"Bringing the water over from
Pocut River made all the difference in the world."

"You got out a lungful that time!" asserted another of the cowboys who
had helped "haze" over the steers that were transferred to save them
from infection.

The visiting cowboys departed next day, leaving their animals mingled
with those in which Bud, Nort and Dick had an interest. The doubled-up
herd was not too large but what there was plenty of feed and water in
Flume Valley.

During the days that followed, matters at Diamond X Second, as Bud
sometimes called his ranch camp, adjusted themselves smoothly. There
was no further sign, or evidence, of mysterious warnings. The cattle
throve, and those from Square M, which were not in as good physical
condition as the animals that had been longer in the green valley,
began to "pick up" and fatten.

"I tell you what, fellows!" boasted Bud to his cousins, "dad'll be
wishing he'd kept this ranch for himself! We'll beat him at his own
game!"

"It would be a big stunt if we could, not taking advantage of his bad
luck at Square M, though," spoke Nort.

"Well, you have to count on bad luck in this business," remarked Bud.
"Not that black rabbits have anything to do with it," he laughed, as he
looked at Old Billee.

Bud and his cousins were returning, one hot afternoon, from having
ridden to a distant part of the valley, where Snake Purdee had reported
he had found a calf killed. There was a suspicion that rustlers had
been at work, but Bud decided the animal had been separated from its
mother and the main herd, and had been pulled down by coyotes.

"What's that?" asked Nort, when they were within sight of the camp with
its reservoir in the background.

"What's what?" asked Bud, who pulled his pony aside quickly, to escape
a prairie dog's burrow.

"Looks like Old Billee waving his hat for us to hit up the pace," spoke
Dick.

"It is!" asserted Bud, after gazing beneath his hands held in front of
his eyes as a sun-shield. "I hope nothing's wrong!"

But when they had ridden up, the old cowboy riding out to meet them, it
was made plain, in a moment, that something had occurred out of the
ordinary.

Old Billee Dobb was much excited. His eyes blazed and snapped and he
shook the reins in addition to mildly spurring on his pony.

"More mysterious warnings?" asked Bud.

"Worse'n that," was the answer. "She's dry ag'in!"

"The pipe line?" asked Dick.

"You hit it!" cried the ot