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 —