haste. The kangaroo had all the best of the start. So remarkable was his
bound that he twitched his reins quite out of Norah's hands, and made
for the fence of the paddock. It was an open one, which let him through
easily. The wallabies, seeing his shining success, followed his course,
and midway managed to entangle their reins, at which Wally and Harry
were wildly hauling. Confusion became disorder, and the wallabies at
length reduced themselves to a tangle, out of which they had to be
assisted by means of Harry's pocket knife.

Jim had no luck. The parrot went off well, but very soon seemed to
regret his rashness and, despite all Jim's endeavours, returned with
solemnity to the start, where he paused and talked fluently in the mixed
language that was all his own. In desperation Jim tried to pull him
along, but Fudge simply walked round and round him, until he had
exhausted his driver's patience, and was "turned out."

The most spirited of the competitors were decidedly the cockatoo and
Tim. They were panting for each other's blood from the start, and before
they had been urged over a quarter of the way they found an opportunity
of warfare, and seized it simultaneously. Then the air grew murky with
sound--cockatoo shrieks, mingled with cat calls and fluent Chinese,
cutting across Hogg's good, broad Scots. Naturally, the strings of the
harness became fatally twisted immediately, and soon the combatants were
bound together with a firmness which not all the efforts of their
drivers could undo. A sudden movement of the pair made Lee Wing spring
back hastily, whereupon he tripped and stumbled violently against Hogg.

Hogg's temper was at vanishing point, and this was the last straw.

"Ye pig-tailed image!" he exclaimed furiously. Drawing back, he aimed a