d wanted to know.

"Well, he mightn't altogether like it. There's a risk, an' he may want
t' send some of us with you. It's easy t' get him on the 'phone from
the dam."

"Yes," agreed Bud, "I s'pose I had better do that." He remembered that
where Pocut River had been dammed to enable water to flow into the pipe
line, and then through the old river course to his reservoir, there was
a general store, which boasted of a telephone.

A little later, breakfast having been finished, the party, now
including Babe, reached the Pocut River. There an inspection showed
the water from the river above the dam running freely into the pipe
that carried it to Flume Valley.

"Nothing wrong here," remarked Bud as he looked into the dark tunnel
which received one end of the pipe. And it was through this natural
tunnel, extending under the mountain, being the course of an old
stream, that the boy ranchers proposed riding.

"No, th' trouble must be somewhere inside," agreed Babe. "But call up
your paw, Bud."

Which Bud did, learning from his father at Diamond X, that Old Billee
had departed, early that morning, to take up his abode at the camp in
the valley.

"Better wait until Old Billee reaches your place, and then call him
up," suggested Mr. Merkel to his son over the wire, for there was a
'phone in Bud's camp. It seemed rather an incongruity, but it was a
great convenience, since it connected directly with Diamond X, Triangle
B and Square M ranches, as well as with the regular lines.

There was nothing to do but wait until Old Billee might be expected to
have reached the camp in Flume Valley, and after several hours Bud
called up his own new ranch headquarters.

"They don't answer," Central reported.

"He's taking his time," commented Babe.

But an hour or so later, after several other trials, the voice of Old
Billee came back over the wire from miles distant.

"Hello! Hello there! Wassa matter? Wassa matter?" demanded the voice
of the old cowpuncher. "Where's everybody, anyhow? Nobody here but
me!"

"We're over at the dam--Pocut River," called Bud into the instrument.
"Say, Billee, something happened at my place last night. The water
stopped, and we came over here to see where the stoppage was. But it's
all right here. How about you there?"

"All serene here, Bud, all serene! Wait a minute and I'll take a look
at your reservoir. I can see it from the tent where you got this
talkin' contraption strung.