As the mare danced on her toes and flattened her ears Sal kept tight hold of her mane as she stood on a fallen tree branch and swung up on to her back.

‘Good girl,’ she crooned as she tried to calm the mare’s fears and coax her down the slope.

‘Come on, Betsy,’ said Max softly from the riverbed. ‘There’s a good, brave girl. Don’t be afraid.’

At the sound of their voices the mare seemed to find courage and she tenuously made her slithering, halting way down the slope – and soon they had reached the bottom. Sal had no rewards for her but a pat on the neck.

She turned to Max, who was lovingly stroking the mare’s forehead. ‘You can do all that when we’ve got out of here,’ she said briskly. She cupped her hands. ‘Put your good foot in there and I’ll give you a leg-up.’

Max meekly did as he was told and smiled wanly down at her from the mare’s back. ‘I never realised before just how bossy you are,’ he said.

‘You ain’t seen nothing yet,’ she muttered. She looked up the slope at the other pony, who was watching them and whickering with concern. ‘I’m going up for Molly. Then we can ride along the riverbed until we find a way out of here.’ Without waiting for his reply, she once again clambered up the slope.

Molly was quite happy to have the hobble removed and to be coaxed down the hill. She snorted with pleasure as she rubbed noses with Betsy and they both stood calmly to see what would happen next.

Sal found a long piece of fairly flat wood and made a rough splint for Max’s ankle, which she tied to his leg with the a roll of bandage from her first-aid box and fixed in place with a large safety pin. At least the bleeding from his head wound had stopped, but he’d have one hell of a headache later, if that bump was anything to go by.

‘It’s probably not wise to go back to the cabin. The fire might already have cut off that way out. Where does this river lead to?’ she asked once she was satisfied the splint would hold.

‘I’ve never explored it fully,’ he said, ‘but the old maps show it meanders north and finally ends up as part of Coopers Creek.’

Sal knew that Coopers Creek flowed into Lake Eyre to the far south-west, having passed through the Sturt Desert from Windorah and Longreach and its source somewhere south of Hughenden. ‘That’s one hell of a trek, Max. Are you sure there isn’t another way out of here.’

‘Only the way you came in.’