?" inquired Nort.

"Oh, I'm not saying it's bad--_yet_!" exclaimed Bud. "There may be
just a stoppage in the pipe, which can easily be cleaned out. Or, it
may be--something else."

But what else it might be he did not say, and Nort and Dick were not
sufficiently familiar with irrigation and flume lines to hazard a
guess. But they knew enough about their cousin to tell that he was
worried.

"What do you plan to do?" asked Dick, as the four rode on, their ponies
occasionally stumbling as they mounted the rocky trail that led over
Snake Mountain. "Look for that man--the one you----"

"The one I _didn't_ shoot!" interrupted Bud. "I'm as sure I didn't hit
him as I am that we four are here this minute. I know I fired too
high!"

"Unless the bullet hit a rock and glanced down," suggested Nort.

"Well, yes, that may have happened," admitted Bud. "But if he was
badly hurt he couldn't get away, as he did."

"Could he have fallen into any hole or gully?" asked Dick. "We didn't
look for that."

"He might have," admitted the western lad. "But what I'm looking for,
now, isn't that fellow, who may or may not be shot, but for the break
in my flume--that's what I want to locate. Once I get the water so
it's running back in my reservoir I'll feel better. 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!"

"I should say so!" commented Nort, for he and his brother had seen some
of the terrible suffering caused by animals having to be driven long
distances without any water being available. "Then the pipe line is
your only hope?"

"That, and the ancient underground watercourse it connects with to
bring water from the Pocut River," replied Bud. "You see, there's a
sort of natural tunnel under the mountain, and this was once an old
river bed. I suppose, or at least Professor Wright has told us, that
once this tunnel was full-up with water. But there was a change in the
direction of the old stream, and the water tunnel d