After two more days of tempting me with everything they could think of, they became alarmed and decided I must go back to the bush.
“‘We would never forgive ourselves, if the dear wee thing died,’ the mother and father said. But the little girl began to cry. She brought me her best dolly and put it in my arms to try and comfort me, but I felt too sick and hungry to take any notice of it.
“That night when she was asleep, her father put me in the sack again and once more I was on a horse’s back, but he rode with me this time and rode all through the night. Just as day was breaking I smelled the bush and, oh, the gum-trees! Already I felt better, for I knew I was home again. Very soon the horse stopped and once more I was taken from the sack. I blinked my eyes, scarcely able to believe that I was in my own world again.
“The little girl’s father put me down on the ground at the foot of a tall gum.
“‘There you are, little fellow!’ he said. ‘I hope you are happy now. And I’ll do my best to see no more of you are trapped. So long!’ And staying just long enough to see me on my way up the tree, he turned on his horse and rode through the bush.”
“And how did you find your way home?” asked Mrs Koala.
“It took me a long time, as I was very weak,” said Mrs Grunty, “and I had to find our own white gum-tree, as you know. But I travelled gradually, at night-time, and went on travelling until I found this very tree, which I liked so much that I stayed here. And besides,” she gave a little giggle, “Mr Grunty happened to be in the branches.”
rs Grunty’s story was interrupted by a sharp whack on the nose.
“Good heavens! What’s that?” she cried, rubbing the sore spot with her paw.
“Those young imps are fighting already,” said Mrs Koala, peering up above at the branches.
But Mrs Koala was wrong.
“Good heavens! What was that?” Mrs Grunty cried.
Blinky and Snubby were having a lovely game, dodging in and out the leaves, and pelting everything visible with gum-nuts.
“Let’s have a shot at mother,” whispered Blinky, his beady eyes twinkling with mischief.
“You go first,” said Snubby under his breath.
“Ill hit her right on the nose,” whispered Blinky as he took aim; but he was giggling so much, his shot went wide, and hit Mrs Grunty’s nose instead.
“O-o-h!” he whispered. “I’ve hit the wrong nose.”
“Chew leaves quickly,” advised Snubby. So when Mrs Koala eventually spied the naughty cubs, they looked the picture of innocence, quietly perched on a limb chewing like two little cherubs.
“Must have been a stray nut falling,” said Mrs Grunty. “They do sometimes.”
“The bush seems to be very quiet here,” Mrs Koala said as she looked around.
“Pretty quiet,” said Mrs Grunty, “except when the possums give a party. Their screeching makes me sick sometimes, such a lot of jabbering and rushing about. What for, I don’t know. They are not nearly so rare as we are. Do you know, we are the only bears in this bush for miles around!”
“Can it be true?” Mrs Koala murmured in surprise. “You see, I’ve never been one to travel. I am content to stay in the same tree for a very long time.”
“I’ve lived in the district for ten years,” said Mrs Grunty, “and you and Blinky are the only bears I’ve seen during that time. I remember well the little girl’s father telling her when they first saw me that not so many years ago the bush was alive with us bears from Queensland to the south of Victoria. Now, we are so rare that we have become a curiosity, something to be put in zoos, for children to see; and actually in museums. I believe our grandparents sit there in glass cases, stuffed with something inside to make them appear alive, and, oh dear, glass eyes. In New South Wales, I think we could wander for miles from one corner to another and never meet a bear. I don’t know why we were all killed. As you know, we don’t eat the farmers’ crops or ruin their orchards. All we asked for were our own gum-trees.”
Mrs Koala moved nervously. “I hope we are safe here,” she whimpered. “How are we to know when a man may come along with a gun?”
“I know we are safe,” said Mrs Grunty contentedly. “The nearest human being to us is a lady who keeps a store a good many miles away.
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