The Boy Ranchers in Death Valley: or, Diamond X and the Poison Mystery

"Order in the ranks!" snapped Billee with blazing eyes. "I'm in chargehere, by the instructions of the boss, and I won't have anybody sayingwhat they will and won't do! You heard me!"

He was as different from the usual mild Old Billee Dobb as chalk isfrom cheese. He was in his element and he knew it.

"No offense, chief," said Yellin' Kid, humbly and in subdued tones.

"But I do want to get a shot at these fellers!"

"I wonder if Del Pinzo can be back of this gang?" mused Nort as he rodebeside his brother toward the glen.

"I wouldn't put it past him," answered Dick. "But I thought he was injail."

"They don't seem to make, out here, the kind of jails that will keepDel Pinzo behind the bars," commented Nort. "If he's around thesediggings he'd be the very one to engineer some dirty trick."

"Speaking of diggings," went on Dick, "what do you reckon it was Budsaw those fellows digging out of the sides of the cave?"

"Give it up, for the time being. We'll find out when we get inside.But in spite of the fact that Bud thinks he saw some queer operationshe may have dreamed it all – after that gas attack, you know."

"Yea, I guess so. It's queer all around. Fancy rustlers being so upto date as to use the tactics of chemical warfare."

"There's been a lot of strange things since the Big War," stated Nort.

"Maybe some of these rustlers were in the chemical division of the

A.E.F. and learned tricks there of how to make and send out of cylinders gas that would knock a man out but not kill him."

"That's possible. But what about the horses, cattle and men who werekilled here in Death Valley? I mean years ago, the way Billee tellsit. Did these fellows have anything to do with that?"

"Hard to say, but I don't believe so."

"Then what did?"

"That's what we've got to find out after we get through with this gang."

The avengers urged their ponies ahead at a fast clip and the sun wasstill far from the meridian when they came in sight of the entrance tothe defile. Dark and sinister it loomed in contrast to the brightnessof the day. What secrets did it hold?

"I wonder if Old Tosh is up there, helping the rustlers?" mused Dick as

Billee got ready to call a halt and deploy his forces.

"Don't believe that old yarb doctor does any more harm than givingChinks the stomach-ache," chuckled Nort. "But he may have rented thatcave to those fellows."

"Nervy of him, considering that the cave is on Dot and Dash land," said

Dick.

It did not take long to get ready for the attack. Billee named the menhe wanted to remain as a rear guard in charge of the horses, and theyaccepted the detail in as cheerful spirits as possible. To the reliefof Yellin' Kid and Snake Purdee, they were not compelled to remain thusinactive.

"Though you fellows may have a fight on your hands," Billee said to thehorse guard as he posted them, "these fellows may dash out after werouse 'em, and it'll be up to you to deal with 'em."

"We'll do that all right, boss," chuckled a big, lanky puncher, one ofthe new hands hired.

With Nort and Dick at his side, Billee Dobb led the way up into thedark defile. Every man had his gun out and was eager-eyed for whatmight happen next.

"Don't make any more noise than you can help," cautioned Billee to themen back of him. "We want to surprise these hombres if we can."

On and on they went, over big and little bowlders, up into the glenwhere the frowning, towering walls looked down on them. The passagebecame narrower. They were now approaching the cave.

"Steady, boys!" called Billee as they rounded a turn and came withinview of the dark entrance to the cavern.

It was a tense moment. Some of the men carried a gun in either hand.Nort and Dick had one each, and Billee was armed likewise. A littlewind began blowing down the gulch in the faces of the attackers. Itseemed to bring with it a slight mist.

"Gettin' foggy," commented Snake. "I wonder – "

Then he began to cough and choke. So did Nort, Dick and Old Billee.

The white mist came floating nearer.

"Look out, boys!" suddenly shouted Yellin' Kid. "It's a gas attack, same as in the war. Look out!"

A moment later the party was sneezing, coughing and gasping for breathas the faint white mist, blown by the wind, enveloped them. It causeda terrible, gripping sensation, a constriction of the throat muscles sothat breathing was difficult.

"They've got us!" yelled Billee. "We can't fight poison gas! Back up, boys! We've got to run!"

It was impossible to advance in the face of this mysterious surpriseattack and the avengers were driven back. Gasping, and trying to keepfrom collapsing under the afflicting sensation, the Dot and Dash menwere forced to retreat from their unseen foes.

CHAPTER XIX

GAS MASKS

"Hold on!" yelled Snake Purdee as he swung around a ledge at the edgeof the narrow entrance to Smugglers' Glen and made a grab at Nort whowas running as fast as he could under the weakening influence of thegas. "It's all right here – the wind will blow the stuff to the east.Swing around here, everybody!" and he indicated a niche to the west ofthe entrance.

Nort stopped, his brain dully comprehending what Snake meant. Then theothers in the wild, frightened retreat sensed what the words wereintended to convey and, one after another, they gathered there incomparative safety with Snake, Nort and Dick.

"Whew!" gasped Billee Dobb whose age was telling on him, not only inthe rapid, forced retreat, but in the effect of the gas. "That wastough! But what makes you think we'll be safe here, Snake?"

"On account of the wind blowing the gas away from us. Look, there itfloats to the east. We're safe here. I didn't get nearly gassed inthe war for nothing. We're safe here till the wind shifts and it won'tdo that right away."

"What about the horses?" gasped Dick, taking deep breaths to ridhimself of the gas already breathed.

"They're all right – they're up wind, too!" shouted Yellin' Kid, whoselungs did not seem to have suffered much.

This was true enough. The ponies, with the guard of cowboys, were tothe west of the gorge entrance and, as Snake had been quick to observe, the strange, white mist which had so mysteriously floated out of thecave toward the avengers, was drifting, now, out of the mouth of thedefile and off to the east.

"If any of the cattle get in the path of that they'll be killed!"exclaimed Dick, noting how the mist clung to the ground and rolledalong as fog sometimes does when the clouds are low.

"The bunch isn't down there," said Billee.

"And I don't know as that gas is so very deadly after all," statedSnake, breathing deep after a few cautious inhalations to make sure theair was clear.