XVIII. DRIVEN BACK
XIX. GAS MASKS
XX. GLITTERING YELLOW
XXI. FALSE SECURITY
XXII. TO THE RESCUE
XXIII. TESTING THE GOLD MINE
XXIV. A STRANGE DISCOVERY
XXV. THE END OF DEATH VALLEY

THE BOY RANCHERS IN DEATH VALLEY

CHAPTER I

BAD NEWS

Excited shouts, mingled with laughter, floated on the sunlit and
dust-laden air to the ranch house of Diamond X. Now and then, above
the yells, could be heard the thudding of the feet of running horses on
the dry ground.

"What do you reckon those boys are doing, Ma?" asked Nell Merkel as she
paused in the act of laying the top crust on a raisin pie.

"Land knows," answered the girl's mother with half a sigh and half a
chuckle. "They're always up to something. And, now that your Pa is
away----"

Mrs. Merkel's remarks were interrupted by louder shouts from the
corral, and Nell heard cries of:

"Try it again, Bud!"

"You missed him clean, that time!"

"How'd you like that mouthful of dust?"

"Git up an' ride 'im, cowboy!"

Like an echo to these sarcastic exclamations, Nell heard the voice of
her brother Burton, commonly known as Bud, answer:

"I'll do it yet! Just you wait!"

"I wonder what Bud's trying to do?" murmured Nell.

"Oh, run along and look if you want to," suggested Mrs. Merkel, with a
kind regard for Nell's curiosity. "I'll finish the pie."

"Thanks!" And Nell, not even pausing to clap a hat over her curls,
hastened out into the yard, across the stretch of grass that separated
the main house from the other buildings of Diamond X and was soon
approaching the corral where were kept the cow ponies needed for
immediate use by the owner, his family or the various hands on the big
estate.

Nell saw several cowboys perched on the corral fence, some with their
legs picturesquely wound around the posts, others astraddle of the
rails. Among them she sighted Dick and Nort Shannon, her two "city"
cousins, who had come west to learn to be cowboys. And in passing it
may be said that their education was almost completed now.

"Why, I wonder where Bud is?" asked Nell, as she made her way to the
fenced-in place.

A moment later she received an answer to her question, for her brother
arose from the dust of the corral and started for the fence. He seemed
to have been rolling in the dirt.

"That's a queer way to have fun!" mused Nell.

Without making her presence known, she stood off a little way and
watched what was go