1142. Otis had no fear of humans if he was by himself. People rode on horses as a rule, or mules or donkeys, and this habit of theirs meant that they announced there location to everyone for miles around. Their obvious stupidity was the best explanation as to why they were always being waylaid and robbed.
1143. The boy was well liked by the peasants he had to visit and so his stops often involved cups of tea and scones as well as chit-chat with the woman of the house. All the while Otis would sleep on the porch or out in the yard, but later seemingly bored, he would snoop around the barns and outbuildings as if impatient to be on his way to the next stop.
1144.There was hardly a stop that did not involve long visits and conversation, and so it was often late at night before the two of them returned to town. At that point the wolf and the boy would part company. It never entered the Boy's head to wonder where that so-called dog went during the night, and the subsequent wolf raids on the farms they had visited was never connected to them, even though it was fairly obvious.
1145. But Otis had a new problem. It was the problem of migration. From time to time the country side was disrupted by the migrations of people coming from eastern lands. What was creating these migrations the wolves did not know. These were people with their own language and peculiar customs. They were people but they acted like wolves; they rested in the day and traveled the roads at night. People in the villages knew nothing of them, but wolves knew all about them.
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