CHAPTER XXV
HAPPY VALLEY
Leaving behind them the roaring, rumbling jet of white water that camefrom the unknown and went thitherward, the boy ranchers and theirfriends made their way back to the main tunnel.
"Well, there are two things we have to settle," declared Bud, when theyhad sat down on convenient rocks, near the running stream, and began toconsider matters.
"What are they?" asked "Nort.
"One is, what effect has the turning of that lever we worked on themain stream? The other is, where is the lever that Del Pinzo and hisgang shifted to cause this second branch stream to stop running?"
"And when we find answers to those two questions," said Dick, "I thinkwe'll have solved the mystery."
"Right!" cried Bud. "So let's get at them. In the first place some ofus will go back and shift the lever on the big rock in the first cave,while some of us stay here to see what happens."
The party was divided and when watches had been adjusted to mark thesame time, so it might be known how many minutes elapsed between theshifting of the lever and any noticeable effect, Dick, Old Billee andSnake went to the first cave--that of the huge boulder.
It did not take long to demonstrate that when the water flowed from themain stream into that side branch, the stream nearer the river end ofthe tunnel went dry. But even with that no water passed along the maintunnel so that it would flow into the reservoir of Flume Valley.
"The water must flow out of the first big cave by some outlet we knownothing about," decided Bud. "Now we'll look for the second watergate."
They found the lever that controlled this in a corner of the upper,rocky room where Del Pinzo and his conspirators had been plotting whendiscovered. And when this lever was pulled from the position in whichthe seekers found it after the Mexican half-breed fled, the secondstream (by which I mean the one nearest the river end of the tunnel)filled with water. But this did not affect the first.
And not until both levers were set at positions which caused the branchstreams to empty, did any water fill the end of the tunnel near Bud'sranch.
But when this had been done; when the secret of working the levers wasdiscovered, and water was once again flowing along the valley end ofthe tunnel, where the stream bed had been dry for two days, then Budcried:
"The fight is over and we've won!"
"I wouldn't say that yet," spoke Old Billee cautiously, "Del Pinzo an'Hank Fisher are still around an' above ground. But I guess you've puta crimp in 'em, boys!"
"I reckon!" shouted Yellin' Kid. "But are we sure that the water nowgoes to Flume Valley?"
"We'll soon find out," declared Bud. "We're almost out of the tunnelnow, and we can 'phone back and ask."
And a little later they did emerge from the mysterious undergroundtunnel, with its still stranger water courses. But what was theirsurprise to find that night had fallen--in fact it was not exactlynight, but nearly morning of the next day.
For a moment coming out into the dark night bewildered them. And then,as they stood at the mouth of the mysterious tunnel under the mountain,there was a sharp crack.
"Look out!" yelled Bud, as a bullet "zinged" viciously over their heads.
In an instant Old Billee had whipped out his gun and sent a shot towarda group of horsemen along the river bank.
"There they are! Del Pinzo and his gang!" yelled Dick, as anotherbullet sang over his head. "Come on! Let's get 'em!"
"No use!" drawled Snake. "They've got hosses--we ain't!"
And a moment later the gang of conspirators, firing another harmlessshot, swept out of view.
A group of men swarmed from the store and adjacent shacks, roused bythe early-morning shooting, and with amazement they greeted our friendsand heard the strange story.
"What day is it?" asked Bud.
"Friday," some one answered.
The mystery-solvers looked at one another in amazement.
They had been in the tunnel nearly forty-eight hours without sleep, nordid they feel the need of it, so exciting were the events thattranspired.
But late, or, rather, early as it was, they managed to get in the storeto use the telephone. And when the gray dawn was breaking across PocutRiver, Bud learned, over the wire, from one of his father's cowboysleft at Flume Valley, that the reservoir was again being filled.
"Hurray! It's all right!" yelled Bud, almost as loudly as the Kidwould have done. "I guess, from now on, we'll have no trouble. ButI'm going to see if we can't get Del Pinzo. He and his gang certainlytried to blow up the place, and us with it."
"To say nothing of trying, as I believe, to drown, us like rats inthere, by shutting off and turning on those queer streams," added Nort.
"Do you think they really meant to drown us or blow us up?" asked Dick.
That question was never answered, for Del Pinzo and his more intimateassociates disappeared after their flight from the tunnel, when theyfled following the shifting of the lever and the lighting of the fuse.
There was dynamite tamped in among the rocks, and but for the stampingout of the fuse the tunnel never would have carried any more water toFlume Valley, and those in it might never have come out.
Hank Fisher stoutly denied that Del Pinzo was acting for him either inplanting the explosives or in shutting off the water from the reservoirof the boy ranchers. But everyone had their suspicions.
For that it was Del Pinzo who had sent, or caused to be sent themysterious warnings, no one doubted. Nor did anyone doubt but that thevicious Mexican half-breed had played tricks with the water.
For that is what they amounted to--tricks. Who built thecopper-lever-controlled water gates, putting them in to utilize thewinding underground streams, no one could tell. It may have been theAztecs. The powerful, slanting stream of water, it was discovered,formed the outlet of the shunted-in-river stream when the two sidechannels were opened so that Flume Valley's water supply was cut off.
The water gates and the underground streams formed the chief mystery,and these never could be fully explored. It was thought too dangerous.How Del Pinzo discovered the workings of the levers, utilizing them totry to end the rule of the boy ranchers in Flume Valley, was notdisclosed for many years.
"You won't have any further trouble, now that the gates are closed andthe levers taken off," Mr. Merkel said, for that had been done."You'll get all the water you want in Flume Valley."
"Guess I'll call it Happy Valley," said Bud, "for everything is comingout right, now."
"In spite of black rabbits!" chuckled Old Billee.
"Yes, even with black jacks!" laughed Bud. "Everything is workingfine, now."
And so it was. For with the discovery of the secret water gates andthe disappearance of Del Pinzo, the epidemic died away. Though this,of course, was due to the arrest of Pocut Pete.
That scoundrel was found guilty and sentenced to a long term in prison.But he kept his counsel, and never actually confessed that it was HankFisher who set him to this dastardly trick--if, indeed, it was thatunscrupulous ranchman of Double Z.
That it was rustlers from Double Z who had tried to drive off some ofthe boy ranchers' cattle was not doubted, the finding of the brandingiron being regarded as telltale evidence. But this was not enough tocause any arrests.
"Well, what are we going to do next?" asked Dick, of his brother andcousin, when they were fishing in the reservoir one evening, as, withthe closing of the hidden gates and the uninterrupted flow of thewater, many more finny prizes could be hooked.
"Get ready for a big shipment of cattle," said Bud. "I never saw anyfiner stock than we have here in Happy Valley. That's our nextmove--reap the benefits of our hard work."
But the lads did more than that. And those of you who wish to followtheir fortunes further may do go in the next volume of this series,which will be called: "The Boy Ranchers on the Trail; or Diamond XAfter Cattle Rustlers."
"Who's that down at camp?" asked Dick, as he pulled up a good-sizedfish and put i
t beside him on the grass.
"Looks like Nell and your mother," said Nort to Bud.
"It is!" Bud cried. "They said they'd come over, and Nell promised tobring a pie! Come on; we got enough fish!"
And down the reservoir rushed the boy ranchers to greet their visitors.
"Any pie, Nell?" cried Bud.
"Sure," was the answer. "But it's for company--Dick and Nort!"
"Ho! I'd like to see 'em grab it all!" challenged Bud, as he reachedfor the basket his sister held. "By Zip Foster I would!"
"Say, who is Zip Foster anyhow?" demanded Nort.
"Oh, I'll tell you--later!" chuckled Bud, and, as he removed the coverof the basket, delighted "Oh!" and "Ah!" exclamations came from him andhis cousins at the sight within.
Some of the cowboys came riding back to camp from the round-up, OldBillee cheerfully chanting:
"Oh, bury me deep on th' lone prairie!"
And with this happy mingling of the joyful and sad we will take leaveof the boy ranchers for a time.
THE END