Rosemary and Floyd, though they had suffered many hardships, were not physically harmed, except for the youth's wrenched arm, which was painful but not dangerous.
"Oh, but we want some water to wash in!" Rosemary confided to Bud. "They've kept us so much on the go, ever since they captured us, that I can't bear to think of it. I just dreamed of clean bath tubs filled with white soap suds!"
"We'll soon be at the ranch," Bud said.
"Oh, but I can't wait until then."
"Same here!" put in Floyd. "I don't believe a Yaqui touches water from the time he's born until he dies."
In order to give everyone a chance to rest, it was decided to camp for a few days in a favorable spot, which was found a few miles from where the Indians had made their last stand—a final stand for many, as more than a dozen were killed.
The others were sent back under guard as prisoners, Mike among them, scowling blackly as he was led away. A scout was sent to the nearest place where there was a telegraph station, to send the good news back to Diamond X.
"And now we can take it easy," observed Bud as he with his cowboy cousins and the newly rescued captives enjoyed the first real meal without anticipations of a fight immediately after it.
"You must have had a dreadful time, Rosemary," said Dick, whose arm was in a sling.
"Well, it seemed so at the time, and yet I want to laugh when I think how I fooled those Indians just by screaming."