"Andre Norton - Breed To Come - uc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

He gave a low recognition note in return. Had he not
sounded that he might well have had his throat
clawed open by the guard. The People did not survive

through lack of caution.

Twice he swung off the open trail to avoid the hid-
den traps. Not that the People were as dependent on
traps as the Ratto.ns, who were commonly known to
have raised that defense to a high art in the lairs. For,

15




BREED TO COME

unlike the People, who distrusted and mainly kept
away from the Demon places, the Rations had chosen
always to lurk there.

The Five Caves were ably defended by nature as
well as by their inhabitants. None of them opened at
ground level. High up, they cut back from two ledges
with a straight drop below. There were tree-trunk
ladders rigged to give access to the ledges. But these
could be hauled up, to lie along ledge edge, another
barrier to attack. Twice the caves had been besieged
by packs of Barkers. Both times their defenses had
been unbreakable, and the attackers had lost more
pack members then they had slain in return. It was
during the last such attack that Furtig's father had
fallen.

Within, the caves cut deeply, and one of them had
a way down to where water flowed in the ever-dark.
Thus the besieged did not suffer from thirst, and they
kept always a store of dried meat handy.

Furtig's people were not naturally gregarious.
Younglings and their mothers made close family
units, of course. But the males, except in the Months
of Mating, were not very welcome in the innermost
caves. Unmated males roved widely and made up the
scouts and the outer defenses. They had, through the
years, increased in numbers. But seldom, save at the
Trials of Skill, were they ever assembled together.

They had a truce with another tribe-clan to the