the hermit. "I came back here to see if those men had gone
away from my cave--the cave where they drove me out. I wanted to use
it again, for there's no better place for brewing my Elixer. I went in
the cave from the other end, and when I got here I saw you men
stretched out. I knew what had happened, right away."

"But did you see any of those rustlers, holdup men, or whatever they
are, with their gas cylinders?" asked Bud.

"No, I didn't," was the reply. "I don't know anything about gas
cylinders. The poison gas doesn't come in cylinders. It comes out----"

"Oh, yes, it does come in cylinders, and it comes out of them,"
interrupted Bud. "We have some of the cylinders that we captured when
we drove the men out of the gold mine."

"Gold mine?" excitedly cried the old man. "Where's a gold mine?"

"In that cave," and Bud pointed to it. "The cave where we saw you
brewing your pot of herbs. Didn't you know there was gold there?"

Old Tosh shook his head.

"I don't take much stock in gold," he said. "But I liked that cave
because it was so sheltered. Only, sometimes, I couldn't stay in it on
account of the gas."

"That's the gas we mean," explained Nort. "The poison gas these men
sprayed out of cylinders to keep us away so we wouldn't find there was
gold in the cave. But we got gas masks and drove 'em out."

Again Old Tosh shook his head.

"I don't know anything about gas in cylinders," he said. "But then I
been away a long time, in another county, getting different kinds of
herbs. My Elixer is better than ever now and stronger."

"I'll say it's strong!" declared Slippery Mike.

"So I came back to see if I could use my cave," went on Old Tosh. "Now
about this gas----"

But he was not allowed to go on, for Bud, seeing the effect of the
Elixer on Sam and his companions had a new thought.

"Will that save the dead steers--I mean the steers that seem to be
dead?" he asked the hermit. "There's half a dozen of 'em out on the
hill, and----"

"No," replied Tosh, "this stuff won't bring the dead back to life. It
will only revive where a spark of life remains. And, in any case, it
isn't effective on animals. It is only for humans."

"Then our steers are dead," sighed Dick.

"Guess that's a foregone conclusion," agreed Nort. "But what do you
think of him, anyhow?" he asked Bud in a whisper, indicating Tosh.

"You mean do I have any suspicions against him?"

"Yes. Do you think he may have g