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smelled ordure and thought he must be in the place where they dropped their dung. He moved cautiously closer to the cave and up the rocky slope. He could see a little way into the cave. There he stopped.
    The Others were cutting up the stag, but their flints were not sharp. The big male was strong, with powerful teeth and neck, for he ripped at the meat like a leopard or bear.
    They had built a great fire, and watching it made the Man feel colder, for it had begun to snow. There was no snow in the Others' cave. Soon they would be heavy with eating. Tomorrow they would be stronger from the food, but for tonight they would be heavy. His jaws were clamped tight against cold and hunger, but slowly he managed to open them and put out his tongue and let the snow melt on it. Then, moving stiffly at first, he crept back and down, circled around well below the cave, and headed for his own fire, in the forest.
    Cryer heard him first and called, warning, but Lefthand was up at once, saying, "It is the Father. Hold, hold!"
    He came in, and they were all on their feet, yawning and stretching. He told them how the Others were eating the stag, how heavy they would be, how warm and dry was their cave. Then he told them they would all go now to kill the Others.
    Feetborn's Son growled, "Food!"
    But Lefthand's brow wrinkled, and he said, "For tomorrow?"
    The Man nodded. They would eat the Others, yes, but it was not for food that he meant to kill them, but because they were where he wanted to be, where the mussels were, where the water was, where the warm was.
    He told them there were four male Others. Someone had to bring them out of the cave so that he and Lefthand and Feetborn's Son could kill them. He looked at the women. Cryer was the fastest runner of them. He motioned to her and Snowborn to come, and Red Boy as well. Then he looked to the spears, and felt that they were sharp. He wound a length of twined hide thong around his waist and was ready.
    They left the fire, the three men with spears in front, then Cryer, Red Boy, and Snowborn last with a flint ax. They heard sounds of animals in the forest, and Feetborn's Son whimpered until the Man hit him; for they all knew, Feetborn's Son too, that no animal would attack them when they were so many unless it could not ran away.
    They stopped by a bush near the Others' cave. They saw a small glow of fire on the roof of the cave but heard nothing. The Man muttered, "Some sleep." They went on toward the cave, but lower down the slope. When they were directly below the cave, the Man stopped. He told Cryer and Red Boy to stay there until they heard an owl call. Then they must walk up toward the cave until the Others ran out at them. Cryer whispered, "Yes," and Red Boy's eyes glowed in the hazy dark.
    The Man led the rest—Lefthand, Feetborn's Son, and Snowborn—very carefully up the slope. The moon was making a little, soft, blurred light, and snow and sand and bush and rock all looked alike. He judged the distance as he climbed. When the Others saw or heard Cryer and Red Boy, some would run out at them, and some would not. He must trap those who ran out far enough from the cave so that those who stayed inside could not help them until too late. But he must not be too far. Above all, he must not be heard.
    He came to a place he had noticed earlier, a stone's throw below the cave. There was a little cliff, too high to jump down. The Others would run down the gully the far side of it. He went in under the little cliff and looked up. He could not see the mouth of the cave, so a watcher there could not see him.
    He brought the rest close, unwound the long thong from his waist, and gave it to the young men. He showed them where to crouch, the thong lying along the ground between them. He did not have to tell Snowborn where to go, for she knew that the woman's task was to kill any wounded or fallen animal.
    Now he was ready. He put his cupped hands over his nose and mouth and made the owl's call,