He turned towards the snow, and mounting his horse, which he had led up the cliff, held steadily westward.
His plans were well laid.

Across the mountain, north of Lake Omeo, not far from the mighty cleft in which the infant Murray spends his youth, were two huts, erected years before by some settler, and abandoned.
They had been used by a gang of bushrangers, who had been attacked by the police, and dispersed.

Nevertheless, they had been since inhabited by the men we know of, who landed in the boat from Van Diemen's Land, in consequence of Hawker himself having found a pass through the ranges, open for nine months in the year.

So that, when the police were searching Gipp's Land for these men, they, with the exception of two or three, were snugly ensconced on the other water-shed, waiting till the storm should blow over.

In these huts Hawker intended to lie by for a short time, living on such provisions as were left, until he could make his way northward, on the outskirts of the settlements, and escape.
There was no pursuit, he thought: how could there be?
Who knew of this route but himself and his mates?
hardly likely any of them would betray him.