laurence put o'dea to the work experimentally , as the man at least could write a decent hand now that the rum had been sweated out of him ; which did produce somewhat more successful accounts , if laurence would have preferred to do without such descriptions as the blighted crimson of the earth here , which surely has drunk the blood of the heathen and unwary traveler , and yearns to taste still more , and the wholly unnecessary dramatization of - ... the loathesome creature gazed upon us long and meditatively , as if considering which to single out as its lawful prey , tho the carcase of the offering lay before it limp and bloodstain 'd from the slaughter , ere it chuse the easier course and withdrew beneath the sands to devour the flesh of the kanga-roo and only dream instead of the satisfaction to be found in a repast accompanied by the piteous cries of a more sensible victim .