n who found interest in new situations. And what Tur
could not understand he hated.

So they had fought. For a while Tur held the upper hand. He had met
every rush of Karn's and repulsed it. But Karn had noticed that every
attack from Tur's left was met by a singular twist of the chief's body.

Once Tur twisted. Twice; a third time; and a fourth time he swung
around. The fifth time Karn was not there. He'd stopped himself in
mid-stride, reversed himself and caught Tur off balance. Then steel
fingers had fastened on Tur's throat in unshakable tenacity.

That was when the other males had charged to his rescue. Tur, they
hated. But Karn they hated more. Karn made up his mind quickly. Glat
alone he could have torn limb from limb. Waan alone would have fared no
better. But they and the others together represented for him a quick and
certain death.

* * * * *

Then it had been run, run, run. Run with all of them after him. Run into
the forest in the night. Only the giant wolf and the saber-tooth there.
But they were not half so deadly as his own blood relatives.

Now the chase was over. Karn paused, his chest heaving. In a few minutes
his breathing was back to normal. It didn't take this man long to
recover. Karn grinned into the darkness. It would take Tur longer. He'd
wear those welts on his throat for a while.

Karn shrugged and sniffed the night air. Better move ahead. No smell of
the big cats. But there was a nest of wolves off to his right. They
slept now, but soon they'd be awake. Up ahead there was a strange scent,
one he didn't recognize.

Should he go on or turn aside? Ahead there was a glade where a spring
bubbled. Small animals came to drink there in the morning. That meant
food and water to a man who needed both. Karn moved ahead, but warily.

The rising sun found him only a short distance from his objective. Now
there were mingled sounds as the forest came awake. Early-opening
flowers filled the air with fresh sweetness. It was good to be alive.

Then, through a thin screen of trees, Karn saw the great ball. It almost
filled the glade, reached nearly to the height of the trees. Gleaming
gray-green it was, like the eyes of the wolf. The association made Karn
pause. He drifted off to one side, picked a likely tree and hauled
himself up into its lower branches.

Patience Karn had. He sat immobile, watchful. From inside this strange
orb came sounds that were not too faint f