rgeous red
breasts, came in flocks, and welcomed her to their favourite haunt; and,
as she had eaten the berries of understanding, and was the friend of the
Kangaroo, they were not frightened, but perched on her shoulders and
hands, and chatted their merry talk together. The Kangaroo did not share
Dot's enthusiasm for the beauties of the gully. She said it was pretty,
certainly, but a bad place for kangaroos, because there was no grass.
For her part, she didn't think any sight in nature so lovely as a big
plain, green with the little blades of new spring grass. The gully was
very showy, but not to her mind so beautiful as the other.

Then they came to a stream that gurgled melodiously as it rippled over
stones in its shallow course, or crept round big grey boulders that were
wrapped in thick mosses, in which were mingled flowers of the pink and
red wild fuchsia, or the creamy great blossoms of the rock lily. Dot ran
down the stream with bare feet, laughing as she paddled in and out among
the rocks and ferns, and the sun shone down on the gleaming foam of the
water, and made golden lights in Dot's wild curls. The Kangaroo, too,
was very merry, and bounded from rock to rock over the stream, showing
what wonderful things she could do in that way; and sometimes they
paused, side by side, and peeped down upon some still pool that showed
their two reflections as in a mirror; and that seemed so funny to Dot,
that her silvery laugh woke the silence in happy peals, until more
green-and-red Parrakeets flew out of the bush to join in the fun.

[Illustration: DOT AND THE KANGAROO ON THEIR WAY TO THE PLATYPUS]

When they had followed the stream some distance, the gully opened out
into bush scrub. The little Parrakeets then said "Good-bye," and flew
back to their favourite tree-ferns and bush growth; and the Kangaroo
said, that as they were nearing the home of the Platypus, they must not
play in the stream any more; to do so might warn the creature of their
approach and frighten it. "We shall have to be very careful," she said,
"so that the Platypus will neither hear nor smell you. We will therefore
walk on the opposite shore, as the wind will then blow away from its
home."

The stream no longer chattered over rocky beds, but slid between soft
banks of earth, under tufts of tall rushes, grasses, and ferns, and soon
it opened into a broad pool, which was smooth as glass. The clouds in
the sky, the tall surrounding trees, and the gr