"Why, hang it, man, do you mean to say that you don't know a kangaroo when you see one?" and Smith laughed at my greenness.
"Do you mean to say that those are kangaroos?" I demanded.
"Of course they are; see that fellow sitting on his tail near you. He is almost as large as a native, and were it not for showing the black devils our position I would knock him over, and we would have fresh steaks for breakfast."
"But I supposed that the kangaroo was a very wild animal," Fred said, joining in the conversation.
"So they are; but in the night time I have known them to mingle with horses and not leave until daylight. They appear to have a remarkable attachment for horses; and a man riding over a prairie can approach them within a few rods without exciting suspicions."
I was listening attentively to Smith, but still I kept an eye on our visitors, and noticed that they gradually lessened their distance between us, and were so near that they could not fail to note our positions.
"Do kangaroos usually carry spears in their paws?" I asked of Smith, in a whisper.
"What do you mean?" he demanded.
"I mean that instead of animals we have natives to deal with, and in another moment our throats would have been cut by the sly scamps."