His own fears told him who Joanne's abductors were.

They were men working under instructions from Quade.

And they could not be far away, for scarcely ten minutes had passed since the first scream.

He listened, and held his breath so that the terrific beating of his heart would not drown the sound of crackling brush.

All at once the blood in him was frozen by a fierce yell.
It was MacDonald, a couple of hundred yards to his right, and after that yell came the bellowing shout of his name.
"Johnny! Johnny! Oh, Johnny!" He dashed in MacDonald's direction, and a few moments later heard the crashing of bodies in the undergrowth.