ick, delighted movement, she sat up, eager to see where the
deadly Snake would go. It was very drowsy, having slept heavily on
Dot's warm little body; so it went slowly towards the bush, to get some
frogs or birds for breakfast. But as it wriggled into the warm morning
sunlight outside, Dot saw a sight that made her clap her hands together
with anxiety for the life of the jolly Kookooburra.

No sooner did the black Snake get outside the cave, than she saw the
Kookooburra fall like a stone from its branch, right on top of the
Snake. For a second, Dot thought the bird must have tumbled down dead,
it was such a sudden fall; but a moment later she saw it flutter on the
ground, in battle with the poisonous reptile, whilst the Snake
wriggled, and coiled its body into hoops and rings. The Kookooburra's
strong wings, beating the air just above the writhing Snake, made a
great noise, and the serpent hissed in its fierce hatred and anger.
Then Dot saw that the Kookooburra's big beak had a firm hold of the
Snake by the back of the neck, and that it was trying to fly upwards
with its enemy. In vain the dreadful creature tried to bite the
gallant bird; in vain it hissed and stuck out its wicked little spiky
tongue; in vain it tried to coil itself round the bird's body; the
Kookooburra was too strong and too clever to lose its hold, or to let
the Snake get power over it.

At last Dot saw that the Snake was getting weak, for, little by little,
the Kookooburra was able to rise higher with it, until it reached the
high bough. All the time the Snake was held in the bird's beak,
writhing and coiling in agony; for he knew that the Kookooburra had won
the battle. But, when the noble bird had reached its perch, it did a
strange thing; for it dropped the Snake right down to the ground. Then
it flew down again, and brought the reptile back to the bough, and
dropped it once more--and this it did many times. Each time the Snake
moved less and less, for its back was being broken by these falls. At
last the Kookooburra flew up with its victim for the last time, and,
holding it on the branch with its foot, beat the serpent's head with
its great strong beak. Dot could hear the blows fall,--whack, whack,
whack,--as the beak smote the Snake's head; first on one side, then on
the other, until it lay limp and dead across the bough.

"Ah! ah! ah! Ah! ah! ah!" laughed the Kookooburra, and said to Dot,
"Did you see all that? Wasn't it a joke?