ieces. They move slowly, killing out as they go, but in
two days a little strength will come back to me and I turn again for the
Blood Debt. But for YE, Free People, my word is that ye go north and eat
but little for a while till the dhole are gone. There is no meat in this
hunting."

"Hear the Outlier!" said Mowgli with a laugh. "Free People, we must go
north and dig lizards and rats from the bank, lest by any chance we meet
the dhole. He must kill out our hunting-grounds, while we lie hid in the
north till it please him to give us our own again. He is a dog--and the
pup of a dog--red, yellow-bellied, lairless, and haired between every
toe! He counts his cubs six and eight at the litter, as though he were
Chikai, the little leaping rat. Surely we must run away, Free People,
and beg leave of the peoples of the north for the offal of dead cattle!
Ye know the saying: 'North are the vermin; south are the lice. WE are
the Jungle.' Choose ye, O choose. It is good hunting! For the Pack--for
the Full Pack--for the lair and the litter; for the in-kill and the
out-kill; for the mate that drives the doe and the little, little cub
within the cave; it is met!--it is met!--it is met!"

The Pack answered with one deep, crashing bark that sounded in the night
like a big tree falling. "It is met!" they cried. "Stay with these,"
said Mowgli to the Four. "We shall need every tooth. Phao and Akela must
make ready the battle. I go to count the dogs."

"It is death!" Won-tolla cried, half rising. "What can such a hairless
one do against the Red Dog? Even the Striped One, remember----"

"Thou art indeed an Outlier," Mowgli called back; "but we will speak
when the dholes are dead. Good hunting all!"

He hurried off into the darkness, wild with excitement, hardly looking
where he set foot, and the natural consequence was that he tripped full
length over Kaa's great coils where the python lay watching a deer-path
near the river.

"Kssha!" said Kaa angrily. "Is this jungle-work, to stamp and tramp and
undo a night's hunting--when the game are moving so well, too?"

"The fault was mine," said Mowgli, picking himself up. "Indeed I was
seeking thee, Flathead, but each time we meet thou art longer and
broader by the length of my arm. There is none like thee in the Jungle,
wise, old, strong, and most beautiful Kaa."

"Now whither does THIS trail lead?" Kaa's voice was gentler. "Not a
moon since there was a Manling with a knife threw stones at