g, Nod danced the Jaqquas' war-dance, which Battle had
taught him, stooping and crooked, "wriggle and stamp," gnashing his
teeth, waving a club--which waving, indeed, always waved Nod sprawling
off his log before long, and set Battle rolling with laughter, and ended
the dance.

That dance danced, they sat quiet awhile, Battle softly, very softly,
thrumming on his Juddie, gazing into the fire. And suddenly in the
silence, out of the vast blackness of the moonlit leagues beneath them,
broke a strange and dismal cry. It rose lone and hollow, and yet it
seemed with its sound to fill the whole enormous bowl of star-bedazzling
sky above the forest. Then down it lingeringly fell, note by note,
wailing and menacing, an answering song of hatred against the solitary
Oomgar and his gun.

Battle caught up his musket and stood erect, facing with scowling eyes
the vast silence of the forest. And instantly from far and near,
solitary and in hunting-bands, deep and shrill, every beast that slinks
and lies in wait beneath the moon broke into its hunting-cry.

Battle stood listening with a savage grin on his face, until the last
echo had died away. Then, throwing down his musket, he hitched up the
cloth bandage on his shoulder, lifted his great Juddie, and strode out
from the fire a few paces till he stood black and solitary in the
moonlight of the snow. And he plucked the girding strings and roared out
with all his lungs his mocking answer:

"Voice without a body,
Panther of black Roses,
Jack-Alls fat on icicles,
Ephelanto, Aligatha,
Zevvera and Jaccatray,
Unicorn and River-horse;
Ho, ho, ho!
Here's Andy Battle,
Waiting for the enemy!

"Imbe Calandola,
M'keesso and Quesanga,
Dondo and Sharammba,
Pongo and Enjekko,
Millions of monkeys,
Rattlesnake and scorpion,
Swamp and death and shadow;
Ho, ho, ho!
Come on, all of ye,
Here's Andy Battle,
Waiting and--alone!"

He swept his great scarred thumb over the strings with a resounding
flourish, and burst into a laugh. Then he turned his back on the
unanswering forest, and sat down by the fire again, wiping the sweat
from his face and combing out his tangled beard. Nod drew a little away
from the fire, and sat softly watching him. The Oomgar was muttering
with wide-open lids. He snatched up a lump of the cold Mulgar-bread that
Nod had cooked for his supper, and gnaw