"Tell you when I visit the traps termorrer, boy."
"I say three," judged the judicious Joe.
"I say one," opined the cautious Sandy.
"I say the whole bloomin' lot," loudly proclaimed the sanguine Tom.
"I say, wait," drily remarked the wise trapper.
The trapper's prophecy was justified; for, on a visit to the traps in the early morning by the expectant and impatient boys, in the company of Nosey George, to the surprise and disgust of these same youngsters, not a trap was sprung.
The trapper, who while examining the ground had maintained a sphinx-like attitude, broke silence at length under a fusillade of questions.
"Yees want ter know, does youse, why it is no dog's copp'd? Simple enough. Dogs didn't come."
CHAPTER XVII
DINGO V. EMU: A FIGHT TO A FINISH