Baker Willard F.
The Boy Ranchers in Death Valley; Or, Diamond X and the Poison Mystery

CHAPTER I
BAD NEWS

Excited shouts, mingled with laughter, floated on the sunlit anddust-laden air to the ranch house of Diamond X. Now and then, abovethe yells, could be heard the thudding of the feet of running horses onthe dry ground.

"What do you reckon those boys are doing, Ma?" asked Nell Merkel as shepaused in the act of laying the top crust on a raisin pie.

"Land knows," answered the girl's mother with half a sigh and half achuckle. "They're always up to something. And, now that your Pa isaway – "

Mrs. Merkel's remarks were interrupted by louder shouts from thecorral, and Nell heard cries of:

"Try it again, Bud!"

"You missed him clean, that time!"

"How'd you like that mouthful of dust?"

"Git up an' ride 'im, cowboy!"

Like an echo to these sarcastic exclamations, Nell heard the voice ofher brother Burton, commonly known as Bud, answer:

"I'll do it yet! Just you wait!"

"I wonder what Bud's trying to do?" murmured Nell.

"Oh, run along and look if you want to," suggested Mrs. Merkel, with akind regard for Nell's curiosity. "I'll finish the pie."

"Thanks!" And Nell, not even pausing to clap a hat over her curls, hastened out into the yard, across the stretch of grass that separatedthe main house from the other buildings of Diamond X and was soonapproaching the corral where were kept the cow ponies needed forimmediate use by the owner, his family or the various hands on the bigestate.

Nell saw several cowboys perched on the corral fence, some with theirlegs picturesquely wound around the posts, others astraddle of therails. Among them she sighted Dick and Nort Shannon, her two "city"cousins, who had come west to learn to be cowboys. And in passing itmay be said that their education was almost completed now.

"Why, I wonder where Bud is?" asked Nell, as she made her way to thefenced-in place.

A moment later she received an answer to her question, for her brotherarose from the dust of the corral and started for the fence. He seemedto have been rolling in the dirt.

"That's a queer way to have fun!" mused Nell.

Without making her presence known, she stood off a little way andwatched what was going on. She saw Bud mount the fence near where thetwo Shannon boys were sitting, though hardly able to maintain theirseats because of their laughter.

"Going to try it again, Bud?" asked Dick.

"Surest thing you know!" snapped back the boy rancher.

"Wait till I go in and get you a bit of fly paper!" suggested Nort.

"Fly paper! What for?" demanded Bud.

"So you can stick on!"

"Ho! Ho! That's pretty good!" shouted such a loud voice that Nellwould have covered her ears only she knew, from past experience, thatYellin' Kid did not keep up his strident tones long. But this time hewent on, like an announcer at a hog-calling contest, with: "Fly paper!Ho! Ho! So Bud can stick! That's pretty good!"

"Go ahead! Be nasty!" commented Bud good-naturedly as he climbed upthe top rail and perched himself there in standing position while helooked over the dusty corral that was now a conglomeration of restlesscow ponies. "But I'll do it yet!"

"I wonder what in the world Bud is trying to do?" asked Nell of herself.

She learned a moment later. For Bud, after balancing himself on thetop rail, looked across the corral to where Old Billee Dobb was holdinga restless pony, and the lad called:

"Turn him loose, Billee!"

"Here he comes! All a-lather!" shouted the veteran cow puncher, as heslapped his hat on the flank of the pony and sent it galloping aroundthe inside fence toward the waiting youth. "It's now or never, Bud!"

"It's going to be now!" shouted Nell's brother.

Fascinated, as any true girl of the west would be, by the spiritedscene, Nell saw Bud poise himself for a leap. Then she understood whatwas about to take place.

"He's going to jump from the top rail of the fence and try to land onthe back of the pony when it gallops past him!" murmured Nell."Regular circus trick that is! I wonder if he can do it? But from thelooks of him I should say he'd already fallen two or three times.Billee gave him a fast one this round."

Nell referred to the horse. And it was characteristic of her that shewas not in the least afraid of what might be the consequences of herbrother attempting the aforesaid "circus trick." Nell was as eager tosee what would happen, as were any of the cowboys perched on the corralfence, and in furtherance of her desire she drew nearer.

By this time the pony, started on its way by the slapping from BilleeDobb's hat, was running fast. And its speed was further increased bywhat Dick, Nort and their companions, perched up there like rail birds, did and said. For the punchers, old and young, yelled and yipped atthe steed.

"Come on there, you boneyard bait!" shouted Snake Purdee.

"Faster there, you spavin-eyed son of a Chinaman!" roared Yellin' Kid.

Nort gave vent to a shrill whistle, while Dick, drawing his bigrevolver, fired several shots in the air.

All this had the effect of further alarming the already startled ponyand when it neared the place where Bud was perched on the top rail, ready to make a flying leap, the animal was, as Old Billee had said,"all a-lather."

"Bud is crazy to try anything like that!" exclaimed Nell in a lowvoice. Nevertheless she did not call out to stop him, and her cheeksshowed rosy pink and her eyes were sparkling in the excitement of themoment.

"Go on, now! Ride 'im, cowboy!" came in stentorian tones from Yellin'

Kid.

"Oh, I hope he makes it!" voiced Nell, clenching her hands so tightlythat the nails bit into her palms.

A moment later, as the pony rushed around the confused bunch of itsfellows in the center of the corral, Bud leaped for its back, for theanimal was now opposite him. The pony carried only a blanket strappedaround its middle. And there was nothing for the venturesome rider, orwould-be rider, to cling to but this strap or blanket.

"If there was a saddle, Bud could make it!" whispered Nell in herexcitement. "I guess that's why he must have fallen the other times."

For upon his clothes and person Bud Merkel bore unmistakable signs andevidences of having fallen not once but several times in the corraldust.

"Wow!" yelled Dick Shannon.

"He's on!" cried his brother Nort.

"And off ag'in!" roared Yellin' Kid.

Bud had made the leap from the fence, his hands, for a moment, hadgrasped the strap around the pony and then his fingers had slipped off.Likewise the one leg he managed to throw over the steed's back seemedto be about to slide off.

But just when it seemed that Bud would fall to the ground, his fingers,in a last, despairing grip, caught a fold of the blanket. By a supremeeffort he pulled himself up, managed to get one leg over the ridge-likebackbone of the pony and, a moment later, he was sitting upright on thesaddle blanket, both hands under the strap, while his heels played atattoo on the sides of the steed, urging him forward at even fasterspeed.

"By golly, he done it!" cried Old Billee.

"He sure enough did!" echoed Yellin' Kid, reaching for his cigarettepapers and muslin bag of tobacco.

"That ought to get him something at Palmo," commented Snake Purdee, referring to a coming rodeo in a nearby town close to the Mexicanborder. "Can't do a much more hair-raisin' trick than that!"

"I didn't think he could do it!" commented Old Billee coming aroundfrom the far side of the corral to join his friends.

"Well, he tried hard enough before he managed to stick," exclaimed Nort.

In the excess of her enthusiasm Nell clapped her hands. And Dick, turning to ascertain the source of the noise, chuckled:

"Look who's here!"

"Got a ticket, little girl?" asked Bud, who, having demonstrated thathe could do what he had said he could – leap from the corral fence tothe back of a passing pony – was now slowing down his steed and ridinghim back to where the other punchers were perched.

"I'm a reporter," responded Nell with a smile. "I'm writing this rodeoup for the papers."

"Then we'll have to make a press box for you," said Nort.

He and his brother, with the half score of cowboys, and Nell wereoffering their congratulations to the daring boy rancher when a newvoice, floating toward the corral from the direction of the house, called to ask:

"What's all the excitement about?"

"Oh, hello, Dad!" cried Bud, waving his hat toward a well set-up, bronzed specimen of a western ranchman who was walking slowly towardthe fence. "Did you see me?"

"I saw you risk your neck, if that's what you mean," answered Mr.

Merkel with a half smile.

"You should have seen him when he missed!" chuckled Old Billee.

"Anything the matter, Dad?" asked Bud as he swung himself down off thesaddle blanket and approached his father who was now leaning over thetop rail of the corral fence. Something in Mr. Merkel's face showedthat he had news to impart.

"You see," went on Bud, "we're all going to do stunts over at the Palmorodeo, and I made up this one, of fence jumping, so Dick and Nort and Icould horn in on some of the prizes. But if you don't want me to – "He paused suggestively.

"You seemed to make out all right this last time, which is the onlytime I saw you," chuckled Mr. Merkel. "But – "

"You needn't worry about the ranch work, Dad!" interrupted Bud, eagerly. "It's all been 'tended to. Herd riding, looking afterfences, cattle all shipped off just as you left word when you went awayand all that. We got everything cleaned up and I thought we could takea little time off to practice for the rodeo."

"Oh, sure! That's all right!" Mr. Merkel hastened to say. "I wasn'tfinding any fault with your bare-back riding. But what I wanted to saywas that I've got a new job for you boys and if you take it on, which Ihope you'll do, you won't have any time for a rodeo."

"A new job!" cried Nort, eagerly.

"Anything to do with Chinese smuggling?" asked Dick.

"No, I'm glad to say it hasn't," went on the owner of Diamond X. "Thisis right in the line of your regular work."

"Then you bought the new ranch; did you, Dad?" asked Bud, for hisfather had been away about a week on a mission known only to theimmediate family, but which was now stated by his son.

"Yes," Mr. Merkel slowly replied, "I took over Dot and Dash, and ifeverything here at Diamond X and in Happy Valley is in as good shape asyou boys seem to think, why, I'm going to send you there."

"Send us where?" Bud wanted to know.

"To the new ranch – Dot and Dash is its cattle brand – to get it in shapebefore winter sets in. You don't mind; do you?"

"Mind!" joyously cried Bud. "Sure not!"

"That's good news!" commented Nort.

"Right-o!" sang out his brother. "Things were getting slow aroundhere, and if we didn't have the coming rodeo to think about – "

"Well, then if you're willing to take charge of Dot and Dash for awhile you can pass up the rodeo," chuckled Mr. Merkel. "Not but whatyou won't have more excitement, maybe, than if you did try bulldoggingand bare-back riding," he added to his son. "Only it will be sort ofdifferent, and your stunts will be doing some good instead of justendangering your necks."

"Aw, there wasn't any danger," murmured Bud.

"No!" chuckled Snake Purdee. "The dust is pretty soft to fall on," andhis point was illustrated as Bud began whipping some of the accumulatedsoil from his chaps.

"Well, that's what I came out to tell you, the news about buying Dotand Dash," concluded Mr. Merkel.

"That's good news for us!" declared Nort. "It will give Dick and me achance to show how much we have learned about cow punching since wecame here."

"Sure, it's good news all right," echoed Dick.

And then Old Billee Dobb struck in with a few remarks which, mostdistinctly, were in the category of bad news. For the veteran punchersaid:

"Excuse me, Boss," and he looked at Mr. Merkel to ask: "Did Iunderstand you to say you'd taken over the old Dot and Dash ranch?"

"That's right, Billee."

"Is that the outfit not far from Los Pompan, near the Mexican border?"

"That's the place, Billee."

"Hum!" The old man seemed lost in thought for a moment. Then he wenton with: "It's in a valley; ain't it, Boss?"

"Yes, Billee, in the prettiest valley, outside of Happy, that I everlaid eyes on. It's an ideal place for a cattle ranch. I'm lucky toget hold of it at the price I did. But Jed Barter was anxious to sellout and – "

"'Scuse me once more, Boss," and Old Billee seemed very anxious andmuch in earnest now, "but did you hear any rumors or talk about Dot andDash before you bought it?"

"No, Billee, I didn't. What do you mean?"

"Didn't anybody tell you the local name of the place 'fore you took itover?"

"The local name! Why, no. What's the name got to do with it?"

"Nothin' much, maybe," slowly answered Billee while the boy ranchersregarded him curiously. "Only Dot and Dash ranch is located in whathas always been called Death Valley, and nobody has ever been able tomake a success of it as long as I can remember. I wish, Boss," he wenton earnestly, "that you'd 'a' told me 'fore you bought this ranch. I'd'a' put you wise to what it really is – Death Valley!"

"Death Valley?" echoed Bud Merkel. "What do you mean? Who died there, and how come?"

An ominous hush fell over the assemblage of cowboys on the corral fenceand they looked from Billee Dobb to the owner of Diamond X. The badnews, clearly, had startled him from his usual calm.

CHAPTER II
UNDAUNTED BY FEAR

"Look here, Billee," began Mr. Merkel as he leaned against the fencefor he had just returned from a long journey and was rather weary. "Isthis a joke or are you just stringing me?"

"No stringing, Boss, and not a joke either. You've bought a ranch inDeath Valley as sure as shootin', and while I wish you good luck Idon't see how you're going to have it – not if Death Valley is like whatit was years ago."

"You aren't getting my new Dot and Dash ranch mixed up with Death

Valley in the Panamint Mountains of California; are you?" asked Mr.

Merkel. "I know that place – four hundred feet below sea level – alkali – borax and all that sort of stuff. Do you mean – ?"

"No, I don't mean that Death Valley," interrupted Billee. "This Death

Valley I speak of is only a local name for the region around Los

Pompan. But it's as bad as the other."

"Suppose you tell me more about it, Billee," suggested the ranch owner.

"Sounds like it would be a good yarn!" commented Bud.

"The kind I like to read about," added Nort.

"This is no yarn!" declared the veteran puncher in an ominous voice.

"It's gospel truth. I'll tell you all I know."

He hitched his heavy chaps around to make his legs more comfortable andthen, selecting a place on the ground, where a shadow was cast by thecowboys on the fence, Billee Dobb began his narrative.

But before I give you that, I want to make my new readers somewhatbetter acquainted with Bud Merkel and his two cousins. They are theyouths who are to be the heroes of this story, and they first came intoprominence in the initial volume of this series, entitled: "The BoyRanchers; or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X."

In that story was related how Norton and Richard Shannon had gone outwest, from New York, and how they took up life on the ranch of theiruncle Henry Merkel. There they found Bud, who had been among horsesand cattle all his life. Nort and Dick soon assimilated the traditionsof the west, became accomplished riders and able to punch cows with thebest of the hands on Diamond X. The lads from the east also learnedwhat it was to come to grips with rustlers, led by that notorious halfbreed Del Pinzo.

After having solved the mystery at Diamond X, Bud and his cousins weregiven virtual charge of another ranch in Happy Valley, not far from themain one managed by Mr. Merkel and his foreman Slim Degnan. But evenon what was, practically, their own ranch, the troubles and adventuresof the boys were not over.

Del Pinzo and others tried more of their tricks and in the succeedingvolumes of the series is related about the water fight, the battle withmore cattle rustlers, how the Yaqui Indians were trailed, and how thesheep herders were overcome. "The Boy Ranchers on Roaring River; orDiamond X and the Chinese Smugglers" is the title of the bookimmediately preceding the present volume, and in that Bud, Dick andNort had some narrow escapes from unscrupulous men. Incidentally theyhelped the United States government bring to justice a large Chinesesmuggling band.

Things on Diamond X had somewhat quieted down after the strenuous dayswith Delton and the others, and Mr. Merkel had gone off on a businesstrip, the import of which was little known to the boys. He hadreturned, as has been related, in time to see Bud leap from the fenceto the back of a galloping horse in preparation for rodeo stunts.

Then Billee Dobb had made his startling announcement about the ominouscharacter of the new ranch purchased by the cattleman.

"Before you spill your bad news, Billee," suggested Mr. Merkel, "maybeI ought to say a few words about what I've done. But also let me askyou if this Death Valley of yours is anything more than one of thepicturesque names we have out here in the Golden West. You know wejust naturally run to Dead Horse Gulch, Ghost Canyon and all that sortof stuff. So if your Death Valley doesn't mean more than those names, why – "

"It means a while lot more than just a name, Boss," said the oldpuncher solemnly. "It means real death."

"Death to whom, Billee?" asked Bud.

"To anybody that's foolish enough to try to live there and ride herd,"was the short answer.

"How about the cattle?" Dick wanted to know.

"The same thing happens to them as happens to the men," said Billee ina low voice. "They just naturally die off 'fore they can be shipped tomarket. Believe me, Death Valley is a good place to stay away from!"

"How is it, then, Billee," asked Mr. Merkel, "that nothing happened to me? I just came from there. I don't buy a pig in a poke. I went to

Dot and Dash and sized the place up before I closed the deal with Jed

Barter. How is it Death Valley didn't get me, Billee?"

Nothing daunted the old man replied:

"You didn't stay there long enough."

"Well, there may be something in that," admitted Bud's father. "But itwon't take me long to tell you boys," and he indicated his son, Dick,Nort and all the other punchers.

"For some time past," he went on, "I've had the notion that I wanted tospread out a little. Neither Diamond X nor Happy Valley is quite largeenough. To make any money in the cattle business nowadays you got todo business on a large scale. So I've been looking around, and makinginquiries, and in that way heard that the Dot and Dash ranch was in themarket. I'd looked at several others before I got word about this anddidn't like 'em, for one reason or another.

"But when I got to Los Pompan, which is the nearest town to where Dotand Dash is located, it struck me that here I'd found just what I waslooking for. The ranch wasn't too near the town, and yet it wasn't toofar from the railroad, and I took the trouble to find out if therailroad branch line I'd have to use had good cattle pens and loadingchutes. Lots of lines haven't."

"You spilled a mouthful of good beans right there," commented Snake

Purdee.

"So," resumed Mr. Merkel after nodding at Snake, "liking the firstonce-over I gave the ranch, I investigated further. It had plenty ofgood grazing ground, lots of water, and there's a range of hills thatwill keep off the cold winds in winter. Barter's cattle – what I saw of'em – looked to be in good shape. So, having satisfied myself, I madehim an offer for the place, we dickered a bit and then closed. So hevamoosed off Dot and Dash and I went on and took possession."

"But did you come away, Dad, and leave no one in charge?" asked Bud, insurprise.

"Oh, no," was the answer. "I hired Tim Dolan, the foreman who workedfor Barter, to remain in charge until I could send you boys down to getyour hands in."

"Was this here Dolan anxious to stay?" asked Billee, slowly.

"Well, no, now you mention it, he did seem in a hurry to get away,"admitted Mr. Merkel. "Though I didn't pay any attention to it at thetime. He said he had another job, and – "

"Most everybody that goes to Death Valley does get another job,"commented Billee, dryly. "But go on, Boss."

"Well, that's about all there is to tell," said Mr. Merkel. "I boughtDot and Dash and hurried home here to get Bud, and some of the boys togo down and take charge. And when I get here I find you practicingcircus stunts."

"I'm through that stuff, Dad, if you got a real job for me!" exclaimed

Bud.

"You'll get a real job all right, and then some," muttered Old Billee.

"Go on! Spill it!" begged Bud. "What you talking to yourself for?

Broadcast it, Billee!"

"Oh, I'll tell you all I know, if your father is through," voiced theveteran puncher.

"Yes, I'm through, Billee," said Mr. Merkel. "Let's hear your goodnews."

"'Tain't good news, and there's no use pretendin' it is!" snapped theaged cowboy. "If I'd known you was dickerin' for any ranch near LosPompan, Boss, I'd 'a' told you to lay off. But it's too late for thatnow, it seems, so I can only warn you to keep away."

"But I've bought it and paid for it. Barter has my money and – "

"Let him keep it, Boss."

"And lose the ranch and the cattle on it?"

"Better to lose your money than to lose your life," muttered Billee."As for the cattle, you'll find fewer of 'em there when you go backthan you left there."

"Oh, stop croaking, Billee, and spill the beans!" begged Nort.

"'Twon't take long," Billee answered. "I forget just how many yearsago it is," he said, looking off toward the distant hills that borderedDiamond X, "when, in the course of my wanderings, I struck Los Pompan.There was a ranch there then, called Dot and Dash, just as there isnow, but it was run by a fellow named Golas. Maybe he was a Mex.Anyhow I signed up with him and started to ridin' herd. But I didn'tstay long."

"Couldn't you hold down the job?" chuckled Babe Milton, who was Slim

Degnan's assistant, and as fat as Degnan was lean.

"None of your wise cracks!" snapped Billee. "I can cut out a bunch ofcattle better'n what you can any day and I'm a heap sight older 'n'wiser. No, the reason I quit was on account of what kept happenin' atDot and Dash."

"And what happened?" asked Dick.

"Death is what happened!" said Billee, solemnly. "Mysterious death!"

"Death can happen on any ranch," observed Mr. Merkel quietly. "Wehave, unfortunately, had deaths here."

"Yes, but they were natural deaths!" declared Billee. "And they didn'tkeep happenin' one after another like at Dot and Dash."

"How many deaths were there?" Bud wanted to know.

"I don't rightly remember, but there was plenty."

"You said they were mysterious," commented Nort. "In what way?"

"That's what nobody could find out," resumed the veteran puncher."First some poor devil of a puncher would be found dead off in somelonely swale. Then we'd find a bunch of cows stretched out, and thenwe'd find another dead man."

"Rustlers," suggested Slim.

"Rustlers nothin'!" scoffed Billee. "Rustlers drive off cattle – theydon't kill 'em – what would be the good?"

"I meant the rustlers did up the cowboys," suggested the foreman.

"Well, if these fellows, who were found dead, got shot, why wasn'tthere bullet holes in 'em?" asked Billee, teasingly.

"Wasn't there?" asked Dick.

"Not a hole."

"How about a knife thrust?" Nort wanted to know.

"Not a scratch or any kind of mark on 'em!" declared the old man. "Andyet their faces showed they'd died in agony. That's what I meant bymysterious deaths."

"It does sound rather queer," admitted Mr. Merkel. "But didn't youfind out what caused all this, Billee?"

"No, Boss, I didn't stay long enough. And neither did nobody else Iever heard of, who worked at Dot and Dash. I vamoosed."

"Well, maybe there was something queer about the ranch years ago,"admitted Mr. Merkel. "But that doesn't say, because fifteen or twentyseasons back something queer happened, that it's still going on."

"Oh, but it is!" declared Billee. "Not a month ago I met a puncher whowas lookin' for a job. He come here but I knew we was full up so Itold him to go over to Circle T, and he done so. But he'd been downDeath Valley way recent like, and he said it was just the same."

"You mean about mysterious deaths?" asked Dick.

"That's it, boy! So what I says is, lay off that place, Boss!"

"Hum!" mused Mr. Merkel. "It doesn't sound very jolly. I don't wantanybody to take any unnecessary risks and yet I hate to lose my money."

"You shan't lose it, Dad!" cried Bud.

"What do you mean, son?"

"Just this! Dick, Nort and I will go down there! We aren't going tobe scared off by any of Billee's tales! We're not afraid; are we?"

He looked at his fellow boy ranchers.

"Nothing to it!" declared Dick, valiantly.

"Let's go!" cried Nort, eagerly.

Undaunted by fear, the three lads ranged themselves alongside of Mr.

Merkel, waiting for his word.

CHAPTER III
ON THE TRAIL

Slowly the owner of Diamond X began to speak.

"That's just about what I'd expect of you boys," remarked Mr. Merkelwith a smile as he surveyed the lads. "But I can't let you run yourheads into a noose."

"That's just what they would be doing if they tried to ride herd in

Death Valley," came ominously from the veteran puncher.

"Watch me get him!" whispered Bud to his cousins. Then, addressing Old

Billee he went on: "I don't reckon, if we hit the trail for Dad's new

Dot and Dash ranch – I don't reckon you'll come with us; will you – Billee?" and he drawled the last few words with a wink at Nort and

Dick.

"Who, me? Go out there with you if your Pa thinks he'll let you? Isthat what you asted me?" demanded Billee Dobb, sharply.

"You heard me the first time!" chuckled Bud. "What say?"

"Course I'll go with you an' you know it!" snapped the old man. "Hu!

What you think I am, anyhow?"

"But you just said you vamoosed from Death Valley because you wereafraid," said Bud.

"Well, what I mean I was afraid!" admitted Billee. "It was a mightyskeery feelin', I'm tellin' you, to start out in the mornin' an' notknow whether you'd come acrost some dead puncher 'fore you'd riddenhalf way round the herd. I sure was scared!"

"Then why would you be willing to go back?" asked Nort.

"To look after you kids – that's why – if so be your Pa thinks it fittento send you out to Dot and Dash. An' you heard me, too, the firsttime!" snapped Billee with a trace of temper which was unusual in hisgentle nature.

"Well, I don't believe I'm going to send them – that's the answer to onequestion," said Mr. Merkel. "After what you told me, Billee, I can'tsee that it would be wise to take a chance. I'll put up with my loss, and – "

"Did you pay much for the new ranch, Dad?" asked Bud.

"Well, I thought I was getting a bargain," his father relied. "Butmaybe I'm going to be left holding the bag after all. It strikes menow that Barter was pretty anxious and quick to sell. I ought to havesmelled a rat, but I didn't. And, by and large, it was a pretty goodsum I paid. But, as I said, I'm willing to lose if – "

"You aren't going to lose, Uncle Henry!" cried Nort.

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" chimed in his brother.

"And you got to count on me!" added Bud.

"The smallest roosters always have the loudest crow!" chuckled Snake

Purdee.

"Hey, you! Cut that out!" growled Yellin' Kid. "There ain't a yallerstreak in these boys an' you know it!"

"Course I know it!" chuckled Snake. "I was only kiddin'! Me, I aim togo 'long with 'em an' see what caused them mysterious killin's. Sure,I'm goin'!"

"Go easy, boys!" chuckled Billee. "If you all leave Diamond X, how's

Slim an' Babe goin' to run things?"

"Don't fool yourselves!" snapped the lanky foreman. "I run Diamond X'fore any of you fellers ever forked a bronc an' I can do it again."

"He's got me!" chimed in Babe.

"Ho! Ho!" chuckled Yellin' Kid. "You must 'a' been readin' the funnypapers!"

There was an ominous note, now, in some of the voices and Mr. Merkel, knowing how easily tempers of even the best of punchers are ruffled, interposed a soothing word or two.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," he said. "If what Billee states istrue, and I know he is telling the truth as he sees it, or as he heardit, why, I'm not going to send anybody to Dot and Dash."

"Oh, Dad!" cried Bud, beseechingly, while Nort and Dick chimed in with:

"Uncle Henry, we just got to go!"

"We'll have another talk about it," went on the ranch owner. "This isall news to me, Billee, and surprising news, too. I don't know what todo. I wish I had heard some of these stories before I went to LosPompan."

"You'd 'a' heard 'em all right if you had asted me," said the old man, thoughtfully scratching his head near where a bald spot was plainlyshowing. "But I had no idea you'd ever locate there."

"Oh, I won't locate there!" Mr. Merkel made haste to say. "I'd neverlive anywhere else than at Diamond X – my wife wouldn't move. But Ijust have to branch out and this struck me as being a good place tostart."

"Ain't no better place in all the west for raisin' cattle than theneighborhood of Los Pompan," interposed Billee. "And if it wasn't forwhat happened in Death Valley I'd be there yet."

"But what, actually, did happen?" asked Bud.

"That's what I don't know – what nobody knows," said Billee, "and that'swhat makes it all the more mysterious. Shucks! If we could 'a' foundout what caused the deaths it would have been easy to stop it – whetherit was Indians, rustlers or some disease. But we couldn't find out.That was the trouble, boys," and his voice sank to a whisper, "wecouldn't find out."

"Then we will!" cried Bud.

"You'll do what?" asked his father.

"We'll solve the mystery of Death Valley. Come on, Dad," he pleaded,"you just got to let us go!"

"I'll think about it," was all Mr. Merkel would say, and there was amore serious air about him than he had worn in many a day.

Gone, now, on the part of the boy ranchers, was any interest they mayhave had in the coming rodeo at Palmo. All their talk and ideascentered about what the ranch owner had told them, and the bad newsblurted out by Billee Dobb. While Mr. Merkel went in the house, wherehe talked to his wife and daughter, speaking only sketchily of theresult of his trip and Billee's remarks, the boys began to question theveteran puncher. It developed that other hands on Diamond X had alsoheard rumors of sinister stories about Dot and Dash.

"But we never had no reason, before, for speakin' of 'em," remarked

Squinty Lewis. And that, generally, was the sentiment. But though he could not have guessed his employer was on a mission to Los Pompan,

Billee reproached himself for not having sounded a warning.

"Do you honestly mean to say, Billee," asked Bud while his cousinslistened eagerly, "that there wasn't any way of tellin' how thosepunchers and the cattle died?"

"Absolutely not, boy!" was the reply. "They'd be all right one day, and the next they'd be dead."

"Maybe lightning struck 'em," suggested Nort.

"Lightning leaves a mark," Billee replied. "Besides, these things – Imean the deaths – would happen in clear weather. We didn't have manystorms, though lightning did kill some cows and I remember one puncherwho cashed in his chips that way. He was a nasty looking object, too, let me tell you. But Death Valley don't depend on lightning to getyou. There's some other way."

"Well, we're going to find out what it is!" declared Bud and hiscousins backed him up so forcefully that, in the end, Mr. Merkel atlast consented to the boy ranchers going to Dot and Dash, at least tolook the place over.

"I'm not going to ask you to try and sell it for me, so I won't bestuck," the ranchman said after his decision was made. "I'm not goingto palm off a death-dealing place on somebody the way Barter, so itappears, loaded me up with it. But I don't yet admit anything iswrong. However, if you boys find there is, just close up shop andwe'll forget it."

"No, Dad, we won't!" said Bud in a low voice, but with greatdetermination.

"What'll you do then?"

"We'll find that death-dealing ghost and lay him, or her or whatever itis!" cried the lad.

"And we'll be with you from the drop of the hat until the last gun isfired," cried Nort, while Dick nodded his agreement.

"Well, I like to hear you talk that way," Mr. Merkel said. "But I dohope nothing happens," he added anxiously, when the boys left to makepreparations for taking the trail to Death Valley.

"Something is bound to happen!" said Billee, who had been present whenthe decision was made. "But maybe these boys'll be able to beat thegame. They cleaned up the Chinese smugglers and beat the rustlers, sothey may cheat this mysterious death – whatever it is."

"Hush!" warned Mr. Merkel, for the old man, in the rancher's privateoffice, had spoken rather loudly. "I don't want my wife and Nell tohear. They'd never let the boys go, and I'm not sure I should, either."

"I'm going to be with them," Billee said, as if that meant a lot, andit really did.

"I'll send Yellin' Kid and Snake Purdee, too," decided Mr. Merkel.

"Yes," agreed Billee, "and it's going to be hard to beat that bunch.Well, maybe the curse has died out, but I'm afraid not – I'm afraidnot," he added with an ominous shake of his head as he went to thecorral to arrange about selecting the horses for the coming trip.

Los Pompan was about a week's ride, by easy stages, from Diamond X, andwhile the trip could have been made by train or auto, the boys decidedto take their horses. Considerable in the way of supplies must betaken, and, after all, an auto is not of much use, even theever-dependable flivver, in riding herd, a round-up or cutting out abunch of cattle for shipment. Albeit most of the ranchers owned carswhich came in handy for going to and fro from town, or getting in foodand supplies to the ranch house.

"We may be able to pick up a cheap, second-hand car after we get outthere," remarked Nort when his brother and Bud were talking plans overwith him a few days before the start. This was after they had decidedto ride their ponies to Death Valley rather than take the rusty andtrusty old Tin Lizzie which they owned and which carried them back andforth between Happy Valley and Diamond X.

"Yes, we may need a car to run down this mysterious death-dealing forcethat Billee sets such a store by," agreed Bud.

Final preparations were made. The boy ranchers, with Billee, Snake andYellin' Kid were to take over Dot and Dash. Mrs. Merkel and Nell saidtheir good-byes, happily unaware of the dangerous phase of theundertaking. As for the boys, they would not admit it was dangerous.To them it was a great lark.

"I only hope they'll sing the same tune after they've seen some of thethings I've seen," remarked Old Billee. "But I'll stick by 'em to thelast!"

"On our way!" cried Bud, the morning of the start, when their ponieshad been saddled and extra mounts, carrying packs, were loaded withfood and supplies.

"Hit the trail!" echoed Nort.

"And we'll come back with its scalp!" added Dick, referring, though notspecifically, to the mystery.

"Good-bye, boys," said Mr. Merkel in a low voice. "And – take care ofyourselves," he added as he clasped firmly the hands of his son andnephews. "Don't take any risks."

"No, sir!" they promised. But Mr. Merkel took that for what it wasworth.

So they were on the trail at last, setting out with high hopes andlight hearts for Death Valley.

"Where's that outfit heading for?" asked a passing puncher from CircleT ranch, the nearest to Diamond X, and a place owned by Thomas Ogden, who was quite friendly with Mr. Merkel.

"That outfit?" questioningly repeated Babe Milton, sizing up the manand noting that he was a stranger, "that bunch is going to Los Pompanto take over a new ranch the boss bought." It was no secret – half thepeople around Palmo knew what Mr. Merkel had done, though they had notheard the sinister reports of Death Valley.

"To Los Pompan, eh?" murmured the puncher, looking at the cloud of dustwhich hovered over the cavalcade of the boy ranchers. "Los Pompan,"and he seemed unusually interested.

"Know anything about it?" asked Babe.

"Who, me? Not a thing!" and, putting spurs to his mount he was off andaway.

"I don't want to be impolite," murmured Babe as he watched the puncherdisappear in a cloud of dust, "but I think you're a liar!"

Meanwhile the boy ranchers were on the trail. What they would find in

Death Valley not even Billee Dobb could tell.

CHAPTER IV
A NIGHT ALARM

"Well, Dick, how they coming?"

Bud Merkel urged his pony up alongside the mount of his cousin and gaveyoung Shannon a friendly poke in the ribs.

"Oh, everything's fine, Bud," responded Dick.

"How about you, Nort?"

"I'm sitting pretty," was the response from the other boy rancher.

"That's good," and Bud began to whistle a lively air. "Thought maybeyou were getting tired of the trip."

"What, so soon? And we've only been on the trail three days!"exclaimed Nort. "What do you think we are – tenderfeet?"

"Sure not!" replied Bud. "But this is one of the longest trips we'veever taken without something happening, and I thought maybe you twowere getting discouraged."

"Nothing to it!" chuckled Dick. "As you say, nothing much has reallyhappened, but we've been having a fine time since we started out fromDiamond X."

"And there's still plenty of time for things to happen before we get to

Dot and Dash and see what Death Valley looks like," suggested Nort.

"You said it, kid!" exclaimed Snake Purdee who, with Old Billee Dobb onone flank, and Yellin' Kid on the other, was trailing the three boysalong the rough and dusty trail. "There's plenty of time yet forthings to happen."

It was their third day of travel since Mr. Merkel had sent the boys andthe older ranch hands off to take possession of his new placeconcerning which Billee had told such sinister tales. The first daywas uneventful if you eliminate the fact that the pack of one of theled horses came loose, spilling the outfit on the ground. But it waseasily salvaged though it took some little time to pursue and rope thehorse who seemed inclined to take a holiday.

The first night saw the travelers camping under the glorious stars andthough, as a matter of precaution the boys insisted on standing guard,it was not necessary. Aside from the distant howling of coyotes, not asound disturbed their slumbers.

They traveled on the next day, stopping to cook their dinner over anopen fire and the boys declared they had even beaten Ma Merkel at thecooking game. Though Billee Dobb was heard to complain that the beans, which Dick passed to him, somehow lacked the home ranch flavor.

They were now on their third day of travel, after two uneventful nightsspent in the open, and, so far, nothing had happened. Truth to tell,Dick and Nort were beginning to get a bit discouraged. They had heardmuch about the great and glorious west before coming to live at DiamondX and the things that happened shortly after they arrived were quite"up to sample," as Dick used to remark. And in the succeeding seasonsthey passed with Bud, riding fence, helping at the round-ups and at thecutting out of cattle for shipment, enough had taken place to satisfyany reasonable lad.

So it was not without reason that Dick and Nort expected somethingstartling to happen after they had started on this expedition.Especially after what Billee Dobb had told them concerning Death Valley.

"But we haven't had any trouble since that one load was spilled,"complained Dick as he and his brother and cousin rode along together.

"Are you looking for trouble?" chuckled Bud.

"Well, I'd like enough to keep from getting lonesome," was the reply.

"You take it now – "

Dick's remarks were suddenly interrupted for, at that moment, his ponyfelt its left forefoot slipping into the burrow of a prairie dog. Andin shifting and struggling to keep from going down the pony neatlyshook Dick from the saddle and deposited him in a heap alongside thetrail.

"Ride 'im, cowboy!" shouted Yellin' Kid.

"Say, this is no rodeo!" chuckled Bud.

"Are you hurt?" Nort anxiously inquired, spurring to his brother, whowas scrambling to his feet. The pony, after running on a little way, came to a stop for the reins slipped down over its head and this wassufficient signal to cause a halt.

"Hurt? Shucks, no!" cried Dick. "'Tisn't the first time I've had afall." Nor was it. Suddenly leaving the saddle was something a cowboymust count on any time of the night or day. And there are ways offalling off gracefully, and without damage, just as there are insubmitting to a football tackle. Dick and Nort had learned how toprotect themselves.

"Well, something happened then all right!" chuckled Bud as he rode onto capture Dick's pony and lead him back to the unseated ranch lad.

"Thanks, but I don't care for just that kind of happening," and Dicklaughed as he vaulted into the saddle and the travelers kept on theirway. Because of the fact that they had with them several led horses, carrying packs containing food and other supplies, their progress wasnecessarily slow.

"Well, we're half way there, I guess, aren't we, Billee?" asked Budwhen, late that afternoon, they reached a place in a grove of treesamid the foothills where it seemed a good place to make camp for thenight.

"Leetle more'n half way," admitted the old puncher.

"That's good!" sighed Dick. "I'm anxious to see what we'll find in

Death Valley."

"Do you know, Billee, I've got another idea," remarked Bud as thehorses were picketed and preparations begun for cooking supper. "Imean about the mysterious deaths of men and cattle you say you sawwhile you were a hand on Dot and Dash."

"Yes, I seen 'em all right!" declared Billee with more force thangrammar.

"I'm not doubting that," admitted Bud. "Though you don't know whatkilled 'em. But I got an idea."

"What?" chorused Nort and Dick.

"A poison spring!" exclaimed Bud. "I mean bad water. You know there'sa lot of it out this way, and especially as we get into the mineraldistrict, where dad's new ranch is located. Maybe there were poisonsprings on Dot and Dash, Billee, and the men you saw lying dead, andalso the cattle, might have drunk from them. Couldn't it happen thatway?"

"Yes, it could," admitted Billee with an emphasis which showed hisdoubt. "But I never heard tell of no bad water on Dot and Dash."

"But maybe we can find some," went on Bud.

"Find bad water – poison springs! Sufferin' horned toads, what you wantto do that for?" roared Yellin' Kid.

"To prove my point," answered Bud, "and to locate such places and fence'em off so there won't be any more deaths. If dad is going to developthis ranch he doesn't want bad water on it."

"You're right! I didn't think of that," admitted the cowboy. "The kidmay be right, Billee," he went on.

"Yes, he may be," admitted the veteran with that same emphasis ofdoubt. "And it's true enough the Boss wants to develop this new ranch.He said, if we could get it going, he'd buy a big herd and raise cattledown there. But first Death Valley has got to be cleaned up, andthat's certain!"

"And cleaning up Death Valley and solving the mystery is just what weare going to do!" declared Bud. "How about it, boys?" and he turned tohis cousins.

"We're with you!" echoed Nort and Dick in chorus.

After the meal, and as darkness began to fall, the travelers sat aboutthe campfire, the dancing flames of which cast flickering shadows overtheir faces. The men were smoking and the boys talked amongthemselves, speculating over the mystery and occasionally listening tothe conversation of Billee, Snake and Yellin' Kid.

"Well, I'm goin' to turn in!" Billee announced at last as he rose andstarted for his blankets. As the air was warm and dry they had noterected the small tent which was carried.

"Shall we stand guard?" asked Nort.

"What in the name of Tunket for?" asked Snake. "What good did it doyou to have sentry-go the other nights?"

"None," admitted Bud. "Guess there isn't much sense in it."

"What do you say, Billee?" asked Nort.

"Anybody what wants to stay awake all night listenin' to them peskycoyotes has my permission!" chuckled the old man. "As for me, I'mgoing to pound my ear," and he prepared to crawl into his bed.

"We'll let it go," Bud decided and his cousins were not at all averseto this, for it was no fun for one member of the trio to lose even afew hours' sleep while waiting to call his relief to take the nesttrick.

Accordingly, a little later, all six of the travelers were peacefullyslumbering, while the restless horses moved about the length of theirpicket ropes, picking what herbage they could reach.

It happened to be Dick who was suddenly awakened at what he judged tobe the middle of the night. And the manner of his awakening was this.He seemed to be dreaming that he was buying a new pair of shoes and, after having tried on several tentative pairs in a shop, the salesman, who was attired in the full regalia of a cowboy, gave Dick's left foota sharp kick as if to indicate that he should remove the shoe from it.

This kick was so realistic that it awakened the youth and he sat up, his eyes barely open, but feeling a distinct pain in his left foot.

"That was some vivid dream," Dick was murmuring to himself when hesuddenly became aware that some one was moving away from him – a darkfigure barely seen in the shadows of the night – shadows cast by theflickering embers of the fire. And then, in a rush, there came to theyoung rancher the meaning of this night alarm. It had been partly adream and partly an actual happening.

Some one had stepped over him as he lay in his blankets and had kickedhis foot, causing the dream to merge into reality.

"Who are you?" cried Dick sharply, reaching for his gun.

CHAPTER V
THE WARNING

Flaring up suddenly, a stick, in the embers of the fire which had longbeen smoldering, burst into blaze. By the light of this Dick saw thefigure hurrying out of the maze of sleeping bodies in the camp. Andthere was light enough to see, though dimly, that the figure was thatof an old man.

"Billee Dobb, is that you?" cried Dick, lowering the gun with which hehad begun to draw a bead on the moving figure. "What's the matter?"

But, even as he asked the question his eyes roved to the place wherethe old puncher had spread his blankets. And a huddled form there toldDick that Billee was still sleeping.

Then, before the boy rancher could again get his gun up, the mysteriousfigure that had caused the night alarm slipped out of the circle offirelight and into the shadows of darkness.

Hardly sure, even yet, that it was not all a dream, part of the queer, fantastic vision of the cowboy shoe salesman kicking his foot, Dick satthere on his blankets, fingering his gun and wondering what wouldhappen next.

"Did I see an old man or didn't I?" the boy was asking himself when twoother things happened simultaneously, in the end convincing him that itwas not all a dream.

One thing that happened was that Billee Dobb himself awakened and satup as Dick was doing.

"What's the row?" the veteran cattle puncher demanded.

Before Dick could reply there was a disturbance among the tetheredponies as though something had alarmed them. In a flash it came toDick that the intruder he had seen was trying to steal a horse. Theponies did not dream. When they saw anything they knew it was real.Accordingly the boy sharply called:

"A horse thief, Billee!"

This warning was enough to set any Westerner on the alert in aninstant, for, in spite of the progress of automobiles, the horse isstill, in the cattle reaches of the west, a thing most vitally needed.

"Horse thieves, eh?" cried Billee in ringing tones. "The varmints!

Come on, boys! We'll get 'em!"

His cries and the voice of Dick served to rouse the others in camp andin a few moments Nort, Bud, Yellin' Kid and Snake Purdee had unrolledfrom their warm blankets and had grabbed their guns. Bud threw somelight cottonwood on the embers and the blaze that at once resultedshowed objects up fairly plainly, though there was sufficient shadow tomake the picking out of any particular horse thief very difficult.

"Where is he – which way did he go?" shouted Yellin' Kid.

"Over there!" and Dick pointed the trail along which they had riddenthat day. Quickly he told his story – how he had been awakened by themidnight visitor kicking the boy's foot as he strode over him.

"Come on!" called Snake and in a moment the entire camp was trailingafter him in the direction where Dick had seen the old man vanish.

But it was like pursuing one of the shadows of the night, and it didnot take long, after emerging from the circle of illumination of thefire into the blackness of the surrounding night, to impress all withthe idea that a capture was out of the question.

"How many horses did he get?" asked Bud. "Gee! Why didn't you wakeme, Dick?"

"I did as soon as I got my wits about me," was the answer. "It allhappened so suddenly."

"Horse thieves don't generally send word they're comin'!" chuckled

Billee. "But it strikes me you've made a mistake, Dick."

"A mistake, how?"

"Callin' this old man, as you say he was, a horse thief."

"What else was he?"

"I'm not sayin' he wasn't. But he didn't take any of our ponies.

Count for yourself."

It took only a few moments to enumerate the riding and pack animalstethered near the camp and the count was found to total correctly. Notan animal was missing.

"Guess you were too quick for him," commented Nort to his brother.

"It's lucky you woke up."

"It's lucky he kicked my foot!" chuckled Dick. "Lucky for us andunlucky for him."

"Somewhat," admitted Billee Dobb. "Well, he come here and he wentaway, and we aren't none the worse off as far as I can make out. GuessI was a little out when I said not to stand guard. But I didn'timagine we were in horse-thieves' country."

"Hadn't we better have sentry-go from now on?" suggested Bud.

"'Twouldn't be a bad idea," admitted Billee.

"I'll take first shot at it," said Dick. "I'm wide awake now and since

I saw this old man I'll know him again if he comes sneaking back."

Nort and Bud were as eager to take the first watch as was Dick, but heinsisted that it go to him. So, after another supply of light wood wasplaced near the fire in readiness to throw on and produce a quickblaze, in case of another alarm, the others retired to their blanketsand Dick was left on guard.

Once more the silence of the night settled over the camp, a silencebroken only by the occasional howl of a distant coyote. Dick madehimself as comfortable as possible and at first he was able to keepwidely awake. Then as the fatigues of the day manifested themselves ina desire to go to sleep once more he found himself wishing that theintruder would come back again to furnish excitement to keep him awake.

But nothing like that happened. The night continued quiet and in duetime it came the turn of Bud to relieve Dick. Later Nort relieved Budand finished the night watch which came to an end when a rosy tint inthe east announced, the coming of a new day.

"Well, you didn't catch anybody I see!" chuckled Billee as he sauntereddown to the water hole to wash for breakfast.

"No, nothing happened while I was on duty," announced Bud.

"He knew better than to come while I was sitting up waiting for him,"added Nort.

"You didn't see anything; did you, Dick?" asked Yellin' Kid of theremaining sentry. "I mean after the first scare."

"No, nothing. He didn't come back – whoever he was."

"Wonder what he came for, anyhow?" mused Bud who had started to follow

Billee to the water hole.

Suddenly Nort, who was walking near his cousin, stooped and pickedsomething up off the ground. It was a soiled bit of paper, evidentlypart of what had once been a grocery bag.

"Maybe he came to leave this!" suggested Nort as he turned the paperover.

"Came to leave that – what is it?" asked Bud.

"It's some sort of a warning, I guess," was the answer. "Look!"

He held the soiled scrap out to the others. The writing was large andstraggling, but it was plain. The warning said:

KEEP AWAY FROM DEATH VALLEY IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU. S. T.

CHAPTER VI
AT DOT AND DASH

Silently the little circle of ranchers, young and old, gazed at theominous warning Nort had picked up. Yellin' Kid was the first tospeak, following the reading of the message on the dirty piece of bagpaper.

"Well, I'll be horn-swoggled!" voiced the Kid in his usual loud tones.

Billee Dobb looked sharply from Nort to Dick and then at Bud.

"This any of your doin's?" he asked.

"Our doings! What do you mean?" challenged Bud.

"I mean you aren't getting up some stunts for the rodeo – oh, Iforgot – that's off," the veteran puncher hastened to add. "But none ofyou youngsters did this, I hope."

"Dropped that warning?" questioned Dick. "I should say not! I didn'tdo it!"

"Nor I!" voiced Nort. "I picked it up, and I can see, Billee, youmight naturally be suspicious of me as one who knew just where tolocate this piece of paper. But I had nothing to do with it."

"Nor I!" said Bud. "'Tisn't my idea of the right kind of a joke toplay."

"You never can tell what young fellows will do," murmured Old Billee.

"But I'm glad to hear you three say you had nothing to do with it.

Sort of relieves me."

"'Tisn't my kind of writing," went on Dick as though he thought, because he had given the first alarm and had been, in fact, the onlyone to view the midnight intruder, that more suspicion might attach tohim as the joker than to any one else.

"I'm not much on writin' myself," declared Yellin' Kid, "and while Imight say I'd be proud if I could sling a pen the way this feller did,I want it distinctly understood I didn't have nothin' to do with it."

"You needn't tell the folks in the next county about it," gently chidedBillee. Then he took the paper from Snake Purdee, who was curiouslyexamining it, and subjected it to a close scrutiny.

"Make anything of it, Billee?" asked Yellin' Kid endeavoring to put thesoft pedal on his voice.

"The writin' ain't that of anybody I know," said the veteran, "and Ican't, offhand, recall anybody whose initials are S.T. But TimMellick, who keeps the store over at Palmo, has paper bags of the samekind of stuff as this."

"I don't believe that will be much of a clew," said Dick. "Most paperbags are alike, and store keepers get their supply of them from awholesale house that supplies a hundred customers."

"No, I don't reckon we can do much toward pickin' up the trail of thisfellow from that scrap," admitted Billee. "So the next best thing todo is to get breakfust."

"That's right – let's eat!" exclaimed Snake.

"But you aren't going to throw that away; are you?" asked Dick as hesaw Billee folding the ragged piece of brown paper containing thesinister warning.

"Throw it away? Oh, no! Of course I'm not. I'm going to keep ituntil I can find out what it means."

"What it means is plain enough," said Bud. "Somebody doesn't want usto go on to Death Valley and Dot and Dash ranch."

"All the more reason why we should go on there and see what it means!"cried Nort.

"That's the talk!" echoed his brother and cousin.

"If they're trying to scare us away, they'll find we don't scare wortha cent," added Bud.

"It goes to prove, though," remarked Dick, "that Billee's story islikely to be borne out. I mean that there's something queer going onat Death Valley."

"Queer is right!" assented Bud. "Though whether this is a warning inour interests, sent by one who doesn't want to see any of us get putout of business with the poisoned water, or whether it's a warning tokeep away so we won't discover some crooked business – that's somethingwe can't answer."

"Not yet," said Billee Dobb significantly. "But we'll soon be able to.I've got my mind made up, now. I'm going to see this thing through tothe finish!" and he smote his right fist into his open left hand with asound like the report of a small gun.

"That's the way to talk!" cried Yellin' Kid. "I wish I'd had a sightof the fellow who dropped that warning," he went on. "He would besitting down here now talking Turkey and tellin' what it was all about.Why didn't you call me first, Dick?"

"I raised the alarm as soon as I could wake myself up," was the answer.

"But I guess we were all sleeping pretty sound."

While Snake was frying the bacon and making the coffee, some of theothers cast about the camp in a circle, seeking some clew to themidnight visitor. But nothing could be found that shed any light onthe mystery. It was evident that the man, whoever he was, had riddento the camp, had picketed his horse out some distance and then hadsneaked in among the prostrate, sleeping figures. Evidently his objectwas merely to leave the warning, and not to rob or commit some moreserious crime. And his touching the foot of Dick was an accident.Then, seeing he had caused an alarm, the man slipped away, dropping hisnote.

Puzzle their heads as they did, none of the six could recall any one, either among their friends or enemies, whose initials were S.T. andDick's suggestion, that the symbols of a name were only assumed, seemedto be generally accepted.

Breakfast was eaten, camp was broken and once more, after anothercasual casting about for possible clews to the intruder, the cavalcadewas under way. But one more night separated them from the vicinity ofDeath Valley and the new ranch.

"And the sooner we can get there and begin checking up on some of thethings we've heard the better I'll like it," remarked Bud.

"I guess we all will," echoed Nort.

"I only hope we'll find something tangible, and not a lot moremysteries," spoke Dick.

"It'll probably turn out to be poisoned springs or bad water,"suggested Yellin' Kid. "That's the most reasonable explanation."

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