Franck had been listening to them moving around at the bottom of the igue for ten minutes. There were two men doing something near the cage. He had gone as far as he could on the spur in order to see what was going on, the dog right by his side. He stayed hidden, feeling almost like a soldier in enemy territory, hardly daring to raise his head above the scree for fear they might see him from below. Through the bushes he could see the men bustling about without speaking; they looked focused and in a hurry. He carefully parted the branches for a better view and spotted a gun hanging from the door of the vehicle, just hanging there as if it were unremarkable. The 4×4 itself was the one he had seen in Limogne the day before, the one that belonged to the hunters, but the big dog cages were no longer on the pickup, and in their place were two barrels and equipment that the men were unloading. Franck couldn’t see everything through the branches, especially since there was a tree on the right that obscured his vision. He had no idea what they were up to. He just had time to see the younger guy take three large, apparently heavy, translucent blocks off the pickup truck and carry them into the cage. They looked like enormous ice cubes from a distance, giant blocks with a cord through the middle. He thought they might have something to do with the spring, or they might be salt licks. Perhaps they were planning to shut animals up in there, or making preparations to lure wildlife into some kind of trap. Franck kept an eye on Alpha, who was still calm but refused to sit down. He was worried he might move or start barking and betray their presence, but Alpha was surprisingly obedient, listening and doing as Franck asked – or at least, obeying his silent instruction to stay still at all costs.

Franck had no desire to see the men again, or talk to them. He didn’t want them to know that he had found the cage. Nobody must know he had been there, because he needed the cage now. He had a plan to use it. These guys might screw it all up; the fact that other people came to the bottom of this isolated ravine could compromise everything.

He couldn’t care less about whatever they were plotting. The hunters shouldn’t be there anyway; it wasn’t their land. Franck had no idea how large the grounds of the rental house were. If the men were up to something on his property, he would be perfectly within his rights to turn them out.