It was a man-hunt, the most exciting of all hunting.
He laughed silently at the girl's flushed and excited face.

As he reached out to help her over some fallen timber, she took his hand with a firm grip that set his nerves tingling.

They pushed on until almost abreast of Red Mick's dwelling; then Hugh, standing on a projecting stump, peered over the high bank to see how the land lay, while his companion sat down and watched his movements with wide open eyes.
He saw the cottage drowsing in the bright afternoon sunlight.

It was a picturesque little building, made of heavy red-gum slabs, with a bark roof; the windows were merely square holes cut in the slabs, fitted with heavy wooden covers that now hung open, giving a view of the interior.
In one room could be seen a rough dresser covered with plates and dishes, and a saddle hung from a tie-beam; in the other there was a rough plank bed with blue blankets.

The door was shut, and there was no sign of life about the place.