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

In spite of his disgust at the rankness of the canine
scent, Furtig made himself hold his head close, sniff
deeper. Yes, beneath that road sign of the enemy was
another, a boundary scent—of the People, but not of
his own clan.

He straightened to his full height, held his arms
overhead as far as he could reach. Scratches, pat-
terned scratches, and higher than those he could
make with his own claws. So the stranger who had so

14

BREED TO COME

arrogantly left his hunting mark there had been

larger, taller!

Furtig snarled aloud this time. Leaping, he slashed
with his claws, managing to reach and dig into the
other's sign, scouring out that marking, leaving the
deeper grooves he had made. Let the stranger see
that! Those deep marks crossing the first ought to be

a warnoff to be heeded.

But the forest was getting far too crowded. First a
hunting party of the Barkers, now a territory marking
left by a stranger, as if Five Caves and its clans did
not exist at all! Furtig abandoned his back trailing.
The sooner the People learned of these two happen-
ings, the better.

However, he did not throw away caution but mud-
dled his trail as he went. If any scout tried to sniff out
the reptile scent, he would be disheartened by these
further precautions. But this took time, and Furtig
had to make a wider circle to approach the caves from

a different direction.

It was dusk and then night. Furtig was hungry. He

rasped his rough-surfaced tongue in and out of his
mouth when he thought of food. But he did not allow

himself to hurry.

A sudden hiss out of the night did not startle him.