The cowboys were the first to reach the ranchyard and Janet could hear them ripping the cover off the well. There was a shout ahead of them.
“The water’s okay. Hurry up!” It was one of the cowboys, and the news gave them the courage to quicken their lagging steps.
Billy Fenstow handed Janet a blackened dipper, but she insisted that Helen take the first drink. There was plenty of water and they all drank their fill while Billy Fenstow scrambled around the timbers above the well hunting for the wires which had been fastened to the film containers they had lowered into the well. He found them at last, but decided they were safer in the water than any place else.
“What about going on?” asked one of the cowboys.
“No use in that. Someone had used the dipper before we got here, so that means Curt is up ahead of us and he’s traveling much faster than we could. We’ll do better to wait right here where they’ll find us. Try and make yourselves comfortable.”
But the director’s last words were of little help. The air was still dry and searing and there was no shelter anywhere. Fires still glowed all over the valley and little clouds of smoke swept around them.
Janet and Helen walked over to the ranchhouse, but the embers were glowing so brightly that it was impossible to get very close.
“I ache all over,” confessed Helen. “When I finally get into bed I’m going to sleep the clock around.”
“Count me in on that program,” nodded Janet. “Well, we might as well sit down and keep as comfortable as possible.”
But they went back to the well for another drink before trying to relax on the ground.