The Boy Ranchers in Death Valley: or, Diamond X and the Poison Mystery

Elixer on Sam and his companions had a new thought.

"Will that save the dead steers – I mean the steers that seem to bedead?" he asked the hermit. "There's half a dozen of 'em out on thehill, and – "

"No," replied Tosh, "this stuff won't bring the dead back to life. Itwill only revive where a spark of life remains. And, in any case, itisn't effective on animals. It is only for humans."

"Then our steers are dead," sighed Dick.

"Guess that's a foregone conclusion," agreed Nort. "But what do youthink of him, anyhow?" he asked Bud in a whisper, indicating Tosh.

"You mean do I have any suspicions against him?"

"Yes. Do you think he may have gotten hold of a cylinder of the poisongas and sprayed it on these men so as to get a chance to use his Elixerto revive them?"

Before Bud could answer there was a noise as of men and horses comingup the defile, and, thinking it was some of the former gang returning, guns were whipped out. But they were not needed. Two mild-manneredand inoffensive appearing men rode into sight. They had the look ofcollege professors. Behind them rode Billee Dobb.

"Hello, boys!" greeted Billee, all unaware of the recent sensationalhappenings. "Here's the mine experts your dad sent out to look overour gold prospects, Bud. They're going to test the quality of the ore, and see how much it assays to the ton. That's the right way to expressit; ain't it?" He turned to the older of the two men.

"That is perfectly correct, Mr. Dobb. And if you will show us the minewe can soon tell you, approximately, how valuable it is."

"It's in that cave. You'll find lots of gold there. And the first lotthat comes to me is goin' to be spent for a self-playin' piano. Butwhat happened here?" Billee asked, for he was now aware that somethingunusual had taken place.

"The darn scoundrels!" he exclaimed when he had been told of the deathof the cattle and the plight of the men. "So they come back; did they?Well, we'll soon have a big force here takin' out gold and we'll keepbetter guard."

Meanwhile the mining experts went into the cavern to test the gold mine.

CHAPTER XXIV

A STRANGE DISCOVERY

Billee Dobb, having listened to the stories of Bud and his cousins, andthe tale told by Sam and his pals, shook his head dubiously.

"I can't figger it all out," he said. "But you sure done a noble job,Tosh, and we thank you for it. Can you tell us anything about thoserascals with their tanks of gas?"

"I don't know nothin' about gas tanks," said the old man. "But morethan once I've warned you men about – "

What the warning was he did not get a chance to explain, for at thatmoment Professor Dodson, the mine expert, with his assistant, ProfessorSnath, emerged from the interior of the cave, into whose black depthsthey had disappeared some time ago, while Bud and the others weretalking.

"By golly!" exclaimed Billee, suddenly changing the subject. "They gottheir report ready pretty quick. I reckon the gold's so thick in therethey don't need to make much of a test. Whoopee! I'll soon have myself-playin' piano!" He was as eager and excited as a boy. Indeed Budand his cousins were not a little excited as they looked at the twoscientists who came out carrying specimens of ore which they hadknocked off the walls of the cave with their peculiar hammers.

"Didn't take you long," commented Bud.

"No, this was an easy problem," answered Professor Dodson. "We don'teven need an assay to determine our findings."

"By golly! What do you know about that?" cried Billee. "About howmany dollars will she run to the ton?" he asked. "I only want to knowabout," he stipulated. "I won't pin you down by five or ten dollars,'cause I think that wouldn't be fair. But roughly about how much doyou think our mine will assay to the ton?"

"How much what?" asked Professor Dodson with a peculiar smile. "Howmuch what to the ton?"

"How much gold, of course!" exclaimed Billee. "What else? Gold's whatwe want; ain't it?" and he chuckled as he turned to his friends.

"Sure – gold!" was the murmur.

"Then I'm sorry to have to tell you that there is not one ounce of goldin any number of tons of ore and rock in that cave!" was the unexpectedand startling answer. "There isn't any gold at all."

"No gold!" cried Bud.

"No gold!" echoed his cousins.

"No – no – gold!" faltered Billee Dobb, his jaw falling. He saw hisself-playing piano fading back into the dim vista of his dreams.

"No gold," repeated Professor Dodson. "What we have here," and heindicated the ore specimens held by himself and Professor Snath, "is aselected lot of samples of iron sulphid. It is a yellow ore that looksvery much like gold, but which has none of the properties of real gold.In fact it is so often mistaken for the valuable metal that it has cometo be called 'Fools' Gold.' I am sorry, but such is the case. I shallso report to Mr. Merkel, who engaged me to come out here after hearinghis son's account."

"Fools' gold!" murmured Bud. "Well, it fooled us all right."

"Yes, and it fooled those other fellows," said Nort. "The men with thegas cylinders," he added.

As the two professors looked a little puzzled, Dick explained:

"There were some men hiding in this cave who must have thought, thesame as we did, that it contained gold. They drove out Mr. Tosh, whoused the cavern to brew his medicine. Then they drove us out. Theyused tanks of some poison gas, or at least gas that made a manunconscious. We had to put on gas masks, the kind used in the war, tofight 'em. But we drove 'em out."

"And a lot of good it did us," said Bud gloomingly, "if there isn't anygold in there."

"No, the evidence is too plain to be mistaken," said Professor Snath."It does not even require a laboratory test to prove that the cave isrich in iron sulphid, but not gold."

"Maybe it will turn out to be an iron mine instead of a gold mine!" putin Billee, with new hope showing on his face. "Iron's valuable. Notworth as much as gold, of course, but a good iron mine – say, boys, maybe I'll get that self-playin' piano yet."

But again his hopes were dashed.

"It wouldn't pay to work this section even for iron," said Professor

Dodson, and his assistant nodded his agreement.

"Well, then," remarked Nort, "we'll have to keep on raising cattle."

"But we can't do that if these fellows are going to let loose a floodof poison gas and kill them off every now and then!" bitterly criedBud. "We're beat either way you look at it. Just as you said, Billee, this is Death Valley."

"Tell me more about this!" suddenly suggested the older scientist.

"What is all this about poison gas in tanks killing cattle?"

"I can tell you!" came from Old Tosh. "I know all about it but nobodywould ever listen to me. They said I was crazy. But I know! Lookhere!"

He pointed to a crack, or fissure in the rocky floor of the glen, notfar from the cave entrance. It was just such a crack as Bud and hiscousins had noticed one day near the place where they had found somedead cattle.

"Listen to that! It's rising!" cried Old Tosh, bending over the crack.

The two professors, the boy ranchers and some of the punchers leanedover and listened. From somewhere down in the depths of the earth camethe rustle and swish of running water.

"An underground stream," said Professor Dodson. "They are not uncommonin this region. But – "

Suddenly he started back and withdrew his face quickly from above thecrack in the earth.

"Hurry away from here!" he cried. "The gas is rising. I begin tounderstand now. It is the secret you have been trying to solve. Hurryaway! It may not be deadly, but it will overcome all of us in a shorttime."

He ran down the defile, away from the long fissure, followed by theothers, Billee and his men driving the ponies before them. ProfessorDodson had made a strange discovery, after Old Tosh had put him on thetrack of it.

CHAPTER XXV

THE END OF DEATH VALLEY

Hurrying along, some of the men in their saddles, others stumbling onfoot, not having taken the time to mount, the whole party rushed out ofthe defile. It was not until they had reached open country, somedistance removed from the entrance to Smugglers' Glen, that the olderscientist thought it safe to call a halt. And he did not do this untilhe had looked around, with his assistant, to make sure there were noearth fissures near, and had also ascertained the direction of thewind. He tested the air by breathing deeply of it and said:

"We're safe for a time. But there's no telling how long. This is amost remarkable natural phenomenon – one of the most remarkable I haveever happened upon."

"Very remarkable," agreed Professor Snath.

"But what's it all about?" asked Bud. "We've seen those earth cracksbefore."

"And near the place where there were dead cattle," added Nort.

"We heard running water down below, too," was Dick's contribution tothe general information.

"Those cracks go down to the bed of an underground stream," explainedProfessor Dodson. "The subterranean river, brook or whatever it is, must flow a long distance under this ranch," and he looked over theexpanse of valley, hill and plain. "Now an ordinary underground streamis not dangerous. In fact where it comes to the surface, as many do,it provides valuable water. But the stream below here is impregnatedwith a deadly gas." He gave it a long Latin name. "At least if it isnot always deadly," he went on, "and it may not be so at all times, owing to dilution, it is risky to breathe it. I think that is theexplanation of the deaths of your cattle," he said to Bud. "And youmen who were rendered unconscious," he indicated Sam and his guards,"you must have breathed a modified form of the gas."

"But those fellows had gas in tanks!" cried Nort.

"No question about that!" added Billee. "Did they bottle up this stuffyou gave such a long name to, Professor, and shoot it out at us?"

"No," was the answer. "I am inclined to think these unknown men used avery different kind of gas against you – probably a comparativelyharmless vapor discovered during the war activities. I think there aretwo puzzles here and that they are both in the way, now, of beingsolved."

"It looks so," murmured Bud. "But how is the poison gas generated andhow does it come up out of cracks in the earth to kill cattle and knockout our men?"

"The explanation is probably very simple," said the scientist. "Theremust be, somewhere near the head of the defile we just left, a depositof the mineral or ore from which this gas I speak of is generated. Itis somewhat like carbon monoxide, but more powerful even in the openair."

"Water, flowing over a bed of this mineral, liberates the gas in theform of an almost invisible vapor. It is swept forward in a cloud bythe wind, some of it is carried along above the course of theunderground stream, and as soon as it reaches an opening in the earth, like a fissure crack in the rock or ground, the gas rises and whoeverbreathes it dies or is rendered unconscious for a time, according tothe strength of the vapor. At one time the underground stream may bestrongly impregnated with the dissolved chemicals that generate thegas. At another time the emanations may be comparatively weak. That,I think, is the explanation of happenings here in Death Valley, as youcall it."

"Then the men who thought they had a gold mine in the cave had nothingto do with killing the cattle?" asked Nort.

"I can't say for sure, but I think not," the professor replied. "I aminclined to believe that they got these tanks of gas to use in drivingaway any who might try to get at their secret – a useless secret as itproves now. But the accidental deaths, both of cattle and men, fromthe underground gas must have been going on here a long time," thescientist suggested.

"They have!" declared Old Billee. "Several years back. That's why Iquit here. But we didn't know what the cause was. Some said poisonedwater, others poison loco-weed. Some said it was the souls of Indianswho were driven out of this valley years ago."

"And all the while it was just a natural gas liberated by anunderground stream running over a bed of chemicals," stated Bud.

"That's what I think," said Professor Dodson. "It remains to be provedconclusively, but that is what I think will be found."

"Then this means the end of Death Valley," went on Bud, gloomily. "Wecan't afford to stay here and raise cattle to be killed off by gas."

"No," agreed Professor Dodson. "But do not form a hasty decision.

Science can do much these days. It may be possible to neutralize this gas and so make your ranch safe. In that case it will be the end of

Death Valley but in a better way. It will be Life Valley then."

"Do you think it can be done?" eagerly Bud asked.

"I don't know. But it's worth trying. You say you have gas masks?

They will be needed I think."

"Plenty of 'em!" cried Bud. "Come on back to the ranch where we stillhave them. We may win yet!" he said to his cousins. "If the gold minepeters out, as it has done, we'll get rich raising cattle in one of thebest valleys of the west – providing the poison gas can be done awaywith."

"There's always an if in the road," murmured Nort.

But when, a little later, the scientists, the boy ranchers and some ofthe men, wearing gas masks, penetrated to the far end of the defile, they found conditions which were distinctly encouraging. ProfessorDodson located the mass of mineral which, when wet, gave off the vaporthat caused death or disablement according to its strength.

"All that needs to be done," he said, indicating the stream which ranfor some distance in the open before plunging underground, "is to builda small dam, change the course of this little river and send it downoutside the defile, instead of through it. Keep this streamentirely in the open and you will do away with the poison gas. It isreally a not very difficult problem in engineering and irrigation. Itwill not cost much to do this."

"Then it's going to be done, and it means the end of Death Valleyforever!" cried Bud. "I mean a happy ending," he added. "For we'll doaway with all danger."

"Thanks to you gentlemen and to Old Tosh," said Nort. "For he helped, didn't he?"

"Indeed he did," agreed Professor Snath.

"And when the course of the stream is changed," went on his chief,"there is no reason why the old herb doctor cannot resume work in hiscave if he wants to. It will be safe then."

"Guess he'll be glad to hear that!" chuckled Nort. "He's been like alost dog these last few weeks. Then those fellows, with their gastanks, didn't have anything to do with killing our cattle?" hesuggested.

"Not a thing," declared Professor Dodson. "It was a war against natureyou were fighting."

"We've only just begun to fight her!" cried Bud.

Mr. Merkel was not much disappointed when he learned that the cave minehad petered out.

"I never took much stock in it," he told his son over the telephone."But I'm glad you've solved the mystery of Death Valley. I'll sendsome engineers over, we'll change the course of that stream and go infor cattle raising. That's our business, anyhow, not mining."

In a few weeks the dam was constructed, the stream, where it ran in theopen, was shifted several hundred feet and there was no longer anydanger of it dissolving the chemicals and carrying the deadly gasunderground, to send it up out of fissures to the detriment of man andbeast. While the work was going on, all cattle were removed from thevicinity of the defile, which was found to be the only danger spot onDot and Dash.

The boys recalled the time when, in riding over the range, their horseshad taken such a sudden fright. They could not determine whether atthat time some poison gas might have seeped out, alarming the sensitivebeasts, or whether it was something like a snake which might havestartled the ponies. It was one of the things that remained unsolved, but it was a minor phase of the main problem which had been brought toa successful conclusion.

And so, in this comparatively simple manner, was the mystery solved andan end put to Death Valley, though it retained that name for many years.

Some time after all danger was removed, when cattle roamed freely overthe range, as near the defile as they cared to go, and when Old Toshwas again allowed to brew his Elixer in the cave, a man was arrested inLos Pompan for horse stealing. He was convicted and it developed hewas one of the men who had used the poison gas tanks against the boyranchers. He was one of a gang.

They had nothing to do with and knew nothing of the emanations ofnatural gas in Death Valley. They had heard the sinister reputation ofthe place, but that did not keep them out, and they discovered the caveand at once jumped to the conclusion that it contained gold. Theyfrightened away Old Tosh and when Bud stumbled on their operations theyadopted the sinister form of defense they used later. One of the menin the gang had served in the chemical warfare division of the A.E.F.overseas. He was an expert chemist and developed a gas that wouldknock a man out but not kill him. Thus Bud was made a prisoner, escaping when the men left him for a time.

The gang had taken considerable of the yellow ore out of the cave, and, doubtless after the battle in which they were worsted, they discoveredit to be valueless. So they had no reason to return to the territory.The gang dispersed. None of them, it appeared, had ever suffered fromthe effects of the natural gas.

Soon after the course of the stream was changed, Dot and Dash ranch wasa busy place. Several new herds were bought and pastured and more menwere hired. There was no trouble, now, in getting men from near by, for the story of the passing of the menacing gas was told all over.

Old Tosh was kept busy making his Elixer, for though the men knew itwas comparatively useless as a medicine, some of them thought it didthem good, and they rather liked the root beer taste it had.

"Why don't you put your full name on your labels?" asked Nort of thequeer old codger one day, when the boys were visiting him in his, or, rather, their cave, which he had fitted up to live in while he did hisbrewing. "You just call it 'Tosh Elixer.'"

"That's enough for a name," he chuckled. "But my first name, if youwant to know it is Simon. I don't fancy it so I seldom use it."

"Simon Tosh!" murmured Bud. "S.T. Why," he cried, "those were theinitials signed to that warning we received while we were on our wayhere. Did you come to our camp and leave that note?"

"Yes, I did," was the answer. "I heard a new crowd was coming to DeathValley and I thought I'd save their lives if I could warn them not tocome. I knew there was something with a queer smell, coming out of theearth, that killed men, horses and cattle. But I couldn't find outwhat it was. But I knew enough to get out of my cave and the glen whenI caught the first whiff of the queer perfume. It didn't get me."

"No, but it did for enough poor fellows, and for too many of our stockbefore we found out what it was," said Nort.

"I never could understand, though," said Mr. Tosh, after he hadidentified the two warning notes which Bud produced from his wallet, "Inever could understand why the gas came at some times and not atothers. You never knew when to look for it."

"Professor Dodson explained that," stated Bud. "It was due to theheight of the underground stream, and also the stream in the open. Atlow water there wasn't enough fluid to cover the bed of chemicals, andso no gas was generated. When the water rose, the gas was given off."

"Science is wonderful," murmured the old man.

The boys left him brewing his kettle of herbs. He insisted on givingthem a bottle of the Elixer though he knew they would not swallow anyof it.

"Give it to Fah Moo," suggested Mr. Tosh. "But tell him not to drinkit all at once."

"We will," promised Dick with a chuckle.

The boys rode home over the rolling plains, dotted with cattle. Nolonger need they look for lifeless forms. Death Valley, as such, wasno longer in existence.

"And we'll make almost as much money out of stock raising as if we hada gold mine," said Nort.

"Surest thing you know!" agreed Bad.

They put their horses in the corral and went in to supper.

"Smells good – whatever Fah Moo is cooking!" commented Dick. "What isit, Fah?" he asked as the Chinese cook came shuffling in.

"Melican man tulky," was the smiling answer.

"American turkey, what does he mean?" asked Nort.

"Roast pork and apple sauce," chuckled Bud, and he was right.

"Here, Fah," said Dick, handing the cook the bottle of Elixer. "Toshsent this to you."

The celestial gave one look at the flask, raised his hands to cover hismouth and ran from the room, squeaking in his falsetto voice:

"No can do! No can do!"

"He'll never open another bottle here as long as he lives!" chuckled

Bud.

And then, as the sun began to sink behind the western hills and fromthe various stations on the ranch the cowboys filed in to supper, theboys gathered at the table for the bountiful meal and were very happy.They had solved the poison mystery and made Death Valley a place oflife.

THE END