‘I’ll go and wake your mother before I leave,’ he said as he packed clean bandages into his bag, alongside the jars of ointment, and phials of morphine. ‘You’ll need all the help you can get over the next couple of days.’

Becky gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. ‘If you see Danny, tell him not to wander too far.’

He nodded, then rammed his hat over his thinning hair, picked up his precious bags of medical equipment and left the hospital.

Half an hour later, Becky recognised the sound of his utility making its way down the main road and eventually fading into the distance. She looked out of the window and saw the trail of dust he’d left behind, then up to the sky where much darker clouds were gathering. Carey Downs homestead was at least four hours’ drive away along some of the most isolated and barely discernible droving tracks, which could soon become obliterated in a dust storm. She sent up a silent prayer that he would come home safely, and then returned to her patients.

*

The dark clouds rolled ominously over the land as they hid the sun and spat jagged forks of lightning across the skies. There was a heavy silence, and all was still. It was as if the earth was holding its breath, poised for the moment when all that harnessed power would be unleashed in an explosion of fury.

Birds fluttered nervously as they sought their roosts; kangaroos, emus and wallabies left the open plains and found shelter within the trees; and the Outlanders looked up at those threatening skies and wondered if, at last, the rains would come and rescue them from penury.

Algernon had been driving for several hours when the needle on the fuel gauge showed it was very nearly empty. He’d almost fallen asleep several times and was virtually in a stupor as he pulled off the road, the car bumping over the clumps of tough dry grass that were dotted along the edge of a vast and empty pasture.

Seeking the meagre shelter of a stand of wilting ghost gums, he switched off the engine and clambered out of the car in search of refreshing cooler air. But there was little respite, for the heat was searing even in the shade.

He grimaced at the unpleasant way his shirt and trousers clung to his sweating body, and how his hair was wet beneath the broad-brimmed hat. He’d long since discarded his suit jacket and waistcoat, for his enforced imprisonment in the car was like being slowly boiled in a tin can.

There had been no sign of his sons, or anyone else for that matter. The barren road had stretched ahead of him in a haze of shimmering heat, becoming narrower and rougher as he went on. The only sign of life had been a few scavenger crows tearing at the carcass of a kangaroo.