At night, there was a double watch around the cattle, and a sharp watch at the camp. Only one man dared sleep, two hours at a time.
They had travelled now nigh on 500 miles, and still the arid lands lazily stretched before them, a flower garden, though not so fresh now, and the water in the claypans was rapidly drying up.
Surly triumph lit the vengeful face of Red. When this trip was over, he and the Brander, Scowler, and Cuthroat would return and take much bitter vengence for the deaths of Nosey and Long Jim. They were long since safe
from discovery or pursuit, the rest of the trip would be a walkover. He
knew that but 150 miles straight south the Diamantina came in from the
east, as did the Warburton, to run west and empty into the awful Lake
Eyre country. With the bumper wet season the river would have come down
and spilled into a hundred lakes, there would be water and feed aplenty
upon the barren country ahead.
Once across this stage, then on to Adelaide. This last 500 hundred miles
would be easy, short handed though they were. And a thumping big cheque
to divide up between four men. Red scowled. He would have rather divided
the cheque among seven. It would be a long time before he could get such a gang together again.

Gradually Red's face changed, grew unbelieving, even grim.
He still rode in the lead. Presently his horse's hooves sounded most startingly loud. Hard earth did that. Instead of the flower covered sandy ridges to right and left, instead of a riot of canegrass, pigweed
and parakelia and bluebush, for miles ahead there now stretched bare red
sand, and red earth flats without a blade of grass, the red earth hard
baked by a pitiless sun.
Red touched his horse, immediately it's stride lengthened.
Thinking swiftly, Red kept straight on, the mob following. They had to push on regardless. Cuthroat would have the pack water bags filled, they were too old to the game to take chances. The mob would have to keep on over this bad patch, thats all there was to it. This area had missed the rains. but water would certainly spread over the country from the old Diamantina away ahead.
Through blistering heat with a camp at midday, the mob pressed on.
In the afternoon, the continuity of the sandy ridges began to break to
slew in direction. The red earth turned to grey, broken by countless eroded ravines down which the cattle plunged laboriously. Gaping holes,
ragged cracks, broken mounds and rotted ridges among barren sand hills
told Red they were entering the north east desolation of the Lake Eyre basin. They were now in the bed of a dry lake, no water had been here for years. Before them would be numerous dry lakes. And Red had expected
to find them alive with herbage.
At sundown the hills seemed afire, the sun sunk into desolation to their right. So close appeared the sun they could see waves of flame in it's fires, it slid down slowly.
The sand hill crests burned red, then glowed, slowly the glow faded to
pink. Then the hot breathless night came.

They spelled the cattle a few hours. The mob, used to water, were now already thirsty, uneasy and restless.
They pushed on again, an eerily moving mass with starlight on horn tips
moving to the murmur of hooves, They kept them moving until well after dawn. The sun rose in a firey light, then swiftly shot up. In brazen midday, they were spelling the cattle again.
A heat haze shimmered and danced over the hard red earth. Not a tuft of grass, not a living thing, not a drop of water.
Only the brazen sky, the silence, and a broken land of red and grey.
A mirage appearing like a wil-o'-the-wisp, a ghostly water in tiny waves
lapping it's way towards them. With a heaving rumble the mob were on
their feet. But swiftly men were mounted, voices called reassuringly, weary horses sprang to life. The mirage melted away.
The mob plodded on. A red haze began to form. A whirlwind suddenly came,
twisted and turned, rapidly growing into a towering red funnel. Then it sped away to turn about in a frenzy dance straight before them. It had
wheeled again and shrieked away. Another whirling devil rose, and then another swiftly chasing it.
Red held back the lead with anxiety on his face.