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

west, and met for trials with them that they might ex-
change bloodlines by intennating. But normally they
had no contact with any but their own five families,
one based in each of the caves.

Furtig's cave was at the top and north, and he

16

BREED TO COME

swung up to-it quickly, his nose already sorting and
classifying odors. Fresh meat—ribs of wild cow. Also
duck. His hunger increased with every sniff.

But as he entered the cave, he did not hurry to
where the'females were portioning out the food but
slipped along the wall to that niche where the senior
member of the clan sat sharpening his hunting claws
with the satisfaction of one who had recently put
them to good use. So apparent was that satisfaction,
Furtig knew Fal-Kan had been responsible for the
cow ribs.

Though his people's sight adjusted well to partial
darkness, there was light in the cave, a dull glow from
a small box which was another of Gammage's gifts. It
did not need any tending. When the first daylight
struck into the mouth of the cave it vanished, coming
alive again in the dusk of evening.

Gammage's bounty, too, were the squares of woven
stuff that padded the sleeping ledges along the walls.
In summer these were stowed away, and the females
brought in sweet-scented grasses in their places. But
in the cold, when one curled up on them, a gentle heat
was generated to keep one warm through the worst of
winter storms.

"Fal-Kan has hunted well." Furtig squatted several
paces away from his mother's eldest brother, now sit-
ting on his own sleep ledge. Thus Furtig was the pre-
scribed respectful distance below him.

"A fat cow," Fal-Kan replied as one who brings
home such riches each morning before the full heat of
the sun. "But you came in haste, wearing trail de-
stroyer—" He sniffed heavily. "So what danger have
your eyes fastened on?"