ad been conveyed
to him.

"Do you think these rustlers were responsible for the deaths here in
this valley?" asked Nort. "Have they been setting off this gas--or
some even worse--and killing cattle, men and horses?"

Billee Dobb shook his head.

"Death Valley got its name a long while back," he said. "Long before
these fellers could have been operating. This is some new dodge, take
my word for it."

"It's a queer way to rustle cattle--kill 'em with gas," said Yellin'
Kid.

"Oh, they keep the gas for humans that might try to catch 'em, I
guess," Billee went on. "That's just something to cover their
operations. And it doesn't solve the other deaths that took place
here."

"You say you saw those men digging away in the cave, cracking rocks and
the like of that?" asked Snake.

"That's what I think I saw," spoke Bud. "Of course I don't know _what_
I really saw and what I may have _dreamed_, half unconscious as I was.
But it's easy to find out if any digging has been done in the cave. We
can take another trip back there and----"

"That's just what we'll do!" cried Nort

"And we'll catch these fellows an' string 'em up!" cried Sam Tarbell.
"They killed my best horse and I'm going to have revenge on 'em. Are
you with me, boys?"

"Sure!" cried half a score of cowboys, their hands going to their guns.

"We'll revenge Bud, too!" exclaimed Dick.

"That's the talk!" shouted Yellin' Kid. "Let's get at these _hombres_
an' chase 'em out of the country!"

Eager and excited, angry, and justly so, the crowd was ready for
anything. They would have rushed at once into the defile but that
Billee Dobb held up a restraining hand.

"We want to go at this thing calm and cautious like," he said. "We
want either to catch these scamps or drive 'em out. At the same time
we want to find out what their game is."

"That's right," agreed Bud. "The more I think of it the more I'm sure
I didn't _dream_ I saw 'em digging something out of the sides of the
cave. They _really did it_."

"Diamonds, maybe!" exclaimed Snake, eagerly.

"Be yourself, boy!" chuckled Yellin' Kid. "Diamonds don't grow out
here."

"All right--have it your way," mildly assented Snake.

"So it would be a good thing to see what these birds were up to," went
on Bud. "I'm still so sort of knocked out that I can't do much. I've
got to get back and rest up. But if you boys want to go back up there
and see what you can find, and do, I'm willing."