be,
as nearly as he could judge, about man-size, six by three. At the
bottom it was easy enough to see where this world left off and that one
began. On the left side the two worlds matched pretty well, but on the
right side there was a niggerhead in this world, the moss-covered relic
of a centuries old stump, while that world continued level, so that the
niggerhead was neatly sliced in two. Also, the vegetation was different,
mossy on this side, grassy on that.

On up around the hole, though, it was harder to tell. There was no
clear-cut line, just the difference in what you could see through it. In
the other world, the ground seemed to fall away, with low scrubby brush
in the foreground. Then, a mile or so away, there were rising hills with
hardwood forests of some kind, still green with summer, covering them.

Ed stepped cautiously to one side. The view through the hole narrowed,
as if it faced the trail squarely. He edged around the old birch to get
behind it, and from that side there was no hole, just the same old
Alaskan scenery, birch and rose bushes and spruce. From the front,
though, it was still there.

He cut an alder shoot about eight feet long, trimmed it, and poked it
through the hole. It went through easily enough. He prodded at the sod
in the other world, digging up small tufts. When he pulled the stick
back, some of the other world dirt was on the sharp end. It looked and
smelled just about like any dirt.

Old Tom came stretching out into the morning sun and stalked over to
investigate. After a careful inspection of the hole he settled down with
his paws tucked under him to watch. Ed took a flat round can from his
pocket, lined his lip frugally with snuff, and sat down on the up-ended
bucket to watch too. At the moment, that seemed the likeliest thing to
do.

* * * * *

_It was nearly swarming time, the Harn had many things to preoccupy it,
but it spared one unit to watch the hole into the other world. So far,
nothing much had happened. A large biped had found the opening from the
other side. It had been joined by a smaller quadruped; but neither
showed any indication yet of coming through. The sun was shining through
the hole, a large young yellow sun, and the air was crisp, with sharp
interesting odors._

_The biped ejected a thin squirt of brown liquid through the hole--venom
of some sort, apparently. The Harn hastily drew back out of range._

* *