CHAPTER IX.
The Kangaroo, hopping very weakly, and little Dot trudging over the oozy ground, followed the Bittern's directions and found the cave, which proved a very snug retreat. Here they lay down together, full of happiness at their escape, and worn out with fatigue and excitement, they were soon fast asleep.
The next day, before the sun rose, the Bittern visited the cave. "Hullo, you precious lazy pair! I've been over there," and it tossed its beak in the direction of the blacks' camp. "They're off northward. Too frightened to stay. I thought you might like the news brought you, since you're too lazy to get it for yourselves!" and off it went again without saying good-bye.
"Now isn't he a kind little fellow?" said the Kangaroo. "That's his way of telling us that we are safe."
"Thanks, Bittern! thanks!" they both cried, but the creamy brown bird paid no attention to their gratitude: it seemed absorbed in looking for frogs on its way.
All that day the Kangaroo and Dot stayed near the cave, so that the poor animal might get quite well again. The Kangaroo said she did not know that part of the country, and so she had better get her legs again before they faced fresh dangers. Neither of them was so bright and merry as before. The weather was showery, and Dot kept thinking that perhaps she would never get home, now she had been so long away, and she kept remembering the time when the little boy was lost and everyone's sadness.
The Kangaroo too seemed melancholy.
"What makes you sad?" asked Dot.
"I am thinking of the last time before this that I was hunted. It was then I lost my baby Kangaroo," she replied.
"Oh! you poor dear thing!" exclaimed Dot, "and have you been hunted before last night?"