Willard F. Baker

“ Pocut Pete leaped back and the steer, as though taking fright at Bud's advance, lowered its head, and, with a loud bellow, sprang away.
"I told you so!" called out Old Billee. "You might 'a' got horned, Pete!"
"Oh, I was watching," came the answer. "Yes, warts do, sometimes, come on cattle," he went on. "I've cut off lots of 'em. Some beef men won't pass 'em if they have any. I thought I was doing you a favor." He spoke in an injured tone of voice.
"Well, maybe you were," admitted Bud. "First I thought you were someone else."
"One of the Double Z bunch?" asked Pocut Pete with a laugh. ”

“ Stumbling, slipping, sliding, half-falling, bruising themselves on the sharp rocks, but ever leaping forward toward the sides of the tunnel, and away from the depressed centre down which they could see the rush of waters coming, the boy ranchers at last managed to reach the granite wall. Nort had succeeded in grabbing up one of the lanterns, but there was no time for Dick or Bud to take one, and the food had to be abandoned.
"Climb up! Climb up, if there's a ledge!" shouted Bud. "We'll be drowned if we can't get above the water!" ”

“ Ride hard!" shouted Old Billee as he galloped up beside the boy ranchers.
And they were riding hard—all of them, including the cow punchers who had come in from their night's duties, expecting to be relieved. It was at this favorable—for them—moment that the rascals had made their attack.
It was so dark that only, indistinctly, could the forms of raiders be made out. But there were several of them, leaning low over the necks of their galloping steeds, and endeavoring to create a panic among the cattle so that a stampede would result. ”

“ For only a fish can exist in a hose or pipe completely filled with water, and that is what the tunnel would become if the water rose to the roof—merely a great, underground rocky pipe for the conveying of the liquid from Pocut River.
So you can easily imagine with what anxiety Bud, Nort and Dick watched the rising water. Every now and again one of them would lean over the ledge, swinging the lantern to and fro, so its gleams would be reflected in the hurrying, foaming stream, and indicate how fast it was rising. ”

“ For if there's a permanent shut-off we might as well move out of Flume Valley," he went on. "The cattle would just naturally die of thirst!"
"Isn't there any water at all?" asked Nort, as he pulled his pony up sharply when the animal stumbled.
"Not enough to water all the stock I aim to raise," answered Bud. "At the far end of the valley—away from our camp—the grass grows pretty well, for some rain does fall there once in a while. But there isn't a water-hole worth the name, and you know what happens to cattle when they can't get a drink!" ”

“ The cattle seem to care more for the tune than for the sentiment.
At any rate the bunch from Flume Valley grew more quiet as the night became darker, and when the remains of their camp fire gleamed dully in the blackness, as they made their way back to it, Bud and his cousins considered their work done for the day.
"We won't stand any regular watch," Bud said. "I think they'll be all right. But if we should hear a disturbance—I mean any one of us—he can awaken the others, and we'll do whatever we have to." ”

“ And if my mother has any pies baked, just pack a few of them."
"Only a few?" asked Billee, with a grin.
"As many as Nell will let you take," laughed Bud. "But there's Nort and Dick! Whoop! Oh, boy! Come a-runnin'!" and the young rancher beat a tattoo with his heels on the sides of his steed, and raced down the slope toward two other lads who, like himself, were attired in conventional western costume. Old Billee pulled his steed to a halt and watched the greetings.
"It's a great thing to be young!" sighed the old man. "The greatest thing in the world! ”

“ The smell of the extinguished candles was heavy on the air.
"But where did they go?" asked Bud, when a hasty glance around the rocky room disclosed no occupants.
"What's that?" asked Dick, pointing to what seemed to be a hole in the floor at one corner.
"It's a passage!" cried Billee, holding his lantern above it. "An' big enough, even for me! I'm going down!"
"Will it be safe?" asked Nort. "It may lead into the stream, or to where they have planted a mine—they spoke of a fuse——"
"You've got to take chances in times like these!" declared Old Billee. ”

“ For the first bunch of steers from the Flume Valley camp were to be disposed of shortly.
It was the day when this shipment was to be made that Bud, awakening early in the tent where he slept with his cousins, uttered an exclamation of surprise as he caught sight of something on the blanket that covered him.
"What's the matter?" asked Dick, sitting up.
"Did you leave this here?" asked Bud, as he held up a piece of board, evidently part of a packing case.
"Me? No!" answered Dick. "What is it?"
"Either it's a joke, or it's the black rabbit getting in his work," answered Bud. ”

“ Bud said, as he was riding back one day to look after the herd he had assigned to himself.
"Oh, this isn't so bad," spoke Nort.
"Real jolly, I call it!" added Dick.
"If only the water supply keeps up, and no more epidemic comes, we'll be all right," Bud announced. "At the same time I can't be sure of either."
This was true. Though the water flowed merrily on since the time the lads had penetrated the length of the tunnel, there was always an uneasy feeling, on the part of the boy ranchers and their friends, that it might stop at any time. ”

“ The boy ranchers were about to part for the evening, having spent the afternoon together over "grub," cooking at an open fire; and Nort and Dick were preparing to ride back to their herds, Bud being on the ground, so to speak, where he would "bunk" for the night.
As they rode down into a little swale amid the gathering shadows of the night, a bunch of cattle moved uneasily along ahead of them, and as the steers parted there was disclosed in their midst the forms of a man and a horse. ”

“ That's the main thing to discover."
"But we're on the track of part of it," went on Dick. "I wonder who built this secret water gate, and the lever that operates it?"
"It may be part of the work of the ancient Mexicans, the old Indians or the Aztecs, who inhabited this land ages ago," said Bud. "Copper will last almost forever, you know, even in water, as it doesn't rust. And you've read how the ancient Aztecs used to build great vaults under the mountain, and arrange to flood them to keep their gold away from the Spaniards." ”

“ But what causes the epidemic, Doc? Dad was careful not to send me any of his infected cattle from Square M, and he said you'd examined all that came, and they didn't have any of the trouble."
"They didn't," declared the veterinarian. "I examined them all, and nothing was wrong with them. But this epidemic is a germ disease, Bud, and we don't exactly know how the germs are carried. It may be something the cattle eat; the bunch grass or other fodder, in the water; or it may come out of the air. All we know is that certain germs, in some, as yet unknown, way, enter into the system of the steer. ”

“ That was touch and go!" murmured Bud, as he leaned back, half exhausted, against the rocky wall at the rear of the ledge.
"I should say so!" gasped Dick. "It all happened so suddenly that I don't know yet what it was all about."
"The stream suddenly started flowing again," spoke Bud. "That's all there was to it. Must have been dammed up some place, and suddenly released. It's still rising, too," he added, as he leaned forward and held the lantern down over the ledge where he and his cousins had taken refuge.
"Rising?" sharply inquired Nort, and there was a tone of anxiety in his voice. ”

“ But when no fluid spurted from the mouth of the black pipe, the other end being hidden in the opening of the natural water course, it spelled ruin for Diamond X Second.
"I wonder—I just wonder—if this has anything to do with the threat we received?" mused Bud, as he and his cousins went down the slope to the little table of land where the tents were pitched.
"Granting that it has, who sent the warning?" asked Nort.
"Who else but the man who doesn't want to see any water diverted from Pocut River?" asked Bud, in turn. "I mean Hank Fisher, and the gang he trails along with! ”

“ And once the germs are there, so rapid is the action that the animals die over night—as yours have done, and as your father's did."
"Has dad lost any more?" asked Bud.
"Not that I've heard of. In fact I thought by his action, in sending the healthy animals of his Square M herd here, and to his other ranches, that he'd gotten the best of it. But now the epidemic breaks out here. I can't understand it!"
The veterinarian stood looking down at the dead animal, while the buzzards patiently waited nearby for the feast they knew belonged to them. Evidently they were not fearful of germs. ”

“ In a few minutes Dick and Bud were in the water, lariats held by those on "shore" tied around their waists; and the two boy ranchers were swimming toward the big rock in the middle of the pool. Lanterns at the edge of this strange underground body of water gave sufficient light to enable the swimmers, and the others, to see Nort now standing on the great boulder which emerged from the midst of the black water. ”

“ A boat had been mentioned in the first excitement, however, but the idea was abandoned as impracticable.
"Well, if the flood came, as suddenly as it did when we had to take refuge on the ledge, we could float out," answered Dick.
"A boat to hold six men would be too big to carry," spoke Bud. "Even a folding canvas one wouldn't answer. But I know what we can do."
"What?" asked Nort.
"We can each take an inner automobile tire. Blown up, they are as good as life preservers, and with them fastened to us we can float and be carried along by the current, if a flood happens again." ”

“ Bud answered.
"Shucks! You won't have to do nothin' of the sort!" declared Old Billee stoutly. "She won't come up any farther than it did before!"
And he was right. When the water around the rock lapped the erosion mark, which had been worn in the hard stone by centuries of the flow of the fluid, the flood ceased. The roaring, bubbling and seething, like that which takes place in a canal lock, came to an end, and the water of the pool became quiet.
"There! What'd I tell you?" cried Old Billee. "I closed th' water gate, that Bud opened to let th' water out, an' she come back. ”

“ The other is, where is the lever that Del Pinzo and his gang shifted to cause this second branch stream to stop running?"
"And when we find answers to those two questions," said Dick, "I think we'll have solved the mystery."
"Right!" cried Bud. "So let's get at them. In the first place some of us will go back and shift the lever on the big rock in the first cave, while some of us stay here to see what happens." ”

“ Hello there! Wassa matter? Wassa matter?" demanded the voice of the old cowpuncher. "Where's everybody, anyhow? Nobody here but me!"
"We're over at the dam—Pocut River," called Bud into the instrument. "Say, Billee, something happened at my place last night. The water stopped, and we came over here to see where the stoppage was. But it's all right here. How about you there?"
"All serene here, Bud, all serene! Wait a minute and I'll take a look at your reservoir. I can see it from the tent where you got this talkin' contraption strung. You say the water stopped last night?" ”

“ I wish dad had sent me somebody else."
"He's a good cowboy," defended Nort.
"Yes, but I don't feel that I can trust him. I'd rather have one like Old Billee, slow as he is, than two Pocut Pete chaps," grumbled the boy rancher. "But we've got other worries besides him, fellows! What are we going to do for water, now that we have a double supply of cattle at our ranch? That's what's worrying me!"
"It's enough to worry anyone," Dick agreed. "Maybe the water will come back, Bud." ”

“ The three chums slowly rode around the bunch of cattle, the lads occasionally breaking into the chorus of some song.
The cattle seemed to like this singing—not that this is to be considered a compliment to the voices of Nort, Dick and Bud, though their tones were far from unmusical. But the fact is that animals of most sorts are fond of music in any form, and nothing so seems to soothe and quiet a bunch of cattle, especially at night, as the singing of the herders. ”

“ Yellin' Kid shrugged his shoulders, as he started for the corral to get his horse, since he was to aid in driving the cattle to the railroad stock yard.
"I don't know nothin' about th' scientific end of it," he drawled loudly, "but, mark my words, there's some queer business goin' on, an' Hank Fisher an' Del Pinzo have a hand in it. Look out for your water supply, Bud; that's my advice!"
"An' don't let any more black rabbits cross your path," added Old Billee.
"Bunk!" scoffed Bud. "Though I don't like this warning, all the same. Let's go take a look at the reservoir, fellows." ”

“ But at this moment Bud came out of the tent, having finished his telephonic talk with his father.
"There's an epidemic of disease at dad's Square M ranch," Bud explained to his cousins and the others. "It's so bad that a lot of the steers have already died, and dad is going to take off the rest of the stock before they catch the trouble. Some he's going to put at Triangle B, some at Diamond X and some he's going to haze over to us. We'll have to double up, fellows," he told Nort and Dick. "I guess dad is glad he's got Flume Valley now. ”