Page:The romance of Runnibede (IA romanceofrunnibe00rudd).pdf/59

I threw my hat at the enemy, and leaned over Ted again.

"There's a chicken in one! Look at 'im moving, Jim! It’s kickin’—it’s comin’ out! Look at it!"

Curiously enough, and as much as I have been in the bush since then, I never had the opportunity of seeing it happen again—the egg shell suddenly divided, and 1o our astonishment, that young curlew took to its long Jegs and ran in search of cover, stopping every few yards, looking about suspiciously, and exhibiting all the fear and scent of danger of an experienced bird. We refrained from pursuing or aiming missiles at the lanky, moist-looking little fugitive, and to our honour, let it be recorded for once, anyway, we did no harm to the other two eggs.

Going further afield, we gave chase to a family of young ducks; tricky, cute little beggars they were, too! They dodged in and out of the water and under the banks and played hide and seek with us amongst the clumps of reeds, until, tiring of them, we left them to themselves. Then we going down on our knees and groped under the water’s edge for mussels, and when we had collected a supply, stood and pelted them at the nose of every turtle that showed above water. Fed up with this diversion, we turned our attention to an inoffensive jew lizard that lay sleeping on a log. We woke him up by taking hold of his tail and swinging him round and round. Then we heaved him into the lagoon to ascertain if he could swim. He swam back to the bank as fast as if he had an oil engine inside him. And Ted and I