Then the shooting between the outposts of the Indians and the advance guard of the rescue party became general as the scout rode back to report.
Captain Marshall hurried to the front with his first band of fighters, the cowboys and our youthful heroes being bidden to remain where they were until the officer had made an observation. In a little while Captain Marshall came back.
"It will be their last stand!" he exclaimed.
"How so?" asked Snake.
"Well, they're there with their backs to the wall. They can't get out at the rear and we're here in front to stop them if they come this way. It will be a fight to a finish!"
And as the boy ranchers wondered at the fate of Rosemary and Floyd there came from the front a burst of firing.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE RUSE OF ROSEMARY
Well it was that a body of fighters with the experience of the United States troopers and the cowboys from Diamond X ranch went up against the Yaquis, and not some brave but rash band of rescuers. The latter would have been defeated almost at once for the Indians had picked out an admirable place in which to make their last stand.
They had retreated into the mountains, along a trail that only the most hardy could follow. Then, finding, as they doubtless did, that their pursuers were ever at their heels, they hastened to what was, virtually, a natural fortress—a nook among the rocky walls of the defile. From there they shot at the approaching troopers and cowboys.