Dot and the Kangaroo

CHAPTER XII.

Although the Kangaroo was longing to hear the reason why so many Bush creatures had collected round Dot whilst she was away, she was too anxious to carry her to Willy Wagtail before nightfall to wait and enquire what had happened. Dot, too, was so excited at hearing that her way home had been found, that she could only think of the delight of seeing her father and mother again. So the Kangaroo had hopped until she was tired and needed rest, before they spoke. Then Dot described the Trial, and made the Kangaroo laugh about the Cockatoo judge, but she did not say how it had all ended because the Kangaroo had forgiven Dot for Humans making rugs of her fur, boots of her skin, and soup of her tail. She was afraid of hurting her feelings by mentioning such delicate subjects. The Kangaroo never noticed that anything was left out, because she was bursting to relate her interview with Willy Wagtail.

She told Dot eagerly how she had found Willy Wagtail near his old haunt; how that gossiping little bird had told all the news of the Gabblegabble town and district in ten minutes, and how he had said he believed he knew Dot by sight, and that if such were the case he would show Dot and the Kangaroo the way to the little girl's home. Then Dot and the Kangaroo hurried on their way again, the little girl sometimes running and walking to rest the kind animal, and sometimes being carried in that soft cosy pouch that had been her cradle and carriage for all those days.

It was quite dusk by the time they arrived at a split-rail fence, and heard a little bird singing, "Sweet pretty creature! Sweet pretty creature!"

"That is Willy Wagtail making love," said the Kangaroo, with a humorous twinkle in her quiet eyes. "Peep round the bush," she said to Dot, "and you'll see them spooning."

Dot glanced through the branches, and saw two wagtails, who looked very smart with their black coats and white waistcoats, sitting on two posts of a fence a little way off. They were each pretending that their long big tails were too heavy to balance them properly, and they seemed to be always just saving themselves from toppling off their perch. Occasionally Willy would dart into the air, to show what an expert flyer he was; he would shoot straight upwards, turn a double somersault backwards, and wing off in the direction one least expected. Afterwards he would return to his post as calm and cool as if he had done nothing surprising and say "Pretty pretty Chip-pi-ti-chip!" that name meaning the other wagtail. Then Chip-pi-ti-chip showed off HER flying, and they both said to one another "Sweet pretty creature!"

At the sound of Dot and the Kangaroo's approach Chip-pi-ti-chip hid herself in a tree, and Willy Wagtail, not knowing who was disturbing them, scolded angrily; but when he saw the Kangaroo and the little girl, he gave them the most cordial greeting, and wobbled about on a rail as if he must tumble off every second.

"This is Dot," said the Kangaroo a little anxiously, and rather breathless with the speed she had made.

"Just as I had expected!" exclaimed Willy Wagtail, with a jerk of the tail which nearly sent him headlong off the rail. "I should know you anywhere, little Human, though you do look a bit different. You want preening," he added.

This last remark was in allusion to Dot's appearance, which certainly was most untidy and dirty, for, beyond an occasional lick from the Kangaroo, she had been five days without being tidied and cleaned.

"I couldn't do it better," said the Kangaroo apologetically.

"It doesn't matter at all," said Dot, putting her tangled curls back from her eyes.

"Well! I know where you live," gabbled off the Wagtail. "It's the second big paddock from here, if you follow the belt of the she-oak trees over there. It's a house just like those things in Gabblebabble township. There's a yellow sheep dog, who's very good tempered, and a black one that made a snap at my tail the other day. There is an old grey cart horse, an honest fellow, but rather dull; and a bay mare who is much better company. There is a little red cow who is a great friend of mine, and she had a calf a few days before you were lost. Dear me!" exclaimed the gossiping bird, "what a fuss there has been these five days over trying to find you! I've been over there every day to see the sight. Such a lot of Humans! And such horses. I enjoyed myself immensely, and made a lot of friends amongst the horses, but I didn't care so much for the dogs; I thought them a nasty quarrelsome lot.

"I went a couple of days with the whole turn out to see the search. Goodness, the distances they went, and the noise and the big fires they made. It WAS exciting fun! They brought over some black Humans—'Trackers' is what they are called, at least the Mounted Troopers' horses told me so (my word the Troopers' horses are jolly fellows!) Well, these black trackers went in front of each party just like dogs, with their heads to the ground, and they turned over every leaf and twig, and said if a Human, a horse or a Kangaroo had broken it or been that way, they would have found your track fast enough, but one evening it came to an end quite suddenly, and weren't they all surprised! I heard from a Trooper's horse—(such a nice horse he was!)—that the trackers and white Humans said it was just as if you had disappeared into the sky! There was just a bit of your fur on a bush, and nothing anywhere else but a Kangaroo's trail. No one could make it out."

"That was when I took you in my pouch!" exclaimed the Kangaroo.

"Now," said the Wagtail, "most of them have given up the search. Just this evening Dot's father and a few other Humans came back, and the yellow sheep dog told me the last big party is to start at noon to-morrow, and after that there will be no more attempt to find Dot. Only the sheep dog said he heard his master say he would go on hunting alone, until he found her body. I haven't been over there to-day," wound up the bird, "they are all so miserable and tired, it gave me the blues yesterday."

"What are we to do? It is quite dark and late!" asked the Kangaroo.

"You had better stay here," counselled the Wagtail. "One night more or less doesn't matter, and I don't like leaving Chip-pi-ti-chip at night-time. She likes me to sing to her all night, because she is nervous. I will go with you to-morrow morning early, if you will wait here until then."

"Having found your lost way so far!" said the Kangaroo to Dot, "it would be a pity to risk losing it again, so we had better wait for Willy Wagtail to guide us to-morrow."

To tell the truth, the Kangaroo was very glad of the excuse to keep Dot one night more before parting from her. "It will seem like losing my little Joey again, when I am once more alone," she said sadly.

"But you will never go far away," said Dot. "I should cry, if I thought you would never come to see me. You will live on our selection, won't you?"

But the Kangaroo looked very doubtful, and said that she loved Dot, but she was afraid of Humans and their dogs.

After a supper of berries and grass, Dot and the Kangaroo lay down for the night in a little bower of bushes. But they talked until very late, of how they were to manage to reach Dot's home without danger from guns and dogs. At last when they tried to sleep, they could not do so on account of Willy Wagtail's singing to his sweetheart, "Sweet pretty creature! Sweet pretty creature!" without stopping for more than five minutes at a time.

"I wonder Chip-pi-ti-chip doesn't get tired of that song," said Dot.

"She never does," yawned the Kangaroo, "and he never tires of singing it."

"Sweet pretty creature," sang Willy Wagtail.