'Five or six of the "kittens" were still upon the ground.
For these she returned, and taking them up as before, again climbed
the tree. She disposed of the second load precisely as she had done
the others, until the thirteen little possums hung head downwards
along the branch like a string of candles!'
The mother now climbed higher up; but the nest, with its tempting
eggs, hung beyond her reach; and although she suspended herself by the
tail--at last almost by its very tip--and swung like a pendulum,
clutching as she swung, it was all in vain. At length, with a bitter
snarl, she gave up the adventure as hopeless, detached the young ones
from their hold, flung them testily to the ground, and descending,
took them all into her pouch and upon her back, and trudged away.
'Frank and I now deemed it proper to interfere, and cut off the
retreat of the old 'possum: so, dropping from our perch, we soon
overtook and captured the whole family. The old one, on first seeing
us approach, rolled herself into a round clump, so that neither her
head nor legs could be seen, and in this attitude feigned to be quite
dead.
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