attack
anything smaller than itself. It jumped the fence and landed in Judd
Whitney's yard. A few loping bounds took it through an open window,
ground level. Inside, it spied Black Eyes and made for the creature at
once, howling furiously.

Black Eyes didn't budge.

And the mongrel changed its mind! The slavering tongue withdrew inside
the chops, the howling stopped. The mongrel lay down on the floor and
whined. Presently it lost all interest, got to its feet, and left as it
had come.

Other animals were brought to the Whitney home. Cats. Dogs. A lion from
the city zoo, starved for two days and brought in a special mobile cage
by its keeper. Black Eyes was thrust into the cage and the lion gave
forth with a hideous yowling. Soon it stopped, rolled over, and slept.

* * * * *

The scientists correlated their reports, returned with them to the
Whitney house. The leader, whose name was Jamison, said: "As closely as
we can tell, Black Eyes is the culprit."

"What?" Lindy demanded.

"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes."

"Oh, I don't believe it!"

But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. Jamison. I'm listening."

"Well, how does an animal--any animal--protect itself?"

"Why, in any number of ways. If it has claws or a strong jaw and long
teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet of foot, it can run. If it is big
and has a tough hide, most other animals can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm,
doesn't that about cover it?"

"You left out protective coloration, defensive odors, and things like
that. Actually, those are most important from our point of view, for
Black Eyes' ability is a further ramification of that sort of thing.
Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. It can't change color and it has
no offensive odor to chase off predatory enemies. It has no armor. In
short, can you think of a more helpless creature to put down in those
Venusian swamps?"

After Judd had shaken his head, Dr. Jamison continued: "Very well, Black
Eyes should not be able to survive on Venus--and yet, obviously the
creature did. We can assume there are more of the breed, too. Anyway,
Black Eyes survives. And I'll tell you why.

"Black Eyes has a very uncommon ability to sense danger when it
approaches. And sensing danger, Black Eyes can thwart it. Your creature
sends out certain emanations--I won't pretend to know what they
are--which stamp aggression out of any predatory creatures. Neither of
you could fire upon it--righ