The giant was plunged in gloomy abstraction, and Vetch and the Moocher interchanged a significant glance.

Gabbett had been ten years at the colonial penal settlement of Macquarie Harbour, and he had memories that he did not confide to his companions.

When he indulged in one of these fits of recollection, his friends found it best to leave him to himself.
Rufus Dawes did not understand the sudden silence.

With all his senses stretched to the utmost to listen, the cessation of the whispered colloquy affected him strangely.

Old artillery-men have said that, after being at work for days in the trenches, accustomed to the continued roar of the guns, a sudden pause in the firing will cause them intense pain.
Something of this feeling was experienced by Rufus Dawes.