again some great bird came circling round, but only to be kept
at a distance by the sight of the watcher by the tents.

"Will they never come back!" cried Norman at last, quite aloud, and he
started in alarm, for there was a loud discordant laugh close at hand.

He picked up a stone and threw it angrily into the ragged tree from
whence the sound had come, and one of the great grotesque-looking
kingfishers of the country flew off.

At last, after scanning the distant horizon for hours, seeing nothing
but a few kangaroos which looked like black fellows in the distance, and
a couple of emus stalking slowly across the plain, Norman could bear it
no longer.

"Shanter," he said; "must go and find Marmi Rifle and Marmi Tim. Do you
hear? I'll come back as soon as I can."

But there was not so much as a twitch at the corners of the black's
lips, and the boy hesitated about leaving him. At last though he rose,
caught and saddled his horse, gave one final look round, but could see
nothing; and he was about to mount when a sudden thought occurred to
him, and taking a couple of halters he knotted them together, hitched
one over the kangaroo's neck, and attached the other end to the saddle.

The horse jibbed and shied a little, but at last he made a plunge, and
the dead animal was dragged into a hollow a couple of hundred yards
away, so that there should be no fear of its contaminating the
water-hole. Then the halters were cast off, thrown over the tent, and
after a glance at Shanter, Norman mounted to take up the trail made by
Rifle and Tim, but only leaped down again, and turned his horse out to
graze; for there away in the distance were the two boys cantering gently
toward the camp, and half an hour later they rode up, well supplied with
clucks which they had shot right away upon a creek.

That night passed with one of them watching, and the next two days
glided by in the same dreary way, Shanter lying as if unconscious, and
nothing passed his lips.

"Father can't be angry with us for not keeping to our time," said Rifle,
sadly. "Poor old Shanter, I wish I could do him some good."

That night passed and still there was no change, and about mid-day the
boys were dolefully examining their stock of provisions, which was
getting very low; and it had been decided that they should watch that
night and shoot anything which came to the water-hole to drink, though
the animals likely so to do were neither many nor tempting for