CHAPTER III
When Dot awoke, she did so with a start of fear. Something in her sleephad seemed to tell her that she was in danger. At a first glance she sawthat the Kangaroo had left her, and coiled upon her body was a youngblack Snake. Before Dot could move, she heard a voice from a tree,outside the cave, say, very softly, "Don't be afraid! keep quite still,and you will not get hurt. Presently I'll kill that Snake. If I tried todo so now it might bite you; so let it sleep on."
She looked up in the direction of the tree, and saw a big Kookooburraperched on a bough, with all the creamy feathers of its breast fluffedout, and its crest very high. The Kookooburra is one of the jolliestbirds in the bush, and is always cracking jokes, and laughing, but thisone was keeping as quiet as he could. Still he could not be quiteserious, and a smile played all round his huge beak. Dot could see thathe was nearly bursting with suppressed laughter. He kept on saying,under his breath, "what a joke this is! what a capital joke! How they'llall laugh when I tell them." Just as if it was the funniest thing in theworld to have a Snake coiled up on one's body; when the horrid thingmight bite one with its poisonous fangs, at any moment!
Dot said she didn't see any joke, and it was no laughing matter.
"To be sure _you_ don't see the joke," said the jovial bird. "On-lookersalways see the jokes, and I'm an on-looker. It's not to be expected ofyou, because you're not an on-looker;" and he shook with suppressedlaughter again.
"Where is my dear Kangaroo?" asked Dot.
"She has gone to get you some berries for breakfast," said theKookooburra, "and she asked me to look after you, and that's why I'mhere. That Snake got on you whilst I flew away to consult my doctor, theWhite Owl, about the terrible indigestion I have. He's very difficultto catch awake; for he's out all night and sleepy all day. He sayscockchafers have caused it. The horny wing-cases and legs are mostindigestible, he assures me. I didn't fancy them much when I ate themlast night, so I took his advice and coughed them up, and I'm no longerfeeling depressed. Take my advice, and don't eat cockchafers, littleHuman."
Dot did not really hear all this, nor heed the excellent advice of theKookooburra, not to eat those hard green beetles that had disagreed withit, for a little shivering movement had gone through the Snake, andpresently all the scales of its shining black back and rosy underpartbegan to move. Dot felt quite sick, as she saw the reptile begin touncoil itself, as it lay upon her. She hardly dared to breathe, but layas still as if she were dead, so as not to frighten or anger the horridcreature, which presently seemed to slip like a slimy cord over her barelegs, and wriggled away to the entrance of the cave.
With a quick, delighted movement, she sat up, eager to see where thedeadly Snake would go. It was very drowsy, having slept heavily on Dot'swarm little body; so it went slowly towards the bush, to get some frogsor birds for breakfast. But as it wriggled into the warm morningsunlight outside, Dot saw a sight that made her clap her hands togetherwith anxiety for the life of the jolly Kookooburra.
No sooner did the black Snake get outside the cave, than she saw theKookooburra fall like a stone from its branch, right on top of theSnake. For a second, Dot thought the bird must have tumbled down dead,it was such a sudden fall; but a moment later she saw it flutter on theground, in battle with the poisonous reptile, whilst the Snake wriggled,and coiled its body into hoops and rings. The Kookooburra's strongwings, beating the air just above the writhing Snake, made a greatnoise, and the serpent hissed in its fierce hatred and anger. Then Dotsaw that the Kookooburra's big beak had a firm hold of the Snake by theback of the neck, and that it was trying to fly upwards with its enemy.In vain the dreadful creature tried to bite the gallant bird; in vain ithissed and stuck out its wicked little spiky tongue; in vain it tried tocoil itself round the bird's body; the Kookooburra was too strong andtoo clever to lose its hold, or to let the Snake get power over it.
At last Dot saw that the Snake was getting weaker and weaker, for,little by little, the Kookooburra was able to rise higher with it, untilit reached the high bough. All the time the Snake was held in the bird'sbeak, writhing and coiling in agony; for he knew that the Kookooburrahad won the battle. But, when the noble bird had reached its perch, itdid 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, anddropped it once more--and this it did many times. Each time the Snakemoved less and less, for its back was being broken by these falls. Atlast the Kookooburra flew up with its victim for the last time, and,holding it on the branch with its foot, beat the serpent's head withits great strong beak. Dot could hear the blows fall,--whack, whack,whack,--as the beak smote the Snake's head; first on one side, then onthe other, until it lay limp and dead across the bough.
"Ah! ah! ah!--Ah! ah! ah!" laughed the Kookooburra, and said to Dot,"Did you see all that? Wasn't it a joke? What a capital joke! Ha! ha!ha! ha! ha! Oh! oh! oh! how my sides do ache! What a joke! How they'lllaugh when I tell them." Then came a great flight of kookooburras, forthey had heard the laughter, and all wanted to know what the joke was.Proudly the Kookooburra told them all about the Snake sleeping on Dot,and the great fight! All the time, first one kookooburra, and thenanother, chuckled over the story, and when it came to an end every birddropped its wings, cocked up its tail, and throwing back its head,opened its great beak, and all laughed uproariously together. Dot wasnearly deafened by the noise; for some chuckled, some cackled; somesaid, "Ha! ha! ha!" others said, "Oh! oh! oh!" and as soon as one leftoff, another began, until it seemed as though they couldn't stop. Theyall said it was a splendid joke, and that they really must go and tellit to the whole bush. So they flew away, and far and near, for hours,the bush echoed with chuckling and cackling, and wild bursts oflaughter, as the kookooburras told that grand joke everywhere.
"Now," said the Kookooburra, when all the others had gone, "a bit ofsnake is just the right thing for breakfast. Will you have some, littleHuman?"
Dot shuddered at the idea of eating snake for breakfast, and theKookooburra thought she was afraid of being poisoned.
"It won't hurt you," he said kindly, "I took care that it did not biteitself. Sometimes they do that when they are dying, and then they're notgood to eat. But this snake is all right, and won't disagree likecockchafers: the scales are quite soft and digestible," he added.
But Dot said she would rather wait for the berries the Kangaroo wasbringing, so the Kookooburra remarked that if she would excuse it hewould like to begin breakfast at once, as the fight had made him hungry.Then Dot saw him hold the reptile on the branch with his foot, whilst hetook its tail into his beak, and proceeded to swallow it in a leisurelyway. In fact the Kookooburra was so slow that very little of the snakehad disappeared when the Kangaroo returned.
THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE KOOKOOBURRA AND THE SNAKE]
The Kangaroo had brought a pouch full of berries, and in her handa small spray of the magic ones, by eating which Dot was able tounderstand the talk of all the bush creatures. All the time she waswandering in the bush the Kangaroo gave her some of these to eat daily,and Dot soon found that the effect of these strange berries only lasteduntil the next day.
The Kangaroo emptied out her pouch, and Dot found quite a largecollection of roots, buds, and berries, which she ate with goodappetite.
The Kangaroo watched her eating with a look of quiet satisfaction.
"See," she said, "how easily one can live in the bush without hurtinganyone; and yet Humans live by murdering creatures and devouring them.If they are lost in the scrub they die, because they know no other wayto live than that cruel one of destroying us all. Humans have become socruel, that they kill, and kill, not even for food, but for the love ofmurdering. I often wonder," she said, "why they and the dingoes areallowed to live on this beautiful kind earth. The Black Humans kill anddevour us; but they, even, are not so terrible as the Whites, whodelight in taking our lives, and torturing us just as an amusement.Every creature in the bush weeps that they should have come to take thebeautiful bus
h away from us."
Dot saw that the sad brown eyes of the Kangaroo were full of tears, andshe cried too, as she thought of all that the poor animals and birdssuffer at the hands of white men. "Dear Kangaroo," she said, "if I everget home, I'll tell everyone of how you unhappy creatures live in fear,and suffer, and ask them not to kill you poor things any more."
But the Kangaroo sadly shook her head, and said, "White Humans arecruel, and love to murder. We must all die. But about your lost way,"she continued in a brisk tone, by way of changing this painful subject;"I've been asking about it, and no one has seen it anywhere. Of coursesomeone must know where it is, but the difficulty is to find the rightone to ask." Then she dropped her voice, and came a little nearer toDot, and stooping down until her little black hands hung close to theground, she whispered in Dot's ear, "They say I ought to consult thePlatypus."
"Could the Platypus help, do you think?" Dot asked.
"I _never_ think," said the Kangaroo, "but as the Platypus never goesanywhere, never associates with any other creature, and is hardly everseen, I conclude it knows everything--it must, you know."
"Of course," said Dot, with some doubt in her tone.
"The only thing is," continued the Kangaroo, once more sitting up andpensively scratching her nose. "The only thing is, I can't bear thePlatypus; the sight of it gives me the creeps: it's such a queercreature!"
"I've never seen a Platypus," said Dot. "Do tell me what it is like!"
"I couldn't describe it," said the Kangaroo, with a shudder, "it seemsmade up of parts of two or three different sorts of creatures. None ofus can account for it. It must have been an experiment, when all therest of us were made: or else it was made up of the odds and ends of thebirds and beasts that were left over after we were all finished."
Little Dot clapped her hands. "Oh, dear Kangaroo," she said, "do take meto see the Platypus! there was nothing like that in my Noah's ark."
"I should say not!" remarked the Kangaroo. "The animals in the Ark saidthey were each to be of its kind, and every sort of bird and beastrefused to admit the Platypus, because it was of so many kinds; and atlast Noah turned it out to swim for itself, because there was such arow. That's why the Platypus is so secluded. Ever since then no Platypusis friendly with any other creature, and no animal or bird is more thanjust polite to it. They couldn't be, you see, because of that trouble inthe Ark."
"But that was so long ago," said Dot, filled with compassion for thelonely Platypus; "and, after all, this is not the same Platypus, nor areall the bush creatures the same now as then."
"No," returned the Kangaroo, "and some say there was no Ark, and no fussover the matter, but that, of course, doesn't make any difference, forit's a very ancient quarrel, so it must be kept up. But if we are to goto the Platypus we had better start now; it is a good time to see it--socome along, little Dot," said the Kangaroo.