opening of the work first follows Punainen Rooi, a red-backed jackal who kills a deadly viper, feeds and trains his litter, escapes a hunters’ raid with a clever earth-burrow trick, and graduates from small antelope hunts to shadowing a black-maned lion for scraps—outwitting the big cat until he astonishingly slays a massive rock python with a precise neck bite, winning a wary female’s respect. The narrative then shifts to a frame told by Red Swope, who recounts a vast troop of baboons braving a flood; he rescues an abandoned infant, Jok, which an amputee stationman, Jim Tully, raises and trains to run signals and chores with uncanny skill and strength. After defending Jim and becoming his constant companion, Jok vanishes into the bush carrying Jim’s body when the old man dies suddenly, leaving the new stationmaster sensing the unseen presence around the siding. The section closes with the station bracing for a late-night special, the atmosphere tense and expectant. (This is an automatically generated summary.)