Suddenly he bestirred himself, took a single glance and then jumped, rubbing his eyes. He was in an unknown world, strange in every detail. The branched and many-limbed trees had disappeared. A forest of immense flat swords of green swayed in the air above him. The ground between lacked its carpet of green and was roughly strewn with immense boulders of clay. The air was strong with an odor which seemed strange and yet familiar. Only the hot sun streaming down and a sky of faultless blue betokened a familiar world. In regard to himself McEwen felt peculiar and yet familiar. What was it that made these surroundings and himself seem odd and yet usual? He could not tell. His three pairs of limbs and his vigorous mandibles seemed natural enough. The fact that he sensed rather than saw things was natural and yet odd. Forthwith moved by a sense of duty, necessity, and a kind of tribal obligation which he more felt than understood, he set out in search of food and prey and presently came to a broad plain, so wide that his eye could scarce command more than what seemed an immediate portion of it. He halted and breathed with a feeling of relief. Just then a voice startled him. “Anything to eat hereabout?” questioned the newcomer in a friendly and yet self-interested tone. McEwen drew back. “I do not know,” he said, “I have just----” “Terrible,” said the stranger, not waiting to hear his answer. “It looks like famine. You know the Sanguineæ have gone to war.” “No,” answered McEwen mechanically. “Yes,” said the other, “they raided the Fuscæ yesterday. They’ll be down on us next.” With that the stranger made off. McEwen was about to exclaim at the use of the word _us_ when a ravenous craving for food, brought now forcibly to his mind by the words of the other, made him start in haste after him. Then came another who bespoke him in passing. “I haven’t found a thing to-day, and I’ve been all the way to the Pratensis region. I didn’t dare go any further without having some others with me. They’re hungry, too, up there, though they’ve just made a raid. You heard the Sanguineæ went to war, didn’t you?” “Yes, he told me,” said McEwen, indicating the retreating figure of the stranger. “Oh, Ermi. Yes, he’s been over in their territory. Well, I’ll be going now.” McEwen hastened after Ermi at a good pace, and soon overtook him. The latter had stopped and was gathering in his mandibles a jagged crumb, almost as large as himself. “Oh!” exclaimed McEwen eagerly, “where did you get that?” “Here,” said Ermi. “Will you give me a little?” “I will not,” said the other, and a light came in his eye that was almost evil. “All right,” said McEwen, made bold by hunger and yet cautious by danger, “which way would you advise me to look?” “Wherever you please,” said Ermi, “why ask me? You are not new at seeking,” and strode off.