vy load.

I was too tired and selfish, I'm afraid, and I trudged on till close
upon sundown, when it occurred to me that I had not heard Jimmy groan or
sigh for some time, and turning to speak to him I waited till he came
up, walking easily and lightly, with his spear acting as a staff.

"Why, Jimmy; where's the kangaroo?" I said.

"Wallaby ole man, Mass Joe?" he said, nodding his head on one side like
a sparrow.

"Yes; where is it?"

"Bad un!" he said sharply. "Jimmy smell up poo boo! Bad; not good a
eat. No get camp a night. Jimmy fro um all away!"

"Thrown it away!" I cried.

"Yes; bad ums. Jimmy fro um all away!"

"You lazy humbug!" I said with a laugh, in which he good-humouredly
joined.

"Yess--ess--Jimmy laze humbug! Fro um all away."

"But I say, look here, Jimmy!" I said anxiously, "what do you mean?"

"Light fire here; go asleep! Findum camp a morning. All away, right
away. Not here; no!"

He ended by shaking his head, and I called to the doctor:

"Jimmy says we shall not find the camp!" I said hastily; "and that we
are going wrong."

"I know it," he said quietly; "but we cannot get through this forest
patch, so we must go wrong for a time, and then strike off to the
right."

But we found no opportunity of striking off to the right. Everywhere it
was impenetrable forest, and at last we had to come to a halt on the
edge, for the darkness was black, and to have gone on meant feeling our
way step by step.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

HOW I GOT INTO SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES.

It is not a pleasant place to pass a night, on the ground at the edge of
a vast forest, inhabited by you know not what noxious beasts, while if
you light a fire to scare them off you always do so with the idea that
in scaring one enemy you may be giving notice to a worse where he may
find you to make a prisoner or put you to death.

However we determined to risk being seen by savages, the more readily
that we had gone so far now without seeing one, and in a short time a
ruddy blaze was gilding the forest edge and the great sparks were
cracking around the trees.

We had calculated upon being back at camp that night, so we had eaten
all our food, and now, as we sat there by the fire hungry and tired, I
began to think that we might have done worse than cut off the kangaroo's
tail before Jimmy had thrown it away.

Poor Jimmy! He too seemed to be bitterly regretting the idleness that
had made him give up his s