Jean, Our Little Australian Cousin

CHAPTER VII

Jean stopped crying, for she found that it did no good. She curled up in the corner of the dark hut and waited to see what would happen. The Blacks talked and jabbered around her, but she could not at all understand what they said, and she was too little to understand that she was in any danger. She only wished with all her heart that she might see her mother. The Blacks talked together, and Jean at last was so tired that she curled up on the floor and went to sleep. When she awoke and opened her eyes she was surprised to find that the sun was shining.

She was lying on the ground under a huge gum tree. A fire of the dry twigs of the gum tree burned brightly, as a young black boy whom she had seen the night before fanned it with a huge fern leaf.

"Little Missa hungry," he said, smiling kindly down at her. "Kadok make eat. Be good little girl and lie still."

He took a hatchet which hung on the belt around his waist and quickly cut off a piece of bark from the gum tree, then took some flour from a bag and piled it on the bark. Water from the water-hole he dipped up with a leaf cup and mixed with the flour, baking it on the bark over the fire. Kadok then dipped fresh water from the water-hole, around which ferns grew as high as Jean's head, and turned over the ashes of the fire to roast in them a turkey's egg which he had found in the bracken.

"Now Missa eat," he said, giving Jean a piece of damper[9] and the egg, with a cup of water. "Little Missa not be afraid. Kadok take her to see Mother."

The boy's face was kind and Jean tried to smile at him in return, finding courage to say,

"Are you Kadok? How did I get here?"

"I am Kadok, yoia.[10] Black man found little Missa asleep by the corral. Want to show her to his woman who had no girl, all die. He take little Missa and mean to bring her back. Then white police ride and hunt. Black man scared, hide Missa, hide selves. Some black men say kill little Missa. Kadok say 'No.' His father chief, and chief say, 'Take back white Missa to mother.' So Kadok will take."

"Thank you, Kadok," said Jean simply, accepting all that he said. "How soon will I see my mother?"

"Don't know. Missa come long way on man's back. Must go back on two feet. Take days and nights. Not cry," he said as her face clouded. "Kadok take one good care of little Missa. Eat plenty meal, then we start walk."

Jean was a quiet child. Fergus had always been the talker and she had been content to listen to the big brother whom she thought the most wonderful boy in the world. So she did not say much in reply to Kadok, but obediently ate her queer breakfast, which tasted very good to the hungry little girl. When she had finished she said timidly to Kadok,

"May I wash my hands and face at the water-hole?"

"Come with me. I go see," said Kadok. She followed him to the water, always a precious thing in Australia, where the dry season makes it scarce. "Step right behind Kadok, maybe snakes," said the black boy, and she followed him close.

Trees had been cut down and many lay about in the scrub, which grew thick and higher than Jean's head, so that Kadok had to hold it aside in many places for her to pass. The water-hole was clogged with weeds and leaves, but Kadok dug about under the ferns until he found a clean pool, then filled his flask with water, saying,

"Little Missa wash quick." Jean dipped up the cool water in her hands, splashing it on her face. As she dried herself as best she could with her handkerchief, Kadok cried,

"Jump back, Missa, quick! into the scrub!" She obeyed without stopping to ask why and stood trembling, as Kadok came hurriedly after her.

"Missa one good little girl," he said. "Mind what Kadok say always so quick, then Missa get safe home. See there!" pointing as he spoke to something on the other side of the water-hole where Jean had just been washing. "What Missa see?"

"I see a big black log," answered Jean.

"What Missa see now," said Kadok, throwing a stick at the log. To the child's astonishment and horror the log rolled on its side, turned over and opened a huge pair of jaws, closing them again with a cruel snap.

"Yamin,"[11] said Kadok briefly. He seldom wasted words. "Eat little Missa if she not jumped. Now we start take you home. Little Missa mind Kadok and she go long home all right. You not afraid?"

"I will mind," said Jean, "and I am not very much afraid."

"We go," said the boy, and he flung over his shoulder a bag in which he had put his water bottle and provisions and started through the scrub. "Come after me and tell Kadok when you too tired to walk," he said to the child, and she followed him obediently.

She did not know why, but she was not at all afraid of Kadok. She felt he was telling her the truth when he said he would take her home if she was a good girl, and she put her whole mind upon following the difficult trail. The way at first led through a tangle of tropical vegetation, then the two struck into a forest of huge gum trees. Overhead the limbs made a lattice-work of interlacing boughs which gave no shade, as the leaves were vertical instead of horizontal.

The sun grew hot and beat down upon Jean's bare head, for she had lost her hat. Her fair hair caught on the long festoons of gray moss which hung from the trees, the flying golden fleece stuck to the rough bark, which was red with gum and very sticky. Her tangled matted curls, which had been her mother's joy, hung about her face and into her eyes so that she could scarcely see where she was going. The spinifex prickles stuck her ankles and legs, and at last she stumbled over a hidden tree root and fell in a heap upon the ground. At her cry Kadok turned quickly,

"Missa hurt," he said, coming back and helping her to her feet. "Not cry."

"I won't," she said, choking back her sobs. "Please let me rest awhile."

"Must go fast to get to water-hole for dinner," said Kadok. "Missa rest a little and then try go again."

She lay down on the grass and shut her eyes. Some parrots chattered and screamed in the trees above her, but the sun was hot and most of the forest birds were still, except for little twitterings among the branches. Kadok sat silent beside her. Much was passing in the black boy's mind. He knew too well the need for haste. The trip was dangerous for him as well as for his little white friend; he understood the danger and she did not. She felt only the danger of the forest, reptiles, hunger, cold and thirst. But Kadok had to fear both Blacks and Whites. Should the two fugitives run into unfriendly Blacks they would be captured, and if the little girl was not killed by them she would be taken far inland, where as yet white people did not rule, and all hope of restoring her to her people would be at an end. On the other hand, were they to fall in with any of the mounted police or squatters, Kadok knew that his story would never be believed, and that he would be punished for stealing a white child. All this he knew, that Jean could not understand, but he felt that he must make her see the need for hurrying if possible.

"Kadok," she spoke first. "How many miles is it to my mother?"

"It is many hours," answered Kadok. "We must go fast."

"I will go now," she said, getting up. "I can walk."

"Why you hurry?" asked Kadok, surprised.

"I want my mother," she answered. "She will be afraid for me. My father has gone away to find gold and she will be frightened for me." She spoke like a little old woman and the black boy's eyes shone. He saw that he had the way to manage her without frightening her with the dangers he dreaded.

"We must go fast so little Missa's mother not get sick without her," he said, and the two started on again.

By noon, slow as the little steps were, they had covered considerable ground, and they sat down near a tiny water-hole to eat and rest.

"Missa wash feet and rest while I make eat," said Kadok, and Jean bathed her bruised feet, wrapping them in wet leaves, which Kadok told her would take out the pain. "Little Missa sit very still while I find eat," he said. "I not go away." She was terribly frightened when he disappeared between the trees, but in a few minutes she heard the sound of chopping near by, and in a few moments more, Kadok returned carrying a dead bandicoot.

"Me chop him out of hole in foot of tree," he said, grinning broadly. "Him make fine eat."

He quickly made a fire, and cutting up the meat in pieces, put some of them on sharpened twigs, and held them over the fire to roast.

"Eat plenty much," he said to Jean as he handed her several pieces. "We not know when we find another."

She ate and found the meat very good. Some of it Kadok had rubbed with a little salt which he took from his provision bag, and a few bits he held over the smoke to dry. All this he wrapped in green leaves and put carefully with his provisions, getting Jean water in a leaf cup and making ready to start again.

"You good little wirawi,"[12] he said approvingly. "We soon bring to Mother her good luck."

The afternoon's walk was not quite so bad as the morning's had been. Kadok struck into a track which led through the Bush to the main road. Walking here was not so troublesome and Jean managed fairly well, though her feet hurt her cruelly and toward the last Kadok had to help her along.

"Little more walk, Missa," he said encouragingly. "We find good camp for night. To-morrow we get long way to home."

But Jean was almost past thinking of the morrow, almost past thinking of home. Her poor little body ached in every muscle, her face and hands were scratched and bleeding, and she was faint with hunger and fatigue. She stumbled on, Kadok holding her arm, until at last she could go no longer and would have fallen, had not the black boy picked her up and carried her. Laden as he was with his heavy swag, it was no easy task to carry a heavy child of eight, but he was a strong, muscular fellow, used to Bush life, and not tired as was his white charge. He carried her along the track some twenty rods, then paused and looked closely into the forest. It seemed a great wall to shut them off, but the keen eye of the Black caught an almost imperceptible opening amongst the leaves and he left the path once more to tread the mazes of the wood. Only a little distance and he came to a ruined hut overgrown with moss and creeping plants. It had once been a shepherd's hut and was a poor place, but at any rate it would serve as a shelter from the night and Kadok carried Jean within and laid her down on the floor.

"Little Missa tired out," he said, pitying the child's white face, which looked unearthly in the light of the sunset which streamed through the open doorway. Jean was too tired to speak. She looked at him wearily for a moment and then closed her eyes. "Missa must eat. Not good to sleep too quick," he said.

He made a fire at the door of the hut, partly for warmth, for with the sun's going down came the cool night dews, and partly to drive away mosquitoes, as well as to cook their supper. He then brought water from the trough, and made damper and forced bits of it between the child's teeth and gave her a drink of water. Little pieces of roasted meat he added to her meal, and at last she sat up and smiled her thanks at him.

"Good Kadok," she said, "eat some yourself. You are tired too."

"Not tired like little Missa," he said, showing his even white teeth in a smile. "Now must rub feet with wet leaves so they not be sore to-morrow."

Jean bathed her feet and bound them up in cool green leaves, tying them on with long grasses which Kadok brought her. Then she wrapped herself in the blanket the black boy took from the swag and, lying down, was soon sound asleep. Kadok sat for some time at the door of the hut, feeding the fire, then he too rolled up in a blanket, and lying across the doorway, so that no one could come in without his knowledge, he too fell asleep.

CHAPTER VIII

The sun was high in the heavens when Jean awoke and at first she did not know where she was. Then she sat and looked about her, calling "Kadok!" but there was no answer. She went to the door of the hut and looked about. The fire was still burning, but there was no sign of the black boy. Before she had time to be frightened, however, Kadok's black face peered from between the trees, across the little clearing which lay in front of the hut. He smiled when he caught sight of her.

"Little Missa sleep good, feel good this morning," he said. "Bujeri,[13] Kadok make breakfast."

"What have you for breakfast," she asked, hungry as she had never been at home.

"Fine fruit, got it top of tree," he said, handing her a large purple, plum-like fruit which she ate and thought delicious. Kadok then roasted in the ashes some scrub turkey eggs he had found, and these too tasted good, and there was damper and cool water.

"Missa must hurry start now," said Kadok. "We long way to go to-day to get to Mother."

"First I must try to fix my hair," she said. "It catches in the branches so that it hurts."

"Kadok help," he said briefly. He caught the golden mass in his hand and screwed it up in bunches on either side of her head, pinning it tight with some long thorns. Then he tied about her head a bright handkerchief which he had worn knotted around the open neck of his shirt, and rolling up the blankets and packing up the ration bag, he shouldered his swag, gave her a hand, and they were off for the day.

As they walked Jean noticed that Kadok looked always to the right and left and that whenever they came near a hill or a hummock, he would go ahead before telling her to follow him.

"Why do you always look around, Kadok," she asked curiously.

"'Fraid Debil-debil get little Missa or Buba or maybe Yo-wi or Ya-wi," he answered briefly.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Debil-debil bad god, enemy of Baiame,"[14] he said. "Buba big kangaroo, very bad father of kangaroos, Yo-wi is fever god, and Ya-wi is snake god. All very bad for little Missa," and he shook his black head. He did not tell her there were others more to be feared than these monsters of the Blacks' demonology, but he was worried by tracks he saw in the sand, tracks of both Blacks and Whites. "Mounted police, been here," he muttered to himself. "Look for little Missa. See horse's tracks plain. Here black man's tracks. Think bad Blacks," and he knit his brows.

Kadok was at a loss to know what to do. He did not want to take Jean into the Bush again, fearing that hard walking such as they had had the day before would make her too sick to go on, yet he was afraid to keep on the beaten track. They kept on till noon, however, and he drew her aside into the woods to rest and eat her dinner.

He gave her damper, of which she began to be tired, bits of smoked meat, and some of the white larvae to be found in quantities on the tree roots, and which she thought delicious. She was hungry, but Kadok gave her some roots to chew as they walked, saying, "We eat 'gain before long, must walk some now. 'Fraid we have big storm," and he looked anxiously at the sky, over which heavy clouds were passing.

Obediently she followed him again, and he walked quickly, peering through the bushes as if looking for something. The wind was so fierce that they made slow progress. It blew so that Jean was terribly frightened and at last Kadok stopped in his quick walk and took her hand.

"Missa 'fraid Storm debil," he said. "I find place to hide from him. Come!" and he pulled her into the bushes which covered a high hill. Skirting round the hill, he pushed through a thicket which seemed almost like a wall, dragging Jean along as the storm broke with a sudden crash of thunder which frightened the child terribly.

"Quick!" Kadok cried to her, "We find cave now!" and he pushed aside some close growing tree branches and showed her the entrance of a little cave hollowed out of the rock. "Here we be safe till storm go over," he said, and Jean gladly crouched in the shelter, watching with frightened eyes the play of the lightning. Kadok gave her more roots to chew and talked kindly to her to soothe her fears.

"This not much storm," he said. "See many worse than this. Soon over and we go on. Think Missa see Mother to-morrow. Not many hours far now."

"Kadok," said Jean, "why are you so good to me?"

"What you mean?" asked Kadok.

"Why do you take me home?" she asked.

"Black boy not forget friend," he said. "Not forget enemy. Do mean to Kadok, Kadok do mean to you, if he has to wait five, ten years. Do Kadok good, he do good to you when he make chance."

"But I never did you any good," said Jean, puzzled.

"No, little Missa not. Missa McDonald do me heap good.[15] There was bad man at Station. He no like Blacks near his cattle camp. Blacks not bad, not hurt white man. White man very bad. He make feast and tell Blacks to eat. Black men all eat. Next day all black men dead, all but Kadok and his father, great Chief. They very sick, but they not had eat much of white man's pudding. Chief tell Missa McDonald they very sick here,"—putting his hand on his stomach—"She look very sorry and give them hot drink. It make them very sick and all white man's pudding come up. Think very strange that Kadok and Chief only ones not die, but like Missa McDonald very well for hot drink. Chief father say to me, 'Some day do kind to Missa McDonald,' and I say 'Yes.' When little Missa taken by bad Blacks, Chief say to me, 'Now time to pay Missa McDonald, take little Missa home!' I go, take," and the boy nodded his head.

Jean did not understand all of his story, but she could take in enough to know that her Aunt Mildred had saved the life of Kadok and his father, and she felt that the boy would do all he could for her.

The storm had ceased and the rain lay in sparkling drops upon bush and leaf.

"Very wet," said Kadok as he peered out. "Missa sit here very still while Kadok go and see. Maybe we go on, maybe not." Jean did not want to stay alone in the cave. "Let me go with you," she said pleadingly, but Kadok shook his head.

"Not good for Missa. Big snakes come out of holes. Too many. Kadok not go far away. Missa not come out of cave till Kadok come back. Missa 'fraid, say prayers to white people's Baiame."

Jean thought his advice good and said her prayers, sitting quietly for a time, looking through the cave door, though she could see but little, the screen of vines and bushes was so thick. She grew tired of sitting still, and moved about the little cave, finding little to interest her, however. It was hollowed out like a tunnel deep into the cliff, but was so dark, except right at the mouth, that she was afraid to explore it. She took off her shoes, washed her aching feet, and reaching to the bushes around the cave, pulled leaves to bind on them as Kadok had taught her to do. Then she took off the handkerchief he had tied about her head, let down her long hair and tried to smooth out the tangles with her fingers. It was no easy task, for the hair was long, fine and curly, and it was terribly matted down and snarled. She took a long thorn and tried to use it for a comb, and after working a long time had the locks smoothed out into a fluffy mass of gold on either side her face. She had been so interested in her work that she had not noticed how late it was getting until suddenly it seemed to be growing dark. She looked out of the cave and saw the gleams of the golden sunset through the leaves. She felt hungry. "Where can Kadok be?" she thought to herself. "He has been gone a long, long time. Oh, supposing something has happened to him! What shall I do?" But there was nothing for her to do but wait, and she sat at the door of the cave, too frightened to cry, fearing a thousand dangers the worse because they were imaginary. Then she heard a crackling of the branches near the cave and sprang to her feet joyfully, expecting to see Kadok's black face through the bushes.

"Kadok!" she cried eagerly. The leaves parted and a black face peered through the bushes, fierce black eyes gazed at the child, as she stood speechless with astonishment, gazing at a perfectly strange Black. She did not speak, she was too frightened to scream, and the Black too was silent. With her floating, golden hair, her wide blue eyes, her fair cheek turned to gold by the rays of the setting sun, which shone full upon her, the rest of her body concealed by the branches with which Kadok had filled the mouth of the cave, she looked like a creature of air rather than earth, and so the Black thought her. With a wild cry of "Kurru! Kurru!"[16] he let go his hold of the branches, and Jean could hear him crashing through the bushes in mad haste to get away.

CHAPTER IX

She heard Kadok's voice and called to him excitedly, "Oh, Kadok, come quick! I am so frightened!"

"What matter, little Missa?" asked Kadok as he parted the bushes and looked at her with anxious face.

"Oh, a strange Black looked at me and ran away!" she said, bursting into tears.

"Little Missa not cry," said Kadok. "Brought little Missa meat for supper. What did black man say?"

"A strange word something like curry curry," she said. "He looked frightened too."

"That good," said Kadok. "He think little Missa not real child. Golden child. Think him not come again. Kadok glad, for we must stay here one, two days."

"Oh, Kadok, why? Can't we go to Mother to-morrow?" her voice was full of tears and the boy's face clouded.

"Kadok very sorry for little Missa," he said. "But no can help. Kadok got bad hurt on foot. No can walk one, two days. Little Missa help Kadok get well?"

"Oh, Kadok, how did you hurt yourself?" she asked, as she saw that his foot was covered with blood.

"Hurt in the scrub," said Kadok, who did not want to tell her the truth, that he had met a Black who had thrown his nulla-nulla[17] and struck him on the foot, though the boy had managed to get away from him.

"Let me tie it up for you," said Jean. "I've often seen mother dress Fergus' wounds, for he was always doing things to himself. He always had at least one finger tied up in a rag."

"Little Missa good," said Kadok as he sat wearily down beside her. He was worn out and even his brave spirit sank at this new trouble. It would be several days before he could walk well, he knew, and if the Black who had wounded him had discovered Jean he would certainly come back. Would they be safe even for a few hours, he wondered? His chief hope lay in the fact that if the Black had thought her a vision, he would fear to return.

Jean scooped up water which stood in a pool at the door of the cave, washed her pocket-handkerchief and tore it into strips, then bathed Kadok's foot and tied it up as she had seen her mother do.

"Thank little Missa," said Kadok. "Feel better, make eat now."

"No, I shall make supper to-night," said Jean. "It is time I tried to do something for you."

She gathered up sticks and bits of bark and laid the fire, which Kadok carefully lighted, taking one from a box of matches which he had in his swag, and which he kept tied up in the skin of an animal to keep them from getting damp. He had brought back a yopolo[18] from his hunt in the forest, and wild bee's honey, and he said to Jean,

"Better not make damper to-night. Save meal for some day we have not meat."

"I am tired of damper anyway," said Jean. "How shall I cook the meat?"

"Put leaves over hot stones, set yopolo on, all in his skin, cover him over with earth and he cook very tender," said Kadok, and she followed his receipt. There was only a little water left in the water-hole, and that not fresh.

"Where do you get water, Kadok?" asked Jean.

"From the spring," he answered. "Not far, just ten steps in the bushes, straight ahead from cave, but not safe for little Missa go."

"Why not? We are both so thirsty," she pleaded.

"Little Missa's shoes make tracks. Bad Black come long, see tracks, know white child here, steal little Missa away."

"Oh, if that's the trouble I can take my shoes off," she said, laughing, as she pulled off shoes and stockings. "I will be right back. I can find it, for you said it was only ten steps away," and she picked up the billy and hurried out of the cave in spite of Kadok's "Little Missa not go. Debil-debil get her!"

She was back before Kadok thought she could have found the spring, saying brightly,

"Now we have fresh water for our supper, afterwards I can tie up your foot again."

"Kadok found cup for little Missa," he said, pulling from his belt a battered tin cup. "Think white man drop it, little Missa can have honey-water to drink." He cut a piece of the honeycomb and put it in the cup of water. Jean drank the sweet drink and almost smacked her lips.

"It is ever so nice, Kadok," she said. "It tastes like the sugar-water the American children's black mammy used to give us."

"Who was that?" he asked curiously.

"There were three children of America came to stay at my uncle's place, oh, a long time ago before we came to Australia. They had a nurse, a black woman. She was ever so black, not brown like you, Kadok, and so good and nice. I used to like her very much. That was the reason I was not afraid, when the black man told me to come and see the gin who was sick. I thought he would be good like Dinah and bring me right back."

"Black people very much like white people," said Kadok. "Some black face white heart, some black all way through. Some white face very black heart," and the boy shook his head.

"Think yopolo cooked. Him smell fine," he said, sniffing the scent which came from the fire.

The yopolo was indeed done and delicious. It was very tender and tasted like spring chicken. It was a queer supper for the little Scotch girl, seated cross-legged on the floor of the cave, as she drank honey-water and cut off bits of meat for herself and Kadok.

The little housekeeper enjoyed her supper thoroughly. Having finished, she put fresh green wood on the fire that the smoke might keep off the mosquitos, and wrapped the rest of the meat in leaves to keep for breakfast. She bathed Kadok's foot, which was swollen and painful, and tied it up, and then, under the boy's directions, cut down some leafy branches and moss to make herself a bed, and wrapped herself in her blanket to sleep.

When morning came it seemed as if the mother's desire that the little girl should have experiences to make her less childish was to be fulfilled, for Kadok's foot was so painful that he could not even drag himself about the cave and Jean had to wait on him as well as to care for herself. She made breakfast and gathered fresh leaves and branches and brought water enough to last all day. Then she made fresh damper and cut strips of the yopolo meat, drying it in the sun and smoke under Kadok's directions. There were provisions enough to last a day or two and she tried not to worry about things, but she wished she had something else to do.

Kadok saw she was growing restless and tried to talk to her, afraid that she would cry. "Little Missa not see cave before, not have at home. Tell about home."

"Oh, it's not at all like this," she said. "It's very cold, and the mountains are high and beautiful and there are no snakes nor wild things. It's all farms and sheep and not wild like Australia. And in the winter the snow is lovely."

"What is snow?" asked Kadok.

"Don't you know what snow is?" she laughed. "I hardly know how to tell you. It looks like soft, white feathers and it floats down from the sky when it's very cold and covers up the ground like a white blanket. Then it is lovely, but when the sun comes out and melts it, it's not nice. Didn't you ever see snow?"

"Never did," said Kadok.

"Oh, Kadok, what's that?" exclaimed Jean, as a mournful sound came through the forest.

"That messenger of Muuruup, Debill-debill," said Kadok with a frown. "Muuruup lives under the ground. He make evil. He makes lightning and spoils trees and kills people. No like hear owl bird. Bring bad storm or bad luck."

"Oh, I hope he won't bring a storm," said Jean. "We had storm enough yesterday to last for awhile. How does Debil-debil make lightning?"

"Don't know," said Kadok. "Old chief say he not make. Say Great Baiame make. He want to smoke big pipe up in sky, strike match to light pipe, throw match down to earth, while smoke—match make lightning."

"If we are going to have another storm I am going to bring water from the spring while I can go out of the cave." She was getting very tired of sitting still.

"Kadok not like little Missa to run round by herself," said Kadok, but Jean said wilfully,

"I must go by myself if there is no one to go with me, mustn't I? We've got to have water," and she picked up the billy and started for the spring.

It was cool and pleasant in the woods. She filled her billy and stopped to gather a handful of leaves which grew near-by and looked shiny and pretty, then went back to Kadok.

"You see nothing happens to me," she said.

"You go once too often. You not good little Missa. You not mind Kadok," he grumbled.

"I will be good, but really I can't sit still all day," she said. "See what pretty leaves."

"Very good leaves," said Kadok. "When little Missa have no water, chew these, not be thirsty. White men call them hibiscus."

"I'll remember that," said Jean. "Kadok, tell me a story about when you were a little boy. What did you used to do at home?"

"Not do very much in wuuries,"[19] he said with a broad grin. "Blacks not have much home like white people. Like woods better than wuuries. Like hunt. Make many fine hunt, sometimes hunt animals, sometimes hunt other Blacks. Very good eat, before white man comes," he hastened to add as he saw Jean's expression of terror. "Not eat people now."

"I should hope not," cried the child.

"Little Missa keep quiet," said Kadok, raising himself on his elbow, grasping a stick he had and peering through the bushes. "Something coming. Think not black man. Don't move!" They sat so quiet it seemed to Jean that she could hear her heart beat, but heard nothing more. Just as she was about to speak, Kadok raised his stick quickly and brought it down with great force and Jean saw something black whirl and twist at the opening of the cave.

"Missa help quick. This hard to hold," cried Kadok. "Take stick, hold very tight here," and he gave her the handle of the forked stick which, to her horror, she saw held down by its neck a large snake. She shut her eyes tight, but held the stick bearing down with all her might while Kadok struck the snake over and over with his stick.

"Good Missa, let go stick, snake very dead now," and she looked with a shudder at the dead body of the serpent.

"Him tree-python," said Kadok, calmly. "Him make very good supper for Missa."

"Oh, I couldn't eat snake, really, I couldn't," she said, but Kadok laughed.

"Make very good eat for black boy, save yopolo for Missa," he said. "Think dinner time now, Missa eat meat, Kadok eat snake."

It made Jean feel very queer to see him cut off a piece of the tail, roast it and eat with great enjoyment, but before night she was to look upon the snake as her greatest friend.

She dropped asleep after eating and did not waken until almost time for supper, when she found that Kadok had been sleeping too.

"Foot very much better, think we go find Mother to-morrow," he said, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Little Missa not cry, be good Missa. We be all right. Time to eat again."

"I'm not very hungry," she said, "but I want some fresh water to drink."

"Little Missa not go to the spring. Kadok not like," he said so earnestly that she said,

"Well, never mind, I can drink the old water and chew some hibiscus leaves."

"Think I can go for Missa," said Kadok as he rose and tried his foot. "Not very bad."

"Oh, never mind," she said, but he took the billy and his stick and limped through the bushes. He was gone only a moment or two when she felt a strange feeling as of some one looking at her, and she raised her head to see, staring through the bushes, the same savage eyes which had frightened her the day before.

"Kadok!" she screamed, but the Black reached forth a long arm and tried to catch her. She drew back into the cave and screamed again. She had no weapon, but she grasped the dead snake by the tail and with all the strength she could muster threw it straight into the Black's face. The man gave a loud "Wouf!" as the reptile struck his face, and darted back just as Kadok came up behind and struck him on the head with his waddy. Attacked before and behind, the black man thought his enemies were many and he fled through the bushes as fast as he could go. Fear lent him wings and he did not stop until far from the scene of his terror. Kadok limped into the cave.

"Little Missa hurt?" he asked anxiously.

"No, but I was dreadfully frightened. It was the same Black I saw yesterday."

"What little Missa do?" asked the boy.

"I hadn't anything else, so I hit him with your snake and he ran away," she said simply. The boy looked at her in astonishment and then laughed loud and long.

"Baiame teach little Missa to be good Bush girl," he said. "One thing very much scare Black is snake in the face. Missa do just right thing."

"I didn't know just what to do, but I had to do something," she said. "What shall we do now, Kadok?"

"Not know," he said, frowning. "Think best eat, rest to-night. Go long early in morning before Black come back. Missa make eat, then sleep. Not be afraid. Kadok watch."

CHAPTER X