Dot and the Kangaroo | Page 3

had ridden off on
the big bay horse to bring men from all the selections around to help in
the search. She remembered their coming back in the darkness;

numbers of strange men she had never seen before. Old men, young
men, and boys, all on their rough-coated horses, and how they came
indoors, and what a noise they made all talking together in their big
deep voices. They looked terrible men, so tall and brown and fierce,
with their rough bristly beards; and they all spoke in such funny tones
to her, as if they were trying to make their voices small.
During many days these men came and went, and every time they were
more sad, and less noisy. The little boy's mother used to come and stay,
crying, whilst the men were searching the bush for her little son. Then,
one evening, Dot's father came home alone, and both her mother and
the little boy's mother went away in a great hurry. Then, very late, her
mother came back crying, and her father sat smoking by the fire
looking very sad, and she never saw that little boy again, although he
had been found.
She wondered now if all these rough, big men were riding into the bush
to find her, and if, after many days, they would find her, and no one
ever see her again. She seemed to see her mother crying, and her father
very sad, and all the men very solemn. These thoughts made her so
miserable that she began to cry herself.
Dot does not know how long she was sobbing in loneliness and fear,
with her head on her knees, and with her little hands covering her eyes
so as not to see the cruel wild bush in which she was lost. It seemed a
long time before she summoned up courage to uncover her weeping
eyes, and look once more at the bare, dry earth, and the wilderness of
scrub and trees that seemed to close her in as if she were in a prison.
When she did look up, she was surprised to see that she was no longer
alone. She forgot all her trouble and fear in her astonishment at seeing a
big grey Kangaroo squatting quite close to her, in front of her.
[Illustration: THE KANGAROO FINDS DOT]
What was most surprising was that the Kangaroo evidently understood
that Dot was in trouble, and was sorry for her; for down the animal's
nice soft grey muzzle two tiny little tears were slowly trickling. When
Dot looked up at it with wonder in her round blue eyes, the Kangaroo

did not jump away, but remained gazing sympathetically at Dot with a
slightly puzzled air. Suddenly the big animal seemed to have an idea,
and it lightly hopped off into the scrub, where Dot could just see it
bobbing up and down as if it were hunting for something. Presently
back came the strange Kangaroo with a spray of berries in her funny
black hands. They were pretty berries. Some were green, some were
red, some blue, and others white. Dot was quite glad to take them when
the Kangaroo offered them to her; and as this friendly animal seemed to
wish her to eat them, she did so gladly, because she was beginning to
feel hungry.
After she had eaten a few berries a very strange thing happened. While
Dot had been alone in the bush it had all seemed so dreadfully still.
There had been no sound but the gentle stir of a light, fitful breeze in
the far-away tree-tops. All around had been so quiet, that her loneliness
had seemed twenty times more lonely. Now, however, under the
influence of these small, sweet berries, Dot was surprised to hear voices
everywhere. At first it seemed like hearing sounds in a dream, they
were so faint and distant, but soon the talking grew nearer and nearer,
louder and clearer, until the whole bush seemed filled with talking.
They were all little voices, some indeed quite tiny whispers and
squeaks, but they were very numerous, and seemed to be everywhere.
They came from the earth, from the bushes, from the trees, and from
the very air. The little girl looked round to see where they came from,
but everything looked just the same. Hundreds of ants, of all kinds and
sizes, were hurrying to their nests; a few lizards were scuttling about
amongst the dry twigs and sparse grasses; there were some
grasshoppers, and in the trees birds fluttered to and fro. Then Dot knew
that she was hearing, and understanding, everything that was being said
by all the insects and creatures in the bush.
All this time the Kangaroo had been speaking, only Dot had been too
surprised to