Soon the first hound reached just below his tree as it subsequently jumped towards him.
Other hounds too, soon reached the position of the tree.
Peculiarly however, none of the hounds reacted the same as the first one. Rather they kept moving without a pause in their stride.
The hound that had jumped had a perplexing reaction on their face, now that he looked at it properly.
Although it inevitably did not reach his location, as he sat at much higher altitude, it did not stare at him with the ferocity that he remembered the last time this scene played out.
It looked around the tree, circling its trunk, then the trees in the immediate vicinity, here and there, even as the whole pack moved past him, some calling onto him even, but never really focused on him.
After going at it for a few seconds, it had also joined the moving pack as everyone bolted past his tree. In a few minutes, all the hounds had passed cleanly without a hitch.
