Part 10 (2/2)
”Sheep!” it answered with awith the sheep?” asked Dot and the Kangaroo, now fully interested in the E thehted with the scheme ”The sheep will soon know that they are near water, and will go to it without driving Then we shall watch, and if they quietly drink and scatter, it will be safe for us, but if they see anything unusual and break, and run--well, we shan't drink at the tank to-night There will be Hus there, and we don't cultivate their society just now”
”Really that is the cleverest thing I have heard for a long tiaroo, full of admiration for the trick ”How did you ju upon us,” answered the E ain ”Dear inning to excite me, and I can hardly keep still! I wonder what there is so exciting about sheep!”
Dot could now see the advancing flock of sheep, with their attendant ot scent of the water, and with contented bleatings were slowlyeffect across the dusty plain The rouped in a cluster, watched, with bobbing heads, every aroo, and the Emu looked towards the tank with silent interest ”I' in case there is any danger in this direction Emus are posted all round the tank on the same duty”
Dot could see the whole scene well, for beyond a fe shrubs on the opposite side of the sheet of water, there was no sheltering bush near the great tank which had been excavated on the bare plain
[Illustration: THE EMUS HUNTING THE SHEEP]
Onward came the sheep, and quite stationary in the distance re the deep slope of the tank, a Plover rose frost the bushes with a shrill cry The Earoo, ”There'll be no drink to-night: watch!”
The cry of the Plover seemed to arrest the advance of the ti around But presently the old leader gave a deep bleat, and they moved forward towards the water
”Shriek! Shriek!” cried the Plover fro as they rose and fleay; and suddenly the flock of sheep broke and hurried back to the open plain At the sa, a noise that produced an instant effect on the creatures she ith With lightning speed the Kangaroo had popped her into her pouch and was hopping away, and the Es as fast as it could for the cover of the Bush
Just as they entered the Bush shelter, Dot peeped out of the pouch, across the plain, and could see the ht
When they had reached a place of safety, the friendly Eo thirsty to-night,” it said, ”but there will be a heavy dew, and the grass will be wet enough to cool one's mouth That pretty trick of ours was such a success that it is al it”
Turning to Dot it said, ”You will be able to tell the big Humans that we Emus are not such fools as they think, and that we find their flocks of silly sheepto itself, the Earoo to pass another night in the solitude of the Bush
CHAPTER XI
The next day they travelled a long distance At about noon they caaroo said she kneell ”But we must be careful,” she added, ”as we are very near Humans in this part”
As Dot was tired (for she had had to walk ested that she should rest at the pretty spot they had reached, whilst she herself went in search of willy Wagtail Dot had to proain, not to leave the spot during her absence She was afraid lest the little girl should get lost, like the little Joey
After s and aroo went in search of willy Wagtail; and the little girl was left all alone
Dot looked for a nice shady nook, in which to lie down and rest; and she found the place so cheerful and pretty, that she was not afraid of being alone She was in the hollow of an old watercourse It was rather like an English forest glade, it was so open and grassy; and here and there were pretty shrubs, and little hillocks and hollows At first Dot thought that she would sit on the branch of a huge tree that had but recently fallen, and lay forlornly clothed in withered leaves; but opposite to this dead giant of the Bush was a thick shrub with a decayed tree stump beside it, that made a nice sheltered corner which she liked better So Dot laid herself down there, and in a few h, as she dropped off into the land of drealade was, and felt somewhat surprised to find no Bush creatures to keep her company
Soe There seereat crowds in theradually awakened, she realized that the voices were real, and not a part of her dreas, and rustling of leaves and grass Through all this confusion, odd sentences became clear to her drowsy senses Such phrases as, ”You'd better perch here!” ”This isn't your place!” ”Go over there!”
”No! no! I'one for the Opossuht!”
”Don't make such a noise or you ake the prisoner;” ”Who is to be the Judge?” This last enquiry provoked such a noise of diverse opinions, that Dot becaazed around with eyes full of astonishment