hind the head. A single
bite was sufficient, for it smashed the snake's vertebrae and
almost divided it. A moment later Finn's teeth were at the coil
about his hind-leg, and in another instant he was free. But he was
too greatly shocked to make a meal upon the remains of his enemy,
which is what he should have done, and, after taking a good look at
its long, brilliantly-coloured body, he was glad to make off down
the hill, travelling now with a good deal more caution than he had
shown before. It was a merciful thing for Finn that his first
contact with the snake people should have brought him in touch only
with the powerful and courageous carpet snake, and not with one of
the many deadly venomous members of his tribe.

This experience rather shook Finn by reason of its utter
strangeness to him. He recalled the spitting venom of the native
cat, of whose kill he had caught a fleeting glimpse on the previous
night. That again was rather strange and outside his experience.
This great open wild world was certainly quite unlike the mild,
half-domesticated and cared-for little patch of wild that Finn had
claimed as his hunting-ground beside the Sussex Downs. Just then a
laughing jackass started a hoarse chuckle above Finn's head, and a
big white cockatoo, startled by the jackass, flew screaming out
from the branches of a grey gum, with the agonized note in its cry
which these birds seem to favour at all seasons, and quite
irrespective of the nature of their occupations at the moment. The
loose skin on Finn's shoulders moved uneasily, as he trotted along,
using the most extreme care.

But, with all his care, he was in strange surroundings, and his
bush-lore was all to learn; and because of his strangeness his most
careful gait seemed a noisy and clumsy one to the little wild folk
of that mountain side, and Finn saw none of them. By chance he saw
one of the larger kind, however, and the sight of it added to his
sense of strangeness, for it was unlike any other beast he had ever
seen. This was a large female rock wallaby, a big grey doe, with
her young one. The youngster was at the awkward age, free of the
teat, yet unable to travel alone. It was nibbling and playing some
distance from its big mother when she had her first warning of
Finn's approach, in the crackling of dead twigs under his powerful
feet. The youngster showed awkwardness in getting to its snug
retreat in the mother's pouch, and so, by these delays, Finn was
g