t, please go and
sing elsewhere."

"Ah!" said the Nightjar, "I'm so glad I've given you deliciously dismal
thoughts with my song! I'm a great artist, and can touch all hearts.
That is my mission in the world: when all the bush is quiet, and
everyone has time to be miserable, I make them more so--isn't it lovely
to be like that?"

"I'd rather you sang something cheerful," said the Kangaroo to herself,
but out loud she said, "I find it really too beautiful, it is more than
I can bear. Please go a little further off."

"Mo-poke! mo-poke!!" croaked the Nightjar, further and further in the
distance, as it flew away.

"What a pity!" said the Kangaroo, as she returned to the cave, "the
Possum made that unlucky joke of telling the Nightjar it has a touching
voice, and can sing: everyone has to suffer for that joke of the
Possum's. It doesn't matter to him, for he is awake all night, but it
is too bad for his neighbours who want to sleep."

Just then there arose from the bush a shrill walling and shrieking that
made Dot's heart stop with fear. It sounded terrible, as if something
was wailing in great pain and suffering.

"Oh Kangaroo!" she cried, "what is the matter?" "That," said the
Kangaroo, as she laid herself down to rest, "is the sound of the Curlew
enjoying itself. They are sociable birds, and entertain a great deal.
There is a party to-night, I suppose, and that is the expression of
their enjoyment. I believe," she continued, with a suppressed yawn,
"it's not so painful as it sounds. Willy Wagtail, who goes a great
deal amongst Humans, says they do that sort of thing also; he has often
heard them when he lived near the town."

Dot had never been in the town, but she was certain she had never heard
anything like the Curlew's wailing in her home; and she wondered what
Willy Wagtail meant, but she was too sleepy to ask: so she nestled a
little closer to the Kangaroo, and with the shrieking of the Curlews,
and the mournful note of the distant Mo-poke in her ears, she fell
asleep again.

CHAPTER III.

When Dot awoke, she did so with a start of fear. Something in her
sleep had seemed to tell her that she was in danger. At a first glance
she saw that the Kangaroo had left her, and coiled upon her body was a
young black Snake. Before Dot could move, she heard a voice from a
tree, outside the cave, say, very softly, "Don't be afraid! Keep quite
still, and you will not get hurt. Presently I'll kil