"What could we do with a boat in that stream, which is hardly three feet wide in places?" asked his brother. A boat had been mentioned in the first excitement, however, but the idea was abandoned as impracticable.
"Well, if the flood came, as suddenly as it did when we had to take refuge on the ledge, we could float out," answered Dick.
"A boat to hold six men would be too big to carry," spoke Bud. "Even a folding canvas one wouldn't answer. But I know what we can do."
"What?" asked Nort.
"We can each take an inner automobile tire. Blown up, they are as good as life preservers, and with them fastened to us we can float and be carried along by the current, if a flood happens again."
It was decided that this was a wise precaution to take, and from Diamond X some inner tubes were sent over—old ones that had outlived their usefulness on the car, but which still held air, and would, as Bud said, make excellent life preservers.
In order to make a thorough examination it was decided to take food and water enough to last the expedition at least two days. It was easy to traverse the tunnel in one day, as the boys had proved. But Old Billee counseled a slower trip.
"I wish I could go with you," said Mr. Merkel to the boys, when the time came for the start, "but I have a shipment of steers to get off, and I want to keep watch of this epidemic. It begins to look as if we had gotten the best of it, but I'm taking no chances."
"Oh, we'll make out all right, Dad," spoke Bud. "Though we would like to have you with us. And when we come back we'll either settle, for good and all, this fight for water, or we'll abandon Flume Valley!"
"I'd hate to see you give it up," said the ranchman. "It is an ideal place to raise cattle, with the water here. But without it, of course, there's no use thinking of it. Well, good luck to you," he called, as he turned to go back to Diamond X proper.