he's played Old Scratch with my legs.'

Then said Nqong, 'Perhaps I'm mistaken, but didn't you ask me to
make you different from all other animals, as well as to make you
very truly sought after? And now it is five o'clock.'

'Yes,' said Kangaroo. 'I wish that I hadn't. I thought you would
do it by charms and incantations, but this is a practical joke.'

'Joke!' said Nqong from his bath in the blue gums. 'Say that
again and I'll whistle up Dingo and run your hind legs off.'

'No,' said the Kangaroo. 'I must apologise. Legs are legs, and
you needn't alter 'em so far as I am concerned. I only meant to
explain to Your Lordliness that I've had nothing to eat since
morning, and I'm very empty indeed.'

'Yes,' said Dingo--Yellow-Dog Dingo,--'I am just in the same
situation. I've made him different from all other animals;
but what may I have for my tea?'

Then said Nqong from his bath in the salt-pan, 'Come and ask me
about it tomorrow, because I'm going to wash.'

So they were left in the middle of Australia, Old Man Kangaroo
and Yellow-Dog Dingo, and each said, 'That's your fault.'


THIS is the mouth-filling song
Of the race that was run by a Boomer,