"Suppose you finish telling us all about it," suggested Bud, the while
he looked in the direction taken by the old man who had disappeared.
But the picturesque figure was out of sight.

"Well, as I was mentioning, I've been knocking around the country quite
a bit," resumed Sam. "I'd have a job first on one ranch and then on
another. You fellows know how it is," he said, looking at Snake and
Yellin' Kid.

"Sure!" they murmured.

"Well, finally I ended up here and I must say Mr. Barter treated me all
right, as he did his other hands. But when cattle began to be found
dead all over the place, and when some men and their horses began to
pass out, I began to get worried. So did a lot of others and they left
so fast it was hard work to run the place with the few hands left.

"I was just getting ready to light out and look for another job when a
man came to look the Dot and Dash over with a view, so Mr. Barter said,
to buying it. Right after that Dolan, who had agreed to stay, quit
sudden like, so I promised to stick and help the boss out and I did.
The place was sold, and you say your dad bought it?" he asked, looking
at Bud.

"Yes, this is now part of the Merkel holdings," was the answer.
"Though my father didn't know anything about the queer deaths on the
place when he agreed to buy it. He didn't even know that this was
called Death Valley."

"Not until he got back to Diamond X and I told him," put in Billee.
"Then he said he wasn't going to back out, 'specially after these boys
begged for a chance to chase the jinx."

"Well, they'll get all the chance they want," remarked Sam. "No, I
don't reckon Mr. Barter would tell the bad name his place had when he
was trying to sell it. I don't say it was right of him to hold back
the news, but lots of men would have done what he did. For myself, I
never had a chance to talk to your father, so I couldn't have put him
wise if I wanted to. Dolan might have, but he didn't. And I guess
even Mr. Barter thought the thing would pass over."

"What thing?" asked Dick. "You mean the series of deaths?"

"That's it. They were mighty queer."

"I told 'em that," said Billee. "I used to work here myself years
ago," he added. "I thought maybe, after all these years, the bad luck
might have passed. But after what happened to you----"

"Just what did happen?" asked Bud. "We want to get down to brass tacks
on this thing if we can."

"'Twon't take long to tell you," sai