"So it does live in the swamp," said Gorsline.
"Yes."
"Why haven't we seen it before?"
"It's timid," Fenner replied. "There were always so many of us, and we made so much noise. Alone, as I was, it was less frightened of me, although I must have scared it by firing at it. I thought it was stalking me. As a matter of fact," he added, "it was stalking me. But not for the purpose I imagined."
"What do you mean?" Hakim said.
"Why, appearances are deceiving. If a man who had never seen a dog before were to see one jump up on its master, he might think the creature was attacking the man. Putting two and two together, I was sure this animal lived among the red flowers and was stalking me for its dinner. But it was stalking me, and it rushed at me, only because it wanted to protect me."
"Protect you? From what?"
"Well, I was right, you see. There is a beast of prey here which uses a form of mind-paralysis in order to stun its victims." He motioned over his shoulder. "Those are the real predators, those red flowers."
He looked at the lovely bank of vermilion, and shuddered. "I should judge that their use of the mind-paralysis is automatic, but we are too big and too many for them to actually attack us. That is why, although poor Bodkin and the others succumbed, the flowers never tried to go for them. If you'll look over there, you'll see the remains of my Mark III net. It fell amongst them and they devoured most of it before they realized that it wasn't alive."
He stood up. The beast nuzzled his calf and he stroked its neck, behind the feathery stalks.