Dot and the Kangaroo | Page 5

an effort. After her long run and fatigue, she was
very stiff, and her little legs were so tired and weak, that after a few
steps she staggered and fell.
The Kangaroo looked at the child compassionately. "Poor little
Human," she said, "your legs aren't much good, and, for the life of me,
I don't understand how you can expect to get along without a tail. The
water-hole is a good way off," she added, with a sigh, as she looked
down at Dot, lying on the ground, and she was very puzzled what to do.
But suddenly she brightened up. "I have an idea," she said joyfully.
"Just step into my pouch, and I'll hop you down to the water-hole in
less time than it takes a locust to shrill."
Timidly and carefully, Dot did the Kangaroo's bidding, and found
herself in the cosiest, softest little bag imaginable. The Kangaroo
seemed overjoyed, when Dot was comfortably settled in her pouch. "I
feel as if I had my dear baby kangaroo again!" she exclaimed; and
immediately she bounded away through the tangled scrub, over stones
and bushes, over dry water-courses and great fallen trees. And all Dot
felt was a gentle rocking motion, and a fresh breeze in her face, which
made her so cheerful that she sang this song:--
If you want to go quick, I will tell you a trick For the bush, where there
isn't a train. With a hulla-buloo, Hail a big kangaroo-- But be sure that
your weight she'll sustain-- Then with hop, and with skip, She will take
you a trip With the speed of the very best steed; And, this is a truth for
which I can vouch, There's no carriage can equal a kangaroo's pouch.
Oh! where is a friend so strong and true As a dear big, bounding

kangaroo?
"Good bye! Good bye!" The lizards all cry, Each drying its eyes with
its tail. "Adieu! Adieu! Dear kangaroo!" The scared little grasshoppers
wail. "They're going express To a distant address," Says the bandicoot,
ready to scoot; And your path is well cleared for your progress, I vouch,
When you ride through the bush in a kangaroo's pouch. Oh! where is a
friend so strong and true As a dear big, bounding kangaroo?
"Away and away!" You will certainly say, "To the end of the farthest
blue-- To the verge of the sky, And the far hills high, O take me with
thee, kangaroo! We will seek for the end, Where the broad plains tend,
E'en as far as the evening star. Why, the end of the world we can reach,
I vouch, Dear kangaroo, with me in your pouch." Oh! where is a friend
so strong and true As a dear big, bounding kangaroo?
CHAPTER II
"That is a nice song of yours," said the Kangaroo, "and I like it very
much, but please stop singing now, as we are getting near the
water-hole, for it's not etiquette to make a noise near water at
sundown."
Dot would have asked why everything must be so quiet; but as she
peeped out, she saw that the Kangaroo was making a very dangerous
descent, and she did not like to trouble her friend with questions just
then. They seemed to be going down to a great deep gully that looked
almost like a hole in the earth, the depth was so great, and the hills
around came so closely together. The way the Kangaroo was hopping
was like going down the side of a wall. Huge rocks were tumbled about
here and there. Some looked as if they would come rolling down upon
them; and others appeared as if a little jolt would send them crashing
and tumbling into the darkness below. Where the Kangaroo found
room to land on its feet after each bound puzzled Dot, for there seemed
no foothold anywhere. It all looked so dangerous to the little girl that
she shut her eyes, so as not to see the terrible places they bounded over,
or rested on: she felt sure that the Kangaroo must lose her balance, or

hop just a little too far or a little too near, and that they would fall
together over the side of that terrible wild cliff. At last she said:
"Oh, Kangaroo, shall we get safely to the bottom do you think?"
"I never think," said the Kangaroo, "but I know we shall. This is the
easiest way. If I went through the thick bush on the other side, I should
stand a chance of running my head against a tree at every leap, unless I
got a stiff neck with holding my head on one side looking out of one
eye all the time. My nose gets in the way when I look