ig red stone alone."

"But the stone makes it heavy to the hand. My little bright knife is
better; and--see! the red stone is not good to eat. Then WHY would they
kill?"

"Mowgli, go thou and sleep. Thou hast lived among men, and----"

"I remember. Men kill because they are not hunting;--for idleness and
pleasure. Wake again, Bagheera. For what use was this thorn-pointed
thing made?"

Bagheera half opened his eyes--he was very sleepy--with a malicious
twinkle.

"It was made by men to thrust into the head of the sons of Hathi, so
that the blood should pour out. I have seen the like in the street of
Oodeypore, before our cages. That thing has tasted the blood of many
such as Hathi."

"But why do they thrust into the heads of elephants?"

"To teach them Man's Law. Having neither claws nor teeth, men make these
things--and worse."

"Always more blood when I come near, even to the things the Man-Pack
have made," said Mowgli disgustedly. He was getting a little tired of
the weight of the ankus. "If I had known this, I would not have taken
it. First it was Messua's blood on the thongs, and now it is Hathi's. I
will use it no more. Look!"

The ankus flew sparkling, and buried itself point down thirty yards
away, between the trees. "So my hands are clean of Death," said Mowgli,
rubbing his palms on the fresh, moist earth. "The Thuu said Death would
follow me. He is old and white and mad."

"White or black, or death or life, _I_ am going to sleep, Little
Brother. I cannot hunt all night and howl all day, as do some folk."

Bagheera went off to a hunting-lair that he knew, about two miles off.
Mowgli made an easy way for himself up a convenient tree, knotted three
or four creepers together, and in less time than it takes to tell was
swinging in a hammock fifty feet above ground. Though he had no positive
objection to strong daylight, Mowgli followed the custom of his
friends, and used it as little as he could. When he waked among the very
loud-voiced peoples that live in the trees, it was twilight once more,
and he had been dreaming of the beautiful pebbles he had thrown away.

"At least I will look at the thing again," he said, and slid down a
creeper to the earth; but Bagheera was before him. Mowgli could hear him
snuffing in the half light.

"Where is the thorn-pointed thing?" cried Mowgli.

"A man has taken it. Here is the trail."

"Now we shall see whether the Thuu spoke truth. If the pointed thing is
Deat