The prowlers were going to be an enemy even more formidable than Prentiss had thought.

The missing stakes were replaced the next day and the others were tied down more securely. Once again the camp was prowler proof⁠—but only for so long as armed guards patrolled inside the walls to kill attacking prowlers during the short time it would take them to remove the stakes.

The hunting parties suffered unusually heavy losses from prowler attacks that day and that evening, as the guards patrolled inside the walls, Lake said to Prentiss:

“The prowlers are so damnably persistent. It isn’t that they’re hungry⁠—they don’t kill us to eat us. They don’t have any reason to kill us⁠—they just hate us.”

“They have a reason,” Prentiss said. “They’re doing the same thing we’re doing: fighting for survival.”

Lake’s pale brows lifted in question.