The Boy Ranchers in Camp; Or, The Water Fight at Diamond X

Summer on the range means dust, cattle, and trouble. When Bud Merkel's cousins arrive at Flume Valley for a vacation, they expect a season of cowboy adventure. Instead, they find their cattle thirsty and their water supply mysteriously cut off someone is blocking the irrigation, and whoever is behind it has gone to lengths to keep the boys quiet. Armed with nothing but nerve, humor, and a few eerie warnings about the 'water fight' ahead, the three young ranchers must ride out into the open range to discover who wants them driven off the land. The tension builds with each chapter, mixing the excitement of a mystery with the rough-and-tumble camaraderie of frontier life. This is pure early American adventure fiction, written for kids who dreamed of riding horses and solving problems with their fists and their wits. It endures because it captures something elemental about American boyhood: the belief that courage and loyalty can solve any problem, and that the open range is both a playground and a proving ground.