Burl and his people ate of what he had brought back. Many of the
dogs--most of them--went to the feast Burl had left. Presently they were
back. They had no reason to be hostile. They were fed. The humans
offered them no injury, and the humans smelled of something that
appealed to the deepest well-springs of canine nature.
Presently the dogs were close about the humans. They were fascinated.
And the humans were fascinated in return. Each of the people had a
little of the feeling that Burl had experienced as the tribal leader. In
the intent, absorbed and wholly unhostile regard of the dogs, even
children felt flattered and friendly. And surely in a place where
everything else was so novel and so satisfactory, it was possible to
imagine friendliness with creatures which were not human, since
assuredly they were not insects.
A similar state of mind existed among the dogs.
Saya had more meat than she desired. She glanced among the members of
the tribe. All were supplied. She tossed it to a dog. He jerked away
alertly, and then sniffed at it where it had dropped. A dog can always
eat. He ate it.
"I wish you would talk to us," said Saya hopefully.
The dog wagged his tail.
"You do not look like us," said Saya interestedly, "but you act like we
do. Not like the--Monsters."
The dog looked significantly at meat in Burl's hand. Burl tossed it. The
dog caught it with a quick snap, swallowed it, wagged his tail briefly
and came closer. It was a completely incredible action, but dogs and men
were blood-kin on this planet. Besides, there was racial-memory
rightness in friendship between men and dogs. It was not hindered by any
past experience of either. They were the only warm-blooded creatures on
this world. It was a kinship felt by both.
Presently Burl stood up and spoke politely to the dog. He addressed him
with the same respect he would have given to another man. In all his
life he had never felt equal to an insect, but he felt no arrogance
toward this dog. He felt superior only to other men.
"We are going back to our cave," he said politely. "Maybe we will meet
again."
He led his tribe back to the cave in which they had spent the previous
night. The dogs followed, ranging on either side. They were well-fed,
with no memory of hostility to any creature which smelled of warm blood.
They had an instinct without experience to dull it. The latter part of
the journey back to the tribal cave was--if anybody had been qualified
to notice it--remarkably like a group of dogs taking a walk with a group
of people. It was companionable. It felt right.
That night Burl left the cave, as before, to look at the stars. This
time Saya went with him matter-of-factly. But as they came out of the
cave-entrance there was a stirring. A dog rose and stretched himself
elaborately, yawning the while. When Burl and Saya moved away, he
trotted amiably with them.
They talked to it, and the dog seemed pleased. It wagged its tail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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