242 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



man's challenging eyes. He felt that his 

 enemy was there, in that dense clump of 

 young firs. Instantly he dropped upon his 

 belly in the undergrowth, flattening himself 

 to an amazingly inconspicuous figure. Then 

 he began creeping, slowly and with infinite 

 stealth, out across the space of peril, beneath 

 the full, revealing glare of the sun. The 

 female gave vent to a low whimper, trying 

 to call him back. Failing in that, she stood 

 and watched him anxiously. 



She could just see his tawny back moving 

 through the light green leafage of the scrub. 

 He was crawling more swiftly now. He had 

 covered nearly half the distance. All at 

 once there came a spurt of flame from the 

 fir thicket, and a sharp cracking report. In 

 the next instant she saw her mate rise straight 

 into the air on his hind legs, clawing sav- 

 agely. Then he seemed to fall together and 

 tumble over backwards. 



She knew very well what had happened. 

 This was the power of the man. She knew 

 her mate was dead. A further sullen heat 

 was added to her hate, but it did not make 

 her reckless. She ran away down the slope, 

 skirted the open at a safe distance, and 

 closed in once more upon the man's trail 

 a good mile further on. She had got ahead 



