Reasoning that Hugh must have known he had a heart problem, she swiftly went through his pockets and found a small bottle of pills. She had absolutely no idea what they were, but it was logical to assume he’d been carrying them for just such an occasion. She slipped one under his tongue and hoped she was doing the right thing.

He gave a groan and his eyelids fluttered again as she eased his torso towards her until he was almost lying in her lap. ‘It’s all right,’ she soothed. ‘I’ll get us home.’

The smoke was thick and choking as she opened the passenger door and clambered down. Hugh was a dead weight, but Millicent was used to dragging stubborn sheep about at shearing time and she made quick work of getting him on his side along the bench seat, his knees drawn to his chest so she had room to climb behind the wheel.

Once this was accomplished she undid the top buttons of her dress, picked up her baby and carefully placed him against her breasts before fastening the buttons again and tightening her belt. The loose cotton bodice made a perfect sling and he would be warm there, and far safer than rolling about on the floor.

She could hear the roar of the fire now and it terrified her, but she knew that if she panicked all would be lost – and her baby and Hugh needed her to get them to safety. She slammed the passenger door shut, refusing to even think about the dangers her husband, William, must be facing as he fought the fire, but thankful that her other children were with the convoy that must surely be close to safety by now.

Climbing behind the steering wheel, she turned the key in the ignition. She could only pray that the wind wouldn’t get up – for in the gathering gloom and swirling smoke she had absolutely no idea where she was, and if the track was obliterated they would all perish.

*

Beyond Blackman’s Creek the great leviathan of flame and smoke roared before them, its fiery breath searing their faces and heating their sweat. Sparks flew as the oily eucalyptus pods exploded and rivulets of flame raced along trunks and branches to devour and destroy. The smoke stung their eyes, was acrid in their mouths and stifling in their noses despite the kerchiefs they’d tied over them. And, as they struggled to beat back the slow but ever-determined advance of those flames, it felt as if they were fighting the fires of hell itself.