He flung off his wallaby-skin rug, and sat up. Pilla uttered a cry.
"Ky! you are all over spots! Did I really hit you in all those places?"
"You must have done so," said Inda, crossly. "Lucky for me that the spears were blunt!"
"I feel most extraordinary," said Pilla, suddenly "It is just as though I were shrinking—and indeed, I have no cause to shrink, seeing how much I ate last night. But my skin is getting all loose."
"And mine too!" cried Inda, faintly. "There is Magic at work upon us, my brother!"
Then a mist drifted over the wurley, and strange cries came out of it. The boys, watching outside, clutched at each other in fear. And presently, when the mist blew away, Pilla and Inda were not to be seen, nor were they ever seen more. Instead, within the wurley crouched two little animals, new to the blacks, which uttered faint squeaks and scurried away through the camp into the Bush.
There they live now, and through them are the sons of Burkamukk remembered. Pilla is the plump 'possum, who has always a furrow down his nose; and Inda is the native-cat, whose skin is covered all over with spots. For the Magic of Kuperee lived after him, so that the blunt weapons that had struck him had strange power, just as there was power of life in the stone axe that had killed him. But though they lived no longer as men, the names of Pilla and Inda were always held in great honour, since through their courage and wisdom the tribes lived in security, free from the wickedness of Kuperee.
II
WAUNG, THE CROW
CHAPTER I