Chapter 5 Meeting at Dawn

As he led the group down to the river in the early morning, Moon-Watcher paused uncertainly in a familiar place. The new tock had left as mysteriously as it had appeared. Moon-Watcher tried to remember what had been there, but could not. He put the problem from his mind, and it never entered his thoughts again.

From their side of the stream, the Others saw Moon-Watcher and a dozen other males moving against the dawn sky. At once they began to shout and threaten in the usual way, but this time there was no answer.

Steadily and silently, Moon-Watcher's group walked down the hill above the river, and as they approached, the Others went quiet. Their pretended anger died away, and was replaced by real fear. They saw the long bones and knives, but these did not alarm them because they did not understand their purpose. But they knew that the group was moving in a new and different way.

For a moment Moon-Watcher stopped at the water's edge. Then he raised his arms high, showing what had been hidden by the hairy bodies of his companions. He was holding a thick branch, and on the end of it was the head of the leopard. The mouth had been fixed open with a stick, and the great teeth shone white in the first light of the rising sun.

Most of the Others were frozen with fear, but some began to move back. Still holding tin bloody head up high, Moon-Watcher started to cross the It ream, and the rest of his group followed him. When Moon-Watcher reached the far side, the leader of the Others was still standing in place. Moon-Watcher swung the branch down on his head, and the leopard killed one more time.

Screaming with fear, the Others ran away in all directions. Moon-Watcher stood looking at the dead leader. Now he was master of the world, and he was not quite sure what to do next.

But he would think of something.