added Snake.

"That goes for me, too!" came from Yellin' Kid.

"Then we'll all have to plead guilty," chuckled Billee. "Anyhow here's
the warnin' and it looks as if this fellow, whoever he is, was
follerin' us up to discourage us from going on."

"Well, he shan't discourage me!" exclaimed Bud.

"Nor me!" came in a duet from Nort and Dick.

"That's the ticket! Then we'll go on!" said Billee. "But I would like
to know," he murmured, "how this chap can sneak in and out of a camp
without rousing somebody. I sure would!"

However there was nothing more to be done. And after making sure no
clews could be picked up, the second warning was placed with the first,
in Billee's big leather wallet, and the travelers prepared to resume
the trail.

They were now in a wilder and more lonesome country than any they had
ever before visited. It was distinctly the "bad lands," but often in
such a region can be found isolated places where abundant water and
herbage offer ideal sites for cattle raising.

Such, Mr. Merkel had said, was his new Dot and Dash ranch. And it was
apparent to the boys and their older companions, as they rode along,
that the valley was a good locality for raising cattle.

"This must be the place," said Bud as they began riding down the
opposite side of the slope they had climbed to cross the low range of
mountains. "It's just as dad described it. I'll show these papers to
whoever's in charge and they'll know we have come to take over the
ranch." He tapped in his pocket a bundle of documents which his father
had given him to show the transfer of authority.

"Yes, that's Dot and Dash," said Billee as he recalled some of the
familiar landmarks. "This is the place where I used to punch cattle."

"Seems to be a right nice sort of a place," murmured Snake. "And I
reckon them tales about all the cattle droppin' dead are fakes. Look
at that herd," and he pointed to a collection of dots on a distant hill.

"Nobody said _all_ the cows died!" retorted Billee. "And maybe the bad
spell, whatever it was, has worked itself out. I hope so. But there's
Dot and Dash all right," and he waved to a collection of ranch
buildings that came into view with a turn of the trail.

In a short time they had traversed the slope and were on the level and
green floor of a pleasant valley, long and narrow, yet wide enough to
give space to several big ranches. The hills were barren and rugged in
some places, and wooded