Dagger-mouth kept still. He was lurking.
Lurking was Dagger-mouth’s best skill, and right now he was lurking among the tall plants and listening to the sounds around him.
Nearby a group of duck-billed dinosaurs was grazing. They sometimes called to each other with their flutelike sounds. To the ears of Dagger-mouth, the sounds were the ring of a dinner bell.
“My dinner,” thought Dagger-mouth hopefully.
In fact, it was a big hope, for young Dagger-mouth had never yet caught anything to eat.
Of course he had eaten. A growing tyrannosaur got madly hungry and would eat whatever it could. But so far Dagger-mouth had eaten only leftovers from the kills made by older tyrannosaurs.
Not that they invited him to share. No way! Dagger-mouth had learned to lurk and dash in quickly at just the right moment. Sometimes he could snatch a mouthful as a big tyrannosaur gulped down a mighty chunk. Sometimes there was a fight between others that gave him a chance.
But sometimes another young one, as hungry as himself, would appear from nowhere. If it dashed in, faster than Dagger-mouth, well, all he’d get then was a mess of bones or just an angry snarl and a slash from very sharp claws.
No wonder lurking was Dagger-mouth’s best skill.
Just then, one of the duck-bills moved aside from the others. It was not the smallest one (which would have made a good start for Dagger-mouth) but neither was it one of the biggest.
Snipping and chewing, it was soon standing out from the group. Alone!
A tussle broke out between two other duckbills who had chomped into the same plant.
“Attack!” said Dagger-mouth to himself. But he didn’t move.
Several duck-bills raised their heads to watch the tussle.
“Attack!”
Dagger-mouth waited. His eyes went back and forth from the duck-bill that stood alone to the others in the group. And he scanned the ground, over and over, to see how far he’d have to run when he charged.
A hunter does not wait. A hunter must seize the moment. A hunter should not keep lurking and watching when a good chance comes.
“Next time,” thought Dagger-mouth, as the lone duck-bill rejoined the group. “Next time I’ll be quick. I’ll open my jaws and rush in for my first mighty attack.”