He heard Mukoki go away.
The mice rustled about him again.

An hour had passed when he heard a sound at the door, a scraping sound, like the peculiar drag of claws over wood, and a moment later it was followed by a whine that came to him faintly.

He opened the door slowly.

Baree stood just outside the threshold.

He had given him two fish at noon, so he knew that it was not hunger that had brought the dog to the cabin.