"They think they have you now!" said Kut-le, as Rhoda dropped panting to the ground. "We must move out of here before they investigate the mesa top."
He allowed, however, a few minutes' breathing spell for Rhoda. She sat quietly, though her gray eyes were brilliant with excitement. It seemed to her but a matter of a few hours now when she would be with her own. Yet she could not but notice with that curious observance of detail which comes at moments of intensest excitement the varied colors of the distances that opened before her. The great mesa on which she sat was a mighty peninsula of chalcedony that stretched into the desert. It was patched by rocks of lavender, of yellow, and of green, and belled over by the intensity of the morning blue above.
"Come!" said Kut-le. "There will be little rest for us today."
Rhoda rose, took a few staggering steps, then sat down.
"I can't start yet," she said. "I'm too worn out."
Kut-le's expression was amused while it was impatient.
"I suppose you may be sleepy, but I think you can walk a little way. Hurry, Rhoda! Hurry!"
Rhoda sat staring calmly into the palpitating blue above.
"I hate to have you carry me," she said after a moment, "but I don't feel at all like walking!"
Her tired face was irresistibly lovely as she looked up at the Apache, but by an effort he remained obdurate.