The Boy Ranchers in Camp: or, The Water Fight at Diamond X

CHAPTER XXII
THE WATER GATE

While they eagerly watched, the solitary figure on the big rock in the midst of that sinister pool again moved slightly, and as it became partly erect it was seen to be Nort Shannon.

"We've found him! We've found him!" joyfully cried Dick.

"An' alive, too, if I'm any judge," added Billee.

Dick was stripping off his coat, when Bud placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait a minute," advised the western lad.

"But I'm going to get him!" objected the brother. "I'm going to save Nort!"

"Maybe it isn't safe, and we may be able to save him in another way," suggested Bud. "I say, Nort," he called. "Are you hurt?"

How eagerly they all waited for the answer, after the echo of Bud's voice had ceased reverberating in the big cave!

"Yes – I – I'm all right," came the faint answer across the silent pool. "I don't know exactly how I got here. Something hit me on the head – after I fell – fell in. I reckon I must have floated near this rock and – and just naturally grabbed hold and – pulled myself – up!"

"That's enough! Take it easy now!" called Bud. "We're coming over to get you!"

"Sure you're not hurt?" asked Dick, his voice trembling.

"Nothing more than a bump on the head," answered Nort, his own tones stronger now. "Not half as bad as I've gotten at football," and he laughed a little – the most joyful sound any of them had heard since the sweeping away of the boy rancher.

"Well, now we've found him, the next thing is to get him over here," spoke Bud. "Two of us had better swim out there. This water looks to be all right," and he stooped down and tested it with his hand. "As warm as the river," he added.

"I'm going to swim out!" declared Dick, and this time, as he began to "peel," no one stopped him.

"I'll go with you," said Bud. "We'll tie the ropes around our waists and they can hold them here on shore. It will be better than taking a risk, using the old tires," he added, "and, while there isn't any current in the pool now, no telling what may happen."

"Sure you want the ropes," said Old Billee. "But you'd better take a tire for Nort," and they did.

"Hold hard, Nort!" called Dick, as he and Bud took off their clothes in preparation for the swim. "We're coming!"

"I'll hold hard all right," came the answer back across the pool. "And there's something hard here to hold on to, all right."

They did not then realize his meaning, but they understood, later, when they made a most amazing discovery.

In a few minutes Dick and Bud were in the water, lariats held by those on "shore" tied around their waists; and the two boy ranchers were swimming toward the big rock in the middle of the pool. Lanterns at the edge of this strange underground body of water gave sufficient light to enable the swimmers, and the others, to see Nort now standing on the great boulder which emerged from the midst of the black water.

It was the plan of Bud and Dick to help Nort to swim back to where the others stood, they supporting him on either side. For though Nort was a better swimmer than his brother, in his weakened condition, hit on the head as he had said, he might suddenly collapse.

So also might Bud and Dick, or there might suddenly appear a swift current in the now quiet pool – that is, quiet beyond where the stream flowed in – and in that latter event the lariats would serve to pull them all to safety.

"Gee! I thought you were a goner!" gasped Dick, as he climbed out and clasped his brother by the hand.

"I would have been, only that I floated near this rock, and managed, half unconscious as I was, to grab hold of a projection and pull myself up," Nort answered. "That water came up so fast it scared me, and I slipped right into it."

"We saw you," said Bud, sitting down on the rock to get his wind, so he might be at his best in helping Nort on the return journey.

"It was – awful!" spoke Dick simply, and then he made no further reference to his mental agony.

"Well, are you ready to go back?" asked Bud, after a pause, in which interim they had called to those across the pool that the lost lad was all right.

"I'm ready, yes," was Nort's answer. "But I'd sort of like to see what this hard lever-like object is."

"Oh, yes," spoke Dick. "You said you had something hard to hold to. Let's have a look – if we only had a light," he added, for it was quite dark on the great rock in the midst of the black pool. The light of the lanterns did not brightly penetrate that far.

"I have some matches, in a waterproof case, if I didn't lose it out of my pocket," said Nort, feeling in his soaking trousers. "Here they are," he went on a moment later. And as his hands were drier than those of Bud or Dick, Nort opened the box and managed, after one or two failures, to strike a light.

As the little taper flared up the three boys on the rock saw, standing upright about in the centre of the large boulder a great handle, or lever, of copper. The metal gleamed dully red in the flickering light.

"What is it?" asked Bud, as Nort struck another light.

"I don't know," was the answer from Nort. "I discovered it when I was crawling about and feeling around. I thought, if worst came to worst, I could hold to this if the waters rose."

"They seem to be as high as they're going to get," said Bud. "But this sure is queer! Hold your match closer, Nort."

Another of the tapers was lighted, and across the pool came the voice of Snake Purdee, asking what was going on.

"There's some sort of a handle, or lever, here," answered Bud, as he examined it more closely. "It moves, too," he added as he laid his hands on it and pulled it toward him.

"Look out!" cautioned Dick, but it was too late.

Bud had pulled the copper lever toward him, and, in spite of its size and weight, it moved easily in what appeared to be a slot in the rock. It clicked slightly, as though connected with hidden mechanism.

Then, with a suddenness that was startling, a low but ever-increasing roar seemed to fill the cavern in which was the black pool. The roar grew louder and louder, and the very rock beneath their feet seemed to tremble.

"What have you done?" gasped Dick.

"Search me!" answered Bud in such queer tones that Nort laughed.

And then a strange thing happened. As Nort struck another match he and the boys on the rock could see the water all about them beginning to recede. Slowly it flowed at first and then, with a rush, it began running out of the place as fast as it had run in.

"What's up over there?" called the voice of Old Billee from "shore," so to speak. "What you fellers doin' with th' water?"

"I just pulled that lever," sang out Bud.

"Then you've done the trick!" said the old cowboy. "You must have opened some gate, and the water's running away. Better swim over here while you have the chance. When the water comes back that rock may be covered!"

But another strange part of their mysterious adventures was that they did not have to swim back. For the water receded so rapidly that, in a little while, it was possible to wade from the rock to the stone edge of the pool where the other members of the party stood. And wade back to their friends Bud, Dick and Nort did.

"Oh, boy! But we're glad to see you!" cried Old Billee, as he caught Nort by the hand.

"You let out a mouthful that time!" declared Yellin' Kid, and his voice nearly split their ear drums, so magnified was it by the echoing, vaulted roof of the cavern.

"But what all happened?" asked Snake Purdee. "Is there some old Mexican grain mill under here that has a water-wheel, sluices and gates?"

"I give it up," answered Bud. "All I know is that I pulled that copper lever – and it's copper so it won't rust off, I reckon – and the water began to rush out as fast as it must have come in here."

"It is mighty queer," agreed Old Billee. "Let's go take a look," and he started to walk across the intervening space between shore and the great rock – a space in which only a few puddles of water now remained.

"Will it be safe?" asked Bud, who had begun to dress, an example followed by Dick.

"Why not?" asked Old Billee. "The water can't rise any higher than it was when you fellows were on the rock. An', according to your tell, there's room enough for us all t' stand there."

"Yes, it's big enough," agreed Bud. "But suppose we all get there, and the water begins to come back?"

"We'll turn it loose again with th' lever," answered the old cow puncher. "But I reckon it can't fill up this pool again until that lever is shifted hack where it was before you yanked it."

"Maybe not," admitted Bud. "Well, let's take a chance. If worst comes to worst we can swim back, and I'd like to solve this mystery. I feel that we're getting at it now!"

"That's right," said Nort, who was feeling stronger every moment. "When I fell in, and was carried away," he said, "I had a wild notion that this might lead to the discovery of something. I managed to keep my head out of water as I was swept along, until I got a knock on the noodle, and that put me partly to sleep. That may have been a good thing, too, for they say a partly unconscious person doesn't breathe much, and that's why I didn't swallow any water to speak of.

"I was dazed when I must have been swept, or floated, past that rock but I came to in time to save myself. Gosh! but I was glad to hear you yell though, Dick!" he said.

"Well, let's get over there an' start pryin' out this secret," suggested Old Billee. "This is gettin' mighty interestin'!"

It seemed reasonable to suppose that the water would rise to no greater height than it had when the searchers had discovered Nort on the rock. And as this boulder was well out of water, and large enough for them all to stand on, they would run no risk, even if the flood should start to return when they were in the middle of the pool, which, however, was a pool no longer, but merely a wet reservoir, so to speak.

"But I don't believe the water will flow back here until you shift that lever again, Bud," declared the old ranchman. "And I'm going to have a try at it!"

"Isn't it takin' a chance?" asked Snake.

"You got t' take chances in this world!" declared Old Billee.

"Well, let's go!" suggested Bud.

"I think I'll stay here," spoke Nort. "I don't feel quite up to walking over those rocks. And you may need some one on this side who can throw a rope," he added, as he looked at the lariats.

"All right," assented Bud. "You stay here, Nort."

They left him on the shore, as I call the rocky edge of the pool, with a lantern, and, taking other lanterns with them, the little party set out. It took them only about three minutes to walk across to the great rock, which stood upright in the middle of the cavern floor.

Rising up in almost the very centre was the heavy, copper lever. By the light of the lanterns it was examined, and seen to extend down through the rock, whither no one knew.

"It works a water gate all right," declared Old Billee. "Let's pull it back to where you found it, Bud, and see what happens."

It was with some feelings of apprehension that the others watched as Old Billee reached for the copper lever and pulled it toward him, It operated as easily as it had for Bud.

And almost as quickly as had taken place on the other occasion, there was that roaring, rumbling sound, a noise as of the blowing of a great wind, and then the waters began to rush back into the pool.

"Here they come!" yelled Dick, as he stood beside Bud on the rock.

Truly the waters were returning as the hidden gate was closed when Billee pulled the lever.

Would they go down again?

That was what each one asked himself.

CHAPTER XXIII
THE CONSPIRATORS

Rapidly rushing, foaming, bubbling and boiling, the waters rushed into the mysterious cavern, until they again filled the pool across which Bud and Dick had swam to the rescue of Nort on the rock. Now the situation was reversed. It was Nort who was on the mainland, or shore, so to speak, and the others who were on the rock.

But it was one of their own choosing, in an endeavor to solve the mystery, though as Bud and his companions watched the waters creeping higher and higher up the surface of the rock on which they stood, their hearts were not altogether easy.

"Suppose it covers the rock?" asked Dick.

"Then we'll have to swim back where Nort is," Bud answered.

"Shucks! You won't have to do nothin' of the sort!" declared Old Billee stoutly. "She won't come up any farther than it did before!"

And he was right. When the water around the rock lapped the erosion mark, which had been worn in the hard stone by centuries of the flow of the fluid, the flood ceased. The roaring, bubbling and seething, like that which takes place in a canal lock, came to an end, and the water of the pool became quiet.

"There! What'd I tell you?" cried Old Billee. "I closed th' water gate, that Bud opened to let th' water out, an' she come back. Now all we have t' do, so we can walk back, is t' yank this lever again."

"Does it only work two ways?" asked Yellin' Kid, his voice again softened, as the mystery of the place seemed to cast a shadow over him and the others.

"Seems to," Bud answered, holding his lantern down close to where the copper handle entered the rock.

There appeared to be a slot cut in the hard stone – a slot about three inches wide, and a foot long, in which the copper lever could be moved backward and forward, but not from side to side.

"Let's try the other way, now," suggested Dick.

Once again Old Billee pulled on the copper shaft, which, as they could see by the light of all their lanterns combined, seemed to have been rudely hammered out, for it bore the rough marks of a primitive forge.

And no sooner had the lever been pulled to its limit in the slot than there sounded again the rushing, roaring tumult of noises, and, after a little, the water began receding once more.

"We've discovered the secret!" cried Dick.

"No, only part of it," said Bud. "We've got to find where the water goes, and if pulling this lever sends it into our reservoir. That's the main thing to discover."

"But we're on the track of part of it," went on Dick. "I wonder who built this secret water gate, and the lever that operates it?"

"It may be part of the work of the ancient Mexicans, the old Indians or the Aztecs, who inhabited this land ages ago," said Bud. "Copper will last almost forever, you know, even in water, as it doesn't rust. And you've read how the ancient Aztecs used to build great vaults under the mountain, and arrange to flood them to keep their gold away from the Spaniards."

"Yes, I've read of that," admitted Dick.

"Say, where can you get a book like that?" demanded Old Billee.

"I've got one at the camp," Bud answered. "I'll let you take it. Of course my theory may be all wrong," he went on. "But I begin to believe we've stumbled on some ancient Aztec water system."

"You don't mean to say those old Mexicans, for that's what the Aztecs were, are still hanging around in this cave, turning your water on and off, do you?" demanded Dick.

"No, it's some one more modern who's making trouble for us," Bud declared. "But we're on the track of a big discovery, I believe. Look, the water is almost gone!"

This was true. The pool was emptying itself as it had done before, and, in a short time they could walk back to where Nort awaited them.

"What's the next thing to do?" asked Dick.

"Get back where we left our grub and feed our faces," suggested Snake Purdee.

"Yes, I think that will be best," Bud said. "Then we can talk over the next move. I begin to feel hungry."

"I hope we won't be disappointed," remarked Yellin' Kid and his vocal powers seemed to be on the mend, for he called loudly.

"Disappointed? How?" asked Old Billee.

"I mean I hope we find our grub where we left it," Kid explained.

"Why wouldn't it be there?" Old Billee wanted to know. "Do you think them Hatchet-texts have sneaked in and took it?"

"You mean Aztecs?" laughed Yellin' Kid. "No, I wasn't referrin' to them. I mean I hope our monkeyin' with that copper handle didn't send the flood over the place where we left our things."

"I never thought of that," said Bud. "By Zip Foster! I hope nothing like that has happened!"

With anxious hearts they hastened back to the place where Nort had been swept away. They had left the strange lever set to drain the pool, and what state of affairs they would find on returning to their point of digression no one could say.

"Maybe we'll find the water running on into Flume Valley," suggested Nort, who seemed to be almost himself again, except for a feeling of weakness.

"I hope so," spoke Bud.

But this was not the case. On reaching the place where the tunnel branched, they found no water there at all. None was running in the main channel, and none was turning off down the "stem of the T," to use the illustration I first employed.

"Keeps on being strange, doesn't it!" said Bud.

They all agreed with him.

"What's the next move?" asked Dick, as they gazed about, finding their food and supplies safe, and no water, to mention, anywhere about.

"Let's grub!" suggested Snake.

"And make a fire and heat the coffee," urged Bud. "I don't believe the smoke will do any harm, and there's plenty of dry driftwood in the higher places, and on little ledges."

"Some hot coffee would go down mighty well!" remarked Nort.

"Then you're going to have it!" asserted his cousin. They had brought some of the cold beverage along in tin flasks, and these were soon heating over a little blaze that was kindled along the bank of the underground stream that was again dry.

The food and hot drink put new hearts into all of them, especially Nort, and when appetites were appeased they gathered about the cheerful, if small, blaze, which gave off scarcely any smoke, and held a discussion.

"What I think we had better do," said Bud, "is to travel on until we come to the place – if such a place there is – where this stream again shunts off to the side. For I'm sure there is such a place if we find that the water is running into the tunnel from the river."

"We can't be sure of that, though," Old Billee said.

"No, but we can find out when we get to the other end of the tunnel," declared Bud. "My idea is – though, of course, I might be wrong – that there are two side passages, so to speak. Sometimes the water branches off the main channel and fills the pool where we found Nort on the rock. Then it may flow down another channel, farther on, but nearer to the river end of the tunnel."

"But if the water came along the main channel, until it got here, and then filled the pool to the limit, as was evidently the case," suggested Nort, "why wouldn't the water then back up and go on to our reservoir – and it didn't do that."

"There may be some outlet from that pool and cavern where we were," said Bud.

They considered this for a moment, and agreed that he might be right.

"Then what we've got to look for," went on Bud, "is another side passage where the water is shunted off, that is, providing it is not cut off at the river pipe. And if there is such a passage it must be on the right-hand side of the stream, as was the one where Nort fell in. For we went all along the left-hand bank the other time, and didn't discover anything."

"And suppose we find the second branch stream now – what will we do?" asked Snake.

"Two of us will come back and work the lever, while the others stay at the second stream to see what happens," was Bud's answer. "Come on; let's go!"

They put out the fire, packed their belongings, and, making sure that Nort was able to travel, they set out again. Nort's garments were soaking wet, or, rather, they had been, but there was a current of warm air in the tunnel, and soon he began to dry out, for which he was very thankful.

They found the second branching stream sooner than they expected. It was less than a quarter of a mile from the first, or the one into which Nort had fallen, and it was almost of exactly the same character.

"Look out! Here it is!" cried Bud who saw it first, his lantern gleaming on the swiftly-rushing water. "Go easy!"

And "easy" they went, reaching the edge of the ledge below which flowed the mysterious, powerful current.

"We can go along here, just as we did before. Here's another branch tunnel!" announced Dick, holding up his lantern, and showing a wide, high passage, the bottom and middle part of which was occupied by the stream.

"I wonder how many of them there are?" remarked Nort as he and the others turned into the black opening, which seemed to slope as though descending a hill. This gave greater force to this stream of water.

"And I wonder if it also runs into a cavern, with a rock and a copper lever in the middle!" voiced Dick.

"Hope we find out soon," spoke Bud. "This is getting more and more queer all the while."

They tramped on in the blackness that was relieved only by their swaying lanterns. They walked beside the strange, underground stream, and they had progressed farther than along the other branching body of water when Old Billee, who was ahead just then, suddenly halted and uttered a warning.

"Listen!"

"What is it?" asked Yellin' Kid, in his usual tones, but Billee reached back and gave him such a dig in the ribs that Kid subsided with a grunt.

"I hear talkin'!" whispered Billee. "Voices! There's some one else in this place than us! Listen!"

They stopped and strained their sense of hearing. And then, above the slithering murmur of the water, they all distinctly heard a voice say:

"I think we've fixed 'em this time! They won't steal any more water from Pocut River!"

The boy ranchers looked at each other.

"Del Pinzo!" whispered Nort.

"As sure as Zip Foster ever ate ham and eggs!" agreed Bud.

"Hush!" begged Old Billee.

And as they became quiet again they heard another voice say:

"I guess it's all up with 'em now. We might as well light out and touch off the fuse!"

"Whew!" softly whistled Bud.

Together the party of searchers moved softly forward. Suddenly the passage along the bank of the mysterious stream turned sharply, almost at a right angle.

And there, in what appeared to be a small cave, excavation or cavern, high in the upper wall was disclosed a roughly circular opening, like a window or port hole. Through this port hole a light showed, and outlined in the light were several rough-appearing men, leaning together over what might have been a table.

"Del Pinzo!" murmured Dick.

"Conspirators!" exclaimed Bud. "They're the ones that's been turning this water on and off! We're on the track of the mystery now!"

Whether he spoke loudly enough to be heard, or whether some other sound made by the searchers alarmed the men in the upper niche, was not disclosed just then.

But the light suddenly went out, and confused sounds followed.

And chief among these sounds was the rushing, roaring noise, the blowing as of a mighty wind, and the water near the boy ranchers and their companions was strangely agitated.