ing to bed the night before, he had set half a can of snuff to
steep in some water. He loaded a bug gun with this and sprayed the
ground around the hole into the other world. From the reaction
yesterday, he judged the stinging units did not like tobacco juice, and
this should discourage them from coming through.

He checked his bear snares and found three in good enough shape to
satisfy him--the large Harn beast, he suspected, would be about like a
grizzly to hold. Three would hardly be enough for a serious trapping
program. Ed made his own snares from old aircraft control cable, using a
lock of his own devising which slid smoothly and cinched down tight and
permanently. He got out his roll of wire and box of locks and started
making up some more, sitting where he could watch the rabbit he had
staked out.

By the middle of the afternoon the snares were done, but there had been
no action with the rabbit, nor was there for the rest of the day.

In the morning, though, it was gone. There were three new sets of tracks
in the bare spot--two smaller ones, either of which would have fitted
the stinging unit, and what looked like a carrier's. The action was
clear enough. The small things had prowled around the rabbit for some
time, stopping frequently as if uncertain and suspicious. Finally, one
had moved in, with a little flurry of action when it met the rabbit.
Then it had moved back and squatted again.

The big tracks came directly to the rabbit and went right out again.
They were heavy enough to be clear in the grass beyond the bare spot.

* * * * *

Ed went back to the cabin and rummaged till he found a pair of
snakeproof pants a Stateside sport had once given him--heavy duck with
an interlining of woven wire. They were heavy and uncomfortable to wear,
and about as useless as wings on a pig in Alaska, where there are no
snakes; but they had been brand-new and expensive when given to him, and
he had put them away, thinking vaguely he might find a use for them some
day. It looked like that day might be now.

He slipped them on, took his rifle and hunting pack, and set out to
follow the animal that had taken the rabbit.

The trail showed well in the morning dew, going straight away along the
hillside as if the thing were headed some place definite. Ed followed
along for a quarter mile or so, then found himself on a fairly well
beaten path, which presently joined another, and then another