Questão 24

“The master of the house, reminding himself of the twofold necessity of sporadically engaging $\in$ sport and of getting the family some lunch, appeared resplendent $\in a$ pair of swimming trunks and resolved to follow the path traced by the chicken: $\in$ cautious leaps and bounds, he scaled the roof where the chicken, hesitant and tremulous, urgently decided on another route. The chase now intensified. From roof to roof, more than a block along the road was covered. Little accustomed to such a savage struggle for survival, the chicken had to decide for herself the paths she must follow without any assistance from her race. The man, however, was a natural hunter. And no matter how abject the prey, the cry of victory was $\in$ the air.”

The sentence “And no matter how abject the prey, the cry of victory was $\in$ the air” means that: