Curled nose to buttock in the noonday glow.

He killed the larger with a well-aimed blow,

Skinned, dressed and set it roasting on a spit;

And when ‘twas cooked, ate sparingly of it,

For need might yet make little seem a feast.

Fording the river shallows, south by east

He hobbled now along a withered rill

That issued where old floods had gashed the hill—

A cyclopean portal yawning sheer.

No storm of countless hoofs had entered here: