flicks of
attention to the browsers while at the same time he studied the part of
the landscape uncovered by mist.

Without weapons or speed, they must conceive a trap. Again Travis sensed
that agreement which was _ga-n_ magic, and with it the strong impression
urging him to the right. He was making progress with skill he did not
even recognize and which he had never been conscious of learning.

The bushes and small, droop-limbed trees, their branches not clothed
with leaves from proper twigs but with a reddish bristly growth
protruding directly from their surfaces, made a partial wall for the
pocket-sized meadow. That screen reached a rocky cleft where the mist
curled in a long tongue through a wall twice Travis' height. If the
browsers could be maneuvered into taking the path through that cleft....

Travis searched about him, and his hands closed upon the oldest weapon
of his species, a stone pulled from an earth pocket and balanced neatly
in the palm of his hand. It was a long chance but his best one.

The Apache took the first step on a new and fearsome road. These _ga-n_
had put their thoughts--or their desires--into his mind. Could he so
contact them in return?

With the stone clenched in his fist, his shoulders back against the wall
not too far from the cleft opening, Travis strove to think out, clearly
and simply, this poor plan of his. He did not know that he was reacting
the way scientists deep space away had hoped he might. Nor did Travis
guess that at this point he had already traveled far beyond the
expectations of the men who had bred and trained the two mutant coyotes.
He only believed that this might be the one way he could obey the wishes
of the two spirits he thought far more powerful than any man. So he
pictured in his mind the cleft, the running creatures, and the part the
_ga-n_ could play if they so willed.

Assent--in its way as loud and clear as if shouted. The man fingered the
stone, weighed it. There would probably be just one moment when he could
use it to effect, and he must be ready.

From this point he could no longer see the small meadow where the
grazers were. But Travis knew, as well as if he watched the scene, that
the coyotes were creeping in, belly flat to earth, adding a feline
stealth and patience to their own cunning.

There! Travis' head jerked, the alert had come, the drive was beginning.
He tensed, gripping his stone.

A yapping bark was answered by a sound he could n