Then the commotion became quite different, as if all the animals were dispersing. At one point it became obvious that the dog had something; it wasn’t barking any more but growling and howling, as if it were hurt or attacking its prey, a limb, a piece of flesh. The noise was appalling. Franck realised he had been stupid to set the dog off, but why had it listened to him? He looked towards the house to see if Lise had woken up, if she was watching this unfold from the window, but she was obviously still asleep. The dog must have let go or lost its grip; he could hear it barking again. It was on the move, but further away this time. Franck knew it was climbing back up the hill opposite, running through the woods behind a frenzied pack of animals that crushed branches and bushes as they went. The dog was howling loudly and sharply now, as if it wanted to prove that it was pursuing its prey, chasing after it, or even hunting it down to bring back. Franck felt bad for having told the dog to ‘go fetch’; perhaps it would really carry out his order.

Barking rose from the hill opposite, becoming further and further away, and it carried on like this for a good five minutes. Then the noise became even more distant, just like the stampede of panicked animals, which had fled to the other side of the infernal hill. It was calm once more, completely quiet. Franck didn’t really know what he had just done. In hindsight, he was scared. The shock of coming face to face with a dog in the dark, a dog that was a good metre tall, had left him drained.