192 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



lifted muzzle, stepped forth from the ranks. 

 Immediately the circle dissolved. There was 

 a moment of whirling and grunting, of 

 butting at stupid calves or reorganizing the 

 array, then, at a swift walk, the whole herd 

 moved off toward the north-east, where they 

 knew of a region of low huddled hills which 

 would give them the kind of shelter that they 

 loved. 



In the meantime the pack, maddened by 

 failure and ravenous from the view of food 

 denied, had resumed the trail of the man. 

 They were different beings now from the 

 wary skulkers who had been following him 

 from afar. Silent and swift, their eyes flam- 

 ing coldly and their thin lips wrinkled back 

 from long white fangs, they swept over the 

 brink and down into the windless hollow of 

 the stunted firs. 



The man, sleeping in his furs by the little 

 fire, had a bad dream. With a struggle and 

 a yell he awoke from it, to find himself half 

 erect, upon one knee, battling frantically for 

 his life. One great hairy form he had 

 clutched by the throat with both hands, as 

 its fangs snapped within an inch of his face, 

 and its huge hot breath daunted him with 

 a sense that the end of things had come. 

 With a monstrous effort he hurled it off, 



