Ulrich and Georg, specifically, seem to believe that human beings canown land: that the trees, the grass, and the animals among them can actually belong to and be possessed by human beings.

The wildness, harshness, and arbitrariness of the things that take place in this natural setting, however, would seem to indicate that humans have no more power to own the forest than they can own the sun. When humans own something, they feel that they can control it, and the fallen tree and wolf pack, in particular, make it very clear that humans cannot control nature. Ulrich and Georg have spent so long fighting over who owns the land that they have completely neglected to understand that no one can really own nature at all. Nature is a force so much larger than human beings, and they are all but powerless against it.

The men cannot stop the tree that falls on them; though they had developed an absolutely fictitious sense of control over nature, they cannot stop the wolves which have come to feed.

The natural setting of the short story "The Interlopers" takes place on a narrow stretch of precipitous woodland in the unforgiving Carpathian Mountains, which is a disputed piece of territory between the feuding Gradwitz and Znaeym families. On a "wind-scourged winter night," Ulrich von Gradwitz patrols the dark forest searching for his enemy, Georg Znaeym. The restless wind and stormy atmosphere portray the natural setting as threatening, ominous, and dangerous. When the two enemies finally come face-to-face, the narrator mentions,

And before the moment of hesitation had given way to action, a deed of Nature’s own violence overwhelmed them both (Saki, 2).

The storm causes a massive beech tree to fall on both men before Ulrich or Georg have the opportunity to harm each other. The fallen beech tree completely interrupts Ulrich and Georg's conflict and intervenes in their dispute. The moment the beech tree falls on the men, the primary conflict of the story shifts to a man versus nature conflict. By personifying nature, Saki illustrates that the natural environment is the primary antagonist of the story. The fallen beech tree prevents each man from taking revenge, which influences them to sympathize with each other later in the story.

As the men lay incapacitated underneath the beech tree, Ulrich and Georg eventually put aside their differences, forgive each other, and end their longstanding feud. Shortly after making amends, shadowy figures spot them from an overlooking hillside, which turn out to be a pack of hungry wolves. The wolves are the true interlopers and part of the natural environment. Similar to the beech tree, the wolves threaten to undermine and destroy the lofty goals of Ulrich and Georg. In the story, the natural setting acts as an indifferent, malicious force, which completely interrupts the men's lives and undermines their goals.

The setting plays a key role in this story. The feud between the two families is over a narrow piece of land. So, part of the setting itself is the subject of the feud. This is a piece of land that Georg's and Ulrich's families have fought over for generations.

It is cold (winter) and the land is located in the Carpathian Mountains. This harsh outdoor setting suggests that nature is unforgiving and/or indifferent to man/men and their concerns. This is a symbolic foreshadowing because the conflict will shift from "man vs. man" to "men vs. nature." 

When lightning strikes and the tree falls, pinning the men, it would seem that nature has fortuitously intervened and prevented one man from killing the other. However, this is just a random act of nature. There is no suggestion that this was divine intervention nor is there any hint that nature is acting in some benevolent way to transform this feud into a reconciliation. 

In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in fitful gusts through the naked branches and whistling round the tree trunks, they lay and waited for the help that would now bring release and succor to both parties. 

Now that the men have become friends, the narrator once again focuses on how potentially dangerous nature is. In the end, the men are once again subject to the dangers of nature when they are spotted by the wolves. Prior to this reconciliation, the men mostly had to fear one another. Following their truce, nature becomes their primary enemy and concern. 

Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym are engaged in a bitter, longstanding territorial dispute over a narrow strip of precipitous woodland in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. The two families have been feuding for generations, and Ulrich plans to kill Georg at the beginning of the story. As Ulrich travels through the disputed territory on a stormy night, he hopes that he will discover his enemy poaching on his land and have the opportunity to kill Georg Znaeym.

Once Ulrich distances himself from his hunting party, he comes face-to-face with Georg and the two enemies are alone in the forest. Before either man can draw or fire their weapon, a massive beech tree falls on both of them, trapping them beneath its heavy trunk.

Both men are incapacitated and cannot escape from underneath the trunk. Initially, Georg mocks Ulrich, and Ulrich responds by saying that if his men find them first, he will instruct them to kill Georg. Georg also comments that his men will save him first before killing Ulrich. The animosity between the two men is strong, and Georg remarks:

We fight this quarrel out to the death, you and I and our foresters, with no cursed interlopers to come between us. Death and damnation to you, Ulrich von Gradwitz (Saki 3)

As time passes, Ulrich ends up offering Georg a drink of wine from his flask and attempts to make amends by saying:

Neighbor...do as you please if your men come first. It was a fair compact. But as for me, I’ve changed my mind. If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be helped, as though you were my guest. We have quarreled like devils all our lives over this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can’t even stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying here tonight thinking I’ve come to think we’ve been rather fools; there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary dispute (Saki 4)

Ulrich proceeds to ask Georg to be his friend and end their grudge. Georg agrees to end the longstanding feud with Ulrich, and they discuss how the village will react to their newly formed friendship. However, both men discover that they will not survive the night when a pack of menacing wolves arrives.