the next day, while gene and the ranchers are moving their herds by trail to cloverdale, mccoy sabotages their efforts by using explosives to stampede the cattle into a train tunnel and then sending a hijacked train in to kill them. as the train approaches the tunnel, gene jumps aboard, runs to the locomotive, and stops the train in time. during the stampede, frog's young brother tadpole was hurt, and one of the ranchers, dave crosby, was killed. upset at crosby's death and believing that johnson knew what was going to happen, kit reveals his identity to gene, but johnson convinces gene that he is innocent and mccoy is acting on his own. using a microphone set up in mccoy's office, gene obtains evidence of mccoy's guilt, then captures him, dunston, and the pigeon before they can escape. afterwards, gene and his friends join kit carson's harmony ranch radio show.