With the decrease among the carnivora, the herbivora
increased in quantity, though anywhere in Caspak they are sufficiently
plentiful to furnish ample food for the meateaters of each locality.
The wild cattle, antelope, deer, and horses I passed showed changes in
evolution from their cousins farther south. The kine were smaller and
less shaggy, the horses larger. North of the Kro-lu village I saw a
small band of the latter of about the size of those of our old Western
plains--such as the Indians bred in former days and to a lesser extent
even now. They were fat and sleek, and I looked upon them with
covetous eyes and with thoughts that any old cow-puncher may well
imagine I might entertain after having hoofed it for weeks; but they
were wary, scarce permitting me to approach within bow-and-arrow range,
much less within roping-distance; yet I still had hopes which I never
discarded.

Twice before noon we were stalked and charged by man-eaters; but even
though I was without firearms, I still had ample protection in Nobs,
who evidently had learned something of Caspakian hunt rules under the
tutelage of Du-seen or some other Galu, and of course a great deal more
by experience. He always was on the alert for dangerous foes,
invariably warning me by low growls of the approach of a large
carnivorous animal long before I could either see or hear it, and then
when the thing appeared, he would run snapping at its heels, drawing
the charge away from me until I found safety in some tree; yet never
did the wily Nobs take an unnecessary chance of a mauling. He would
dart in and away so quickly that not even the lightning-like movements
of the great cats could reach him. I have seen him tantalize them thus
until they fairly screamed in rage.

The greatest inconvenience the hunters caused me was the delay, for
they have a nasty habit of keeping one treed for an hour or more if
balked in their designs; but at last we came in sight of a line of
cliffs running east and west across our path as far as the eye could
see in either direction, and I knew that we reached the natural
boundary which marks the line between the Kro-lu and Galu countries.
The southern face of these cliffs loomed high and forbidding, rising to
an altitude of some two hundred feet, sheer and precipitous, without a
break that the eye could perceive. How I was to find a crossing I
could not guess. Whether to search to the east toward the still
loftier barrier