"Oh, what does it mean?" asked Ruth. "Where's daddy?"
"Here I am," answered Mr. DeVere.
"It's all right!" yelled Baldy, capering about, and vainly clicking his revolvers, for he had fired all the cartridges in the cylinders. "It's the boys from Rocky Ranch! They saw my signal and came to the rescue!"
"That you, Baldy?" shouted a voice out of the cloud of powder smoke that hid, for a moment, the cowboys from view.
"That's who it is, Bow!" was the answer. "Could you read my smoke?"
"I sure could, and we come a-runnin'. Are the girls safe?"
"Everybody's safe. But look out for yourself, these Indians are sort of riled at us."
From the group of Indians who had left their ceremonies, to rush toward the huts of their erstwhile captives at the sound of the shots and cheers, came deep-voiced mutterings. They were gathered in a group around their chief, Jumping Horse.
"Look out for 'em!" yelled Baldy.
"Don't worry," advised Pete Batso. "They haven't any weapons."