Because of the priest’s sermons – wasted words for not much effect – the animals did not begin their journey until nearly nine o’clock. It would take three hours to reach the pasture, if they went at a good pace. Some women and children were going with the sheep, and some of the old people too, at least for the first couple of kilometres because after that, the path became steeper and steeper. To reach the hills, you first had to climb Mont d’Orcières, and from there branch off to go due east. As they climbed they wondered how the animals would behave as they approached the summit. They were worried the sheep would take fright at the smell of the wild cats, because ewes have an acute sense of smell, and always react to an unknown scent. They fear smells they have not encountered before, and they would definitely never have smelt the emanations of lions and tigers. Fortunately there was no wind, but the women were worried about what would happen as they reached the top of the mountain, and prayed they would be able to head quickly in the direction of the high pastures that stretched away towards the granite slopes of the Massif Central.

They also did not know how the wild cats would react as they caught the scent of all those sheep and cows coming towards them. The scent might drive them wild; they might even break the bars of their cages. Everyone could picture the eight monsters making for the flock, raging like foxes descending on a henhouse, killing ten times more hens than they would actually be able to eat. Animals often do that: dogs go in for that kind of excessive killing and so do wolves when they come across a lot of livestock. The men were doing the very same at that moment, lobbing grenades into trenches filled with soldiers, and men were not the only species to behave like brutes.

As they approached the top of Mont d’Orcières, the sheep became more and more nervous, but the cows remained docile, not sensing any danger. The smell of lions did not register with Limousin cattle as something to be afraid of. They were calm ruminants, accustomed to meeting danger with insouciance.