“Not I! We shall see the mohwa in blossom yet, and the little fawns all fat with new grass. Come down to the Peace Rock and hear the news. On my back, Little Brother.”

“This is no time to carry weight. I can still stand alone, but — indeed we be no fatted bullocks, we two.”

Bagheera looked along his ragged, dusty flank and whispered.

“Last night I killed a bullock under the yoke. So low was I brought that I think I should not have dared to spring if he had been loose. WOU!”

Mowgli laughed. “Yes, we be great hunters now,” said he. “I am very bold — to eat grubs,” and the two came down together through the crackling undergrowth to the river-bank and