his nose a most friendly assurance that he had
too much respect and affection for Koala to think of harming him,
and the little bear sat up on his haunches to acknowledge this
condescension, tearfully, while reiterating the time-honoured
assertion that there was no more inoffensive or helpless creature
living than himself. With a view to establishing more confidence
Finn lay down on his chest, with fore-legs outstretched, and began
to pump Koala regarding the chilling attitude of all the people of
that range towards himself. In his own dolorous fashion Koala
succeeded in conveying to Finn what the Wolfhound already knew
quite well in his heart of hearts, that the attitude he complained
of was simply the penalty of his running amuck on the previous
night. Finn gathered that the native-born wild people would never
forgive him or relax their attitude of silently watchful hatred;
but that there were some rabbits who were feeding in the open a
little farther on, in the neighbourhood of the clear patch.

Finn thanked Koala for his information, with a little forward
movement of the muzzle, and walked off in a rather cheerless mood,
while the bear wrung his little hands and moaned, preparatory to
ascending the trunk of the giant red-gum upon whose younger leaves
he meant to sup before retiring for the night in one of its hollow
limbs. It was not for any pleasure in hunting, but because he was
very empty, that Finn proceeded in the direction indicated by the
bear. He had already developed the Australian taste in the matter
of rabbits, and regarded their flesh with the sort of cold
disfavour which humans reserve for cold mutton on its second
appearance at table. Still, he was hungry now, and when he had
stalked and killed the fattest of the bunch of rabbits he found
furtively grazing a quarter of a mile from the clear patch, he
carried it well away into the bush and devoured it steadily, from
the hind-quarters to the head, after the fashion of his kind, who
always begin at the tail-end of their meals. It was noticeable, by
the way, that Finn approached the neighbourhood of the clear patch
with reluctance, and got right away from it as quickly as possible.

During a good part of that night Finn strolled about the familiar
tract of bush, which he had ranged now for many weeks, observing
and taking note of all the many signs which, though plain reading
enough for him, would have been quite illegible to the average man.
And he dec