'Yes,' she said, after a moment. 'It is very high.'
'Is it circling?' I asked.
'It is hard to tell,' she said. 'I think maybe it is.'
'Good,' I said. 'Then it is probably hunting.' The leisurely, high-altitude hunting circles of our prey sometimes manifested a diameter of pasangs.
'Does it see you?' I asked.
'I do not think so,' she said.
'Move a little, walk about,' I said. I saw the rawhide tether shift.
The distance vision of our prey would be truly remarkable. It is particularly good at the detection of movement. It is said it can see an urt move across open ground at a distance of two pasangs. It is said it can detect an irregular movment of grass, not correlated with wind direction and velocity, from a distance of one pasang. I was confident we could rely on its vision.
'It is circling,' she said.
'Does it see you?' I asked.
'Now,' she said, frightened. 'Now I think it does.'
'Do not lose track of it,' I said. 'Do not appear to notice it, but do not lose track of it. Your life could depend on this. Note exactly, as well, the location of the opening.'
'I know well where it is, Master,' she said. 'Do not fear.'
'The matter must be close,' I said. 'You understand that?'
'Yes, Master,' she said, 'yes!'
Our quarry must not be allowed a great deal of time for investigation.
'It sees me!' she moaned.
'Good!' I said. 'Do not appear to much notice it.'
'It is coming!' she said. 'It is coming, very swiftly!'
'Do not appear to much notice it,' I said.
'I am frightened!' she said.
'Breathe deeply,' I said. 'Keep your body ready, a little tense, but not tight.'
'It is coming very swiftly,' she said.
'do not lose track of it,' I said. 'Keep in mind clearly, as well, the location of the entrance of the pit.'
'I am frightened!' she cried.
Suddenly the tether seemed to jerk from the pit and then, in a moment, it had jerked tight. I heard her cry out with misery. I thrust my head and shoulders from the pit and saw her, on her belly, in the grass, her right leg stretched out, almost straight, behind her, the tether tight on it. She had tried to run.
I hoisted myself out of the pit, screaming and cursin, waving my arms. The quarry, startled at my unexpected appearance, veered away, passing within feet of me, the great shadow suddenly between me and the sun, and then the sun again blazed on the late-summer grass, tumultuous and whipped, twisted, by the passage of the quarry. the sweat on my face felt cold, from the wind which had rushed past.
'On your feet,' I said.
Tremblingly, she rose to her feet.
I looked after the receding figure in the afternoon sky.
'I could have been killed,' she said.
'You lost us the quarry,' I said.
'I could have been killed,' she said, trembling.
'You are only a worthless slave,' I told her. 'You have lost us the quarry.'
'Forgive me, Master,' she said, her head down.
'Into the pit, Slave, and be quick about it,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I followed her into the pit. She knelt at one end, near the larger opening, her head down.
'Forgive me, Master,' she whispered.
'Another such performance and you shall be well punished,' I informed her.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'It may return,' I said.
She shuddered.
In a few Ehn, as I had hoped, we heard again the two notes, as of the fleer.
'It is perhaps hungry,' I speculated.
She lifted her head, her eyes wide with terror.
'I di dnot think he would forget you, my luscious, nude bait,' I said. I regarded her. Most women, for some reason, stand in mortal terror of such things. This is particularly true of women who have some familiarity with them, who know something of their swiftness, their savagery and their ferocity, who have some knowledge of what they can accomplish.
'Do not make me go out of the pit again,' she begged.
'Out,' I told her.
Fearfully, scarcely able to move, she crawled out of the pit.
'It is there,' she said, 'in the sky. It is ciercling. Isense myself the center of that circle.'
'Splendid!' I said.
'Let me hide,' she begged. 'Let me hide!'
'No,' I said.
She suddenly screamed and the tether, length by length, leaped from the pit and then, again, jerked taut.
'Idiot slave!' I cried.
'I'm tied! I'm tied!' she wept.
I stood up, lifting my head and shoulders above the entrance to the pit. She was sitting on the grass, at the end of the tether, weeping hysterically. 'I'm tied,' she cried, fighting to thrust the tether from her ankle.
The quarry was still in the sky.
By the tether I pulled her to within a few feet of the entrance.
'Get on your feet,' I cried, 'Slave!'
Unsteadily, trembling, her head lifted, she rose to her feet, her hands out to help her maintain her balance.
'I'm frightened,' she wept.
'Where is it?' I asked.
'I don't know,' she wept. 'It's gone! It's gone!'
'No,' I said. 'It will not be gone.'
'I can't see it,' she cried, joyfully. 'I can't see it!'
It is not gone,' I said. 'It is somewhere. Be alert!' Suddenly the hair stood up on the back of my neck. The quarry had seen the fear responses of the girl. Twice she had tried to run. Now it seemed to have disappeared.
'It is gone,' she said.
'It has alighted,' I said.
'What am I to do?' she asked.
'Scan in a low circle, about you,' I said.
The quarry knew the girl's location. The girl did not know its location.
There is, within normal limits, and assuming the dimension is under surveillance, a direct correlation between height and detectability. It is for such reasons that an upright carriage increases the capacity to detct the appraoch of a predator or the position of game. It is for such a reason that the larl commonly crouches when stalking prey.
'I see nothing,' she said.
'Be alert,' I said.
I wondered how long it would take, say, a startled tabuk or ground animal, ofa burrowing sort, to regain its composure, to return to its normal activities.
