them, it was like the boom of walking thunder, far away, but
drawing nearer. And the tiny eyes brightened, and the tiny whiskers
twitched as two enormous shapes went glimmering past their doors. And
for a long, long time afterwards, the little under-root dwellings were
stuffy with uneasy people who comforted themselves together in the good
grey gloom.

Immediately below the spot where Baltook sat, the lowest fringe of
forest ended in a dried stream-course, filled with boulders. From a
spring on the nearer bank, a narrow thread of water trickled into a
pool. Above the spring the ground was rocky and clear of trees; and
between the rocks the grass was short and fine, showing that deer and
rabbits found it good grazing ground. (Baltook could have told you all
about the rabbits, but he did not dare to meddle with the deer.) Within
this open space, as the silver fox looked dreamily down, there appeared,
to his utter amazement, two unexpected shapes.

The one, though unexpected, was not altogether strange, being that of a
large timber wolf; and in his life on Carboona, Baltook knew all about
wolves. But the other shape was as unfamiliar as it was unexpected--that
of a human being.

To say that Baltook sat up on seeing this unusual sight would not give
the right impression, for the single reason that Baltook was already
sitting up. But if you were to say that inside his springy body every
sense he had sat up so violently that he almost jumped, you would be
very nearly correct.

These astonishing visitors being so very far down in the world below him
did not make much difference to Baltook's cunning sight. But it did make
a difference to his nose. Before he could make up his mind about them
fully, he must get them put into _smell_; so when, presently the
strangers disappeared from view, Baltook got up softly and melted down
the hill.

That evening a great news began to travel in Carboona. Newcomers had
arrived. There was a strange wolf of enormous size: there was a human
creature, stranger than the wolf. They were aliens, interlopers,
interferers with the ancient habits of Carboona which people had got
used to since the beginning of the world. The human creature had broken
trees and made itself a lair of boughs. The wolf guarded it, spending
his time in going up and down the valley as if he were its lord. If once
he made that the centre of his range, things would happen upon Carboona:
nothing would ever be the same.

No