kel to ask: "Did I
understand you to say you'd taken over the old Dot and Dash ranch?"

"That's right, Billee."

"Is that the outfit not far from Los Pompan, near the Mexican border?"

"That's the place, Billee."

"Hum!" The old man seemed lost in thought for a moment. Then he went
on with: "It's in a valley; ain't it, Boss?"

"Yes, Billee, in the prettiest valley, outside of Happy, that I ever
laid eyes on. It's an ideal place for a cattle ranch. I'm lucky to
get hold of it at the price I did. But Jed Barter was anxious to sell
out and----"

"'Scuse me once more, Boss," and Old Billee seemed very anxious and
much in earnest now, "but did you hear any rumors or talk about Dot and
Dash before you bought it?"

"No, Billee, I didn't. What do you mean?"

"Didn't anybody tell you the local name of the place 'fore you took it
over?"

"The local name! Why, no. What's the name got to do with it?"

"Nothin' much, maybe," slowly answered Billee while the boy ranchers
regarded him curiously. "Only Dot and Dash ranch is located in what
has always been called Death Valley, and nobody has ever been able to
make a success of it as long as I can remember. I wish, Boss," he went
on earnestly, "that you'd 'a' told me 'fore you bought this ranch. I'd
'a' put you wise to what it really is--Death Valley!"

"Death Valley?" echoed Bud Merkel. "What do you mean? Who died there,
and how come?"

An ominous hush fell over the assemblage of cowboys on the corral fence
and they looked from Billee Dobb to the owner of Diamond X. The bad
news, clearly, had startled him from his usual calm.

CHAPTER II

UNDAUNTED BY FEAR

"Look here, Billee," began Mr. Merkel as he leaned against the fence
for he had just returned from a long journey and was rather weary. "Is
this a joke or are you just stringing me?"

"No stringing, Boss, and not a joke either. You've bought a ranch in
Death Valley as sure as shootin', and while I wish you good luck I
don't see how you're going to have it--not if Death Valley is like what
it was years ago."

"You aren't getting my new Dot and Dash ranch mixed up with Death
Valley in the Panamint Mountains of California; are you?" asked Mr.
Merkel. "I know that place--four hundred feet below sea
level--alkali--borax and all that sort of stuff. Do you mean----?"

"No, I don't mean that Death Valley," interrupted Billee. "This Death
Valley I speak of is only a local name for the region ar