESPERATE CHANCE
+
+
+"Come on, fellows; Come on!" yelled Bud, as he clapped his heels
+against the sides of his pony and rushed toward the rustlers.
+"Give 'em all they got coming!"
+
+"We're with you!" cried Nort.
+
+"A fight to the finish!" shouted Dick.
+
+The boy ranchers had their weapons out, as, indeed, had every one
+of the following cowboys. Nor was Del Pinzo's gang a whit behind
+in this, though their lawless leader did not seem to be present.
+The sun gleamed on the flashing ornaments of silver worn by some
+of the Mexican Greasers as they rode to the fray.
+
+"Don't ride too far, Bud!" called Slim, for the boys were
+inclined to be reckless.
+
+"We've got to ride 'em down or they'll have all the cattle out of
+that far opening before we get there!" Bud answered. And, as he
+replied he fired one shot in the air, over the heads of the
+enemy. For Bud bore in mind his father's injunction, not to shoot
+to wound unless it was absolutely necessary. And Bud thought
+perhaps a strong show of force would awe the rustlers, causing
+them to retreat.
+
+However, they were in too strong force for this. And as the boy
+ranchers and their friends rode on into the vast, natural,
+volcanic bowl, and were able to take note of their foes, they saw
+that the rustlers outnumbered them two to one.
+
+Bud's shot--the first of the fight--was the signal for general
+firing, though, as usual in such engagements, the initial
+fusilade was wild on both sides; mercifully so, it seemed
+ordered, for no one was hurt by the opening volley.
+
+"There's going to be a hot time!" shouted Yellin' Kid, as he
+spurred forward. "And I don't see th' skunk that spoiled my hat!
+Where is he?"
+
+"Del Pinzo would rather his men'd get th' lickin's!" answered
+Snake. "He's hidin' out, I reckon."
+
+"I'd like to find his hole!" said Yellin' Kid.
+
+The clashing forces were nearer each other now, with the bunch of
+Happy Valley steers in between, but off to one side. In order
+that you may better understand what follows, and the positions of
+the contending parties, I will explain the situation briefly.
+
+The boy ranchers and their friends had ridden in on what I might
+call the north end of the volcanic crater, in which bowl the
+rustlers had hidden the cattle. The opening by which the cattle
+had been placed in the bowl had been closed by a slide of dirt
+and shale but this had been partly cleared away by our friends so
+they could ride through the crack.
+
+At what may be termed the south end of the crater was a larger
+opening, wide enough, in fact, for several horsemen to ride
+abreast or a large herd of cattle to be driven through. This
+opening had been roughly fenced off to keep in the cattle. And it
+was through this opening that the rustlers had ridden, advancing
+to meet the force of the boy ranchers coming from the north.
+
+The cattle had been feeding in the centre of the bowl, but as the
+two parties began the fight, the steers drew off to the west. It
+was evidently the intention of the rustlers to take out the
+cattle if possible. Whether they could succeed in driving them
+away in spite of the pursuit of the rightful owners, or whether
+they hoped to hide them in some other secret place did not
+develop.
+
+At any rate, here were the two contending parties racing toward
+each other, and firing as they galloped forward. And when they
+were all out in the open it was evident that the rustlers far
+outnumbered the boy ranchers and their friends.
+
+One thing, however, was in favor of Bud and the others with him.
+They had advanced farther into the bowl than had the rustlers,
+and were past the centre when the actual fray began. Using the
+illustration of a football game, to which I am tempted because of
+the location of the fray, I might remark that the ball was now
+over the centre line and well into the enemy's territory. It was
+up to Bud and his followers to rush it over for a touchdown.
+
+But the rustlers were not going to give up without a sharp fight.
+They had come to take away the cattle, and this they now
+endeavored to do. Several Greasers separated from the main body
+and began to circle around with the evident intention of cutting
+out a bunch of steers, to drive them to the larger opening, where
+the fence had been torn down.
+
+"We've got to stop that!" shouted Slim. "Here, Snake, you and Kid
+ride over and see what you can do!"
+
+The two cowboys, shouting at the tops of their voices, wheeled to
+one side and started toward half a dozen Greasers. The odds were
+not so great as they seemed, for right and justice were on the
+side of the cowboys.
+
+Suddenly Dick, who was riding between Bud and Nort, gave a little
+cry, and his weapon dropped from his right hand, on which a spot
+of blood appeared.
+
+"Hit?" asked Nort.
+
+"Only a scratch," Dick answered. He halted his pony, snatched his
+neckerchief off and, with the help of his brother, bound up the
+wound. It was decidedly more than a scratch, being a deep cut
+where a glancing bullet had hit, and Dick's hand would be out of
+commission for some time.
+
+"But I can fire with my left," he added, a feat to which he was
+equal, "and Star guides by knee pressure." He was riding a pony
+he had taught to obey directions by means of pressure of the
+cowboy's knees on either side. And Dick had been practicing left
+hand shooting for some time. His gun restored to him, he rode on
+with his brother and cousin.
+
+With sudden yells, accompanied by as sudden a rush, a band of the
+Greasers now rode straight for Bud, Dick, Nort and some of the
+Diamond X outfit with our heroes. So fierce was the attack, and
+in such numbers, that there was nothing for our friends to do but
+retreat, for the time being at least.
+
+This attack took place in a part of the bowl where there were a
+large number of immense boulders scattered. Seeing that these
+formed a natural protection, or breastwork, Bud called to his
+cousins and the men to get behind the stones.
+
+"Make the horses lie down!" was his advice. "We'll fight Indian
+fashion!"
+
+And, at this point, at least, this became the style of the
+battle. The Greasers rode fast, endeavoring to cut off Bud and
+his party, but the latter reached the haven of rocks first, and
+with the horses on their sides, positions the steeds were glad
+enough to assume, doubtless, the advantage was on the side of the
+boy ranchers.
+
+They were protected by rocks, from behind which they could fire,
+while the enemy was in the open. But the enemy far outnumbered
+our friends, and the latter, for the time being, were in the
+position of persons besieged.
+
+For, no sooner had the Greasers seen what was the object of Bud
+and his followers, than the lawless ones took such small shelter
+as they could find, some behind their prostrate horses, and began
+firing at the boy ranchers' party. And as the renegade Mexicans
+were, in a number of cases, armed with rifles, the odds against
+Bud and his chums were increased. True, the Greasers were not
+good marksmen, but a rifle in the hands of even a poor shooter is
+often more than a match for a .45 revolver in the hands of an
+expert.
+
+"Pick 'em off!" cried Bud, as bullets zinged their way in among
+the rocks behind which he and his friends were hidden. "Pick 'em
+off, but don't expose yourself!"
+
+This was good advice if it could have been followed, but to fire
+effectively it was necessary for those of the Diamond X outfit to
+take aim over, or to one side, of the rocks, and when this was
+done, some part of the body was exposed. At such times the
+watching Greasers fired.
+
+It was now an actual state of siege as far as Bud and his
+immediate companions were concerned, and they were outnumbered.
+Several of Bud's party, including Nort this time, had been
+slightly wounded. But, in turn, they had wounded some Greasers,
+too, one vitally, as was learned later.
+
+Meanwhile, Snake and Kid were having their own troubles with the
+party of Greasers they had been sent off to intercept and prevent
+from driving off the cattle. More Mexicans had joined their
+comrades, and Kid and Snake were obliged to beat a retreat,
+joining Slim and his forces, who were fighting the main, and
+larger body of rustlers.
+
+And it was while these two separate fights were going on, and
+while the Greasers that had forced Kid and Snake to retire were
+gathering together a bunch of cattle to drive out of the main
+opening, that Dick, who was readjusting the bandage on his hand,
+saw something that made his heart sink.
+
+This was a sight of another body of Greasers riding into the bowl
+from the south end--a body of Mexican horsemen led by Del Pinzo
+himself.
+
+"I guess it's all up with us now," said Dick to his brother,
+calling the latter's attention to the reinforcements of the
+enemy. "That's what that half-breed was hanging back for. He
+wanted to get us well mixed up, and now he'll drive off the
+cattle."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Nort. "It does look that way. What we going to
+do, Dick?"
+
+The two brothers were behind a great boulder, off to one side.
+Bud and some of the cowboys were replying to a brisk fire on the
+part of the besieging Greasers.
+
+For a moment, after having tied the bandage on his hand, Dick did
+not answer. Then, as if an inspiration came to him, he said:
+
+"It's only a chance, Nort, and a desperate chance at that. But
+maybe we can do it! Did you ever read Kipling's 'Drums of the
+Fore and Aft'?"
+
+"Sure! But what's that got to do with this?"
+
+"A lot. You and I are going to be the 'Drums' and these are going
+to play the tune," and he tapped his .45. "Come on," he added,
+motioning to his brother. "As I said, it's a desperate chance,
+but it may do the trick!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+LIEUTENANT WAYNE
+
+
+Not to mystify you, when there is no need for it, I will say that
+the scheme Dick had hit upon was simple enough. If you recall
+Kipling's famous story you know that two drummer boys, of a
+British regiment in India, when the main body was being defeated
+by a horde of natives, slipped quietly off to one side, and, by
+hiding behind rocks, played the fife and beat the drum to such
+advantage that the heathens thought another regiment was
+approaching to take them in the rear, while the British force was
+so heartened by hearing the familiar strains that they rallied,
+the retreat was stopped and the day won.
+
+Dick and Nort had no fife or drum, and, if they had possessed
+those instruments, it is doubtful if they could have performed on
+them with any credit to themselves.
+
+Each of them was slightly wounded, but they possessed their guns
+and had a plentiful supply of ammunition, and it was Dick's idea
+to use this. "We'll slide out, crawl along that gully there," and
+he pointed to Nort the one he meant, "and we'll take 'em on the
+flank. By keeping behind the rocks, and firing fast, we can make
+'em think, maybe, that another force is coming."
+
+"You well said it--_maybe_," murmured Nort. "But at that,
+the idea isn't so bad. They may hold us here all day, and with
+Slim and his bunch having their hands full, it looks as if the
+cattle would be driven off."
+
+For while some of the rustlers were holding Bud and his band in
+check behind the rocks, and while others were fighting Slim and
+his cowboys, still others were driving the cattle toward the
+opening in the old volcano bowl. It was Dick's idea that if by a
+cross fire on the part of himself and his brother, hidden among
+the rocks, they could scare away the band besieging Bud and his
+friends, a diversion might be created which would rout the enemy.
+At any rate, it was worth trying.
+
+Bud was busy, as Nort and Dick slipped off, tying a bandage on
+the arm of one of the cowboys who had been shot. And the brothers
+were glad to try their desperate venture unnoticed, for they did
+not want to explain. And they did not want to be observed going
+away, as it looked a little like desertion in the face of the
+enemy. But, for the time being, there was a lull in the fighting.
+The Greasers who had been holding Bud's force behind the rocks,
+had quieted down. The fighting between Slim and his cowboys out
+in the open, however, was going on fiercely, and several had
+fallen on both sides.
+
+Once Dick and Nort were down in a gully, off to the right of the
+rocks behind which the band had taken shelter, the eastern lads
+were screened from observation, both by their friends and by the
+Greasers.
+
+"Cut along, North!" advised Dick, and, in spite of their wounds,
+the boy ranchers ran in crouching positions, their guns in
+readiness.
+
+It did not take them long to reach a point which they regarded as
+favorable for the trick they were going to play--for it was
+nothing more nor less than a trick. If they could succeed, by
+quick firing, in deceiving the enemy, and causing a retreat, a
+sudden rush on the part of Bud and his friends might turn the
+scale.
+
+"All ready?" asked Dick of his brother, as they reached some
+sheltering rocks on the flank of the party besieging Bud.
+
+"Wait until I lay a lot of cartridges ready on the ground. It
+will be easier to reload them."
+
+"Good idea. I'll do the same."
+
+It was rather awkward for Dick, with his wounded right hand, to
+reload his gun, but he could manage after a fashion, though not
+so well as Nort, whose hurt was in his upper left arm. The lads
+saw to it that their weapons were ready, with a goodly supply of
+cartridges in front of them. Nort looked across at Dick, behind
+the sheltering rock, and at a nod from the latter they both began
+firing.
+
+The effect on the Greasers, poorly screened as they were, was
+instantaneous. Several leaped to their feet and turned in
+surprise toward the sound of firing on their flank. These made
+good targets, and by firing at them Dick and Nort brought more
+than one to the ground.
+
+Bud and his companions, hearing the firing in a new direction,
+where, as yet they did not know they had supporters, were also
+taken by surprise, but it was of another nature.
+
+"Come on! Rush 'em!" yelled Bud, when he had looked around, and,
+missing Dick and Nort, guessed what had happened. "We've got 'em
+in a cross fire now! Rush 'em!"
+
+But the Greasers, disheartened by the firing of Dick and Nort on
+their flank, did not stop to be rushed. Those who were able
+leaped up and ran toward their horses, which had strayed off to
+one side. Bud and his party emerged from behind the rocks, firing
+as they rushed the enemy.
+
+"This is the stuff, Dick!" shouted Nort, as he reloaded his gun
+and sent another fusilade of bullets into the ranks of the now
+retreating Greasers.
+
+"I'm glad it worked!" remarked the proposer of the Kipling
+scheme. "Now we can go help Slim and his bunch. They're having
+trouble!"
+
+Indeed the tide of battle did seem to be turning against the
+foreman and his forces. They were outnumbered, and had lost
+several cowboys, by wounds if not by death--just which it was
+impossible to determine then. And, meanwhile, the other Greasers,
+under the leadership of the wily Del Pinzo, were hazing the
+cattle toward the main entrance.
+
+"Good work, boys! Great work!" Bud greeted his cousins with as he
+rode out to meet them, when the besieging Greasers had been
+routed by the cross fire of the two lads. "How'd you think of
+it?"
+
+"It was Dick," spoke Nort.
+
+"It was Kipling!" Dick answered.
+
+"Get mounted and join us!" Bud requested. "We've got to help
+Slim!"
+
+This was evident, as the foreman and his cowboys were now hard
+pressed. But as Nort and Dick rejoined Bud, having leaped to
+their saddles they, as well as the others from Diamond X caught
+sight of something which, for the moment made them sick at heart.
+
+For the sight was that of another body of horsemen riding into
+the old volcano bowl. On they cantered, the sun glinting on their
+arms.
+
+"More of Del Pinzo's rustlers!" burst out Bud. "We may as well
+give up! They're too many for us!"
+
+But he did not pull rein, intending it seemed, to fight it out to
+the bitter end. A cry from Dick was the cause of wonderment. He
+pointed to the new body of advancing horsemen.
+
+"Look! Look!" Dick shouted. "Those aren't Greasers! They aren't
+rustlers or Del Pinzo's gang! They're United States troopers! By
+all the jack rabbits that ever jumped we've got the rustlers now!
+The United States cavalry is on the job!"
+
+And a moment later, as the notes of a bugle gave a musical order,
+causing the advancing troop to deploy to right and left, it was
+evident that the tide of battle had turned in favor of the boy
+ranchers and their friends.
+
+For the newcomers were, in reality, a troop of United States
+regulars, and with a dash and vim, exceeded nowhere in the world,
+and among no other fighters, this band of grim-faced men entered
+into action. Carbines were unslung and their short and ugly bark
+was added to the din.
+
+"Come on, fellows!"
+
+"Now we've got 'em!"
+
+"Over the line!"
+
+"Touchdown!"
+
+These were only a few of the excited shouts of the boy ranchers
+themselves, while the cowboys of Diamond X riding into the fray
+with new hearts, sent up their shrill, yipping yells. It was all
+over then but the shouting, so to speak. The Greasers were fairly
+trapped--Del Pinzo and all his gang. In vain they attempted to
+ride around and escape by the main entrance. But the troopers had
+stationed a guard there, and the bowl was "bottled up." One or
+two Greasers, sneaking around to the north, did manage to escape
+through the crack by which Bud and his friends had entered,
+though the main body was captured and the cattle saved.
+
+"Whew, but that was hot work!" commented Bud, toward sundown,
+when the rustlers had been caught, disarmed and corraled under
+guard.
+
+"You told the truth for once," remarked Dick, whose wound had
+been rebandaged by the surgeon accompanying the troopers.
+
+"And I guess this is the end of Del Pinzo," remarked Nort, for
+the outlaw Greaser half-breed had been caught red-handed, so to
+speak.
+
+"I hope so," mused Bud. "But we paid a price for it."
+
+"And so did they," observed Slim. "We accounted for quite a few,
+but I'm sorry for our boys." Several of the Diamond X outfit had
+been grievously wounded, and one was killed outright. But the
+casualties on the side of the enemy were greater.
+
+The fight was over. The cattle of the boy ranchers were saved,
+and the rustlers captured. Tired horses were staked out near
+grass and water, and while the cavalry established their camp,
+Bud and his friends began to wonder how it was the troopers had
+arrived in the nick of time.
+
+"Well, it was more by chance than anything else," said Captain
+Parker, who was in command. "We'd been on the trail of these
+outlaws for some time, and finally we saw a chance to corner
+them. It was due to the work of Lieutenant Wayne that we were
+able so to effectually bag them here, though. He has been on
+scout duty in this section for some time, endeavoring to get information
+so that we might round up this gang."
+
+"Lieutenant Wayne," repeated Bud, wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, here he comes now. He says he knows you boys."
+
+"Knows us!" murmured Dick, as a trooper approached, saluting his
+superior and smiling at the boy ranchers. "Yes, don't you know
+me?" asked Lieutenant Wayne, holding out his hand to Bud.
+"Perhaps if I had on my glasses, you would be better able to----"
+
+"Four Eyes!" burst out Nort. "At least--I beg your pardon--Henry--er--Mr.
+Mellon--Lieutenant Wayne!" he stammered.
+
+"Yes, Four Eyes!" was the laughing answer of the trooper. "Those
+glasses were only fakes! I wore them as a sort of disguise, and
+very effectual they were, it seems."
+
+"Four Eyes!" gasped Bud. "And were you in the United States
+cavalry all the while?"
+
+"Yes, on scout, or detached duty," was the answer. "The
+government has had many complaints of this band of Del Pinzo's
+rustlers, and we were detailed to put them out of business. I was
+assigned to go on duty as a cowboy, which wasn't so hard, as I
+had been one nearly all my life before joining the army. I worked
+on several ranches, picking up bits of information here and
+there, and I completed all I needed to get in Happy Valley," he
+added.
+
+"And we never tumbled!" remarked Dick.
+
+"Glad you didn't!" laughed Lieutenant Wayne, to give him his
+proper title. "I thought you were suspicious of me, more than
+once, though," he said.
+
+"We were, after you built that signal lantern on the watch tower--you
+did do that, didn't you?" asked Bud.
+
+"Yes, but only as a decoy for the rustlers. I managed to overhear
+some of their plans, and part of their scheme called for a light
+on the tower when the time was ripe for a raid on your cattle,
+boys. So I flashed the signal myself, and, indirectly, it led to
+this capture today. For I joined my troop right after that, and
+we have been rounding the rascals up ever since.
+
+"We knew they had made a big raid at your place, but we didn't
+know where they had hidden the cattle until I happened to think
+of this old crater, which I discovered one day when I was working
+for you, Bud. So we made our way here and--well, this is the end,
+I believe," he added, as he looked over at the bunch of miserable
+prisoners.
+
+"I hope it's the end," said Bud. "We want to get back to
+business. And I'm sorry we suspected you, Lieutenant."
+
+"Oh, that's all right. In fact, I'm glad you did. It shows I
+lived up to the character I was supposed to represent."
+
+There is little more to tell. That night, around the campfire
+many things, hitherto a mystery, were explained. The stethoscope
+the boys found was the property of Lieutenant Wayne. He had
+dropped it when paying a secret visit to Happy Valley. He had
+intended to pose as a doctor to deceive the rustlers, but, on
+losing the stethoscope he gave up that plan. It is needless to
+say that he had nothing to do with the robbery at Diamond X, the
+real thieves never being discovered. Lieutenant Wayne apologized
+for cutting his way from Bud's tent the night he disappeared
+after the signal from the tower. This was the only way he could
+disappear and accomplish his plans, he said. And it was he who
+had fired and broken the bottle, and had also fired mysterious
+signal shots, in order to play up to his character of being in
+with the rustlers.
+
+"Though the bottle-breaking was only a joke I indulged in," he
+admitted, "I'm sorry it worried you so."
+
+The soldier, of course, had nothing to do with the prairie fire,
+and who set it, if it was set, was not discovered. Lieutenant
+Wayne finally recovered his black horse Cinder, the animal having
+made its way back to Curly Q ranch, where the officer once posed
+as a cowboy.
+
+The cattle first stolen by the rustlers were not recovered, but
+it was found that when they seemed they had been spirited off in
+an airship they had been merely back-tracked and hidden until an
+opportune time to dispose of them. Del Pinzo's gang was in
+hiding, waiting for a chance to drive off the main body of
+steers, when they were surprised by our heroes. Whether Hank
+Fisher was in with the rustlers was not decided, though
+suspicions pointed toward him. The outlaws were sentenced to long
+terms after being captured by the troopers, and their secret
+meeting place, having been discovered, was destroyed.
+
+After these explanations had been made, it was decided not to try
+to drive the cattle out of the crater until the next day.
+
+The night passed without incident, though none of the boy
+ranchers turned in early. They were too excited, and they wanted
+to talk over what had happened.
+
+The existence of the old crater was not generally known, but Del
+Pinzo and his rustlers appeared to have the secret of it. They
+had driven off Bud's cattle, put them into the natural corral and
+then filled in, with dirt, the only entrance visible from the
+defile trail leading from Happy Valley. They intended to use the
+larger opening out of the bowl, to the south, to get the cattle
+away. But their plans were frustrated.
+
+The next day the troopers drove off before them the discomfitted
+Del Pinzo and his disheartened followers, Yellin' Kid taking the
+Mexican's elaborate hat to replace the cowboy's with the bullet
+holes. Lieutenant Wayne said farewell to the boy ranchers,
+promising to come and see them again, in his real character.
+
+The wounded were transported as tenderly as possible out of the
+main egress from the bowl, it being impractical to use the other.
+And it was from this larger entrance, after the fence had been
+torn away, that the cattle were driven, by a long winding trail
+amid the mountains back to Happy Valley. Only a few were lost by
+the raid, which was the largest ever perpetrated by the rustlers
+in that part of the country.
+
+"But I guess, now that the troopers have Del Pinzo, and not the
+local authorities with their flimsy town jails, that this Greaser
+won't be foot-loose for some time," observed Bud, when, once
+more, the boy ranchers were back in camp.
+
+"I don't want to hear his name again," murmured Dick, nursing his
+wounded hand.
+
+"And to think that Four Eyes was working in our interests when we
+thought him a spy! That was pretty good!" laughed Nort.
+
+"Yes, it all worked out pretty well," spoke Bud. "And do you know
+what I'd like to do? I'd like Dad to buy that old volcano crater
+for us. It would be a peach of a place where we could winter a
+herd of cattle, and have 'em fat for spring selling. I'm going to
+speak to him about it," he concluded.
+
+"Well, you can speak right now, for here he comes, and your
+mother and sister, too," added Dick, as Mr. Merkel's auto chugged
+down the trail from Diamond X.
+
+"Well, boys, I hear you beat Del Pinzo at his own game!" greeted
+the rancher, while Nell expressed her sorrow at Dick's wound, to
+the somewhat jealous regard of Nort, whose hurt was more slight.
+
+"Yes, he's where he won't blur any more brands right away," Bud
+answered. "But it looked like touch and go for a while. The
+troopers came just in time!"
+
+"Well, you fellows seem to know how to take care of yourselves
+and the cattle," observed Bud's father. "Guess I'll turn one of
+my main ranches over to you. What say?"
+
+But the boys did not answer. They were busy eating slices of a
+large chocolate cake that Nell had brought over. This is reason
+enough, isn't it? However, the adventures of our heroes did not
+end with the capture of the rustlers. And those of you who wish
+to follow them further may do so in the next volume of this
+series which will be entitled: "The Boy Ranchers Among the
+Indians; or Trailing the Yaquis." In that volume we shall meet
+many of our old friends again, and, should Bud permit it, I may
+tell you about Zip Foster. But with the capture of Del Pinzo, and
+his rustlers, this book is finished.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Ranchers on the Trail, by Willard F. Baker
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY RANCHERS ***
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