"You would not have said that if you had been up the tree with us, and with him," grumbled Compton.
"The tree is taboo. I said it."
"Do you mean that he lives here? I should think he would starve."
"That would be your word, young great one. But, see, look at my father there. He is big, very big, very heavy, very old. He does not care to move far. Yet he is wise. So he has chosen his hunt; and he has chosen well."
"I cannot see it. The little people give him a wide berth, and a pig might come along once a year."
"Such is your wisdom, little great one. But, see, in the trees above there is a roadway, and on the ground below there are other paths for the things of the forest who neither fly nor climb. These trees lie in the way of such a road. On the ground, if you had looked you would have seen the spoor of the red pig and other things of the forest."
"By Jove, yes!" and the boys stared at the unfamiliar spoor of animals. "But why do they use this particular part of the forest?"
"That we shall see, for our way lies now along this ground-path. The little people have done their tracking. The man-eaters are near."