We reach the Dart River and I slow Ekara only long enough to canter her around in a circle, scanning the area for any sign of Tui as I go. Frustrated, I throw out the reins yet again, giving Ekara her mouth and urging her into the running water with my heels. There’s an almighty splash as the mare gallops in right up to her belly, throwing up her head so fast that my nose collides with her neck. Blinking away river water, I reach up to wipe my face and encounter blood.

‘Shit!’ I swear, standing up in my stirrups and leaning forwards to squint into the distance. There is nothing, just river and mountains and trees and that never-ending sky. For the first time since landing in New Zealand, I curse the landscape for its size and sparsity. I hate the lack of fences and the endless parkland, I hate how easy it is to get lost, and to lose someone.

‘Please,’ I say aloud, gritting my teeth. ‘I can’t lose her – not Tui. Do you hear me? Not her.’

I am properly crying now, and Ekara, with her sweet, kind wisdom, seems to sense my distress. Slowing to a tidy trot, she heaves herself up the riverbank on to dry land, then stops to shake off the excess water, her nostrils bright red from exertion. The pause is enough to help me regain some control, and as I glance up ahead to where the trees seem to converge together, I see a small gap that could lead to another pathway.

‘Come on,’ I say, turning Ekara with one hand while I attempt to stem the flow of blood from my bashed-up nose with the other. Encouraged into a canter, she reaches the opening in less than a minute, and this time when we burst through to the other side of the treeline, I let out a yell of relief, because standing there, looking a bit lost and forlorn but still in one piece, is Tui.

‘Gee-nie!’ she calls, waving frantically with the hand that isn’t clutching Keith’s bridle. While she is clearly pleased to see me, I can tell that something is wrong, and trot quickly up to the edge of the river to join her.

‘We didn’t know where you’d got to,’ I say breathlessly, sliding quickly off Ekara and pulling Tui against my chest for a hug. My arms, hands and legs are shaking, but it feels so good to have her back, to have her right here next to me.

‘I came to find that silly boy Beavis, that’s all,’ she says, looking at me with her doleful dark eyes. I am still so overwhelmed with relief that at first her words don’t register and, frustrated, she says them again.

‘Beavis?’ I repeat, looking around for the little brown dog. ‘Where is he?’

‘I don’t know,’ Tui says, and then she bursts into tears.