Part 2 (1/2)
Dot said she didn't see any joke, and it was no laughing matter
”To be sure _you_ don't see the joke,” said the jovial bird ”On-lookers always see the jokes, and I'm an on-looker It's not to be expected of you, because you're not an on-looker;” and he shook with suppressed laughter again
”Where is et you some berries for breakfast,” said the Kookooburra, ”and she asked ot on you whilst I fleay to consult estion I have He's very difficult to catch awake; for he's out all night and sleepy all day He says cockchafers have caused it The horny wing-cases and legs are estible, he assures ht, so I took his advice and coughed the depressed Take my advice, and don't eat cockchafers, little Human”
Dot did not really hear all this, nor heed the excellent advice of the Kookooburra, not to eat those hard green beetles that had disagreed with it, for a little shi+vering h the Snake, and presently all the scales of its shi+ning black back and rosy underpart began to in to uncoil itself, as it lay upon her She hardly dared to breathe, but lay as still as if she were dead, so as not to frighten or anger the horrid creature, which presently seeled away to the entrance of the cave
With a quick, delighted er to see where the deadly Snake would go It was very drowsy, having slept heavily on Dot's waret soled into the warht that ether 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 froht 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 round, 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, reat 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 eneallant 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 ti 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 flen again, and brought the reptile back to the bough, and dropped it once more--and this it did many times Each ti broken by these falls At last the Kookooburra fleith its victi 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 lih
”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 h when I tell theht of kookooburras, for they had heard the laughter, and all wanted to knohat the joke was
Proudly the Kookooburra told theht! All the time, first one kookooburra, and then another, chuckled over the story, and when it cas, 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 seeh they couldn't stop They all said it was a splendid joke, and that they really o and tell it to the whole bush So they fleay, 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 so 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 So, 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 rein breakfast at once, as the fight had ry
Then Dot saw him hold the reptile on the branch with his foot, whilst he took its tail into his beak, and proceeded to s it in a leisurely way In fact the Kookooburra was so slow that very little of the snake had disappeared when the Kangaroo returned
[Illustration: THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE KOOKOOBURRA AND THE SNAKE]
The Kangaroo had brought a pouch full of berries, and in her hand a s which Dot was able to understand the talk of all the bush creatures All the tiave her some of these to eat daily, and Dot soon found that the effect of these strange berries only lasted until the next day
The Kangaroo ee collection of roots, buds, and berries, which she ate with good appetite
The Kangaroo watched her eating with a look of quiet satisfaction
”See,” she said, ”how easily one can live in the bush without hurting anyone; and yet Hu them
If they are lost in the scrub they die, because they know no other way to live than that cruel one of destroying us all Humans have become so cruel, that they kill, and kill, not even for food, but for the love of oes are allowed to live on this beautiful kind earth The Black Humans kill and devour us; but they, even, are not so terrible as the Whites, who delight in taking our lives, and torturing us just as an amusement