clear of the
trees, that Kieran got the feeling that something, or someone, was
following them.

7.

He had stopped to catch his breath and shake an accumulation of sand out
of his boots. He was leaning against a tree with his back to the wind,
which meant that he was facing their back-trail, and he thought he saw a
shadow move where there was nothing to cast a shadow. He straightened up
with the little trip-hammers of alarm beating all over him, but he could
see nothing more. He thought he might have been mistaken. Just the same,
he ran to catch up with the others.

The people were moving steadily. Kieran knew that their senses were far
keener than his, and they were obviously not aware of any danger other
than the basic one of the Sakae. He decided that he must have been
seeing things.

But an uneasiness persisted. He dropped behind again, this time on
purpose, after they had passed a clearing. He stayed hidden behind a
tree-trunk and watched. The cluster-light was bright now but very
confusing to the eye. He heard a rustling that he did not think was
wind, and he thought that something started to cross the clearing and
then stopped, as though it had caught his scent.

Then he thought that he heard rustlings at both sides of the clearing,
stealthy sounds of stalking that closed in toward him. Only the wind, he
told himself, but again he turned to run. This time he met Paula, coming
back to look for him.

"Reed, are you all right?" she asked. He caught her arm and pulled her
around and made her run. "What is it? What's the matter?"

"I don't know." He hurried with her until he could see Webber ahead, and
beyond him the bare backs and blowing hair of the people. "Listen," he
said, "are there any predators here?"

"Yes," Paula said, and Webber turned sharply around.

"Have you seen something?"

"I don't know. I thought I did. I'm not sure."

"Where?"

"Behind us."

Webber made the harsh barking danger call, and the people stopped.
Webber stood looking back the way they had come. The women caught the
children and the men fell back to where Webber stood. They looked and
listened, sniffing the air. Kieran listened too, but now he did not hear
any rustlings except the high thrashing of the branches. Nothing stirred
visibly and the wind would carry away any warning scent.

The men turned away. The people moved on again. Webber shrugged.

"You must have been mistaken, Kieran."

"Maybe. Or maybe they jus