The Boy Ranchers on the Trail | Page 5

valley was originally called Buffalo Wallow, the source of the
name being obvious. But once water was brought through the
underground course, and piped to a reservoir, whence it could be
distributed to drinking troughs for the cattle, and also used to irrigate
the land, it enabled a fine crop of fodder to be grown. With the bringing
of the water to Buffalo Wallow, or Flume Valley, as Bud called the
place, it was possible to do what had never been done before--raise
cattle there. Bud's father let him take this valley ranch as his own, and
Nort and Dick were boy partners associated with their western cousin,
Mr. Shannon putting up part of the needed capital to make the start for
his sons.
All would have gone well except for the mysterious stoppage of the
flow of water, which stoppage, if continued, would mean disaster.
How the water fight at Diamond X Second (as the valley ranch was
sometimes called) ended, and how the strange mystery was solved, is
the story in the second volume, and I absolutely refuse to go into more
details about it here. It would not be playing the game square.
At any rate the water was finally turned back into the underground
tunnel, and then, in order to better guard this vital necessity, Mr.

Merkel had the entrance to the tunnel boarded up-- egress being
possible only when heavy doors, at either end, were unlocked.
I might say that while the tunnel was the old water-course of a vanished
river, the shaft under the mountain appeared, in. ancient times, to have
been used by the Aztecs, or some Mexican tribes, for hiding their store
of gold away from the Spaniards. There were secret passages and
rooms in the tunnel, to say nothing of hidden water gates.
Who had constructed these, and what actual use had been made of them
was, of course, lost in the dim and ancient past. But that it was the
Aztecs, or some allied race, was the statement of learned men who
examined the tunnel.
After the water fight at Diamond X Second had terminated in favor of
the boy ranchers, and great copper levers that operated the hidden water
gates had been removed, the tunnel was boarded up, and was now
seldom entered.
But now, as Bud and his cousins rode back from the big round-up, and
the western lad had, as he thought, seen some one sneaking about the
forbidden gate, there was a feeling of apprehension in the hearts of
himself and cousins.
They had now reached the top level of the reservoir which held a
storage supply of water. The reservoir was a great semi-circular bank of
earth and atones, wide enough on top for two to ride abreast.
"I don't see any one," remarked Nort, straining his eyes to pierce the
gloom and shadows into which the face of the tunnel and the locked
gate were thrown by the moonlight and clouds.
"Nor I," added Dick.
"Well, I saw some one!" insisted Bud. "It was a man, as sure as snakes,
and he seemed to be trying to open the big gate."
This gate was made of heavy bolted planks and was set on hinges in a

jamb of other planks and boards that closed the reservoir end of the
tunnel water-course. A similar barrier and big door was at the Pocut
River end.
"Well, if he was here, he seems to be gone," observed Nort "Maybe it
was a sheep herder, Bud."
"Well, if any of that gentry think they can drive their flock over here,
and water their woolies at my expense, they're mistaken," declared Bud
with emphasis. "Sheep men have to be, I reckon, but they're out of
place in a cow country. Hello, there!" he called, loudly. "Come on out
and show yourself!"
But there was no answer, and the only sound, aside from the creaking
of the damp saddle leathers, was the splashing of water as it flowed
from the big pipe and into the reservoir.
"Guess he lit out," observed Bud, thrusting his gun back into the
holster.
"Or else you didn't see him," chuckled Nort. "Maybe your eyes are full
of dust, same as mine are, from that round-up."
"Oh, I saw somebody all right!" declared Bud. "Might 'a' been one of
Buck Tooth's Indian friends making a call, but--"
He suddenly ceased speaking and leaned over in his saddle to gaze
earnestly at something on the ground. It was something that glittered
and shone in the mystic moonlight as Nort and Dick could see. "What's
that?" inquired the latter.
In answer Bud slipped from his saddle and picked up the object which
the moonlight had revealed.
"What in the world is this?" asked the boy rancher, as he held