e a care for my ribs, Little Brother! What is all this
dancing up and down?"

Mowgli had been trying to make himself heard by pulling at Bagheera's
shoulder fur and kicking hard. When the two listened to him he was
shouting at the top of his voice, "And so I shall have a tribe of my
own, and lead them through the branches all day long."

"What is this new folly, little dreamer of dreams?" said Bagheera.

"Yes, and throw branches and dirt at old Baloo," Mowgli went on. "They
have promised me this. Ah!"

"Whoof!" Baloo's big paw scooped Mowgli off Bagheera's back, and as the
boy lay between the big fore-paws he could see the Bear was angry.

"Mowgli," said Baloo, "thou hast been talking with the Bandar-log--the
Monkey People."

Mowgli looked at Bagheera to see if the Panther was angry too, and
Bagheera's eyes were as hard as jade stones.

"Thou hast been with the Monkey People--the gray apes--the people
without a law--the eaters of everything. That is great shame."

"When Baloo hurt my head," said Mowgli (he was still on his back), "I
went away, and the gray apes came down from the trees and had pity on
me. No one else cared." He snuffled a little.

"The pity of the Monkey People!" Baloo snorted. "The stillness of the
mountain stream! The cool of the summer sun! And then, man-cub?"

"And then, and then, they gave me nuts and pleasant things to eat, and
they--they carried me in their arms up to the top of the trees and said
I was their blood brother except that I had no tail, and should be their
leader some day."

"They have no leader," said Bagheera. "They lie. They have always lied."

"They were very kind and bade me come again. Why have I never been taken
among the Monkey People? They stand on their feet as I do. They do
not hit me with their hard paws. They play all day. Let me get up! Bad
Baloo, let me up! I will play with them again."

"Listen, man-cub," said the Bear, and his voice rumbled like thunder on
a hot night. "I have taught thee all the Law of the Jungle for all the
peoples of the jungle--except the Monkey-Folk who live in the trees.
They have no law. They are outcasts. They have no speech of their own,
but use the stolen words which they overhear when they listen, and peep,
and wait up above in the branches. Their way is not our way. They are
without leaders. They have no remembrance. They boast and chatter and
pretend that they are a great people about to do great affairs in the
jungle, but