GAS MASKS
"Hold on!" yelled Snake Purdee as he swung around a ledge at the edge
of the narrow entrance to Smugglers' Glen and made a grab at Nort who
was running as fast as he could under the weakening influence of the
gas. "It's all right here--the wind will blow the stuff to the east.
Swing around here, everybody!" and he indicated a niche to the west of
the entrance.
Nort stopped, his brain dully comprehending what Snake meant. Then the
others in the wild, frightened retreat sensed what the words were
intended to convey and, one after another, they gathered there in
comparative safety with Snake, Nort and Dick.
"Whew!" gasped Billee Dobb whose age was telling on him, not only in
the rapid, forced retreat, but in the effect of the gas. "That was
tough! But what makes you think we'll be safe here, Snake?"
"On account of the wind blowing the gas away from us. Look, there it
floats to the east. We're safe here. I didn't get nearly gassed in
the war for nothing. We're safe here till the wind shifts and it won't
do that right away."
"What about the horses?" gasped Dick, taking deep breaths to rid
himself of the gas already breathed.
"They're all right--they're up wind, too!" shouted Yellin' Kid, whose
lungs did not seem to have suffered much.
This was true enough. The ponies, with the guard of cowboys, were to
the west of the gorge entrance and, as Snake had been quick to observe,
the strange, white mist which had so mysteriously floated out of the
cave toward the avengers, was drifting, now, out of the mouth of the
defile and off to the east.
"If any of the cattle get in the path of that they'll be killed!"
exclaimed Dick, noting how the mist clung to the ground and rolled
along as fog sometimes does when the clouds are low.
"The bunch isn't down there," said Billee.
"And I don't know as that gas is so very deadly after all," stated
Snake, breathing deep after a few cautious inhalations to make sure the
air was clear.
"Then what'd you run for?" Yellin' Kid wanted to know.
"Because I wasn't sure of what sort of stuff it was. There's lots of
kinds of gas, you know. We had one kind in the war that would just
knock a man out for a few hours. I reckon that's the kind they shot at
Bud and the kind they just now loosed at us. But I wasn't takin' any
chances!"
"I should say not!" cried Billee Dobb. "But now we're out of danger
for a while, what's to be done next?"
Nort had the answer ready in a moment.
"Gas masks!" he exclaimed.
"Gas masks?" echoed Billee.
"Sure! I get you!" cried Snake. "That's the ticket! Gas masks! Same
as we used in war when the Germans let their gas loose. Why didn't I
think of it before?"
"There's been so much happening!" remarked Dick, "that it's a wonder we
thought of half we did. But gas masks would be just what is needed
here. Only where are we going to get them?"
Up spoke one of the new cowboys to observe:
"There's a branch of the American Legion in Los Pompan. I belong to it
and so do some of the other boys. 'Tain't much of a branch, but they
got some war relics hangin' around the meetin' room, and I seen some
gas masks there the last time I was in. I reckon we can borrow them
without any trouble."
"Golly! That's the cheese!" cried Nort.
"But are the masks any good?" Dick asked. "If they're relics of the
war they're likely to be old and no good. And a gas mask that won't
keep gas out is worse than none at all."
"You're right there!" exclaimed Sim Roller, who had proposed the
matter. "Some of the masks are the same as the boys used in France.
But others are new ones they got from the gov'ment lately to decorate
the meetin' room. I reckon they'd be fresh, with charcoal in and
everything needed."
"Will you see if you can get some for us?" asked Billee, who was in
charge during the forced absence of Bud.
"Sure!"
"Good!" cried Nort. "Then we'll come back and have another go at these
fellows!"
"Yes, it will need another go," remarked Billee, looking at the
entrance to the defile out of which a faint mist was still floating.
"We don't dare go back at 'em now, unprotected. They're regular
devils, that's what they are! Devils!"
"Wonder what their game is?" mused Dick as he and his brother, with the
other cowboys, moved to where their horses were picketed in charge of
the guard.
"They want to keep us out of that glen," suggested Nort.
"But why?" went on Dick.
"So they can poison more cattle and bust up this ranch and rustle what
stock they don't kill," was what Nort answered.
"It doesn't seem reasonable that they'd poison cattle," and Dick shook
his head. "What good would dead ones be to them? They can't be sold,
and it wouldn't pay to kill 'em just for the hides."
"No, that's so," admitted Nort. "But they evidently want to keep us
out of that glen, and drive us away from the ranch if possible, so they
can have it for themselves."
"Part of that seems like to be true," spoke Billee, taking a part in
the discussion. "But this isn't the first time there have been queer
doings at Dot and Dash. Years ago I'm pretty sure there was no band of
devils up here with cylinders of gas. This is something new."
"Tell me, Billee," resumed Nort, "on what sections of the ranch did
most of the deaths occur--I mean when you worked here?"
"Well," and the veteran scratched his head reflectively, "as near as I
can remember they was all somewhere near this glen, come to think of
it."
"And this is where Sam Tarbell's horse was killed and where Sam was
knocked out--near this glen; wasn't it?" went on Nort.
"That's true enough."
"And it's from this glen that Bud got his dose of poison gas and where,
just now, we got ours; isn't it?"
"Sure," Billee was forced to say.
"Well, then," went on Nort, "isn't it reasonable to suppose that this
band--or some bunch like it--has been doing this right along?"
Here Billee shook his head.
"You can't make me believe," he said, "that this gang, or one like it,
has been doin' this gas business all along. In the first place the
earliest, mysterious death on Dot and Dash took place many years ago,
before poison gas in war was thought of. I won't deny that this bunch
back there," and he nodded in the direction of Smugglers' Glen, "I
won't deny but what they may be usin' war gas. But it wasn't so years
ago.".
"Then it looks," spoke Dick, "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 Dick, "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 Dick.
"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 Dick. "It is out of the
question, I think, but it may be something always associated 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!"