rear, and taking very careful
observations, not alone of the trail, but also of fallen timber and
likely places for snakes. They progressed in this way, in a curving
line, for between two and three miles, when Jess came to a
momentary halt, and gave one loud bark. Next instant they were all
travelling at the gallop for a thick clump of scrub which stood
alone in a comparatively clear patch. On the edge of this scrub
Finn had a momentary glimpse of their quarry, a big red old-man
kangaroo, sitting on his haunches, and delicately eating leaves.

The kangaroo covered over twenty feet of ground in his first leap,
and that with a suddenness which must have strained the tendons of
his wonderful hind-quarters pretty severely. But, by the time the
hunters had reached the scrub, the quarry was between two and three
hundred yards distant, travelling at a great rate in fairly open
country. Bill had urged his horse to the top of its gallop, and
Finn was close behind them. He could have passed them, but was not
as yet sufficiently familiar with the man to do so. He felt safer
with Bill in full view; and, in any case, the roan mare was a very
fast traveller and kept as close to Jess's flying feet as was safe.
The old-man seemed confident of his power to outrun his pursuers,
for he made no attempt at dodging, taking a straight-ahead course
over ground which left him clearly visible almost all the time.
That his confidence in his superior speed was misplaced became
quite evident at the end of the first mile, for by that time there
was not much more than a hundred yards between Jess and himself, in
spite of the enormous bounds he took, which made his progress
resemble flying. He could take a fallen log in his jump easily
enough, but whenever the course rose at all sharply the old-man
lost ground; his jumps appearing to fall very short then.

At the end of the third mile Jess, who was galloping in greyhound
style, was within twenty feet of the kangaroo; Bill and the roan
mare were twelve or fifteen feet behind her, and Finn, running a
little wide of the trail, was abreast of the mare's flanks with a
fierce, killing light in his eyes. In that order they entered a
steep gully which, if the old-man had been on thoroughly familiar
ground, he would have avoided. But, as to that, if he had been on
familiar ground, he would not have been alone, but the leader of a
mob, for which position his commanding size fitted him. Be this as
it may, the