h and Goonur. After Beeargah ran Bootoolgah, but
Beeargah had a start and was fleeter of foot, so distanced his pursuer
quickly. As he ran he fired the grass with the stick he still held.
Bootoolgah, finding he could not catch Beeargah, and seeing fires
everywhere, retired from the pursuit, feeling it was useless now to try
and guard their secret, for it had now become the common property of
all the tribes there assembled.

8. WEEDAH THE MOCKING BIRD

Weedah was playing a great trick on the black fellows who lived near
him. He had built himself a number of grass nyunnoos, more than twenty.
He made fires before each, to make it look as if some one lived in the
nyunnoos. First he would go into one nyunnoo, or humpy, and cry like a
baby, then to another and laugh like a child, then in turn, as he went
the round of the humpies he would sing like a maiden, corrobboree like
a man, call out in a quavering voice like an old man, and in a shrill
voice like an old woman; in fact, imitate any sort of voice he had ever
heard, and imitate them so quickly in succession that any one passing
would think there was a great crowd of blacks in that camp. His object
was to entice as many strange black fellows into his camp as he could,
one at a time; then he would kill them and gradually gain the whole
country round for his own. His chance was when he managed to get a
single black fellow into his camp, which he very often did, then by his
cunning he always gained his end and the black fellow's death. This was
how he attained that end. A black fellow, probably separated from his
fellows in the excitement of the chase, would be returning home alone
passing within earshot of Weedah's camp he would hear the various
voices and wonder what tribe could be there. Curiosity would induce him
to come near. He would probably peer into the camp, and, only seeing
Weedah standing alone, would advance towards him. Weedah would be
standing at a little distance from a big glowing fire, where he would
wait until the strange black fellow came quite close to him. Then he
would ask him what he wanted. The stranger would say he had heard many
voices and had wondered what tribe it could be, so had come near to
find out. Weedah would say, "But only I am here. How could you have
heard voices? See; look round; I am alone." Bewildered, the stranger
would look round and say in a puzzled tone of voice: "Where are they
all gone? As I came I heard babies crying,