Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose are visiting a dude ranch in Bozeman, Montana. The kids were given this trip by a friend after they helped find his lost lottery ticket. The Wheats own the ranch (Ma, Pa and their son Jud). The ranch had a cook named LuLu and hired hand named Thumbs. A few other people were visiting the ranch named Ed, Fionna and the newlyweds Seth and Bonnie Clyde.
The guests went panning for gold and Josh found a piece as big as a potato. He put the gold in the Wheat's safe until he can take into town to be appraised. The guests decided to go horseback riding. When getting on the horse Ed sprained his ankle and Fionna helped him back to his room. When coming back from their ride, the guests heard the dinner bell ringing. They found LuLu, Ed and Fionna gagged and bound. Josh's nugget was also missing.
Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose set out to find the thief. While everyone is playing cards after supper, the kids searched their rooms for clues. They noticed Ed coming back to his room. He pulled off the bandage on his ankle and was walking fine. He was packing up his belongings and the kids spotted the nugget. Ed had tied up the others and handcuffed himself to his bed. He was a magician and had a set with him.
Ma and Pa were thankful for the kids for getting to the bottom of how this happened. Josh decided not to sell his piece of gold but to give it to the Wheats. The ranch had been struggling and Josh wanted the gold to help them stay open.
This mystery is for younger readers but it also had some red herrings to throw readers off. In my library we have the set of these books and the students really like to read them.
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