showy, but not to her mind so beautiful as the other.

Then they came to a stream that gurgled melodiously as it rippled over
stones in its shallow course, or crept round big grey boulders that were
wrapped in thick mosses, in which were mingled flowers of the pink and red
wild fuchsia, or the creamy great blossoms of the rock lily. Dot ran down
the stream with bare feet, laughing as she paddled in and out among the
rocks and ferns, and the sun shone down on the gleaming foam of the water,
and made golden lights in Dot's wild curls. The Kangaroo, too, was very
merry, and bounded from rock to rock over the stream, showing what
wonderful things she could do in that way; and sometimes they paused, side
by side, and peeped down upon some still pool that showed their two
reflections as in a mirror; and that seemed so funny to Dot, that her
silvery laugh woke the silence in happy peals, until more green-and-red
Parrakeets flew out of the bush to join in the fun.

When they had followed the stream some distance, the gully opened out into
bush scrub. The little Parrakeets then said "Good-bye," and flew back to
their favourite tree-ferns and bush growth; and the Kangaroo said, that as
they were nearing the home of the Platypus, they must not play in the
stream any more; to do so might warn the creature of their approach and
frighten it. "We shall have to be very careful," she said, "so that the
Platypus will neither hear nor smell you. We will therefore walk on the
opposite shore, as the wind will then blow away from its home."

The stream no longer chattered over rocky beds, but slid between soft
banks of earth, under tufts of tall rushes, grasses, and ferns, and soon
it opened into a broad pool, which was smooth as glass. The clouds in the
sky, the tall surrounding trees, and the graceful ferns and rushes of the
banks, were all reflected in the water, so that it looked to Dot like a