rdinary thing
happened; the sort of thing which does not happen save in the life
of a dingo; the thing, in short, that couldn't happen, but that
just is, sometimes. That dingo's glazing eyes opened wide, and
looked at Finn's back. Then the slain dingo (Finn had almost torn
out its throat) dragged itself to its feet and staggered off like a
drunken man toward the bush. A feeble snarl escaped from Jess,
whose head faced this way. Finn, who had been licking her, wheeled
like a cat, and in that amazing moment saw the dingo he supposed he
had killed staggering towards the scrub thirty paces distant. Five
seconds later the still living dingo was on its back, and its
throat was being scattered over the surrounding ground. In his fury
Finn did actually tear out the beast's jugular vein, practically
severing the head from the trunk, smashing the vertebrae, and
tearing open the chest of the dead creature as well.

When Wallaby Bill came to look at that corpse some hours later he
said--

"Well, by ghost! If I didn't tell that Wolf this very morning that
he was a mighty good sort. Wolf, you can say I said that John L.
Sullivan and Peter Jackson, and the Wild Man o' Borneo were suckin'
infants in arms to you. My colonial oath, but that blessed dingo
has been killed good an' plenty, and a steam-hammer couldn't kill
him no more!"

There was a wallaby lying beside the fire, Finn having been too
busy licking his own wounds and comforting Jess to think of
feeding, though common prudence had reminded him to bring in his
kill from the edge of the clear patch. Bill gave a deal of time and
attention to Jess that night, but Finn was fed royally on roughly
cooked wallaby steaks and damper. But even upon this special
occasion the Wolfhound, still mindful of his awful circus
experience, refused to come within touch of the man.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXII

A BREAK-UP IN ARCADIA

Jess's struggles on the day of the dingo fight naturally retarded
the healing of her wound; but, before the week was out, Bill was
able to remove his rude stitches, and the great gash showed every
sign of healing cleanly. Yet, in spite of the kangaroo-hound's
wonderful hardihood and her advantages in the matter of pure,
healing air, almost another week had passed before she was able to
move about round the camp, and a full ten days more were gone
before she cared to resume her old activities.

During all this while Finn played the part of very loyal