Page 338 - The snake's pass

326 THE snake's pass.
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 neces-
sary. 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 be-
ginning 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 sejmrated,
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