They went on. Kieran was beginning to feel very tired now, all the
artificial strength that had been pumped into him before his awakening
was running out. Webber and Paula walked with their heads down, striding
determinedly but without joy.
"What do you think now?" she asked Kieran. "Is this any way for humans
to live?"
The ragged line of women and children moved ahead of them, with the men
in the lead. It was not natural, Kieran thought, for children to be able
to travel so far, and then he remembered that the young of
non-predacious species have to be strong and fleet at an early age.
Suddenly one of the women made a harsh, shrill cry.
Kieran looked where she was looking, off to the left, to the river and
the curving line of trees. A large black shadow slipped across the sand.
He looked behind him. There were other shadows, coming with long easy
bounds out of the trees, fanning out in a shallow crescent. They
reminded Kieran of some animal he had once seen in a zoo, a partly
catlike, partly doglike beast, a cheetah he thought it had been called,
only the cheetah was spotted like a leopard and these creatures were
black, with stiff, upstanding ears. They bayed, and the coursing began.
"Nothing," said Kieran bitterly. "I count seven."