Their hopes rest with Shamrock, but the vet diagnoses a heart murmur, and says that maybe a stimulant prepared by a Brisbane pharmacist could help. Kieran makes his first trip to Brisbane, and, after being mugged, meets Spider, an Aboriginal lad of his own age who works on a river barge. They become friends and share an intertwined future. Spider also comes from the Darling Downs region in Queensland. His father runs a stud farm for workhorses, one of which is better suited to a life on the track than pulling a cart.
Diligence soon becomes the centre of a battle for control of the racing underworld.
Kieran, in his quest to reap revenge for the treatment metered out to his father, becomes ripe for conscription into the army when John Mac Bride recruits Australians to join his Irish Brigade for duty against the English in the Boer War. The Irish Brigade soon become known for their destruction of railway lines and bridges and this does much to hamper the rapidly-advancing English army. Their destruction becomes a matter of priority for the English who begin to hunt them down relentlessly. After his wartime adventures, Kieran returns home and picks up the pieces of his life. The farm is saved and Diligence wins his first race.