d to and fro. Then Dot
knew that she was hearing, and understanding, everything that was being
said by all the insects and creatures in the bush.

All this time the Kangaroo had been speaking, only Dot had been too
surprised to listen. But now the gentle, soft voice of the kind animal
caught her attention, and she found the Kangaroo was in the middle of a
speech.

"I understood what was the matter with you at once," she was saying,
"for I feel just the same myself. I have been miserable, like you,
ever since I lost my baby Kangaroo. You also must have lost something.
Tell me what it is?"

"I've lost my way," said Dot; rather wondering if the Kangaroo would
nderstand her.

"Ah!" said the Kangaroo, quite delighted at her own cleverness, "I knew
you had lost something! Isn't it a dreadful feeling? You feel as if
you had no inside, don't you? And you're not inclined to eat
anything--not even the youngest grass. I have been like that ever
since I lost my baby Kangaroo. Now tell me," said the creature
confidentially, "what your way is like. I may be able to find it for
you."

Dot found that she must explain what she meant by saying she had "lost
her way," and the Kangaroo was much interested.

"Well," said she, after listening to the little girl, "that is just
like you Humans; you are not fit for this country at all! Of course,
if you have only one home in one place, you must lose it! If you made
your home everywhere and anywhere, it would never be lost. Humans are
no good in our bush," she continued. "Just look at yourself now. How
do you compare with a Kangaroo? There is your ridiculous sham coat.
Well, you have lost bits of it all the way you have come to-day, and
you're nearly left in your bare skin. Now look at my coat. I've done
ever so much more hopping than you to-day, and you see I'm none the
worse. I wonder why all your fur grows upon the top of your head," she
said reflectively, as she looked curiously at Dot's long flaxen curls.
"It's such a silly place to have one's fur the thickest! You see, we
have very little there; for we don't want our heads made any hotter
under the Australian sun. See how much better off you would be, now
that nearly all your sham coat is gone, if that useless fur had been
chopped into little, short lengths and spread all over your poor bare
body. I wonder why you Humans are made so badly," she ended, with a
puzzled air.

Dot felt for a moment as if she ough