my rage against the cowardly hound, I almost lost sight of the need of thankfulness for one great peril avoided.
However, there was no time at present for further thought—action, prompt and decisive, was vitally necessary. Joyce was absent—we had no clue to where he could be. Norah was alone on the mountain, and with the possibility of Murdock assailing her, for he, too, was abroad—as we knew from the fact of his being away from his house.
We lost not a moment, but went out again into the storm. We did not, however, take the lantern with us, as we found by experience that its occasional light was in the long run an evil, as we could not by its light see any distance, and the grey of the coming dawn was beginning to show through the abating storm, with a faint indication that before long we should have some light.
We went down the hill westward until we came near the bog, for we had determined to make a circuit of it as our first piece of exploration, since we thought that here lay the most imminent danger. Then we separated, Dick following the line of the bog downward whilst I went north, intending to cross at the top and proceed down the farther side. We had agreed on a signal, if such could be heard through the storm, choosing the Australian "coo-ee," which is the best sound to travel known.
I hurried along as fast as I dared, for I was occasionally in utter darkness. Although the morning was coming with promise of light, the sea-wind swept inland masses of swiftly-driving mist, which, whilst they
