n he killed it and opened it up, at first
glance it looked reasonably familiar, on closer study less so.

The blood, anyway, was red; not blue or yellow or green; and the bones
were bones, just odd-shaped.

Ed cut off a slice of heart and tossed it to old Tom. The cat sniffed it
dubiously and then decided he liked it. He meowed for more. Ed gave it
to him and fried a small sliver of ham. It smelled and tasted fine, but
Ed contented himself with a single delicate nibble, pending further
developments. Anyway, it was beginning to look like a little exploration
would be feasible.

* * * * *

_The Harn, also, was well-satisfied with the way things were going. It
had been a strain to pass up the juicy little quadruped in the cage, but
the inhabitants of the other world seemed shy, and the Harn did not wish
to frighten them. At least, it knew now that life could come through the
hole, and the small herbivore it had herded through confirmed that
passage in the opposite direction was equally possible--plus a gratis
demonstration of the other world's pitiful defenses. At swarming time,
the whole new world would be open to embryo Harn, as well as this world
it presently occupied._

_It looked like a really notable swarming. The Harn budded three more
planters on the forcing stem, to be ready to take full advantage of
it._

It got light in the other world at one in the morning that night. Ed had
the days there pretty well pegged now. They were roughly twenty-seven
hours, of which about thirteen hours were dark. Not too high a latitude,
apparently, and probably late summer by the looks of the vegetation.

He got up a little before daylight and looked at the rabbit and old Tom.
Both seemed to be doing nicely. Old Tom was hungry for more otherworld
meat. Ed gave it to him and made up a light pack. After some thought, he
took the .450 bear gun he used for back-up when guiding. Whatever he ran
into over there, the .450--a model 71 throwing a 400 grain slug at 2100
fps--should handle it.

The first step through into the other world was a queasy one, but it
turned out to be much the same as any other step. The only difference
was that now he was in the other world looking back. From this side, the
niggerhead at the threshold was sliced sharply, but it had been kicked
down a little when he came through, and what with shoving the cage
through and pulling it back, so that some clods of moss and dirt we