cattle, and so vital
to Diamond X Second, was spurting from the pipe freely.

"Guess they're only trying to bluff us!" was Dick's opinion.

"Maybe," assented his cousin. "But, all the same, I'd like to know who
was in our camp last night. If this thing is going to keep up we'll
have to mount guard."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," declared Nort. "I don't like to go to
bed so early, anyhow."

"You'll be glad enough to turn in after we get into the swing of things
here, branding cattle, shipping 'em off and all that," said Bud. "But
let's take a look around after we get this bunch off."

And when Yellin' Kid, with another cowboy sent by Mr. Merkel to help
Bud in getting the steers to the railroad station, had departed with
the shipment, the boy ranchers, Old Billee and Buck Tooth made a
careful examination in the vicinity of the tents.

Of course, with so many who really belonged in the camp, tramping
around it, there was little likelihood of an alien foot being
discovered. Nevertheless, Bud hoped for something of this sort. But
it was not to be. No trace of the midnight intruder, who had left the
ominous warning, was discovered. And yet he had come and gone--had
even penetrated to the tent where the boys were sleeping.

"It's either bluff, or it means something," declared Bud, as they
assembled for lunch. "And if it isn't bluff, but a _fight_, Hank
Fisher and Del Pinzo will find we can stick to our guns as well as
they!"

"You said it!" cried Nort.

"Del Pinzo didn't stay long in jail; did he?" asked Dick, for,
following the discovery of the Triceratops and the capture of the
cattle rustlers, as detailed in the first volume, the Mexican halfbreed
had been arrested.

"No, he managed to get out, and, by some hook or crook, he still
manages to escape arrest," Bud answered.

For some time it appeared that the two warnings were only "bluffs." No
sign came from the unknown, and no trace was seen of Hank Fisher, Del
Pinzo or any of the unprincipled gang which had made so much trouble
the previous year for the Diamond X outfit.

Nor did the water coming under Snake Mountain show any signs of giving
out. Day after day it ran its limpid stream, furnishing drink for man
and beast, and enabling grass to grow where it had never grown before.

"Some day I'm going to rig up a turbine wheel and attach a dynamo to
it, so we can have electric light here," declared Bud.

"That'll be great!" exclaimed Dick.

T