li in so many words that Shere Khan
would kill him some day; and Mowgli would laugh and answer: 'I have
the Pack and I have thee; and Baloo, though he is so lazy, might
strike a blow or two for my sake. Why should I be afraid?'

It was one very warm day that a new notion came to Bagheera--born of
something that he had heard. Perhaps Sahi the Porcupine had told him;
but he said to Mowgli when they were deep in the jungle, as the boy
lay with his head on Bagheera's beautiful black skin: 'Little
Brother,' how often have I told thee that Shere Khan is thy enemy?'

'As many times as there are nuts on that palm,' said Mowgli, who,
naturally, could not count. 'What of it? I am sleepy, Bagheera, and
Shere Khan is all long tail and loud talk--like Mor the Peacock.'

'But this is no time for sleeping. Baloo knows it; I know it; the
Pack know it; and even the foolish, foolish deer know. Tabaqui has
told thee, too.'

'Ho! ho!' said Mowgli. 'Tabaqui came to me not long ago with some
rude talk that I was a naked man's cub and not fit to dig pig-nuts;
but I caught Tabaqui by the tail and swung him twice against a
palm-tree to teach him better manners.'

'That was foolishness; for though Tabaqui is a mischief-maker, he
would have told thee of something that concerned thee closely. Open
those eyes, Little Brother. Shere Khan dare not kill thee in the
jungle; but remember, Akela is very old, and soon the day comes when
he cannot kill his buck, and then he will be leader no more. Many of
the wolves that looked thee over when thou wast brought to the
Council first are old too, and the young wolves believe, as Shere
Khan has taught them, that a man-cub has no place with the Pack. In a
little time thou wilt be a man.'

'And what is a man that he should not run with his brothers?' said
Mowgli. 'I was born in the jungle. I have obeyed the Law of the
Jungle, and there is no wolf of ours from whose paws I have not
pulled a thorn. Surely they are my brothers!'

Bagheera stretched himself at full length and half shut his eyes.
'Little Brother,' said he, 'feel under my jaw.'

Mowgli put up his strong brown hand, and just under Bagheera's silky
chin, where the giant rolling muscles were all hid by the glossy
hair, he came upon a little bald spot.

'There is no one in the jungle that knows that I, Bagheera, carry
that mark--the mark of the collar; and yet, Little Brother, I was
born among men, and it was among men that my mother died--in t