on his Visit to Australia.



291



for Mr. Le Sonef to ride one of our steeds back to Perth, a

distance of some four or five miles, for assistance in the shape of

other horses which were not jibbers. This he proceeded to do

while I lit my pipe and prepared to make myself comfortable on

the buggy. The time was now about 2 a.111., the night delight¬

fully warm, but the mosquitoes somewhat unpleasantly in

evidence. Presently the “swish swish” of wings sounded clear¬

ly overhead as a large flight of ducks passed over. In the

distance a Boobook Owl was uttering its note which has been

likened to the words “ More Pork” or “ Mopolce,” and a second

specimen soon commenced to answer it. This note was long

supposed to be uttered by the Frogmouth ( Poda?~gus ), hence the

latter bird is even now frequently termed the “ Mopoke,” whereas

its note is really entirely different.


After waiting for about half-an-hour the sound of a gallop¬

ing horse greeted my ears and I presently made out the form of

Mr. Le Souef coming towards me. “ Well, how have you got

on ? ” I said. “ Tried to take a short cut home and got bushed,

and have only just found the road again,” was his reply. “Let’s

have another try with these two horses,” he added. We harnessed

in again and my companion got a rope on to their heads while I

took the reins and whip, and with all our might we endeavoured

to make those horses pull. But, not a bit of it, nothing would

induce them to strain a muscle in the right direction. They were

jibbers of the worse type, plunging and kicking for all they were

worth, until finally they smashed the pole of the buggy and we

were left in a worse predicament than ever.


There was nothing for it but for my friend to make a

second attempt to ride home for assistance, and this time he

wisely kept to the road. Meanwhile I settled mj^self down for

another lonely hour, while the Boobooks kept me awake with

their oft-repeated call of “mo-poke, mo-poke.”


At four a.m. my friend arrived, followed shortly by one of

his men in a “ sulky,” who had been roused from his slumbers

with the greatest difficulty. My baggage was soon transferred

from the broken buggy, which we left by the road side to be

fetched later, and we reached my friend’s house in the Perth Zoo

just as daylight was breaking.


(To be continued).



