With necks extended and eyelids alternately opening and shutting, they peered down on her, ready to soar away at the least suspicious motion.

Shotaye could not resist glancing at them.

It seemed as if something was creeping up the tree very slowly.

Like a grayish streak, a long body flattened itself against the trunk.

Shotaye grew attentive, and the more so as the suspicious object all at once disappeared below the nethermost branches.