that?” they would reply. So when Mowgli, heavy-hearted, came up through the well-remembered rocks to the place where he had been brought into the Council, he found only the Four, Baloo, who was nearly blind with age, and the heavy, cold-blooded Kaa coiled around Akela’s empty seat.

“Thy trail ends here, then, Manling?” said Kaa, as Mowgli threw himself down, his face in his hands.

“Cry thy cry. We be of one blood, thou and I — man and snake together.”

“Why did I not die under Red Dog?” the boy moaned. “My strength is gone from me, and it is not any poison. By night and by day I hear a double step upon my trail. When I turn my head it is as though one had hidden himself from me that instant.