pped down the tree.
She started down toward the river, but she did not go by the trail.

[Illustration: "_Sharptooth played with him a moment_"]

[Illustration: "_The animals were ready to sleep through the day_"]

It was safer to walk in the shadow of the tall trees.
Once she suddenly grasped a branch of a tree and swung herself up and
looked about.
She had heard a rustling in the underbrush.
Long ago she had learned what such sounds meant.
So she swung on the branches until she reached the river.
She listened a moment in the tree.
Then she slipped down and ran to the water's edge.
She dipped up the water with her hand.
She drank some, and then gave some to the baby.
He was so pleased that he laughed aloud.
As quick as a flash, Sharptooth sprang for the tree.
She was afraid the hyenas were in the thickets.
She was afraid they had heard the baby laugh.
She talked to the baby in a strange language.
She made queer clucking sounds.
After that he was always quiet when they went to the river.
He must have understood what she said.

THINGS TO DO

_If there is a cave near where you live, visit it._
_Model in sand some high river banks with caves._
_Show where Sharptooth went to drink, and where the hyenas were
hiding._
_Show how she gave water to the baby._
_Show how she sprang for the tree when the baby laughed._
_Draw a picture of Sharptooth and the baby._
_Ask some one to read you the first story in Kipling's Second Jungle
Book._

X.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Where do hogs live to-day? How are they taken care of?
How do you think the wild hogs found food?
Do you think the Tree-dwellers could learn anything by watching the
wild hogs?
What have you learned from animals?

_What the Wild Hogs Did for Sharptooth_

The sun had now been up for some time.
Sharptooth was getting hungry.
She picked a handful of wild plums from the thicket, but she wanted
something more.
She kept on down the hill.
The wild hogs were rooting under the oak trees.
She wondered what they found there, so she stepped near enough to see.

[Illustration: _A wild hog_]

They were eating something round and black.
She watched them for a long time.
As soon as they started off toward the marsh, Sharptooth ran down to
the trees.
She saw the loose earth that the hogs had rooted up.
Then she began to dig where it had not been