Dot and the Kangaroo

aroo had left her, and coiled upon her body was a young black Snake. Before Dot could move, she heard a voice from a tree, outside the cave, say, very softly,

jokes, and laughing, but this one was keeping as quiet as he could. Still he could not be quite serious, and a smile played all round his huge beak. Dot could see that he was nearly bursting with suppressed laughter. He kept on saying, under his breath

ee any joke, and it w

ys see the jokes, and I'm an on-looker. It's not to be expected of you, bec

dear Kangaroo

e Owl, about the terrible indigestion I have. He's very difficult to catch awake; for he's out all night and sleepy all day. He says cockchafers have caused it. The horny wing-cases and legs are most indigesti

and presently all the scales of its shining black back and rosy underpart began to move. Dot felt quite sick, as she saw the reptile begin to uncoil itself, as it lay upon her. She hardly dared to breathe, bu

n Dot's warm little body; so it went slowly towards the bush, to get some frogs or birds for breakfast. But as it wriggled into the wa

lst the Snake wriggled, and coiled its body into hoops and rings. The Kookooburra's strong wings, beating the air just above the writhing Snake, made a great noise, and the serpent hissed in its fierce hatred and anger. Then Dot saw that the Kookooburra's big beak had a firm hold of the Snake by the back of the neck, and that

reached its perch, it did a strange thing; for it dropped the Snake right down to the ground. Then it flew down again, and brought the reptile back to the bough, and dropped it once more-and this it did many times. Each time the Snake moved less and less, for its back was being broken by these falls. At last the Koo

out the Snake sleeping on Dot, and the great fight! All the time, first one kookooburra, and then another, chuckled over the story, and when it came to an end every bird dropped its wings, cocked up its tail, and throwing back its head, opened its great beak, and laughed uproariously together. Dot was nearly deafened with the noise; for some chuckled, some cackled; some said, "Ha! ha! ha!

had gone, "a bit of snake is just the right thing

ke for breakfast, and the Kookooburra t

ey do that when they are dying, and then they're not good to eat. But this snake is all righ

breakfast at once, as the fight had made him hungry. Then Dot saw him hold the reptile on the branch with his foot, whilst he took its tail into his beak,

as able to understand the talk of all the bush creatures. All the time she was wandering in the bush the Kangaroo gave h

ound quite a large collection of roots, buds,

er eating with a look

destroying us all. Humans have become so cruel that they kill, and kill, not even for food, but for the love of murdering. I often wonder," she said, "why they and the dingos are allowed to live on this beautiful kind earth. The black Humans k

e poor animals and birds suffer at the hands of white men. "Dear Kangaroo," she said, "if I ever get home, I'll tell

s painful subject; "I've been asking about it, and no one has seen it anywhere. Of course someone must know where it is, but the difficulty is to find the right one to ask." Then she dropped

us help, do you t

es anywhere, never associates with any other creature, and is har

Dot, with some d

ensively scratching her nose. "The only thing is, I can't bear the Plat

ypus," said Dot, "do te

rts of creatures. None of us can account for it. It must have been an experiment, when all the rest of us were made;

oo," she said, "do take me to see the Platypus

, because it was of so many kinds; and at last Noah turned it out to swim for itself, because there was such a row. That's why the Platypus is so secluded. Ever since t

or the lonely Platypus; "and, after all, this is not the same

doesn't make any difference, for it's a very ancient quarrel, so it must be kept up. But if we are to go to t