Of the two characters, Ulrich von Gradwitz appears first in the story, and the author gives the reader somewhat more access to his thoughts. One might, therefore, call him the protagonist and Georg Znaeym the antagonist. To Znaeym, though, the matter appears the other way around, for Gradwitz is his antagonist. But the story slowly reveals that for both men the true antagonist is Nature. Even when Nature—a force which Saki personifies in his writings with an initial capital—drops a tree on the two men, they continue to think of their situation in interpersonal terms. Only when a pack of wolves arrives at the story’s end do the men take Nature seriously as a shared antagonist.

Ulrich and Georg are both obsessed with an insignificant piece of land—not because of the land itself but because of their quarrel. In the second paragraph of the story, Ulrich notices the agitation of the roebuck and immediately ascribes it not to the impending storm but to Georg’s presence. Later, when the two men decide to become friends, Georg makes a speech about how everything will be peaceful from now on, with no “interlopers” spoiling their perfect harmony. It is only during the last lines of the story that both men are compelled to turn away from one another and recognize the danger that has surrounded them on this stormy night in this wild forest that does not truly belong to either of them. They have assumed that the central conflict was one of man against man, and this has been resolved, but the conflict of man against Nature has not.