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

CHAPTER XIII
FRIGHTENED HORSES

Bud Merkel lost no time in getting connected, through the telephone, with the only physician in Los Pompan. Old Doc Taylor, the medical manwas called, though he was not very old. It was more a term ofaffection.

"Our Chink cook is poisoned!" Bud explained. "Can you come out quick?"

"Pronto!" was the illuminating reply and then there was nothing to dosave wait for Dr. Taylor's arrival.

"He's got a flivver," announced Snake who, with Yellin' Kid, had paidmore than one visit to town since arriving at Dot and Dash, therebylearning considerable about the place and its inhabitants. "It won'ttake long for the doc to get here."

"But can't we do anything, meanwhile, for that poor Chink?" asked Nort.

"Guess there isn't much hope for him if he drank all that stuff,"remarked Bud in gloomy tones. "Though we might try to help him get itout of his stomach."

"How you goin' to do that?" Snake demanded.

"By giving him an emetic," Bud answered. "Mustard and water's good,I've heard. Come on – we got to try something," and he turned to hiscousins as the most likely ones to be of service.

They found poor Fah Moo rushing around the somewhat narrow confines ofhis kitchen. The Chinese was still yelling and holding both yellowhands across the pit of his stomach. On a table, amid pots, pans anddishes, were the three bottles of the Elixer of Life. Two werecompletely emptied and the third had but a little fluid remaining in it.

"You drink all that?" asked Bud, pointing to the three bottles when hecould get Fah Moo's attention for a moment.

"Can do! Dlink lot – chop-chop!" was the groaning answer the import ofit being that he had taken the stuff quickly.

"Whew!" murmured Nort. "Guess there's no hope for him."

"There may be," said Dick. "Sometimes an overdose of poison is its ownantidote. He may have taken so much that he'll be sick and that wouldbe the best thing for him."

"He sure took an overdose," declared Bud. "See if you can find somemustard, you fellows. I'll put on a kettle of water to boil. Themustard ought to be mixed with warm water to make it work."

The boys bustled about, Fah Moo, meanwhile, rushing around, clutchinghis stomach and howling at the top of his voice. Billee and hiscompanions looked in now and then to ask if they could help, or tooffer suggestions, more or less useless, but their services were notrequired. Indeed there was room for no more first-aiders in the smallkitchen.

In due time the water was warm, the mustard had been found and a bigdose mixed. Then came the difficulty of administering it to theChinese cook, and a great difficulty it was. As soon as he got theidea that he was to be made to drink something more, and when he hadsight of the unappetizing yellow mixture of warm water and mustard in abig bowl, the cook revolted. He retreated into a corner, pulled achair in front of him and yelled:

"No can do! No can do!"

"But you've got to do!" insisted Bud. "It's the only way to save yourlife! Drink it!"

"No can dlink! Fah Moo dlink chop-chop – plenty – no can do!"

And that was all there was to it. He yipped and yapped, clutched hisstomach but would not come out of his corner nor touch the emetic. Theboys were in despair, and their comrades were of no help, Snake evensuggesting that it served the Chink right for taking the stuff. Butjust when it seemed that Fah Moo would raise the roof with his yells,Dr. Taylor arrived in his rattling flivver and took charge of the case.

"What did he take?" was his first question.

"Poison!" chorused the whole Diamond X outfit.

"All right, but what kind? I can't tell what to give him to counteractit until I know what poison it was," said the medical man.

"Here's the dope!" announced Yellin' Kid, handing over the bottlecontaining what was left of the Elixer.

Dr. Taylor smelled it, tipped the flask to get a little of the mixtureon his finger and then, gingerly, applied the digit to his tongue. Hewaited for any possible reaction, and then took a larger taste of thestuff. Then a slow smile spread over his face as he indulged in even abigger "swig," as Snake called it.

"This stuff isn't poison," he said, setting the bottle back on thetable. "If this is all the Chink drank he won't die."

"Not if he took three bottles of it?" asked Bud.

"Not if he took a dozen. It may make him mighty sick, but he won't diethis trip."

"What is that stuff?" asked Nort.

"Sarsaparilla!" was the chuckling answer. "Nothing but good, old-fashioned sarsaparilla soda pop with the pop left out. It's asflat as ditch water. Where'd you get it?"

"Bought it from an old geezer who said it was Elixer of Life," Snakeinformed the doctor.

"You mean old Tosh?"

"Don't know what his name is," Bud said, "but he's an old man and hehas a place back here in a cave. We caught him, a little while ago, brewing the stuff. Just before that we found some of our cattle deadand we sort of jumped to the conclusion that he'd poisoned the animals.Then, when we got here and found the Chink taking on so, and discoveredthe three bottles in his kitchen, empty, we thought he was poisoned."

"Not a bit of it!" chuckled Dr. Taylor. "A barrel of that wouldn'tpoison anybody, though, as I said, it would make them ill and giveconsiderable pain. Elixer of Life! Ha! Ha!"

"Do you know this old man – what did you say his name was?" asked Dick.

"Old Tosh he calls himself. Might better be Bosh! No, I don't knowhim – never saw him as far as I know. But a lot of fools in Los Pompanhave bought his dope, and it made some of them sick. That's how Ihappened to know what it was soon as I tasted it. I've seen samples inthe homes of folks who called me in to treat them for stomach pains.Almost always it was because they had taken too much of this Toshelixer. I've sampled dozens of bottles of it. He puts it out underall sorts of names – makes the labels himself, I guess. So I didn'trecognize his concoction here until I sampled it," and the medical manwaved his hands at the three bottles. "So that's that. Fah Moo won'tdie."

"He'll wreck our nerves, though, if he keeps this yelling up!"complained Bud. "Can't you give him something?"

"Yes, I can relieve him," chuckled the doctor. "Mustard and water;eh?" he went on as he saw the mixture. "Good enough but you have toswallow too much of it to be effective. I've got something that willdo the work."

He produced a couple of capsules, which after much urging, the Chinesewas induced to swallow when told they would save his life. Then he wasled outside and far away by Snake and Yellin' Kid. In a short time FahMoo was a very sick Celestial, but after that he grew rapidly betterand came creeping back to the kitchen, somewhat pale, wan and drawn, but no longer yipping, yelling and yapping.

"Can do now," he said, meaning that he could proceed with his work, which he did, when he had formally been engaged by Bud who wasvirtually head of the new ranch.

"Well, I guess that's all there is to this case," remarked the doctoras he repacked his black bag. "There was no danger. He would havegotten over it in time, anyhow."

"So the Elixer is only sarsaparilla; is it?" asked Bud.

"That's about all. Just a sort of root beer mixture of herbs and barksthe old man concocts. Harmless enough. It hasn't even the virtues ofsoda water, for that has carbonic acid gas in it and that's beneficialat times. So he calls it Life's Elixer; does he?"

"He does," assented Bud.

"And he stung me for a dollar!" sighed Snake. "Wait till I get hold ofhim! Did I hear you boys say you caught him in a cave?"

"We didn't catch him – he vamoosed as soon as he heard us," reportedBud. "But we saw him boiling the stuff. Only we thought it waspoison, on account of the dead cows."

"That's so – you did mention dead cows!" exclaimed Billee. "So Death

Valley is livin' up to its name. Let's have the yarn, boys."

Bud and his cousins explained what they had discovered and the oldercowboys looked anxious. Dr. Taylor listened attentively.

"I don't believe old Tosh had any hand in it," he said. "He bears thename of being a harmless crank, always imagining every one is going todie who doesn't take his herb medicine."

"I wonder if you could tell what those cows died of?" asked Bud.

"I could take a look at 'em," said the medical man, "but unless signsof the poison – granting that it was poison – were very plain, I couldnot say what kind was used. It would require an autopsy and a chemicalanalysis. I'm not equipped for such work."

"Well, would you mind having a look at the bodies?" asked Bud. "I knowit isn't in your line – "

"Oh, I don't mind," said Dr. Taylor, good-naturedly. "Anything tooblige. I'll run out and go over the matter with you to-morrow. I'vegot to get back to town now. Not that my practice is so large," and helaughed, "but I've got to look after it. Your Chink cook will be allright in a little while," and he hurried off in his flivver, promisingto return next day.

"How'd Fah Moo get the Elixer?" asked Bud when matters had somewhatquieted down and the Celestial was busy in the kitchen.

"Oh, I reckon he was snoopin' around and found where I hid the stuff inthe cupboard," Billee answered. "If he's going to be our regularkitchen canary, Bud, I'll have to keep things better hid."

"I guess he's had his lesson," said young Merkel. "And I guess he'llbe our permanent pot wrestler from now on. I left word for a man inLos Pompan to send me the first one he could get hold of, and Fah Moois the result."

"And I'm glad he's here!" voiced Dick. "I'm sick and tired of givingthe dishes their bath." The others felt the same about it, so Fah Moobecame a fixture at Dot and Dash.

Billee and the others were surprised at the news the boys brought backfrom their little expedition. The finding of the cave was notconsidered remarkable, as Billee said there were many such about theneighborhood.

"And it wasn't strange that old Tosh, if that's his name, skipped outwhen he saw you," went on the veteran puncher. "Likely he thought youwere coming to steal his Elixer secrets. So I guess we don't need toworry about him."

"Probably not," assented Bud and his cousins. "But," added Mr.Merkel's son, "it will be necessary to give some attention to thedeaths of the cows."

"You're right there!" declared Billee. "Looks like the same oldtrouble was starting up again."

However the mystery was not solved by Dr. Taylor who came to the ranchnext day. He looked at the dead cows, but beyond saying that they hadundoubtedly died from some sort of poison he could give no opinion.And, because of the hot weather, it was not considered wise to cut upany of the bodies to send the inner organs away for a laboratory test.

"We'll have to solve the problem some other way," Bud said.

So the unfortunate cows were buried and then, resolving not to befrightened in their operations by this streak of bad luck, the boyscarried out Mr. Merkel's ideas by completing the purchase of severalscore more head of choice animals and hiring additional cowboys to helpwith the work at Dot and Dash.

The new ranch was, by this time, quite an establishment, and thoughmany croakers in Los Pompan predicted failure for it, as those who hadgone before failed, Bud and his chums went on with their heads high andtheir hearts strong.

Fences were repaired, the herds were put out to graze, arrangementswere made to ship away cattle at the most advantageous times and thework of Dot and Dash was now in full swing. Meanwhile nothing more hadbeen seen or heard of the old hermit, as the boys called Tosh.

Bud and his cousins paid another visit to the Elixer Cave, as theychristened it, but aside from the ashes of the fire they found nothing.The cavern was too big for them to explore completely in the limitedtime at their disposal, though they resolved, after the fall round-up,to investigate it fully.

Fah Moo fitted well into the routine at Dot and Dash. He was a goodcook and was popular with the punchers for that reason. But he wascured of any "snooping" habits he may have had. He would not touch abottle of any liquid, no matter how openly it was left around. Two orthree times some of the cowboys, having heard the story, laid traps forthe Chinese. But he blandly passed them by, murmuring:

"No can do!"

Mr. Merkel had been informed of the progress of affairs and though heexpressed a little anxiety because of the fact that those five cattlehad been found dead, he added that the animals might have eaten somepoison weed which the others in the herd did not get at. And as sincethen nothing had happened, he expressed the hope that nothing would, and that his wisdom in buying Dot and Dash at a bargain would bedemonstrated.

So matters went along for a few weeks. Every one was busy, thingslooked favorable for a good season and Bud and his cousins were gettingready to laugh at themselves for thinking there was a jinx.

But one afternoon, when the three had ridden over to mend a brokenfence, and when they were returning home, as they passed the entranceto what they still called Smugglers' Glen, Dick's horse suddenlystarted, reared and then, after a fit of trembling, as though in fear, made a mad dash across the range. An instant later the steeds of theother boys did the same and three frightened horses were soon carryingtheir puzzled riders over the hills.

CHAPTER XIV
BUD DISAPPEARS

Excellent riders as were the boy ranchers, it took them some littletime and effort to calm their ponies and bring the frightened animalsto an easy canter which gave Bud and his cousins a chance to considerthe matter.

"Whew!" exclaimed the ranchman's son as he eased up on the reins andpatted the neck of his mount. "That was some dash!"

"Not much dot about it!" chuckled Nort.

"For a pun like that you ought to be forced to drink a bottle or two of

Tosh Elixer!" retorted Bud. "How about it, Dick?"

"I'm with you! That was rotten – not much dot– I suppose that's aplay on the word doubt– not much dot about it – that dash! Oh, somebody hold me!" and he shook his fist at his brother.

"I was thinking we'd soon need somebody to hold our horses," said Nort, not a little pleased at his own joking words, however nonsensical histwo companions thought them. "What happened?"

"That's what I want to know," chimed in Bud. "All of a sudden my pintohere started off as if there was a race."

"Same with me," went on Dick.

"Something must have frightened the ponies," said Nort.

"Yes, and we've got to find out what it was," declared Bud. "Come onback." He wheeled his mount as he spoke.

"Maybe we can't get 'em back," suggested Dick.

"Well, at the place where they begin to balk we'll know the troublestarted," suggested the ranchman's son. "And we'll know we have tolook for the trouble right there."

"What do you reckon it could have been to make them bolt so suddenly?"

Dick wanted to know.

"Skunks, maybe," was the thought Nort offered.

"Not many skunks in this neighborhood, thank goodness," said Bud. "Iwouldn't say there aren't any, but I've never heard of them."

"Or smelled them," added Nort.

"That's right – smelled 'em, either, and, what's more, I don't want to!

No, I don't believe it was skunks."

"Rattlesnakes, maybe," was Dick's next contribution. "Horses areafraid of rattlers all right."

"Yes, and with good reason," Bud said, "though I don't know as I everheard of a horse dying from a side-winder's bite. It may happen, but, personally, I can't prove it. All the same I don't believe it wasrattlers, though there are plenty in this region."

"Why couldn't it have been snakes?" asked Dick.

"Well, if any rattlers had sounded their warning, and they always dorattle before they strike, we would have heard them as well as thehorses would, and I didn't hear anything."

"No, I didn't, either," Dick and Nort admitted in turn. "But what wasit, then?" Nort asked.

"It was something the horses smelled!" declared Bud with conviction."They got a whiff of something they didn't like and they lit out likeall possessed."

"Do you mean a bear?" asked Dick.

"Bear what?" came from Bud who had urged his pony somewhat ahead of themounts of his cousins.

"Did the horses smell a bear, do you think?" went on Dick. "You know abear, even a tame circus one, will set a cow pony off quicker thananything else."

"Yes," agreed Bud. "But I hardly think this was a bear. There areprobably some back in the woods and hills, but they don't very oftenventure into the open, especially at this time of year. And if it hadbeen a bear I think I would have winded him."

"I don't know about that," came from Nort. "You know a horse, andalmost any other animal, has a keener sense of smell than most humans.The horses might have smelled something we didn't."

"That's true enough," assented Bud. "But the fact of the matter is Inoticed a queer sort of smell just before the horses bolted. It wasn'tvery strong, and was more like perfume than anything else. In fact Ithought it might be some sort of flower or perhaps an herb the poniesstepped on and crushed. I was just going to mention it to you fellowswhen the rush began and I had my hands full, same as you did. Eitherof you notice any smell?"

Nort and Dick had to confess that they had not, but Dick added:

"You've lived out of doors more than we have, Bud, and you got a betternose – I mean for smelling, not for shape!" he added as Bud's hand wentto his olfactory organ. "So you might have caught a whiff of somethingwe didn't."

"There's something in that, though I don't like to boast," said Bud."I'm pretty sure that's what it was – a queer smell the ponies didn'tlike, and feared, and so they ran away from it."

"But what kind of a smell could it be?" asked Dick.

"Maybe we'll find out when we get back to where the thinghappened – that is if the ponies will go back," spoke Bud.

However there seemed to be no trouble on this score, for, as the boyscame nearer and nearer to the place whence the animals had started ontheir dash, there was no sign of fear or nervousness. The steedstrotted on as they had done over any other stretch of the range, andthe deepest breathing of which the boys were capable betrayed to theiralert noses not the slightest taint in the air.

"This is mighty queer!" murmured Bud as he guided his mount to and froaround the locality. "Mighty queer!"

"It's almost as if we had dreamed it," remarked Nort.

"It was no dream the way I had to pull my horse back!" declared Dick, and the others agreed with him.

"Well, I guess we'll have to give it up and put it down as part of theunsolved mystery of Dot and Dash," said Bud as he wheeled his horsearound and headed for the ranch house.

"Unless you want to take a ride up there again," suggested Nort.

"Where do you mean?"

Nort pointed to the defile – that gulch which the boys had named

Smugglers' Glen – and added:

"We might catch the old man in Elixer Cave."

"What good would that do?" asked Dick. "You don't imagine he hadanything to do with scaring our horses; do you?"

"Not exactly," replied his brother. "But, seeing we're so near theplace, I thought we might give it the once over."

"Not much point to it," said Bud. "There's nothing to be learned upthere. No, I guess it was some sort of queer weed or flower I smelledand which also frightened the ponies. I wish I knew more about botany.I might find out what it was," and he looked at the trampled grass overwhich they were now riding. But it gave no clew.

"If there's a weed, the mere smell of which causes a horse to bolt,"said Nort, "it may be the thing that's causing the cattle to die.Maybe it's the poison weed that caused so many deaths here."

"I can't believe anything as strange as that," declared Bud. "Butafter we get things running well I'm going to have a doctor, or achemist or somebody who knows about such things come out here and lookthe place over. We've got to get to the bottom of this puzzle."

His cousins agreed with him. However there was nothing they could doat present. So they rode back to the ranch where they told theirstrange experience, and suggested to Billee, Snake and the othercowboys that it would be well for them to be on the watch, to find outif any strange weed or flower growing in Death Valley was responsiblefor the sinister manifestations.

"It may be a new brand of loco weed," suggested Yellin' Kid in his bigvoice. "Some of that's deadly."

"To eat, yes, but not to smell," Bud reminded him. "But you may beright at that. Keep your eyes open, boys."

"Loco weed!" exclaimed Billee. "I've had experience with that – I meansome ponies I once owned went crazy from it. It sure is queer stuff."He referred to a species of bean plant, growing in some sections of thewest. Horses and cattle who inadvertently eat this weed with theirother fodder run madly about as if insane and often have to be shot.Sometimes loco weed is powerful enough to kill, it is said by some, though there is a doubt on this point. But none of the cowboys hadever heard of the odor from loco weed doing any damage.

The incident of the ponies running away was soon forgotten in the rushand detail of work that soon piled up at Dot and Dash ranch. Morecattle were put out to graze, to thus fatten up for market. More handswere hired and the place soon was almost as busy, big and important asthe boys' ranch in Happy Valley, or the original one at Diamond X.

There was one thing Bud and his cousins noticed and spoke of, however, and this was that all their cowboys came from distant places, with theexception of Billee, Kid and Snake. All the hands hired gave theiraddresses as of ranches far removed from Death Valley. And though whenthey first started business the boy ranchers had endeavored to hirehands in Los Pompan, they were not successful.

"Why don't you want to sign on with us?" Bud asked more than one.

"Oh, well, I don't have nothin' against you, personal, boss," would bethe answer, "but I don't jest like that locality."

Then Bud and his cousins knew that the sinister reputation of Dot and

Dash was at the bottom of the refusal.

But enough men from other places were hired to run the ranch, andmatters were shaping themselves nicely. Bud sent word home that inspite of the sensational stories, and the one or two strange happeningsthe boys had themselves experienced, it looked as if the propositionwould be a successful and paying one. Fah Moo was a jewel of a cookand there was soon established quite a happy little family at Dot andDash.

Then, without warning, another blow fell.

It was decided that some of the original herd, purchased with theranch, could now be sold, as cattle on the hoof were bringing goodprices. And, talking it over one night, Bud and his chums planned tocut out a number of fat steers and ship them away.

"I'll ride over to that range in the morning," Bud told his cousins atthe conclusion of the conference, "and give the bunch the once-over.Then you two can do the cutting out for I've got to go to town the nextfew days to sign up some papers for dad. So I'll leave the shipment toyou."

"It will be our first from here," said Dick.

"Yes," agreed his brother. "And I hope they don't die before we get'em to the loading chutes."

"Not much danger, I guess," Bud remarked. "This jinx seems to bepassing us up. Guess it got tired of the way we came back at it.Well, I'll go over the first thing in the morning and next day you canbegin to round up and cut out."

"When'll you be back?" Nort asked his cousin when Bud slung his legover the saddle next morning. The two Shannon boys were to be busy atsome duties about the ranch during their cousin's absence.

"Oh, I'll be back by noon," was the answer.

So Bud rode away, singing the Cowboy's Lament, and idly flipping theend of his lariat.

Noon came almost before Nort and Dick realized it, so busy were they, and when Fah Moo cried: "Klum an' glit it!" which was the signal fordinner, Nort exclaimed:

"Bud isn't back yet!"

"No," said Dick. "Maybe he found the herd farther off than he countedon. But he'll be along before we finish."

However, Bud did not show up, and when all the cowboys had eaten, andthe afternoon began to wane without the return of the ranch owner'sson, his cousins looked at each other with anxious faces.

"Where do you reckon he is?" asked Dick.

"That's hard to say, but – "

"Say, let's ride out that way!" interrupted Dick. "We've finished hereand – "

He did not complete the sentence, but his brother knew what wasimplied. Accordingly a little later, saying nothing to the otherhands, the two saddled their ponies and started out on the trail tothat part of the ranch situated near Smugglers' Glen, where theoriginal bunch of cattle were grazing.

"I don't like this disappearance on Bud's part," said Nort, as theyrode along.

"Is it a disappearance?" asked Dick, pointedly.

"What else is it? He hasn't come back."

To this Dick returned no answer, but there were anxious looks on thefaces of the boy ranchers as they urged their ponies forward.