Dot and the Kangaroo | Page 4

listen. But now the gentle, soft voice of the kind animal
caught her attention, and she found that the Kangaroo was in the
middle of a speech.
"I understood what was the matter with you at once," she was saying,

"for I feel just the same myself. I have been miserable, like you, ever
since I lost my baby kangaroo. You also must have lost something. Tell
me what it is?"
"I've lost my way," said Dot; rather wondering if the Kangaroo would
understand her.
"Ah!" said the Kangaroo, quite delighted at her own cleverness, "I
knew you had lost something! Isn't it a dreadful feeling? You feel as if
you had no inside, don't you? And you're not inclined to eat
anything--not even the youngest grass. I have been like that ever since I
lost my baby kangaroo. Now tell me," said the creature confidentially,
"what your way is like, I may be able to find it for you."
Dot found that she must explain what she meant by saying she had "lost
her way," and the Kangaroo was much interested.
"Well," said she, after listening to the little girl, "that is just like you
Humans; you are not fit for this country at all! Of course, if you have
only one home in one place, you must lose it! If you made your home
everywhere and anywhere, it would never be lost. Humans are no good
in our bush," she continued. "Just look at yourself now. How do you
compare with a kangaroo? There is your ridiculous sham coat. Well,
you have lost bits of it all the way you have come to-day, and you're
nearly left in your bare skin. Now look at my coat. I've done ever so
much more hopping than you to-day, and you see I'm none the worse. I
wonder why all your fur grows upon the top of your head," she said
reflectively, as she looked curiously at Dot's long flaxen curls. "It's
such a silly place to have one's fur the thickest! You see, we have very
little there; for we don't want our heads made any hotter under the
Australian sun. See how much better off you would be, now that nearly
all your sham coat is gone, if that useless fur had been chopped into
little, short lengths, and spread all over your poor bare body. I wonder
why you Humans are made so badly," she ended, with a puzzled air.
Dot felt for a moment as if she ought to apologise for being so unfit for
the bush, and for having all the fur on the top of her head. But,
somehow, she had an idea that a little girl must be something better

than a kangaroo, although the Kangaroo certainly seemed a very
superior person; so she said nothing, but again began to eat the berries.
"You must not eat any more of these berries," said the Kangaroo,
anxiously.
"Why?" asked Dot, "they are very nice, and I'm very hungry."
The Kangaroo gently took the spray out of Dot's hand, and threw it
away. "You see," she said, "if you eat too many of them, you'll know
too much."
"One can't know too much," argued the little girl.
"Yes you can, though," said the Kangaroo, quickly. "If you eat too
many of those berries, you'll learn too much, and that gives you
indigestion, and then you become miserable. I don't want you to be
miserable any more, for I'm going to find your 'lost way.'"
The mention of finding her way reminded the little girl of her sad
position, which, in her wonder at talking with the Kangaroo, had been
quite forgotten for a little while. She became sad again; and seeing how
dim the light was getting, her thoughts went back to her parents. She
longed to be with them to be kissed and cuddled, and her blue eyes
filled with tears.
"Your eyes just now remind me of two fringed violets, with the
morning dew on them, or after a shower," said the Kangaroo. "Why are
you crying?"
"I was thinking," said Dot.
"Oh! don't think!" pleaded the Kangaroo; "I never do myself."
"I can't help it!" explained the little girl. "What do you do instead?" she
asked.
"I always jump to conclusions," said the Kangaroo, and she promptly
bounded ten feet at one hop. Lightly springing back again to her

position in front of the child, she added, "and that's why I never have a
headache."
"Dear Kangaroo," said Dot, "do you know where I can get some water?
I'm very thirsty!"
"Of course you are," said her friend; "everyone is at sundown. I'm
thirsty myself. But the nearest water-hole is a longish way off, so we
had better start at once."
Little Dot got up with