“Why are its hoofs so red? Has it cut itself?” asked Leo in an indifferent voice.
As it chanced I also had just noticed this red tinge, and for the first time, since it was most distinct about the animal’s frogs, which until it rolled thus I had not seen. So I rose to look at them, thinking that probably the evening light had deceived us, or that we might have passed through some ruddy-coloured mud. Sure enough they were red, as though a dye had soaked into the horn and the substance of the frogs. What was more, they gave out a pungent, aromatic smell that was unpleasant, such a smell as might arise from blood mixed with musk and spices.
“It is very strange,” I said. “Let us look at your beast, Leo.”
So we did, and found that its hoofs had been similarly-treated.
“Perhaps it is a nativ
