"Then it looks," spoke d.i.c.k, "as if these men had some object in keeping us out of the glen."

"That's it!" cried Billee. "There's something up there they don't want us to find out."

"Maybe it's the secret Old Tosh has of makin' sarsaparilla," said Snake.

"No," objected d.i.c.k, "I don't believe the old man is mixed up in this at all. He was in the cave, that's sure, but I think this bunch of rascals with their poison gas have deposed him and taken possession for their own ends."

"And what those ends are it's for us to find out," suggested Nort.

"Sure!" cried his companions.

"We'll get gas masks and make another attack!" added Snake.

"I wonder what we'll find?" mused d.i.c.k.

"Bud could have told if they hadn't knocked him out," suggested Nort.

"He says he saw them pounding rocks and digging in the sides of the cave. They were after something besides cattle, that's sure."

"Diamonds!" some one said.

"That's been mentioned before," remarked d.i.c.k. "It is out of the question, I think, but it may be something always a.s.sociated with diamonds."

"What's that?" exclaimed several.

"Gold, maybe," was the quick answer, and into the eyes of every man there came a sudden, new gleam.

"By golly!" cried Yellin' Kid in his loudest tones, "I'll bet you're right! There's a gold mine in that cave and those fellers want to keep it for themselves! Whoopee! Let's get them there gas masks and rustle the whole bunch over the border. Then we'll have the gold for ourselves! Come on!"

CHAPTER XX

GLITTERING YELLOW

Such excitement followed the Kid's outburst that the very horses seemed imbued with it. The cowboys, keeping well out of the way of that floating, white cloud of gas--more or less poisonous, it was not to be doubted--had mounted their animals and were on their way, by a roundabout trail, to the ranch house.

"Gold!" muttered Snake. "Do you really think there's gold in that cave?"

"It would not be beyond the bounds of possibility," d.i.c.k replied. "I'm not a geologist, and I don't know anything about mining. But the west is the home of gold, and so is Mexico. We're not far from Mexico.

What's to prevent a ledge or seam of gold from running up into these hills, or small mountains, and cropping out in that cave? What's to prevent?"

"Nothing!" came from Billee, a new light in his eyes.

"It would be very natural, I think," added Nort.

"That would account for what Bud saw--the men picking away at the stone sides of the cave," went on d.i.c.k. "And the roof and sides are of rock--that my brother and I saw."

"Then we're on the right track!" cried Snake joyfully. "I been tryin'

to figger out what all this meant, but I see it now. The other poison attacks, where cattle and men died, didn't have nothin' to do with the gas we just now ran away from. Somebody else must have been the blame of that, or maybe it wasn't poison gas at all--might 'a' been just bad water or loco-weed. But this is different."

"Yes," agreed Nort, "this is different. We know, positively, that this gas attack was launched by men."

"Men who want to keep us out of that cave 'cause it's full of gold!"

murmured Old Billee. "Boys, for once I see daylight ahead of me! I'm goin' to turn miner! I'm through nursin' cattle! I'm goin' to dig gold and retire rich! By golly, I am!"

"You better wait until we see the color of pay dirt!" chuckled Snake.

"And until we get those fellows out!" added another cowboy.

"Oh, we'll git them out soon as we have them gas masks!" declared Billee, who seldom had shown such enthusiasm. "By golly, at last I see daylight! I'll soon lay this on the shelf," and he patted his old lariat.

"I hope he isn't disappointed," murmured d.i.c.k to his brother.

"Do you really believe there's a chance of finding gold in that cave?"

Nort asked in a low voice.

"I really do. Why else would those fellows want to keep us out? It can't be that it's a mere cattle-rustling game."

"No," admitted Nort, "I don't believe it's that. But--gold! Seems sort of far-fetched."

"Well, maybe I'm wrong," went on d.i.c.k. "But we'll soon find out, if those gas masks are any good."

On the way back to the circle of ranch buildings a close lookout was kept for any sign of intruders on the range of Dot and Dash. But no strangers were seen, nor did a casual survey of the various herds scattered over the plains disclose any casualties.

"I guess everything that happens takes place around Smugglers' Gulch,"

observed d.i.c.k.

"Seems so," admitted his brother.

No one had suffered any serious results from the gas attack. It had been discovered so quickly, and the retreat had been made so promptly, thanks to Snake's vigilance, that aside from a little irritation of their mouths and throats the attackers were not injured. The irritation soon pa.s.sed away and was about gone when they neared the ranch.

"They were just teasing us that time," decided Snake. "The next time they'll shoot some real nasty gas at us."

"And that's the time we'll be ready with the masks," declared Nort.

Bud Merkel was as excited as either of his cousins when he heard the news. He declared no better plan could be devised than going against the unknown cave dwellers with gas masks and a telephone message was soon on the way, asking the commander of the Los Pompan branch of the American Legion for the loan of as many of the protectors as were needed.

In due time word came back that the Dot and Dash ranchers were quite welcome to the masks. Snake and Kid, as experts in their use, and as judges of the best ones to bring back, were sent as a committee into town to get the life-saving apparatus.

It was next day, when the gas masks had been tried on by the cowboys who were to use them, and plans were being talked over for a second attack, that Nort suggested:

"Maybe we ought to try these masks before we use them. They may be defective in spite of the fact that they look all right."

"Not a bad idea," agreed Bud. "But we haven't any poison gas to try 'em with."

"If we could go in a room filled with ammonia, or some such vapor as that, we could soon tell if the masks were any good," d.i.c.k suggested.