w, if the dhole follow thee----"

"As surely they will follow. Ho! ho! I have many little thorns under my
tongue to prick into their hides."

"If they follow thee hot and blind, looking only at thy shoulders, those
who do not die up above will take water either here or lower down, for
the Little People will rise up and cover them. Now the Waingunga is
hungry water, and they will have no Kaa to hold them, but will go down,
such as live, to the shallows by the Seeonee Lairs, and there thy Pack
may meet them by the throat."

"Ahai! Eowawa! Better could not be till the Rains fall in the dry
season. There is now only the little matter of the run and the leap.
I will make me known to the dholes, so that they shall follow me very
closely."

"Hast thou seen the rocks above thee? From the landward side?"

"Indeed, no. That I had forgotten."

"Go look. It is all rotten ground, cut and full of holes. One of thy
clumsy feet set down without seeing would end the hunt. See, I leave
thee here, and for thy sake only I will carry word to the Pack that they
may know where to look for the dhole. For myself, I am not of one skin
with ANY wolf."

When Kaa disliked an acquaintance he could be more unpleasant than any
of the Jungle People, except perhaps Bagheera. He swam down-stream,
and opposite the Rock he came on Phao and Akela listening to the night
noises.

"Hssh! Dogs," he said cheerfully. "The dholes will come down-stream. If
ye be not afraid ye can kill them in the shallows."

"When come they?" said Phao. "And where is my Man-cub?" said Akela.

"They come when they come," said Kaa. "Wait and see. As for THY Man-cub,
from whom thou hast taken a Word and so laid him open to Death, THY
Man-cub is with ME, and if he be not already dead the fault is none
of thine, bleached dog! Wait here for the dhole, and be glad that the
Man-cub and I strike on thy side."

Kaa flashed up-stream again, and moored himself in the middle of
the gorge, looking upward at the line of the cliff. Presently he saw
Mowgli's head move against the stars, and then there was a whizz in
the air, the keen, clean schloop of a body falling feet first, and next
minute the boy was at rest again in the loop of Kaa's body.

"It is no leap by night," said Mowgli quietly. "I have jumped twice as
far for sport; but that is an evil place above--low bushes and gullies
that go down very deep, all full of the Little People. I have put big
stones one above the other by