Ten seconds later Durant was looping a muzzle over his closed jaws.

He left the cage door open when he went back to his sledge, carrying Miki in his arms.

Nanette's slow wits would never guess, he told himself.

She would think that LE BETE had escaped into the forest.
It was not his scheme to club Miki into serfdom, as Le Beau had failed to do.

Durant was wiser than that.