which to be hard up for grub—I haven't seen so much as a flying squirrel for the last two days"
"Never say die," said Slinger encouragingly.
"Of course not," said Dodge, "I ain't saying die, am I? Excuse me, if I'm hasty; but there's two things I must have, my baccy and my grub, and I'm nearly out of both; so are you: my opinion is, we shall find nothing good in this quarter, and that the sooner we leave it the better." So it was at once agreed they should retrace their steps, and Dodge thereupon recovered his wonted good humour. Nothing seemed to escape his notice, and every hollow tree engaged his especial attention.
Whether it was that the effects of hunger lent an additional keenness to his faculties, we will not take upon us to say, but discovering the track of some animal upon the ground he followed it carefully, and finding it terminated at the base of a towering gum tree, upon the bark of which some scratches were visible, he was induced to look higher, and soon espied, perched on one of the topmost branches, an animal, which at the great height, looked scarcely larger than a rat. As he was seeking the most favorable spot from whence to bring down his game, he issued the following verbal invitation, "Mr. Dodge hopes shortly to have the pleasure of Messrs. Slinger and Raymond's company to dinner, and begs to intimate the convenience they will experience in bringing their own knives, forks, and plates. No answer required." As he uttered the last words, the crack of his rifle was heard, and before its echo had ceased, the luckless carbora[1] fell crashing through the branches and lay dead upon the ground. A quarter of an hour found it cooking before a fire large enough to have roasted a sheep instead of an animal not half the size. When served up (which it was on a piece of dried bark) they
- ↑ The native name of an animal of the sloth species, but incorrectly called by the colonists, a bear.
