Cirrus@Austlit

'Dan Russell, who, if he reaches his twenty-fifty birthday without getting into trouble with the law, inherits his grandfather's fortune, left to him on this condition because the old man feared the inheritance of a criminal tendency from his wastrel father. At twenty-tow, some bother connected with two men - Pope Macarthur and Harvey - forces Dan to throw up his job at a Sydney suburban garage and set out for Melbourne, swag on back, and passing under the name of Jack Brown. Near Gundagai, he gets a lift in a carrier's van, and so meets...

Nora Whitfield, on her way to keep house for her uncle, whose vague address is 'somewhere on the Murray River.' They part when the van turns off along the Wagga Road. Soon after, Dan helps to change a wheel for a young man named...

Gerald Connors, who gives him a lift all the way to Melbourne. Connors a pleasant though rather excitable fellow, takes such a fancy to Dan that he invites him to the Connors' home, and promises to ask his father to give him a job. Against his better judgment, Dan falls in with this idea. He thinks there is something very odd about Connors, for as soon as they enter Melbourne they are stopped and interrogated by...

Inspector Packer. Dan has reason to believe that Connors does not own the car, but his is assured to find that 'Ravenshoe,' the Connors' home, is an imposing mansion. Dan is put up for the night in a little room off the garage, where, worn out, he falls asleep instantly, while Mr. Connors goes back into the house and rings up Inspector Packer.

Nora, meanwhile, is travelling along the road to Wagga in Twist's van, anxious to meet her uncle, of whose home her imagination has painted the brightest picture.(Publisher's extract)