insects and creatures in the bush.

All this time the Kangaroo had been speaking, only Dot had been too
surprised to listen. But now the gentle, soft voice of the kind animal
caught her attention, and she found that the Kangaroo was in the middle
of a speech.

"I understood what was the matter with you at once," she was saying,
"for I feel just the same myself. I have been miserable, like you, ever
since I lost my baby kangaroo. You also must have lost something. Tell
me what it is?"

"I've lost my way," said Dot; rather wondering if the Kangaroo would
understand her.

"Ah!" said the Kangaroo, quite delighted at her own cleverness, "I knew
you had lost something! Isn't it a dreadful feeling? You feel as if you
had no inside, don't you? And you're not inclined to eat anything--not
even the youngest grass. I have been like that ever since I lost my baby
kangaroo. Now tell me," said the creature confidentially, "what your way
is like, I may be able to find it for you."

Dot found that she must explain what she meant by saying she had "lost
her way," and the Kangaroo was much interested.

"Well," said she, after listening to the little girl, "that is just like
you Humans; you are not fit for this country at all! Of course, if you
have only one home in one place, you _must_ lose it! If you made your
home everywhere and anywhere, it would never be lost. Humans are no good
in our bush," she continued. "Just look at yourself now. How do you
compare with a kangaroo? There is your ridiculous sham coat. Well, you
have lost bits of it all the way you have come to-day, and you're nearly
left in your bare skin. Now look at _my_ coat. I've done ever so much
more hopping than you to-day, and you see I'm none the worse. I wonder
why all your fur grows upon the top of your head," she said
reflectively, as she looked curiously at Dot's long flaxen curls. "It's
such a silly place to have one's fur the thickest! You see, we have very
little there; for we don't want our heads made any hotter under the
Australian sun. See how much better off you would be, now that nearly
all your sham coat is gone, if that useless fur had been chopped into
little, short lengths, and spread all over your poor bare body. I wonder
why you Humans are made so badly," she ended, with a puzzled air.

Dot felt for a moment as if she ought to apologise for being so unfit
for the bush, and for having all the fur on the top of her head. But,
somehow, she had a