Dot and the Kangaroo | Page 9

to see where the
deadly Snake would go. It was very drowsy, having slept heavily on
Dot's warm little body; so it went slowly towards the bush, to get some
frogs or birds for breakfast. But as it wriggled into the warm morning
sunlight outside, Dot saw a sight that made her clap her hands together
with anxiety for the life of the jolly Kookooburra.
No sooner did the black Snake get outside the cave, than she saw the
Kookooburra fall like a stone from its branch, right on top of the Snake.
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 the
ground, in battle with the poisonous reptile, whilst the Snake wriggled,
and coiled its body into hoops and rings. The Kookooburra's strong

wings, beating the air just above the writhing Snake, made a great noise,
and the serpent hissed in its fierce hatred and anger. Then Dot saw that
the Kookooburra's big beak had a firm hold of the Snake by the back 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 it hissed and
stuck out its wicked little spiky tongue; in vain it tried to coil itself
round the bird's body; the Kookooburra was too strong and too 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, until it
reached the high bough. All the time the Snake was held in the bird's
beak, writhing and coiling in agony; for he knew that the Kookooburra
had won the battle. But, when the noble bird had reached its perch, it
did 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, and
dropped it once more--and this it did many times. Each time the Snake
moved less and less, for its back was being broken by these falls. At
last 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 with its
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 on
the 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'll
laugh when I tell them." Then came a great flight of kookooburras, for
they 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 then
another, chuckled over the story, and when it came to an end every bird
dropped its wings, cocked up its tail, and throwing back its head,
opened its great beak, and all laughed uproariously together. Dot was
nearly deafened by the noise; for some chuckled, some cackled; some
said, "Ha! ha! ha!" others said, "Oh! oh! oh!" and as soon as one left off,
another began, until it seemed as though they couldn't stop. They all

said it was a splendid joke, and that they really must go and tell it to the
whole bush. So they flew away, and far and near, for hours, the bush
echoed with chuckling and cackling, and wild bursts of laughter, as the
kookooburras told that grand joke everywhere.
"Now," said the Kookooburra, when all the others had gone, "a bit of
snake is just the right thing for breakfast. Will you have some, little
Human?"
Dot shuddered at the idea of eating snake for breakfast, and the
Kookooburra thought she was afraid of being poisoned.
"It won't hurt you," he said kindly, "I took care that it did not bite itself.
Sometimes they do that when they are dying, and then they're not good
to eat. But this snake is all right, and won't disagree like cockchafers:
the scales are quite soft and digestible," he added.
But Dot said she would rather wait for the berries the Kangaroo was
bringing, so the Kookooburra remarked that if she would excuse it he
would like to begin breakfast at once, as the fight had made him hungry.
Then Dot saw him hold the reptile on the branch