All that day the Kangaroo and Dot stayed near the cave, so that the poor
animal might get quite well again. The Kangaroo said she did not know
that part of the country, and so she had better get her legs again before
they faced fresh dangers. Neither of them was so bright and merry as
before. The weather was showery, and Dot kept thinking that perhaps she
would never get home, now she had been so long away, and she kept
remembering the time when the little boy was lost and everyone's sadness.
The Kangaroo too seemed melancholy.
"What makes you sad?" asked Dot.
"I am thinking of the last time before this that I was hunted. It was
then I lost my baby Kangaroo," she replied.
"Oh! you poor dear thing!" exclaimed Dot, "and have you been hunted before
last night?"
"Yes," said the Kangaroo with a little weary sigh. "It was just a few
days before I found you. White Humans did it that time."
"Tell me all about it," said Dot. "How did you escape?"
"I escaped then," said the Kangaroo, settling herself on her haunches to
tell the tale, "in a way I could have done last night. But I will die
sooner than do it again."
"Tell me," repeated Dot.
"There is not much to tell," said the Kangaroo. "My little Joey was
getting quite big, and we were very happy. It was a lovely Joey.
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