“Travel on!” he growled.

They set out swiftly, silently, the cool breath of the night bathing their bodies, the sighings of the bush a sad lullaby of farewell. Far away out in the darkness to their left quivered up another pencil of light. A big camp out there had received and was answering the fire signal from those back at the reedy creek. Presently still another pencil of light shot up far ahead of them, but again away out in the lowlands.

As they hastened cautiously on they knew that tribesmen and women and children away to their left many miles ahead would now be excitedly grouped round the fires awaiting daylight to spread out and cut them off. Those tribesmen would expect them to be running across the open, level bushlands where the going was much the easiest. They would comb the country for many miles right to the foothills, those ahead spreading out in a long, well-spaced line, then confidently watching and waiting to cut them off. Those now nearest them would seek to cut their tracks in case they had passed by in the night, while those coming from the rocky creek would stick doggedly to their tracks, no matter where they might lead.

He pushed on in secret delight that the two girls were now doing their best, even though only driven by despair. He had liked these two little wild-cats from the first; already he felt himself becoming fiercely fond of them. What wives they would make if only he could get them back to his beloved tribal lands! Oh, and what a triumph when he should reach camp with these two—

A snort, heave, and rush, and they jumped back as an old-man wallaroo bounded agitatedly away to a clatter of stones and breaking sticks.

Red Kangaroo, who had nearly fallen over backwards from shock, laughed boyishly. Nareen and Naroo, after their first gasp of surprise, gurgled with amusement behind the wooden gags. In that moment he would have liked to relieve them of the gags, but up here in this night silence one piercing yell would carry far away over the low bushland, perhaps to expectant ears. They pushed on again, and somehow the tension of distrust on his part, and of hatred and fear on theirs, seemed to have eased.

After midnight, under diamond stars, the earth became silent and cold in the mountains, bitterly cold in the small hours. He knew that if it were not for the gags the girls’ teeth would be chattering. They had pushed speedily on since morning now, and they would be growing tired, but it was their feet on these steep, rocky hillsides that he worried about. Neither had been staked or badly cut yet, but he knew that if one should wear her feet too tender she would sooner or later lie down, huddle up, and sullenly suffer death rather than stand up again. That stage was a long way off as yet, but with every mile they hurried on he wished less and less to lose either girl.