We couldn’t ride very slow after such a turn as that, so we made the pace pretty hot for the first twenty miles or so. By Jove it was a great ride; the forest was middling open, and we went three parts speed when we could see before us. The horses seemed to go as if they knew there was something up. I can see Rainbow now, swinging along with that beautiful bounding style of going he had, snorting now and then and sending out his legs as if one hundred miles, more or less, was nothing. His head up, his eye shining like a star, his nostrils open, and every now and then, if anything got up, he’d give a snort as if he’d just come up out of the bush. They’d had a longish day and a fast ride before they got to Eugowra, just enough to eat to keep them from starving, with a drink of water. Now they were going the same style back, and they’d never had the saddles off their backs. All the night through we rode before we got to the top of Nulla Mountain; very glad to see it we were then. We took it easy for a few miles now and again, then we’d push on again. We felt awful sleepy at times; we’d been up and at it since the morning before; long before daylight, too. The strangeness and the chance of being followed kept us up, else I believe we’d have dropped off our horses’ backs, regular dead beat.

We lost ground now and then through Warrigal not being there to guide us, but Jim took the lead and he wasn’t far out; besides, the horses knew which way to stem for their grasses at the Hollow. They wouldn’t let us go much off the line if it was ever so dark.

We gave ‘em their heads mostly. The sun was just rising as we rode across the last tableland. We got off and stumbled along, horses and men, down the track to the Hollow. Dad and Warrigal hadn’t come back; of course they couldn’t stand the pace we did. They’d have to camp for a bit, but they both knew of plants and hiding holes, where all the police in the colony couldn’t find them. We knew they’d turn up some time next day. So we let go our horses, and after bit of supper laid down and slept till well on the afternoon.