"Andre Norton - Breed to come" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

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BREED TO COME

Copyright ┬й 1972 by Andre Norton

An Ace Book, by arrangement with
Viking Press, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

This Ace printing: February 1980

There was a light breeze, just enough to whisper
through the leaves.. Furtig lay belly down on the
broad limb of the tree, hunter-fashion, but his claws
were still in his belt loop, not strapped on. No sniff of
that breeze brought any useful scent to his expanded
nostrils. He had climbed the tree not for a base from
which to make a good capture-leap, but to see what
lay beyond. However, now he knew that he must
climb higher still. The leaves were too thick a screen
here.

He moved with sinuous grace. Though his ancestors
had hunted on four legs, Furtig now went on two,
save when time pressed and he had to take to a fast
run. And he was very much at home in the treetops.
For those ancestors had also been climbers, just as
their active curiosity had led them into exploration.
Now he drew up from his perch into smaller branches,
on which he balanced with inborn skill.

At last he gained a crotch, and there he faced

Printed in U.S.A.

BREED TO COME

through an opening what he had come to see. He had
chosen a tree on a small hill, and the expanse before
him was clear.

The first nips of frost had struck the country,
though by day a gentle warmth returned. Tall grass
rippled between him and those distant, monstrous
shadows. The grass was brown, and it would not be
long before the cold season. But first came the Trials
of Skill.

Furtig's black lips pulled tight, and he opened his