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+Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Sa'-Zada Tales
+
+Author: William Alexander Fraser
+
+Illustrator: Arthur Heming
+
+Release Date: December 13, 2011 [EBook #38289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SA'-ZADA TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Darleen Dove, Shannon Barker, Diane Monico,
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Sa'-Zada Tales
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS BY W. A. FRASER
+
+PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+
+
+    THE SA'-ZADA TALES. Illustrated by Arthur Heming       $0.00
+
+    MOOSWA AND OTHERS OF THE BOUNDARIES. Illustrated
+      by Arthur Heming                                     $2.00
+
+    THE OUTCASTS. Illustrated by Arthur Heming.            $1.25 _net_
+
+    THE BLOOD LILIES. Illustrated by Frank Schoonover      $1.50
+
+    BRAVE HEARTS. With Frontispiece                        $1.50
+
+
+[Illustration: SA'-ZADA HAD GATHERED ALL HIS COMRADES ... FOR THE
+EVENING OF THE BIRD TALK ...
+
+(SEE PAGE 119.)]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+SA'-ZADA TALES
+
+
+By W. A. FRASER
+
+_Illustrated by_ ARTHUR HEMING
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+_NEW YORK ... MDCCCCV_
+
+
+
+
+_Copyright, 1905, by_
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+
+_Published September, 1905_
+
+J. F. TAPLEY CO.
+NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                         PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION                                               ix
+
+THE WHITE, YELLOW, AND BLACK LEOPARD                        3
+
+HATHI GANESH, THE WHITE-EARED ELEPHANT                     39
+
+GIDAR, THE JACKAL, AND COYOTE, THE PRAIRIE WOLF            51
+
+RAJ BAGH, THE KING TIGER                                   65
+
+THE TRIBE OF KING COBRA                                    87
+
+THE STORY OF THE MONKEYS                                  103
+
+STORY OF BIRDS OF A FEATHER                               119
+
+THE BUFFALO AND BISON                                     139
+
+UNT, THE CAMEL                                            155
+
+BIG TUSK, THE WILD BOAR                                   173
+
+OOHOO, THE WOLF, AND SHER ABI, THE CROCODILE              189
+
+SA'-ZADA, THE "ZOO" KEEPER                                211
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+_From Drawings by Arthur Heming_
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+Sa'-Zada had gathered all his comrades ... for the
+  evening of the bird talk                               _Frontispiece_
+
+"The thing that had me by the paw was of a fiendish kind."          19
+
+"And away we dashed."                                               32
+
+"Then something strong grabbed me by the hind leg, and
+  pulled me ..."                                                    42
+
+"Two ruffianly Bulls ... fought me while the men slipped
+  great strong ropes over my legs"                                  46
+
+"I heard my man say ... 'Strike me dead, if he hasn't ...'"         61
+
+"But I could see that there was something very wrong ..."           70
+
+"My sire ... sprang on a big Hathi's nose"                          82
+
+"And Baba used to come every day under the bungalow to play"        90
+
+"I would stretch my body across it much after that fashion"         98
+
+"And they all clambered on to my back"                             111
+
+"And sitting beside her, cried also, being but a little
+  chap and all alone in the jungle"                                112
+
+"And as he coughed, soap bubbles floated upward."                  122
+
+"Leaving just a place for her sharp beak"                          125
+
+"Something I could not see struck me most viciously in the
+  shoulder"                                                        146
+
+"Suddenly I heard a 'swisp' in the air, and my little
+  curly-haired pet ..."                                            150
+
+"I remained in the _jhil_ until my master had lost the
+  fierce Kill-look"                                                161
+
+"But some way I felt like doing my best"                           166
+
+"It was at this time that Bagh killed so many of my people"        182
+
+"'Into the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said"                   184
+
+"One could travel for days over the white snow"                    190
+
+"'Let me in, Tom, I am Jack,' pleaded the Hunt man"                202
+
+"The grizzly ... bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse"        220
+
+"Bhalu ... pitched into the other two"                             230
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+_All his life Sa'-zada the Keeper had lived with animals. That was why
+he could talk to them, and they to him; that was why he knew that
+something must be done to keep his animal friends from fretting
+themselves to death during the dreadful heat that came like a disease
+over their part of the Greater City._
+
+_In the Greater City itself the sun smote with a fierceness that was
+like the anger of evil gods. The air vibrated with palpitating white
+heat, and the shadows were as the blue flame of a forge. Men and women
+stole from ovened streets, wide-mouthed, to places where trees swayed
+and waters babbled feebly of a cooler rest; even the children were sent
+away that they might not die of fevered blood._
+
+_But in the Animal City there was no escape. The Dwellers from distant
+deep jungles and tall forests had only blistering iron bars between
+them and the sirocco that swept from the brick walls of the Greater
+City._
+
+_It was because of this that Sa'-zada said, "I must make them talk of
+their other life, lest they die of this."_
+
+_In the Greater City men thought only of themselves; but with Sa'-zada
+it was different. The animals were his children--his friends; so he had
+contrived that all of the Peace-kind--the Grass-feeders and
+others--should come from their cages and corrals and meet each evening
+in front of the iron-bound homes which contained those of the
+Blood-kind, to tell stories of their past life._
+
+_Sa'-zada had asked Hathi, the one-tusked Elephant, who had been Ganesh
+in Hindustan, about it. In Hathi's opinion those who had seen the
+least, and were of little interest, would do all the talking--that was
+his experience of jungle life; so the Keeper had wisely arranged that
+each evening some one animal, or group, should tell the tale._
+
+
+
+
+THE DWELLERS IN ANIMAL TOWN, IN THE GREATER CITY
+
+
+SAHIB ZADA, Keeper of the Animals in the Zoo
+
+ARNA, _the Wild India Buffalo_.
+ADJUTANT, _the Scavenger Bird_.
+BHAINSA, _the Tame India Buffalo_.
+BAGHNI, _the Tigress_.
+BAGHEELA, _Young Panther or Tiger_.
+BHALU, _the Bear_.
+COYOTE, _the Prairie Wolf_.
+CARIBOU.
+CHINKARA, _Gazelle_.
+GIDAR, _the Jackal_.
+GURU, _the India Bison_.
+HANUMAN, _a Tree-dwelling Monkey_.
+HOOLUK, _the Black Monkey_.
+HORNBILL, _Bird like the Toucan_.
+HATHI, _the Elephant_.
+HANSOR, (the Laugher) _Hyena_.
+HAMADRYAD, _the King Cobra_.
+KAUWA, _the Crow_.
+MOOSWA, _the Moose_.
+MAGH, _the Ourang-Outang_.
+MOR, _the Peacock_.
+MUSK OX.
+NEWAL, _the Mongoos_.
+PARDUS, _the Panther_.
+RAJ BAGH, _the Tiger_.
+SAFED CHITA, _the White Chita, or White Leopard_.
+SOOR, _the Wild Boar_.
+SAMBHUR, _A Deer_.
+SHER ABI, _the Crocodile_.
+UNT, _the Camel_.
+WAPOOS, _the Hare_.
+ZARD CHITA, _the Yellow Leopard_.
+
+
+
+
+First Night
+
+The Stories of White, Yellow, and Black Leopard
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Sa'-zada Tales
+
+
+
+
+FIRST NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF WHITE, YELLOW, AND BLACK LEOPARD
+
+
+Through the listless leaves of the oaks and elms the moon was spraying
+silver over the hot earth when Sa'-zada, throwing down bars and
+unlocking gates, passed the words to his friends to gather at Leopard's
+cage.
+
+As he slipped the chain from Hathi's foot, and it fell with a soft
+clink on the hay bed, he said, "Ganesh, you of the one tusk, keep thou
+the Jungle Dwellers in order, for if one may judge from the manners of
+one's own kind, who are men, this weather is a breeder of evil
+tempers."
+
+"Umph, umph!" grunted Hathi complacently. "I who have seen fifty such
+times of discomfort think little of it. Surely the Sahib-kind, who are
+also long dwellers, can remember that there comes another season of
+cool. But, as you say, Master, perhaps it were well if I take into my
+trunk a cooler of water for such as may fret themselves into a fever."
+
+Even as Hathi spoke an angry roar shook the building they were in.
+
+"Hear that, Patient One," cried Sa'-zada; "Pardus, the Black Panther,
+who is at best a mighty cross chap, is in an evil way."
+
+The cry of Black Panther, which was like the falling of many cataracts,
+was causing the dead night air to tremble. "Hough-hough; a-hough!
+Huzo-or, Wah-hough!"
+
+"There, make haste, Little One!" said the Keeper to Elephant. "The
+sight of our friends who are gathering at his cage, has put Pardus in a
+temper, I fear."
+
+In front of the Leopard's house all the outside animals of the Park had
+assembled: Arna, the India Buffalo; Sher Abi, the Crocodile; Gidar, the
+Jackal, and many others; even Magh, the Ourang-Outang, was there with a
+Fox Terrier who lived in her cage.
+
+"Friends," began Sa'-zada, "if we are all to live here together in this
+Park, it were well that we know of each other's ways."
+
+"That's a good idea," declared Sher Abi; "for in my time I have known
+little of the habits of other animals. A dog, for instance, will come
+down to the water to drink----"
+
+"I know," interrupted Gidar; "and not having the wisdom of a Jungle
+Dweller like me, he will come to drink and stop to sup with one of your
+kind. Is that not so, Sher Abi?"
+
+"Perhaps, perhaps," sighed the Magar; "and at home the Pups, having
+lost a parent, fall into the clutches of Gidar the Jackal."
+
+"I like this meeting," broke in Magh; "a gathering of thieves, and
+cannibals, and murderers--Eaters of Dogs----"
+
+"And Apes," came like a soft summer sigh from the bellows-mouth of the
+Crocodile.
+
+"Friends," interrupted the Keeper, "do not fall to quarreling. Let us
+decide who is to tell the first tale. As we are at Leopard's cage,
+perhaps he should have the first chance."
+
+"I'm agreed," declared Magh; "murder stories are always interesting."
+
+"I am sure everybody would be glad to hear of your killing, Magh,"
+sneered Pardus.
+
+"Well," continued Sa'-zada, "here are three Leopards: Pard, the Black
+Leopard; Rufous, the Yellow Leopard, and White Leopard. We'll have
+their stories for this evening."
+
+"I'm no Leopard," objected Pardus, ceasing his restless walk for a
+minute. Then he took three turns up and down in front of the bars, his
+big velvet feet sounding "spufh, spufh," on the hard polished floor.
+"No," he continued, stopping in front of Sa'-zada, sitting down, and
+letting his big round head sink between his shoulders, until he looked
+up from under heavy brows with yellow-green eyes, "no, I'm a Panther.
+That is the way with the men of my land; to them we are all 'Chita,'
+or else 'Bagh,' which surely means a Tiger."
+
+"I know," answered Sa'-zada, "you are neither Bagh the Tiger, nor Chita
+the Leopard."
+
+"I should say not," answered Pardus. "Chita is long of leg and slim of
+gut--a chaser of Rabbits, and of the build of an Afghan Hound. With one
+crunch of my jaws--Waugh! Why, I could break his neck."
+
+"What's the difference, anyway," objected Magh, "whether you are a
+Leopard or Panther--you all belong to the family of Throat Cutters? But
+what bothers me is that one is black, one is yellow, and one is white;
+now, in my family, we are all of one shade."
+
+"A very dirty color, too," sneered Pardus. "Waugh-hough! no color at
+all--just _dirt_!"
+
+"That is so that murderers like you cannot see me to eat me," answered
+Magh. "If I am on the ground, am I not the color of the ground? And
+when I am curled up on the limb of a tree am I not like a knot on the
+tree trunk? That is to keep me safe from you and Python."
+
+"That may be so," answered Pardus, "but I, who hunt in the early night,
+find this black coat the very thing. Soft Paws! I have come so close to
+a Bullock, working up wind, of course, that one spring completed the
+Kill."
+
+"Umph, umph!" grunted Hathi, with eager interest. "All that appears
+reasonable; but, tell me, Brothers, why is Yellow Leopard so bright in
+his spots? And if your black coat serves you so well, how does the
+other, who is white, manage?"
+
+"I speak only of myself," joined in Rufous, the Yellow Leopard. "True,
+I also hunt at night at times, but it's slow work; perhaps a long night
+watch by a water pool, and then only the kill of a Chinkara--a
+mouthful, and in the time of scarce food, why, one must stalk when the
+Grass-feeders are within range of one's eye. Who is there amongst you
+all, even Soor (Wild Boar), with his sharp Pig eyes, that can say, when
+I am crouched amongst the bushes with the sun making bright spots all
+over the jungle, 'There is Yellow Leopard, who is a slayer.' Not only
+is it good for the Kill, this coat of mine, but when the hunt is on
+from the other side, when I seek to keep clear of the Men-kind--by my
+caution! more than once, when it has been that way, have I slipped
+quietly through the young jungle, and left the Beaters running up
+against each other, asking which way went Bagh. I am no night prowler
+like Pardus, for often have I killed in the open."
+
+"I know nothing of all this matter," declared White Leopard; "but had I
+been black like Pardus, or black-spotted like Rufous, I had died of a
+lean stomach in the white mountains from which I come. Why, there, on
+the hillside, every rock gleams white in the sunlight--not spotted,
+mind you, for there is no jungle such as Rufous speaks of; even the
+sand-hills are so white with the hot light that a mate of mine has been
+almost at my side before I knew it."
+
+"White Leopard is from the _Safed Kho_ Mountains, the White Range, in
+Afghanistan," said Sa'-zada for the information of the others.
+
+"I know," declared Unt the Camel; "I've been there--just the loveliest
+hot sandy hills and plains in the whole world. But, tell me, Little
+Brother of the Blood-kind," he bubbled, "it is not always sunlight
+there--at times the white storm comes--high up in the range--what do
+you do then?"
+
+"My coat gets whiter still," answered Leopard; "and if I close my eyes
+and stalk by scent alone, why, you would never see me till I was at
+your throat."
+
+"It's either a lie or most curious truth," grunted Magh, biting the Fox
+Terrier's ear till he squealed. "Here is a Pup that is white all the
+time, and no lies about it, either."
+
+"Oh, it's the truth," asserted Wapoos, the Hare; "in the winter time I,
+also, turn white to save my throat from Lynx or Marten; though it is
+not of my own doing, to be sure."
+
+"It's Wie-sak-ke-chack, who is God of all Animals, who arranges it this
+way," said Mooswa, solemnly.
+
+"Well," interrupted Sa'-zada, "one of you Leopards tell us of the
+manner of your coming here."
+
+"As I have said," began White Leopard, "I was born in the Safed
+Mountains, and it was a year of much hunger----"
+
+"The very year I was born," declared Magh; "there hardly seemed more
+than three nuts or berries in the world."
+
+"Come up here, Chatterbox," grunted Hathi, winding his trunk around
+Magh's body, and lifting her to his massive head.
+
+"Let me hold the Pup," whined Sher Abi, spreading his shark mouth in a
+disinterested yawn. Hathi blew a handful of small stones which he had
+been picking up, into the opening, causing Sher Abi to sputter and
+choke. When the laughter had subsided, White Leopard proceeded with his
+story.
+
+"As I have said, it was a year of much hunger, because the Affrides
+made war, and the Sahibs came, and it seemed as though everything that
+had life in it was driven out of the country. They ate up the Goats and
+Sheep, and the Bullocks and Camels they took to carry their loads. It
+was indeed a time of distressed stomachs; and, to make matters worse,
+my Father, who was a killer of Bullocks and not a Goat eater, dropped
+the matter of a thousand feet over a cliff and was killed. Then my
+mother came with me, and I was still a Cub, down to the land of the
+Marris, where there were many Sheep--the short-legged kind with the
+broad fat tails; small they were, to be sure, and hardly of the bulk of
+even a Cub's desire. The very sweetness of their flesh made one wish
+that they had grown larger. Hunger pains! but it was a long tramp on a
+lean stomach, and in the end we fell among Men thieves--those of the
+White-kind, the Sahibs."
+
+"Birds of a feather on one limb," sneered Magh, tickling Hathi on the
+ear with her sharp finger.
+
+"And in that land, though there were many Sheep, it was hard to make a
+kill. Why, the Herd Men, Pathans they were called, which I think means
+the greatest of all thieves, were as wary as Jungle Dwellers. At the
+first try my Mother got a blow in the shoulder from one of their evil,
+long-necked Firesticks."
+
+"Ha, ha!" laughed Sa'-zada; "that long gun was a _jezail_, and the
+Pathans are good marksmen, too. I could tell a story myself of their
+shooting; but go on, Chita, it's your say."
+
+"As for making a kill at night, Waugh! we had near starved watching for
+a chance; these Hillmen huddled their Sheep and Goats into caves like
+children, and slept across the opening.
+
+"And do you know, Friends, they lived so close with their Sheep, that I
+swear by my mustache they were of the same smell. Fine as my scent is,
+one night I had crept close to what my nose told me was a Sheep, and
+was just on the point of taking it by the neck when it got up on its
+hind legs and roared at me with the man cry.
+
+"We were like to die of hunger when Jaruk the Hyena came sneaking and
+laughing, and talked of a blood compact to Rani, who was my Mother. We
+were so hungry! but it was all to our undoing; for the grinning sneak
+was a coward, and led us into an evil trap. He told us of three Sahibs,
+a short journey from where we had our hunt; and these Sahibs were like
+Cubs in their little knowledge of jungle ways, having Sheep and Goats
+which they tied to stakes close by the white caves in which they lived,
+and never a guard over them at night. Waugh! well I remember, hungry as
+I was, how the smell of Hyena fair turned my stomach, so that I had
+little longing for eating of any kind; but Rani, being older and having
+more wisdom, knew that unless we soon found some method for making a
+kill we should surely die.
+
+"That night there was a small moon as we crept down over the valley and
+up to a flat-land where the Men-kind lived in little white caves--such
+odd caves, too, in one place to-day and in another the next."
+
+"He means tents," explained Sa'-zada; "being a Cave Dweller himself,
+his knowledge of houses is limited."
+
+"It's a wonder he didn't call them trees," muttered Magh.
+
+"Hyena stole along like a shadow of nothing, so smooth and soft were
+his feet--a proper sneak, I must say I thought him even then, Cub as I
+was."
+
+"Are you listening, Jaruk?" called Magh, maliciously; "this was a
+Brother of yours who was in partnership with Chita."
+
+But Hyena only grinned a frothy laugh, and slunk over behind Sher Abi.
+
+"Well," proceeded White Leopard, "we crept along, our bellies close to
+earth, till we came to a little ledge, where Rani and I waited, while
+Jaruk stole up to the white caves to see how the stalk was.
+
+"'They sleep like the young of Owls in daytime,' he whispered when he
+returned; 'even I, who am a creature of fear, and not like you, Rani, a
+slayer of Bullocks, have rubbed my lean jaws against two fat Goats that
+are chewing the sweet cud of plenty.'"
+
+"How your mouth must have watered, White Shirt," sneered Magh.
+
+"Then Rani commenced the stalk, and I, even a Cub, though I had always
+lain hidden while she was making the kill before, followed close at her
+heels. Even now I remember just how Rani made the kill. First one paw,
+and then the other, she stretched out, and pulled herself along, with
+never so much as the rattle of a single stone. The Goats were like the
+Sahibs in the caves, safe in the conceit which comes of a full stomach.
+When Rani crouched lower than ever and braced her hind paws carefully,
+I knew that the charge was on. Waugh, waugh-houk! By the neck she had
+one--for that is the way of our kind always--and with a jerk he was
+thrown on her shoulder, and away up the hill she raced. I tried for
+the other, but, being new to the kill, missed, getting only the rope in
+my teeth. Even as I chased after Rani I could not help but laugh in
+spite of my miss, for Hyena was screaming as he ran, 'Did you get the
+fat one, the very fat one?'"
+
+"The Greedy Pig," commented Magh.
+
+"Ugh, ugh, ugh!" grunted Soor. "Why should he be likened to one of my
+kind? More like he had a paunch full of peanuts, or other filth, such
+as you carry, Miss Bleary-eye; or if he were greedy, was he not like
+unto his mate, Chita, who will eat half his own weight at a single
+kill?"
+
+"Such a row I never heard in all my life," continued White Leopard;
+"the Sahibs, and the black men who serve them, ran here and there with
+blinking red eyes in their hands----"
+
+"The Man Fire," quietly commented Mooswa.
+
+"And all at once, over to one side, there was a short growl from a
+Firestick; and a Sahib called loudly, 'I've got him! I've got him!'
+
+"I wondered what it could be, for Rani and I were together with the
+Goat. I almost hoped it was Jaruk; but he was close at our heels,
+sniffing with his hungry nose, and fairly eating the sand where some of
+the Goat's blood had trickled into it. Then all the blinking red eyes
+passed swiftly to where the Sahib was, and we heard them laughing--only
+louder than Hyena laughs.
+
+"Next day Jaruk discovered that the Sahib had killed the other Goat
+with his Firestick in the dark, thinking it was Rani.
+
+"Of course, one Goat did not keep the hunger off very long; but for
+three days we did not make another kill. Not but that we tried. Each
+night we went close to the white caves, and Jaruk--I must say he had a
+nose like a Vulture's eye--came back with a tale that the Sahibs were
+watching with their Firesticks. But the next night we got another Goat.
+Cunning Animals! but Jaruk used to laugh, and even coaxed Rani to make
+a kill of one of the Men-kind.
+
+"Then one night we crept as before, close for a kill, and Jaruk came
+back to us laughing as though there wasn't a Sahib in all the Marri
+country. Rani growled at him for a fool. Waugh-houk! did he mean to
+have us all killed with his noise? And who was to do the killing, Jaruk
+asked mockingly, for the white caves were empty, he said. The Sahibs,
+and even the black-faced kind, had all gone away, and left the Goats
+and Sheep for the pleasure of our kill.
+
+"'It's a Raji (war), I'm sure,' he said; 'and they have gone out
+amongst the Pathans to kill and be killed, and while they are at it we,
+who are possessed of a great hunger, will make a kill of the Goats and
+Sheep.'
+
+"At this we went more boldly than before; but it was only a trap. These
+of the Men-kind whom we had likened to young Owls, were up on the hill
+behind a stone sangar; and just as we came to the Goats in the bright
+moonlight there was such a crashing of Firesticks, and appearing of
+what Mooswa calls the Man Fire, that I hope I may never see it again.
+Rani was killed, as also was--which was not so bad--Jaruk the Hyena. I
+had a paw broken, which to this day makes me go lame.
+
+"Then the Men-kind rushed down, and the black-faced ones were for
+killing me also; but one of the Sahibs, speaking, said: 'This is a Cub.
+We will send him to Sa'-zada.'"
+
+White Leopard ceased speaking, and Sa'-zada, putting his hand in
+between the bars, patted his paw, and said: "Poor old Chita! it may not
+be so nice here as in your own land, but we'll see that you do not go
+hungry, anyway. Now, Rufous, my big Yellow Leopard, you should also
+have an interesting account of yourself to give."
+
+"Quite likely," exclaimed Magh; "we'll hear some more rare boasting,
+I'll warrant."
+
+"A true tale is no boast," said Mooswa, solemnly. "I, who have had
+strange adventures, think it no harm to talk them over."
+
+"Oh, you'll have a chance, Fat Nose!" retorted Magh; "but first let us
+have a good, hearty lie from Leopard."
+
+"There will be no lies," declared Sa'-zada, "for I have all these
+matters in The Book--though they are not half so interestingly written,
+I must say, as you can tell them yourselves, if you are so minded."
+
+"Phrut!" muttered Hathi through his big trunk. "We'll have the lies as
+spice--that will be when Magh's turn comes."
+
+Thus appealed to, Yellow Leopard commenced: "I came from a jungle
+land--Burma."
+
+"My home," muttered Hathi, longingly.
+
+"It may have been the year White Chita speaks of, for I remember I was
+also wondrous hungry----"
+
+"You always are," sneered Magh.
+
+"Because I have not a paunch that holds a thief's load, whether it be
+fish, fruit or filth," retorted Rufous. "But, as I was saying when this
+Goat-faced Ape interrupted me, I was hungry, and, walking through the
+thick jungle, discovered a Bullock--young, of great fatness. By a rare
+chance it seemed caught in a branch of the elephant creeper----"
+
+"Elephant what?" muttered Hathi. "Not of our kind. We have naught to do
+with the killing of any young."
+
+Sa'-zada explained: "Yellow Leopard means the giant jungle vine called
+'elephant creeper,' which runs for perhaps the length of a mile, and is
+so strong that it pulls down great trees and smothers them in its
+grasp."
+
+"Oh, jungle wood," cried Hathi, much relieved, "that's an elephant of
+another color."
+
+"I shikarried the small Bullock most carefully," continued Rufous.
+"Round and round I went, taking the wind from every quarter; there was
+the scent of nothing but the white jasmine, and the yellow-hearted
+champac. When he saw me the Bullock-young became stupid with much fear;
+the two of us stood facing each other. He pulled back tight on the
+thing that held him, watching me with eyes that seemed as big as the
+black spots on my ears. I crept closer, and closer, and closer; for
+that is always the way with my kind; whether the prey be small or
+great, we kill after the same manner always. Brothers, know you aught
+of fear? We of the Blood-kind know it well. The Bullock's legs shivered
+like leaves that tremble in the wind; and he asked me with his big eyes
+to go away and not take him by the throat for his blood. How did he
+know that, Brothers--how did he know that I was not coming like one of
+his own kind to help him in his trouble? And the fear that I speak of
+was in his eyes.
+
+"With a roar, Waugh-hough! I charged full at him; my strong jaws
+fastened on his throat, and, with a quick turn upwards, I threw him on
+his back, and his neck was broken. Ghu-r-r-r-h! Whur-r-r-h! his young
+blood was sweet as it trickled into my jaws, for I was so hungry. Not
+that I drank his blood--that is a lie of the Men-kind who know little
+of our ways."
+
+"They're all alike," chattered Magh; "they murder, and it is all right
+because they are hungry."
+
+"Yes," retorted Yellow Leopard, "if I alone made a kill perhaps that
+would be wrong; but we are all alike--it is our way of life. You are an
+evil-looking, flea-covered, pot-bellied Monkey, but your kind are all
+alike, so that is also your excuse."
+
+Hathi shoved the tip of his trunk in his mouth, pretending to pick his
+teeth, but really to smother the laughter that fairly shook his huge
+sides.
+
+"By a find of much eating!" ejaculated Gidar. "How I wish I had been
+with you, Killer of Cattle. A whole Bullock! Eating of the choicest
+kind for three days at least. Often for the length of that time have I
+searched through a famine-stricken village in my native land, and in
+the end achieved nothing, in the matter of food, but a pot of hot rice
+water thrown on my back by a Boberchie (cook)--an opium-eating stealer
+of his Master's goods."
+
+"Would that you had been in my place," sneered Yellow Leopard, "for
+even as I was going away with my kill----"
+
+"Squee-squee-squee!" interrupted Magh with a sneering laugh. "Even I,
+who am a Tree Dweller of little knowledge, knew that a tale from this
+Cut-throat would soon run into a lie of great strength. May I kiss the
+Tiger if I believe that Chita carried away a young Bullock."
+
+[Illustration: "THE THING THAT HAD ME BY THE PAW WAS OF A FIENDISH
+KIND."]
+
+"You are wrong, Magh," reproved Sa'-zada; "in my hunting days have I
+seen even Bhainsa, the tame Buffalo, who is like unto a small Elephant,
+carried a full half-mile by Bagh."
+
+"Yes," asserted Yellow Leopard, "had the kill been an Ape like unto
+Magh, I had bolted it at one mouthful lest the sight of it made me ill.
+As I was saying, I took the young Bullock in my mouth, but at the first
+step my forepaw was lifted by something of great strength. I was
+surprised, for I had seen nothing--nothing but the kill. The thing that
+had me by the paw was of a fiendish kind. Jungle-wisdom! but I was at a
+loss. Dropping my prey I tried first this way and then that to break
+away, but it gave with me every time, and when I was tired lifted me to
+my hind legs, for the pull was always upward."
+
+"Was it a Naht?" queried Hathi. "One of the Burmese jungle Spirits that
+live in the Leppan Tree?"
+
+"You were snared," declared Sa'-zada; "I know, I've seen it. A strong
+green bamboo bent down, the snare fastened to it, and once over your
+paw--no wonder you were on your hind legs most of the time like a
+dancing Dervish."
+
+"Why did you not bite it off?" queried Wolf.
+
+"Neither would you," answered Leopard; "though I tried. The evil-minded
+Men seemed to know just what I would do, and had put a big loose bamboo
+over the cord. It was always down against my paw, and simply whirled
+about from my teeth."
+
+"Why didn't you trumpet?" asked Elephant.
+
+"I haven't a bugle nose like you, Brother; but I roared till the jungle
+shook in fear--even at the risk of bringing about me the Jungle Dogs,
+who hunt in packs, as you all know."
+
+"Whee-ugh!" whined Boar; "Baola, the mad kind. Nothing can stand
+against them. When they drive, the jungle is swept clean. Better to die
+in peace than make a noise and be torn to pieces by their ugly fangs."
+
+"And who came?" queried Magh. "I suppose you were like the Bullock, and
+your eyes grew big with the fear, and you begged them to go away and
+not hurt you. It was all right when you were to make the kill
+yourself--it was fine sport. Bah! I'm glad you were snared--I hate a
+taker of life."
+
+"The Men-kind came," answered Leopard meekly, for the mention of his
+fear made him abashed; "and seeing that I was caught, a Sahib would not
+let the Black-Men kill me, but set them to make a strong Bamboo cage. I
+was put in that and sent here to Sa'-zada."
+
+"I've been thinking," began Mooswa, plaintively.
+
+"Well, now!" exclaimed Magh; "I thought you were asleep, Old Heavy-eye.
+If you think with your nose, your thoughts must have been of great
+importance."
+
+Mooswa sniffed solemnly and continued: "You said you were hungry,
+Yellow Leopard. Was it not a land of much good feeding?"
+
+"It was a bad year--a year of starvation," answered Chita. "Up to that
+time the way of my life had been smooth, for I had found the manner of
+an easy kill. To be sure, Soor is not the pick of all good food----"
+
+"'Soor,' indeed!" grunted Wild Boar. "Ugh, ugh, ugh! by the length of
+my tusks you would have found me tough eating."
+
+"You see," continued Chita, paying no attention to this interruption,
+"the wild Pigs were horrid thieves----"
+
+"You were well mated," mumbled Magh, stuffing a handful of peanut
+shells in Hathi's ear.
+
+"They used to go at night to the rice fields of the poor natives, and
+chew and chew, and grunt, and row amongst themselves, until the
+Men-kind were nearly ruined because of their greediness."
+
+"But they did not eat the natives," objected Boar.
+
+"Neither did I," protested Chita--"while the Pigs lasted," he muttered
+to himself. "Knowing of all this, I made out a new kill-plan. At the
+first beginning of dark time I would go quietly down to the rice
+fields, hide myself in the straw that was near to the place where the
+Men-kind tramped the grain from its stalk with Buffalo, and wait for
+the coming of the rice thieves. Soon one dark shadow would slip from
+the jungle, then another, and another, until they were many.
+
+"'Chop, chop, chop!' I'd hear their wet mouths going in the rice; and
+all the time growling and whining amongst themselves because of the
+labor it was, and for fear that one had better chance than another; not
+in peace, but with many rows, striking sideways at each other with
+their coarse, ugly heads."
+
+"You're a beauty!" commented Wild Boar. "When you shove your ugly face
+up to the bars the women-kind scream, and jump back--I've noticed
+that."
+
+"Presently," continued Chita, "one would come my way, seeing the great
+pile of straw, and I'd have him. Jungle Dwellers! how he'd squeal; and
+his mates would scurry away jinking and bounding like Kakur Deer.
+Cowardly swine they were. Now, Buffalo, when one of my kind charged
+them, would throw themselves together like men of the war-kind, and
+stand shoulder to shoulder."
+
+"Yes; but, great Cat," objected Boar, "you took care to seize upon a
+young one, I warrant. Suppose you come out here and try a charge with
+me. Ugh, ugh! I'll soon slit up your lean sides with my sharp tusks."
+
+"Be still!" commanded Sa'-zada; "here we are all friends, and this is
+but a tale of what has been."
+
+Chita had turned in a rage at Boar's taunt, and glared through the
+bars, his great fangs bared, and tail lashing his sides. When the
+Keeper spoke he snarled in disdain at the bristling Pig, and continued
+the story.
+
+"Then came the hungry year. At the turning of the monsoons there should
+have been rain, but no rain came. All through the cold weather the
+jungle had gone on drying up, and the grass turned brown, even to the
+color of my coat. The Tree-Crickets and Toads whistled shrill and loud,
+until the jungle was like a great nest of the sweet-feeders--the Bees.
+Then when it was time for rain there was only more dryness.
+
+"The yellow-clothed Phoongyis (Priests) prayed; and the Men-kind
+brought sweetmeats and sheet-gold to their God Buddha; but still there
+was no rain. Miles and miles I traveled for a drink; and if I made a
+kill at the pool it was nothing but skin and bones. The small Deer that
+bark, what were they? Not a mouthful. And the Pigs shriveled up until
+one might as well have eaten straw. The Nilgai and the Sambhur-deer, as
+big as you, Mooswa, went away from that land of desolation, and soon
+nothing seemed to stir in all the jungle but the Koel Bird; and his cry
+of 'fee-e-ever!' forever ringing in my ears drove me full mad.
+
+"Then it was that I stalked close to the place of the Men-kind--though
+I had never killed a Bullock before--and I made a kill. But after that
+they took the Bullocks under their houses at night, thinking I would
+not venture so close.
+
+"But hunger is the death of all fear, and even there I made a kill.
+Then again the Men-kind, in their selfishness, thought to outwit me,
+for about the small village they built a stockade."
+
+"Were there no guns?" queried Hathi. "I, who have been in a big hunt
+with the Men-kind, have had them on my back with the fierce-striking
+guns, and all that was in the jungle presently fell dead."
+
+Chita laughed disagreeably.
+
+"I almost forgot about that. One day, when they were still at the
+stockade making, I saw one of these Yellow-faced Men tying two sticks
+together and sticking them in the ground, somewhat after the fashion of
+Mooswa's hind legs. Then surely it was a gun he put in the crotch of
+the sticks, pointing at the little runway I had made for myself.
+
+"I went into the elephant-grass that grew thereabout, and watching him
+took thought of this thing. 'It is to do me harm,' I said, 'for is not
+that my road? Always now I will come a little to one side, because of
+this new thing.'
+
+"And in the evening, as I came to the village, walking through the same
+coarse grass, but to one side, mind you, there saw I two of these Men
+sitting behind this thing that was surely a gun.
+
+"Only, because of thee, Sa'-zada, perhaps this part were better not in
+the story."
+
+"If it is a true tale it is a true tale," quoth Hathi, sententiously;
+"and, as the good Sa'-zada has said, of things that have happened."
+
+"Oh, tell it all," commented the Keeper.
+
+"Only say first you were hungry," sneered Magh; "hunger covers many
+sins."
+
+"Yes; I was hungry," moaned Chita; "chee-wough! so hungry. The Bullock
+I had killed was but a collection of bones tied up in a thick skin; I
+broke a good tooth trying to get a supper off him. And were not the
+Men-kind trying to do evil for me also, little nut-eater, Magh? They
+would take my skin to the Sahib and get much profit in bounty. I heard
+them say that as I lay in the thick grass. I crept close, close----"
+
+"Behind them," volunteered Wolf, "I know. You didn't look in their
+eyes, Brother, did you?"
+
+"They were busy talking," declared Chita, "and did not look my way.
+Suddenly I sprang out just to frighten them, for they were close to the
+stockade, and one ran away."
+
+"Only one?" demanded Mooswa, simply.
+
+But Chita had gone over to the corner of his cage, and sitting down,
+was swinging his big head back and forth, back and forth, with his face
+turned to the wall, like a Dog that has been whipped.
+
+"He has caught Sa'-zada's eye," whispered Magh in Hathi's ear.
+
+"It's a nasty tale," said the Keeper, "but I think it is true."
+
+"Yes; it is true," declared Wild Boar; "that is the way of his kind."
+
+"Then," said Sa'-zada, "they got this Sahib who has written in The
+Book, and set the snare for Chita and caught him."
+
+"At any rate, you were caught," muttered Hathi; "and from what you say,
+it seems to me a change for the better."
+
+"Now, Pardus," cried the Keeper, gently tapping Panther's tail, which
+hung through between the bars, "tell us of the manner of your taking."
+
+"I was caught twice," replied Pardus, blinking his eyes lazily, and
+yawning until the great teeth shone white against his black coat; "but
+you are right to call me Panther, for I am no Leopard. And it is so hot
+here and dry; quite like the place they took me to--they of the black
+faces--when I was first caught, being not more than a full-grown Cub,
+as was White Leopard. That was at Vizianagram, up in the hills; but the
+hills were not like White Leopard's, all hot and dry. The jungle was
+cool and fresh, and full of dark places to hide in, with deep pools of
+sweet water that one might drink after a kill. Here the Birds do
+nothing but scream and scold; Hornbill, and Cockatoo, and Eagle make my
+head ache with their harsh voices; there, if a Bird had occasion to
+speak, it was a song about the sweet land he lived in. It is well
+enough for Hathi to say that being trapped and brought here is a piece
+of great luck; for my part, all day long I do nothing but think, think
+of the Madras Hills. There were mango and tamarind, and peepul, and
+huge banyan trees, with strong limbs stretching so far that one could
+walk out full over the Deer paths, and wait in sweet content for a
+kill. Perhaps even a big family of bamboos growing up about one's
+resting-place, and whispering when the wind blew, and closing up their
+thick green leaves to make shade when the sun shone.
+
+"Even where the Men-kind came and sought to grow raji were plantain
+trees and palm trees--Urgh-h-ah! why should there be anything but
+jungle all over the world, it is so beautiful?"
+
+"Don't cry about it, Little Bagheela," sneered Magh, "for surely
+there's some sort of a story, some wondrous lie, in that head of
+yours."
+
+"True," continued Pardus, as though he had not caught Magh's
+observation, "there were disagreeable things even there. Of course, it
+will always be that way when the Bandar-log, the Monkeys, are about.
+Silly-headed thieves, they were doing no manner of good to any one; but
+more than once, when I've lain for hours waiting for the chance of a
+small kill, and the time of the eating had drawn near, everything would
+be upset by the mad laugh of Lungour, the Bandar-log.
+
+"But I was caught, as Leopard has said, through the coming together of
+a lean stomach and a trap of the Men-kind--neither a snare, nor the
+Fire-stick, but a cage with a door that fell. True, inside was a Goat,
+but what mattered that once the door was down?
+
+"Then they brought me down to the Raja's palace in the Plains.
+Stricken land! that was a place for any one to choose as a
+home--nothing but red earth, with less growth than there is on the end
+of my nose. The Men-kind lived in great square caves that blared white
+in the sun. Me-thinks White Leopard would have felt more at home there
+than I did."
+
+"What did those of our kind eat?" queried Hathi. "Also, where the
+Men-kind are is the Animal they call Horse, who is a Grass-eater--was
+there no grass?"
+
+"Scarce any," answered Pardus; "the Black-faced ones ran here and there
+with sharp claws, taking up the poor grass by the root, and all for the
+Raja's stables."
+
+"What did they do with you, Bagheela?" asked Magh, anxious to hear the
+story, for she was getting sleepy.
+
+"Put me in a cage in the rose garden, where were others of my
+kind--only they were of the color of Yellow Leopard. Of course, at
+first I thought it was because the Raja was not hungry, and would eat
+me another day; but in the next cage was a Leopard who had been there a
+long time, and he told me why we were shut up that way. 'It's for
+shikar,' he said. 'Soon all the Sahibs will gather, and we will be
+turned loose, and they will kill us with spears and the firestick.'"
+
+"That's right," commented Sa'-zada, nodding his head, "I've seen it;
+also is it written in The Book. The Raja was a great sportsman, and
+each year at Christmas time they had a hunt of this kind."
+
+"My Mate taught me a trick or two that helped pass the time," continued
+Black Panther. "'Bagheela,' he said to me, 'they will come to us here
+on Horses; you who have the end cage may perchance keep your hand in,
+and forget not the manner of a quick clutch with your paw. First, purr
+and look sleepy,' he advised; 'second, never strike when the Horse is
+beyond reach, for he is a creature of much fear; third, wait, wait,
+wait--have patience, Little Bagheela. Also, from in front nothing is
+done; but stand you ready at the end of your cage, which is a wall,
+because there they cannot see you, and if the Man comes close, strike
+quick and sure, for of this manner there is never but one chance.'
+
+"Now, it happened that a fat Sahib came often to the cage, and I could
+see that it was to teach the Horses not to be afraid of us. It was hard
+to mind what my Mate said, for the Sahib poked me in the ribs with a
+stick, or tickled me in the face with his riding-whip; but Yellow
+Leopard was always whispering through his whiskers, 'Wait, wait,
+wait--have patience, Little Bagheela.'"
+
+"This is a long tale," whined Magh, sleepily.
+
+"Keep still, Little One," objected Hathi, "no great stalk is ever done
+in a hurry."
+
+"One day," continued Pardus, "I heard the Horse coming by the end of my
+cage.
+
+"'Quick! Up!' called my Mate, Yellow Leopard.
+
+"Like a spring on a Buck I was up on my hind legs against the end wall,
+just at the last iron bar, ready. Around the corner came the Sahib
+quite close. It was a new Horse, and he thought to take pleasure out of
+frightening the poor Animal by a sudden sight of us.
+
+"Waugh-houk! With a strong reach I had the Sahib by the leg.
+
+"Whoo-whoo, waugh-waugh, whoo-o-o-o-waugh! how he roared. Of course, I
+did not get him altogether, for the Horse saved his life by jumping
+sideways. I licked the blood that was on my claws, and Yellow Leopard
+and I both laughed till the Keeper came running with a sharp iron bar."
+
+"I warrant you didn't laugh then," chimed in Magh.
+
+"No; he beat me, though it was all Yellow Leopard's fault. The fat
+Sahib swore that he would have the first spear in when I was let out at
+the time of the hunt. He was for having me killed in the cage; but the
+Raja said, 'No; his turn will come in the Shikar'; and when the Raja
+spoke there was an end of all argument.
+
+"'Little Bagheela,' said Yellow Leopard to me, 'we will get away to the
+jungles together at the hunt time. If they let you out first--never
+fear, Little One, you will have a start, for that is the Raja's way,
+we are to have a show for our lives, though I warrant one cannot get
+very far in five minutes--do you run very fast, and when you have come
+to the small mud-caves of the Black-kind, hide in the place where the
+Bullocks are kept. They will not look for you there, and not finding
+you they will come back, thinking you have gone to the jungles. When I
+am let out, I, too, will go that way, and together nothing will stand
+between us and the hills. Should I go first I will wait for you.'
+
+"Then one day a cage that was on wheels was put against the door behind
+which I was kept, and with bars that were hot they drove me into it.
+Then I was taken out to the fields, and when the Sahibs--there were
+many of them--had gone back on the road, the door was opened. Would you
+believe it, Friends, though I had been eating my heart out behind the
+bars yonder, now that I had the chance, I was almost afraid to venture
+on the plain. Even as I crept forth, a yellow-leafed bush suddenly bent
+in the wind, and I sprang into the air as though it were the charge of
+a Wild Boar----"
+
+"Listen to that, Friends," grunted Soor; "of all Jungle Dwellers, he
+has most fear of me."
+
+"But remembering what Yellow Leopard had said, I ran swiftly toward the
+little village that was between me and the hills; but not straight in
+the open, mind you--I had not lived by the kill in the jungle for
+nothing. First I leaped full over a long line of the fierce-pointed
+aloe bush----"
+
+"Phrut! I know that plant," muttered Hathi; "it has points sharper than
+the goad of any Mahout. Sore toes! but I know it well."
+
+"Even so," continued Pardus, "I ran swiftly along in the shadow of
+this, and soon found a Bullock cave such as Yellow Leopard spoke of. In
+the end the Men-kind could not find me, for I lay still, though once I
+heard the voice of the fat Sahib quite close, swearing that he longed
+for a sight of the 'black brute.' That was not my name, for I am Pardus
+the Panther.
+
+"After a little I heard more shouting; then there was a rustling noise
+which I knew was the gallop of Yellow Leopard. He was calling as he
+ran, 'Ehow-Ehow-Hough, Bagheela!' just as we call to our Mates in the
+jungle.
+
+"'A-Houk! here am I,' I cried, rushing out, thinking that we would soon
+be safe in the cool jungle again. And away we dashed. By the loss of a
+Kill! we had not gone far till almost in front of us we saw the fat
+Sahib and three others on their Horses full in our path.
+
+"'Oh-ho, my Black Beauty!' he cried, when he saw me; 'now we'll wipe
+out the score.'"
+
+"That's like the Men-kind," growled Raj Bagh, the Tiger; "they cage us
+and kill us, and if we so much as raise a claw in defence of our lives
+we are reviled, and they have a score against us to wipe out."
+
+[Illustration: "AND AWAY WE DASHED."]
+
+"Yes," asserted Pardus, "and long holding in their hate, too. If we
+fail in a kill, do we go long hungered, turning from everything else
+until we have slain the one that has escaped us? But there was the fat
+Sahib, who had not gone back with the others, but was still searching
+to kill me, Black Panther. Surely that was not what they call shikar
+(sport), but a matter of hate he had laid up against me."
+
+"You should have taken his beatings," declared Hathi, "even as I have,
+more times than there are tusks to your paws; phrut, phrut! it has
+always been that way with us Jungle Dwellers. When the Sahib beat us it
+is evil fortune if we do not let it rest at that. True, there was a
+Mahout once that went too far--but what am I saying? surely I am half
+asleep. It is your story, Bagheela--you were saying that the fat Sahib
+had killed you--I mean----"
+
+"Yes," said Pardus, "the fat Sahib--I stopped; so did Yellow Leopard,
+with an angry growl. Then behind I heard a little trumpet from Hathi."
+
+"Not me," exclaimed the big Elephant; "I wasn't there."
+
+"Most surely it is a wondrous lie," declared Magh; "and now he asks
+Ganesh to say he was there and saw it."
+
+"No, no!" interrupted Sa'-zada, "it was another Elephant."
+
+"Even so," affirmed Pardus; "and on his back was the Raja, coming in
+great haste.
+
+"'Charge!' roared Yellow Leopard to me, and with a rush that was full
+of wickedness he went straight for the fat Sahib; and before I knew how
+it was done, had broken his neck with the hold that we all know so
+well.
+
+"The Raja, without waiting for Hathi to kneel, jumped from his back,
+and rushing like the charge of a Sambhur, drove his spear through
+Yellow Leopard as he still held the Sahib by the throat, and killed
+him. Well I remember the spear was buried head deep in the ground.
+
+"In fear, I raced back to the mud-caves in which were the Bullocks; and
+they brought the cage again and put it to the door. But I was afraid to
+enter till they dropped fire on me from above. Then I was taken back to
+my old quarters, and in the end sent here to Sa'-zada."
+
+"It's a pity the Sahib was killed," said the Keeper; "it was a horrible
+death."
+
+"I was sorry for Yellow Leopard," declared Pardus, "for he tried to get
+me away with him to the jungles."
+
+"Chee-chee! but I am sleepy," yawned Magh, sliding down Hathi's trunk
+with the Pup under her arm. "These tales of killings are enough to make
+one have bad dreams."
+
+"Dreams!" exclaimed Sher Abi, opening his eyes, for he had been sound
+asleep; "to be sure, to be sure! I've had a very bad dream. One should
+not eat so much; but after all, I suppose it is the feathers that are
+indigestible. E-ugh-h! Sa'-zada, could you not pluck the chickens
+before you give them me to eat? There was a time when I could
+digest----"
+
+"Oh, move along, Magar!" interrupted Sa'-zada; "it is bed-time now.
+You'll have a chance to talk some other night."
+
+And presently the Animal town of the Greater City was quiet, save for
+the bubble of Camel's long throat, and the gentle snore of Hathi's
+pendulous nose. The moon blinked curiously through the whispering
+leaves, and over all there was the solemn hush that comes in the night
+when the days are days of fierce heat.
+
+
+
+
+Second Night
+
+The Story of Hathi Ganesh, the White-Eared Elephant
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SECOND NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF HATHI GANESH, THE WHITE-EARED ELEPHANT
+
+
+It was very hot. The Summer moon, pushing lazily through the whispering
+tracery of tall elm trees that cut the night sky, fell upon the same
+group of forest friends gathered in front of Tiger's cage that had been
+there the previous evening, when the Leopard brothers had discoursed so
+pleasantly of their Jungle life.
+
+"What is the tale to-night, Sa'-zada, loved Master?" asked Magh, the
+Ourang-Outang, standing with one hand on Mooswa's back, who was lying
+down.
+
+"It is the talk of Hathi," answered the Keeper.
+
+Hathi could be heard blowing softly through his trunk to clear his
+throat, then he began his story:
+
+"We were a mighty herd, all of forty, with two great Bulls in charge, I
+remember; though to be sure when it came to be a matter of danger they
+seemed to forget all about being in charge and cleared off as fast as
+they could. I soon got to know that the herd was very proud of me."
+
+"I should think they would be, my big beauty," cried Magh, patting his
+forehead affectionately.
+
+"You see," continued Hathi, "these white and pink spots all over my
+neck and ears were a sign that great luck had come to the herd. Even
+the Men-kind--but that, of course, I discovered years after at
+Ava--even the Men-kind looked upon me as sacred, being a White
+Elephant. Besides, I had but the one tusk, the right, and that is why I
+am Ganesh, the Holy One.
+
+"We wandered about in the Jungle, and when we Babe Elephants were
+tired, the whole herd waited until we had rested and fed. That's why
+the Bulls had nothing to do with leading the herd. They knew little of
+what a calf could stand, so Mah, my Mother, always gave the signal when
+we were to start or stop. I think she was very proud of being the
+mother of the lucky Calf.
+
+"But it was a lovely land to dwell in; all hills and valleys with
+plenty of cover; and down in the flat lands the Men grew raji and rice,
+and plantains.
+
+"I think there must be some very wise animal who arranges all these
+things--puts each one in the Jungle he likes best. Pardus was happy in
+his hills, and White Chita liked the snow mountains, and Yellow Leopard
+the rice fields; and Mooswa has told me when we've talked together,
+that on the far side of his lands are the loveliest spruce forests any
+Moose could wish to live in."
+
+"Perhaps it was Sa'-zada or one of his kind," ventured Muskwa, the
+Bear.
+
+"It is God who arranges it," declared the Keeper, in a soft voice.
+
+"I don't know who that may be," muttered Hathi, "but I thought there
+was someone. Such a lovely Jungle it was; tall teak trees and pinkado,
+and Telsapa from which the Men-kind drew oil for their fires.
+
+"For days, and weeks, and months it would be hot and dry; and then
+three times the big flower would come out on the padouk tree, and all
+the Elephants would laugh and squeal with their trunks, for they knew
+the rain would surely come. Yes, when we could see for the third time a
+big cluster of flowers, patter, patter on the leaves we could hear the
+rain, and soon drip, drip, drip, trickle it would come down on our
+backs, washing the dust and little sticks out of every wrinkle until
+even the old Bulls would commence to play like Calves.
+
+"We finally came to a big river early in the morning, and every one
+went in for a wash. Mind, I was only a babe about the size of a
+Buffalo. The old ones lay down in the river, just keeping their trunks
+out to breathe, and I thought to do the same, of course; but when I
+flopped over on my side--bad footing! there was nothing anywhere but
+soft, slippery water--there was quite a thousand miles of it, and dark
+as the blackest night. I could see nothing, hear nothing only the
+angry talk of the water that ran fast. They said that I screamed like a
+young pig. Then something strong grabbed me by the hind leg, and pulled
+me out up on the bank--it was Mah. She scolded roundly. Then she
+spanked me good and hard.
+
+"All that season I was not allowed to go in the water again. Mah washed
+me down with her trunk, squirting the water over me.
+
+"The eating was sweet in those Jungles; but best of all I liked the
+young plantains when they were just beyond the blossom age, all wrapped
+up in a big leaf, and juicy, and sweet.
+
+"The first happening was from an evil-minded Bagh (tiger). That evening
+I had wandered a little to one side, not knowing it, and Bagh, with a
+fierce word in his big throat, jumped full on my head. Of course I
+screamed----"
+
+"Like a Pig," interjected Boar.
+
+"Like a Babe Hathi," corrected Elephant. "And Mah, who had been looking
+for me, just in the nick of time threw Bagh many yards into the Jungle
+with her trunk. I don't know how other animals get along without a
+trunk; it seems just suited for every purpose.
+
+[Illustration: "THEN SOMETHING STRONG GRABBED ME BY THE HIND LEG, AND
+PULLED ME ..."]
+
+"The next happening was worse, for it came from the Men-kind. It was a
+hot, hot day. We were all standing on a hill in the shade of trees,
+flapping our ears to keep the flies off, when suddenly Old Bull kinked
+his head sideways, whistled softly through his trunk, and we all
+stopped flapping to listen. Even Calf as I was, I knew there was some
+danger near. In the wind there was nothing--nothing unusual, just the
+sweet scent of the tiny little white flowers that grow close to the
+short grass. But Old Bull was afraid; he gave a signal for us to move,
+and we started.
+
+"In a minute there was an awful cracking like the breaking of a tree,
+only different, and we all ran here, there, everywhere. Of course since
+that, having been taken in the hunt by the Men-kind, I know it was a
+gun, as they call it.
+
+"Old Bull charged straight for a little white cloud that rose from
+where the noise had been; then crack! crack! crack! the guns trumpeted
+all over the Jungle--but I won't tell any more of that happening,
+because Old Bull was killed; and Mah, too--though the Men-kind said
+afterwards, so I've heard, that it was a mistake, as they only killed
+Bulls, being white hunters, for the sake of the feet and tusks.
+
+"It was late in the evening before the herd gathered again, and we
+traveled far, fearing the evil of the Men-kind."
+
+"Was there no evil with your own people?" queried Wolf. "Just feeding,
+and nothing else?"
+
+"Well," answered Hathi, hesitatingly, "sometimes in a herd there grows
+up one who is a 'Rogue.' We had one such, I remember. But that also
+came about because of the Men-kind--a yellow man. It was a Hill-man,
+and when this Rogue of whom I speak--he also was a Bull--was just full
+grown, a matter of perhaps twenty years, this Hill-man thrust into his
+head, from a distance, too, being seated in a tree, an arrow.
+
+"The arrow remaining there as it did, caused this Bull to become of an
+evil temper. Quarreling, quarreling always, butting his huge head into
+a comrade because of a mere nothing; and with his tusks putting his
+mark on many of us without cause; sometimes it would be a kick from his
+forefoot, or a slap of his trunk. When we were near to the places of
+the Men-kind he would wallow in the rice fields, and pull up the young
+plantain trees by the roots, even knock the queer little houses they
+lived in to pieces, for they were but of bamboo and leaves. Of course
+the dwellers ran for their lives, and sometimes brought fire, and made
+noise with their guns, and beat gongs to frighten him away.
+
+"Many times we drove him forth from the herd; and sometimes he stayed
+away himself for days, sulky. In the end we lost him altogether, and we
+were all glad; but strange as it may appear, I saw him again in Rangoon
+in the timber yards. That was after I was caught."
+
+"Tell us about that happening," pleaded Sa'-zada, "for it is even not
+written in The Book."
+
+"I was taken in a manner full of deceit, and because I had faith in
+those of my own kind. I was, perhaps, fifteen or twenty years old at
+the time--but in a Hathi's life a year or two is of no moment, for we
+are long-lived--and what might be called second in charge of the herd,
+a condition of things which I resented somewhat, but the Herd Bull had
+been leader while I was growing up, so there was no just claim on my
+part really.
+
+"And it happened in our wanderings that we came not far from the
+greatest of all the Men's places in that land, Ava (Mandalay). One day
+as I was pulling down the young bamboos and stripping the feathered
+top, a strange _Hathni_ (female elephant) came to me and put her trunk
+softly on my neck. She was all alone, and I felt sorry for her;
+besides, she was nice--showed me such lovely places for good feeding. I
+spent a whole day with her, and the next day, too, and as we went
+through the jungle, suddenly we came to a sort of immense, strong
+_hauda_. It wasn't a bit like the Men's _haudas_ that they live in,
+else I should never have been deceived; great trunks of trees growing
+up out of the ground straight, and close together, but no branches or
+leaves to them; as square on top as the end of my leg. This
+queer-looking jungle thing troubled me. 'What is it?' I asked Hathni.
+
+"'It's my home,' she replied; 'come in, Comrade.'"
+
+"And of course the woman had her way," remarked Sa'-zada; "you went
+into the parlor, Hathi, old chap, I suppose."
+
+"Not by that name knew I it, Sa'-zada; they called it a Keddah, as I
+found out. But I went in."
+
+"And was caged," laughed Black Chita.
+
+"Inside," continued Hathi, "was a winding path, and Hathni trotted down
+this so fast that I lost her. A great wooden gate dropped behind me,
+and I knew that I was in a trap. It was a big place, but no openings to
+get out.
+
+"Then the Men-kind showed their yellow faces all over the walls, just
+like _Hanumen_--the gray-whiskered Monkey of those parts.
+
+"'A White Elephant at last, at last!' they cried; 'now will the King be
+pleased.'
+
+"I was left alone that night, but the next day the Men-kind came with
+two ruffianly Bulls of my kind who bunted and bustled me about, and
+fought me, while the men slipped great strong ropes over my legs. In a
+week I was that tired and sore from this treatment that I was ready to
+go any place. Then I was taken to Ava; and such doings! I dislike to
+tell it all; it's hardly modest.
+
+"They put a silk covering over me to keep the Flies off, and a garland
+of white jasmine flowers about my neck--sweet-smelling flowers they
+were; in my ears two big red stones of the ruby kind were placed; and
+always as I walked a great silk umbrella was over my head. And as for
+eating--humpf, humpf, humpf! they just made me ill with sweets to be
+eaten out of gold dishes."
+
+[Illustration: "TWO RUFFIANLY BULLS ... FOUGHT ME WHILE THE MEN SLIPPED
+GREAT STRONG ROPES OVER MY LEGS."]
+
+"Is this a true tale, O Sa'-zada?" queried Black Leopard. "For one of
+the jungle folk it is a strange happening."
+
+"It is true," replied the Keeper; "that was the way with the White
+Elephant at the Burma King's court, it is written in another book I
+have read."
+
+"And no one was allowed to ride on my back but the King," declared
+Hathi, "excepting, of course, the Mahout. As I walked I was afraid of
+stepping on some one; the Men-kind were forever flopping down on their
+knees to worship me. It was this way for years; then one season there
+came war; great guns spoke with a roar louder than Bagh's; and vast
+herds of the white-faced Men-kind came, letting free the blood of the
+yellow-faced ones; and in the end I was taken away, and sent down to
+Rangoon, and put to work in the timber yards. There was no worship, and
+few sweetmeats, and for silk covering I was given a harness with
+leather collar and chain traces. It was like being back in the jungle
+again--I was just a common Hathi, only I was called there Raj Singh.
+
+"It was at that time I met the Bull who was a Rogue. He was also
+working in the timber yards, but it had done him much good--his temper
+was improved."
+
+"Was it kind treatment cured him?" asked Sa'-zada.
+
+"No," replied Hathi; "they whipped him into a gentle behavior. Two big
+Bulls with heavy iron chains swinging from their trunks thrashed him
+until he promised to cease making trouble. But one day he broke out
+bad, and smashed everything--tore the Master's dogcart to pieces,
+knocked the Cooly's _haudas_ down, and trumpeted like an evil jungle
+spirit. He even killed his Mahout, which was a silly thing, though he
+declared his driver, the Mahout, sitting up on his back, one foot on
+either side, had prodded viciously at his head until poor Rogue's blood
+was on fire.
+
+"But in the end they sent me away to Sa'-zada, and I am quite content";
+and reaching his big trunk over to the Keeper, Hathi caressed the
+latter's cheek lovingly.
+
+"Oh, we are all content," declared Magh; "for Sa'-zada is a kind and
+gentle Master."
+
+"Now, all to your cages and your pens," cried the Keeper, "for it is
+late. To-morrow night, perhaps, we shall have the tale of Gidar, the
+Jackal."
+
+
+
+
+Third Night
+
+The Stories of Gidar, the Jackal, and Coyote, the Prairie Wolf
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THIRD NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF GIDAR, THE JACKAL, AND COYOTE, THE PRAIRIE WOLF
+
+
+"To-night," commenced Sa'-zada, "we are to have the interesting life
+story of the two half-brothers, Gidar and Coyote."
+
+"A thief's tale of a certainty," chuckled Magh.
+
+"In my land, which was Burma, there were none so useful as we," began
+Gidar. "Not of high repute our mission, perhaps, but still useful,
+being scavengers; and to this end we are all born with a fair appetite;
+but useful always, even Bagh knows that. I was Lieutenant to one of his
+kind--a great killer he was--for a matter of two years. Then he came by
+way of a dispute with the Men-kind, and they finished him in short
+order.
+
+"Now, you know, Brothers, our kind have steadily worked southward from
+India, pushing into new lands from all time, even like the Sahibs,
+until we are now half down through Burma. It must be a dull land that
+has not our sweet song at night. If there were but a Pack here now we'd
+sing you a rare chorus."
+
+"I've heard the song," quoth Bagh; "it's wretched."
+
+"How goes it?" asked Wolf. "Our Pack has a cry of great strength; the
+'bells of the forest,' the Redmen call it."
+
+"It's somewhat this way," said Jackal, and sitting on his haunches he
+raised his long, sharp nozzle high in air, stretching his lean throat
+toward the moon that glinted fretfully through the swaying trees; and
+on the still, quiet night air floated his cry of far-off India:
+
+     "'_Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-o!
+     I smell a dead Hindoo-oo!_'
+
+"That would be my cry, Brothers. Then from all quarters of the jungle
+the Pack would take up the song and sing back:
+
+     "'_Where, where, where, where, where, where?_'
+
+"And I would answer back cheerily:
+
+     "'_Here, here, here, here, here, here!_'
+
+"Then all together we would sing with all our lungs:
+
+     "'_Oo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-h
+     Mussulman or Hind-oo?
+     Here, there, or anywhere,
+     All flesh is flesh, we do not care._'"
+
+"A charming song," sneered Magh.
+
+"Ah, I cannot give it right; you should have heard it, little
+Eater-of-sour-fruit, in the dead closeness of a Burman jungle, from the
+many throats of a hungry Pack.
+
+"The people of that land liked the song full well, and they never
+molested us. But life was one continuous struggle for food. We were not
+slayers like Chita, or Bagh, or Python; or stealers of crops like Boar
+and Rogue Hathi; almost as simple in our way of life as Mooswa.
+
+"I remember once a fat Dog-pup of the Terrier kind, which I bagged. It
+was all the fault of the Pup's master; he tried to kill me."
+
+"You had probably been singing to him," said Sa'-zada.
+
+"We had, I admit," answered Jackal. "It was on Borongo Island; two men,
+Sahibs they were called there, you know, lived in a bungalow built on
+high posts, after the manner of all houses in that land. The bungalow
+was built on the shore, and every day the water came up under it, and
+then went back again. This was a most wise arrangement of the water's
+traveling, for it threw up many a dead Fish and Crab for our eating.
+
+"Well I remember the cook-house was a little to one side from the
+bungalow, with a poor, ill-conditioned bamboo door to it. Regularly,
+doing our scavenger work, we used to clean up that cook-house, eating
+everything the servant-kind had not devoured. Several times I made a
+great find in that very place, for the cook, it appears, was a most
+forgetful fellow. When there was nothing left for us in the way of
+food, we'd carry off the pots and pans into the jungle grass; why, I
+hardly know, but it seemed proper to do so.
+
+"Neither do I know which of the Pack first started singing under the
+bungalow; but this also afforded us much content. Many hours on in the
+dark we'd all steal gently down from the jungle, and gather under the
+house. Then, as one, we'd give voice to the hunger cry together, until
+even the Sahibs would shout in fear. It was good to make the Men-kind
+afraid; but also we would flee swiftly, for the two Sahibs would rush
+out like a jackal that had suddenly become possessed of much poisoned
+meat, and 'bang, bang, bang' with the guns.
+
+"I had much to do with Men, and just when I thought they were full
+cross because of our serenade, what was my surprise to find each
+evening a full measure of rice put in a certain place for me. 'It is
+full of the datura' (poison), I thought, and watched while a lean
+Pariah Dog from the village ate it. But there was nothing wrong with
+it. So the next evening I made haste to get a full share of it myself.
+As I ate, hurriedly I must say, twang-g! came a mighty Boar-spear.
+
+"But only the shaft of it struck my back, so I made off with great
+diligence. I heard the Sahib say as he picked up the spear, 'Missed
+him, by Jove!' You see, he had been hiding in a corner of the bungalow.
+But I was hungry, and the rice was good--most delicious--so I crept
+back with two comrades, and keeping to the thick grass, stalked the
+bungalow most carefully. I saw the Sahibs all at their eating, for the
+door was open, it being hot; you see, he thought I wouldn't come back
+so soon.
+
+"'I will eat with you,' I said, and made straight for the rice; but it
+was nearly all gone; the Terrier Pup of which I have spoken, and which
+belonged to this very Sahib who had thrown the spear, was just
+finishing his Master's bait.
+
+"'Oh, you wicked Dog!' I said, 'to steal my supper this way,' and
+knowing that his master was in the habit of throwing spears at that
+very spot, I picked him up and carried him to the jungle for safety.
+
+"'Oh, oh E-u-u-h!' how he squealed, and the Men-kind left their eating,
+and came rushing after us with much shouting, but it was dark and they
+had no chance of catching us."
+
+"And you ate the poor little fellow?" asked Mooswa.
+
+"Horrible!" cried Magh, "to eat a Dog."
+
+"Not at all bad stuffed with rice, I assure you," declared Gidar. "For
+a day or two I kept more or less out of the way; I was afraid the
+Sahibs might be very angry.
+
+"It was two nights after this I discovered more rice some distance from
+the bungalow in a pail which was sunk in the ground, and over this
+stood a couple of posts that had not been there before. I remembered
+that, so I sat by quietly watching this new thing, and trying to decide
+what it might be.
+
+"Now the Sahibs had two pigs, and as I watched, along came these two,
+grunting, and shoving things about with their long noses, and presently
+one of them discovered the rice in the pail.
+
+"'Ugh, ugh, ugh!' said he, 'just a mouthful of this will do me good.'
+You know, of course, a pig eats first and thinks after, so in this case
+he plunged his big head in the pail, and 'zip! whang!' went something,
+and before I could jump to my feet he was dangling in the air hung by
+the neck; he didn't even have a chance to squeal. Of course his mate
+took to his heels and cleared out, while I finished the rice, knowing
+the evil was in the custody of my Squeaker friend. In the morning the
+Pig was dead."
+
+"It's a fine thief's tale," commented Magh, "but in the end they caught
+you right enough."
+
+"Not there," corrected Gidar; "that was another place. A Sahib who had
+come to the jungle seeking dwellers for such places as this, made the
+taking; but with him one might as well be caught first as last, for he
+knew more of our ways than we knew of his. Now let Coyote speak; I am
+tired."
+
+"Does Coyote come from Burma, too, O Sa'-zada?" queried Magh.
+
+"No, he's from Mooswa's country; from the great plains away in the far
+West. There is not much in The Book about Coyote; that is, not much
+that's good."
+
+"I knew it," laughed Magh; "I've watched him there in his cage which is
+opposite mine, day after day, and I never saw a smile on his face."
+
+"You should be put in the cage with Hyena," declared Coyote, "if you
+think an animal has got to grin all the time to be of fair nature. Or
+of what use are you, little pot-belly, or the whole of your
+tribe--Hanuman, Hooluk, or Chimpanzee--none of you worth the nuts you
+eat; and yet you're always grinning and chattering, and playing fool
+tricks about the cage. You're a fine one to judge your fellow
+creatures."
+
+"Coyote just sits there and scratches Fleas, and growls, and snaps at
+his mate--he's a low-born sort of Wolf," continued Magh.
+
+"He's not of our kind," declared Wolf; "it's all a lie."
+
+"Never mind, never mind," cried Sa'-zada, "no doubt like all the rest
+of us he has his good and bad qualities."
+
+"I was once starving," resumed Coyote. "You who have lived in a warm
+land where something is growing all the year round, know nothing of the
+hunger that comes when the fierce blizzard blots out everything, and
+there is only snow, snow, everywhere. Can one eat snow? It's all very
+fine for you with a paunch full of candy to sit there and prate about
+stealing, but if Wie-sak-ke-chack puts the hunger pains in one's
+stomach and the fat bacon--Ghurr-h-h! but the juice of it is sweet when
+one is near dead--puts the fat bacon behind log walls, what is one to
+do, eh? Does a fellow dig, dig, dig through earth so hard that he must
+bite it out with his teeth, dig deep under the log walls for sport as
+the Cubs play in the sunshine, or just to steal? Bah, you who have
+never known hunger know not of this thing. Why, once when the ground
+was frozen hard, and I was dying inch by inch, some fierce-toothed
+Animal inside me biting, biting--only of course it was the hunger
+chewing at my stomach--I dove fair through the window of a log shack to
+get at the meat inside. The glass cut me, to be sure, but that was
+nothing to the hunger pain that goes on, on, never ceasing until there
+is food, or one is dead.
+
+"I saved a man's life once at a post called Stand-Off. The place came
+by its name in the days of a mighty fight when my Man and his comrades
+stood off the Mounted Police. These Men had been given as bad a name as
+Coyotes even. My Man may have been bad, too; but how was I to know,
+being only a Coyote? He was always throwing me bones and pieces of
+bread, and whistling to me, and calling me Jack.
+
+"Now this place Stand-Off was on the river flat, and one night in
+spring-time I heard a great flood coming down the Belly River. It was a
+still night, and the noise of the rushing water came to my ears for
+miles, but the Men heard it not, for they were all in the Shacks. Fast
+I galloped down over the flat near to the Shack where was this Man who
+had often thrown me a bone. I whimpered, and whistled, and barked the
+danger call, and howled the death-coming song, and finally my friend
+came to the door and threw a stick of wood at me, and spoke fierce
+oaths. Then he shut the door. I could hear the roaring getting louder
+and louder, and knew that soon it would be too late for all the
+Men-kind; not that I cared, except for this one. On one side of the
+town was the swift-running Belly River, and beyond a high-cut bank; on
+my side was the flat land that would soon be many feet deep with ice
+and rushing water. So I howled louder than ever, and he came out and
+strove to kill me with a Firestick, but I only ran a little piece into
+the darkness, and howled again.
+
+"Being a Man of much temper he chased me, and the noise brought out the
+others, for they thought it was Indians. I sought to lead him over to
+the side of the flat land which was next the sloping hill, knowing full
+well that the new water would flow there first.
+
+"All at once he ceased running behind me, and I, who was listening,
+knew that he scarce breathed he was that still. Now, he will hear it,
+I thought; and in an instant I heard him cry to the others: 'Boys, we
+must pull out from this--there's a devil of a freshet coming.' That was
+the way of the Men from Stand-Off; many strange words of a useless
+need.
+
+"I tell you, Comrades, it was soon an awful night; here and there the
+Men ran trying to save something--their Horses and guns for most part,
+even some of the evil firewater; and the strong swearings they used
+sounded but just as the whimpering of Wolf Pups, the wind was that
+fierce, carrying the dreadful roar of the Chinook flood.
+
+"You who have heard Bagh and Hathi scolding at each other, with perhaps
+Black Panther and Bald Eagle taking part, may know somewhat the like of
+that night's noises.
+
+"Seeing that my Man was coming riding swiftly on his Cayuse, I, too,
+ran quickly for the upland; but, as I have said, just in the hollow
+which was there, being the trail where once had run the river, the
+flood was rushing even as I have seen it in the foot-hills--the flat
+land was surrounded.
+
+"As the Men galloped up they stopped, and spoke evil words at the
+flood, rushing up and down looking for a ford. I also was afraid to
+cross.
+
+"Suddenly I thought me of a place I knew well lower down, wondrous like
+a Beaver dam, though I think there had been no Beavers in the land
+since Chief Mountain was a hole in the ground. I barked, to call my Man
+friend, and ran toward this spot.
+
+[Illustration: "I HEARD MY MAN SAY ... 'STRIKE ME DEAD IF HE
+HASN'T ...'"]
+
+"'There goes that locoed Coyote,' I heard him say; 'he's trailing for a
+crossing; damned if I don't follow him. Come on, you fellows,' and
+after me they galloped like madmen.
+
+"Just below the place that was like a dam the water was not too bad,
+for the ice had jammed up above, and it was spreading out all over the
+flat. I plunged in, for, Comrades, it was a time of great hurry.
+Swimming a river is not of my liking--none of my kind like it--but this
+seemed an evil night altogether, with no choice but to reach the
+uplands.
+
+"'Sure thing! the Coyote's dead to rights on this outfit,' I heard my
+Man say; and wallow, wallow, in the bronchos came, splashing and
+snorting. And so we crossed just as the ice broke in the jam, and swept
+down like the swift rolling of many stones. I heard my Man say as they
+all got down from the horses to empty the water out of their long
+boots, 'If I ever clap peeps on to that Coyo again, I'll shove grub
+pile into him till he busts. Strike me dead if he hasn't saved the
+whole outfit of us.'
+
+"Anyway I knew there would be much feeding and no harm if I kept close
+to these evil Men-kind, for they were great givers.
+
+"I sought to save the one man, and if there be any credit it comes to
+me because of that; the others followed him, and even they said _he_
+had saved them."
+
+"I think it is a true tale," declared Mooswa, "for I once had a
+happening in saving the life of a Boy who had been good to me."
+
+"What happened to the Men's place, Dog-Wolf?" queried Sa'-zada.
+
+"In the morning there was nothing--nothing but great pieces of ice all
+over the flat. Then the Men trailed for a place called Slideout, where
+were more evil men of the firewater way of life, and I followed,
+arranging it so that my Man saw me, and that day when he killed an
+Antelope, he left a sweet piece of the eating for me; and I might have
+lived all my life close to their camp in great fatness, but for the
+evil chance that drew the Men-kind close to a place called MacLeod. And
+it was there, being pursued by ferocious yellow-haired Dogs, I hid in a
+Hen-house and was caught. At first they were for killing me, but there
+happened a Man-Pup of that house who cried for me as his Doggie, and
+later came one of the Men-kind, gave blankets in exchange for me, and I
+was sent here to the place where is Sa'-zada."
+
+"He is either a great liar, or not so bad as is written in The Book,"
+commented Sher Abi, the Crocodile; "but in my land where was his
+Brother, the Jackal, I never heard good of his kind."
+
+"I am sure it is a true tale," declared Sa'-zada; "Coyote could not
+have made it up."
+
+
+
+
+Fourth Night
+
+The Story of Raj Bagh, the King Tiger
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+FOURTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF RAJ BAGH, THE KING TIGER
+
+
+While the Keeper Sa'-zada was still loitering over his tea, there came
+to his ears an imperious roaring call "Wah-h-h! Wah-h-h! Wah-houh!"
+
+"This is the Tiger's night, indeed," he muttered to himself. "Old Raj
+Bagh is eager to tell us the tale of his life." Then he hurried down to
+their cages and corrals saying, "Come, comrades; the King of the Jungle
+calls us."
+
+"We shall have strong tales of blood-letting to-night," muttered Magh
+the Orang-Outang.
+
+"King of the Jungle, indeed!" sneered Hathi, the Elephant. "When I was
+Lord of the jungle I knew no king--that is, amongst the animals."
+
+"Now," began Sa'-zada, opening The Book, when the Jungle Dwellers had
+all gathered in front of Bagh, the killer's cage; "now we shall know
+all about Huzoor Stripes. And mind you, Hathi, and all the rest, there
+must be no anger, for Bagh's way of life has not been of his own
+making; for with his kind it is their nature to kill that which they
+eat."
+
+"I was born in Chittagong," began Bagh, "and well I remember the little
+_Nullah_ in which my Mother kept me, a big tea garden spread over three
+hills just near our hiding place, and there was always much good
+eating.
+
+"For months after I was born my Mother made me hide in the _Nullah_.
+That was always in the evening. And as for hiding, how anyone can get
+along without stripes in his coat I can't understand. Let me hide in a
+grass field where the sun throws sharp shadows up and down across
+everything and I'll give my ration of meat for the week to anyone who
+can see me three lengths of my tail away."
+
+"Where was your Mother all this time?" queried Magh, tauntingly.
+
+"To be sure," answered Bagh, "she would be away for hours making the
+kill, and when she came back would lick my face, and teach me the sweet
+smell of new meat and hot blood. Then the next evening, just as it was
+getting dark, she would take me with her to the kill, which was usually
+a Cow, and which she had very cunningly hidden in elephant grass, or a
+bamboo clump, or some little _Nullah_. There would be still half of it
+left. I grew big and strong, and longed to make a kill on my own
+account.
+
+"But that year a terrible thing happened to the Buffaloes and Cows upon
+which we depended for food. They were all down in the Flat Lands,
+which is close by the sea, and one day when the jungle was much torn by
+strong, fierce winds, a great water came over the land, and ate up all
+the Cattle, and many of the Men-kind. Then, indeed, we fairly starved,
+for the few that were left were kept close to the bamboo houses of the
+villagers. Night after night, even in the day-time, my Mother and I
+sought for the chances of a kill, for I had grown big at that time, and
+she took me with her. We were really starving; perhaps a small Chital
+(deer), or a Dog, or something came our way once in a while, but the
+pain in my stomach was so great that I moaned, and moaned, and I
+believe it was because of me that my Mother became a Man-killer."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Mooswa. "Became a killer of the Men-kind?
+Dreadful!"
+
+"I, too, have killed Men," asserted Raj Bagh; "and why is it so evil,
+my big-nosed eater-of-grass? Your food is the leaves of the jungle, and
+you have it with you always. When you are hungry you walk, walk, and
+soon you come to where there is much food, and you eat, and with you
+that is all right--there is no evil in it. As Sa'-zada has said, it is
+our way of life to kill our eating. When there is no Chital we kill
+Sambhur; when there are no Deer we kill Pigs, or even Buffalo; when
+there is nothing but Man, and we are changed from our usual way of kill
+by great hunger, we slay Man. With all Dwellers of the Jungle, there
+is fear of the Men-kind, that is all, nothing but fear; and when once
+that is broken we kill the Men-kind even as any other Jungle Dweller."
+
+"Little Brother," began Sa'-zada, "it is spoken amongst my Kind, that a
+Man-killer is always an old, broken-toothed Tiger, full-manged, and of
+evil ways; and that once having tasted human flesh he becomes a killer
+of nothing else."
+
+"Ha-hauk!" laughed Bagh, "those be silly Jungle tales. Am I
+broken-toothed, or full of a mange, or is Raj Bagh? All a lie, Little
+Master, all a lie. It is but a chance of the Jungle that makes a
+Man-killer, even as I will tell, and the taste of the flesh is not more
+than the taste of meat.
+
+"Yes," he continued, "I was with my Mother that day, the first day of
+the Man-kill, and in my stomach was a great pain like the biting of Red
+Ants. It was near the coming of night, and we crept down into the tea
+garden where there were many of the coolie kind working amongst the
+bushes. I think my Mother was looking for a stray dog, or perhaps a
+small Bullock; but the coolies seeing us cried aloud in their fright,
+'Bagh hai!' and ran. I think it was this that made my Mother charge
+suddenly amongst them, for if they had stood and looked at us I'm sure
+we should have turned and gone away; but in the charge a Man fell.
+Baghni seized him by the neck, threw him on her back, and we both
+galloped into the jungle. After that, whenever we were hungry we went
+back to the tea garden in just the same way.
+
+"But one day a coolie saw us first and ran to his master's bungalow
+crying with much fear. Neither of us thought anything of that, for it
+was as they had done before; so we went on down in the little _Nullah_
+between the hills, looking sharply for others of the Black Workers.
+Suddenly I heard a noise as of something approaching.
+
+"'Keep still, O Baghela,' said Baghni, 'here cometh one of the
+Men-kind, and I will make a kill.'
+
+"As we waited, presently there was no sound. 'The kill has gone away,'
+I whispered to Baghni, but she struck me hard with her tail, almost
+knocking some of my teeth out; that was to keep still. There was not
+even any scent of the Men-kind in the wind now; most surely he had gone
+away, I thought. What a silly old Baghni my Mother must be.
+
+"I heard a soft whistle behind me, 'Sp-e-e-t!' just like that, much as
+you've heard Hawk in his cage call. When I looked around there was one
+of the White-face, even the Sahib of the tea garden. I knew him, for I
+had seen him once before. In his hand he held what I have since learned
+was a thunder-stick. I looked in his eyes for perhaps three lashes of
+my tail, but I could see there nothing of the Man-fear Hathi has told
+us of. Such eyes I have never seen in any animal's head; not yellow
+like those of my kind, nor red and black like Hathi's, nor even dull
+brown like Korite the killer's; just of a quiet color like a tiny bit
+of the sky coming between the leaves of the forest.
+
+"What was he waiting for, I thought. Baghni had not heard him, for she
+did not turn her head. Then he made the call like Hawk's again, and
+Baghni turned her head even as I had, and looked full at him, but he
+did not run away.
+
+"Now feeling something lifted from me, because his eyes were on Baghni,
+I think, I looked again sideways from the corner of my eye. Baghni had
+set her ears tight back, and drawn her lip up in a cross snarl, so that
+her teeth, almost the length of Boar's tusks, said as plain as could
+be, 'Now I will crush your back.' But still in his eyes that were like
+bits of sky was not the Man-fear; if I had seen it there most surely I
+had charged straight at his throat, for I was angry, and still, I
+think, filled with much fear.
+
+"Then Baghni turned around, crouched with her head low, looking
+straight at him. As she did so, the Sahib raised his thunder-stick,
+there was an awful noise from it, I heard Baghni scream 'Gur-houk!' and
+she had charged. I, too, followed her, thinking she had got this Man
+who was our kill; but just beyond in the _Nullah_, even the length of
+Bainsa's corral from here, I saw her on her side tearing up the tea
+bushes with her great paws. I stopped for the length of two breaths,
+but I could see that there was something very wrong--she was going to
+sleep. Then the greatest fear that I have ever known came over me, and
+I galloped fast into the jungle to where was my hiding-place."
+
+[Illustration: "BUT I COULD SEE THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING VERY
+WRONG ..."]
+
+"They had killed your Mother, had they, Bagh?" asked Mooswa.
+
+"I think so, for I never saw her again. I was afraid to go back where
+the men labored, and, as I had said, there were no Bullocks, and I
+nearly starved to death."
+
+"But how did they catch you?" queried Magh.
+
+"It was all because of my hunger. When I was not stronger than a jungle
+Bakri (sheep), not having eaten for days and days, I heard one night a
+Pariah Dog howling in the jungle. It took me hours to know that there
+was no danger near this crying one of the Dog-kind. I went round and
+round in circles that I had made smaller each time, and drew the wind
+from all sides into my nose to see if there was the Man scent. There
+was nothing but the Pariah, and by some means he had got into a hole.
+Of course, afterwards I knew it was the evil work of this Sahib who had
+killed Baghni. Such a hole the Pariah was in, it was as long as these
+two cages, and though wide at the bottom, it was small at the top, even
+like the cover of Magh's house yonder. I crawled in and caught the Dog
+in my strong jaws. Sweet flesh! how he howled when he knew I was
+coming.
+
+"Then with a crash something fell behind me, and closed the hole so I
+could not get out, and at once I heard them shouting."
+
+"Where had they come from so soon?" queried Magh.
+
+"They were up in the jungle trees," answered Bagh.
+
+"I think it is a fine lie," grunted Boar. "Do you mean to say, Bagh,
+that you could not see them in the trees?"
+
+"You have little knowledge of my kind, Piggy. Know you not that when
+going through the jungle we never look up?"
+
+"I do," interrupted Raj Bagh, "but I learned the trick. Brother Bagh is
+right, though; I suppose it comes from always looking for our kill on
+the ground, and I have heard that this is why the Hunters so often kill
+us from _Machans_ (shooting rest in a tree). We never see them until we
+are struck."
+
+"The Men were all about the hole," continued Bagh, "and it was he of
+the white face that cried, 'Don't kill him, don't stick him with the
+spears! He is only a Baghela, and we will take him alive for Sa'-zada.'
+
+"They dug little holes from the top, and bound me with strong ropes; it
+was so narrow I couldn't turn round, you see. Then I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada. Though he is good to me, still I wish I was back in my old
+jungle."
+
+"Ah-h-houk! Great Brothers," roared Raj Bagh. "My mate has told you of
+Chittagong and his tea gardens, but the middle jungles in India is the
+place for a Tiger to rule; and for years I was Lord of the Sumna
+Forests, and the terror of the Gonds, the little black-faced Men who
+are wondrous Shikaris. Close grass. Waw-hough! but it was beautiful
+there. The many red faces of the chewal tree smiled at me, and the
+purple ears of the sal tree listened to my roar till its great branches
+trembled in fear. Close hid in the Khagar grass I would lie and sleep
+all through the long hot day, and the little Gonds, even the big,
+white-faced Men, might pass the length of this cage from me, and not
+know that I was there. But I would know. Talking, talking always they
+would go, and if they were up wind, my nose would find them many jumps
+away.
+
+"I was born there, and Baghni, my Mother, and Sher Bagh, my Sire,
+taught me all that a Tiger should know of the ways of the Men-kind. But
+in the end both of them came to their death through the evil ways of
+these seekers for our lives. Wah, wah, wah-hough! I am a Man-killer.
+And why not?"
+
+"You should be ashamed to say so," cried Magh, petulantly, "and before
+Sa'-zada, too."
+
+"Wah! I was a Man-killer," repeated Raj Bagh, "a killer of many Men,
+but it was not my fault. When I was a cub my Sire was Lord of the Sumna
+Jungles; and close to our lair was a _jhil_ to which all animals of
+those parts came to drink when they were hot, and the hills blazed red
+with the evil fire of the little Gonds. Chetal, and Nilgai, and
+Sambhur, and the Ribbed-Faced Deer that coughed like a Wild Dog; even
+Chinkara, the little Gazelle that is but a mouthful for one of my
+needs--all came there when the forest grew dark; and always when we
+were hungry, which was often, more came than went away. It was ever the
+same with Sher Bagh, who was my Sire, and Baghni, always the same way
+in a kill with them. In those days I watched it often, for I, being a
+Bagheela, took no part except in the eating. Chita walks not softer in
+his cage than Sher Bagh would step through the jungle when he was
+stalking a kill; and then at the end with a rush it was all over.
+
+"But one year it became so hot--why, the rocks burned our pads as we
+walked; so hot that our _jhil_ dried up, and none of the Jungle
+Dwellers came to drink. It was hot, so hot, and never a drop of the
+sweet water falling. The fire crept down from the hills and ate up the
+small part of the jungle and the grass, and I think the Jungle Dwellers
+went to other parts. At any rate, as Brother Bagh has said, we were
+sore distressed for a kill. Of course, we could go and drink where the
+other Dwellers dared not, close to the villages of the little Gonds. I
+remember, being but a Baghela and having little wisdom, saying to
+Baghni, 'Why do we not kill Goru (cattle) and Bainsa, who are here in
+the hands of the Men-kind?' But Sher Bagh, who had lived into much
+wisdom, growled, and striking me hard with his paw, said, 'Little one,
+that way comes the full hate of the Men-kind, and we who fear not the
+Dwellers in the Jungle, fear Man.'
+
+"But still we became more hungry, and Baghni, whose milk was my only
+food, grew unwise and said, 'Let us kill the Goru.' But Sher Bagh
+growled at her, and said again, 'That way comes the hate of the
+Men-kind. Now when these little men who are Gonds pass near to me in
+the jungle, they salaam and say, "Peace be with you, Sher Bagh, Huzoor
+Bagh"; and they go in peace, and the fear that is on me when I look in
+their eyes passes away.'
+
+"For many nights after that we wandered far through the jungle, I with
+Baghni, and Sher Bagh by himself in another part. And in the days that
+were so hot, as I slept, great times of blood drinking and sweet
+meat-eating came to my mind--but when I woke there was nothing--nothing
+but hunger pains in my stomach. It was also this way with Baghni and
+Sher Bagh. Many times Baghni said, 'Let us kill the Goru, for of what
+use is the good will of the Men-kind if we die?'
+
+"At last Sher Bagh also became unwise, and said, 'We will kill the
+Goru, for Baghela and you, Baghni, are starving. When the Goru feed in
+a herd to-morrow, even in the time of light--which, of course, was the
+day--together we will creep close in the much-thorned korinda, and
+kill a Cow; for if we kill one in a herd there will be less trouble,
+and perhaps it will not be missed of the Men-kind.' Wah! I shall never
+forget the sweet eating of that Goru. And the drink of blood!
+Che-hough! it was as though I had been athirst since my birth.
+
+"Sher Bagh dragged the Goru to a jungle of Kakra trees, and we ate it
+all. But the next day the Horned Ones did not feed in that place, and
+as we were walking in the close of the daytime Sher Bagh heard the
+thin-voiced cry of a Gond cart coming over the road; it was like the
+song of the Koel bird; it was made by the wheels, I think. 'There will
+be Goru to the cart,' said Sher Bagh. 'Yes, two of them,' answered
+Baghni, 'but also one of the Men-kind, a little Gond.' 'Even now I am
+hungry,' declared Sher Bagh; 'when I roar in front of the Goru the
+little Gond will pass quickly into a sal tree, and then we can eat of
+his Bullocks.'
+
+"It was as my Sire had said, and we made a kill, and carried them far
+from the roadside, and had the sweetest eating for two nights. All our
+strength was coming back to us, and Baghni, purring softly, for she was
+pleased, said to her Lord, 'Did I not say "drink the blood of the
+Goru," when we were starving, and are they not easy of kill?' But Sher
+Bagh, looking up in the trees, for it was as we came to the kill for
+our second night's eating, answered, 'We must be careful, for upon us
+will surely fall the full hate of these little Gonds; and they claim a
+kill for a kill, blood for blood; it is their manner of life when they
+deal with others of the Men-kind.'
+
+"I knew that fear of the little Gonds had come strong upon my Sire when
+he looked up to the sal trees, for, as I have said, it is not of our
+habit to look up; we fear nothing of the jungle that hides in trees.
+The Peacocks, and Monkeys, and Crows, even Panther--what are they?
+Nothing to claim the time of my kind. Said Sher Bagh to Baghni, 'The
+Goru that go in carts are easy for the kill.' 'And there are always two
+of them,' answered she.
+
+"This new manner of life by practice became easy to us; we would hide
+in the khagar grass or the jowri, which is a nut grass of the Men,
+beside the road at the day's end, and always we would know of the
+cart's coming by its voice, that was like Koel bird's, or the miaou of
+a Peacock. We made many a kill of this kind. And it was this way that I
+became first of all a Man-killer, even my first kill was of the
+Men-kind, just an evil chance. It was Baghni who said to Sher Bagh,
+'Baghela must know the method of a kill. We have now not much hunger,
+so let him make the next kill of the Goru, and if he misses, it will
+not matter, for we are well fed.'
+
+"I shall never forget that night as I crouched by the road beside
+Baghni, waiting for the little Gond with his Goru. I was trembling like
+the tall grass shivers at the top when one passes through it. 'Keep
+still,' whispered Baghni; 'a little noise makes a hard kill, and much
+noise is no kill at all.' If it had been a Sambhur or a Nilgai we
+should have had no supper, for the grass whispered under me as I shook
+it with my trembling. Then down the road in the early dark came the
+cart with its snarling voice. Just as the Goru were opposite, Baghni
+struck me with her tail and cried, 'Ah-h-houk!' which means to charge.
+As I sprang, being but a Baghela, and my first kill, I was slow, and
+the Goru jumped, causing me to miss sadly. But I landed full on the
+cart, and by an evil chance the little Gond was under my paws. Mind,
+Comrades, with me it was but a kill, and I could not see his eyes, and
+without intent on my part his shoulder was in my jaws, and in less time
+than I can tell it I had him in the jungle. It was my first kill, and I
+was wild--but I don't want to talk about it. I wish he had beaten me
+off, even struck me with the thunder-stick, for, after all, what was
+the kill? not bigger than a Chetal, and it brought the full hate of the
+Men-kind to us, and Sher Bagh and Baghni were slain."
+
+"By the little Gonds?" asked Hathi.
+
+"The Gonds and the Sahibs," answered Tiger. "Even your people, Hathi,
+took part in the kill of my Sire and Baghni. But it was our old enemy,
+hunger, that caused it all. For three nights we waited by the roadside
+and no carts passed. It is true one passed; a lodhi cartman, with the
+wisdom of Cobra, put Pig's fat on the wheels of his cart, and there
+was no noise until he was right upon us, even had passed, for the stalk
+had not properly started, you see. 'Never mind,' said Baghni, 'the
+little Men of a slow wit, the Gonds, will come this way with their
+Goru, many of them'; but they didn't. And save for two old Langurs
+(monkeys) that cursed from a pipal tree as we went back to our
+_Nullah_, we saw no Dweller of the Jungle, nor of the fields. 'The hate
+of the little Gonds is coming to us,' growled Bagh. 'And I am so
+hungry,' moaned Baghni. 'Baghela should not have killed any of the
+Men-kind,' declared my Sire.
+
+"The Men go to their rest at night, even the little Gonds, knowing that
+the Jungle Dwellers will not come in great numbers to the fields
+because of our guard. And it was but an evil chance, too, that I made a
+kill of the Gond. But when we were most hungered, after many days, one
+night, not far from our _Nullah_, was a Bullock tied to a tree.
+'Waw-houk!' exclaimed Baghni, calling her Lord to the find;
+'Che-waugh!' said she, 'here is a Bail of the Men-kind; make the kill.'
+
+"'It is of their hate,' growled Sher Bagh, 'the Bullocks do not come of
+their own way here to the jungle--we must be careful.'
+
+"Half the night was gone before we had stalked all sides of the Goru,
+but there was nothing--not even up in the sal leaves. That was what
+Baghni said, for with her sharp eyes she saw Hookus (big green
+pigeon), resting on a branch, which meant that there was nothing to
+frighten him. When Sher Bagh had made the kill, he dragged it far away
+from our _Nullah_. That was most wise, Comrades; it was so that the
+Men-kind should not find our home.
+
+"When our hunger was gone Baghni said, 'We will eat again when the
+sun's light passes once more.' 'No,' growled my Sire, 'we will not come
+back to the kill, for the hate of the little Gonds will be here when
+they see that we have eaten of the Goru.'
+
+"That was wise also. To make sure, and to teach me, a Baghela, Sher
+Bagh took us down wind from the drag next night, and the scent of the
+Men-kind came strong in our faces. 'Our enemies are there,' declared
+Bagh.
+
+"Being a Baghela I thought this fine play, and by the cunning of my
+Sire we killed what we found tied in the Jungle, but never went back to
+the drag. Even once in the dark, as we hunted, hearing the grunt of a
+Goru, and going up wind to it, Sher Bagh knew that the Hunters were
+waiting in the sal and pipal trees over the bait, so we went back to
+the _Nullah_ and rested on lean stomachs."
+
+"Your Sire was too clever for them," commented Magh, as Tiger ceased
+speaking for an instant.
+
+"Perhaps it was clever," answered Raj Bagh. "But in two days more
+something came to us that no Jungle Dweller can withstand: a full beat
+of the Jungles.
+
+"Being but a Baghela," sighed Raj Bagh, "I did not know what it was
+when the beat commenced; I thought that the forest winds were in an
+evil temper, but Sher Bagh cried to Baghni, 'Quick! we must go far, for
+now comes the hate of the white-faced kind, for the beat is their way
+of a kill.' We lay quiet in our _Nullah_, thinking they might pass.
+'Tap, tap, tap!' I heard on one side, much like the klonk, klonk! of
+Mis-gar (coppersmith bird). 'What is that?' I asked my Sire.
+
+"'The sal trees cry because they are stricken by the Beaters,' he
+answered. 'Tum, tum, tum-m!' I heard from the other side of the
+_Nullah_. 'Is it the belling of a Nilgai?' I asked. 'The little Gonds
+who are of this beat call with their drums,' answered Sher Bagh. 'All
+the jungle is falling,' I cried. 'It is the coming of Hathi,' answered
+my Sire, 'for it is a beat of many Hathi. Come, Baghela, come, Baghni,'
+he called, and we stole like frightened Chinkara through the sal and
+pipal jungle.
+
+"'To the Baghni-wali nulla!' (tigress valley) cried Sher Bagh to us as
+we followed. But as we sought to enter this place of many caves a
+Beater smote at us with the thunder-stick from a tree, but that was
+only to frighten us away, for Bagh whispered, 'The Beaters are not to
+make the kill.'
+
+"'Here will be little spoor for them to follow,' growled Sher Bagh as
+we ran. Soon we thought we had lost those who sought our lives. As we
+rested for a little while in some thick, wild plum bushes they came all
+about us. There were many Hathi, and on three of the Hathi were little
+caves----"
+
+"Haudas," corrected Elephant. "That is the way the Men-kind ride on my
+back when we are in the beat."
+
+"And the Men had thunder-sticks with which they smote Sher Bagh and
+Baghni. 'Waw, waw-houk!' roared my Sire when he was
+struck--'Che-waugh!' he cried to me, 'flee, Baghela, while I charge.'
+With a rush he sprang on a big Hathi's nose, and I think he got even to
+the hauda, for the Hathi turned and ran, screaming with pain; and I,
+seeing this, broke from my cover and charged back through the Beaters
+who were on foot. Just in my path I saw one of the Beaters striking two
+sticks together. Being cross because of my hot pads, and what they had
+done to Sher Bagh, I seized this one, and took him with me.
+
+"After that, I lived alone, and because the Jungle Dwellers had fled
+from those parts, and because of the wrong we had from these Gonds, I
+became a Man-killer, eating that which was put in my reach."
+
+"How did they catch you?" questioned Wolf.
+
+[Illustration: "MY SIRE ... SPRANG ON A BIG HATHI'S NOSE."]
+
+"Because I sought to change my way of life," answered Bagh, "and
+leaving the Man-kill I made to satisfy my hunger with a Goat. I heard
+the Goat cry at night-time," continued Bagh, "and after a careful
+stalk, finding nothing of the presence of Man, I sprang on Bakri the
+Goat----"
+
+"And the Goat captured you," cried Magh, gleefully.
+
+"Together we fell into a deep hole that had been dug by the evil little
+Gonds. Though I ate the Bakri I could not get out again, and in the
+morning the Men were all about me, both white and black. How the little
+Men reviled me! But it seemed the Sahibs wanted to take me alive, so
+they dug another hole close to the one in which I was, put a big wooden
+cage with a door to it down, and then with long spears broke through
+the walls between the cage and the hole I was in. Of course, I was glad
+enough to go any place; besides, they threw down on me their dreadful
+fire. I sprang in the cage and the door dropped behind me. Then many of
+the Men-kind pulled the cage out with ropes, and I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada."
+
+
+
+
+Fifth Night
+
+The Story of the Tribe of King Cobra
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+FIFTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF THE TRIBE OF KING COBRA
+
+
+It was the fifth night of the Sa'-zada tales. As usual, Hathi, Grey
+Wolf, and all the other animals, jostling each other merrily like a lot
+of schoolboys, had gathered in front of Tiger's cage.
+
+Said the Keeper: "Comrades, you must all be very careful, for this is
+Snake's night."
+
+"Oo-o-oh!" whimpered Jackal, "is Nag the Cobra to come here among us?"
+
+Even Hathi trembled, and blowing softly through his trumpet, said: "Oh,
+Sa'-zada, I who am a Lord of the Jungle, fearing not any Dweller
+therein, feel great pains this evening. I am sure that hay is musty and
+has disagreed with me. If you do not mind, Little Brother, I will go
+back to my stall and lie down."
+
+"Will Deboia the Climber come also, Little Master?" asked Magh. "If so,
+I think my Terrier Pup is feeling unwell; I will take him to my cage
+and wrap him in his blanket. I hate snake stories, anyway."
+
+"Hiz-z-z!" laughed Python, who was already there. "Lords of the Jungle
+indeed! When I strike or throw a loop, or go swift as the wind through
+the Jungle--Thches-s-s! but I am no boaster. See our friends. When the
+smallest of my kind are to be here each one makes his excuses."
+
+"Never fear, Comrades," Sa'-zada assured the frightened animals, "Nag
+the Cobra, and Karait, and all the others will behave themselves if
+they are left alone. Only don't move about, that's all. The first law
+when Snakes are about is--keep still."
+
+"Yes, we like quietness," assented Python. "Once there was a fussy old
+Buffalo Bull who used to come to my pool and stir up the mud until it
+was scarce fit to live in. In the end I threw a loop around his neck,
+and he became one of the quietest Bulls you ever saw in your life."
+
+"Now, Comrades," said Sa'-zada, as he returned accompanied by the
+Dwellers of the Snake House, "Hamadryad, the King Cobra, has promised
+us a story."
+
+"Look at my length," cried Hamadryad, drawing his yellow and black
+mottled body through many intricate knots like a skein of colored silk;
+"think you I was born this way just as I am? At first--that was up in
+the Yoma Hills in Burma--I was not much larger than a good-sized hair
+from Tiger's mustache, and since then it has been nothing but
+adventure. Even my Mother, where she had us hid in a pile of rocks
+covered with ferns, had to fight for our lives."
+
+"Phuff!" retorted Boar, disdainfully, "many a nest of Cobra eggs have I
+rid the world of."
+
+"Not of my kind, I'll warrant," snorted Python, blowing his foul breath
+like a small sirocco almost in Pig's face. "Of Nag, or Hamadryad's
+family, perhaps, yes, for, know you, Comrades, what Nagina does with
+her eggs? Lays them in the sun to hatch _apsi_ (of themselves). But my
+Mother--ah, you should have seen her, Comrades; all the eggs gathered
+in a heap, and her great, beautiful body--much like my own in
+color--wound tenderly about them until the young came forth. Perhaps a
+matter of two moons and never a bite for her to eat all the time.
+That's what I call being a genuine Mother."
+
+"Very wise, indeed, and thoughtful," cried the Salt Water Snake. "My
+Mother--well I remember it--carried her eggs about in her body till
+they were hatched, which seems to me quite as good a plan. Also, nobody
+molests us--if they do, they die quickly. We all can kill quite as
+readily as Nag the Cobra, though there is less talk about us."
+
+"Even so," assented Hamadryad, "the proof of the matter is in being
+here; and, as I was going to say, it is this way with my people; in the
+hot weather when there is no rain we burrow in the ground for months at
+a stretch. And then the rains come on and we are driven out of our
+holes by the water, and live abroad in the Jungles for a time. It was
+at this season of the year I speak of; I had just come up out of my
+burrow and was wondrous hungry, I can tell you; and, traveling, I came
+across the trail of a Karait. I followed Karait's trail, and found him
+in a hole under a bungalow of the Men-kind. It was dry under the
+bungalow, so I rested after my meal in the hole that had been Karait's.
+It was a good place, so I lived there. Every day a young of the
+Men-kind----"
+
+"I know," interrupted Mooswa; "a Boy, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps; but the old ones called him 'Baba.' And Baba used to come
+every day under the bungalow to play. He threw little sticks and stones
+at me; but nothing to hurt, mind you, for he was small. The things he
+threw wouldn't have injured a Fly-Lizard as he crawled on the bungalow
+posts. He laughed when he saw me, and called, as he clapped his little
+hands, and I wouldn't have hurt him--why should I? I don't eat Babas.
+
+"When I heard the heavy feet of the Men I always slipped in the hole;
+but, one day, by an evil chance I was to one side looking for food, and
+Baba was following, when his Mother saw me. Such a row there was, the
+Men running, and Baba's Mother calling, and only the little one with no
+fear. Surely it was the fear of which Chita and Hathi have spoken which
+came over the Men-kind.
+
+[Illustration: "AND BABA USED TO COME EVERY DAY UNDER THE BUNGALOW TO
+PLAY...."]
+
+"There was one of a great size, like Bear Muskwa, with a stomach such
+as Magh's. He was a native baboo. He had a black face, and his voice
+was like the trumpet of Hathi; but when I went straight his way, and
+rose up to strike, his fat legs made great haste to carry him far away.
+Then I glided in the hole."
+
+"Ghur-ah! it seems a strange tale," snarled Wolf; "even I would not
+dare, being alone, to chase one of the Men-kind."
+
+"It may be true," declared Sa'-zada, "for it is written in the Book
+that Hamadryad is the only Snake that will really chase a man, and show
+fight."
+
+"I could hear the Men-kind talking and tramping about," continued King
+Cobra, "and meant to lie still till night, and then go away, for I
+usually traveled in the dark, you know. But presently there was a soft
+whistling music calling me to come out; and also at times a pleading
+voice, though of the Men-kind, I knew that, 'Ho, Bhai (brother), ho,
+Raj Naga (King Cobra)! come here, quick, Little Brother.' Then the soft
+whistle called me, sometimes loud, and sometimes low, and even the
+noise was twisting and swinging in the air just as I might myself.
+
+"Hiz-z-z-za! but I commenced to tremble; and I was full of fear, and I
+was full of love for the soft sounds, and with my eyes I wished to see
+it. So I came out of the hole, and there was a Black Man making the
+soft call from a hollow stick."
+
+"A Snake Charmer with his pipes," exclaimed Sa'-zada.
+
+"I raised up in anger, thinking that he, too, would soon run away; but
+he pointed with his hand, now this way, from side to side, even as the
+sweet sound from the hollow stick seemed to twist and curl in the air;
+and following his hand with my eyes, I commenced to swing as the hand
+swung.
+
+"'Ho, Little Brother!' he called, 'come here.'
+
+"It was to a basket at his side; for, though I meant not to do it, I
+glided into it."
+
+"That was the manner of your taking?" asked Chita.
+
+"Better than having one's toes squeezed in an iron trap," declared
+Jackal.
+
+"Or being beaten by chains," murmured Hathi.
+
+"Yes, the taking was simple enough; but if Baba had not cried, the Men
+would have killed me, I think."
+
+"And that was how you came to Lower Burma?" asked Sa'-zada.
+
+"Yes," answered Hamadryad, "this man who made music with the hollow
+stick took me with him, and at every place where there were any of his
+fellows he brought me forth from the basket, and made me dance to his
+music. That was what he called it--dance."
+
+"Why didn't you bite him?" queried Rattler, making his tail rattles
+sing in anger.
+
+"He pulled out my fangs," declared Hamadryad.
+
+"He-he," sneered Magh; "now surely it is a great lie, this wondrous
+tale of Cobra's, for in his mouth are the very fangs he says the
+black-faced player of music pulled."
+
+"Most wise Ape," said Hamadryad, ironically, "what your big head, like
+unto a Jack fruit, does not understand, is a lie, forsooth. Even though
+my teeth were pulled three times, they would grow again; but you do not
+know that--therefore it is a lie. Even now, behind these that you see,
+and perhaps yet may feel if you keep on, are others waiting the time
+when these may be broken. Was it not Hathi said some wise animal
+arranged all these things for us?"
+
+"Sa'-zada says it is God," interrupted Hathi.
+
+"This man made me fight with a Mongoos, that those of his kind might
+laugh."
+
+"What is a Mongoos?" queried Magh.
+
+"Our natural enemy," answered King Cobra, "just as Fleas and other
+Vermin are yours. But I killed the squeaky little beast with one drive
+of my head--broke his back. At Ramree a Sahib bought me from the black
+man."
+
+"That was the Sahib who sent you here, I fancy," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"Perhaps. At any rate he seemed fond of Snakes of my kind, for he put
+me in a box wherein was one of my family. But he should have known more
+about our manner of life, for he nearly starved us through ignorance of
+our taste. He puts Rats and Frogs, and Birds and such Vermin as that
+in, with never so much as a Green-Tree-Snake. The yellow-faced Burmans
+used to come in front of our cage and touch us up with sticks until my
+nose was skinned with striking at them and hitting the bars.
+
+"Our getting something to eat was a pure accident. One night this Sahib
+stepped on a Snake--a young Rock Snake, which had curled up in the path
+for the warmth of the hot earth. 'Oh, ho!' said the Sahib, bringing
+this new Snake to our cage, 'you are looking for trouble, little _Samp_
+(snake). Let us see how you get on in there,' and he threw him in our
+box, expecting to see a fight."
+
+"And did he?" queried Magh.
+
+"Hiz-z-z-za! I should say so. My mate and I fought half an hour before
+we settled who was to eat the visitor."
+
+"You two Comrades fought over it?" asked Mooswa.
+
+"Yes; that is our way. Two Snakes cannot eat one--how else should we
+settle the question? we were both hungry. Why, one day my mate flew at
+me, and I could see in his eye that he meant eating me, and in
+self-defence I was forced to put him out of the way of mischief, but
+the Sahib pulled us apart.
+
+"But if I hated the Yellow Men who came to my cage, I liked the
+Mem-Sahib (white lady). I think it was her voice. Hiz-z, hiz-z, hiz-z!
+It was as soft as the song the man had brought forth from the hollow
+stick. Sometimes I would hear her voice-song near my box, and it would
+put me to sleep; only, of course, I had to keep one eye open lest my
+mate would try to eat me----"
+
+"I had no idea Snakes were so fond of each other," said Magh,
+maliciously.
+
+"Yes; I think I should have eaten _him_ to have saved that worry. But I
+must tell you about the Mem-Sahib and the Cook. He was small and so
+black--a perfect little Pig. One day when the Sahib was away, the Cook
+became possessed of strange devils."
+
+"Became drunken on his Master's liquor, I suppose," remarked Sa'-zada.
+
+"Perhaps, for he came and took me out of the box, wound me around his
+shoulders and waist, and went with a clamor of evil sounds, in to my
+Mem-Sahib."
+
+"Just like a Man," sneered Pardus.
+
+"Even I was ashamed," continued Hamadryad. "My Mem-Sahib cried out with
+fear, and her eyes were dreadful to look into.
+
+"I glided twice about the Man-devil's neck, and drew each coil tight
+and tight and tighter, and swung my head forward until I looked into
+his eyes, and I nodded twice thus," and the King Cobra swayed his
+vicious black head back and forth with the full suggestiveness of a
+death thrust, until each one of the animals shivered with fear.
+
+"I think he died of the Man-fear Hathi has spoken of, for I did not
+strike him--it may be that the coils about his throat were over-tight.
+But I glided back to my box, and I think the Mem-Sahib knew that I did
+not wish to even make her afraid."
+
+"Most interesting," declared Sa'-zada. "Is that all, Cobra?"
+
+"Yes; I'm tired. Let Python talk."
+
+The huge Snake uncoiled three yards of his length, slipped it forward
+as easily, as noiselessly as one blows smoke, shoved his big flat head
+up over the Keeper's knee, ran his tongue out four times to moisten his
+lips, and said: "I am also from the East, and I do not like this land.
+Here my strength is nothing, for I can't eat. A Chicken twice a
+month--what is that to one of my size? Sa'-zada will eat as much in a
+day; and yet in my full strength I could crush five such as our Little
+Brother. Many loops! in my own Jungle I could wind myself about a
+Buffalo and pull his ribs together until his whole body was like loose
+earth. I have done it. Sa'-zada knows that for months and months after
+I came I ate nothing, and in the end they took me out on the floor
+there, six of them, and shoved food down my throat with a stick.
+
+"Once I had run down a Barking Deer, and swallowed him, and was having
+a little sleep, when I wandered into the most frightful sort of
+nightmare. It came to me in my sleep that Bagh had charged me of a
+sudden, and gripped my throat in his strong jaws. I opened my eyes in
+fright, and, sure enough, I was being choked with a rope in the hands
+of the Men-kind. Each end of it was fastened to a long bamboo, and the
+Men were on either side of me. I made the leaves and dry wood in that
+part of the Jungle whirl for a little, but it was no use--I couldn't
+get away. Also a man of the White-kind was sitting on a laid tree, and
+in his hands was a loud-voiced gun. But I nearly paid him out for some
+of the insult. They dragged me on to the road, and I lay there quiet
+and simple-looking. He thought I was asleep, I suppose. At any rate he
+came up and touched me on the nose with his toe.
+
+"I struck; but, though I knew it not, the rope was tight held by one of
+the Yellow-kind who stood behind me, and I but got a full choking;
+though, as I have said, the other, he of the White Face, was stricken
+with fear.
+
+"They put me in a box, but though I have no appetite here, I could eat
+there, and they gave me so many chickens that I shed my beautiful skin
+almost monthly. I nearly died from the over-diet, not being used to
+such plenty."
+
+"Tell us of your food-winning in the Jungle," craved Sa'-zada.
+
+"Though I go wondrous swift," began Python, "yet if any of the
+Deer-kind passed me on foot I could not catch them. Because of this I
+was forced to take great thought to outwit them. You, Gidar, and you,
+Hathi, know of the elephant creeper that is in all those Jungles, how
+it runs from tree to tree for many a mile--so strong that it sometimes
+pulls down the biggest wood-grower. Well, having knowledge of a Deer's
+path, I would stretch my body across it much after that fashion, and
+the silly creatures with their ribbed faces, always coughing a hoarse
+bark, and always possessed of a stupid fear, would walk right into my
+folds, thinking me a part of the creeper. Once, even, as I think of it,
+a hunter--of the White-kind he was--ate his food sitting on a coil of
+my body as I lay twisted about a tree. To tell you the truth, I was
+asleep, having fed well, and only woke up because of his sticking his
+cutting knife into my back, thinking, of course, he was standing it in
+the wood, when I suddenly squirmed and upset him, and his food and
+drink.
+
+"But when it was the dry season and the leaves were off the trees, the
+Jungle was so open that even the silly Deer could see the rich color of
+my beautiful skin, and for days and days I went hungry. Then I would go
+to the small water ponds, _Jheels_, and curling my tail about a tree on
+one side, put myself across, and catching a tree on the other side with
+my teeth, swing my body back and forth and throw the water all out on
+the land. Then I would eat all the Fish-dwellers, and go to sleep for a
+week.
+
+[Illustration: "I WOULD STRETCH MY BODY ACROSS IT MUCH AFTER THAT
+FASHION."]
+
+"Once in a land of many pigs, I worked for days and days in that part
+of the Jungle bending down small trees, and arranging the creepers
+until I had a _keddah_ with two long sides running far out into the
+Jungle. Then, going beyond, I made a great noise, rushing up and down,
+and many of these Dwellers being possessed of fear, fled into the
+_keddah_ and I devoured them."
+
+Chita sat on his haunches and looked at Python in astonishment, his big
+black head low hung, and a sneer of great unbelief on his mustached
+lips.
+
+"Surely this is the one great liar!" he exclaimed. "If these things be
+not written in the Book, then Python has most surely had such a dream
+as he has told us of."
+
+"Without doubt it is a lie," declared Magh, "but for my part I am ready
+to believe anything of his kind. In my Jungle home never once did I
+climb out on a tree limb without pinching it to see whether it was wood
+or a vile thing such as yon mottled boaster."
+
+"Are the stories of Python written in the Book, O Sa'-zada?" queried
+Mooswa.
+
+"No," answered the Keeper, "but Python may have had this strange manner
+of life."
+
+"Whether they be true tales or false tales," hissed Python, "I am now
+tired, and they are at an end."
+
+"Well," said Sa'-zada, stroking the glistening scales of the big
+Snake's head, "it is time to cage up now. Perhaps we'll all have
+strange dreams to-night."
+
+Soon the animals were sound asleep, all but Magh, who spent an hour
+chattering to Blitz, her Fox Terrier Pup, on the enormity of telling
+false tales.
+
+
+
+
+Sixth Night
+
+The Story of the Monkeys
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SIXTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF THE MONKEYS
+
+
+Such a row there had been all day in Animal Town.
+
+Sa'-zada, the Keeper, had told Magh, the Orang-outang, that the Monkeys
+were to tell stories that night at the usual meeting. That was the
+cause of the excitement.
+
+All day the Monkeys, living in a row of cages like dwellers in tenement
+houses, had chattered to each other through the bars, and admonished
+one another to think of just the cleverest things any of their family
+or ancestors had ever done.
+
+"We are like the Men-kind," Magh kept repeating; "we are the
+Bandar-log, the Jungle People.
+
+"Listen, Comrades, what is my name even? Orang-outang, which means
+Chief of the Jungle People.
+
+"See, even I have my Dog, as do the Men-kind," and she held up Blitz,
+the Fox-Terrier Pup, by the ear until he squealed and bit her in the
+arm. "See, he has bitten me even as he would a man," she cried,
+triumphantly.
+
+Two doors down were three little brown Monkeys caged with an Armadillo
+who looked like a toy, iron-plated gun-boat.
+
+"Oh, we are people who think," cried one of these, pouncing down on the
+Armadillo. The little gun-boat drew his armor plate down about him like
+a Mud-turtle. The Monkey caught the side of it with his hand, lifted it
+up, bit the Armadillo in the soft flesh, and raced up on his shelf
+where he chattered: "Oh, we are the people who think. That is not
+instinct--my father was never caged with an Armadillo."
+
+At last night came, and Sa'-zada, throwing down bars and opening cages,
+had gathered as usual his animal friends in front of Tiger's cage.
+
+"Ho, Little Brother," began Black Panther, speaking to Sa'-zada, "why
+should we who are great in our own jungles listen to these empty-headed
+Bandar-log? Was there ever any good at their hands?"
+
+"Oo-oo! A-huk, a-huk!" cried Hanuman, "you of all the thieving slayers
+should know of that matter. How many times have you been saved from
+danger because of our watchfulness--and also Bagh the Killer! Many a
+hard drive, the hunt drive of the Men-kind, has come to nothing because
+of us--because we never sleep. When your stomach is full you sleep
+soundly, trusting to a warning from us, the Bandar-log. Nothing can be
+done in the jungles that we do not know. And do we steal silently away
+as is your method? Not a bit of it. By the safety of Jungle-dwellers!
+we give the cry of beware! Listen----
+
+"A-huk, a-huk! Chee-chee-chee! Waugh, waugh, a-huk!" and the voice of
+the gray-whiskered, black-faced ape reverberated on the dead night air
+through the houses of Animal Town like the clangor of a cracked bell.
+
+"That is quite true," declared Mor, the Peacock; "I also am one of the
+Jungle Watchers--though I get little credit for it. None of the
+Dwellers thank us; and sometimes in their anger the Sahibs who are
+making the drive shoot us for our trouble, saying that we have spoiled
+sport. Many a jungle life have I saved through my cry of 'Miaou!
+Miaou!'"
+
+"Disturbers of sleep!" sneered Black Panther; "there is little to
+choose between you--you're a noisy lot of beggars."
+
+"You are hardly fair, Pardus," remonstrated Sa'-zada. "I quite believe
+what Hanuman says, for it is well known that some of the Monkey-tribe
+saved Gibraltar to the British by their watchfulness, and the men are
+more grateful than you, for to this day monkeys are protected and made
+much of there."
+
+"It was my people did that," cried Magot, the Rock Ape, blinking his
+deep, narrow-set eyes. "We have lived there for a long time."
+
+"And in Benares, where I lived once, we are people of great honor,"
+added a white-whiskered Monkey. "I should like to see Black Pardus harm
+one of us there."
+
+The speaker was Entellus, the sacred Hanuman Monkey, whose rights of
+protection in the City of Temples, Benares, was almost greater than
+that of the human dwellers.
+
+"You can't twiddle your thumbs! You can't twiddle your thumbs!" cried
+Cockatoo, mockingly.
+
+"But I can see my under lip," retorted Magh, angrily, sticking it out
+and looking down at it, "and that's more than you can do, with your
+lobster's claw of a nose."
+
+Cockatoo had hit the truth about the thumbs, for no ape can make them
+go around, only in and out straight to the palm. This matter of thumbs
+is the great line of defence between man and his disputed Simian
+ancestor.
+
+"Our manner of life," began Hanuman, in the little silence that ensued,
+"is to live in the tree-tops. Our families are raised there, and we are
+seldom on the ground."
+
+"No, the ground is a dangerous place," concurred Chimpanzee; "Leopards,
+and Snakes, and Men, and evil things of that sort about all the time.
+I, too, build a little house in the strong branches of a tree, and live
+there until the fruit gets scarce; then, of course, I have to go to a
+new part and build another."
+
+"I thought I was the only animal that had sense enough to build a
+house," grunted Wild Boar.
+
+"Perhaps you are," said Chimpanzee; "I'm no animal."
+
+"You are a Monkey----" began Boar, apologetically.
+
+"I'm not a Monkey," insisted the other, very haughtily; "they go in
+droves. But we, who are the Jungle People, build houses and have a wife
+and family just like the Men."
+
+"You can't twiddle your thumbs!" shrieked Cockatoo; but Hathi reached
+up with his trunk and tweaked the bird's nose before he could repeat
+the taunt.
+
+"Once upon a time," began Hooluk, solemnly, "there was a great Raja
+sore troubled because those of my kind, the Apes, ate all the grain and
+fruit in his country. To be sure, it was a year of much starvation. And
+the King commanded that all the Bandar-log should be killed.
+
+"Then Hanuman, the wise Ape, who was our cousin, asked of my people
+what might be done; but we, being tender-hearted, and not knowing how
+to pacify the King, hung with our heads down and wept in misery.
+
+"Now this gave Hanuman, who is most wise, an idea. He ordered all the
+other Bandar-log to go far into the jungles and hide, while we were to
+remain and lament, and declare that our friends were dead. The Raja,
+hearing our sad cry, relented, and commanded that the killing should
+cease. And since that time we have always cried thus, and our faces
+have been black, and all because of the dark sins of the other
+Bandar-log."
+
+"Was there ever such a lie----" began Pardus; but Jackal interrupted
+him, declaring that he, too, cried at night because of the wickedness
+of other Jungle Dwellers.
+
+"By my lonesome life!" muttered Mooswa. "I have heard the Loon cry on
+Slave Lake, but for a real, depressing night noise commend me to
+Hooluk. I have no doubt his tale is quite true, a cry such as he has
+could not have been given him for amusement."
+
+"Scratch my head!" cried Cockatoo; "I think Hooluk's tale is quite
+true, for even I, who am only appreciated because of my beauty----"
+
+"Hide your nose," croaked Kauwa, the Crow.
+
+"Because of my beauty," resumed Cockatoo, "I once saved the life of all
+my Master's family. The bungalow was on fire and they were asleep.
+Scree-ya ah-ah!' I cried; then, 'Quick, Pootai, bring the water----'"
+
+"To be famous one must needs know a great lie and tell it," snarled
+Pardus, disagreeably. "The way of all Jungle Dwellers is to kill
+something; but here are pot-bellied, empty-headed Apes, and Birds of
+little sense, all boasting of saving lives."
+
+"Let me talk," cried Water Monkey, scratching his ribs with industry.
+"If I tell not true tales then call Hornbill, and Jackal, and King
+Cobra to stand against me, for we are all of the same land. We were a
+big family, a full hundred of us at least, and every way was our
+way--water, and land, and tree-top. We ate fruits, and nuts, and
+grains, and things that are cast up by the waters. Talking of fishing,
+you should have seen my mother. When the sea had gone back from the
+shore we would all troop down. When the Crabs saw us coming they would
+scuttle into holes and under rocks, and we'd catch every Crab on the
+shore. It was my mother taught me the trick--wise old lady; I'd shove
+my tail under the rock, the Crab would lay hold of it, and then out
+he'd come.
+
+"Oh, there was good eating on those shores. Fat Oysters the size of a
+banana. It was mother showed me how to take a stone in my hand, and
+break them off the rocks. And, as Magh has said, we are much like the
+men, for not one of our family would eat an Oyster until he had washed
+it in the water.
+
+"But we poor people had lots of trials. Crossing the streams was worst
+of all. If we made the Monkeys bridge from tree to tree, like as not
+Python would be lying in wait to pick off one of our number. And if we
+walked across on the bottom----"
+
+"Walked on the bottom!" cried Sa'-zada, in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, we never swim; we always walk across on the bottom; though,
+sometimes, of course, we floated over on logs; but that was very
+dangerous because of Magar the Crocodile."
+
+"Ghurrgle-ugle-ugle, uh-hu!" said Sher Abi, "the long-tailed one is
+right. I could tell a true story touching that matter. Whuff-f-f! but
+it was a hot day. I was lying with my wife in the water near the bank.
+I was hungry--I am always hungry; and getting food in a small way is
+wearisome to one of my heavy habit. I was resting, and Black-head the
+Magar Bird was running about inside of my jaws catching Flies for his
+dinner. And, while I think of it, while I am by no means vain of my
+sweet nature, I claim it was most good of me to hold my heavy lips open
+for him. Suddenly Black-head gave his little cry of warning to me and
+flew up in the air. 'Something is coming,' I whispered to Abni, my
+wife; and, sure enough, it was the Bandar-log, the Water Monkeys,
+chattering and yelling, and knocking down fruit from the trees as
+though the whole jungle belonged to them.
+
+"'The old trick,' I whispered to Abni; 'float across like a log.' You
+know I can look wondrous like a log when I try; and a dinner of the
+Bandar-log, even, was not to be despised in a time of great hunger.
+
+"'Chee-chee, a-houp-a-houp, chickety-chee-chee!' You'd have thought
+their throats would split with the uproar when they saw one log
+floating across and another just starting.
+
+[Illustration: "AND THEY ALL CLAMBERED ON TO MY BACK."]
+
+"'Oh, ho!' cried the leader, swinging by his tail from a limb of the
+Mangrove tree, and peering down at me; 'the wind is driving all the
+dead trees from this side to the other. Get aboard, children, quick.'
+And they all clambered on to my back, shoving and pushing like a lot of
+Jackal pups----"
+
+"Have I not said it," cried Gidar, the Jackal, "that Sher Abi is a
+devourer of our young? Jackal pups--murderer!"
+
+"Half way across," resumed Sher Abi, "I opened an eye to take a squint
+at the general condition of these Bandar-log, as to which might be fat
+and which might be lean, and, would you believe it, the leader of these
+fool people saw me looking, and screamed with fright. I closed all the
+valves of nostrils and eyes and sank in the water. The Bandar-log were
+so excited that more than half of them jumped into my jaws, and Abni,
+who came back, hearing the noise, took care of the others. Eh-hu!
+Gluck! Monkeys are stupid, but not bad eating."
+
+"Listen to that, Comrades," cried Water Monkey. "Sher Abi the Poacher
+boasts of killing my people. Have I not said that our life is one of
+danger? He and Python are as bad as Men. My mother was killed by a Man,
+and all for the sake of a few mangoes."
+
+"But how are we to know that Mango-tree was not as others in the
+Jungle?" pleaded Monkey. "True it grew close to a bungalow, but what of
+that? Close to the Jungle, trees and bungalows are so mixed up that
+nobody knows which is free land and which is bond land. Have I not seen
+even the Men-kind frightened over such matters, and killing each other.
+But, as I have said, this Man, who was a Sahib, shot my mother as she
+was in a tree. She clung to a limb, and, young as I was, I helped her,
+holding on to her arms. All day she cried, and cried, and cried, just
+as you have heard the young of the Men-kind; and all night she cried,
+too. In the morning the Sahib came out, and I heard him say that he
+hadn't slept all night because of the wailing that was like a babe's.
+When he looked up at my mother she became so afraid that she fell dead
+at his feet. Peeping down through the leaves I saw the fear look that
+Hathi has spoken of come into the Man's eyes, only they did not look
+evil as they had when he pointed the fire-stick at us. I swung down
+from branch to branch to my mother, and sitting beside her, cried also,
+being but a little chap and all alone in the Jungle. Then the Man took
+me up in his arms and said: 'Poor little Oungea. It was a shame to kill
+the old girl; I feel like a murderer----'
+
+"He took me into the bungalow and I had a fine life of it, though he
+taught me many things that were evil."
+
+"I don't believe that," sneered Pardus.
+
+[Illustration: "AND SITTING BESIDE HER, CRIED ALSO, BEING BUT A LITTLE
+CHAP AND ALL ALONE IN THE JUNGLE...."]
+
+"Impossible! Caw-w!" laughed Kauwa.
+
+"What evil tricks are there left to teach the Bandar-log?" queried
+Hathi.
+
+"He taught me to drink gin," answered Oungea; "at first a little gin
+and much sugar, and after a time I could take it without sugar."
+
+"This rather bears out Magh's claim that you Jungle People are like the
+Men," said Sa'-zada.
+
+"Still it was not good for me, this gin," continued Oungea; "leaving
+one's head full of much soreness in the morning. But, of course, being
+young, I was possessed of much mischief that was not of the Sahib's
+teaching."
+
+"He-he! no doubt, no doubt," cried Hornbill, "it was those of your
+kind, both young and old, who plucked the feathers from my children
+once upon a time. Plaintain-at-a-gulp! but their appearance was
+unseemly. You can imagine what I should look like with my prominent
+nose and no feathers."
+
+"My Master carried in his pocket something that was forever crying
+'tick, tick, tick.' I felt sure there must be Lizards or Spiders, or
+other sweet ones of a small kind within; but one day when I had a fair
+opportunity and pulled it apart, cracking it with a stone as I had the
+Oysters, I got no eating at all, but in the end a sound beating.
+
+"Once I ate the little berries that grow on the sticks that cause the
+fire----"
+
+"Matches," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"Perhaps; I thought they were berries. Many pains! but I was sick, and
+my kind Master saved my life with cocoanut oil."
+
+"Magh knows something of that matter," declared Sa'-zada; "when she
+first came here she ate her straw bedding and it nearly killed her."
+
+"A fine record these Jungle People have," sneered Pardus. "I, who claim
+not to be wise like the Men, have sense enough to stick to my meat."
+
+"But Magh was wise," asserted Sa'-zada, "for if she had not helped us
+in every way when we were trying to save her life she would surely have
+died."
+
+"In my Master's house," said Oungea, "was one of their young, a Babe;
+and whenever I got loose, for they took to tying me up, I made straight
+for his bed, borrowed his bottle of milk--there surely was no harm in
+that, for we were babes together--and scuttled up a tree where I could
+drink the milk in peace. When I dropped the bottle down so that they
+might get it, it always broke, and I think it was because of this
+mischief that they whipped me."
+
+"Well," said Sa'-zada, "we were to have learned to-night why the
+Bandar-log were Men of the Jungle, first cousins to the Men-kind; but
+all I remember is that they ate matches and straw and got very sick.
+For my part I am very sleepy."
+
+"If you are tired, I will carry you, Hanuman," lisped Python, shoving
+his ugly fat head forward.
+
+"Even I, who find it a labor to walk on the land, will give any Monkey
+who seeks it a ride," sighed Sher Abi. "This talking of eating has made
+me hung----I mean ready to put myself out for my friends."
+
+"Take your friends in, you mean," snarled Gidar, jumping back as the
+heavy jaws of the Crocodile snapped within an inch of his nose.
+
+"I think each one will look after himself," declared Sa'-zada; "it will
+be safer. All to your cages."
+
+
+
+
+Seventh Night
+
+The Story of Birds of a Feather
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SEVENTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF BIRDS OF A FEATHER
+
+
+When Sa'-zada the Keeper had gathered all his comrades in front of
+Chita's cage for the evening of the Bird talk, Magh clambered up on her
+usual perch, Hathi's head, expostulating against the folly of throwing
+the meeting open to such gabblers.
+
+"Never mind," remarked Black Panther, "it's the great talkers that are
+thought most of here, I see. We, who have accomplished much, having
+earned an honest living, but are not over ready with the tongue, amount
+to but little."
+
+"Scree-he-ah-h!" cried Cockatoo. "By my crest! I am surely the oldest
+one here; shall I begin, O Sa'-zada?"
+
+"Cockatoo was born in Australia," declared Sa'-zada; "at least The Book
+says so, but the record of his age only goes back a matter of forty
+years."
+
+"Just so," concurred the Cockatoo, "and from there I went to India on a
+ship; and for downright evil words there is no Jungle to compare with
+a ship. Why, damn it--excuse me, friends, even the memory of my voyage
+causes me to swear.
+
+"My master, who was Captain of the ship, gave me to one of the
+Women-kind in Calcutta--'Mem-Sahib' the others called her. There I had
+just the loveliest life any poor exiled Cockatoo could wish for; it
+makes me swear--weep, I mean--when I think of the sweet Eatings she had
+for me. Not but that Sa'-zada is kind, only no one but a Woman knows
+how to look after a Cockatoo. At tiffin I was always allowed to come on
+the table, and the Mem-Sahib would take the cream from the top of the
+milk and give it to me. The Sahib threw pieces of bread at my head,
+which is like a Man's way, having no regard for the dignity of a
+Cockatoo.
+
+"One day, being frightened because of something, I fluttered to the top
+of his head, which was all bare of feathers, and verily I believe the
+Man-fear, of which Hathi has spoken, came to my new master. I could
+almost fancy I was back on the ship, for his language was much like
+that of the fo'castle.
+
+"Potai was the sweeper, a low-caste Hindoo of an evil presence; and
+save for the fact that he wore no foot-covering I should have been in a
+bad way. When the Mem-Sahib was not looking he beat me with his broom,
+simply because, that often being lonesome, I'd call aloud, 'Potai!
+Potai!' just to see him come running from the stables.
+
+"Thinking to break him of his evil habit of beating me, many times I
+hid behind the _purda_ of a door waiting for the coming of his ugly
+toes. Swisp! swisp! I'd hear the broom; 'Uh-h, uh-h!' old Potai would
+grunt, because of the stooping, and presently under the _purda_, which
+hung straight down, would peep his low-caste toes.
+
+"Click! just like that I'd nip quick, and run for the Mem-Sahib,
+screaming that Potai was beating me. I'm sure it was not an evil act on
+my part, for if any Sahib saw it he would laugh, and give me nuts or
+something sweet. That was because everyone knew that Potai was evil and
+of a low caste.
+
+"Many a time I saved the tiffin from the thieving crows----"
+
+"Caw-w-w, what-a yar-r-r-n!" growled Kauwa the Crow. "We who are the
+cleaners of cities are not thieves. What is a Cockatoo? A teller of
+false tales and a breaker of rest."
+
+"Ca-lack! even what Cockatoo has said of Kauwa is true," declared the
+Adjutant, solemnly, snapping his sword in its scabbard; "I, who am
+_the_ cleaner of cities, consider Kauwa but a thief. Once many of the
+Seven Sisters, for that is the evil name of Kauwa's tribe, stole a
+full-flavored fish from my very teeth----"
+
+"Aw, aw, aw! let me tell it, let me tell it," cried Kauwa; "let me tell
+the true tale of my solemn friend's stealing."
+
+"Now we shall get at the real history of the Feathered Kind," chuckled
+Pardus. "When the Jungle Dwellers fall out amongst themselves and make
+much clatter, there is always the chance of an easy Kill."
+
+"Caw-aw-aw! It was this way," fairly snapped Crow. "A seller of small
+things, a _box wallah_, walking in an honest way fast after the _palki_
+of a great Sahib, even on the Red Road of Calcutta, by chance was
+struck by another _palki_ and his box of many things thrown to the
+ground. Then this honest one of the straight face, Adjutant, seeing the
+mishap from his perch on the lion which is over the Viceroy's gate,
+swooped down like a proper Dacoit and swallowed some brown Eating which
+was like squares of butter, and made haste back to his perch. Even a
+Crow would have known better than that, for it was soap. And all day
+many of the Men-kind stood and looked at our baldheaded friend, for a
+great sickness came to him; and as he coughed, soap-bubbles floated
+upward. The Hindoos said it was a work of their gods."
+
+"Just what I thought," grunted Pardus; "all clatter, and no true story
+of anything."
+
+"Well," sighed Cockatoo wearily, "my Mem-Sahib always put me in a
+little house on the veranda at night. Though I didn't like it at all,
+still it was _my_ house, and one day, in the midst of a rain, when I
+sought to enter, inside were two of the Cat young."
+
+[Illustration: "AND AS HE COUGHED, SOAP BUBBLES FLOATED UPWARD."]
+
+"Kittens?" queried Sa'-zada.
+
+"Ee-he-ah; and just behind me the old Cat with another in her mouth.
+Hard nuts! but such a row you never heard in your life. When I tried to
+drag the Kittens out, the Cat dug her beak----"
+
+"Claws, you mean," corrected Sa'-zada.
+
+"Ee-he-ah--claws in my back; but the Mem-Sahib took them away."
+
+"Ugh, ugh! all lies! Bird talk!" grunted Boar. "What say you,
+Sa'-zada?"
+
+"It is true," declared the Keeper, much to the disgust of his
+questioner; "for in The Book are also other true tales of Cockatoo. The
+Mem-Sahib has written that he was a great mischief-maker. She says that
+on the back veranda of her bungalow was a filter, and when 'Cocky'
+wanted a bath, he used to turn the tap, but never knew enough to shut
+it off, so the filter was always running dry.
+
+"Also, there was a guava tree in the compound, and our friend ate all
+the guavas just as they ripened, so no one but Cocky got any of the
+fruit. That he was always fighting with Jock, her Scotch Terrier, and
+the clamor fair made her head ache."
+
+"Whatever Sa'-zada reads from The Book is most certainly true,"
+commented Magh.
+
+"I've been thinking," began the Adjutant, solemnly----
+
+"You look like it," growled Wolf.
+
+"Of a story about Kauwa," continued the Adjutant----
+
+"He stole three silver spoons from my Mem-Sahib," interrupted Cocky
+hastily, suddenly remembering the incident, "and hid them in the
+Dog-cart, where they were found next day; which shows that he is
+neither wise nor honest."
+
+"Mine is a true tale," declared Adjutant, with great dignity. "One
+morning, looking calmly over the great city to see that all had been
+tidied up, I saw my little black friend, whose voice is like unto the
+squeak of a Bullock-cart, crouched in an open window, with wings well
+spread ready for flight.
+
+"'A new piece of thieving,' thought I, and, drawing closer, I saw Kauwa
+hop to the floor, pass over to a bed on which slept a Sahib, and gently
+take a slice of toast from the top of a cup; then away went the thief.
+
+"But the full wickedness was later, for when the Sahib awoke he spoke
+to his servant in the manner which Cockatoo has related of the ship.
+And when the other, who was of the Black Kind, declared he had put the
+toast beside his Master, the Sahib beat him for a liar. Even three
+mornings did Kauwa take the toast; but on the fourth the Sahib, who was
+pretending to sleep, nearly broke his back with the cast of a boot."
+
+"Jungle Dwellers are Jungle Dwellers, and City Dwellers are City
+Dwellers," commenced Hornbill, gravely, "and I'm so glad I'm a Jungle
+Dweller. These tales show what city life is like. Save for an
+occasional row with Magh's friends, Hanuman and the rest, whose
+stomachs are out of all proportion to the quantity of fruit to be had,
+I have led a very peaceful life in the Jungle."
+
+[Illustration: "LEAVING JUST A PLACE FOR HER SHARP BEAK."]
+
+"Tell me," queried Magh, maliciously, "do your Young roost on your
+nose?"
+
+"No; that is to keep inquisitive folks at a distance. And, talking of
+Young, when my wife has laid her two big eggs in a hole in some tree, I
+shut her up there with the eggs--make her stay home to mind the house
+and the oncoming family. I plaster up the hole with mud, leaving just a
+place for her sharp beak; this to keep the Monkeys from stealing her
+and the eggs."
+
+"Kaw-aw-aw! Talking of nests," said Kauwa, "when I was in Calcutta I
+designed a nest that would last forever--yes, forever. Each year before
+that time, because of the monsoon winds, my nest had always been
+destroyed; but the time I speak of, having a job on hand----"
+
+"On beak, you mean!" laughed Sa'-zada.
+
+"Aw-haw!--to clean up about a cook-house behind a certain place of the
+Sahib's in which they bottled water of a fierce strength--as I say,
+being busy in this same compound, I spied many, many twigs of wire."
+
+"What's wire?" asked Mooswa; "I've never, that I know of, eaten such
+twigs."
+
+Sa'-zada explained, "Kauwa means bottled soda water, I fancy, and the
+wire from the corks."
+
+"A thought came to me," continued Kauwa, "to build my nest of these
+bright little things, and I did, first getting my mate's opinion on the
+matter, of course. Dead Pigs! but it _was_ a nest! We would swing, and
+jump, and hang to it by our beaks, and never a break in the wall. But I
+had forgotten all about the selfish desire of the Men--but that was
+after. The first trouble was when Cuckoo--a proper _budmash_ bird she
+is--came and laid two eggs in the nest. I saw the difference in the
+eggs at once, but my mate declared that they were all her own laying.
+She took rather a pride in her ability to lay eggs--to tell you the
+truth, we quarreled over it."
+
+"I believe that," yawned Adjutant.
+
+"However, she had her way, and started to hatch out these foreign
+devils; but the Men, as I have said, seeing my beautiful nest, sent a
+Man of low caste up the tree, and he took it away, Cuckoo eggs and all.
+It was a good joke on the Cuckoo Bird, and I was so mad at the way
+everything turned out, Caw-ha! I never made it again."
+
+"I can swallow a plantain at one gulp," said Hornbill proudly.
+
+"Why do you toss it up first?" asked Sa'-zada, alluding to the peculiar
+habit the Hornbill has of throwing everything into the air, and
+catching it as he swallows it.
+
+"It's all in the way of slow eating," answered Hornbill.
+
+"Now," said Myna, "it is surely my turn. I, Myna, who was the pride of
+the Calcutta Zoo in the matter of speech, have sat here like a Tucktoo
+not saying a word, and listening to such as Cockatoo boasting about the
+few paltry oaths he picked up from the Sailor-kind. Why, damn your
+eyes, sir----"
+
+And before Sa'-zada could still the tumult, Cockatoo and Myna, the best
+talking Bird of all India, were hurling the most unparliamentary
+language at each other that had ever been bandied about a Bird
+gathering.
+
+When Sa'-zada had stopped the indelicate scolding of the two Birds Myna
+proceeded to tell of his life.
+
+"I was born in the Burma hills, amongst the Shans. That's where I got
+my beautiful blue-black coat and lovely yellow beak."
+
+"Modest Bird," sneered Magh.
+
+"It was Mah Thin who snared me; but she was good to me, though--rice
+and fruit, all I could eat; and she never once forgot to put the
+turmeric and ground chillies in my rice; for, you know, if I did not
+get something hot in my food I'd soon die. I was somewhat like Cockatoo
+in that a Ship-man bought me and took me to Calcutta. He made me a most
+wise bird, and taught me many clever sayings. And when he was in
+Calcutta with his ship I would be put in the Zoo, so that the Sahibs
+from all parts might hear my speech.
+
+"One day Tom--that was my master's name; he taught me to call him
+Tom--said to me, 'To-morrow the _Lat_ Sahib, the Sirdar, and many
+ladies are coming to hear you talk; Myna.' Then he made me repeat over
+and over again, 'Good-morning, your Excellency.'"
+
+"It was a hard word he gave you," commented Magh.
+
+"It was indeed. Let claw-nosed Cockatoo try it; he thinks he can
+talk--let him try that."
+
+"Avast there, you lubber----" commenced Cocky, but Sa'-zada stopped
+him.
+
+"Well, I said it over and over, and over again, and Tom was so pleased
+he gave me a graft mango to eat. Next day the Viceroy and many
+Mem-Sahibs and Sahibs gathered about my cage, and the Viceroy said,
+'Good-morning, Polly.' Now this made me mad--to be called Polly, as
+though I had a hooked nose like Cockatoo; and in my anger I got
+excited, and, for-the-love-of-hot-spiced-rice, I couldn't think of what
+Tom had told me to say.
+
+"'Speak up!' said Tom.
+
+"In my anger, and forgetting the other thing, and seeing so many
+strange faces against the very bars of my cage, I blurted out, 'I'll
+see you damned first!' just as the sailors used to teach me."
+
+"Caw-haw-haw-haw! Very funny, indeed. Next to a fat bone, or the hiding
+of a silver spoon, I like a joke myself," commented Kauwa. "Once at the
+first edge of the Hot Time I went to Simla. That was also at the time
+of the going of the Sahibs, but after Calcutta it was dull--fair
+stupid.
+
+"One morning, as I was feeling most lonesome, I spied a long row of
+queer little Donkeys standing with their tails to a fence. They had
+brought loads of brick. I flew to the fence, and reaching far down,
+pulled the tail of my first Donkey. Much food! but he did kick--it made
+me laugh. I pulled the tail of every Donkey of the line, and when I had
+finished there wasn't a board left on the fence. Then the Man who was
+master of the fence, and the one that was master of the Donkeys, fought
+over this matter, and pulled each about by the feathers that were on
+their heads. It was the only real pleasant day I had in Simla."
+
+"Did-you-do-it!" screamed the Redwattled Lapwing, suddenly roused to
+animation by falling off Mooswa's back, where he had been trying to
+balance himself with his poor front-toed feet.
+
+"Caw-w-w! I did; and for three grains of corn I'd pull your tail, too."
+
+"I wasn't speaking to you," retorted Titiri the Lapwing; "I was
+dreaming of my old home in India--dreaming that the hunters had come
+into the rice fields to shoot the poor Paddy Birds and Bakula (Egret)
+for their feathers."
+
+"Murderers, you should call them, not Hunters," exclaimed Hathi. "It
+makes me sniff in my nose now when I think of the Birds I've seen
+murdered, just for their feathers."
+
+"It's an outrageous shame," declared Sa'-zada.
+
+"I did all I could," asserted Lapwing. "When I saw the Gun-men coming,
+sneaking along, crouched like Pardus----"
+
+"Sneaking like Pardus--go on, Good Bird!" chimed in Magh.
+
+"I flew just ahead of them, and cried 'Tee-he-he! Here come the
+Murderers!' so that every bird in all the _jhils_ about could hear me.
+And when Bakula, and Kowar the Ibis, and all the others had flown to
+safety, I shouted, 'Did-you-do-it, did-you-do-it!' Then the Men used
+language much like the disgraceful talk we have had from Cocky and Myna
+to-night."
+
+"You carried a heavy responsibility," remarked Sa'-zada.
+
+"All lies," sneered Kauwa. "Fat Bones! why, he can't even sit on the
+limb of a tree."
+
+"That is because of my feet," sighed Lapwing. "I have no toes behind."
+
+"Where do you sleep?" asked Magh.
+
+"On the ground," answered Lapwing.
+
+"That's so," declared Sa'-zada, "for the Natives of the East say that
+Titiri sleeps on his back, and holds up the sky with his feet."
+
+"But why should the Men kill Birds for a few feathers?" croaked
+Vulture. "I don't believe it. Nobody asked me for one of mine. In fact
+the great trouble of all eating is the feathers or skin."
+
+"Whe-eh-eh!" exclaimed Ostrich, disgustedly. "Pheu! your feathers!
+Even your head looks like a boiled Lobster. They do not kill me--the
+Men--but I know they are crazy for feathers, for they pull mine all
+out. Some day I'll give one of them a kick that will cure him of his
+feather fancy. I did rake one from beak to feet once with my strong toe
+nail. When I bring a foot up over my head and down like this----"
+
+As Ostrich swung his leg every one skurried out of the way, for they
+knew it was like a sword descending.
+
+"Yes," cried Magh, "if you only had a brain the size of that
+toe-nail----"
+
+"Stop it!" cried Sa'-zada, for this was an unpleasant truth; Ostrich,
+though such a huge fellow himself, has a brain about the size of a
+Humming Bird's.
+
+"Talking of Wives," said Ostrich, with the most extraordinary
+irrelevance, "mine died when I was twenty-seven years old; and, of
+course, as it is the way with us Birds, I never took up with another,
+though I've seen the most beautifully feathered ones of our Kind--quite
+enough to make one's mouth water.
+
+"She had queer ways, to be sure--my wife. As you all know, our way of
+hatching eggs is turn about, the Mother Birds sitting all day, while we
+Lords of the Nest sit at night. But my wife would take notions
+sometimes and not sit at all. In that case I always sat night and day
+until the job was finished. By-a-sore-breast-bone! but making a nest
+in the hard-graveled desert is a job to be avoided."
+
+"Sore knuckles!" exclaimed Magh, "where are we at? We were talking of
+feathers."
+
+"So we were, so we were," decided Mooswa. "And what I want to know is,
+do the Men eat the feathers they hunt for?"
+
+"Oh, Jungle Dwellers!" exclaimed Magh; "if you were to sit in my cage
+for half a day you would see what they do with them. The Women come
+there with their heads covered with all kinds of feathers, red, and
+green, and blue--Silly! how would I look with my head stuck full of
+funny old feathers?"
+
+"Like the Devil!" exclaimed Sa'-zada.
+
+"Like a Woman," retorted Magh. "And their hair is so pretty, too. I've
+seen red hair just like mine, and then to cover it up with a crest of
+feathers like Cockatoo wears; I'd be ashamed of the thing."
+
+"It's a sin to murder the Birds," whimpered Mooswa; "that's the worst
+part of it."
+
+"Tonk, tonk, tonk!" came a noise just like a small Boy striking an iron
+telegraph post with a stick. It was the small Coppersmith Bird clearing
+his throat. Very funny the green pudgy little chap looked with his big
+black mustaches.
+
+"The Men are great thieves," he asserted. "When I was a chick my Mother
+taught me to stick my tail under my wings for fear they would steal
+the feathers as I slept."
+
+"Steal tail feathers!" screamed Eagle; "I should say they would. Out in
+the West, where was my home, when a Man becomes a great Chief he sticks
+three of my tail feathers in his hair; and when the Head Chief of a
+great Indian tribe rises up to make a big talk, what does he hold in
+his hand? The things that are bright like water-drops----"
+
+"Diamond rings," exclaimed Sa'-zada, interrupting.
+
+"No; he holds one of my wings to show that he is great."
+
+"Yes, you are the King Bird, Eagle," concurred Sa'-zada, "the emblem of
+our country."
+
+"I can break a lamb's back with my talons," assented Eagle, ignoring
+the sublime disdainfully, "but I wouldn't trust my nest within reach of
+any Man--they're a lot of thieves."
+
+"Nice feathers are a great trouble," asserted Sparrow; "I'm glad I
+haven't any."
+
+"What difference does it make?" cried Quail; "the Men kill me, and I'm
+sure I'm not gaudy."
+
+"You're good eating, though," chuckled Gidar the Jackal. "After a day's
+shoot of the Men-kind, the scent from their cook-house is fair
+maddening. Oh-h-h, ki-yi! I've had many a Quail bone in my time."
+
+"Even Lapwing can't save _us_ from the Hunters," lamented Quail; "they
+play us such vile tricks. I've seen a rice field with a dozen bamboos
+stuck in it, and on top of each bamboo a cage with a tame Cock Quail;
+and in the center, hidden away, sat a man with a little drum which he
+tapped with his fingers. And the drum would whistle 'peep, peep, peep,'
+and the Birds in the cages would go 'peep, peep, peep,' and we Cock
+Birds of the Jungle, thinking it a challenge to battle, would answer
+back, 'peep, peep, peep,' and go seeking out these strange Birds who
+were calling for fight. Of course, our Wives would go with us to see
+the battle, and in the end all would be snared or shot by the deceitful
+Men."
+
+"That's almost worse than being taken for one's feathers," said Egret.
+"I'm glad they don't eat me."
+
+"No Mussulman would eat you, Buff Egret," said Gidar the Jackal. "It's
+because of your habit of picking ticks off the Pigs."
+
+"Some Birds do have vile habits," declared Crow. "Paddy Bird has a
+Brother in Burma who gets drunk on the Men's toddy."
+
+"I doubt if that be true," said Sa'-zada, "though he is really called
+'Bacchus' in the science books."
+
+Said Myna, "Of all Birds, I think the Jungle Fowl are the worst. The
+Cocks do nothing but fight, fight, all the time--fight, and then get up
+in a tree and crow about it, as though it were to their credit."
+
+Said Kauwa the Crow, "When one of our family becomes quarrelsome, or a
+great nuisance, we hold a meeting--I have seen even a thousand Crows at
+such meetings--hear all there is to say about him, and then if it
+appears that he is utterly bad we beat him to death."
+
+"Tub-full-of-bread!" exclaimed Hathi, sleepily, "it's my opinion that
+all Birds should be on their roosts--it's very late."
+
+"And roost high, too," said Magh, "for Coyote and Gidar have been
+licking their chops for the last hour. I've watched them. And lock
+Python up, O Sa'-zada, for high roosts won't save them from him."
+
+"All to bed, all to bed!" cried the Keeper. "To-morrow night we'll have
+some more tales."
+
+The last cry heard on the sleepy night air after all were safely in
+their cages was Cockatoo's "Avast there, you lubber!" as Myna, sticking
+his saucy yellow beak through the bars of his cage, called across to
+him, "Want a glass of grog, Polly?"
+
+
+
+
+Eighth Night
+
+The Stories of Buffalo and Bison
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+EIGHTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF BUFFALO AND BISON
+
+
+This evening the whole Buffalo herd had come out of the park to the
+meeting-place in front of Chita's cage; even their brother, the Indian
+Bison, was there, as also was the true Buffalo, Bos Bubalus.
+
+Said Sa'-zada, opening his book: "We should learn much this evening,
+for Buffalo and Bison are to tell us of their lives. But first, let me
+put you all right as to their names. Those we have called Buffalo, from
+our own western prairies, are not Buffalo at all, but Bison,
+half-brother of Gaur, who also lives in India, where the true Buffalo
+comes from."
+
+"It does not matter," said Buff, the prairie Bison, "it does not matter
+what I'm called, seems to me, for all my life I have been most badly
+treated. Why, it seems no time since I was a calf, one of a mighty
+herd, on the sweet-grassed prairie, and in those days I thought there
+was nothing in the world like being a Buffalo.
+
+"The first touch of danger I remember came in this way. The herd had
+tracked, one after another, all walking in the same narrow path, down
+to a hollow in which was water. I was feeling frisky, and, seeing
+something move, something that seemed very like a calf, smaller than
+myself, I ran after it, cocking my tail, kicking my heels in the air,
+and thinking it great sport; for, Comrades, the great weakness of all
+grass-feeders is an idle curiosity."
+
+"And did all this happen when you had your tail kinked in the air, that
+time you were a silly calf?" jibed Magh, holding a peanut out on her
+under lip, and looking down at it very sedately, as though the subject
+were of little interest.
+
+"I'll tell you my story in my own way," declared Buff. "The thing that
+I followed was like a grey shadow, and slipped about with no noise, but
+when I came close to it, with a vicious snarl it sprang up, and also
+there were three others hidden in the grass. Much milk! but I became
+afraid, and I believe I bawled. Just then I felt the ground tremble,
+and a dozen of the herd galloped towards me with their heads down. It
+was a wolf, and help came just in time, for the big fangs of the fierce
+brute cut my hind leg a little where he sought to hamstring me.
+
+"Then Mother explained, first bunting me soundly with her forehead,
+then licking me with her coarse tongue, that these Wolves were always
+following up the Herd, trying to catch a Calf, or sick Cow, or old
+Bull, to one side."
+
+"We have Wolves in India, too," said Arna, "and Chita the Leopard, and
+Bagh the Tiger. Blood drinkers! but we have many enemies there; even
+Cobra will hardly get out of the way seeking to carry to one's blood
+his sudden death. There are no animals so ill used, I believe, as
+Buffalo.
+
+"One has need of big Horns in the heart of the Jungle. Why, mine
+measure nine feet and a half from tip to tip across my forehead. And
+see the strength of them, fully the size of Bagh's leg--for I am a
+Curly Horn, which means one of great strength. Never have I locked
+Horns with a Bull that I have not twisted his neck till he bellowed.
+Eugh-hu, eugh! Next to lying in muddy water with one's nose just
+peeping out, there's nothing so pleasant as a trial of strength. And
+with all respect to Hathi's handiness of trunk, I must say I prefer
+good, stout Horns. When Bagh or Pardus come sneaking about, there's
+nothing like a long reach.
+
+"Hear that, friends," said Magh. "Here's a traveler from Panther's own
+land calls him a sneak. He, he he! now we shall get at the truth."
+
+"Yes," said Gaur, the Bison; "Panther and all his tribe are sneaks.
+They murdered a Calf of mine. To be sure, it was the Wife's Calf, for
+had I been there at the time I'd have fixed him. She had just lain down
+to rest for the night, and the Calf was a little to one side, and this
+evil-spotted thing, Panther of the Red Kind, came sneaking up the wind
+like a proper Jungle Cat. He knew I was away, for he has the cunning of
+Cobra, and how was the mother to know that any danger threatened? He
+stole like a shadow close to the poor little Calf, and with a rush
+jumped on his back and bit his neck, breaking it, and cutting it so the
+red blood ran his life all out in a little while."
+
+"I was born in Mardian," remarked Arna, the Buffalo, "many years ago;
+and save for the loss of a Calf, through Chita or Bagh's treachery, or
+perhaps a lone Cow at times, our herd feared no Dweller of the Jungles.
+Mine is a big family," he ruminated, "for we wander over almost all
+India and Burma. Before I had grown up our Bull leader had taught us
+all the method of battle. When it was Bagh, we formed up, heads out,
+with the Calves behind, and if we but saw him in time, he surely was
+slain, if he sought strongly for a Kill.
+
+"I learned all the different sounds that come far ahead of danger.
+One's ears get wondrous sharp in the Jungle, I can tell you, where the
+little Gonds hunt. If a stone went singing down the hillside, that
+meant Men, and Men meant the worst kind of danger. No Animal starts a
+stone rolling; we are too careful for that.
+
+"Also do the Jungle Dwellers not break sticks as they travel. The crack
+of a broken twig meant Men Hunters; and when a beat was on, the Jungle
+was, indeed, possessed of great sounds. All the Dwellers ran mad with
+fear--the fear-madness that is like unto the way of Baola Kutta, the
+Mad Dog. There is nothing so terrible in the life of an Animal as the
+drive of the Hunters. 'Tap, tap, tap,' like the knocking of Horns
+together, meant the strike of Beaters against the trees, and then the
+Men's voices crying, '_Aree ho teri_.'
+
+"I, who tremble not at the roar of a Tiger, shivered when I heard that,
+and lost all knowledge of which way I should run--that was in the first
+drive, of course, before I became possessed of much Jungle wisdom.
+Surely it drove us all mad. Like the sound of rain falling on leaves
+was the rush of Python's little feet as even he flew from the
+Man-danger.
+
+"Our best food was down in the _jhils_, also the nice soft mud to lie
+in, and in the early spring, after the fires had passed, the young
+bamboo shot up and we ate them. Then when we took it into our heads, we
+went up into the deep, cool sal forest and rested in peace. But in the
+Dry Time was the time of danger, for we had to travel far to find
+water. We are not like Antelope or Nilgai, who go without water for
+days and days.
+
+"I remember once when we had crept down out of the hills, leaving the
+big sal trees behind, and passing through tamarind, and mango, and
+pipal, and just as we were coming to the pool, which was almost hidden
+in the jamin bushes, I heard a roar--there was a rush and a Bagh of
+ferocious strength sprang on one of our Cows and sought to break her
+neck.
+
+"But worse than Bagh's cruel charge was the silent method of the
+little, dark Men-kind--the Mariahs. Like Magh's people, they would sit
+quiet in the trees, and as we came slowly back from the water would
+shoot arrows into us. Of this we could have no warning, neither any
+chance to fight for our lives, only the noise of the arrow coming like
+the hiss of King Cobra, and the cruel sting of its sharp end. Our Bull
+leader got one this way not strong enough to bring him to his death,
+and for days and days it stayed in his side, and made him of such a
+vile temper that the Herd had to cast him forth, and he became what is
+known as a Solitary Bull.
+
+"There is some kindness in Bagh's method, more than in the way of these
+evil Men, for when he kills he kills, and there is no more sickness;
+but of the Men, when they hunt us with their arrows or a thunder-stick
+which strikes with a loud noise, many of our kind are struck and die at
+the end of much time.
+
+"Strong as the fire-stick is----"
+
+"Arna means by the fire-stick a gun," explained Sa'-zada.
+
+"Strong as it is," continued Arna, "we Buffalo are also of great
+strength. Why, the skin on my neck and withers would stop its strike
+any time."
+
+"Stop the Bullet?" queried Sa'-zada.
+
+"Yes," asserted the Bull. "I have at least three buried in the thick
+skin of my neck, and I hardly know they are there. Why, it has been
+known in my Herd for a Bull to be struck fifteen times by one of these
+fire-sticks, and then the Men did not get him. But just behind the
+shoulders we are weak. My mother taught me a trick of this sort--'Never
+stand sideways to an enemy,' she told me. Yes, though it is good to be
+of great strength, a little wisdom is also of much use, even to a
+Buffalo."
+
+"It was so with us," concurred Prairie Bison. "From all the other
+animals we suffered little compared with the misery that came from the
+Men--the Redmen; and worse still were the Palefaces; it was, as you
+say, Brother, all because of the fire-stick."
+
+"Even I was struck by it," continued Arna; "it was this way. Early one
+morning I had gone down to a _jhil_, being alone at that time of the
+year, for our wives were busy with the Calves, and, as I was going to
+the uplands, to a favorite _nulla_ of mine, in which to rest, suddenly
+I caught sight of an evil-faced Gond; these same Gonds being of all
+Shikaris (hunters) the most strong in their thirst for blood. I rushed
+away for the hills, thinking to leave him behind. I traveled far, and
+thought to myself, now surely I have lost this small killer. Being
+hungry, I fed on the rich grass, but, as I fed, suddenly a dry twig
+broke in the Jungle, and I knew that it was either Hathi or the little
+Gond. Looking back, I saw with the Shikari another of a white face.
+Again I galloped, and trotted, and walked, up a long _nulla_, over a
+hill, around by the side of it, turned, and went far back, much the way
+I had come, only to one side. Then I sought the top of a hill where the
+bamboos grew thick, thinking to hide. As I rested, an evil smell, that
+was not of the Jungle, came to me as the wind turned in its course and
+blew up the hill. I stood perfectly still, even ceased to flap my ears
+against the wicked Flies. As I watched, suddenly this Man of the white
+face stood up from the grass just the shortest of gallops away, his
+thunder-stick roared, and something I could not see struck me most
+viciously in the shoulder. I was mad. Lashing my hips with my tail, and
+throwing my nose straight out, I charged him.
+
+"Again his thunder-stick spoke loud, but there was no sting--nothing,
+and he turned from me and ran down the hill. Just as I was almost upon
+him, he looked back, his foot caught in a bush and he fell. Now, as I
+have said, my big Horns are of great use when Bagh charges, or when
+another Bull disputes the right to command the Herd, but as for the
+small enemy lying on the ground, I could not get at him at all;
+besides, I was rushing down hill at great speed, so, though I lowered
+my head till my forehead almost crushed him into the earth, yet I had
+him not on the Horns, as, carried by my weight, I was forced to the
+very bottom. Before I could turn he was up and away, and I never saw
+him again."
+
+[Illustration: "SOMETHING I COULD NOT SEE STRUCK ME MOST VICIOUSLY IN
+THE SHOULDER."]
+
+"We are also killed by the Men," added Muskwa, the Bear. "They take off
+our black coats, and I thought, perhaps, that was lest we might come to
+life again. Yes, I think they mean to kill all Animals."
+
+"They have killed nearly all my people," sighed Prairie Cow--"nearly
+all of them. I know that is true, for one day Sa'-zada came into our
+corral, and, rubbing his nice soft hand on my forehead--I was sick that
+day, I remember--said, 'Poor old girl! we must take care of you, for
+there are not many of your sort left now.' Then he said it was a shame
+that the brutes had slaughtered us so."
+
+"Ghurr-ah!" barked Wolf, "tell of this thing, O Buffalo Cow, for to me
+it has been much of a mystery where the many of your kind could have
+gone."
+
+"Lu-ah!" sighed Prairie Cow, "it makes me sad to even think of it. As I
+have said, in my young life we were many, many in numbers like you have
+seen our enemies, the Men, here at times. All through the long, warm
+days of sun, we ate the grass that grew again as fast as we cropped it.
+Our humps became big and full of rich fat for the cold time. Not that
+I had the hump on my back as a Calf, not needing it as food, for my
+mother's milk kept my stomach at peace when the winds were cold, and
+the grass perhaps under a white cover. Sometimes when the days were
+harsh we had to travel far in search of feed grass, but that was
+nothing: few of us died because of this. Even when the Red-faced ones
+sought us, they killed but few, for their hunger was soon stayed. But
+suddenly there came to us a time of much fear. Wherever we went we were
+chased by the Palefaces, and their fire-sticks were forever driving the
+fire that kills into our faces. Our Bull leader was always taking us
+farther and farther away, and our Herd was getting smaller and smaller.
+It was a miserable life, for there was never any rest.
+
+"At last our Bull said that we must go on a long trail, for the prairie
+wind was talking of nothing but danger; so we trailed far to the south.
+For days and days we passed across hot sand deserts in which there was
+little grass and hardly any drinking. It was terrible. My hump melted
+to nothing; we were all like that, worse than we had ever been after
+the coldest time of little sun.
+
+"Then we came to a land in which there was grass and water, and none of
+the Men-kind; and once more we were content, only for thinking of our
+friends that had been killed. I don't remember how long we were
+there--I think I had raised two Calves, when one day the evil that
+comes of the Men was once more with us----"
+
+"Yes, it is even as I have said," interrupted Arna; "when one thinks he
+has got away safely, and stops for a little rest, he will see that evil
+Gond, or some other of the Men-kind, waiting to do him harm."
+
+"Just so," commented Prairie Cow; "the Palefaces had found us out. But
+I must say there was less use of the fire-sticks than before, and I
+soon came to know why they had trailed us across the Texas desert--they
+had come to steal our Calves. Never were any poor Animals so troubled
+by Man's evil ways as were we Buffalo. At first I thought they had not
+fire-sticks with them, and meant to kill and eat the Calves, they being
+less able to fight. I remember the very day my Calf was taken. As the
+Herd fed in a little valley, we saw three Wild Horses coming toward
+us--we thought they were Wild Horses, but it was an evil trick of the
+Palefaces, for beside each Horse walked one of the Men. They were down
+wind from us, so we did not discover this. Suddenly our Herd leader--he
+was a great Bull, too--gave a grunt of warning--much like Bear grunts,
+only louder; but still we could see nothing to put fear into our
+hearts. Then our leader commenced to throw sand up against his sides
+with his forefeet, and, lowering his head, shook it savagely. 'Why does
+he wish to battle?' I wondered, for the Wild Horses had never made
+trouble for my people.
+
+"Just then the Men jumped on their animals, and away we raced. I
+remember as I ran wondering why there was no loud bark of the
+fire-stick, for I could see the Hunters galloping fast after us; in
+fact one of them was close at my heels, for my youngest Calf, not two
+months old, could not run as swiftly as I wished. I was keeping him
+close; and on my other side galloped my Calf that was a year old.
+
+"Suddenly I heard a 'swisp' in the air, and my little curly-haired pet
+gave a choking gasp and fell in the grass. Of course, I could not stop
+at once, and he bawled much as I did when the Wolf was at my hock. When
+I turned in great haste I saw the Paleface on top of him. I was just
+crazy with rage. I charged full at the Man and his Horse, and it almost
+makes me laugh now to think how I kept him jumping about. He did use a
+small firestick on me, but I am sure it was because of the Man-fear, of
+which Hathi told us; I saw it in his eyes plain enough. But who can
+stand against the fire-stick? Not even Bagh or Hathi, as we know, so I
+was forced to flee with the Herd.
+
+[Illustration: "SUDDENLY I HEARD A 'SWISP' IN THE AIR, AND MY LITTLE
+CURLY-HAIRED PET ..."]
+
+"We galloped far, far, before we stopped; and that night there were
+many mothers in the Herd bawling and crying for their lost Calves, for
+these evil Men had stolen a great number. I felt so sad thinking of my
+little one's trouble that I could stand it no longer, so I went back on
+our trail, and, following up the scene of the Men-kind, came to where
+they had my Calf and the others. It was night. I soon found him, for a
+Cow Mother's nose is most wise when looking for her young. But I could
+not get him away with me, for he was held fast by something; so I
+stayed there and let him drink of my milk.
+
+"Even with the fear of a fire-stick on me I stayed with him, and in the
+morning when the Pale-faces saw me their eyes were full of much wonder.
+But I did not try to run away, and one of them, making many motions and
+noises to the other two, I think, commanded them not to harm me. Well,
+good Comrades," sighed the Cow, regretfully, "mine has been a very long
+story, I'm afraid, but when one talks of her Babe there is so much to
+be said."
+
+"And did they bring you here with the Calf?" asked Magh.
+
+"Most surely," answered Prairie Cow; "and because of my milk he grew
+big and strong, much faster than grew the other Calves, and is now big
+Bull of the Herd."
+
+"But how fared the others with no mothers?" asked Chita.
+
+"They gave them Cow mothers of the tame kind," answered the Cow.
+
+Said Arna, scratching his back with the point of his long horn: "It is
+not quite this way with us in India. We stick pretty well to the
+_jhils_ and Jungles, so the Men cannot kill many of us at one time; but
+still we are becoming fewer. Even those of the black kind now have the
+thunder-stick, and kill my comrades to sell their heads to the horn
+merchants. Think of that, Brothers, having a price on one's head, like
+a Bhil robber."
+
+Said Sa'-zada: "I wish all the Men who slay Animals, calling it sport,
+might have sat here to-night with us, that their hearts might be
+inclined more kindly toward you, Brothers, who war not against my
+kind."
+
+"Sa'-zada," cried Hathi, in a gentle voice, "could you not put all
+these things in a new book, and lend it to each one of your people so
+that they might know of these true things? Surely then they would not
+seek for the life of each one of us that has done them no harm."
+
+"I have a notion to try it, good Comrade," said the Keeper. "But in the
+meantime it is late, and now you must all go back to your corrals and
+cages."
+
+"Good-night, Prairie Cow," trumpeted Hathi, softly, caressing her
+forehead with his trunk; "your people most certainly have been badly
+treated by the Men."
+
+Soon silence reigned over the home of these outcasts from the different
+quarters of the world.
+
+
+
+
+Ninth Night
+
+The Story of Unt, the Camel
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+NINTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF UNT, THE CAMEL
+
+
+The clink of a loose chain; the complaining wail of a swinging iron
+door; the squeak of a key turning an unwilling lock--a heavy-bolted
+lock; a flutter of wings; the crunch of giant feet on the echoing
+gravel; huge forms slipping through the moonlight, like prehistoric
+monsters; a slim, ribbon-like body gliding noiselessly over the grass
+cushion of the Park's sward; muffled laughter, bird calls and a
+remonstrative grunt from Wild Boar; the merry chatter of Magh the
+Orang; a guarded "Phrut-t-t, Phrut-t-t" from Hathi, the huge
+Elephant--ah, yes, all these; surely it was the gathering of old
+friends, who, like the listeners of the Arabian Night's tales, had for
+many evenings talked of their Jungle life in front of Black Panther's
+cage.
+
+"You are all welcome," growled Pardus.
+
+Magh hopped on the end of Hathi's trunk, and the latter lifted her
+gracefully to a seat on his broad forehead. She had Blitz, the Fox
+Terrier, with her. "You will hear some lies to-night, Pup," she
+confided to him. "But who is to talk?" she asked suddenly; "Chee-he!
+Sa'-zada, our good Keeper, who's to talk?"
+
+"Camel is to tell us of his life," answered the Keeper.
+
+"That stupid creature, who is too lazy to brace up and look spry, talk
+to us? Next we know we'll have a tale from Turtle."
+
+"That's it," sneered Boar, "if one is honest and a plodder like Unt,
+bandy-legged creatures like Magh will call him stupid."
+
+Unt, with a bubbling grunt, knelt down, doubled his hind legs under him
+like a jack-knife, made himself comfortable, and commenced his personal
+history.
+
+"Bul-lul-luh!" he muttered. "I was born in Baluchistan, on the nice
+white sand plains of the Sibi _Put_ (desert). As Mooswa has said, there
+must be some great Animal who arranges things for us. Think of it,
+Comrades, I had the good fortune to be born in just the loveliest spot
+any animal could wish for. As far as I could see on every side was the
+hot, dry sand of the beautiful Sibi desert."
+
+"I know," interrupted Ostrich; "my home in Arabia was like that. I've
+listened to Arna here, and Bagh, telling of the thick Jungles where one
+could scarce see three lengths of his own body, and I must say that I
+think it very bad taste."
+
+"Yes, it was lovely there," bubbled Unt. "No wonder that Bagh, when he
+was chased by the Beaters, fled to the sand _damar_ and hid in the
+korinda thorns. Such sweet eating they are, firm under one's teeth. The
+green food is dreadful stuff. Once crossing the Sibi _Put_, when I was
+three days without food, I remember coming to Jacobabad, a place where
+the foolish ones of the Men-kind had planted trees, and bushes, and
+grass, and kept them green with water. I ate of these three green
+things, and nearly died from a swelling in my stomach.
+
+"Well, as I have said, I was born in that nice sand place, and for
+three or four years did nothing but follow mother Unt about. Then they
+put a button in my nose, and tied me with a cord to the tail of another
+Unt, and put merchandise on my back for me to carry. There was a long
+line of us, and in front walked Dera Khan, the Master. We seemed to be
+always working, always carrying something; our only rest was when we
+were being loaded or unloaded. We were made to lie down when the packs
+were put on our backs, and many a time I have got up suddenly when the
+boxes were nearly all on, rose up first from behind, you know, and sent
+the things flying over my head. I would get a longer rest that way, but
+also I got much abuse, though I didn't mind it, to be sure; for, as
+Mooswa has said, our way of life is all arranged for us, and the abuse
+that was thrust upon me was a part of my way.
+
+"But one year there came to Sibi many Men of the war-kind, and with
+them were the black ones from Bengal. It was a fat one of this kind,
+one of little knowledge of the ways of an Unt, a 'Baboo,' Dera Khan
+called him, who caused me much misery. It was my lot to take him and
+his goods to the Bolan Pass, so Dera said, for the One-in-Charge, a
+Sahib, had so ordered it. When I sought to rise, as usual, when the
+load was but half in place, he got angry and beat me with a big-leafed
+stick he carried to keep the heat from his head. But in the end I
+brought to his knowledge the method of an Unt who has been beaten
+without cause.
+
+"When all his pots and pans, and boxes of books, wherein was writing,
+had been bound to my saddle, the Baboo clambered on top. I must say
+that I could understand little of his speech, for my Master, Dera Khan,
+was a Man of not many words, but the Baboo was as full of talk as even
+Magh is; and of very much the same intent, too--of little value."
+
+"Big lip! Crooked neck! Frightener of Young!" screamed Magh, hurling
+the epithets at Camel with vindictive fury.
+
+"Unt's tale is truly a most interesting one; there is much wit in his
+long head," commented Pardus. Camel rolled the cud in his mouth three
+or four times, dropped his heavy eyelids reflectively, bubbled a sigh
+of meek resignation and proceeded:
+
+"When I rose from behind, the Baboo nearly fell over my neck; when I
+came sharply to my forefeet (for I was always a very spry, active Unt),
+he declared to Dera Khan that I had broken his back. But I knew this
+couldn't be true, for I was always a most unlucky Unt. Of course, this
+time I was not tied to the tail of a mate, but my leading line was with
+the Baboo. He shouted 'Jao' to me, and in addition called me the Son of
+an Evil Pig.
+
+"Have any of you ever seen one of my kind run away?" Camel asked,
+swinging his big head inquiringly about the circle.
+
+"I have," answered Black Panther. "Once, being hungry, I crept close to
+an Unt to ask him if he could tell me where I might find a Chinkara or
+other Jungle Dweller for my dinner. I saw _that_ Camel run. For a small
+part of the journey I was on his back; but though I can cling to
+anything pretty well, yet the twists of his long legs were too much for
+me, and I landed on my head in the sand, nearly breaking my back."
+
+"Well," resumed Camel, "you will understand how the Baboo and his pots
+and pans fared when I ran away with him, which I did as soon as Dera
+Khan moved a little to one side. At first I couldn't get well into my
+stride, for the Baboo pulled at the nose rope, and called to Dera in
+great fear. Dera also ran beside me, holding to the ropes that were on
+the boxes; many things fell, coming away like cocoanuts from a tree. An
+iron pot going down with much speed struck my Master on his head, and
+he said the same fierce words that he always used when I caused him
+trouble of any kind.
+
+"You know, though I ran fast, yet by tipping my head a little to one
+side I could see what was doing behind, and I saw a basket in which
+were many round, white things----"
+
+"Eggs," suggested Cockatoo. "Those were the round white things Potai
+brought from bazaar in a basket."
+
+"Yes, they were in a basket," repeated Camel, solemnly; "so, as you
+say, Cocky, I suppose they were eggs; but, however, they came down all
+at once on the face and shoulders of my loved Master."
+
+"And broke, Cah-cah-cah!" laughed Kauwa the Crow; "I know. More than
+once I've seen relatives of mine have their eggs broken through being
+thrown out of the nest by Cuckoo Bird."
+
+"As I have said," continued Camel, "my Master was a Man of few words,
+but at this he let go of the rope, and the language he used still rings
+in my ears. Dry chewing! how I fled. And behind chased Dera Khan, a big
+knife in his hand--in spite of his violence I had to laugh at the color
+the eggs had left on his long beard--a knife in his hand, and crying
+aloud that he would cut the Baboo's throat.
+
+[Illustration: "I REMAINED IN THE JHIL UNTIL MY MASTER HAD LOST THE
+FIERCE KILL-LOOK."]
+
+"As I swung first one side of my legs, and then the other over the
+sweet sand desert, I could feel the Baboo thumping up and down on my
+back, for he was clinging to the saddle with both hands. Sometimes he
+abused me, and sometimes he begged me to stop; that I was a good
+Unt--his Father and Mother, and his greatest friend. As he would not be
+shaken off because of his fear of Dera Khan's knife, I carried him into
+a _jhil_ of much water; there he was forced to let go, and when he got
+to the bank, if it had not been for a Sahib he would most surely have
+been killed by my Master. Hathi has told us of the fear-look he has
+seen in the faces of the Men-kind, and there was much of this in the
+eyes of that Baboo. I remained in the _jhil_ until my Master had lost
+the fierce kill-look, then I came out, and save for some of the old
+abuse there was nothing done to me.
+
+"But we all went to the Bolan Pass, carrying food for those that
+labored there making a path for the Fire Caravan, the bearer of burdens
+that is neither Bullock, nor Unt, nor aught that I know of."
+
+"It was a railroad," Sa'-zada, the Keeper, explained.
+
+"Perhaps," grunted Unt, licking his pendulous upper lip; "perhaps, but
+we Unts spoke of it as the Fire Caravan. Still it was an evil thing, a
+destroyer of lives, many lives, for never in that whole land of
+sand-hills and desert was there so much heat and so much death.
+
+"First the _Bail_ (Bullocks) died as though Bagh the Killer had taken
+each one by the throat; then those of my kind fell down by the
+fire-path and could not rise again. And the air, that is always so
+sweet on the hot sand plains, became like the evil breath of the place
+wherein nests Boar."
+
+"Ugh, ugh!" grunted Wild Boar, "even there, by this stupid tale of
+Unt's, there was something evil to be likened to my kind."
+
+"The water that had been sweet ran full of a sickness because of all
+this, and the Men that drank of it were stricken with the Black Death.
+At first it was those of the Black-kind, and then the others, the
+Sahibs, became possessed of it. And then the Burra-Sahib, Huzoor the
+Governor, was taken with it; so said one of the Sahibs who came to Dera
+Khan just as he was tying a rope about my foreleg so that I could not
+rise and wander in the night.
+
+"'It is sixty miles to Sibi,' this Sahib, who was but young, said to my
+Master.
+
+"'By the Grace of Allah, it is more,' Dera answered him.
+
+"'The Big Sahib, who is my friend, is stricken with the Black Death,'
+said the young Sahib, 'and also the Baboo Doctor is the same, being
+close to his death; and unless I get a Healer from Sibi to-morrow, the
+Sahib who is my friend will surely die.'
+
+"'If Allah wills it so, Kismet,' answered my Master.
+
+"'Have you a fast Camel?' asked the young Sahib.
+
+"'This is Moti,' replied my Master, putting his hand on my hump, 'and
+when he paces, the wind remains behind.'
+
+"Then the young Sahib promised my Master many rupees and much work for
+the other Unts, so be it he might ride me to Sibi for a Doctor.
+
+"By a meal of brown paper such as one picks up in a bazaar, I swear
+that I understood more of what that meant to my Master than many a
+Camel would have known, for had I not seen it all, this that I am about
+to tell? You know, Comrades, that the Burra-Sahib was a Man of a dry
+temper, and it so happened that one day Dera Khan had displeased him,
+which I just say was a way my Master had often. That was a full moon
+before the coming of the Black Sickness. Oh, Friends, but I had seen it
+all; it made me tremble, knowing of the readiness with which Dera Khan
+argued with his knife, like unto the manner of Pathans.
+
+"The Big Sahib would have struck my Master but for this same young
+Sahib who had now come with his offer of many rupees--this Sahib who
+had been there at that time. So, Comrades, there was _good_ hate for
+the sick man in Dera's heart.
+
+"'Will you send the Camel?' said the young Sahib; and Dera, drawing
+himself up straight, even as I do under a heavy load, held out his hand
+and said, 'Allah! thou art a Man. My goods are your goods, but for the
+other, the one who is your friend and my enemy, the wrath of Allah upon
+him.'
+
+"The Sahib was on my back in a little.
+
+"I have said before that with the Baboo and many kettles on my back I
+ran fast, but think you, Comrades, of the weight, and also of the poor
+rider, for there is nothing an Unt dislikes so much as the knock,
+knock, against his hump of one having no knowledge of proper pace. How
+the Sahib sat! Close as a pad that had been tied on; and he coaxed and
+urged--even swore a little at times, but not after an unreasoning
+manner as had the Baboo. He called me a Bikaneer, even his Dromedary,
+which means one of great speed; and begged me, if I wished food for all
+time, to hasten. How we fled in the long night, down the hot paths,
+splashing many times through the cool water that crossed our
+path--Bolan River, it is called, the water that comes from the
+high-reaching sand lands that are all white on their tops."
+
+"The snow mountains," explained Sa'-zada, for Camel's description was
+more or less vague.
+
+"As I have said," continued Camel, "the water was cool. Never once did
+I fall, though the round stones were like evil things that twist at
+one's feet to bring him down. 'Hurry, hurry, hurry!' the young Sahib
+called to me, and I laughed, thinking he would tire before I should.
+
+"On we went, passing little fires where those of the Cooly kind rested
+as they fled from the Black Death. Just as we came out on the flat sand
+which is the Sibi Desert, there were gathered in one place many Men.
+For a space we stopped, and my Rider asked if there was a Healer with
+them. They answered that they were Men of the war-kind going up to keep
+the workers from running away from the Black Death; even those at the
+little fires would be turned back, they said.
+
+"Then on again I raced. I could hear my Rider talking back to his
+friend, the Burra-Sahib, who lay stricken with the evil sickness,
+though I know not how he could hear him, for we were full half way to
+Sibi.
+
+"'Keep up your courage, Jack,' he would say, speaking to his Friend.
+'Please God, I'll have a Surgeon there in time to save you yet.'
+
+"Then he would fall to abusing some other of the Men-kind, perhaps he
+was not a friend, whom he blamed for all that was wrong. 'You puffed-up
+beast,' he would say, speaking to this other, 'to send a lot of Men to
+such a death hole with a brute of a Bengali-Baboo to doctor
+them--murder them, and a medicine chest that was emptied in a day. It's
+a bit of luck that Baboo died, but it doesn't help matters much.'
+
+"That was the Baboo I had run away with; perhaps even the medicine
+chest had lost much through its fall from my back.
+
+"Then to me, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry! Shabaz!' (push on); then to his
+Friend, 'Poor old Man, Jack! what will _She_ say if I don't pull you
+out of this? I'll never go back to England as long as I live if this
+beastly thing snuffs you out.'
+
+"Then to the other, the one who had done this evil: 'Curse you, with
+your red tape economy! You're a C. I. E.'--whatever that meant I don't
+know--'but you've murdered old Jack, who is a Man. You're out of this
+trouble up at Simla, but you'll roast for this yet.'
+
+"You know, Comrades," said Unt, plaintively, "I didn't know all about
+this thing--I couldn't understand it, you see, being an Unt, and, as
+Magh says, stupid; but someway I felt like doing my best for the young
+Sahib who did not make me cross by beating me, but only cried 'Hurry!
+Shabaz! my swift runner,' and shook a little at the nose line in his
+haste."
+
+"I have often felt that way," encouraged Hathi; "once I remember, it
+was in Rangoon, that time I was working in the timber yards. I had a
+Mahout who never stuck the sharp iron goad in my head at all. He always
+told me everything I was to do by different little knocks on my ears
+with his knees as he sat on my neck. And also by soft speech, of
+course, for, as you say, Unt, it keeps one from getting cross, or
+filled with fear, and so one has only to think of what the Master
+requires. You were right to run fast with such a rider."
+
+"This is Camel's story," pleaded Sa'-zada.
+
+[Illustration: "BUT SOME WAY I FELT LIKE DOING MY BEST."]
+
+"Never mind," bubbled Unt; "I was just trying to remember what time we
+got to Sibi--I know it was before the sands grew hot from the sun.
+Straight to the _Teshil_ (Government office) the young Sahib rode me.
+Here he made an orderly bring me food and drink while he went quick to
+bring a Healer for his Friend. I had scarce time to store half the
+_raji_ away for future cud-chewing, when back he came with a Healer of
+the White Kind.
+
+"Now, the _Teshildar_, who was Chief of Sibi, was a slow-motioned Man,
+not given to hurry; that was because the hump on his stomach was large
+with the fat of great eating; and when the Sahib asked for another Unt
+to carry the Healer, this Man who was Chief made no haste--not at
+first; but when the young Sahib, no doubt thinking of his friend Jack,
+threatened him with the wrath of the Governor, also the smaller anger
+of his own fists, the _Teshildar_ had an Unt of great speed quickly
+brought forth. Then the young Sahib, speaking to me, said, 'My
+heavy-eyed Friend, also one of much strength, can you go straight back
+the sixty miles?'
+
+"Of course, at that time I couldn't speak in his words, though I could
+understand, so I just shook myself, and stretched out my long hind
+legs, as much as to say, 'Mount to my back, and I will try.'
+
+"We started, the Healer on the other Unt, and the Sahib on my back. I
+shall never forget that ride. Sore legs! but at first it was not easy
+to keep up with my Comrade, who was fresh; but also was he a trifle
+like the _Teshildar_, fat in the hump, so in the end that had its
+effect, and I managed to keep pace with him.
+
+"We reached back in the Bolan just as the sun was straight over our
+heads. By the _raji_ that was still in my gullet I was tired; so was
+the young Sahib, for when I knelt down, and he slipped quickly from my
+back, he spun round and round like a box that has broken loose, and
+came to the ground in haste. Just as he fell, Dera Khan caught him, and
+lifted him up; then he and the Healer went to the tent where was his
+friend Jack. And I heard my Master, Dera, say afterward, that the
+little Sahib never slept while it was twice dark and twice light; that
+was until the Healer said the stricken one, Jack, the Burra-Sahib, was
+again free of the Black Death."
+
+"I think it is a true tale," remarked Adjutant, putting down his left
+leg and taking up his right. "I have seen much of this Black Death in
+my forty years of life, and the Men of the White-kind take great care
+of each other. Now, those of the Black-kind get the Man-fear which
+Hathi has spoken of, in their eyes, and flee fast from this terrible
+sickness, crying aloud that their livers have turned to water. I,
+myself, though I am a bird of little speech, could tell tales of both
+methods."
+
+"But what became of you, Unt?" queried Magh; "did you catch this
+sickness and die?"
+
+"No," replied Camel, solemnly, not noticing the sarcasm; "the little
+Sahib took me from Dera Khan by a present of silver, and kept me to
+ride on, and in the end I was sent here to Sa'-zada."
+
+"It's bed-time," broke in the Keeper; "let each one go quickly to his
+cage or corral."
+
+
+
+
+Tenth Night
+
+The Story of Big Tusk, the Wild Boar
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TENTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF BIG TUSK, THE WILD BOAR
+
+
+'Twas the tenth night of what might be called the Sa'-zada convention,
+and Black Panther was making the iron bars of his cage jingle in their
+sockets with his full-voiced roar. Shoulders spread, and head low to
+the floor, his white fangs showing, he called "Waugh, waugh! Waw-houk!
+Come, Comrades. Ganesh, One-tusked Lord of the Jungles, Muskwa and
+Mooswa; you, Sher Abi, eater of Water-men; even little Magh; come all
+of you and listen to the lies of a Swine." Then he laughed: "Che-hough,
+che-hough! the lying tales of Jungli Soor."
+
+"Ugh, ugh!" grunted Grey Boar, angrily, as he slipped up the graveled
+walk to the front of Leopard's cage. "In my land there is a saying of
+the Men-kind, that 'A lie can hide like a Panther; if it be a bad lie,
+that it is as difficult to come face to face with as Black Panther.'"
+
+By this time the animals had all gathered, and Sa'-zada opening The
+Book, spoke:
+
+"This is Wild Boar's night. I am sure he will tell us something
+interesting."
+
+"A lie is often amusing," declared Magh.
+
+"That may be so," retorted Boar, "for even Sa'-zada has said that you
+are the funniest Animal in the Park."
+
+"But why should we listen to Soor's squeaky tales?" snarled Bagh; "when
+he gets excited his voice puts me on edge."
+
+"Well," interrupted Sa'-zada, "these meetings are so that each animal
+may have a chance to tell us what good there is in him."
+
+"Then why should Soor waste our time?" queried Magh. "Even he will know
+no good of himself."
+
+"I don't know about that," answered Sa'-zada. "I think every animal is
+for some good purpose, and we can tell better after we have heard
+Boar's story."
+
+"Here are two of us, O Sa'-zada," said Grey Boar. "I, who am from
+Burma, know of the way of my kind in that land, and Big Tusk, who is
+also here, being my Comrade, is from Nagpore, in India, and can tell
+you how we are persecuted in the North. If I am all bad, can anyone say
+why it is? I am not an eater of Bhainsa, Men's Buffalo, like Bagh and
+Pardus; neither am I, nor any of my Kind, known as Man-killers. Even in
+Hathi's family have there been Man-killers--the Rogue Hathi."
+
+"But it is said in the Jungles that you sometimes kill _Bakri_, the
+Men's Sheep," declared Magh.
+
+"All a lie!" answered Grey Boar. "We are not animals of the Kill;
+neither do we wreck the villages of the Men, as does Hathi, nor drive
+the rice-growers from their lands--lest they be eaten--as do Bagh and
+Pardus."
+
+"But you eat their jowari and rice," asserted Panther.
+
+"A little of it at times, perhaps, but only a little. Our food is of
+the Jungles, and how are we to know just what has been grown by the
+Men, and what has grown of itself? And in my land, which was Aracan in
+Burma, but for me and my people the Men could not live."
+
+"In what manner, O Benefactor of the Oppressed?" asked Magh, mockingly.
+
+"Because of Python, and Cobra, and Karait, and Deboia, and the other
+small Dealers of Death," answered Grey Boar, sturdily. "We roam the
+Jungles, and when these Snakes, that are surely evil, rise in our
+paths, we trample them, and tear them with our tusks----"
+
+"And eat them, I know, cha-hau, cha-hau!" laughed Hyena, smacking his
+watering lips.
+
+"Yes," affirmed Grey Boar. "Are not we, alone, of all Animals for this
+work? When Cobra strikes, and fetches home, does not even Hathi, or
+Arna, or mighty Raj Bagh, die quickly? But not so with us. I can turn
+my cheek, thus, to King Cobra, (and he held his big grizzled head
+sideways), and when I feel the soft pat of his cold nose against my fat
+jaw, I seize him by the neck, and in a minute one of the worst enemies
+of Man is dead."
+
+"What says King Cobra, then--Cobra and the others--crawling
+destroyers?" asked Magh, maliciously.
+
+"This is Boar's story," interrupted Mooswa, seeing that Sa'-zada looked
+angry at the interruption.
+
+"As I was saying," continued Grey Boar, "Cobra and his cousins kill
+more of the Men-kind, many times over, than all the other Jungle
+Dwellers put together. Think of that, Comrades--even when we are
+searching the Jungles on every side for these evil Poisoners; so if it
+were not for us, what would become of the Men? Yet in a hot time of
+little Jungle food, if we but eat a small share from their fields, the
+Men revile us. Also, there is cause for fear at times in this labor
+that is ours. Once I remember I had a tight squeeze----"
+
+"Going through a fence into a jowari field, I suppose," prompted Magh.
+
+"I did not have my tail cut off for stealing cocoa-nuts," sneered Grey
+Boar. "The tight squeeze was from Python; and do you know that to this
+day I am half a head longer than I was before our slim Friend twisted
+about my body. But I got his head in my strong jaws just as I was near
+dead."
+
+"Perhaps you would not have managed it if he had not squeezed you out
+long," said Pardus.
+
+"What I say," continued Boar, "is, that we are not the Evil Kind that
+is in the mouth of everyone. Cobra crawls into the houses of the Men,
+and for fear of their evil Gods they feed him; and one day in anger he
+strikes to Kill. That is surely wrong. But we live in houses of our own
+make."
+
+"Certainly that is a lie," interrupted Magh. "Thou art a wanderer in
+the Jungle, a dweller in caves, even as Pard the Panther."
+
+"You are wrong, Little One," declared Hathi, "for I have seen Boar's
+house. It's a sort of grass hauda."
+
+"Yes," affirmed Wild Boar; "it is all of my own making, and of grass,
+to be sure. For days and days at a time, I do nothing but cut the
+strong elephant grass, and the big ferns, and the sweet bowlchie, and
+pile it up into a house. Then I burrow under it, and the rain beats it
+down over my back, and soon I have a nice, clean, waterproof nest. I am
+not a homeless vagabond like Magh and her wandering tribe----"
+
+"And that's just it," broke in Big Tusk, the Nagpore Boar. "We, who are
+quiet and orderly in our manner of life, living in houses of our own
+building, as Grey Boar has said, are hunted and killed by the
+White-faced ones as a matter of sport. What think you of that,
+Sa'-zada--killed just for our tusks--for a pair of teeth?"
+
+"It is likewise so with me, my narrow-faced Brother," whispered Hathi.
+"Many of my kind are slain for their tusks; I, who have lived amongst
+the Men, know that."
+
+Continued Big Tusk: "Yes, this is so; I have been in many a run in the
+corries of Nagpore. You see, I learned the game from my Mother when I
+was but a 'Squeaker,' for be it to the credit of the White ones, they
+kill not the Sows with their sharp spears."
+
+"Was that pig-sticking?" asked Sa'-zada.
+
+"It was," declared Big Tusk; "and my Mother, who was in charge of a
+Sounder of at least thirty Pigs, knew all about this game. We'd be
+feeding in the sweet bowlchie grass, or in a _thur khet_, when suddenly
+I'd hear her say, 'Waugh! Ung-h-gh!' which meant, 'Danger! lie low.'
+Then, watching, we'd see those of the Black-kind here, and there, and
+all over, with flags in their hands to drive the Pigs certain ways, and
+to show the Sahibs which way we went. Mother would always make us lie
+still until the very last minute; but almost always, sooner or later,
+the Sahibs would come galloping on their horses right in amongst us.
+'Ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh!' Mother would call to us, and this meant, 'Run for
+it, but keep to cover'; and away we'd go, from _sun khet_ to _dol_
+field, and then into _shur_ grass, from Sirsee Bund to Hirdee Bund, or
+into the tall, thick bowlchie. Now the trouble was this way: Mother was
+so big and strong that the Sahibs on their ponies always galloped
+after, thinking her a Boar. Even the Black Men with the flags would
+cry, '_Hong! Hong! Burra dant wallah!_' which means in their speech, 'A
+Boar of big tusks.' Many a time I've heard Mother chuckle over the run
+she'd given the Horsemen, for we'd lie up in the grass, and listen to
+the White-faced ones, the Sahibs, curse the Black Men most heartily for
+their foolishness in calling Mother a big-tusked Boar. It was all done
+to save the Tuskers, for while the Sahibs were chasing Mother, many an
+old chap has saved having a spear thrust through him by clearing off to
+some other _bund_."
+
+"You did have a good schooling," remarked Gidar, the Jackal. "But did
+the Sahibs never spear any of your young Brothers?"
+
+"No; as I have said, it was only a big-tusked one they cared for. But
+to me it seemed such a cruel thing, even when I was young; killing us
+with the sharp spears--for, more than once I've heard the scream of a
+Boar as he was stabbed to death."
+
+"But what were you doing in the _dol_ grass, you and your big Mother?"
+asked Bagh. "Were not you eating the grain of the poor villagers? I
+remember in my time, when I was a free Lord of the Jungles, that a poor
+old _ryot_ (farmer) had a little field--a new field it was--just in the
+edge of the Jungle. I also remember it was _raji_ he grew in it, and he
+prayed to me as though I were one of his Hindoo Gods, asking me to keep
+close watch over his field, and to kill all the Pigs, and the Chital,
+and Black Buck that might come there to destroy his _raji_. Even, to
+give me a liking for the place, that I might mark it down in my line of
+hunt, he tied an old Cow there for my first Kill. I was the making of
+that Man," declared Bagh, sitting down and smoothing his big coarse
+mustache with his velvet paw--"the making of him, for he had a splendid
+crop of _raji_, and I, why I must have killed a dozen Pigs in and about
+his field."
+
+"Oh, dear me!" cried Magh. "Sugared peanuts! Every Jungle Dweller is
+growing into a benefactor of the Men; even Pig is a much abused,
+innocent chap; and here's Bagh a protector of the poor _ryot_."
+
+"But what were you doing in the _dol_ field, Grunter?" queried Cobra;
+"that's what Bagh wants to know."
+
+"Looking for Snakes," answered Boar, sulkily. "But what if we did eat a
+trifle of the grain; was that excuse for the Sahibs killing us? With
+their Horses did they not beat down and destroy more than we did? And
+have not the people of the land, the Black-kind, taken more from us in
+the way of food than we ever did from their fields? Many a time have
+they been saved from starvation by the meat of my tribe. And yet,
+through it all, we get nothing but a bad name, and that just because we
+stick up for our rights. Bagh talks about keeping us from the Man's
+field; that is just like him--it is either a false tale or he ate
+'Squeakers'--little Pigs that couldn't protect themselves. Would he
+tackle Me? Not a bit of it! If he did I'd soon put different colored
+stripes on his jacket--red stripes. He's a big, sneaking coward, that's
+what Bagh is. Why, I've seen him sitting with his back against a rock,
+afraid to move, while six Jungle Dogs snapped at his very nose--waiting
+for him to get up that they might fight him from all sides. Ugh, ugh! a
+fine Lord of the Jungle! a sneak, to eat little Pigs!
+
+"But I did more than keep a _raji_ field for a poor villager; I saved
+his life, and from Bagh, too. I don't know that he had ever given me to
+eat willingly, or even made _pooja_ to me, but I was coming up out of
+his _thur_ field one evening, and he was fair in my path, with one of
+those foolish ringed sticks in his hand. 'Ugh!' I said, meaning, 'Get
+out of the way,' but he only stood there.
+
+"This made me cross, and I thought he was disputing the road with me,
+for I am not like Bagh, the Lord of the Jungle, who slinks to one side.
+Then I spoke again to the man, 'Ugh, ugh, wungh!' meaning that I was
+about to charge. All the time I was coming closer to him on the path.
+Then I saw what it was; my friend, Stripes the Tiger, was crouched just
+beyond the Man, lashing the grass with his long, silly tail.
+
+"Now as I had made up my mind to charge something that was in my path,
+and as the sight of Bagh in his evil temper drew my anger toward him, I
+drove full at his yellow throat. Just one rip of my tusks, and with a
+howl like a starved Jackal he cleared for the Jungle. He meant to eat
+that Man, you see."
+
+"Now we are getting at the truth of the matter," cried Magh, gleefully.
+"When these Jungle thieves fall out, we get to know them fairly well."
+
+"But tell us more of this hunting of your kind with the spears, O
+brother of the Big Tusks," pleaded Hathi. "It does seem an unjust
+thing."
+
+"Well," continued the Seoni Boar, "as I have said, while in my Mother's
+keeping, she taught me much of the ways of the Boar Hunters. Many a run
+from the Spear Men I've been in. But while I was small, and had not
+tusks, of course I was allowed to go, even when they came full upon the
+top of us; but in a few years my tusks grew, and each run became harder
+and more difficult to get away from. Besides, early in the Cold Time,
+at the time the Men call Christmas, we Boars all went off by ourselves,
+and left the Sows and Squeakers in peace; and, while I think of it,
+I've no doubt it was at this time that Bagh killed so many of my people
+in the _raji_ fields. Had there been a big Tusker or two there, Tiger
+would have been busy looking for Chital or Sambhur.
+
+"Well, through being away from my Mother this way, and mixing with the
+other Boars, I got to be quite capable of taking care of myself; and,
+as I lived year after year, finally the Black Men, Ugh! also the
+White-faced ones, gave to me the name of the Seoni Boar. So, with the
+more knowledge I gained with my years of being, the more I required it,
+for the closer they hunted me.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT BAGH KILLED SO MANY OF MY
+PEOPLE."]
+
+"Strange how it is that every Jungle Dweller's hand is against the Pig.
+I declare here, before all you Comrades, that more than once I have
+been lying dog-oh, close hid in the _bowlchie_, when a screech-voiced
+Peacock has commenced to cry, 'Aih-ou, aih-ou!' as plain as you like,
+'Here he is, here he is!' and down on my heels would come the Spear Men
+on their rushing Ponies. But I soon learned to take to the
+Scrub-Jungle, knowing that the ponies would not follow me. But even
+there in the Jungle I've been hunted by the Black-kind; and then it was
+the same way, enemies afoot, and enemies overhead. Langur, a
+fool-cousin of Magh's there, many a time has betrayed my hiding-place
+to the hunt Man. 'Che-che-che, wow, wow!' over my head the silly
+thieves would chatter and well the Huntsmen would know that I had gone
+that way.
+
+"Once when I was started out of the Seoni Bund, and was making with
+full speed through the _dol khet_, a meddlesome white Dog came chasing
+after me, snapping at my heels, and crying, 'Bah, ki-yi, bah, ki-yi!'
+Well I knew that as long as that noise kept up, I might as well be
+running out in the open in full view, so I checked my pace a little,
+and the Dog, with more pluck than good sense, laid me by the ear. With
+one rip of my tusk sideways, I cast him open from end to end. But such
+matters take some time, and check one when the run is close, and
+before I could take to cover again, a Pony was fair on top of me.
+
+"I jinked, as only a Boar who has been in many a run knows how. My jink
+was so sudden that the rider, seeking to spear me under his Pony's
+neck, came a full cropper in the black cotton-earth. Ugh-huh-huh! it
+makes me laugh now when I think of it. Of course I hadn't time to laugh
+then, for I had no sooner jinked clear of his spear than I saw coming
+up on the other side, the longest one of the Men-kind that was ever in
+the Jungle, and what with his spear he seemed like a tree. At once I
+remembered what my Mother had told me to do if ever a Spear-hunter got
+full on top of me. 'Into the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said;
+'that's your only hope.' I must say that I charged Bagh that other time
+with greater joy than I slashed into that long Sahib's Pony.
+
+"Of course, the Hunter thought I was going to run for it, so when I
+jinked short about and ripped his Pony's foreleg the full length of my
+nose, he was taken quite off his guard.
+
+"It seemed as though part of the Jungle had fallen on me, for Pony and
+Huntman came down like ripe fruit off the Mowha tree. I got one rip at
+the Man's leg, and thought I'd made a fine cut, but I learned
+afterward, after they'd caught me, of course, that it was his boot-leg
+I had ripped----"
+
+[Illustration: "'INTO THE HORSE'S LEGS,' THE OLD DAME HAD SAID."]
+
+"Oh, Sa'-zada, I believe the Seoni Boar is the best liar we've struck
+yet," said Magh.
+
+"Not so," declared the Keeper, "this tale of the pig-sticking is a true
+tale, for it is written in The Book."
+
+"I only tell that which is true," declared Big Tusk, the Seoni Boar.
+"And before I had got to the Scrub-Jungle, I had a spear driven into my
+shoulder from another Sahib, but I put my teeth through the giver's
+foot as I knocked his pony over from the side. It was a rare fight that
+day, but I got away at last."
+
+"How were you caught?" queried Magh.
+
+"Oh, that was long afterwards, and happened because of Bagh's evil
+ways. The Huntman had spread a big net in the Jungle to take Bagh, who
+had slain a Woman; and in the drive, not knowing of this evil thing, I
+came full into the net, and got so tangled up that I could not move.
+When the White Hunter saw that it was I, the Seoni Boar, he said, 'Let
+us take him alive, for he has given us mighty sport and fought well.'
+So they made a cage and I was forced into it from the net."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Magh.
+
+"Yes," replied Boar.
+
+"Well," continued the Orang-Outang, "from your own account you appear
+to be a very fine fellow. I can't understand why all the Jungle
+Dwellers, even the Men-kind, connect your name with everything that's
+evil. I doubt if one of them could speak as well for himself, were he
+allowed to tell his own story."
+
+"As I have said before," commented Sa'-zada, "it's hardly fair to give
+an animal a bad name without knowing all about him, and Boar's stories
+have all been true, I know. But it's late now, so each one away to his
+cage or corral, and sleep."
+
+
+
+
+Eleventh Night
+
+The Stories of Oohoo, the Wolf, and Sher Abi, the Crocodile
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+ELEVENTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF OOHOO, THE WOLF, AND SHER ABI, THE CROCODILE
+
+
+"To-night," said Sa'-zada, the Keeper, "we shall have a story from
+White Wolf of his home in the frozen North, and also one from Sher Abi,
+the Crocodile, of the warm land in which he lived, Burma."
+
+"I am glad there is to be a tale of the North-land," said Mooswa, "for
+it's a lovely place."
+
+"And Sher Abi is so stupid," added Magh the Orang, "that he's sure to
+fall to boasting of some of his murders."
+
+"There's little to choose between them in that respect," commented
+Muskwa, "except that for cunning there is no one but Carcajou of the
+same wit as Wolf."
+
+"Thank you, Comrade," cried Oohoo, the Arctic Wolf; "those of my land
+who are short of wit go with a lean stomach, I can tell you. But yet it
+is just the sweetest place that any poor animal ever lived in."
+
+"It is," concurred Mooswa; "forests of green Spruce trees----"
+
+"Not so, Brother Tangle-leg," objected Oohoo; "true I have been within
+the Timber Boundaries, but that was far to the south of my home. I
+remember, once upon a time, thinking to better my condition, for it was
+a year of scarce Caribou; I trailed down past Great Slave Lake to the
+home of my cousin, Blue Wolf, who was Pack Leader of the Timber Wolves.
+Ghurrh-h! but they led a busy life. Almost day and night they were on
+the hunt, for their kill was small; a Grey Rabbit, or a Grouse, or a
+Marten--a mere mouthful for a full-hungered Wolf.
+
+"But in the Northland where one could travel for days and days over the
+white snow and the hunt meant a free run with no chance of cover for
+the prey, it was all a matter of strength and speed. Leopard has
+boasted of the merit of his spotted coat for hiding in the sun-splashed
+Jungle; and also Bagh has told how the stripes on his sides hide him in
+the strong grass. But look at me, my Comrades----"
+
+"You are pretty," sneered Magh.
+
+"Here I am dirty brown," resumed Oohoo, paying no attention to the
+taunt, "and what does that mean?"
+
+"That you are dirty and a Wolf," answered Magh, innocently.
+
+"It shows that I live in a dirty brown place," asserted Wolf. "We are
+all dirty brown here."
+
+"I'm not," objected Python.
+
+[Illustration: "ONE COULD TRAVEL FOR DAYS OVER THE WHITE SNOW."]
+
+"You would be if you didn't lie in the water all day; but, as I was
+going to say, in that land of snow I was all white, and, by my cunning,
+with a careful stalk I always got within a running distance of--of--I
+mean anything I wanted to look at closely, you know."
+
+"A Babe Caribou, I suppose," grunted Muskwa; "just to see how he was
+coming on. Have I not said that he has the cunning of a great thief?"
+Bear whispered to Hathi.
+
+"But if he talks much the truth will come out," answered the Elephant.
+
+"There were just three of us Plain Dwellers in all that great Barren
+Land," proceeded Oohoo; "my kind, and Caribou, and Musk-Ox."
+
+"Eu-yah! the Musk-Ox are cousins of mine," remarked Bison. "Queer taste
+they have to live in that terrible land of rock and snow. What do they
+eat, Oohoo? Surely the sweet Buffalo Grass does not grow there?"
+
+"They do not mind the cold," answered Wolf; "they have the loveliest
+long black hair you ever saw on any Animal. And under that again is the
+soft grey fur----"
+
+"Yes," interrupted Sa'-zada to explain, "the Musk-Ox seems to have
+hair, and fur, and wool all on one pelt--much like a Sheep, and a Goat,
+and a Bison combined."
+
+"And as for eating," resumed Oohoo, the Wolf, "the rocks are thickly
+covered with moss----"
+
+"Engh-h-h! what a diet!" grunted Bison. "But you know of their manner
+of life, Brother Wolf--you must have paid much attention to their ways.
+Now in my land when Wolves came too close we gathered our Calves in the
+center of the herd----"
+
+"A most wise precaution," asserted Mooswa. "In the Calf time with us
+the moan of the Wolf pack caused us to make ready for battle; the Grey
+Runners seemed always in the way of a great hunger."
+
+"And what of grass-eating for those cousins of mine, the Caribou--what
+ate they?" sharply demanded Elk.
+
+"Caribou have this manner of life," answered Oohoo. "Just at the end of
+the great Cold Time all the Mothers go far into the Northland, for that
+is the Calf time with them; and by the shores of the great Northland
+water their Babe Caribou come forth in peace. And for food the Mothers
+eat moss, even as Musk-Ox does, for there is nothing else. Near to the
+coming of the Cold Time again the Mothers come back with their Calves,
+and the Bulls, who have been in the Southland, meet them."
+
+"Do you eat moss, Oohoo, the Wolf?" queried Magh.
+
+"Am I a Grass-feeder? Did I eat my straw bedding and become ill, like a
+wide-mouthed Monkey that I know of?"
+
+"But have you not said, Brother Wolf, that in the Northland Musk-Ox and
+Caribou eat moss because there is nothing else? Then what manner of
+food do you find?"
+
+"Ghurr-r-h! Eh, what?" gasped Oohoo, feeling that Magh had laid bare
+his mode of life.
+
+"Am I different from the others?" he snarled, seeing a broad grin
+hovering about the mouth of even Sher Abi, the Crocodile. "Because I am
+a Wolf, is there a law in the Boundaries that I shall not eat? Bagh,
+and Pardus, and Python, and Sher Abi, they are the Blood Kind, and do
+they eat moss or grass? Boar has said that all the evil of the Jungle
+is fastened upon the Pig, and in my land it is the Wolf that is wicked.
+This has been said by the Man, but are they not worse than we are? When
+the hunger, which is not of my desire, comes strong upon me, I go forth
+to seek food. I kill not Man; but if Caribou comes my way, and that
+which is inside of me says to make a kill, shall I do so, or lie down
+and die because of hunger? If a Wolf makes a kill, and feasts until his
+hunger is dead, and lies down to sleep, and kills no more until he is
+again hungered, it is all wrong, and evil words are spoken of him. But
+the Men kill, and kill, never stopping to eat, showing that it is not
+because of hunger--they kill until there is no living thing left; then
+they boast together of the slaughter.
+
+"I have seen this happening at Fond du Lac, which is a narrow crossing
+between two lakes in my own land. There the Caribou pass when they go
+to the Northland; and I have seen the Redmen killing these Moss-eaters
+as they swam from land to land--killing them beyond all count. In the
+Northland the Caribou were even as Buffalo on the Plains, they were
+that many; and they came like a running river to the crossing at Fond
+du Lac. The Men-kind were hidden behind stones, and when the Caribou
+were in the water these Red Slayers followed in canoes, and killed with
+their spears, and their knives, and their guns, until everything was
+red with blood. Not that they needed the sweet flesh because of hunger,
+for from many they took out the tongue, and left all the rest to rot.
+We, who are Wolves, and of evil repute, are not so bad as the Men, I
+think.
+
+"And also the killing of the Musk-Ox is by the Redmen," declared Oohoo.
+
+"I am afraid we must believe that," muttered Magh, "for Musk-Ox is not
+here, and it is a long way to the Northland for proof."
+
+"Neither here nor in any other animal city are there Musk-Ox,"
+explained Sa'-zada; "for none have been brought out alive."
+
+"None!" added Wolf solemnly. "The Redmen say that if any are taken
+alive the others will all pass to some other land as did Buffalo. Not
+but that one of the White Men tried it once; but there is also a story
+of Head-taking I could tell."
+
+"Tell it," snapped Pardus; "one lie is as good as another when told of
+a distant Jungle."
+
+"Well I remember that year," began Oohoo. "It was colder than any
+other time that I have memory of. We had gathered into a mighty Pack,
+Comrades; all white we were--all but our Leader, who was Black Wolf.
+And such hunger! E-u-uh, au-uh! I was almost blind because of the
+hunger pains.
+
+"The Caribou that should have passed did not come; why, I cannot say,
+for it was their time of the year, the ending of the Cold Time."
+
+"Were there no Musk-Ox?" insinuated Magh.
+
+"A Wolf can make few kills of Musk-Ox," explained Oohoo, unguardedly;
+"that is--I mean--a bad Wolf who might seek a Kill of that sort. They
+are like Bison, or Arna, bunching up close in a pack with their
+big-horned heads all facing out; and even if the circle is broken, what
+then? their fur is so thick that it would take longer jaws than I have
+to cut a throat."
+
+"You've tried it, Oohoo," suggested Magh.
+
+"No, I've heard of this matter," he answered. "But the story was this
+way. That time two White Men came to the Big Lake----"
+
+"Artillery Lake, I think," explained Sa'-zada.
+
+"I know not, but it is a Big Water, and far north. And there they built
+a shack."
+
+"You were interested," remarked Muskwa.
+
+"There were cousins of ours, the Train Dogs, with them, so I sometimes
+went close for the chance of a chat----"
+
+"The chance of a Pup, most likely," growled Gidar.
+
+"Then one Man, with two Redmen and the Dog Train, went north after
+Musk-Ox. Some of us followed, for we knew that where the Men were there
+would be much killing, and much eating left for those of a lean
+stomach. It might be that some of the Dogs would die of toil, and we
+were that hungry, that starved, that even a Huskie would be sweet
+eating.
+
+"As you know, Comrades, there is no timber grows in all that land
+beyond the Big Lake, so the Man carried a little wood in the Dog Sled
+to make hot his drinking----"
+
+"Tea," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"Day after day he tramped to the North, not seeing anything to kill;
+and all the time we were getting hungrier and leaner of stomach. At
+night we would come close to the little tepee wherein the Hunter slept,
+and I fear that something would have happened to him if it had not been
+for the wisdom of our Leader, Black Wolf.
+
+"'Wait, Pack Comrades,' he would say, 'there will surely be a kill of
+many Musk-Ox. I know the way of the White Men--they come here but for
+the shedding of blood.'
+
+"But one night, being close to the edge of starvation, seeing one of
+the Huskies come forth from the tepee, not knowing what I did--Ghur-rh!
+I had him by the throat. Even now as I remember it, perhaps it was
+another of the Pack that put his strong jaws on the Dog's gullet--yes,
+I think it was another.
+
+"'Ki, yi-i-i-i! E-e-eh!' he whined.
+
+"'Buh!' loud the Firestick barked as the White Man smote at the Pack
+with it.
+
+"After a manner there was some eating that night, what with the Huskie
+and three of our kind the Man slew with the Firestick."
+
+"Cannibal!" exclaimed Magh in disgust.
+
+"It was to save our lives," exclaimed Oohoo. "At last the White Man
+came to a herd of Musk-Ox; but what think you of the temper Black Wolf
+had when he saw that the Men-kind were not for making a big Kill at
+all; just the matter of a Head or two to take back with them."
+
+"Queer taste, sure enough," cried Cockatoo. "Now, if it had been a head
+with a crest like mine----"
+
+"Or even if it had been Magh's head," insinuated Pardus.
+
+"Eu-wh, eu-u-u-h! to think that a Pack of famished Wolves had trailed
+so far through the snow, holding back from a Kill of the Men-kind, and
+to get--nothing! True, the Men killed for their own eating and the
+Dogs', but what was that to a whole Pack? Buh-h-h! even now it makes me
+laugh when I think of the manner we tore down the tepee one night, for
+the Men had taken the eating inside to keep it from us.
+
+"After that, having learned wisdom, they killed one of these fat
+creatures for us each day. Ghurrh! but a bite!
+
+"And from listening beside the tepee at night, I learned that the
+Redmen were angry because of the Head-taking. These Forest-Dwellers
+think, Comrades, that if they sell or give away the head of a Kill all
+their strength in the hunt will depart."
+
+"It's a wondrous good thing to believe, too," declared Coyote. "Many an
+honest meal I've come by when I was woefully hungry through the matter
+of a head stuck on a pole, or stump, as a gift to Matchi-Manitou. I
+remember one particularly fat head of Muskwa--I mean--but you were
+saying, Brother Oohoo, a most interesting happening of the Musk-Ox when
+I interrupted you."
+
+"So, when the Redmen knew that it was heads their White Comrade was
+after, they were filled with anger, and a fear of the wrath of Manitou;
+they declared that something of an evil nature would happen to them if
+he took from that land the Heads. And, would you believe it, Comrades,
+whether there was truth in the power of this Head-matter or not, I am
+unable to say, being but Oohoo the Wolf, but two days from that time,
+as they journeyed back toward the Big Water, they fell in with a large
+Herd of the round-nosed Musk-Ox, and the Wind wrath came upon them. The
+Redmen, thinking to stop the taking of Heads, talked to the
+Moss-eaters in a loud voice, as though they were men, bidding them go
+far over the Barren Lands and tell all the other Musk-Ox to keep away,
+for here was a taker of Heads. But the White Man only laughed, and
+killed a Bull Leader who had a beautiful long black beard, swearing
+that such a Head was a prize indeed.
+
+"Comrades, perhaps there is someone looking over the lives of Animals
+who has power with the Wind and the White Storm. Of this I know not,
+but it is a true tale that even as he cut the head from the dead
+Moss-eater, such a storm as had not been in the memory of any Dweller
+came with the full fury of a hungry Wolf Pack down upon that land. Like
+Pups of one litter all of us Wolves huddled together, pulling the cover
+of our tails over our noses to keep the heat in. We waited; and moved
+not that day, nor that night, nor the next day, nor the night after
+that again. Bitter as the storm was, I almost laughed at Black Wolf's
+lament. 'Now the men will be dead and lost to us when we might have had
+them,' he kept whimpering; 'there will be no more killing of Musk-Ox,
+and we shall go hungry.'
+
+"As we crawled out when the storm ceased, our Leader went to where the
+snow was rounded up a little higher than the rest. 'Here is the
+Musk-Ox,' said Black Wolf; 'let us eat.'
+
+"I remember, as we dug at the snow there was a strong scent of Man. 'It
+is the Hunter dead, I think,' Black Wolf said, poking his nose down
+into the snow.
+
+"But all at once, 'Buh!' came a hoarse call from the Firestick, and
+Black Wolf, our Leader, 'E-e-he-uh!' fell over backward, dead. Then I
+knew what it was. The Huntman had cut open the Musk-Ox, and crawling
+inside, had kept his life warm through the fierce storm. But the Redmen
+had gone. Whether they had died because of the storm, or trailed away
+because of the Head-taking, I know not; but there they were not. Close
+curled against the Musk-Ox had lain the Hunter's three Dogs, and they,
+too, were alive.
+
+"Then commenced such a trail of a Man, Comrades, as I, Wolf though I
+am, never wish to see again. E-u-uh! eu-u-uh! but it was dreadful, for
+in his face there was the Fear Look that Hathi has spoken of. Night and
+day it was there, I think, for he dared not sleep as he hurried back
+toward the Big Water. Being without a Leader, we were like a lot of
+Monkeys, fighting and jangling amongst ourselves. Some were for killing
+him, but others said, 'Wait, surely he will make a kill of Musk-Ox
+again, and then we shall have eating--what is one Man to a Wolf Pack in
+the way of food?'
+
+"That day, coming up with a Herd, he shot two of the Moss-eaters, and,
+as we ate of them, he trailed to the South; but that availed him
+little, Comrades, for the swing of a Wolf's going is like the run of a
+river; and when he camped that night we also camped there. And the next
+day, and the next, it was the same; the Huntman pushing on with tiring
+walk striving for his life, and, behind the Pack--some howling for a
+Kill of the Man, and some fighting to save him that we might have
+greater eating.
+
+"It was the last day before we came to the Big Water. That day, being
+full famished, for we had passed the land of the Musk-Ox--though to be
+sure he had killed two Caribou for us--we ate his Dogs, and he was
+fleeing on foot.
+
+"I must say, Comrades, though I lay no claim to a sweet nature, yet I
+wished not to make a Kill of the Man. But five times, as I remember it,
+some of the Pack, eager for his life, closed in on him; and five times
+with the Firestick he slew many of my Wolf Brethren. Comrades, he made
+a brave fight to reach the shack."
+
+"This is a terrible tale," cried Magh, excitedly. "Did he reach the
+shack alive, Oohoo?"
+
+"Yes, but would you believe it, Comrades, the White Man who had been
+left behind, through being alone and through drinking much Firewater,
+had become mad, even as I have seen a Wolf in the time of great heat;
+and he knew not his Comrade, the Huntman, but called through the closed
+door, 'Go away, go away!'
+
+"'I am Jack,' called the Huntman.
+
+"'Jack is dead!' yelped the Man who was mad. 'He is dead out in the
+strong storm, and you are an evil spirit--go away! go away!'
+
+"Oh, Hathi, it was dreadful, dreadful.
+
+"'Let me in, Tom; I am Jack,' pleaded the Huntman who had come so far
+through the snow; and, just beyond, we of the Wolf Pack waited, waited,
+waited.
+
+"Sa'-zada, the cry of the lone Wolf is not so dreadful as the yelpings
+of the Man who was mad. Even we of the Wolf Pack moved back a little
+when he called with a fierce voice. And he always answered: 'Go away!
+You are an evil spirit. Jack is dead! But I did not kill him--Go away!'
+And, Sa'-zada, though it is dreadful, yet it is true, he struck with
+his Firestick full through the door, and killed the Man who was Jack.
+And in the end he, too, died, and the Wolves buried them both after the
+manner of Wolves."
+
+"Chee-hough! it's a terrible tale," said Magh.
+
+"It is true," answered White Wolf; "and all that is the way of my land
+which is the Northland.
+
+"In the Hot Time sometimes there are the little red flowers that are
+roses, but in the long Cold Time it is as I have said, cold and a land
+of much hunger. But it is my land--the Northland."
+
+"Engh-h-hu!" sighed Sher Abi, opening his eyes as though just coming
+out of a dream; "I had an experience one time very much like that,
+Brother Wolf."
+
+[Illustration: "'LET ME IN, TOM; I AM JACK,' PLEADED THE HUNT MAN."]
+
+"Of a snow storm, Sher Abi?" queried Mooswa, doubtingly.
+
+"No, my solemn friend, I know nothing of snow; I speak of having a Man
+inside of one. As Sa'-zada has said, I think it's quite possible, and
+I'm sure they must rest nice and warm, too."
+
+"Did a Man cut you open, Magar?" sneered Magh.
+
+"No, little Old Woman, he did not; he was busy that day taking off your
+tail for stealing his plantains."
+
+"Tell us about it, Magar," lisped Python. "Wolf's tale of his snow-land
+makes me shiver."
+
+"There is not much to tell," murmured Sher Abi, regretfully. "It was
+all over in a few minutes, and all an accident, too; and, besides, it
+was only one Man. You see, I was sunning myself on a mud bank in
+Cherogeah Creek, when I heard 'thomp, thomp, thomp!' which was the
+sound of a Boatman's paddle against the side of his log dug-out. I slid
+backward into the water, keeping just one eye above it to see what
+manner of traveler it might be. It was old Lahbo, a villager who often
+went up and down that creek, so I started to swim across, meaning to
+come up alongside of his canoe and wish him the favor of Buddha. As you
+know, Comrades, all Animals love these Buddhists, for their Master has
+taught them not to take the life of any Jungle Dweller.
+
+"As I have said, I was swimming across the creek, when Lahbo, who must
+have been asleep, suddenly ran his canoe up on my back. It was such a
+light little dug-out, too, quite narrow, and being suddenly startled, I
+jumped, and by some means Lahbo's canoe was upset. Poor old Lahbo! How
+my heart ached for him when I heard him scream in the water."
+
+"Oh, the evil liar!" whispered Magh in Hathi's ear.
+
+"Hush-h!" whistled Elephant, softly, through his trunk; "Sher Abi was
+ever like this; I know him well. It is just his way of boasting; he
+knows nobody believes it."
+
+"Poor Lahbo," continued Magar. "I swam quickly to help him, picked him
+up tenderly in my jaws, and started for the shore. I would have saved
+his life in another minute, but his cries had gone to the ears of some
+Villagers, and they were now on the bank of the creek, and with two
+Firesticks, also. I was in a terrible fix, Comrades; if I held my head
+under water, poor Lahbo would drown; if I held it up, the Village Men
+would kill me with the Firestick."
+
+"How did it end, Saver of Life?" asked Pardus. "Did poor Lahbo ask you
+to swallow him to save his life?"
+
+"I really can't say what did happen," answered Sher Abi. "To this day
+tears come into my eyes when I think of poor Lahbo. And it was all the
+fault of the Villagers, for when the Firestick coughed, I think the
+Man-fear, that Hathi has spoken of, came over him, for he commenced to
+wriggle about so that I couldn't hold him. I was so careful, too, for
+my teeth are sharp, and I was afraid of hurting him. But, anyway,
+before I knew it, Ee-eh-he! he had slipped down my throat; poor Lahbo!
+And do you know, Comrades, I'm a little afraid I'm not done with him
+yet, for he had a big two-handed dah (sword) in his waist-band, and I
+know that some of the pains I feel at times are due to that; there's
+nothing so hard to digest as a Burmese dah. And to this day, Comrades,
+sometimes when I'm jumping about it seems to me that bangles and rings
+that are inside of me string themselves on that sword--I fancy at times
+I can hear them jingle."
+
+"How did you come to have bangles inside of you?" asked Magh most
+solicitously.
+
+"Engh-hu! little Moon-face, you make me very tired. If any one tells a
+tale you try to put false words into his mouth."
+
+"And bangles," snapped Magh.
+
+"Who spoke of bangles?" asked Sher Abi. "I said not that they were
+bangles, but that it was like that--the pains I mean. Perhaps even
+Lahbo dropped the dah overboard, for all I know. And look here, little
+one, Moon-faced Languar, if you doubt what I say, you may go inside and
+see for yourself."
+
+"How came you to this place, Sher Abi?" asked Mooswa. "Did the
+Villagers catch you then?"
+
+"Not that time. But once, hearing a Pariah Dog in great distress, I
+thought he called to me for aid, even as poor Lahbo had done, so I swam
+quickly to lend him help----"
+
+"Poor Dog," jeered Magh.
+
+"But it was all a vile trick of the Men-kind," declared Magar; "though
+at the time, not knowing of this, I paid no heed to the matter. There
+were two long rows of stakes in the water coming close together at one
+end----"
+
+"Lough-hu! I know," murmured Buffalo; "the walls of a stockade."
+
+"Yes," sighed Sher Abi. "And as I pushed through the small end, the
+poor Dog being just beyond, and in great distress, a big rope drew
+tight about my neck, and before I could so much as object, many of the
+Men-kind pulled me out on to the dry land. Then I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada."
+
+"Well, well," murmured Hathi, "it seems to me that every Jungle-Dweller
+thinks he's badly treated, but judging from all the tales I've heard I
+think we've all got our faults--I think we're nearly as bad as the
+Men-kind."
+
+"My people are not," objected Buffalo; "we never did harm to anyone."
+
+"Neither did we," exclaimed Mooswa.
+
+"Nor we," added Elk; and soon the clamor became general, all holding
+that the Men-kind who killed almost every animal for the sake of
+taking its life, and not because they were driven to it by lean
+stomachs, were much worse than the Jungle-Dwellers.
+
+"Well, well," decided Hathi, "it seems that most of you are against me,
+anyway. I think Buffalo is right in what he says, but some of us have
+done much wrong to the Men-kind----"
+
+"Meaning me, of course," ejaculated Wild Boar. "I, who lay no claim to
+being good, and who am counted the worst of all Animals, say, with
+Buffalo, that the Men-kind have done more harm to me than I to them,
+and have been of less benefit to me than I to them."
+
+Then Sa'-zada spoke: "Comrades, this is a question that we can't
+settle. If we were all like the Buddhists, and took no life except
+because of great need, perhaps it would be better. But now you must all
+go back to your cages and corrals to sleep."
+
+
+
+
+Twelfth Night
+
+The Story of Sa'-Zada, "Zoo" Keeper
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TWELFTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF SA'-ZADA, THE "ZOO" KEEPER
+
+
+It was the twelfth night of the Sa'-zada stories. For eleven evenings
+Tiger, and Leopard, and the others had told of their manner of life,
+with more or less relevancy. This night Sa'-zada, the little Master,
+was to speak of his jungle and forest experience.
+
+Magh, the Orang, was filled with a joyous anticipation. Perched as
+usual on Hathi's broad forehead, she gave expression to little squeaks
+of enjoyment.
+
+Once even she stuck out her long, elastic under-lip and broke into the
+little jungle song she always had resource to when pleasantly excited:
+
+"Co-oo-oo-oo-oo! Co-wough, wough-oo!" with a rising inflection that
+made the listener's ears tingle. She even danced a modest can-can on
+Hathi's patient old head.
+
+The Keeper came briskly up the walk, and patting Hathi's trunk
+affectionately as it was held out to him, sat on the grass with his
+back against Mooswa's side.
+
+"Well, Comrades," he commenced, "before I came to a state of
+friendship with the Jungle Dwellers, I was like a great many others of
+my kind, and thought the only pleasure to be got from animals was in
+killing them."
+
+"It is the beginning of a true talk," commented Pardus.
+
+"And, so, in that time I hunted a great deal," continued Sa'-zada.
+"When I first went to Burma to live, my bungalow was just on the edge
+of the Jungle, and some of the Dwellers were always forcing their
+presence upon me--either Snakes, or Jackals, or Jaruk the Hyena, or the
+Bandar-Log; and one night even a Rogue Elephant----"
+
+"Hum-p-p-ph! he should have been prodded with a sharp tusk," commented
+Hathi.
+
+"A Rogue Elephant," continued Sa'-zada, "came down and played
+basket-ball with my garden and bamboo cook-house. Gidar the Jackal,
+with a dozen companions, used to gut my kitchen, and then sit out in
+the moonlight and howl at me in derision."
+
+"We sing at night because we can't help it, and not because of ill will
+to the Men-kind," corrected Gidar.
+
+"Well, one night, as the Jackals were in the middle of a heavy chorus,
+they suddenly ceased; a silence as of death came over everything; it
+seemed as though all life had gone miles away from that part of the
+country. Then came a hoarse call which shook my little bungalow----"
+
+"I know," interrupted Gidar, "when we stop singing and move away
+silently it is to make room for Bagh the Killer. We object to being
+seen in the company of a murderer like that."
+
+"Yes, it was Tiger," asserted Sa'-zada, "and two Sahibs, who were my
+companions, and, like myself, new to the country, determined to get
+him.
+
+"So next evening we took a Goat and tied it just inside the Jungle,
+each one of us lying down on the ground at a short distance from our
+bait. But the Goat commenced to browse quietly and refused to bleat. I
+tried jumping him up and down by the tail and back of his neck, and
+he'd bleat just as long as I'd pump. At last I tied him up so that he
+stood on his hind legs, and he called then with full vigor. For the
+matter of an hour we lay thus, when presently, behind me, I heard the
+stealthy step of some huge Jungle Dweller coming for the Goat.
+
+"It was the most deliberate animal I had ever waited for; it seemed
+hours that those carefully planted feet had been heading towards the
+back of my head. I could see nothing, for I was facing the other way,
+and I dared not turn over for fear of frightening the approaching Tiger
+away. This is a true tale, Comrades, and I did not like overmuch the
+idea of Bagh or Pardus, whichever it might be, pouncing upon me from
+behind."
+
+"And they would do it," declared Gidar, "for there is a saying in
+their tribe that 'a kill from behind is a kill of skill.'"
+
+"Were you afraid, little Master?" asked Hathi.
+
+"I didn't like it," answered Sa'-zada, evasively.
+
+"I've lain close hid in the Elephant Grass," said Bagh, "when a mighty
+drive of the Sahibs was on; and perhaps you felt that time, O Sa'-zada,
+even as I did."
+
+"I, too, have heard the Pigstickers galloping, galloping all about a
+little _nulla_ where I have sought for safety and the chance of my
+life," added Wild Boar, "and it's dreadful. If all the Sahibs could
+have known that feeling, even as you did, O Sa'-zada, perhaps they
+would hunt us less."
+
+"Perhaps," answered the Keeper; "but I could hear the great animal
+creeping, oh, so carefully, step by step, hardly a twig shifting under
+his cautious feet--only a little soft rustle of the leaves as they
+whispered to the sleepy night air that something of evil was afoot. It
+got on my nerves, I must say, for I knew that I had not one chance in a
+thousand if Bagh were to spring upon me from behind. A fair fight I did
+not mind. I dared not even whisper to my companions, for they were a
+short distance from me, lest I should frighten the quarry away. When
+the soft-moving feet were within five yards of my head they became
+silent, and I felt that the great animal, Bagh or Pardus, or some
+other Killer, was crouched ready for a spring.
+
+"One minute, two minutes, an hour--perhaps half the night I seemed
+waiting for something to happen. The suspense was dreadful. One of my
+comrades had heard the footsteps, too, for I could see his rifle gleam
+in the moonlight as he held it ready to fire at sight of the animal.
+The strain was so trying that I almost wished Bagh would charge.
+
+"But at last my nerves got the better of me and I turned over on my
+face, bringing my Express up to receive the visitor. The noise startled
+him, and with a hoarse bark he was off into the Jungle. It was only
+little ribbed-faced Barking Deer, who had come out of curiosity to see
+what the Goat was making a row about."
+
+Hathi gave a great sigh of relief, for the Little Master's story of
+thrilling danger had worked him up to a pitch of excited interest.
+
+"I remember a little tale of a happening," said Arna the Buffalo. "We
+were a herd of at least twenty, lying in a bit of nice, soft muddy
+land, for it was a wondrous hot day, I remember, when suddenly right
+through the midst of us walked a Sahib, and with him was one of the
+Black Men-kind. By his manner I knew that he had not seen us, being
+half-buried as we were in the _jhil_. Just beyond where we rested was a
+plain of the dry grass Eating, and to that our enemies the Men passed.
+Comrades, the method of our doing you know, when there is danger. If
+it is far away, and we see it, we go quickly from its presence, as is
+right for all Jungle Dwellers; but should it come suddenly close upon
+us we fight with a strength that even Bagh dreads.
+
+"As I have said, seeing the Sahib so close, our Leader sprang up and
+snorted in anger. Now Bagh, when he is in an evil temper, roars loudly;
+but we, being people of little voice, trusting more to our horns than
+to noise, only call 'Eng-ugh!' before we charge. So, when our Leader
+called twice, we rushed out into the field where was this Sahib. I
+remember well, the Black man ran with great speed across the Plain, but
+the Sahib faced us. In his eyes there was a look such as I have seen in
+the eyes of another Bull when I have challenged him, and it was a
+question whether we should fight or not.
+
+"But fear came not to this Man," added Arna, decidedly, "for as we
+raced down upon him, he smote at us with his Firestick, and taking the
+cover that was on his head----"
+
+"His helmet," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"The cover in his hand," proceeded Arna, "charged full at us, calling
+us evil names in a loud voice. I know not which of us turned in his
+gallop, but certain it is that the herd passed on either side of the
+Man and he was not hurt."
+
+"But did you not turn and trample him?" asked Boar.
+
+"No," answered Arna; "when we charge we charge, and there's an end of
+it."
+
+"That is also our way," concurred Bagh, "except, perhaps, when we are
+struck by the Firestick, then sometimes we turn and charge back."
+
+"By-the-memory-of-honey!" said Muskwa the Bear, "I should like to hear
+a tale from Sa'-zada of my people."
+
+"Well," declared the Keeper, "there was a happening in connection with
+Muskwa's cousin, Grizzly, that makes me tremble--I mean, calls up
+rather unpleasant memories to this day."
+
+"I'm glad of that--Whuf! glad we're to have the story," corrected
+Muskwa, apologetically.
+
+"It was in the Rocky Mountains," began Sa'-zada, "in the South Kootenay
+Pass. I was after Big Horn, the Mountain Sheep, with two Comrades, and
+a guide called Eagle Child, when we saw a big Grizzly coming down the
+side of a mountain called the Camel's Back.
+
+"Now, Eagle Child was a man very eager to do big things, so, almost
+without asking my consent, he laid out the whole plan of campaign. On
+the side of the Camel's Back Mountain grew a spruce forest, and through
+this snow avalanches had ploughed roadways, from top to bottom, looking
+like the streets of a city. Eagle Child called to me as he forded the
+mountain stream on his Horse that he would go up one of these snow
+roads and get the Grizzly, or turn him down another one for me.
+
+"Now, Comrades, Muskwa here is a man of peace, loving his honey and his
+Ants, but Grizzly is one to interview with great caution, and my
+Comrade, Eagle Child, being a man of unwise haste, you will understand,
+Comrades, that I expected strange happening when he started to
+interfere with Grizzly's evening plans, for it was toward the end of
+the day."
+
+"It is not wise to meddle with one of a short temper," declared Hathi.
+
+"I am not one of a short temper," objected Grizzly. "I seek a quarrel
+with no one; but, perhaps, if this man, who was Sa'-zada's comrade,
+sought to make a kill of one of our kind, there may have been trouble.
+If I am of a great strength why is that--is it so that I may be killed
+easily? Have I not strong claws just as Bagh has his teeth, and Boar
+his tusks, and Python his strength of squeeze?--even also have I
+somewhat of a squeeze myself. And shall I not use these things that I
+have, as do the other Forest Dwellers when their desire is to live? I
+am not like Elk that can gallop fast--flee from a slayer. And so, if I,
+being strong, fight for my life, it is temper, eh? Wough! I am as I am.
+But go on, Little Master--tell us of this happening."
+
+"As I was saying," recommenced Sa'-zada, "when Eagle Child in his
+great eagerness started after that Bear, I had an idea there would be
+fun, and there was--though I must say that I followed up to give him
+some help."
+
+"There was no harm in that," said Grizzly, magnanimously. "Comrades of
+the same kind must help each other."
+
+"That Eagle Child had ridden up to meet the Grizzly was in itself a
+fair promise for excitement, but also his Cayuse was one of the
+jerkiest brutes ever ridden by anybody. He had a great dislike for
+spurs."
+
+"Quite right, too," bubbled Unt the Camel; "I remember a Cavalry Man on
+my back once----"
+
+Sa'-zada interrupted Camel, and continued: "A dig from the spurs and
+the Cayuse would refuse to budge; but, of course, the rider knew that.
+
+"Eagle Child thought that the Bear was working down in a certain
+direction, but, as you know, Comrades, Muskwa is a fellow of many
+notions, turning and twisting and changing his course beyond all
+calculations."
+
+"Yes, we are like that," assented Muskwa. "It is our manner of life. We
+find our food in small parts, and in many places--berries here, and
+Ants there, and perhaps Honey on the other side. We are not like Bagh,
+who goes straight for his Kill, for we must keep a sharp lookout or we
+shall find nothing."
+
+"Well, Grizzly evidently turned, for, while my Guide was looking for
+him in one direction, he bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse from
+a totally different quarter. This rather startled Eagle Child; and,
+though he should have known better, he dug the silly spurs into his
+erratic tempered Horse, with the result that the latter balked--bucked
+up like a stubborn mule.
+
+"This looked as though he meant to stop and fight it out--the Grizzly
+evidently thought so, for he gave a snort of rage and tore down the
+mountain full at his enemy. I dared not shoot for fear of striking my
+comrade; but one bullet wouldn't have mattered, anyway; it wouldn't
+have stopped the charging Grizzly. Luckily for Eagle Child, his Horse
+reared just as the Bear arrived, and though he was sent flying,
+Muskwa's cousin did not succeed in clawing him, his time being taken up
+in making little pieces of the Horse. Eagle Child arrived at the foot
+of the mountain very rapidly, for all this had happened at the top of a
+long shale cut bank, and he did not look for smooth paths, but just
+came away without regard to the means of transport."
+
+"And is that all of the tale?" inquired Magh, with a rather
+disappointed air, for she had hoped to hear of Muskwa's getting the
+worst of the encounter.
+
+"Not by any means," answered Sa'-zada; "that was but the beginning. My
+comrade being out of the way," he continued, "I fired at Grizzly."
+
+[Illustration: "THE GRIZZLY ... BOUNCED OUT NOT TEN YARDS FROM THE
+CAYUSE."]
+
+"To kill him?" exclaimed Mooswa, reproachfully.
+
+"That was before I was comrade to the Jungle Dwellers," apologized the
+Keeper--"before I knew they were more interesting alive than dead. And
+I fear I struck him, too," he added, "for when he had finished knocking
+the Horse to pieces we saw him go up the side of the Camel's Back
+limping as though a leg had been broken."
+
+"That was a shame," declared Mooswa.
+
+"It would have been a great shame, an outrage," asserted Bagh, "if I,
+or Pardus, or even Hathi had broken the leg of a Man; we would have
+been hunted by a drove of twenty Elephants, and many of the Men-kind."
+
+"But," objected Magh, "as Sa'-zada has said, that was before he had
+proper wisdom, so we bear him no malice. Even Muskwa does not, do you,
+old Shaggy Sides?"
+
+"No, I did not know the law of life then," said the Keeper; "and Eagle
+Child and myself followed after poor old wounded Grizzly and in our
+hearts was a desire for his life. Eagle Child was cross because I had
+laughed at him when he came down all covered with mud, also he had lost
+a Horse. He swore that he would kill that Bear if it took a week."
+
+"I know," commented Hathi, swinging his trunk sideways and lifting
+Jaruk off his feet with a blow in the ribs as if by accident. "I hate
+the smell of that Jungle Scavenger," he confided to Magh in a whisper.
+"I know," he continued aloud, "I've heard the Sahibs swear often, over
+a less matter than the killing of a Horse, too."
+
+"We thought that Grizzly was badly wounded and couldn't go far, and
+that we should soon come within range of him up amongst the rocks."
+
+"Of course, he went up, having a broken leg," declared Pardus; "that's
+the way with all Forest Dwellers--one pitches going down on three
+legs."
+
+"But it was getting late, so we hurried fast. I had tied my Horse to a
+tree, for the climb was steep. Up, up, up we went; sometimes catching
+sight of Grizzly, sometimes seeing a drop of blood----"
+
+"Dreadful," whimpered Mooswa. "Why should Men be so eager to see the
+blood of Forest Dwellers who have not harmed them?"
+
+"Sometimes we saw blood on the rocks," proceeded Sa'-zada, "and
+sometimes we followed Grizzly's trail by the mark of a stone upturned
+where his strong claws had been planted. Once I got another shot at
+him, and struck him, too, but, as Greybeard here might tell you, a
+Grizzly is like Arna, he can carry off the matter of twenty bullets
+unless they happen upon his heart or brain."
+
+"That is even so," concurred Grizzly. "Whuff! I have at least a dozen
+in my own body. The Men seek to improve our tempers after that manner."
+
+"It was getting late," resumed Sa'-zada, "but still we continued
+upward, the Bear holding on with great strength. It was October, and in
+the hollows of the upper ranges snow was lying like a white apron in a
+nurse's lap. 'He went this way,' said the guide to me, pointing to a
+narrow ledge of rock around the side of a cliff, with a drop from it of
+a thousand feet.
+
+"Now, Eagle Child was a Stony Indian, and they are like Mountain Sheep
+in their ability to climb. We had to work our way down carefully to
+this ledge, helping each other lest we fall, and even when it was
+reached the yawn of the valley a thousand feet below caused me to
+tremble. So, cautiously we worked along this narrow path, and, as we
+rounded the point, to our great fear we saw that we could go no
+farther--a dead wall stood two hundred feet high in front of us.
+Slowly, cautiously, we turned our bodies, and went back; and then we
+saw what we had overlooked in our eagerness for poor old Grizzly's
+life--we could not get up the way we had come down--we were trapped."
+
+"It's a dreadful feeling," declared Pardus, "to be caught in a
+Trap--though there were no Men enemies about you, Sa'-zada, to make it
+worse."
+
+"Or to be shut up in a Keddah," muttered Hathi--"it's awful. To be
+taken out of one's nice pleasant jungle and led into a Keddah trap with
+those of the Men-kind trumpeting and calling, and even those of our own
+tribe, Elephant, taking part against us."
+
+"Was that what made you friend to the Jungle Dwellers, Sa'-zada?" asked
+Muskwa.
+
+"At the time," answered the Keeper, "I thought only of the dreadful fix
+we were in. Below, a thousand feet or more, the sharp tops of the
+spruce and cedar stood like spears----"
+
+"I've felt a spear in my shoulder, ugh, ugh! it drives one fair mad
+with fear and pain," grunted Boar.
+
+"Under our feet was a narrow ledge of rock not the width of Hathi's
+back; behind us, and on either side of us, the cliffs ran up hundreds
+of feet. On the upper peak of the Camel's Back a snowstorm was shutting
+out the last grey light of day--the darkness of night was fast coming
+on. I could see nothing for it but to stand perfectly straight with our
+backs to the rock wall all through the bitter night and talk to each
+other to keep sleep away. The next day our comrades might find us, and
+let down a rope to help us up."
+
+"You could also think in the night of how we feel, O Little Brother,
+when we are hunted," declared Pardus. "Even perhaps Grizzly with his
+broken leg had to lie on some rock, afraid to travel in the night lest
+he fall."
+
+"Yes, it was a good time to think of the troubles of Jungle Dwellers,"
+concurred Hathi.
+
+"I thought of many things," said the Keeper, softly; "and but for Eagle
+Child I fear I should have fallen a dozen times; I felt his hand on my
+arm more than once pressing me against the wall. But at last morning
+came. I never felt so cold in my life, for, you see, we dared not move
+about. But it was noon before I saw my two comrades riding up the
+valley looking for us.
+
+"Eagle Child called, 'Hi, yi, yi--oh, yi!' The rocks threw his voice
+far out, and they heard it. It took them a long time to climb up to the
+place from where we had descended. They had brought their lassos with
+them, for they knew that we were cut off; and soon, but with much
+cautious labor, we were safe."
+
+"And what of Grizzy?" asked Muskwa, solicitously.
+
+"I hope he, too, got away all right," answered Sa'-zada, "for I never
+saw him again--we did not follow him."
+
+"I think Wie-sah-ke-chack led you to that place, Little Master, to give
+Grizzly a chance for his life," commented Mooswa.
+
+"I like our Master's story," declared Hathi; "so often I've heard the
+Sahibs boasting of the Animals they have killed, but Sa'-zada tells
+only of the times fear came to him because of his wrong-doing."
+
+"That happening was of Greybeard, and he is but a cousin of mine,"
+complained Muskwa the Black Bear. "Did you never meet with my family,
+Little Master?"
+
+"If you insist upon it, Muskwa," answered the Keeper, "I might tell a
+little tale of your people."
+
+"I should like that--do," pleaded Black Bear; "in all the stories there
+has been nothing of our doing."
+
+"But they were also only relatives of yours, though they were black,
+for the happening was in India, and there they are called Bhalu the
+Bear. And the happening was not of my doing, either, for I was hunting
+Bagh, the Tiger."
+
+"Every hunter takes me for a choice," growled Raj Bagh.
+
+"But this was a bad Tiger," declared Sa'-zada; "he had killed many
+people."
+
+"And what of that--Waugh-houk! what of that, Little Master?" demanded
+Raj Bagh. "Have not many people killed many of my kind--are they not
+always killing us?"
+
+"Still the Little Master is right," objected Hathi. "If a Bull Elephant
+becomes Rogue, and, neglecting his proper eating which is in the
+Jungle, goes seeking to kill the Men-kind, does he not surely come into
+trouble?"
+
+"But we be flesh eaters and slayers of life," answered Raj Bagh.
+
+"Even so, though that were better otherwise, but do you not know of
+your own people that the Men-kind are not for Kill? Before all other
+Dwellers of the Jungle you stand forth and are ready to battle, but
+just the _scent_ of Man causes you to slink away like Jaruk the Hyena."
+
+"I think that is true," commented Mooswa. "Wie-sah-ke-chack has
+arranged all that."
+
+Said the Keeper: "It is not right to kill the animals as men do, for
+sport, but when Bagh, or any other Jungle Dweller, turns Man-eater, he
+should die."
+
+"And Sher Abi, too," squeaked Magh; "his tribe are all Man-eaters--they
+should be all killed."
+
+"At any rate," continued the Keeper, "I was after this Man-eater. I had
+a _machan_ built in a Pipal tree, and a Buffalo calf tied up near
+it----"
+
+"One of your young, Arna," said Bagh, vindictively.
+
+"And early in the evening I climbed into my _machan_ and prepared for
+Mister Stripes."
+
+"That's Man's way," sneered Raj Bagh. "What chance have we against them
+up in a _machan_? No chance; and they call that sport."
+
+"And what chance has a village woman against a big-fanged Tiger?"
+grunted Boar. "No chance. It seems to me there are few in the Jungle as
+decent as Hathi and myself; we meddle not with the Men."
+
+"Just before dark," continued Sa'-zada, "I heard a noise coming through
+the Khir bushes. 'Bagh comes early,' I thought to myself."
+
+"He must have been hungry to scent a kill before dark," muttered Raj
+Bagh.
+
+"He smelt a man and thought it a good chance to commit murder," sneered
+Magh.
+
+"It wasn't Tiger at all," said the Keeper, "but three noisy Black
+Bears--Bhalu the Bear. I thought they would soon pass, for they do not
+meddle much with cattle."
+
+"No, we are not throat cutters like Bagh," whuffed Muskwa.
+
+"But they seemed in an inquisitive mood. Now, the calf was tied to the
+foot of a toddy palm, and they looked at him as much as to say, 'What
+are you doing here?'"
+
+"I would have explained matters to them had I been there," exclaimed
+Arna, shaking his head. "A poor Calf!"
+
+"No doubt they meant to help him out of his trouble," volunteered
+Muskwa.
+
+"Presently one of them proceeded to climb the toddy palm, and I thought
+they were looking for me perhaps. On the tree was a jar the natives had
+put there for catching the toddy liquor; and you can imagine my
+surprise, Comrades, when I saw Bhalu take a big drink out of this. When
+he came down one of his comrades went up. There were half-a-dozen toddy
+trees there, and the Bears helped themselves to the toddy until in the
+end they became very drunk."
+
+"I know how that feels," said Oungea the Water Monkey; "have I not
+told you, Comrades, of the gin my Master----"
+
+"Caw-w-w, caw-w-w!" interrupted Crow. "I also know of that condition. I
+ate some cherries once that had been thrown from a bungalow in
+Calcutta, and they made my head wobble so I couldn't fly. A Sahib stood
+in the door and laughed and said I was drunk."
+
+"The cherries had been in brandy, I suppose," explained Sa'-zada. "But
+Bhalu was most unmistakably drunk. They wanted to play with the Calf,
+but he became frightened and bawled. I could see there was small chance
+of a visit from Bagh with three drunken Bears and a bellowing Calf at
+the foot of my tree."
+
+"This is a nice story, Muskwa," sneered Magh. "I'm so glad to hear of
+your people and their ways."
+
+"Only cousins of mine," declared Muskwa, "and called Bhalu."
+
+"All Bears are alike," snapped Coyote; "meddlesome thieves."
+
+"They steal little Pigs," added Boar.
+
+"They wouldn't go away," said Sa'-zada, "and I began to fear that I
+shouldn't get a shot at Stripes. I did not want to shoot, because if
+Tiger was anywhere in the neighborhood it would put an end to his
+visit. I had nothing heavy to throw at them except my water-bottle;
+but, finally, taking a long drink to keep the thirst away for a time,
+I stood up in the _machan_ and let fly the bottle. It caught the Bear
+just behind the ear, and Bhalu, thinking one of his comrades had hurt
+him, pitched into the other two, and there was a fierce three-cornered
+fight on in a minute."
+
+"I can swear that it is a true tale," barked Gidar, "for twice I've
+seen a family of Bhalu's people in just such a stupid fight. Not that
+they were possessed of toddy, for they are silly enough at all times.
+But it is known in the Jungle that when Bhalu is wounded, he fights
+with the first one he sees, even his own brother, thinking he has done
+him the harm."
+
+"One chap got the worst of the encounter and reeled off into the
+Jungle, the other two following. I could hear them wrangling and
+snarling for a long distance--all the world like a party of drunken
+sailors."
+
+"These Bear stories are just lovely," grinned Magh. "Aren't they,
+Muskwa?"
+
+"Did you kill Bagh, the Man-eater?" asked Muskwa, to change the
+subject.
+
+"Yes, I stopped his murderous career that night," answered Sa'-zada.
+"He was an evil animal and deserved to die. Now it is late and you must
+all go to your cages."
+
+"I'm glad your people had a chance to be heard from, Muskwa," lisped
+Magh as she slid down Hathi's trunk. "You always looked so terribly
+respectable and honest, that I was really afraid to speak to you."
+
+[Illustration: "BHALU ... PITCHED INTO THE OTHER TWO."]
+
+"Phrut, phrut!" muttered Hathi through his trunk; "I have lived for a
+matter of forty years or so, amongst the Jungle Dwellers and with the
+Men-kind, and I think that we are all alike, all having some good and
+some bad qualities."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Books by W. A. Fraser
+
+Published by Charles Scribner's Sons
+
+
+BRAVE HEARTS
+
+_With frontispiece. 12mo, $1.50_
+
+"Like the thoroughbred he writes about, Mr. Fraser's narrative is
+always full of action. He has the knack of telling a story."--New York
+_Evening Sun_.
+
+"The author has caught the spirit of the paddock, track, and betting
+ring, and ... he manages to show them to us in their true
+colors."--Newark _Advertiser_.
+
+"It has the stir and go of a healthy sporting blood."--New York
+_Evening Post_.
+
+"Of rapid movement, and as refreshing as the outdoor air in which the
+scenes are laid."--Boston _Herald_.
+
+"Clever, spirited, and sympathetic."--_The Outlook._
+
+"Few stories of outdoor sport and exercise of any sort equal these in
+vigor, reality, and suspense."--Washington _Evening Star_.
+
+"Stories that all lovers of the noblest of domesticated animals will
+enjoy."--_The Churchman._
+
+
+
+
+BY W. A. FRASER
+
+BLOOD LILIES
+
+_With illustrations by_ F. E. SCHOONOVER
+
+_12mo, $1.50_
+
+
+"The quality of the story is strong and seamed with the invigorating
+life of nature, and at times reads like a Longfellow prose poem. The
+illustrations by Mr. Schoonover are of remarkable excellence."--Boston
+_Herald_.
+
+"Will keep the reader both interested and amused, for the author has
+humor as well as a sharp dramatic faculty."--New York _Sun_.
+
+"The tale is one of both emotion and action. It has elements that will
+give it a hold upon the sympathies of its readers."--New York _Times
+Review_.
+
+"No one can read the story without a thrilling of the pulses. He will
+be exhilarated and moved.... It is well worth mention among the best
+books of the fall."--Los Angeles _Times_.
+
+"The men we meet here are men of flesh and blood and of passion.... One
+really cannot describe the beauty and pathos of the story."--San
+Francisco _Post_.
+
+"The art that can so graphically draw such a poetic, dramatic, and
+pathetic picture as this of the wild life of these rude Northland folk
+is viable and enduring."--_The Independent._
+
+
+
+
+BY W. A. FRASER
+
+MOOSWA
+
+and Others of the Boundaries
+
+_Illustrated by_ ARTHUR FLEMING
+
+_Crown 8vo, $2.00_
+
+
+"In these stories we find somewhat of a return to the Æsopian
+presentation of animals, touched by the spirit of modernity, and,
+thrown over them all, a thorough knowledge of the animal life of the
+wilderness."--New York _Mail and Express_.
+
+"One of the best nature books ever published."--Brooklyn _Eagle_.
+
+"These stories of the doings of the fur-bearing animals in winter will
+be greatly relished by readers of all ages and both sexes. Besides
+being good stories, they contain any quantity of interesting
+information about the lives of these animals, their relations with one
+another, their food, and how they build their homes."--Boston _Herald_.
+
+"He has succeeded in introducing several very real and charming forest
+acquaintances to his readers."--New York _Tribune_.
+
+"Mr. Fraser has mingled a deal of natural history with folk-lore and
+the interests of the far fur-bearing lands in a volume that ought to
+please all readers of animal stories."--_The Interior._
+
+
+
+
+BY W. A. FRASER
+
+THE OUTCASTS
+
+_Illustrated by_ ARTHUR FLEMING
+
+_Crown 8vo, $1.25 net_
+
+
+"It has all the charm of the 'Jungle Book,' of which it is in no sense
+an imitation, of Ernest Thompson Seton, of Gilbert Parker's tales of
+Northland. The writing is charming, almost flawless; it is pathetic,
+curious, interesting. The woodcraft and the intimate knowledge of
+animal life and habits are a revelation."--Chicago _Tribune_.
+
+"A book worthy to be classed with Thompson Seton's 'Wild Animals I Have
+Known' and Kipling's 'Jungle Book.'"--Boston _Evening Transcript_.
+
+"Should be ranked among the very best.... It is full of interest,
+kindly humor, and is sympathetically and delightfully told."--Atlanta
+_Journal_.
+
+"This book is a delightful picture of the woodland life of the vast
+stretches of that flank of the Rockies toward the Arctic Circle.... It
+is one of the best nature books ever published."--Brooklyn _Eagle_.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+
+Added missing hyphen to "Sa'-Zada", but kept the lowercase z variation
+"Sa'-zada" which was used throughout the book. Removed the hyphen in
+"Sher Abi" for consistency. Corrected mismatched quote marks, and made
+the following changes:
+
+Contents: Changed "Bheh" to "Bagh" to match chapter title and
+character name.
+  Orig.: Raj Bheh, the King Tiger
+
+Page xi: "HANSOR, (the Laugher) Hyena" is only mentioned in the list
+of "The Dwellers in Animal Town." "Jaruk the Hyena" is used throughout
+the remainder of the book.
+
+Pages 5 and 177: "Pard" is used instead of "Pardus;" it might be
+a nickname rather than a typo.
+
+Page 129: Changed "tale" to "tail".
+  Orig.: I pulled the tale of every Donkey of the line
+
+Page 225: "Grizzy" may be a typo for "Grizzly," or just Muskwa's
+nickname for Grizzly.
+
+Note: Bakri apparently refers to a sheep or goat:
+  Page 71: a jungle Bakri (sheep)
+  Page 83: I sprang on Bakri the Goat
+  Page 175: kill Bakri, the Men's Sheep
+
+Spelling variations:
+
+Pages 8, 58: Wie-sak-ke-chack
+Pages 225, 227: Wie-sah-ke-chack
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser
+
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+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Sa'-Zada Tales
+
+Author: William Alexander Fraser
+
+Illustrator: Arthur Heming
+
+Release Date: December 13, 2011 [EBook #38289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SA'-ZADA TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Darleen Dove, Shannon Barker, Diane Monico,
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>The Sa'-Zada Tales</h1>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 308px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="308" height="450" alt="(cover)"/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="BOOKS_BY_W_A_FRASER" id="BOOKS_BY_W_A_FRASER"></a>BOOKS BY W. A. FRASER</h2>
+
+<p class="title"><span class="smcap">Published by</span> CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="books">
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Sa'-Zada Tales.</span> Illustrated by Arthur Heming</td>
+<td align="right">$0.00</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mooswa and Others of the Boundaries.</span> Illustrated by Arthur Heming</td>
+<td align="right">$2.00</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Outcasts.</span> Illustrated by Arthur Heming.</td>
+<td align="right">$1.25 <i>net</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Blood Lilies.</span> Illustrated by Frank Schoonover</td>
+<td align="right">$1.50</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Brave Hearts.</span> With Frontispiece</td>
+<td align="right">$1.50</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;">
+<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a>
+<img src="images/i_fpc.jpg" width="412" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">SA&#39;-ZADA HAD GATHERED ALL HIS COMRADES ... FOR THE EVENING
+OF THE BIRD TALK ...<br /><br />
+
+<small>(SEE PAGE <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.)</small></span>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+<h1>
+<small>THE</small><br />
+SA'-ZADA TALES<br />
+<br /></h1>
+
+<p class="title"><big>By W. A. FRASER</big><br />
+<br />
+<i>Illustrated by</i> ARTHUR HEMING
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 37px;">
+<img src="images/006.png" width="37" height="40" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br />
+<i>NEW YORK ... MDCCCCV</i><br />
+</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><small>
+<i>Copyright, 1905, by</i><br />
+<span class="smcap">Charles Scribner's Sons</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Published September, 1905</i><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">J. F. Tapley Co.<br />
+New York</span><br />
+</small></p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toc">
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The White, Yellow, and Black Leopard</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hathi Ganesh, the White-eared Elephant</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Gidar, the Jackal, and Coyote, the Prairie Wolf</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Raj Bagh, the King Tiger</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Tribe of King Cobra</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Story of the Monkeys</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Story of Birds of a Feather</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Buffalo and Bison</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Unt, the Camel</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Big Tusk, the Wild Boar</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oohoo, the Wolf, and Sher Abi, the Crocodile</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sa'-Zada, the "Zoo" Keeper</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>From Drawings by Arthur Heming</i></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="loi">
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Sa'-Zada had gathered all his comrades ... for the evening of the bird talk</td>
+<td align="right"><i><a href="#frontis">Frontispiece</a></i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"The thing that had me by the paw was of a fiendish kind."</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_019">19</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"And away we dashed."</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_032">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"Then something strong grabbed me by the hind leg, and pulled me ..."</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_042">42</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"Two ruffianly Bulls ... fought me while the men slipped great strong ropes over my legs"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_046">46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"I heard my man say ... 'Strike me dead, if he hasn't ...'"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_061">61</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"But I could see that there was something very wrong ..."</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_070">70</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"My sire ... sprang on a big Hathi's nose"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_082">82</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"And Baba used to come every day under the bungalow to play"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_090">90</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"I would stretch my body across it much after that fashion"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_098">98</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"And they all clambered on to my back"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_111">111</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"And sitting beside her, cried also, being but a little chap and all alone in the jungle"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_112">112</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"And as he coughed, soap bubbles floated upward."</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_122">122</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"Leaving just a place for her sharp beak"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_125">125</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"Something I could not see struck me most viciously in the shoulder"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_146">146</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"Suddenly I heard a 'swisp' in the air, and my little curly-haired pet ..."</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_150">150</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"I remained in the <i>jhil</i> until my master had lost the fierce Kill-look"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_161">161</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"But some way I felt like doing my best"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_166">166</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"It was at this time that Bagh killed so many of my people"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_182">182</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"'Into the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_184">184</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"One could travel for days over the white snow"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_190">190</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"'Let me in, Tom, I am Jack,' pleaded the Hunt man"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_202">202</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"The grizzly ... bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_220">220</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left">"Bhalu ... pitched into the other two"</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#i_230">230</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Introduction" id="Introduction"></a>Introduction</h2>
+
+
+<p><i>All his life Sa'-zada the Keeper had lived with
+animals. That was why he could talk to them, and
+they to him; that was why he knew that something
+must be done to keep his animal friends from fretting
+themselves to death during the dreadful heat
+that came like a disease over their part of the
+Greater City.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the Greater City itself the sun smote with a
+fierceness that was like the anger of evil gods. The
+air vibrated with palpitating white heat, and the
+shadows were as the blue flame of a forge. Men
+and women stole from ovened streets, wide-mouthed,
+to places where trees swayed and waters
+babbled feebly of a cooler rest; even the children
+were sent away that they might not die of fevered
+blood.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But in the Animal City there was no escape.
+The Dwellers from distant deep jungles and tall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>
+forests had only blistering iron bars between them
+and the sirocco that swept from the brick walls of
+the Greater City.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It was because of this that Sa'-zada said, "I
+must make them talk of their other life, lest they
+die of this."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the Greater City men thought only of themselves;
+but with Sa'-zada it was different. The
+animals were his children&mdash;his friends; so he had
+contrived that all of the Peace-kind&mdash;the Grass-feeders
+and others&mdash;should come from their cages
+and corrals and meet each evening in front of the
+iron-bound homes which contained those of the
+Blood-kind, to tell stories of their past life.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Sa'-zada had asked Hathi, the one-tusked Elephant,
+who had been Ganesh in Hindustan, about
+it. In Hathi's opinion those who had seen the least,
+and were of little interest, would do all the talking&mdash;that
+was his experience of jungle life; so the
+Keeper had wisely arranged that each evening
+some one animal, or group, should tell the tale.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THE_DWELLERS_IN_ANIMAL_TOWN_IN" id="THE_DWELLERS_IN_ANIMAL_TOWN_IN"></a>THE DWELLERS IN ANIMAL TOWN, IN
+THE GREATER CITY</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Sahib Zada</span>, Keeper of the Animals in the Zoo</p>
+
+<ul class="index"><li><span class="smcap">Arna</span>, <i>the Wild India Buffalo</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Adjutant</span>, <i>the Scavenger Bird</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Bhainsa</span>, <i>the Tame India Buffalo</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Baghni</span>, <i>the Tigress</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Bagheela</span>, <i>Young Panther or Tiger</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Bhalu</span>, <i>the Bear</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Coyote</span>, <i>the Prairie Wolf</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Caribou.</span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Chinkara</span>, <i>Gazelle</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Gidar</span>, <i>the Jackal</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Guru</span>, <i>the India Bison</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Hanuman</span>, <i>a Tree-dwelling Monkey</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Hooluk</span>, <i>the Black Monkey</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Hornbill</span>, <i>Bird like the Toucan</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Hathi</span>, <i>the Elephant</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Hansor</span>, (the Laugher) <i>Hyena</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Hamadryad</span>, <i>the King Cobra</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span><span class="smcap">Kauwa</span>, <i>the Crow</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Mooswa</span>, <i>the Moose</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Magh</span>, <i>the Ourang-Outang</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Mor</span>, <i>the Peacock</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Musk Ox.</span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Newal</span>, <i>the Mongoos</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Pardus</span>, <i>the Panther</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Raj Bagh</span>, <i>the Tiger</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Safed Chita</span>, <i>the White Chita, or White Leopard</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Soor</span>, <i>the Wild Boar</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Sambhur</span>, <i>A Deer</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Sher Abi</span>, <i>the Crocodile</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Unt</span>, <i>the Camel</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Wapoos</span>, <i>the Hare</i>.</li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Zard Chita</span>, <i>the Yellow Leopard</i>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">First Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Stories of White, Yellow, and
+Black Leopard</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 472px;">
+<img src="images/i_1st_nite_1.jpg" width="472" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 502px;">
+<img src="images/i_1st_nite_2.jpg" width="502" height="600" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">The Sa'-zada Tales</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="FIRST_NIGHT" id="FIRST_NIGHT"></a><big>FIRST NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORIES OF WHITE, YELLOW, AND BLACK LEOPARD</h2>
+
+
+<p>Through the listless leaves of the oaks and
+elms the moon was spraying silver over
+the hot earth when Sa'-zada, throwing down bars
+and unlocking gates, passed the words to his friends
+to gather at Leopard's cage.</p>
+
+<p>As he slipped the chain from Hathi's foot, and
+it fell with a soft clink on the hay bed, he said,
+"Ganesh, you of the one tusk, keep thou the Jungle
+Dwellers in order, for if one may judge from the
+manners of one's own kind, who are men, this
+weather is a breeder of evil tempers."</p>
+
+<p>"Umph, umph!" grunted Hathi complacently.
+"I who have seen fifty such times of discomfort
+think little of it. Surely the Sahib-kind, who are
+also long dwellers, can remember that there comes
+another season of cool. But, as you say, Master,
+perhaps it were well if I take into my trunk a
+cooler of water for such as may fret themselves
+into a fever."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Even as Hathi spoke an angry roar shook the
+building they were in.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear that, Patient One," cried Sa'-zada; "Pardus,
+the Black Panther, who is at best a mighty
+cross chap, is in an evil way."</p>
+
+<p>The cry of Black Panther, which was like the
+falling of many cataracts, was causing the dead
+night air to tremble. "Hough-hough; a-hough!
+Huzo-or, Wah-hough!"</p>
+
+<p>"There, make haste, Little One!" said the
+Keeper to Elephant. "The sight of our friends
+who are gathering at his cage, has put Pardus in a
+temper, I fear."</p>
+
+<p>In front of the Leopard's house all the outside
+animals of the Park had assembled: Arna, the
+India Buffalo; Sher Abi, the Crocodile; Gidar, the
+Jackal, and many others; even Magh, the Ourang-Outang,
+was there with a Fox Terrier who lived
+in her cage.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends," began Sa'-zada, "if we are all to live
+here together in this Park, it were well that we
+know of each other's ways."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea," declared Sher Abi; "for
+in my time I have known little of the habits of
+other animals. A dog, for instance, will come
+down to the water to drink&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know," interrupted Gidar; "and not having
+the wisdom of a Jungle Dweller like me, he will
+come to drink and stop to sup with one of your
+kind. Is that not so, Sher Abi?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, perhaps," sighed the Magar; "and
+at home the Pups, having lost a parent, fall into
+the clutches of Gidar the Jackal."</p>
+
+<p>"I like this meeting," broke in Magh; "a gathering
+of thieves, and cannibals, and murderers&mdash;Eaters
+of Dogs&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And Apes," came like a soft summer sigh from
+the bellows-mouth of the Crocodile.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends," interrupted the Keeper, "do not fall
+to quarreling. Let us decide who is to tell the first
+tale. As we are at Leopard's cage, perhaps he
+should have the first chance."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm agreed," declared Magh; "murder stories
+are always interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure everybody would be glad to hear
+of your killing, Magh," sneered Pardus.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued Sa'-zada, "here are three
+Leopards: Pard, the Black Leopard; Rufous, the
+Yellow Leopard, and White Leopard. We'll have
+their stories for this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm no Leopard," objected Pardus, ceasing his
+restless walk for a minute. Then he took three
+turns up and down in front of the bars, his big
+velvet feet sounding "spufh, spufh," on the hard
+polished floor. "No," he continued, stopping in
+front of Sa'-zada, sitting down, and letting his big
+round head sink between his shoulders, until he
+looked up from under heavy brows with yellow-green
+eyes, "no, I'm a Panther. That is the way
+with the men of my land; to them we are all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+'Chita,' or else 'Bagh,' which surely means a
+Tiger."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," answered Sa'-zada, "you are neither
+Bagh the Tiger, nor Chita the Leopard."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say not," answered Pardus. "Chita
+is long of leg and slim of gut&mdash;a chaser of Rabbits,
+and of the build of an Afghan Hound. With one
+crunch of my jaws&mdash;Waugh! Why, I could break
+his neck."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the difference, anyway," objected
+Magh, "whether you are a Leopard or Panther&mdash;you
+all belong to the family of Throat Cutters?
+But what bothers me is that one is black, one is
+yellow, and one is white; now, in my family, we
+are all of one shade."</p>
+
+<p>"A very dirty color, too," sneered Pardus.
+"Waugh-hough! no color at all&mdash;just <i>dirt</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is so that murderers like you cannot see
+me to eat me," answered Magh. "If I am on
+the ground, am I not the color of the ground?
+And when I am curled up on the limb of a tree
+am I not like a knot on the tree trunk? That is
+to keep me safe from you and Python."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be so," answered Pardus, "but I,
+who hunt in the early night, find this black coat the
+very thing. Soft Paws! I have come so close to
+a Bullock, working up wind, of course, that one
+spring completed the Kill."</p>
+
+<p>"Umph, umph!" grunted Hathi, with eager interest.
+"All that appears reasonable; but, tell me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+Brothers, why is Yellow Leopard so bright in his
+spots? And if your black coat serves you so well,
+how does the other, who is white, manage?"</p>
+
+<p>"I speak only of myself," joined in Rufous, the
+Yellow Leopard. "True, I also hunt at night at
+times, but it's slow work; perhaps a long night
+watch by a water pool, and then only the kill of a
+Chinkara&mdash;a mouthful, and in the time of scarce
+food, why, one must stalk when the Grass-feeders
+are within range of one's eye. Who is there
+amongst you all, even Soor (Wild Boar), with his
+sharp Pig eyes, that can say, when I am crouched
+amongst the bushes with the sun making bright
+spots all over the jungle, 'There is Yellow Leopard,
+who is a slayer.' Not only is it good for the Kill,
+this coat of mine, but when the hunt is on from the
+other side, when I seek to keep clear of the Men-kind&mdash;by
+my caution! more than once, when it has
+been that way, have I slipped quietly through the
+young jungle, and left the Beaters running up
+against each other, asking which way went Bagh.
+I am no night prowler like Pardus, for often have
+I killed in the open."</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing of all this matter," declared
+White Leopard; "but had I been black like Pardus,
+or black-spotted like Rufous, I had died of a lean
+stomach in the white mountains from which I come.
+Why, there, on the hillside, every rock gleams
+white in the sunlight&mdash;not spotted, mind you, for
+there is no jungle such as Rufous speaks of; even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+the sand-hills are so white with the hot light that a
+mate of mine has been almost at my side before I
+knew it."</p>
+
+<p>"White Leopard is from the <i>Safed Kho</i> Mountains,
+the White Range, in Afghanistan," said
+Sa'-zada for the information of the others.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," declared Unt the Camel; "I've been
+there&mdash;just the loveliest hot sandy hills and plains
+in the whole world. But, tell me, Little Brother of
+the Blood-kind," he bubbled, "it is not always sunlight
+there&mdash;at times the white storm comes&mdash;high
+up in the range&mdash;what do you do then?"</p>
+
+<p>"My coat gets whiter still," answered Leopard;
+"and if I close my eyes and stalk by scent alone,
+why, you would never see me till I was at your
+throat."</p>
+
+<p>"It's either a lie or most curious truth," grunted
+Magh, biting the Fox Terrier's ear till he squealed.
+"Here is a Pup that is white all the time, and no
+lies about it, either."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's the truth," asserted Wapoos, the Hare;
+"in the winter time I, also, turn white to save my
+throat from Lynx or Marten; though it is not of
+my own doing, to be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"It's Wie-sak-ke-chack, who is God of all Animals,
+who arranges it this way," said Mooswa,
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," interrupted Sa'-zada, "one of you
+Leopards tell us of the manner of your coming
+here."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As I have said," began White Leopard, "I
+was born in the Safed Mountains, and it was a
+year of much hunger&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The very year I was born," declared Magh;
+"there hardly seemed more than three nuts or berries
+in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Come up here, Chatterbox," grunted Hathi,
+winding his trunk around Magh's body, and lifting
+her to his massive head.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me hold the Pup," whined Sher Abi,
+spreading his shark mouth in a disinterested yawn.
+Hathi blew a handful of small stones which he had
+been picking up, into the opening, causing Sher Abi
+to sputter and choke. When the laughter had subsided,
+White Leopard proceeded with his story.</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said, it was a year of much hunger,
+because the Affrides made war, and the Sahibs
+came, and it seemed as though everything that had
+life in it was driven out of the country. They ate
+up the Goats and Sheep, and the Bullocks and
+Camels they took to carry their loads. It was
+indeed a time of distressed stomachs; and, to make
+matters worse, my Father, who was a killer of
+Bullocks and not a Goat eater, dropped the matter
+of a thousand feet over a cliff and was killed. Then
+my mother came with me, and I was still a Cub,
+down to the land of the Marris, where there were
+many Sheep&mdash;the short-legged kind with the broad
+fat tails; small they were, to be sure, and hardly of
+the bulk of even a Cub's desire. The very sweetness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+of their flesh made one wish that they had
+grown larger. Hunger pains! but it was a long
+tramp on a lean stomach, and in the end we fell
+among Men thieves&mdash;those of the White-kind, the
+Sahibs."</p>
+
+<p>"Birds of a feather on one limb," sneered Magh,
+tickling Hathi on the ear with her sharp finger.</p>
+
+<p>"And in that land, though there were many
+Sheep, it was hard to make a kill. Why, the Herd
+Men, Pathans they were called, which I think
+means the greatest of all thieves, were as wary as
+Jungle Dwellers. At the first try my Mother got
+a blow in the shoulder from one of their evil, long-necked
+Firesticks."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha, ha!" laughed Sa'-zada; "that long gun
+was a <i>jezail</i>, and the Pathans are good marksmen,
+too. I could tell a story myself of their shooting;
+but go on, Chita, it's your say."</p>
+
+<p>"As for making a kill at night, Waugh! we had
+near starved watching for a chance; these Hillmen
+huddled their Sheep and Goats into caves like
+children, and slept across the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you know, Friends, they lived so close
+with their Sheep, that I swear by my mustache they
+were of the same smell. Fine as my scent is, one
+night I had crept close to what my nose told me was
+a Sheep, and was just on the point of taking it by
+the neck when it got up on its hind legs and roared
+at me with the man cry.</p>
+
+<p>"We were like to die of hunger when Jaruk the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+Hyena came sneaking and laughing, and talked
+of a blood compact to Rani, who was my Mother.
+We were so hungry! but it was all to our undoing;
+for the grinning sneak was a coward, and led us
+into an evil trap. He told us of three Sahibs, a
+short journey from where we had our hunt; and
+these Sahibs were like Cubs in their little knowledge
+of jungle ways, having Sheep and Goats
+which they tied to stakes close by the white caves
+in which they lived, and never a guard over them
+at night. Waugh! well I remember, hungry as I
+was, how the smell of Hyena fair turned my stomach,
+so that I had little longing for eating of any
+kind; but Rani, being older and having more wisdom,
+knew that unless we soon found some method
+for making a kill we should surely die.</p>
+
+<p>"That night there was a small moon as we crept
+down over the valley and up to a flat-land where
+the Men-kind lived in little white caves&mdash;such odd
+caves, too, in one place to-day and in another the
+next."</p>
+
+<p>"He means tents," explained Sa'-zada; "being a
+Cave Dweller himself, his knowledge of houses is
+limited."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wonder he didn't call them trees," muttered
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Hyena stole along like a shadow of nothing, so
+smooth and soft were his feet&mdash;a proper sneak, I
+must say I thought him even then, Cub as I was."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you listening, Jaruk?" called Magh, maliciously;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+"this was a Brother of yours who was in
+partnership with Chita."</p>
+
+<p>But Hyena only grinned a frothy laugh, and
+slunk over behind Sher Abi.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," proceeded White Leopard, "we crept
+along, our bellies close to earth, till we came to a
+little ledge, where Rani and I waited, while Jaruk
+stole up to the white caves to see how the stalk was.</p>
+
+<p>"'They sleep like the young of Owls in daytime,'
+he whispered when he returned; 'even I,
+who am a creature of fear, and not like you, Rani,
+a slayer of Bullocks, have rubbed my lean jaws
+against two fat Goats that are chewing the sweet
+cud of plenty.'"</p>
+
+<p>"How your mouth must have watered, White
+Shirt," sneered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Rani commenced the stalk, and I, even a
+Cub, though I had always lain hidden while she
+was making the kill before, followed close at her
+heels. Even now I remember just how Rani made
+the kill. First one paw, and then the other, she
+stretched out, and pulled herself along, with never
+so much as the rattle of a single stone. The Goats
+were like the Sahibs in the caves, safe in the conceit
+which comes of a full stomach. When Rani
+crouched lower than ever and braced her hind paws
+carefully, I knew that the charge was on. Waugh,
+waugh-houk! By the neck she had one&mdash;for that
+is the way of our kind always&mdash;and with a jerk he
+was thrown on her shoulder, and away up the hill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+she raced. I tried for the other, but, being new to
+the kill, missed, getting only the rope in my teeth.
+Even as I chased after Rani I could not help but
+laugh in spite of my miss, for Hyena was screaming
+as he ran, 'Did you get the fat one, the very
+fat one?'"</p>
+
+<p>"The Greedy Pig," commented Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh, ugh, ugh!" grunted Soor. "Why should
+he be likened to one of my kind? More like he had
+a paunch full of peanuts, or other filth, such as you
+carry, Miss Bleary-eye; or if he were greedy, was
+he not like unto his mate, Chita, who will eat half
+his own weight at a single kill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Such a row I never heard in all my life," continued
+White Leopard; "the Sahibs, and the black
+men who serve them, ran here and there with
+blinking red eyes in their hands&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The Man Fire," quietly commented Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"And all at once, over to one side, there was a
+short growl from a Firestick; and a Sahib called
+loudly, 'I've got him! I've got him!'</p>
+
+<p>"I wondered what it could be, for Rani and I
+were together with the Goat. I almost hoped it
+was Jaruk; but he was close at our heels, sniffing
+with his hungry nose, and fairly eating the sand
+where some of the Goat's blood had trickled into it.
+Then all the blinking red eyes passed swiftly to
+where the Sahib was, and we heard them laughing&mdash;only
+louder than Hyena laughs.</p>
+
+<p>"Next day Jaruk discovered that the Sahib had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+killed the other Goat with his Firestick in the dark,
+thinking it was Rani.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, one Goat did not keep the hunger
+off very long; but for three days we did not make
+another kill. Not but that we tried. Each night
+we went close to the white caves, and Jaruk&mdash;I
+must say he had a nose like a Vulture's eye&mdash;came
+back with a tale that the Sahibs were watching with
+their Firesticks. But the next night we got another
+Goat. Cunning Animals! but Jaruk used to laugh,
+and even coaxed Rani to make a kill of one of the
+Men-kind.</p>
+
+<p>"Then one night we crept as before, close for a
+kill, and Jaruk came back to us laughing as though
+there wasn't a Sahib in all the Marri country. Rani
+growled at him for a fool. Waugh-houk! did he
+mean to have us all killed with his noise? And
+who was to do the killing, Jaruk asked mockingly,
+for the white caves were empty, he said. The
+Sahibs, and even the black-faced kind, had all gone
+away, and left the Goats and Sheep for the pleasure
+of our kill.</p>
+
+<p>"'It's a Raji (war), I'm sure,' he said; 'and
+they have gone out amongst the Pathans to kill and
+be killed, and while they are at it we, who are possessed
+of a great hunger, will make a kill of the
+Goats and Sheep.'</p>
+
+<p>"At this we went more boldly than before; but
+it was only a trap. These of the Men-kind whom
+we had likened to young Owls, were up on the hill<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+behind a stone sangar; and just as we came to the
+Goats in the bright moonlight there was such a
+crashing of Firesticks, and appearing of what
+Mooswa calls the Man Fire, that I hope I may
+never see it again. Rani was killed, as also was&mdash;which
+was not so bad&mdash;Jaruk the Hyena. I had a
+paw broken, which to this day makes me go lame.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the Men-kind rushed down, and the
+black-faced ones were for killing me also; but one
+of the Sahibs, speaking, said: 'This is a Cub. We
+will send him to Sa'-zada.'"</p>
+
+<p>White Leopard ceased speaking, and Sa'-zada,
+putting his hand in between the bars, patted
+his paw, and said: "Poor old Chita! it may not
+be so nice here as in your own land, but we'll
+see that you do not go hungry, anyway. Now,
+Rufous, my big Yellow Leopard, you should
+also have an interesting account of yourself to
+give."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite likely," exclaimed Magh; "we'll hear
+some more rare boasting, I'll warrant."</p>
+
+<p>"A true tale is no boast," said Mooswa, solemnly.
+"I, who have had strange adventures,
+think it no harm to talk them over."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you'll have a chance, Fat Nose!" retorted
+Magh; "but first let us have a good, hearty lie
+from Leopard."</p>
+
+<p>"There will be no lies," declared Sa'-zada, "for
+I have all these matters in The Book&mdash;though they
+are not half so interestingly written, I must say,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+as you can tell them yourselves, if you are so
+minded."</p>
+
+<p>"Phrut!" muttered Hathi through his big trunk.
+"We'll have the lies as spice&mdash;that will be when
+Magh's turn comes."</p>
+
+<p>Thus appealed to, Yellow Leopard commenced:
+"I came from a jungle land&mdash;Burma."</p>
+
+<p>"My home," muttered Hathi, longingly.</p>
+
+<p>"It may have been the year White Chita
+speaks of, for I remember I was also wondrous
+hungry&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You always are," sneered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have not a paunch that holds a thief's
+load, whether it be fish, fruit or filth," retorted
+Rufous. "But, as I was saying when this Goat-faced
+Ape interrupted me, I was hungry, and,
+walking through the thick jungle, discovered a
+Bullock&mdash;young, of great fatness. By a rare
+chance it seemed caught in a branch of the elephant
+creeper&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Elephant what?" muttered Hathi. "Not of
+our kind. We have naught to do with the killing
+of any young."</p>
+
+<p>Sa'-zada explained: "Yellow Leopard means the
+giant jungle vine called 'elephant creeper,' which
+runs for perhaps the length of a mile, and is so
+strong that it pulls down great trees and smothers
+them in its grasp."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, jungle wood," cried Hathi, much relieved,
+"that's an elephant of another color."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I shikarried the small Bullock most carefully,"
+continued Rufous. "Round and round I went, taking
+the wind from every quarter; there was the
+scent of nothing but the white jasmine, and the
+yellow-hearted champac. When he saw me the
+Bullock-young became stupid with much fear; the
+two of us stood facing each other. He pulled back
+tight on the thing that held him, watching me with
+eyes that seemed as big as the black spots on my
+ears. I crept closer, and closer, and closer; for
+that is always the way with my kind; whether the
+prey be small or great, we kill after the same manner
+always. Brothers, know you aught of fear?
+We of the Blood-kind know it well. The Bullock's
+legs shivered like leaves that tremble in the wind;
+and he asked me with his big eyes to go away and
+not take him by the throat for his blood. How
+did he know that, Brothers&mdash;how did he know that
+I was not coming like one of his own kind to help
+him in his trouble? And the fear that I speak of
+was in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"With a roar, Waugh-hough! I charged full at
+him; my strong jaws fastened on his throat, and,
+with a quick turn upwards, I threw him on his
+back, and his neck was broken. Ghu-r-r-r-h!
+Whur-r-r-h! his young blood was sweet as it
+trickled into my jaws, for I was so hungry. Not
+that I drank his blood&mdash;that is a lie of the Men-kind
+who know little of our ways."</p>
+
+<p>"They're all alike," chattered Magh; "they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+murder, and it is all right because they are
+hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," retorted Yellow Leopard, "if I alone
+made a kill perhaps that would be wrong; but we
+are all alike&mdash;it is our way of life. You are an evil-looking,
+flea-covered, pot-bellied Monkey, but your
+kind are all alike, so that is also your excuse."</p>
+
+<p>Hathi shoved the tip of his trunk in his mouth,
+pretending to pick his teeth, but really to smother
+the laughter that fairly shook his huge sides.</p>
+
+<p>"By a find of much eating!" ejaculated Gidar.
+"How I wish I had been with you, Killer of Cattle.
+A whole Bullock! Eating of the choicest kind for
+three days at least. Often for the length of that
+time have I searched through a famine-stricken
+village in my native land, and in the end achieved
+nothing, in the matter of food, but a pot of hot
+rice water thrown on my back by a Boberchie
+(cook)&mdash;an opium-eating stealer of his Master's
+goods."</p>
+
+<p>"Would that you had been in my place," sneered
+Yellow Leopard, "for even as I was going away
+with my kill&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Squee-squee-squee!" interrupted Magh with a
+sneering laugh. "Even I, who am a Tree Dweller
+of little knowledge, knew that a tale from this
+Cut-throat would soon run into a lie of great
+strength. May I kiss the Tiger if I believe that
+Chita carried away a young Bullock."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;">
+<a name="i_019" id="i_019"></a>
+<img src="images/i_019.jpg" width="412" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;THE THING THAT HAD ME BY THE PAW WAS OF A FIENDISH KIND.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+<p>"You are wrong, Magh," reproved Sa'-zada;
+"in my hunting days have I seen even Bhainsa, the
+tame Buffalo, who is like unto a small Elephant,
+carried a full half-mile by Bagh."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," asserted Yellow Leopard, "had the
+kill been an Ape like unto Magh, I had bolted
+it at one mouthful lest the sight of it made me
+ill. As I was saying, I took the young Bullock
+in my mouth, but at the first step my forepaw
+was lifted by something of great strength. I was
+surprised, for I had seen nothing&mdash;nothing but
+the kill. The thing that had me by the paw
+was of a fiendish kind. Jungle-wisdom! but I
+was at a loss. Dropping my prey I tried first
+this way and then that to break away, but it
+gave with me every time, and when I was tired
+lifted me to my hind legs, for the pull was always
+upward."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it a Naht?" queried Hathi. "One of the
+Burmese jungle Spirits that live in the Leppan
+Tree?"</p>
+
+<p>"You were snared," declared Sa'-zada; "I know,
+I've seen it. A strong green bamboo bent down,
+the snare fastened to it, and once over your paw&mdash;no
+wonder you were on your hind legs most of the
+time like a dancing Dervish."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you not bite it off?" queried Wolf.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither would you," answered Leopard;
+"though I tried. The evil-minded Men seemed to
+know just what I would do, and had put a big
+loose bamboo over the cord. It was always down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+against my paw, and simply whirled about from
+my teeth."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you trumpet?" asked Elephant.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't a bugle nose like you, Brother; but
+I roared till the jungle shook in fear&mdash;even at the
+risk of bringing about me the Jungle Dogs, who
+hunt in packs, as you all know."</p>
+
+<p>"Whee-ugh!" whined Boar; "Baola, the mad
+kind. Nothing can stand against them. When
+they drive, the jungle is swept clean. Better to die
+in peace than make a noise and be torn to pieces
+by their ugly fangs."</p>
+
+<p>"And who came?" queried Magh. "I suppose
+you were like the Bullock, and your eyes grew big
+with the fear, and you begged them to go away and
+not hurt you. It was all right when you were to
+make the kill yourself&mdash;it was fine sport. Bah!
+I'm glad you were snared&mdash;I hate a taker of life."</p>
+
+<p>"The Men-kind came," answered Leopard
+meekly, for the mention of his fear made him
+abashed; "and seeing that I was caught, a Sahib
+would not let the Black-Men kill me, but set them
+to make a strong Bamboo cage. I was put in that
+and sent here to Sa'-zada."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking," began Mooswa, plaintively.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now!" exclaimed Magh; "I thought you
+were asleep, Old Heavy-eye. If you think with
+your nose, your thoughts must have been of great
+importance."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mooswa sniffed solemnly and continued: "You
+said you were hungry, Yellow Leopard. Was it
+not a land of much good feeding?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bad year&mdash;a year of starvation," answered
+Chita. "Up to that time the way of my
+life had been smooth, for I had found the manner
+of an easy kill. To be sure, Soor is not the pick of
+all good food&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"'Soor,' indeed!" grunted Wild Boar. "Ugh,
+ugh, ugh! by the length of my tusks you would
+have found me tough eating."</p>
+
+<p>"You see," continued Chita, paying no attention
+to this interruption, "the wild Pigs were horrid
+thieves&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You were well mated," mumbled Magh, stuffing
+a handful of peanut shells in Hathi's ear.</p>
+
+<p>"They used to go at night to the rice fields of
+the poor natives, and chew and chew, and grunt,
+and row amongst themselves, until the Men-kind
+were nearly ruined because of their greediness."</p>
+
+<p>"But they did not eat the natives," objected
+Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither did I," protested Chita&mdash;"while the
+Pigs lasted," he muttered to himself. "Knowing
+of all this, I made out a new kill-plan. At the first
+beginning of dark time I would go quietly down
+to the rice fields, hide myself in the straw that was
+near to the place where the Men-kind tramped the
+grain from its stalk with Buffalo, and wait for the
+coming of the rice thieves. Soon one dark shadow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+would slip from the jungle, then another, and another,
+until they were many.</p>
+
+<p>"'Chop, chop, chop!' I'd hear their wet mouths
+going in the rice; and all the time growling and
+whining amongst themselves because of the labor
+it was, and for fear that one had better chance than
+another; not in peace, but with many rows, striking
+sideways at each other with their coarse, ugly
+heads."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a beauty!" commented Wild Boar.
+"When you shove your ugly face up to the bars
+the women-kind scream, and jump back&mdash;I've noticed
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Presently," continued Chita, "one would come
+my way, seeing the great pile of straw, and I'd have
+him. Jungle Dwellers! how he'd squeal; and his
+mates would scurry away jinking and bounding
+like Kakur Deer. Cowardly swine they were.
+Now, Buffalo, when one of my kind charged them,
+would throw themselves together like men of the
+war-kind, and stand shoulder to shoulder."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but, great Cat," objected Boar, "you took
+care to seize upon a young one, I warrant. Suppose
+you come out here and try a charge with me.
+Ugh, ugh! I'll soon slit up your lean sides with
+my sharp tusks."</p>
+
+<p>"Be still!" commanded Sa'-zada; "here we are
+all friends, and this is but a tale of what has been."</p>
+
+<p>Chita had turned in a rage at Boar's taunt, and
+glared through the bars, his great fangs bared, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+tail lashing his sides. When the Keeper spoke he
+snarled in disdain at the bristling Pig, and continued
+the story.</p>
+
+<p>"Then came the hungry year. At the turning of
+the monsoons there should have been rain, but no
+rain came. All through the cold weather the
+jungle had gone on drying up, and the grass turned
+brown, even to the color of my coat. The Tree-Crickets
+and Toads whistled shrill and loud, until
+the jungle was like a great nest of the sweet-feeders&mdash;the
+Bees. Then when it was time for rain there
+was only more dryness.</p>
+
+<p>"The yellow-clothed Phoongyis (Priests) prayed;
+and the Men-kind brought sweetmeats and sheet-gold
+to their God Buddha; but still there was
+no rain. Miles and miles I traveled for a drink;
+and if I made a kill at the pool it was nothing but
+skin and bones. The small Deer that bark, what
+were they? Not a mouthful. And the Pigs shriveled
+up until one might as well have eaten straw.
+The Nilgai and the Sambhur-deer, as big as you,
+Mooswa, went away from that land of desolation,
+and soon nothing seemed to stir in all the jungle but
+the Koel Bird; and his cry of 'fee-e-ever!' forever
+ringing in my ears drove me full mad.</p>
+
+<p>"Then it was that I stalked close to the place
+of the Men-kind&mdash;though I had never killed a
+Bullock before&mdash;and I made a kill. But after that
+they took the Bullocks under their houses at night,
+thinking I would not venture so close.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But hunger is the death of all fear, and even
+there I made a kill. Then again the Men-kind, in
+their selfishness, thought to outwit me, for about
+the small village they built a stockade."</p>
+
+<p>"Were there no guns?" queried Hathi. "I, who
+have been in a big hunt with the Men-kind, have
+had them on my back with the fierce-striking guns,
+and all that was in the jungle presently fell dead."</p>
+
+<p>Chita laughed disagreeably.</p>
+
+<p>"I almost forgot about that. One day, when
+they were still at the stockade making, I saw one of
+these Yellow-faced Men tying two sticks together
+and sticking them in the ground, somewhat after
+the fashion of Mooswa's hind legs. Then surely it
+was a gun he put in the crotch of the sticks, pointing
+at the little runway I had made for myself.</p>
+
+<p>"I went into the elephant-grass that grew thereabout,
+and watching him took thought of this thing.
+'It is to do me harm,' I said, 'for is not that my
+road? Always now I will come a little to one side,
+because of this new thing.'</p>
+
+<p>"And in the evening, as I came to the village,
+walking through the same coarse grass, but to one
+side, mind you, there saw I two of these Men sitting
+behind this thing that was surely a gun.</p>
+
+<p>"Only, because of thee, Sa'-zada, perhaps this
+part were better not in the story."</p>
+
+<p>"If it is a true tale it is a true tale," quoth Hathi,
+sententiously; "and, as the good Sa'-zada has said,
+of things that have happened."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, tell it all," commented the Keeper.</p>
+
+<p>"Only say first you were hungry," sneered
+Magh; "hunger covers many sins."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I was hungry," moaned Chita; "chee-wough!
+so hungry. The Bullock I had killed was
+but a collection of bones tied up in a thick skin;
+I broke a good tooth trying to get a supper off him.
+And were not the Men-kind trying to do evil for
+me also, little nut-eater, Magh? They would take
+my skin to the Sahib and get much profit in bounty.
+I heard them say that as I lay in the thick grass.
+I crept close, close&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Behind them," volunteered Wolf, "I know.
+You didn't look in their eyes, Brother, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were busy talking," declared Chita, "and
+did not look my way. Suddenly I sprang out just
+to frighten them, for they were close to the stockade,
+and one ran away."</p>
+
+<p>"Only one?" demanded Mooswa, simply.</p>
+
+<p>But Chita had gone over to the corner of his
+cage, and sitting down, was swinging his big head
+back and forth, back and forth, with his face turned
+to the wall, like a Dog that has been whipped.</p>
+
+<p>"He has caught Sa'-zada's eye," whispered
+Magh in Hathi's ear.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a nasty tale," said the Keeper, "but I think
+it is true."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it is true," declared Wild Boar; "that is
+the way of his kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Sa'-zada, "they got this Sahib who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+has written in The Book, and set the snare for Chita
+and caught him."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate, you were caught," muttered
+Hathi; "and from what you say, it seems to me a
+change for the better."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Pardus," cried the Keeper, gently tapping
+Panther's tail, which hung through between
+the bars, "tell us of the manner of your taking."</p>
+
+<p>"I was caught twice," replied Pardus, blinking
+his eyes lazily, and yawning until the great
+teeth shone white against his black coat; "but you
+are right to call me Panther, for I am no Leopard.
+And it is so hot here and dry; quite like the place
+they took me to&mdash;they of the black faces&mdash;when I
+was first caught, being not more than a full-grown
+Cub, as was White Leopard. That was at Vizianagram,
+up in the hills; but the hills were not like
+White Leopard's, all hot and dry. The jungle was
+cool and fresh, and full of dark places to hide in,
+with deep pools of sweet water that one might
+drink after a kill. Here the Birds do nothing but
+scream and scold; Hornbill, and Cockatoo, and
+Eagle make my head ache with their harsh voices;
+there, if a Bird had occasion to speak, it was a
+song about the sweet land he lived in. It is well
+enough for Hathi to say that being trapped and
+brought here is a piece of great luck; for my part,
+all day long I do nothing but think, think of the
+Madras Hills. There were mango and tamarind,
+and peepul, and huge banyan trees, with strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+limbs stretching so far that one could walk out full
+over the Deer paths, and wait in sweet content for
+a kill. Perhaps even a big family of bamboos
+growing up about one's resting-place, and whispering
+when the wind blew, and closing up their thick
+green leaves to make shade when the sun shone.</p>
+
+<p>"Even where the Men-kind came and sought to
+grow raji were plantain trees and palm trees&mdash;Urgh-h-ah!
+why should there be anything but
+jungle all over the world, it is so beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry about it, Little Bagheela," sneered
+Magh, "for surely there's some sort of a story,
+some wondrous lie, in that head of yours."</p>
+
+<p>"True," continued Pardus, as though he had not
+caught Magh's observation, "there were disagreeable
+things even there. Of course, it will always
+be that way when the Bandar-log, the Monkeys, are
+about. Silly-headed thieves, they were doing no
+manner of good to any one; but more than once,
+when I've lain for hours waiting for the chance of
+a small kill, and the time of the eating had drawn
+near, everything would be upset by the mad laugh
+of Lungour, the Bandar-log.</p>
+
+<p>"But I was caught, as Leopard has said, through
+the coming together of a lean stomach and a trap of
+the Men-kind&mdash;neither a snare, nor the Fire-stick,
+but a cage with a door that fell. True, inside was
+a Goat, but what mattered that once the door was
+down?</p>
+
+<p>"Then they brought me down to the Raja's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+palace in the Plains. Stricken land! that was a
+place for any one to choose as a home&mdash;nothing
+but red earth, with less growth than there is on the
+end of my nose. The Men-kind lived in great
+square caves that blared white in the sun. Me-thinks
+White Leopard would have felt more at
+home there than I did."</p>
+
+<p>"What did those of our kind eat?" queried
+Hathi. "Also, where the Men-kind are is the Animal
+they call Horse, who is a Grass-eater&mdash;was
+there no grass?"</p>
+
+<p>"Scarce any," answered Pardus; "the Black-faced
+ones ran here and there with sharp claws,
+taking up the poor grass by the root, and all for
+the Raja's stables."</p>
+
+<p>"What did they do with you, Bagheela?" asked
+Magh, anxious to hear the story, for she was getting
+sleepy.</p>
+
+<p>"Put me in a cage in the rose garden, where were
+others of my kind&mdash;only they were of the color of
+Yellow Leopard. Of course, at first I thought it
+was because the Raja was not hungry, and would
+eat me another day; but in the next cage was a
+Leopard who had been there a long time, and he
+told me why we were shut up that way. 'It's for
+shikar,' he said. 'Soon all the Sahibs will gather,
+and we will be turned loose, and they will kill us
+with spears and the firestick.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," commented Sa'-zada, nodding
+his head, "I've seen it; also is it written in The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+Book. The Raja was a great sportsman, and each
+year at Christmas time they had a hunt of this
+kind."</p>
+
+<p>"My Mate taught me a trick or two that
+helped pass the time," continued Black Panther.
+"'Bagheela,' he said to me, 'they will come to us
+here on Horses; you who have the end cage may
+perchance keep your hand in, and forget not the
+manner of a quick clutch with your paw. First,
+purr and look sleepy,' he advised; 'second, never
+strike when the Horse is beyond reach, for he is
+a creature of much fear; third, wait, wait, wait&mdash;have
+patience, Little Bagheela. Also, from in
+front nothing is done; but stand you ready at the
+end of your cage, which is a wall, because there
+they cannot see you, and if the Man comes close,
+strike quick and sure, for of this manner there is
+never but one chance.'</p>
+
+<p>"Now, it happened that a fat Sahib came often
+to the cage, and I could see that it was to
+teach the Horses not to be afraid of us. It was
+hard to mind what my Mate said, for the Sahib
+poked me in the ribs with a stick, or tickled
+me in the face with his riding-whip; but Yellow
+Leopard was always whispering through his
+whiskers, 'Wait, wait, wait&mdash;have patience, Little
+Bagheela.'"</p>
+
+<p>"This is a long tale," whined Magh, sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, Little One," objected Hathi, "no
+great stalk is ever done in a hurry."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"One day," continued Pardus, "I heard the
+Horse coming by the end of my cage.</p>
+
+<p>"'Quick! Up!' called my Mate, Yellow
+Leopard.</p>
+
+<p>"Like a spring on a Buck I was up on my
+hind legs against the end wall, just at the last iron
+bar, ready. Around the corner came the Sahib
+quite close. It was a new Horse, and he thought
+to take pleasure out of frightening the poor Animal
+by a sudden sight of us.</p>
+
+<p>"Waugh-houk! With a strong reach I had the
+Sahib by the leg.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoo-whoo, waugh-waugh, whoo-o-o-o-waugh!
+how he roared. Of course, I did not get him altogether,
+for the Horse saved his life by jumping
+sideways. I licked the blood that was on my claws,
+and Yellow Leopard and I both laughed till the
+Keeper came running with a sharp iron bar."</p>
+
+<p>"I warrant you didn't laugh then," chimed in
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"No; he beat me, though it was all Yellow Leopard's
+fault. The fat Sahib swore that he would
+have the first spear in when I was let out at the
+time of the hunt. He was for having me killed in
+the cage; but the Raja said, 'No; his turn will come
+in the Shikar'; and when the Raja spoke there was
+an end of all argument.</p>
+
+<p>"'Little Bagheela,' said Yellow Leopard to me,
+'we will get away to the jungles together at the
+hunt time. If they let you out first&mdash;never fear,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+Little One, you will have a start, for that is the
+Raja's way, we are to have a show for our lives,
+though I warrant one cannot get very far in five
+minutes&mdash;do you run very fast, and when you have
+come to the small mud-caves of the Black-kind,
+hide in the place where the Bullocks are kept.
+They will not look for you there, and not finding
+you they will come back, thinking you have gone
+to the jungles. When I am let out, I, too, will go
+that way, and together nothing will stand between
+us and the hills. Should I go first I will wait for
+you.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then one day a cage that was on wheels was put
+against the door behind which I was kept, and with
+bars that were hot they drove me into it. Then
+I was taken out to the fields, and when the Sahibs&mdash;there
+were many of them&mdash;had gone back on the
+road, the door was opened. Would you believe it,
+Friends, though I had been eating my heart out
+behind the bars yonder, now that I had the chance,
+I was almost afraid to venture on the plain. Even
+as I crept forth, a yellow-leafed bush suddenly
+bent in the wind, and I sprang into the air as
+though it were the charge of a Wild Boar&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to that, Friends," grunted Soor; "of all
+Jungle Dwellers, he has most fear of me."</p>
+
+<p>"But remembering what Yellow Leopard had
+said, I ran swiftly toward the little village that
+was between me and the hills; but not straight
+in the open, mind you&mdash;I had not lived by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+kill in the jungle for nothing. First I leaped
+full over a long line of the fierce-pointed aloe
+bush&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Phrut! I know that plant," muttered Hathi;
+"it has points sharper than the goad of any
+Mahout. Sore toes! but I know it well."</p>
+
+<p>"Even so," continued Pardus, "I ran swiftly
+along in the shadow of this, and soon found a
+Bullock cave such as Yellow Leopard spoke of. In
+the end the Men-kind could not find me, for I lay
+still, though once I heard the voice of the fat
+Sahib quite close, swearing that he longed for a
+sight of the 'black brute.' That was not my name,
+for I am Pardus the Panther.</p>
+
+<p>"After a little I heard more shouting; then there
+was a rustling noise which I knew was the gallop
+of Yellow Leopard. He was calling as he ran,
+'Ehow-Ehow-Hough, Bagheela!' just as we call
+to our Mates in the jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"'A-Houk! here am I,' I cried, rushing out,
+thinking that we would soon be safe in the cool
+jungle again. And away we dashed. By the loss
+of a Kill! we had not gone far till almost in front
+of us we saw the fat Sahib and three others on
+their Horses full in our path.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh-ho, my Black Beauty!' he cried, when he
+saw me; 'now we'll wipe out the score.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That's like the Men-kind," growled Raj Bagh,
+the Tiger; "they cage us and kill us, and if we
+so much as raise a claw in defence of our lives we
+are reviled, and they have a score against us to
+wipe out."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_032" id="i_032"></a>
+<img src="images/i_032.jpg" width="600" height="408" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;AND AWAY WE DASHED.&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," asserted Pardus, "and long holding in
+their hate, too. If we fail in a kill, do we go long
+hungered, turning from everything else until we
+have slain the one that has escaped us? But there
+was the fat Sahib, who had not gone back with
+the others, but was still searching to kill me, Black
+Panther. Surely that was not what they call shikar
+(sport), but a matter of hate he had laid up against
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"You should have taken his beatings," declared
+Hathi, "even as I have, more times than there are
+tusks to your paws; phrut, phrut! it has always
+been that way with us Jungle Dwellers. When
+the Sahib beat us it is evil fortune if we do not
+let it rest at that. True, there was a Mahout once
+that went too far&mdash;but what am I saying? surely
+I am half asleep. It is your story, Bagheela&mdash;you
+were saying that the fat Sahib had killed you&mdash;I
+mean&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pardus, "the fat Sahib&mdash;I stopped;
+so did Yellow Leopard, with an angry growl.
+Then behind I heard a little trumpet from
+Hathi."</p>
+
+<p>"Not me," exclaimed the big Elephant; "I
+wasn't there."</p>
+
+<p>"Most surely it is a wondrous lie," declared
+Magh; "and now he asks Ganesh to say he was
+there and saw it."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" interrupted Sa'-zada, "it was another
+Elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"Even so," affirmed Pardus; "and on his back
+was the Raja, coming in great haste.</p>
+
+<p>"'Charge!' roared Yellow Leopard to me, and
+with a rush that was full of wickedness he went
+straight for the fat Sahib; and before I knew how
+it was done, had broken his neck with the hold
+that we all know so well.</p>
+
+<p>"The Raja, without waiting for Hathi to kneel,
+jumped from his back, and rushing like the charge
+of a Sambhur, drove his spear through Yellow
+Leopard as he still held the Sahib by the throat,
+and killed him. Well I remember the spear was
+buried head deep in the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"In fear, I raced back to the mud-caves in which
+were the Bullocks; and they brought the cage again
+and put it to the door. But I was afraid to enter
+till they dropped fire on me from above. Then I
+was taken back to my old quarters, and in the end
+sent here to Sa'-zada."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pity the Sahib was killed," said the
+Keeper; "it was a horrible death."</p>
+
+<p>"I was sorry for Yellow Leopard," declared
+Pardus, "for he tried to get me away with him to
+the jungles."</p>
+
+<p>"Chee-chee! but I am sleepy," yawned Magh,
+sliding down Hathi's trunk with the Pup under her
+arm. "These tales of killings are enough to make
+one have bad dreams."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Dreams!" exclaimed Sher Abi, opening his
+eyes, for he had been sound asleep; "to be sure, to
+be sure! I've had a very bad dream. One should
+not eat so much; but after all, I suppose it is the
+feathers that are indigestible. E-ugh-h! Sa'-zada,
+could you not pluck the chickens before you give
+them me to eat? There was a time when I could
+digest&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, move along, Magar!" interrupted Sa'-zada;
+"it is bed-time now. You'll have a chance
+to talk some other night."</p>
+
+<p>And presently the Animal town of the Greater
+City was quiet, save for the bubble of Camel's long
+throat, and the gentle snore of Hathi's pendulous
+nose. The moon blinked curiously through the
+whispering leaves, and over all there was the solemn
+hush that comes in the night when the days
+are days of fierce heat.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2"><a name="Second_Night_elephant" id="Second_Night_elephant"></a>Second Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of Hathi Ganesh,<br />
+the White-Eared Elephant</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 334px;">
+<img src="images/i_2nd_nite_1.jpg" width="334" height="450" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;">
+<img src="images/i_2nd_nite_2.jpg" width="397" height="600" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="SECOND_NIGHT" id="SECOND_NIGHT"></a><big>SECOND NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF HATHI GANESH, THE WHITE-EARED
+ELEPHANT</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was very hot. The Summer moon, pushing
+lazily through the whispering tracery of tall
+elm trees that cut the night sky, fell upon the same
+group of forest friends gathered in front of Tiger's
+cage that had been there the previous evening,
+when the Leopard brothers had discoursed so
+pleasantly of their Jungle life.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the tale to-night, Sa'-zada, loved Master?"
+asked Magh, the Ourang-Outang, standing
+with one hand on Mooswa's back, who was lying
+down.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the talk of Hathi," answered the Keeper.</p>
+
+<p>Hathi could be heard blowing softly through his
+trunk to clear his throat, then he began his story:</p>
+
+<p>"We were a mighty herd, all of forty, with two
+great Bulls in charge, I remember; though to be
+sure when it came to be a matter of danger they
+seemed to forget all about being in charge and
+cleared off as fast as they could. I soon got to
+know that the herd was very proud of me."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I should think they would be, my big beauty,"
+cried Magh, patting his forehead affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," continued Hathi, "these white and
+pink spots all over my neck and ears were a sign
+that great luck had come to the herd. Even the
+Men-kind&mdash;but that, of course, I discovered years
+after at Ava&mdash;even the Men-kind looked upon me
+as sacred, being a White Elephant. Besides, I
+had but the one tusk, the right, and that is why
+I am Ganesh, the Holy One.</p>
+
+<p>"We wandered about in the Jungle, and when
+we Babe Elephants were tired, the whole herd
+waited until we had rested and fed. That's why
+the Bulls had nothing to do with leading the herd.
+They knew little of what a calf could stand, so
+Mah, my Mother, always gave the signal when
+we were to start or stop. I think she was very
+proud of being the mother of the lucky Calf.</p>
+
+<p>"But it was a lovely land to dwell in; all hills
+and valleys with plenty of cover; and down in the
+flat lands the Men grew raji and rice, and plantains.</p>
+
+<p>"I think there must be some very wise animal
+who arranges all these things&mdash;puts each one in the
+Jungle he likes best. Pardus was happy in his
+hills, and White Chita liked the snow mountains,
+and Yellow Leopard the rice fields; and Mooswa
+has told me when we've talked together, that on
+the far side of his lands are the loveliest spruce
+forests any Moose could wish to live in."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it was Sa'-zada or one of his kind,"
+ventured Muskwa, the Bear.</p>
+
+<p>"It is God who arranges it," declared the
+Keeper, in a soft voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who that may be," muttered
+Hathi, "but I thought there was someone. Such a
+lovely Jungle it was; tall teak trees and pinkado,
+and Telsapa from which the Men-kind drew oil
+for their fires.</p>
+
+<p>"For days, and weeks, and months it would be
+hot and dry; and then three times the big flower
+would come out on the padouk tree, and all the
+Elephants would laugh and squeal with their
+trunks, for they knew the rain would surely come.
+Yes, when we could see for the third time a big
+cluster of flowers, patter, patter on the leaves we
+could hear the rain, and soon drip, drip, drip,
+trickle it would come down on our backs, washing
+the dust and little sticks out of every wrinkle until
+even the old Bulls would commence to play like
+Calves.</p>
+
+<p>"We finally came to a big river early in the
+morning, and every one went in for a wash. Mind,
+I was only a babe about the size of a Buffalo. The
+old ones lay down in the river, just keeping their
+trunks out to breathe, and I thought to do the same,
+of course; but when I flopped over on my side&mdash;bad
+footing! there was nothing anywhere but soft,
+slippery water&mdash;there was quite a thousand miles
+of it, and dark as the blackest night. I could see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+nothing, hear nothing only the angry talk of the
+water that ran fast. They said that I screamed
+like a young pig. Then something strong grabbed
+me by the hind leg, and pulled me out up on the
+bank&mdash;it was Mah. She scolded roundly. Then
+she spanked me good and hard.</p>
+
+<p>"All that season I was not allowed to go in the
+water again. Mah washed me down with her
+trunk, squirting the water over me.</p>
+
+<p>"The eating was sweet in those Jungles; but
+best of all I liked the young plantains when they
+were just beyond the blossom age, all wrapped up
+in a big leaf, and juicy, and sweet.</p>
+
+<p>"The first happening was from an evil-minded
+Bagh (tiger). That evening I had wandered a
+little to one side, not knowing it, and Bagh, with
+a fierce word in his big throat, jumped full on my
+head. Of course I screamed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Like a Pig," interjected Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"Like a Babe Hathi," corrected Elephant.
+"And Mah, who had been looking for me, just in
+the nick of time threw Bagh many yards into the
+Jungle with her trunk. I don't know how other
+animals get along without a trunk; it seems just
+suited for every purpose.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_042" id="i_042"></a>
+<img src="images/i_042.jpg" width="600" height="412" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;THEN SOMETHING STRONG GRABBED ME BY THE HIND LEG, AND PULLED
+ME&nbsp;...&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"The next happening was worse, for it came
+from the Men-kind. It was a hot, hot day. We
+were all standing on a hill in the shade of trees,
+flapping our ears to keep the flies off, when suddenly
+Old Bull kinked his head sideways, whistled
+softly through his trunk, and we all stopped flapping
+to listen. Even Calf as I was, I knew there
+was some danger near. In the wind there was
+nothing&mdash;nothing unusual, just the sweet scent of
+the tiny little white flowers that grow close to the
+short grass. But Old Bull was afraid; he gave a
+signal for us to move, and we started.</p>
+
+<p>"In a minute there was an awful cracking like
+the breaking of a tree, only different, and we all
+ran here, there, everywhere. Of course since that,
+having been taken in the hunt by the Men-kind, I
+know it was a gun, as they call it.</p>
+
+<p>"Old Bull charged straight for a little white
+cloud that rose from where the noise had been;
+then crack! crack! crack! the guns trumpeted all
+over the Jungle&mdash;but I won't tell any more of that
+happening, because Old Bull was killed; and Mah,
+too&mdash;though the Men-kind said afterwards, so I've
+heard, that it was a mistake, as they only killed
+Bulls, being white hunters, for the sake of the feet
+and tusks.</p>
+
+<p>"It was late in the evening before the herd gathered
+again, and we traveled far, fearing the evil of
+the Men-kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Was there no evil with your own people?"
+queried Wolf. "Just feeding, and nothing else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," answered Hathi, hesitatingly, "sometimes
+in a herd there grows up one who is a
+'Rogue.' We had one such, I remember. But that
+also came about because of the Men-kind&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a><br /><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+yellow man. It was a Hill-man, and when this
+Rogue of whom I speak&mdash;he also was a Bull&mdash;was
+just full grown, a matter of perhaps twenty
+years, this Hill-man thrust into his head, from a
+distance, too, being seated in a tree, an arrow.</p>
+
+<p>"The arrow remaining there as it did, caused
+this Bull to become of an evil temper. Quarreling,
+quarreling always, butting his huge head into a
+comrade because of a mere nothing; and with his
+tusks putting his mark on many of us without
+cause; sometimes it would be a kick from his forefoot,
+or a slap of his trunk. When we were near
+to the places of the Men-kind he would wallow in
+the rice fields, and pull up the young plantain trees
+by the roots, even knock the queer little houses
+they lived in to pieces, for they were but of bamboo
+and leaves. Of course the dwellers ran for their
+lives, and sometimes brought fire, and made noise
+with their guns, and beat gongs to frighten him
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Many times we drove him forth from the herd;
+and sometimes he stayed away himself for days,
+sulky. In the end we lost him altogether, and we
+were all glad; but strange as it may appear, I saw
+him again in Rangoon in the timber yards. That
+was after I was caught."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us about that happening," pleaded Sa'-zada,
+"for it is even not written in The Book."</p>
+
+<p>"I was taken in a manner full of deceit, and because
+I had faith in those of my own kind. I was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+perhaps, fifteen or twenty years old at the time&mdash;but
+in a Hathi's life a year or two is of no moment,
+for we are long-lived&mdash;and what might be called
+second in charge of the herd, a condition of things
+which I resented somewhat, but the Herd Bull had
+been leader while I was growing up, so there was
+no just claim on my part really.</p>
+
+<p>"And it happened in our wanderings that we
+came not far from the greatest of all the Men's
+places in that land, Ava (Mandalay). One day
+as I was pulling down the young bamboos and stripping
+the feathered top, a strange <i>Hathni</i> (female
+elephant) came to me and put her trunk softly on
+my neck. She was all alone, and I felt sorry for
+her; besides, she was nice&mdash;showed me such lovely
+places for good feeding. I spent a whole day with
+her, and the next day, too, and as we went through
+the jungle, suddenly we came to a sort of immense,
+strong <i>hauda</i>. It wasn't a bit like the Men's <i>haudas</i>
+that they live in, else I should never have been deceived;
+great trunks of trees growing up out of
+the ground straight, and close together, but no
+branches or leaves to them; as square on top as
+the end of my leg. This queer-looking jungle thing
+troubled me. 'What is it?' I asked Hathni.</p>
+
+<p>"'It's my home,' she replied; 'come in, Comrade.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And of course the woman had her way," remarked
+Sa'-zada; "you went into the parlor, Hathi,
+old chap, I suppose."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not by that name knew I it, Sa'-zada; they
+called it a Keddah, as I found out. But I went in."</p>
+
+<p>"And was caged," laughed Black Chita.</p>
+
+<p>"Inside," continued Hathi, "was a winding path,
+and Hathni trotted down this so fast that I lost her.
+A great wooden gate dropped behind me, and I
+knew that I was in a trap. It was a big place, but
+no openings to get out.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the Men-kind showed their yellow faces
+all over the walls, just like <i>Hanumen</i>&mdash;the gray-whiskered
+Monkey of those parts.</p>
+
+<p>"'A White Elephant at last, at last!' they cried;
+'now will the King be pleased.'</p>
+
+<p>"I was left alone that night, but the next day the
+Men-kind came with two ruffianly Bulls of my
+kind who bunted and bustled me about, and fought
+me, while the men slipped great strong ropes over
+my legs. In a week I was that tired and sore from
+this treatment that I was ready to go any place.
+Then I was taken to Ava; and such doings! I
+dislike to tell it all; it's hardly modest.</p>
+
+<p>"They put a silk covering over me to keep the
+Flies off, and a garland of white jasmine flowers
+about my neck&mdash;sweet-smelling flowers they were;
+in my ears two big red stones of the ruby kind were
+placed; and always as I walked a great silk umbrella
+was over my head. And as for eating&mdash;humpf,
+humpf, humpf! they just made me ill with
+sweets to be eaten out of gold dishes."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_046" id="i_046"></a>
+<img src="images/i_046.jpg" width="600" height="411" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;TWO RUFFIANLY BULLS ... FOUGHT ME WHILE THE MEN SLIPPED GREAT STRONG ROPES OVER
+MY LEGS.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Is this a true tale, O Sa'-zada?" queried Black
+Leopard. "For one of the jungle folk it is a
+strange happening."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," replied the Keeper; "that was the
+way with the White Elephant at the Burma King's
+court, it is written in another book I have read."</p>
+
+<p>"And no one was allowed to ride on my back
+but the King," declared Hathi, "excepting, of
+course, the Mahout. As I walked I was afraid
+of stepping on some one; the Men-kind were forever
+flopping down on their knees to worship me.
+It was this way for years; then one season there
+came war; great guns spoke with a roar louder
+than Bagh's; and vast herds of the white-faced
+Men-kind came, letting free the blood of the yellow-faced
+ones; and in the end I was taken away,
+and sent down to Rangoon, and put to work in
+the timber yards. There was no worship, and
+few sweetmeats, and for silk covering I was given
+a harness with leather collar and chain traces. It
+was like being back in the jungle again&mdash;I was just
+a common Hathi, only I was called there Raj
+Singh.</p>
+
+<p>"It was at that time I met the Bull who was a
+Rogue. He was also working in the timber yards,
+but it had done him much good&mdash;his temper was
+improved."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it kind treatment cured him?" asked Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Hathi; "they whipped him into a
+gentle behavior. Two big Bulls with heavy iron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a><br /><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+chains swinging from their trunks thrashed him
+until he promised to cease making trouble. But
+one day he broke out bad, and smashed everything&mdash;tore
+the Master's dogcart to pieces, knocked the
+Cooly's <i>haudas</i> down, and trumpeted like an evil
+jungle spirit. He even killed his Mahout, which
+was a silly thing, though he declared his driver, the
+Mahout, sitting up on his back, one foot on either
+side, had prodded viciously at his head until poor
+Rogue's blood was on fire.</p>
+
+<p>"But in the end they sent me away to Sa'-zada,
+and I am quite content"; and reaching his big trunk
+over to the Keeper, Hathi caressed the latter's
+cheek lovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we are all content," declared Magh; "for
+Sa'-zada is a kind and gentle Master."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, all to your cages and your pens," cried
+the Keeper, "for it is late. To-morrow night, perhaps,
+we shall have the tale of Gidar, the Jackal."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Third Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Stories of Gidar, the Jackal,<br />
+and Coyote, the Prairie Wolf</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 337px;">
+<img src="images/i_3rd_nite_1.jpg" width="337" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/i_3rd_nite_2.jpg" width="600" height="496" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THIRD_NIGHT" id="THIRD_NIGHT"></a><big>THIRD NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORIES OF GIDAR, THE JACKAL,<br />
+AND COYOTE, THE PRAIRIE WOLF</h2>
+
+
+<p>"To-night," commenced Sa'-zada, "we
+are to have the interesting life story of
+the two half-brothers, Gidar and Coyote."</p>
+
+<p>"A thief's tale of a certainty," chuckled Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"In my land, which was Burma, there were none
+so useful as we," began Gidar. "Not of high repute
+our mission, perhaps, but still useful, being
+scavengers; and to this end we are all born with a
+fair appetite; but useful always, even Bagh knows
+that. I was Lieutenant to one of his kind&mdash;a great
+killer he was&mdash;for a matter of two years. Then
+he came by way of a dispute with the Men-kind,
+and they finished him in short order.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, you know, Brothers, our kind have steadily
+worked southward from India, pushing into new
+lands from all time, even like the Sahibs, until we
+are now half down through Burma. It must be a
+dull land that has not our sweet song at night. If
+there were but a Pack here now we'd sing you a
+rare chorus."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I've heard the song," quoth Bagh; "it's
+wretched."</p>
+
+<p>"How goes it?" asked Wolf. "Our Pack has
+a cry of great strength; the 'bells of the forest,'
+the Redmen call it."</p>
+
+<p>"It's somewhat this way," said Jackal, and sitting
+on his haunches he raised his long, sharp
+nozzle high in air, stretching his lean throat toward
+the moon that glinted fretfully through the swaying
+trees; and on the still, quiet night air floated
+his cry of far-off India:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<i>Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-o!</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>I smell a dead Hindoo-oo!</i>'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"That would be my cry, Brothers. Then from
+all quarters of the jungle the Pack would take up
+the song and sing back:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<i>Where, where, where, where, where, where?</i>'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"And I would answer back cheerily:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<i>Here, here, here, here, here, here!</i>'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Then all together we would sing with all our
+lungs:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<i>Oo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-h</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Mussulman or Hind-oo?</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Here, there, or anywhere,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>All flesh is flesh, we do not care.</i>'"<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>"A charming song," sneered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I cannot give it right; you should have
+heard it, little Eater-of-sour-fruit, in the dead closeness
+of a Burman jungle, from the many throats
+of a hungry Pack.</p>
+
+<p>"The people of that land liked the song full well,
+and they never molested us. But life was one continuous
+struggle for food. We were not slayers
+like Chita, or Bagh, or Python; or stealers of crops
+like Boar and Rogue Hathi; almost as simple in
+our way of life as Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember once a fat Dog-pup of the Terrier
+kind, which I bagged. It was all the fault of the
+Pup's master; he tried to kill me."</p>
+
+<p>"You had probably been singing to him," said
+Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"We had, I admit," answered Jackal. "It was
+on Borongo Island; two men, Sahibs they were
+called there, you know, lived in a bungalow built
+on high posts, after the manner of all houses in that
+land. The bungalow was built on the shore, and
+every day the water came up under it, and then
+went back again. This was a most wise arrangement
+of the water's traveling, for it threw up
+many a dead Fish and Crab for our eating.</p>
+
+<p>"Well I remember the cook-house was a little
+to one side from the bungalow, with a poor, ill-conditioned
+bamboo door to it. Regularly, doing
+our scavenger work, we used to clean up that cook-house,
+eating everything the servant-kind had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+devoured. Several times I made a great find in
+that very place, for the cook, it appears, was a most
+forgetful fellow. When there was nothing left for
+us in the way of food, we'd carry off the pots and
+pans into the jungle grass; why, I hardly know, but
+it seemed proper to do so.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I know which of the Pack first
+started singing under the bungalow; but this also
+afforded us much content. Many hours on in the
+dark we'd all steal gently down from the jungle,
+and gather under the house. Then, as one, we'd
+give voice to the hunger cry together, until even
+the Sahibs would shout in fear. It was good to
+make the Men-kind afraid; but also we would flee
+swiftly, for the two Sahibs would rush out like
+a jackal that had suddenly become possessed of
+much poisoned meat, and 'bang, bang, bang' with
+the guns.</p>
+
+<p>"I had much to do with Men, and just when I
+thought they were full cross because of our serenade,
+what was my surprise to find each evening a
+full measure of rice put in a certain place for me.
+'It is full of the datura' (poison), I thought, and
+watched while a lean Pariah Dog from the village
+ate it. But there was nothing wrong with it. So
+the next evening I made haste to get a full share of
+it myself. As I ate, hurriedly I must say, twang-g!
+came a mighty Boar-spear.</p>
+
+<p>"But only the shaft of it struck my back, so I
+made off with great diligence. I heard the Sahib<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+say as he picked up the spear, 'Missed him, by
+Jove!' You see, he had been hiding in a corner of
+the bungalow. But I was hungry, and the rice was
+good&mdash;most delicious&mdash;so I crept back with two
+comrades, and keeping to the thick grass, stalked
+the bungalow most carefully. I saw the Sahibs all
+at their eating, for the door was open, it being
+hot; you see, he thought I wouldn't come back so
+soon.</p>
+
+<p>"'I will eat with you,' I said, and made straight
+for the rice; but it was nearly all gone; the Terrier
+Pup of which I have spoken, and which belonged
+to this very Sahib who had thrown the spear, was
+just finishing his Master's bait.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, you wicked Dog!' I said, 'to steal my supper
+this way,' and knowing that his master was in
+the habit of throwing spears at that very spot, I
+picked him up and carried him to the jungle for
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, oh E-u-u-h!' how he squealed, and the
+Men-kind left their eating, and came rushing after
+us with much shouting, but it was dark and they
+had no chance of catching us."</p>
+
+<p>"And you ate the poor little fellow?" asked
+Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"Horrible!" cried Magh, "to eat a Dog."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all bad stuffed with rice, I assure you,"
+declared Gidar. "For a day or two I kept more or
+less out of the way; I was afraid the Sahibs might
+be very angry.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It was two nights after this I discovered more
+rice some distance from the bungalow in a pail
+which was sunk in the ground, and over this stood
+a couple of posts that had not been there before.
+I remembered that, so I sat by quietly watching
+this new thing, and trying to decide what it might
+be.</p>
+
+<p>"Now the Sahibs had two pigs, and as I watched,
+along came these two, grunting, and shoving things
+about with their long noses, and presently one of
+them discovered the rice in the pail.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ugh, ugh, ugh!' said he, 'just a mouthful of
+this will do me good.' You know, of course, a pig
+eats first and thinks after, so in this case he plunged
+his big head in the pail, and 'zip! whang!' went
+something, and before I could jump to my feet he
+was dangling in the air hung by the neck; he didn't
+even have a chance to squeal. Of course his mate
+took to his heels and cleared out, while I finished
+the rice, knowing the evil was in the custody of
+my Squeaker friend. In the morning the Pig was
+dead."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a fine thief's tale," commented Magh, "but
+in the end they caught you right enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Not there," corrected Gidar; "that was another
+place. A Sahib who had come to the jungle
+seeking dwellers for such places as this, made the
+taking; but with him one might as well be caught
+first as last, for he knew more of our ways than we
+knew of his. Now let Coyote speak; I am tired."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Does Coyote come from Burma, too, O Sa'-zada?"
+queried Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, he's from Mooswa's country; from the
+great plains away in the far West. There is not
+much in The Book about Coyote; that is, not much
+that's good."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew it," laughed Magh; "I've watched him
+there in his cage which is opposite mine, day after
+day, and I never saw a smile on his face."</p>
+
+<p>"You should be put in the cage with Hyena,"
+declared Coyote, "if you think an animal has got to
+grin all the time to be of fair nature. Or of what
+use are you, little pot-belly, or the whole of your
+tribe&mdash;Hanuman, Hooluk, or Chimpanzee&mdash;none
+of you worth the nuts you eat; and yet you're always
+grinning and chattering, and playing fool
+tricks about the cage. You're a fine one to judge
+your fellow creatures."</p>
+
+<p>"Coyote just sits there and scratches Fleas, and
+growls, and snaps at his mate&mdash;he's a low-born sort
+of Wolf," continued Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"He's not of our kind," declared Wolf; "it's all
+a lie."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, never mind," cried Sa'-zada, "no
+doubt like all the rest of us he has his good and
+bad qualities."</p>
+
+<p>"I was once starving," resumed Coyote. "You
+who have lived in a warm land where something is
+growing all the year round, know nothing of the
+hunger that comes when the fierce blizzard blots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+out everything, and there is only snow, snow, everywhere.
+Can one eat snow? It's all very fine for
+you with a paunch full of candy to sit there and
+prate about stealing, but if Wie-sak-ke-chack puts
+the hunger pains in one's stomach and the fat
+bacon&mdash;Ghurr-h-h! but the juice of it is sweet when
+one is near dead&mdash;puts the fat bacon behind log
+walls, what is one to do, eh? Does a fellow dig,
+dig, dig through earth so hard that he must bite it
+out with his teeth, dig deep under the log walls for
+sport as the Cubs play in the sunshine, or just to
+steal? Bah, you who have never known hunger
+know not of this thing. Why, once when the
+ground was frozen hard, and I was dying inch by
+inch, some fierce-toothed Animal inside me biting,
+biting&mdash;only of course it was the hunger chewing
+at my stomach&mdash;I dove fair through the window
+of a log shack to get at the meat inside. The glass
+cut me, to be sure, but that was nothing to the
+hunger pain that goes on, on, never ceasing until
+there is food, or one is dead.</p>
+
+<p>"I saved a man's life once at a post called Stand-Off.
+The place came by its name in the days of a
+mighty fight when my Man and his comrades stood
+off the Mounted Police. These Men had been
+given as bad a name as Coyotes even. My Man
+may have been bad, too; but how was I to know,
+being only a Coyote? He was always throwing me
+bones and pieces of bread, and whistling to me, and
+calling me Jack.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now this place Stand-Off was on the river flat,
+and one night in spring-time I heard a great flood
+coming down the Belly River. It was a still night,
+and the noise of the rushing water came to my
+ears for miles, but the Men heard it not, for they
+were all in the Shacks. Fast I galloped down over
+the flat near to the Shack where was this Man who
+had often thrown me a bone. I whimpered, and
+whistled, and barked the danger call, and howled
+the death-coming song, and finally my friend came
+to the door and threw a stick of wood at me, and
+spoke fierce oaths. Then he shut the door. I
+could hear the roaring getting louder and louder,
+and knew that soon it would be too late for all the
+Men-kind; not that I cared, except for this one.
+On one side of the town was the swift-running
+Belly River, and beyond a high-cut bank; on my
+side was the flat land that would soon be many feet
+deep with ice and rushing water. So I howled
+louder than ever, and he came out and strove to
+kill me with a Firestick, but I only ran a little piece
+into the darkness, and howled again.</p>
+
+<p>"Being a Man of much temper he chased me,
+and the noise brought out the others, for they
+thought it was Indians. I sought to lead him over
+to the side of the flat land which was next the
+sloping hill, knowing full well that the new water
+would flow there first.</p>
+
+<p>"All at once he ceased running behind me, and
+I, who was listening, knew that he scarce breathed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+he was that still. Now, he will hear it, I thought;
+and in an instant I heard him cry to the others:
+'Boys, we must pull out from this&mdash;there's a devil
+of a freshet coming.' That was the way of the
+Men from Stand-Off; many strange words of a
+useless need.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you, Comrades, it was soon an awful night;
+here and there the Men ran trying to save something&mdash;their
+Horses and guns for most part, even
+some of the evil firewater; and the strong swearings
+they used sounded but just as the whimpering
+of Wolf Pups, the wind was that fierce, carrying
+the dreadful roar of the Chinook flood.</p>
+
+<p>"You who have heard Bagh and Hathi scolding
+at each other, with perhaps Black Panther and
+Bald Eagle taking part, may know somewhat the
+like of that night's noises.</p>
+
+<p>"Seeing that my Man was coming riding swiftly
+on his Cayuse, I, too, ran quickly for the upland;
+but, as I have said, just in the hollow which was
+there, being the trail where once had run the river,
+the flood was rushing even as I have seen it in the
+foot-hills&mdash;the flat land was surrounded.</p>
+
+<p>"As the Men galloped up they stopped, and
+spoke evil words at the flood, rushing up and down
+looking for a ford. I also was afraid to cross.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly I thought me of a place I knew well
+lower down, wondrous like a Beaver dam, though
+I think there had been no Beavers in the land since
+Chief Mountain was a hole in the ground. I
+barked, to call my Man friend, and ran toward
+this spot.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 416px;">
+<a name="i_061" id="i_061"></a>
+<img src="images/i_061.jpg" width="416" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;I HEARD MY MAN SAY ... &#39;STRIKE ME DEAD IF HE HASN&#39;T ...&#39;&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'There goes that locoed Coyote,' I heard him
+say; 'he's trailing for a crossing; damned if I don't
+follow him. Come on, you fellows,' and after me
+they galloped like madmen.</p>
+
+<p>"Just below the place that was like a dam the
+water was not too bad, for the ice had jammed up
+above, and it was spreading out all over the flat.
+I plunged in, for, Comrades, it was a time of great
+hurry. Swimming a river is not of my liking&mdash;none
+of my kind like it&mdash;but this seemed an evil
+night altogether, with no choice but to reach the
+uplands.</p>
+
+<p>"'Sure thing! the Coyote's dead to rights on this
+outfit,' I heard my Man say; and wallow, wallow,
+in the bronchos came, splashing and snorting. And
+so we crossed just as the ice broke in the jam, and
+swept down like the swift rolling of many stones.
+I heard my Man say as they all got down from the
+horses to empty the water out of their long boots,
+'If I ever clap peeps on to that Coyo again,
+I'll shove grub pile into him till he busts. Strike
+me dead if he hasn't saved the whole outfit of
+us.'</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway I knew there would be much feeding
+and no harm if I kept close to these evil Men-kind,
+for they were great givers.</p>
+
+<p>"I sought to save the one man, and if there be
+any credit it comes to me because of that; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+others followed him, and even they said <i>he</i> had
+saved them."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is a true tale," declared Mooswa, "for
+I once had a happening in saving the life of a Boy
+who had been good to me."</p>
+
+<p>"What happened to the Men's place, Dog-Wolf?"
+queried Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"In the morning there was nothing&mdash;nothing but
+great pieces of ice all over the flat. Then the Men
+trailed for a place called Slideout, where were more
+evil men of the firewater way of life, and I followed,
+arranging it so that my Man saw me, and
+that day when he killed an Antelope, he left a
+sweet piece of the eating for me; and I might have
+lived all my life close to their camp in great fatness,
+but for the evil chance that drew the Men-kind
+close to a place called MacLeod. And it was there,
+being pursued by ferocious yellow-haired Dogs, I
+hid in a Hen-house and was caught. At first they
+were for killing me, but there happened a Man-Pup
+of that house who cried for me as his Doggie, and
+later came one of the Men-kind, gave blankets in
+exchange for me, and I was sent here to the place
+where is Sa'-zada."</p>
+
+<p>"He is either a great liar, or not so bad as is
+written in The Book," commented Sher Abi, the
+Crocodile; "but in my land where was his Brother,
+the Jackal, I never heard good of his kind."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure it is a true tale," declared Sa'-zada;
+"Coyote could not have made it up."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Fourth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of Raj Bagh, the King
+Tiger</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;">
+<img src="images/i_4th_nite_1.jpg" width="397" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/i_4th_nite_2.jpg" width="600" height="493" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="FOURTH_NIGHT" id="FOURTH_NIGHT"></a><big>FOURTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF RAJ BAGH, THE KING TIGER</h2>
+
+
+<p>While the Keeper Sa'-zada was still loitering
+over his tea, there came to his ears an
+imperious roaring call "Wah-h-h! Wah-h-h! Wah-houh!"</p>
+
+<p>"This is the Tiger's night, indeed," he muttered
+to himself. "Old Raj Bagh is eager to tell us the
+tale of his life." Then he hurried down to their
+cages and corrals saying, "Come, comrades; the
+King of the Jungle calls us."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have strong tales of blood-letting to-night,"
+muttered Magh the Orang-Outang.</p>
+
+<p>"King of the Jungle, indeed!" sneered
+Hathi, the Elephant. "When I was Lord of
+the jungle I knew no king&mdash;that is, amongst the
+animals."</p>
+
+<p>"Now," began Sa'-zada, opening The Book,
+when the Jungle Dwellers had all gathered in front
+of Bagh, the killer's cage; "now we shall know all
+about Huzoor Stripes. And mind you, Hathi, and
+all the rest, there must be no anger, for Bagh's way
+of life has not been of his own making; for with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+his kind it is their nature to kill that which they
+eat."</p>
+
+<p>"I was born in Chittagong," began Bagh, "and
+well I remember the little <i>Nullah</i> in which my
+Mother kept me, a big tea garden spread over
+three hills just near our hiding place, and there was
+always much good eating.</p>
+
+<p>"For months after I was born my Mother made
+me hide in the <i>Nullah</i>. That was always in the
+evening. And as for hiding, how anyone can get
+along without stripes in his coat I can't understand.
+Let me hide in a grass field where the sun throws
+sharp shadows up and down across everything and
+I'll give my ration of meat for the week to anyone
+who can see me three lengths of my tail away."</p>
+
+<p>"Where was your Mother all this time?" queried
+Magh, tauntingly.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure," answered Bagh, "she would be
+away for hours making the kill, and when she came
+back would lick my face, and teach me the sweet
+smell of new meat and hot blood. Then the next
+evening, just as it was getting dark, she would take
+me with her to the kill, which was usually a Cow,
+and which she had very cunningly hidden in elephant
+grass, or a bamboo clump, or some little
+<i>Nullah</i>. There would be still half of it left. I
+grew big and strong, and longed to make a kill on
+my own account.</p>
+
+<p>"But that year a terrible thing happened to the
+Buffaloes and Cows upon which we depended for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+food. They were all down in the Flat Lands,
+which is close by the sea, and one day when the
+jungle was much torn by strong, fierce winds, a
+great water came over the land, and ate up all the
+Cattle, and many of the Men-kind. Then, indeed,
+we fairly starved, for the few that were left were
+kept close to the bamboo houses of the villagers.
+Night after night, even in the day-time, my Mother
+and I sought for the chances of a kill, for I had
+grown big at that time, and she took me with her.
+We were really starving; perhaps a small Chital
+(deer), or a Dog, or something came our way once
+in a while, but the pain in my stomach was so great
+that I moaned, and moaned, and I believe it was
+because of me that my Mother became a Man-killer."</p>
+
+<p>"Horrible!" exclaimed Mooswa. "Became a
+killer of the Men-kind? Dreadful!"</p>
+
+<p>"I, too, have killed Men," asserted Raj Bagh;
+"and why is it so evil, my big-nosed eater-of-grass?
+Your food is the leaves of the jungle, and you have
+it with you always. When you are hungry you
+walk, walk, and soon you come to where there is
+much food, and you eat, and with you that is all
+right&mdash;there is no evil in it. As Sa'-zada has said,
+it is our way of life to kill our eating. When there
+is no Chital we kill Sambhur; when there are no
+Deer we kill Pigs, or even Buffalo; when there is
+nothing but Man, and we are changed from our
+usual way of kill by great hunger, we slay Man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+With all Dwellers of the Jungle, there is fear of
+the Men-kind, that is all, nothing but fear; and
+when once that is broken we kill the Men-kind
+even as any other Jungle Dweller."</p>
+
+<p>"Little Brother," began Sa'-zada, "it is spoken
+amongst my Kind, that a Man-killer is always an
+old, broken-toothed Tiger, full-manged, and of
+evil ways; and that once having tasted human flesh
+he becomes a killer of nothing else."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha-hauk!" laughed Bagh, "those be silly
+Jungle tales. Am I broken-toothed, or full of a
+mange, or is Raj Bagh? All a lie, Little Master,
+all a lie. It is but a chance of the Jungle that
+makes a Man-killer, even as I will tell, and the
+taste of the flesh is not more than the taste of meat.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he continued, "I was with my Mother
+that day, the first day of the Man-kill, and in my
+stomach was a great pain like the biting of Red
+Ants. It was near the coming of night, and we
+crept down into the tea garden where there were
+many of the coolie kind working amongst the
+bushes. I think my Mother was looking for a stray
+dog, or perhaps a small Bullock; but the coolies
+seeing us cried aloud in their fright, 'Bagh hai!'
+and ran. I think it was this that made my Mother
+charge suddenly amongst them, for if they had
+stood and looked at us I'm sure we should have
+turned and gone away; but in the charge a Man
+fell. Baghni seized him by the neck, threw him
+on her back, and we both galloped into the jungle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+After that, whenever we were hungry we went back
+to the tea garden in just the same way.</p>
+
+<p>"But one day a coolie saw us first and ran to his
+master's bungalow crying with much fear. Neither
+of us thought anything of that, for it was as they
+had done before; so we went on down in the little
+<i>Nullah</i> between the hills, looking sharply for others
+of the Black Workers. Suddenly I heard a noise
+as of something approaching.</p>
+
+<p>"'Keep still, O Baghela,' said Baghni, 'here
+cometh one of the Men-kind, and I will make a
+kill.'</p>
+
+<p>"As we waited, presently there was no sound.
+'The kill has gone away,' I whispered to Baghni,
+but she struck me hard with her tail, almost knocking
+some of my teeth out; that was to keep still.
+There was not even any scent of the Men-kind in
+the wind now; most surely he had gone away, I
+thought. What a silly old Baghni my Mother
+must be.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard a soft whistle behind me, 'Sp-e-e-t!'
+just like that, much as you've heard Hawk in his
+cage call. When I looked around there was one of
+the White-face, even the Sahib of the tea garden.
+I knew him, for I had seen him once before. In
+his hand he held what I have since learned was a
+thunder-stick. I looked in his eyes for perhaps
+three lashes of my tail, but I could see there nothing
+of the Man-fear Hathi has told us of. Such eyes I
+have never seen in any animal's head; not yellow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+like those of my kind, nor red and black like
+Hathi's, nor even dull brown like Korite the killer's;
+just of a quiet color like a tiny bit of the sky
+coming between the leaves of the forest.</p>
+
+<p>"What was he waiting for, I thought. Baghni
+had not heard him, for she did not turn her head.
+Then he made the call like Hawk's again, and
+Baghni turned her head even as I had, and looked
+full at him, but he did not run away.</p>
+
+<p>"Now feeling something lifted from me, because
+his eyes were on Baghni, I think, I looked again
+sideways from the corner of my eye. Baghni had
+set her ears tight back, and drawn her lip up in a
+cross snarl, so that her teeth, almost the length of
+Boar's tusks, said as plain as could be, 'Now I will
+crush your back.' But still in his eyes that were
+like bits of sky was not the Man-fear; if I had seen
+it there most surely I had charged straight at his
+throat, for I was angry, and still, I think, filled with
+much fear.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Baghni turned around, crouched with her
+head low, looking straight at him. As she did so,
+the Sahib raised his thunder-stick, there was an
+awful noise from it, I heard Baghni scream 'Gur-houk!'
+and she had charged. I, too, followed her,
+thinking she had got this Man who was our kill;
+but just beyond in the <i>Nullah</i>, even the length of
+Bainsa's corral from here, I saw her on her side
+tearing up the tea bushes with her great paws. I
+stopped for the length of two breaths, but I could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+see that there was something very wrong&mdash;she was
+going to sleep. Then the greatest fear that I have
+ever known came over me, and I galloped fast into
+the jungle to where was my hiding-place."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_070" id="i_070"></a>
+<img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="600" height="412" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;BUT I COULD SEE THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING VERY WRONG ...&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"They had killed your Mother, had they,
+Bagh?" asked Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, for I never saw her again. I was
+afraid to go back where the men labored, and, as
+I had said, there were no Bullocks, and I nearly
+starved to death."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did they catch you?" queried Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"It was all because of my hunger. When I was
+not stronger than a jungle Bakri (sheep), not
+having eaten for days and days, I heard one night
+a Pariah Dog howling in the jungle. It took me
+hours to know that there was no danger near this
+crying one of the Dog-kind. I went round and
+round in circles that I had made smaller each time,
+and drew the wind from all sides into my nose to
+see if there was the Man scent. There was nothing
+but the Pariah, and by some means he had got
+into a hole. Of course, afterwards I knew it was
+the evil work of this Sahib who had killed Baghni.
+Such a hole the Pariah was in, it was as long as
+these two cages, and though wide at the bottom,
+it was small at the top, even like the cover of
+Magh's house yonder. I crawled in and caught
+the Dog in my strong jaws. Sweet flesh! how he
+howled when he knew I was coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Then with a crash something fell behind me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+and closed the hole so I could not get out, and at
+once I heard them shouting."</p>
+
+<p>"Where had they come from so soon?" queried
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"They were up in the jungle trees," answered
+Bagh.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is a fine lie," grunted Boar. "Do you
+mean to say, Bagh, that you could not see them
+in the trees?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have little knowledge of my kind, Piggy.
+Know you not that when going through the jungle
+we never look up?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do," interrupted Raj Bagh, "but I learned the
+trick. Brother Bagh is right, though; I suppose
+it comes from always looking for our kill on the
+ground, and I have heard that this is why the
+Hunters so often kill us from <i>Machans</i> (shooting
+rest in a tree). We never see them until we are
+struck."</p>
+
+<p>"The Men were all about the hole," continued
+Bagh, "and it was he of the white face that cried,
+'Don't kill him, don't stick him with the spears!
+He is only a Baghela, and we will take him alive
+for Sa'-zada.'</p>
+
+<p>"They dug little holes from the top, and bound
+me with strong ropes; it was so narrow I couldn't
+turn round, you see. Then I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada. Though he is good to me, still I wish
+I was back in my old jungle."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah-h-houk! Great Brothers," roared Raj<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+Bagh. "My mate has told you of Chittagong and
+his tea gardens, but the middle jungles in India is
+the place for a Tiger to rule; and for years I was
+Lord of the Sumna Forests, and the terror of the
+Gonds, the little black-faced Men who are wondrous
+Shikaris. Close grass. Waw-hough! but it
+was beautiful there. The many red faces of the
+chewal tree smiled at me, and the purple ears of
+the sal tree listened to my roar till its great branches
+trembled in fear. Close hid in the Khagar grass
+I would lie and sleep all through the long hot day,
+and the little Gonds, even the big, white-faced
+Men, might pass the length of this cage from me,
+and not know that I was there. But I would know.
+Talking, talking always they would go, and if they
+were up wind, my nose would find them many
+jumps away.</p>
+
+<p>"I was born there, and Baghni, my Mother, and
+Sher Bagh, my Sire, taught me all that a Tiger
+should know of the ways of the Men-kind. But in
+the end both of them came to their death through
+the evil ways of these seekers for our lives. Wah,
+wah, wah-hough! I am a Man-killer. And why
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"You should be ashamed to say so," cried Magh,
+petulantly, "and before Sa'-zada, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Wah! I was a Man-killer," repeated Raj
+Bagh, "a killer of many Men, but it was not my
+fault. When I was a cub my Sire was Lord of the
+Sumna Jungles; and close to our lair was a <i>jhil</i> to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+which all animals of those parts came to drink when
+they were hot, and the hills blazed red with the
+evil fire of the little Gonds. Chetal, and Nilgai,
+and Sambhur, and the Ribbed-Faced Deer that
+coughed like a Wild Dog; even Chinkara, the little
+Gazelle that is but a mouthful for one of my needs&mdash;all
+came there when the forest grew dark; and
+always when we were hungry, which was often,
+more came than went away. It was ever the same
+with Sher Bagh, who was my Sire, and Baghni, always
+the same way in a kill with them. In those
+days I watched it often, for I, being a Bagheela,
+took no part except in the eating. Chita walks not
+softer in his cage than Sher Bagh would step
+through the jungle when he was stalking a kill;
+and then at the end with a rush it was all over.</p>
+
+<p>"But one year it became so hot&mdash;why, the rocks
+burned our pads as we walked; so hot that our <i>jhil</i>
+dried up, and none of the Jungle Dwellers came to
+drink. It was hot, so hot, and never a drop of the
+sweet water falling. The fire crept down from
+the hills and ate up the small part of the jungle
+and the grass, and I think the Jungle Dwellers went
+to other parts. At any rate, as Brother Bagh has
+said, we were sore distressed for a kill. Of course,
+we could go and drink where the other Dwellers
+dared not, close to the villages of the little Gonds.
+I remember, being but a Baghela and having little
+wisdom, saying to Baghni, 'Why do we not kill
+Goru (cattle) and Bainsa, who are here in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+hands of the Men-kind?' But Sher Bagh, who had
+lived into much wisdom, growled, and striking me
+hard with his paw, said, 'Little one, that way comes
+the full hate of the Men-kind, and we who fear not
+the Dwellers in the Jungle, fear Man.'</p>
+
+<p>"But still we became more hungry, and Baghni,
+whose milk was my only food, grew unwise and
+said, 'Let us kill the Goru.' But Sher Bagh
+growled at her, and said again, 'That way comes
+the hate of the Men-kind. Now when these little
+men who are Gonds pass near to me in the jungle,
+they salaam and say, "Peace be with you, Sher
+Bagh, Huzoor Bagh"; and they go in peace, and
+the fear that is on me when I look in their eyes
+passes away.'</p>
+
+<p>"For many nights after that we wandered far
+through the jungle, I with Baghni, and Sher Bagh
+by himself in another part. And in the days that
+were so hot, as I slept, great times of blood drinking
+and sweet meat-eating came to my mind&mdash;but
+when I woke there was nothing&mdash;nothing but
+hunger pains in my stomach. It was also this way
+with Baghni and Sher Bagh. Many times Baghni
+said, 'Let us kill the Goru, for of what use is the
+good will of the Men-kind if we die?'</p>
+
+<p>"At last Sher Bagh also became unwise, and
+said, 'We will kill the Goru, for Baghela and you,
+Baghni, are starving. When the Goru feed in a
+herd to-morrow, even in the time of light&mdash;which,
+of course, was the day&mdash;together we will creep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+close in the much-thorned korinda, and kill a Cow;
+for if we kill one in a herd there will be less trouble,
+and perhaps it will not be missed of the Men-kind.'
+Wah! I shall never forget the sweet eating of that
+Goru. And the drink of blood! Che-hough! it
+was as though I had been athirst since my birth.</p>
+
+<p>"Sher Bagh dragged the Goru to a jungle of
+Kakra trees, and we ate it all. But the next day
+the Horned Ones did not feed in that place, and as
+we were walking in the close of the daytime Sher
+Bagh heard the thin-voiced cry of a Gond cart
+coming over the road; it was like the song of the
+Koel bird; it was made by the wheels, I think.
+'There will be Goru to the cart,' said Sher Bagh.
+'Yes, two of them,' answered Baghni, 'but also one
+of the Men-kind, a little Gond.' 'Even now I am
+hungry,' declared Sher Bagh; 'when I roar in front
+of the Goru the little Gond will pass quickly into a
+sal tree, and then we can eat of his Bullocks.'</p>
+
+<p>"It was as my Sire had said, and we made a kill,
+and carried them far from the roadside, and had
+the sweetest eating for two nights. All our
+strength was coming back to us, and Baghni, purring
+softly, for she was pleased, said to her Lord,
+'Did I not say "drink the blood of the Goru," when
+we were starving, and are they not easy of kill?'
+But Sher Bagh, looking up in the trees, for it was
+as we came to the kill for our second night's eating,
+answered, 'We must be careful, for upon us will
+surely fall the full hate of these little Gonds; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+they claim a kill for a kill, blood for blood; it is
+their manner of life when they deal with others of
+the Men-kind.'</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that fear of the little Gonds had come
+strong upon my Sire when he looked up to the sal
+trees, for, as I have said, it is not of our habit to
+look up; we fear nothing of the jungle that hides
+in trees. The Peacocks, and Monkeys, and Crows,
+even Panther&mdash;what are they? Nothing to claim
+the time of my kind. Said Sher Bagh to Baghni,
+'The Goru that go in carts are easy for the kill.'
+'And there are always two of them,' answered she.</p>
+
+<p>"This new manner of life by practice became
+easy to us; we would hide in the khagar grass or
+the jowri, which is a nut grass of the Men, beside
+the road at the day's end, and always we would
+know of the cart's coming by its voice, that was like
+Koel bird's, or the miaou of a Peacock. We made
+many a kill of this kind. And it was this way that
+I became first of all a Man-killer, even my first
+kill was of the Men-kind, just an evil chance. It
+was Baghni who said to Sher Bagh, 'Baghela must
+know the method of a kill. We have now not
+much hunger, so let him make the next kill of the
+Goru, and if he misses, it will not matter, for we
+are well fed.'</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never forget that night as I crouched
+by the road beside Baghni, waiting for the little
+Gond with his Goru. I was trembling like the tall
+grass shivers at the top when one passes through it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+'Keep still,' whispered Baghni; 'a little noise makes
+a hard kill, and much noise is no kill at all.' If
+it had been a Sambhur or a Nilgai we should have
+had no supper, for the grass whispered under me
+as I shook it with my trembling. Then down the
+road in the early dark came the cart with its snarling
+voice. Just as the Goru were opposite, Baghni
+struck me with her tail and cried, 'Ah-h-houk!'
+which means to charge. As I sprang, being but a
+Baghela, and my first kill, I was slow, and the Goru
+jumped, causing me to miss sadly. But I landed
+full on the cart, and by an evil chance the little
+Gond was under my paws. Mind, Comrades, with
+me it was but a kill, and I could not see his eyes,
+and without intent on my part his shoulder was in
+my jaws, and in less time than I can tell it I had him
+in the jungle. It was my first kill, and I was wild&mdash;but
+I don't want to talk about it. I wish he had
+beaten me off, even struck me with the thunder-stick,
+for, after all, what was the kill? not bigger
+than a Chetal, and it brought the full hate of the
+Men-kind to us, and Sher Bagh and Baghni were
+slain."</p>
+
+<p>"By the little Gonds?" asked Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"The Gonds and the Sahibs," answered Tiger.
+"Even your people, Hathi, took part in the kill of
+my Sire and Baghni. But it was our old enemy,
+hunger, that caused it all. For three nights we
+waited by the roadside and no carts passed. It is
+true one passed; a lodhi cartman, with the wisdom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+of Cobra, put Pig's fat on the wheels of his cart,
+and there was no noise until he was right upon us,
+even had passed, for the stalk had not properly
+started, you see. 'Never mind,' said Baghni, 'the
+little Men of a slow wit, the Gonds, will come this
+way with their Goru, many of them'; but they
+didn't. And save for two old Langurs (monkeys)
+that cursed from a pipal tree as we went back to
+our <i>Nullah</i>, we saw no Dweller of the Jungle, nor
+of the fields. 'The hate of the little Gonds is
+coming to us,' growled Bagh. 'And I am so
+hungry,' moaned Baghni. 'Baghela should not
+have killed any of the Men-kind,' declared my
+Sire.</p>
+
+<p>"The Men go to their rest at night, even the
+little Gonds, knowing that the Jungle Dwellers will
+not come in great numbers to the fields because of
+our guard. And it was but an evil chance, too, that
+I made a kill of the Gond. But when we were most
+hungered, after many days, one night, not far from
+our <i>Nullah</i>, was a Bullock tied to a tree. 'Waw-houk!'
+exclaimed Baghni, calling her Lord to the
+find; 'Che-waugh!' said she, 'here is a Bail of the
+Men-kind; make the kill.'</p>
+
+<p>"'It is of their hate,' growled Sher Bagh, 'the
+Bullocks do not come of their own way here to the
+jungle&mdash;we must be careful.'</p>
+
+<p>"Half the night was gone before we had stalked
+all sides of the Goru, but there was nothing&mdash;not
+even up in the sal leaves. That was what Baghni<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+said, for with her sharp eyes she saw Hookus (big
+green pigeon), resting on a branch, which meant
+that there was nothing to frighten him. When
+Sher Bagh had made the kill, he dragged it far
+away from our <i>Nullah</i>. That was most wise, Comrades;
+it was so that the Men-kind should not find
+our home.</p>
+
+<p>"When our hunger was gone Baghni said, 'We
+will eat again when the sun's light passes once
+more.' 'No,' growled my Sire, 'we will not come
+back to the kill, for the hate of the little Gonds will
+be here when they see that we have eaten of the
+Goru.'</p>
+
+<p>"That was wise also. To make sure, and to
+teach me, a Baghela, Sher Bagh took us down wind
+from the drag next night, and the scent of the Men-kind
+came strong in our faces. 'Our enemies are
+there,' declared Bagh.</p>
+
+<p>"Being a Baghela I thought this fine play, and
+by the cunning of my Sire we killed what we found
+tied in the Jungle, but never went back to the drag.
+Even once in the dark, as we hunted, hearing the
+grunt of a Goru, and going up wind to it, Sher
+Bagh knew that the Hunters were waiting in the
+sal and pipal trees over the bait, so we went back
+to the <i>Nullah</i> and rested on lean stomachs."</p>
+
+<p>"Your Sire was too clever for them," commented
+Magh, as Tiger ceased speaking for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it was clever," answered Raj Bagh.
+"But in two days more something came to us that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+no Jungle Dweller can withstand: a full beat of the
+Jungles.</p>
+
+<p>"Being but a Baghela," sighed Raj Bagh, "I did
+not know what it was when the beat commenced;
+I thought that the forest winds were in an evil
+temper, but Sher Bagh cried to Baghni, 'Quick!
+we must go far, for now comes the hate of the
+white-faced kind, for the beat is their way of a
+kill.' We lay quiet in our <i>Nullah</i>, thinking they
+might pass. 'Tap, tap, tap!' I heard on one side,
+much like the klonk, klonk! of Mis-gar (coppersmith
+bird). 'What is that?' I asked my Sire.</p>
+
+<p>"'The sal trees cry because they are stricken
+by the Beaters,' he answered. 'Tum, tum, tum-m!'
+I heard from the other side of the <i>Nullah</i>. 'Is it
+the belling of a Nilgai?' I asked. 'The little Gonds
+who are of this beat call with their drums,' answered
+Sher Bagh. 'All the jungle is falling,' I
+cried. 'It is the coming of Hathi,' answered my
+Sire, 'for it is a beat of many Hathi. Come,
+Baghela, come, Baghni,' he called, and we stole
+like frightened Chinkara through the sal and pipal
+jungle.</p>
+
+<p>"'To the Baghni-wali nulla!' (tigress valley)
+cried Sher Bagh to us as we followed. But as we
+sought to enter this place of many caves a Beater
+smote at us with the thunder-stick from a tree, but
+that was only to frighten us away, for Bagh whispered,
+'The Beaters are not to make the kill.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Here will be little spoor for them to follow,'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+growled Sher Bagh as we ran. Soon we thought
+we had lost those who sought our lives. As we
+rested for a little while in some thick, wild plum
+bushes they came all about us. There were many
+Hathi, and on three of the Hathi were little
+caves&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Haudas," corrected Elephant. "That is the
+way the Men-kind ride on my back when we are
+in the beat."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Men had thunder-sticks with which
+they smote Sher Bagh and Baghni. 'Waw, waw-houk!'
+roared my Sire when he was struck&mdash;'Che-waugh!'
+he cried to me, 'flee, Baghela, while I
+charge.' With a rush he sprang on a big Hathi's
+nose, and I think he got even to the hauda, for the
+Hathi turned and ran, screaming with pain; and
+I, seeing this, broke from my cover and charged
+back through the Beaters who were on foot. Just
+in my path I saw one of the Beaters striking two
+sticks together. Being cross because of my hot
+pads, and what they had done to Sher Bagh, I
+seized this one, and took him with me.</p>
+
+<p>"After that, I lived alone, and because the
+Jungle Dwellers had fled from those parts, and because
+of the wrong we had from these Gonds, I
+became a Man-killer, eating that which was put
+in my reach."</p>
+
+<p>"How did they catch you?" questioned Wolf.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 410px;">
+<a name="i_082" id="i_082"></a>
+<img src="images/i_082.jpg" width="410" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;MY SIRE ... SPRANG ON A BIG HATHI&#39;S NOSE.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Because I sought to change my way of life,"
+answered Bagh, "and leaving the Man-kill I made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+to satisfy my hunger with a Goat. I heard the
+Goat cry at night-time," continued Bagh, "and
+after a careful stalk, finding nothing of the presence
+of Man, I sprang on Bakri the Goat&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And the Goat captured you," cried Magh, gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Together we fell into a deep hole that had been
+dug by the evil little Gonds. Though I ate the
+Bakri I could not get out again, and in the morning
+the Men were all about me, both white and black.
+How the little Men reviled me! But it seemed the
+Sahibs wanted to take me alive, so they dug another
+hole close to the one in which I was, put a
+big wooden cage with a door to it down, and then
+with long spears broke through the walls between
+the cage and the hole I was in. Of course, I was
+glad enough to go any place; besides, they threw
+down on me their dreadful fire. I sprang in the
+cage and the door dropped behind me. Then many
+of the Men-kind pulled the cage out with ropes,
+and I was sent here to Sa'-zada."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Fifth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of the Tribe of King Cobra</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 417px;">
+<img src="images/i_5th_nite_1.jpg" width="417" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 369px;">
+<img src="images/i_5th_nite_2.jpg" width="369" height="550" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="FIFTH_NIGHT" id="FIFTH_NIGHT"></a><big>FIFTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF THE TRIBE OF KING COBRA</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was the fifth night of the Sa'-zada tales. As
+usual, Hathi, Grey Wolf, and all the other
+animals, jostling each other merrily like a lot of
+schoolboys, had gathered in front of Tiger's cage.</p>
+
+<p>Said the Keeper: "Comrades, you must all be
+very careful, for this is Snake's night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oo-o-oh!" whimpered Jackal, "is Nag the
+Cobra to come here among us?"</p>
+
+<p>Even Hathi trembled, and blowing softly
+through his trumpet, said: "Oh, Sa'-zada, I who
+am a Lord of the Jungle, fearing not any Dweller
+therein, feel great pains this evening. I am sure
+that hay is musty and has disagreed with me. If
+you do not mind, Little Brother, I will go back to
+my stall and lie down."</p>
+
+<p>"Will Deboia the Climber come also, Little
+Master?" asked Magh. "If so, I think my Terrier
+Pup is feeling unwell; I will take him to my cage
+and wrap him in his blanket. I hate snake stories,
+anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Hiz-z-z!" laughed Python, who was already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+there. "Lords of the Jungle indeed! When I
+strike or throw a loop, or go swift as the wind
+through the Jungle&mdash;Thches-s-s! but I am no
+boaster. See our friends. When the smallest of
+my kind are to be here each one makes his excuses."</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear, Comrades," Sa'-zada assured the
+frightened animals, "Nag the Cobra, and Karait,
+and all the others will behave themselves if they
+are left alone. Only don't move about, that's
+all. The first law when Snakes are about is&mdash;keep
+still."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we like quietness," assented Python.
+"Once there was a fussy old Buffalo Bull who used
+to come to my pool and stir up the mud until it was
+scarce fit to live in. In the end I threw a loop
+around his neck, and he became one of the quietest
+Bulls you ever saw in your life."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Comrades," said Sa'-zada, as he returned
+accompanied by the Dwellers of the Snake House,
+"Hamadryad, the King Cobra, has promised us a
+story."</p>
+
+<p>"Look at my length," cried Hamadryad, drawing
+his yellow and black mottled body through
+many intricate knots like a skein of colored silk;
+"think you I was born this way just as I am? At
+first&mdash;that was up in the Yoma Hills in Burma&mdash;I
+was not much larger than a good-sized hair from
+Tiger's mustache, and since then it has been nothing
+but adventure. Even my Mother, where she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+had us hid in a pile of rocks covered with ferns,
+had to fight for our lives."</p>
+
+<p>"Phuff!" retorted Boar, disdainfully, "many a
+nest of Cobra eggs have I rid the world of."</p>
+
+<p>"Not of my kind, I'll warrant," snorted Python,
+blowing his foul breath like a small sirocco almost
+in Pig's face. "Of Nag, or Hamadryad's family,
+perhaps, yes, for, know you, Comrades, what
+Nagina does with her eggs? Lays them in the sun
+to hatch <i>apsi</i> (of themselves). But my Mother&mdash;ah,
+you should have seen her, Comrades; all the
+eggs gathered in a heap, and her great, beautiful
+body&mdash;much like my own in color&mdash;wound tenderly
+about them until the young came forth. Perhaps
+a matter of two moons and never a bite for her to
+eat all the time. That's what I call being a genuine
+Mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Very wise, indeed, and thoughtful," cried the
+Salt Water Snake. "My Mother&mdash;well I remember
+it&mdash;carried her eggs about in her body till they
+were hatched, which seems to me quite as good a
+plan. Also, nobody molests us&mdash;if they do, they
+die quickly. We all can kill quite as readily as Nag
+the Cobra, though there is less talk about us."</p>
+
+<p>"Even so," assented Hamadryad, "the proof of
+the matter is in being here; and, as I was going to
+say, it is this way with my people; in the hot
+weather when there is no rain we burrow in the
+ground for months at a stretch. And then the rains
+come on and we are driven out of our holes by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+the water, and live abroad in the Jungles for a
+time. It was at this season of the year I speak of;
+I had just come up out of my burrow and was wondrous
+hungry, I can tell you; and, traveling, I came
+across the trail of a Karait. I followed Karait's
+trail, and found him in a hole under a bungalow
+of the Men-kind. It was dry under the bungalow,
+so I rested after my meal in the hole that had been
+Karait's. It was a good place, so I lived there.
+Every day a young of the Men-kind&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know," interrupted Mooswa; "a Boy, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; but the old ones called him 'Baba.'
+And Baba used to come every day under the bungalow
+to play. He threw little sticks and stones
+at me; but nothing to hurt, mind you, for he was
+small. The things he threw wouldn't have injured
+a Fly-Lizard as he crawled on the bungalow posts.
+He laughed when he saw me, and called, as he
+clapped his little hands, and I wouldn't have hurt
+him&mdash;why should I? I don't eat Babas.</p>
+
+<p>"When I heard the heavy feet of the Men I
+always slipped in the hole; but, one day, by an evil
+chance I was to one side looking for food, and
+Baba was following, when his Mother saw me.
+Such a row there was, the Men running, and Baba's
+Mother calling, and only the little one with no fear.
+Surely it was the fear of which Chita and Hathi
+have spoken which came over the Men-kind.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 411px;">
+<a name="i_090" id="i_090"></a>
+<img src="images/i_090.jpg" width="411" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;AND BABA USED TO COME EVERY DAY UNDER THE BUNGALOW TO
+PLAY....&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"There was one of a great size, like Bear
+Muskwa, with a stomach such as Magh's. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+a native baboo. He had a black face, and his voice
+was like the trumpet of Hathi; but when I went
+straight his way, and rose up to strike, his fat legs
+made great haste to carry him far away. Then
+I glided in the hole."</p>
+
+<p>"Ghur-ah! it seems a strange tale," snarled
+Wolf; "even I would not dare, being alone, to
+chase one of the Men-kind."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be true," declared Sa'-zada, "for it is
+written in the Book that Hamadryad is the only
+Snake that will really chase a man, and show fight."</p>
+
+<p>"I could hear the Men-kind talking and tramping
+about," continued King Cobra, "and meant to
+lie still till night, and then go away, for I usually
+traveled in the dark, you know. But presently
+there was a soft whistling music calling me to come
+out; and also at times a pleading voice, though of
+the Men-kind, I knew that, 'Ho, Bhai (brother),
+ho, Raj Naga (King Cobra)! come here, quick,
+Little Brother.' Then the soft whistle called me,
+sometimes loud, and sometimes low, and even the
+noise was twisting and swinging in the air just as
+I might myself.</p>
+
+<p>"Hiz-z-z-za! but I commenced to tremble; and
+I was full of fear, and I was full of love for the
+soft sounds, and with my eyes I wished to see it.
+So I came out of the hole, and there was a Black
+Man making the soft call from a hollow stick."</p>
+
+<p>"A Snake Charmer with his pipes," exclaimed
+Sa'-zada.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I raised up in anger, thinking that he, too,
+would soon run away; but he pointed with his hand,
+now this way, from side to side, even as the sweet
+sound from the hollow stick seemed to twist and
+curl in the air; and following his hand with my
+eyes, I commenced to swing as the hand swung.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ho, Little Brother!' he called, 'come here.'</p>
+
+<p>"It was to a basket at his side; for, though I
+meant not to do it, I glided into it."</p>
+
+<p>"That was the manner of your taking?" asked
+Chita.</p>
+
+<p>"Better than having one's toes squeezed in an
+iron trap," declared Jackal.</p>
+
+<p>"Or being beaten by chains," murmured Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the taking was simple enough; but if Baba
+had not cried, the Men would have killed me, I
+think."</p>
+
+<p>"And that was how you came to Lower Burma?"
+asked Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Hamadryad, "this man who
+made music with the hollow stick took me with him,
+and at every place where there were any of his
+fellows he brought me forth from the basket, and
+made me dance to his music. That was what he
+called it&mdash;dance."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you bite him?" queried Rattler,
+making his tail rattles sing in anger.</p>
+
+<p>"He pulled out my fangs," declared Hamadryad.</p>
+
+<p>"He-he," sneered Magh; "now surely it is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+great lie, this wondrous tale of Cobra's, for in his
+mouth are the very fangs he says the black-faced
+player of music pulled."</p>
+
+<p>"Most wise Ape," said Hamadryad, ironically,
+"what your big head, like unto a Jack fruit, does
+not understand, is a lie, forsooth. Even though my
+teeth were pulled three times, they would grow
+again; but you do not know that&mdash;therefore it is
+a lie. Even now, behind these that you see, and
+perhaps yet may feel if you keep on, are others
+waiting the time when these may be broken. Was
+it not Hathi said some wise animal arranged all
+these things for us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sa'-zada says it is God," interrupted Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"This man made me fight with a Mongoos, that
+those of his kind might laugh."</p>
+
+<p>"What is a Mongoos?" queried Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Our natural enemy," answered King Cobra,
+"just as Fleas and other Vermin are yours. But I
+killed the squeaky little beast with one drive of
+my head&mdash;broke his back. At Ramree a Sahib
+bought me from the black man."</p>
+
+<p>"That was the Sahib who sent you here, I
+fancy," suggested Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps. At any rate he seemed fond of
+Snakes of my kind, for he put me in a box wherein
+was one of my family. But he should have known
+more about our manner of life, for he nearly
+starved us through ignorance of our taste. He
+puts Rats and Frogs, and Birds and such Vermin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+as that in, with never so much as a Green-Tree-Snake.
+The yellow-faced Burmans used to come
+in front of our cage and touch us up with sticks
+until my nose was skinned with striking at them
+and hitting the bars.</p>
+
+<p>"Our getting something to eat was a pure accident.
+One night this Sahib stepped on a Snake&mdash;a
+young Rock Snake, which had curled up in the
+path for the warmth of the hot earth. 'Oh, ho!'
+said the Sahib, bringing this new Snake to our cage,
+'you are looking for trouble, little <i>Samp</i> (snake).
+Let us see how you get on in there,' and he threw
+him in our box, expecting to see a fight."</p>
+
+<p>"And did he?" queried Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Hiz-z-z-za! I should say so. My mate and I
+fought half an hour before we settled who was to
+eat the visitor."</p>
+
+<p>"You two Comrades fought over it?" asked
+Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that is our way. Two Snakes cannot eat
+one&mdash;how else should we settle the question? we
+were both hungry. Why, one day my mate flew
+at me, and I could see in his eye that he meant
+eating me, and in self-defence I was forced to put
+him out of the way of mischief, but the Sahib
+pulled us apart.</p>
+
+<p>"But if I hated the Yellow Men who came to
+my cage, I liked the Mem-Sahib (white lady). I
+think it was her voice. Hiz-z, hiz-z, hiz-z! It
+was as soft as the song the man had brought forth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+from the hollow stick. Sometimes I would hear
+her voice-song near my box, and it would put me to
+sleep; only, of course, I had to keep one eye open
+lest my mate would try to eat me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea Snakes were so fond of each
+other," said Magh, maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I think I should have eaten <i>him</i> to have
+saved that worry. But I must tell you about the
+Mem-Sahib and the Cook. He was small and so
+black&mdash;a perfect little Pig. One day when the
+Sahib was away, the Cook became possessed of
+strange devils."</p>
+
+<p>"Became drunken on his Master's liquor, I suppose,"
+remarked Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, for he came and took me out of the
+box, wound me around his shoulders and waist, and
+went with a clamor of evil sounds, in to my Mem-Sahib."</p>
+
+<p>"Just like a Man," sneered Pardus.</p>
+
+<p>"Even I was ashamed," continued Hamadryad.
+"My Mem-Sahib cried out with fear, and her eyes
+were dreadful to look into.</p>
+
+<p>"I glided twice about the Man-devil's neck, and
+drew each coil tight and tight and tighter, and
+swung my head forward until I looked into his
+eyes, and I nodded twice thus," and the King Cobra
+swayed his vicious black head back and forth with
+the full suggestiveness of a death thrust, until each
+one of the animals shivered with fear.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he died of the Man-fear Hathi has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+spoken of, for I did not strike him&mdash;it may be that
+the coils about his throat were over-tight. But I
+glided back to my box, and I think the Mem-Sahib
+knew that I did not wish to even make her afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Most interesting," declared Sa'-zada. "Is that
+all, Cobra?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I'm tired. Let Python talk."</p>
+
+<p>The huge Snake uncoiled three yards of his
+length, slipped it forward as easily, as noiselessly
+as one blows smoke, shoved his big flat head up
+over the Keeper's knee, ran his tongue out four
+times to moisten his lips, and said: "I am also
+from the East, and I do not like this land. Here
+my strength is nothing, for I can't eat. A Chicken
+twice a month&mdash;what is that to one of my size?
+Sa'-zada will eat as much in a day; and yet in my
+full strength I could crush five such as our Little
+Brother. Many loops! in my own Jungle I could
+wind myself about a Buffalo and pull his ribs together
+until his whole body was like loose earth.
+I have done it. Sa'-zada knows that for months
+and months after I came I ate nothing, and in the
+end they took me out on the floor there, six of them,
+and shoved food down my throat with a stick.</p>
+
+<p>"Once I had run down a Barking Deer, and
+swallowed him, and was having a little sleep, when
+I wandered into the most frightful sort of nightmare.
+It came to me in my sleep that Bagh had
+charged me of a sudden, and gripped my throat in
+his strong jaws. I opened my eyes in fright, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+sure enough, I was being choked with a rope in
+the hands of the Men-kind. Each end of it was
+fastened to a long bamboo, and the Men were on
+either side of me. I made the leaves and dry wood
+in that part of the Jungle whirl for a little, but it
+was no use&mdash;I couldn't get away. Also a man of
+the White-kind was sitting on a laid tree, and in
+his hands was a loud-voiced gun. But I nearly
+paid him out for some of the insult. They dragged
+me on to the road, and I lay there quiet and simple-looking.
+He thought I was asleep, I suppose. At
+any rate he came up and touched me on the nose
+with his toe.</p>
+
+<p>"I struck; but, though I knew it not, the rope
+was tight held by one of the Yellow-kind who stood
+behind me, and I but got a full choking; though,
+as I have said, the other, he of the White Face,
+was stricken with fear.</p>
+
+<p>"They put me in a box, but though I have no
+appetite here, I could eat there, and they gave me
+so many chickens that I shed my beautiful skin
+almost monthly. I nearly died from the over-diet,
+not being used to such plenty."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us of your food-winning in the Jungle,"
+craved Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Though I go wondrous swift," began Python,
+"yet if any of the Deer-kind passed me on foot I
+could not catch them. Because of this I was forced
+to take great thought to outwit them. You, Gidar,
+and you, Hathi, know of the elephant creeper that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+is in all those Jungles, how it runs from tree to
+tree for many a mile&mdash;so strong that it sometimes
+pulls down the biggest wood-grower. Well,
+having knowledge of a Deer's path, I would stretch
+my body across it much after that fashion, and the
+silly creatures with their ribbed faces, always
+coughing a hoarse bark, and always possessed of a
+stupid fear, would walk right into my folds, thinking
+me a part of the creeper. Once, even, as I
+think of it, a hunter&mdash;of the White-kind he was&mdash;ate
+his food sitting on a coil of my body as I lay
+twisted about a tree. To tell you the truth, I was
+asleep, having fed well, and only woke up because
+of his sticking his cutting knife into my back, thinking,
+of course, he was standing it in the wood,
+when I suddenly squirmed and upset him, and his
+food and drink.</p>
+
+<p>"But when it was the dry season and the leaves
+were off the trees, the Jungle was so open that even
+the silly Deer could see the rich color of my beautiful
+skin, and for days and days I went hungry.
+Then I would go to the small water ponds, <i>Jheels</i>,
+and curling my tail about a tree on one side, put
+myself across, and catching a tree on the other side
+with my teeth, swing my body back and forth and
+throw the water all out on the land. Then I would
+eat all the Fish-dwellers, and go to sleep for a week.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 407px;">
+<a name="i_098" id="i_098"></a>
+<img src="images/i_098.jpg" width="407" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;I WOULD STRETCH MY BODY ACROSS IT MUCH AFTER THAT FASHION.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Once in a land of many pigs, I worked for days
+and days in that part of the Jungle bending down
+small trees, and arranging the creepers until I had
+a <i>keddah</i> with two long sides running far out into
+the Jungle. Then, going beyond, I made a great
+noise, rushing up and down, and many of these
+Dwellers being possessed of fear, fled into the
+<i>keddah</i> and I devoured them."</p>
+
+<p>Chita sat on his haunches and looked at Python
+in astonishment, his big black head low hung,
+and a sneer of great unbelief on his mustached
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely this is the one great liar!" he exclaimed.
+"If these things be not written in the Book, then
+Python has most surely had such a dream as he
+has told us of."</p>
+
+<p>"Without doubt it is a lie," declared Magh, "but
+for my part I am ready to believe anything of his
+kind. In my Jungle home never once did I climb
+out on a tree limb without pinching it to see
+whether it was wood or a vile thing such as yon
+mottled boaster."</p>
+
+<p>"Are the stories of Python written in the Book,
+O Sa'-zada?" queried Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered the Keeper, "but Python may
+have had this strange manner of life."</p>
+
+<p>"Whether they be true tales or false tales,"
+hissed Python, "I am now tired, and they are at an
+end."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Sa'-zada, stroking the glistening
+scales of the big Snake's head, "it is time to cage
+up now. Perhaps we'll all have strange dreams to-night."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a><br /><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Soon the animals were sound asleep, all but
+Magh, who spent an hour chattering to Blitz, her
+Fox Terrier Pup, on the enormity of telling false
+tales.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Sixth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of the Monkeys</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 305px;">
+<img src="images/i_6th_nite_1.jpg" width="305" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 430px;">
+<img src="images/i_6th_nite_2.jpg" width="430" height="450" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="SIXTH_NIGHT" id="SIXTH_NIGHT"></a><big>SIXTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF THE MONKEYS</h2>
+
+
+<p>Such a row there had been all day in Animal
+Town.</p>
+
+<p>Sa'-zada, the Keeper, had told Magh, the
+Orang-outang, that the Monkeys were to tell
+stories that night at the usual meeting. That was
+the cause of the excitement.</p>
+
+<p>All day the Monkeys, living in a row of cages
+like dwellers in tenement houses, had chattered to
+each other through the bars, and admonished one
+another to think of just the cleverest things any of
+their family or ancestors had ever done.</p>
+
+<p>"We are like the Men-kind," Magh kept repeating;
+"we are the Bandar-log, the Jungle People.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Comrades, what is my name even?
+Orang-outang, which means Chief of the Jungle
+People.</p>
+
+<p>"See, even I have my Dog, as do the Men-kind,"
+and she held up Blitz, the Fox-Terrier Pup, by the
+ear until he squealed and bit her in the arm. "See,
+he has bitten me even as he would a man," she
+cried, triumphantly.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Two doors down were three little brown Monkeys
+caged with an Armadillo who looked like a
+toy, iron-plated gun-boat.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we are people who think," cried one of
+these, pouncing down on the Armadillo. The little
+gun-boat drew his armor plate down about him
+like a Mud-turtle. The Monkey caught the side
+of it with his hand, lifted it up, bit the Armadillo
+in the soft flesh, and raced up on his shelf where he
+chattered: "Oh, we are the people who think.
+That is not instinct&mdash;my father was never caged
+with an Armadillo."</p>
+
+<p>At last night came, and Sa'-zada, throwing down
+bars and opening cages, had gathered as usual his
+animal friends in front of Tiger's cage.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, Little Brother," began Black Panther,
+speaking to Sa'-zada, "why should we who are
+great in our own jungles listen to these empty-headed
+Bandar-log? Was there ever any good at
+their hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oo-oo! A-huk, a-huk!" cried Hanuman, "you
+of all the thieving slayers should know of that
+matter. How many times have you been saved
+from danger because of our watchfulness&mdash;and
+also Bagh the Killer! Many a hard drive, the
+hunt drive of the Men-kind, has come to nothing
+because of us&mdash;because we never sleep. When
+your stomach is full you sleep soundly, trusting to
+a warning from us, the Bandar-log. Nothing can
+be done in the jungles that we do not know. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+do we steal silently away as is your method? Not
+a bit of it. By the safety of Jungle-dwellers! we
+give the cry of beware! Listen&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A-huk, a-huk! Chee-chee-chee! Waugh,
+waugh, a-huk!" and the voice of the gray-whiskered,
+black-faced ape reverberated on the dead
+night air through the houses of Animal Town like
+the clangor of a cracked bell.</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite true," declared Mor, the Peacock;
+"I also am one of the Jungle Watchers&mdash;though
+I get little credit for it. None of the
+Dwellers thank us; and sometimes in their anger
+the Sahibs who are making the drive shoot us for
+our trouble, saying that we have spoiled sport.
+Many a jungle life have I saved through my cry
+of 'Miaou! Miaou!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Disturbers of sleep!" sneered Black Panther;
+"there is little to choose between you&mdash;you're a
+noisy lot of beggars."</p>
+
+<p>"You are hardly fair, Pardus," remonstrated
+Sa'-zada. "I quite believe what Hanuman says,
+for it is well known that some of the Monkey-tribe
+saved Gibraltar to the British by their watchfulness,
+and the men are more grateful than you, for
+to this day monkeys are protected and made much
+of there."</p>
+
+<p>"It was my people did that," cried Magot, the
+Rock Ape, blinking his deep, narrow-set eyes. "We
+have lived there for a long time."</p>
+
+<p>"And in Benares, where I lived once, we are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+people of great honor," added a white-whiskered
+Monkey. "I should like to see Black Pardus harm
+one of us there."</p>
+
+<p>The speaker was Entellus, the sacred Hanuman
+Monkey, whose rights of protection in the City of
+Temples, Benares, was almost greater than that
+of the human dwellers.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't twiddle your thumbs! You can't
+twiddle your thumbs!" cried Cockatoo, mockingly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I can see my under lip," retorted Magh,
+angrily, sticking it out and looking down at it, "and
+that's more than you can do, with your lobster's
+claw of a nose."</p>
+
+<p>Cockatoo had hit the truth about the thumbs,
+for no ape can make them go around, only in and
+out straight to the palm. This matter of thumbs
+is the great line of defence between man and his
+disputed Simian ancestor.</p>
+
+<p>"Our manner of life," began Hanuman, in the
+little silence that ensued, "is to live in the tree-tops.
+Our families are raised there, and we are seldom
+on the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"No, the ground is a dangerous place," concurred
+Chimpanzee; "Leopards, and Snakes, and
+Men, and evil things of that sort about all the
+time. I, too, build a little house in the strong
+branches of a tree, and live there until the fruit
+gets scarce; then, of course, I have to go to a new
+part and build another."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I thought I was the only animal that had sense
+enough to build a house," grunted Wild Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are," said Chimpanzee; "I'm no
+animal."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a Monkey&mdash;&mdash;" began Boar, apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a Monkey," insisted the other, very
+haughtily; "they go in droves. But we, who are
+the Jungle People, build houses and have a wife
+and family just like the Men."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't twiddle your thumbs!" shrieked
+Cockatoo; but Hathi reached up with his trunk
+and tweaked the bird's nose before he could repeat
+the taunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Once upon a time," began Hooluk, solemnly,
+"there was a great Raja sore troubled because those
+of my kind, the Apes, ate all the grain and fruit
+in his country. To be sure, it was a year of much
+starvation. And the King commanded that all the
+Bandar-log should be killed.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Hanuman, the wise Ape, who was our
+cousin, asked of my people what might be done;
+but we, being tender-hearted, and not knowing
+how to pacify the King, hung with our heads down
+and wept in misery.</p>
+
+<p>"Now this gave Hanuman, who is most wise, an
+idea. He ordered all the other Bandar-log to go far
+into the jungles and hide, while we were to remain
+and lament, and declare that our friends were
+dead. The Raja, hearing our sad cry, relented,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+and commanded that the killing should cease. And
+since that time we have always cried thus, and our
+faces have been black, and all because of the dark
+sins of the other Bandar-log."</p>
+
+<p>"Was there ever such a lie&mdash;&mdash;" began Pardus;
+but Jackal interrupted him, declaring that he, too,
+cried at night because of the wickedness of other
+Jungle Dwellers.</p>
+
+<p>"By my lonesome life!" muttered Mooswa. "I
+have heard the Loon cry on Slave Lake, but for
+a real, depressing night noise commend me to Hooluk.
+I have no doubt his tale is quite true, a cry
+such as he has could not have been given him for
+amusement."</p>
+
+<p>"Scratch my head!" cried Cockatoo; "I think
+Hooluk's tale is quite true, for even I, who am
+only appreciated because of my beauty&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hide your nose," croaked Kauwa, the Crow.</p>
+
+<p>"Because of my beauty," resumed Cockatoo, "I
+once saved the life of all my Master's family. The
+bungalow was on fire and they were asleep. Scree-ya
+ah-ah!' I cried; then, 'Quick, Pootai, bring the
+water&mdash;&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>"To be famous one must needs know a great lie
+and tell it," snarled Pardus, disagreeably. "The
+way of all Jungle Dwellers is to kill something;
+but here are pot-bellied, empty-headed Apes, and
+Birds of little sense, all boasting of saving lives."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me talk," cried Water Monkey, scratching
+his ribs with industry. "If I tell not true tales<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+then call Hornbill, and Jackal, and King Cobra
+to stand against me, for we are all of the same
+land. We were a big family, a full hundred of
+us at least, and every way was our way&mdash;water, and
+land, and tree-top. We ate fruits, and nuts, and
+grains, and things that are cast up by the waters.
+Talking of fishing, you should have seen my
+mother. When the sea had gone back from the
+shore we would all troop down. When the Crabs
+saw us coming they would scuttle into holes and
+under rocks, and we'd catch every Crab on the
+shore. It was my mother taught me the trick&mdash;wise
+old lady; I'd shove my tail under the rock,
+the Crab would lay hold of it, and then out he'd
+come.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there was good eating on those shores.
+Fat Oysters the size of a banana. It was mother
+showed me how to take a stone in my hand, and
+break them off the rocks. And, as Magh has said,
+we are much like the men, for not one of our family
+would eat an Oyster until he had washed it in the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>"But we poor people had lots of trials. Crossing
+the streams was worst of all. If we made the
+Monkeys bridge from tree to tree, like as not Python
+would be lying in wait to pick off one of our
+number. And if we walked across on the bottom&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Walked on the bottom!" cried Sa'-zada, in
+astonishment.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we never swim; we always walk across
+on the bottom; though, sometimes, of course, we
+floated over on logs; but that was very dangerous
+because of Magar the Crocodile."</p>
+
+<p>"Ghurrgle-ugle-ugle, uh-hu!" said Sher Abi,
+"the long-tailed one is right. I could tell a true
+story touching that matter. Whuff-f-f! but it was
+a hot day. I was lying with my wife in the water
+near the bank. I was hungry&mdash;I am always hungry;
+and getting food in a small way is wearisome
+to one of my heavy habit. I was resting, and
+Black-head the Magar Bird was running about
+inside of my jaws catching Flies for his dinner.
+And, while I think of it, while I am by no means
+vain of my sweet nature, I claim it was most good
+of me to hold my heavy lips open for him. Suddenly
+Black-head gave his little cry of warning to
+me and flew up in the air. 'Something is coming,'
+I whispered to Abni, my wife; and, sure enough,
+it was the Bandar-log, the Water Monkeys, chattering
+and yelling, and knocking down fruit from
+the trees as though the whole jungle belonged to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"'The old trick,' I whispered to Abni; 'float
+across like a log.' You know I can look wondrous
+like a log when I try; and a dinner of the Bandar-log,
+even, was not to be despised in a time of great
+hunger.</p>
+
+<p>"'Chee-chee, a-houp-a-houp, chickety-chee-chee!'
+You'd have thought their throats would split with
+the uproar when they saw one log floating across
+and another just starting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_111" id="i_111"></a>
+<img src="images/i_111.jpg" width="600" height="408" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;AND THEY ALL CLAMBERED ON TO MY BACK.&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, ho!' cried the leader, swinging by his tail
+from a limb of the Mangrove tree, and peering
+down at me; 'the wind is driving all the dead trees
+from this side to the other. Get aboard, children,
+quick.' And they all clambered on to my back,
+shoving and pushing like a lot of Jackal pups&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I not said it," cried Gidar, the Jackal,
+"that Sher Abi is a devourer of our young? Jackal
+pups&mdash;murderer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Half way across," resumed Sher Abi, "I opened
+an eye to take a squint at the general condition of
+these Bandar-log, as to which might be fat and
+which might be lean, and, would you believe it, the
+leader of these fool people saw me looking, and
+screamed with fright. I closed all the valves of
+nostrils and eyes and sank in the water. The
+Bandar-log were so excited that more than half of
+them jumped into my jaws, and Abni, who came
+back, hearing the noise, took care of the others.
+Eh-hu! Gluck! Monkeys are stupid, but not bad
+eating."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to that, Comrades," cried Water
+Monkey. "Sher Abi the Poacher boasts of killing
+my people. Have I not said that our life is one
+of danger? He and Python are as bad as Men.
+My mother was killed by a Man, and all for the
+sake of a few mangoes."</p>
+
+<p>"But how are we to know that Mango-tree was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+not as others in the Jungle?" pleaded Monkey.
+"True it grew close to a bungalow, but what of
+that? Close to the Jungle, trees and bungalows
+are so mixed up that nobody knows which is free
+land and which is bond land. Have I not seen
+even the Men-kind frightened over such matters,
+and killing each other. But, as I have said, this
+Man, who was a Sahib, shot my mother as she was
+in a tree. She clung to a limb, and, young as I
+was, I helped her, holding on to her arms. All
+day she cried, and cried, and cried, just as you have
+heard the young of the Men-kind; and all night
+she cried, too. In the morning the Sahib came out,
+and I heard him say that he hadn't slept all night
+because of the wailing that was like a babe's. When
+he looked up at my mother she became so afraid
+that she fell dead at his feet. Peeping down
+through the leaves I saw the fear look that Hathi
+has spoken of come into the Man's eyes, only they
+did not look evil as they had when he pointed the
+fire-stick at us. I swung down from branch to
+branch to my mother, and sitting beside her, cried
+also, being but a little chap and all alone in the
+Jungle. Then the Man took me up in his arms
+and said: 'Poor little Oungea. It was a shame to
+kill the old girl; I feel like a murderer&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>"He took me into the bungalow and I had a fine
+life of it, though he taught me many things that
+were evil."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe that," sneered Pardus.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 403px;">
+<a name="i_112" id="i_112"></a>
+<img src="images/i_112.jpg" width="403" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;AND SITTING BESIDE HER, CRIED ALSO, BEING BUT A LITTLE CHAP AND
+ALL ALONE IN THE JUNGLE ...&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! Caw-w!" laughed Kauwa.</p>
+
+<p>"What evil tricks are there left to teach the
+Bandar-log?" queried Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"He taught me to drink gin," answered Oungea;
+"at first a little gin and much sugar, and after a
+time I could take it without sugar."</p>
+
+<p>"This rather bears out Magh's claim that you
+Jungle People are like the Men," said Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Still it was not good for me, this gin," continued
+Oungea; "leaving one's head full of much
+soreness in the morning. But, of course, being
+young, I was possessed of much mischief that was
+not of the Sahib's teaching."</p>
+
+<p>"He-he! no doubt, no doubt," cried Hornbill,
+"it was those of your kind, both young and old,
+who plucked the feathers from my children once
+upon a time. Plaintain-at-a-gulp! but their appearance
+was unseemly. You can imagine what I
+should look like with my prominent nose and no
+feathers."</p>
+
+<p>"My Master carried in his pocket something
+that was forever crying 'tick, tick, tick.' I felt
+sure there must be Lizards or Spiders, or other
+sweet ones of a small kind within; but one day
+when I had a fair opportunity and pulled it apart,
+cracking it with a stone as I had the Oysters, I got
+no eating at all, but in the end a sound beating.</p>
+
+<p>"Once I ate the little berries that grow on the
+sticks that cause the fire&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Matches," suggested Sa'-zada.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; I thought they were berries. Many
+pains! but I was sick, and my kind Master saved
+my life with cocoanut oil."</p>
+
+<p>"Magh knows something of that matter," declared
+Sa'-zada; "when she first came here she ate
+her straw bedding and it nearly killed her."</p>
+
+<p>"A fine record these Jungle People have,"
+sneered Pardus. "I, who claim not to be wise like
+the Men, have sense enough to stick to my meat."</p>
+
+<p>"But Magh was wise," asserted Sa'-zada, "for
+if she had not helped us in every way when we
+were trying to save her life she would surely have
+died."</p>
+
+<p>"In my Master's house," said Oungea, "was one
+of their young, a Babe; and whenever I got loose,
+for they took to tying me up, I made straight for
+his bed, borrowed his bottle of milk&mdash;there surely
+was no harm in that, for we were babes together&mdash;and
+scuttled up a tree where I could drink the
+milk in peace. When I dropped the bottle down
+so that they might get it, it always broke, and I
+think it was because of this mischief that they
+whipped me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Sa'-zada, "we were to have learned
+to-night why the Bandar-log were Men of the Jungle,
+first cousins to the Men-kind; but all I remember
+is that they ate matches and straw and got very
+sick. For my part I am very sleepy."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are tired, I will carry you, Hanuman,"
+lisped Python, shoving his ugly fat head forward.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Even I, who find it a labor to walk on the land,
+will give any Monkey who seeks it a ride," sighed
+Sher Abi. "This talking of eating has made me
+hung&mdash;&mdash;I mean ready to put myself out for my
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Take your friends in, you mean," snarled
+Gidar, jumping back as the heavy jaws of the
+Crocodile snapped within an inch of his nose.</p>
+
+<p>"I think each one will look after himself," declared
+Sa'-zada; "it will be safer. All to your
+cages."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Seventh Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of Birds of a Feather</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 408px;">
+<img src="images/i_7th_nite_1.jpg" width="408" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;">
+<img src="images/i_7th_nite_2.jpg" width="338" height="500" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="SEVENTH_NIGHT" id="SEVENTH_NIGHT"></a><big>SEVENTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF BIRDS OF A FEATHER</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Sa'-zada the Keeper had gathered
+all his comrades in front of Chita's cage
+for the evening of the Bird talk, Magh clambered
+up on her usual perch, Hathi's head, expostulating
+against the folly of throwing the meeting open to
+such gabblers.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," remarked Black Panther, "it's
+the great talkers that are thought most of here, I
+see. We, who have accomplished much, having
+earned an honest living, but are not over ready with
+the tongue, amount to but little."</p>
+
+<p>"Scree-he-ah-h!" cried Cockatoo. "By my crest!
+I am surely the oldest one here; shall I begin, O
+Sa'-zada?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cockatoo was born in Australia," declared Sa'-zada;
+"at least The Book says so, but the record
+of his age only goes back a matter of forty years."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," concurred the Cockatoo, "and from
+there I went to India on a ship; and for downright
+evil words there is no Jungle to compare with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+ship. Why, damn it&mdash;excuse me, friends, even the
+memory of my voyage causes me to swear.</p>
+
+<p>"My master, who was Captain of the ship, gave
+me to one of the Women-kind in Calcutta&mdash;'Mem-Sahib'
+the others called her. There I had just the
+loveliest life any poor exiled Cockatoo could wish
+for; it makes me swear&mdash;weep, I mean&mdash;when I
+think of the sweet Eatings she had for me. Not
+but that Sa'-zada is kind, only no one but a Woman
+knows how to look after a Cockatoo. At tiffin I
+was always allowed to come on the table, and the
+Mem-Sahib would take the cream from the top of
+the milk and give it to me. The Sahib threw
+pieces of bread at my head, which is like a Man's
+way, having no regard for the dignity of a
+Cockatoo.</p>
+
+<p>"One day, being frightened because of something,
+I fluttered to the top of his head, which was
+all bare of feathers, and verily I believe the Man-fear,
+of which Hathi has spoken, came to my new
+master. I could almost fancy I was back on the
+ship, for his language was much like that of the
+fo'castle.</p>
+
+<p>"Potai was the sweeper, a low-caste Hindoo of
+an evil presence; and save for the fact that he wore
+no foot-covering I should have been in a bad way.
+When the Mem-Sahib was not looking he beat me
+with his broom, simply because, that often being
+lonesome, I'd call aloud, 'Potai! Potai!' just to
+see him come running from the stables.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thinking to break him of his evil habit of
+beating me, many times I hid behind the <i>purda</i> of
+a door waiting for the coming of his ugly toes.
+Swisp! swisp! I'd hear the broom; 'Uh-h, uh-h!'
+old Potai would grunt, because of the stooping, and
+presently under the <i>purda</i>, which hung straight
+down, would peep his low-caste toes.</p>
+
+<p>"Click! just like that I'd nip quick, and run for
+the Mem-Sahib, screaming that Potai was beating
+me. I'm sure it was not an evil act on my part,
+for if any Sahib saw it he would laugh, and give
+me nuts or something sweet. That was because
+everyone knew that Potai was evil and of a low
+caste.</p>
+
+<p>"Many a time I saved the tiffin from the thieving
+crows&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Caw-w-w, what-a yar-r-r-n!" growled Kauwa
+the Crow. "We who are the cleaners of cities are
+not thieves. What is a Cockatoo? A teller of
+false tales and a breaker of rest."</p>
+
+<p>"Ca-lack! even what Cockatoo has said of
+Kauwa is true," declared the Adjutant, solemnly,
+snapping his sword in its scabbard; "I, who am <i>the</i>
+cleaner of cities, consider Kauwa but a thief. Once
+many of the Seven Sisters, for that is the evil name
+of Kauwa's tribe, stole a full-flavored fish from my
+very teeth&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aw, aw, aw! let me tell it, let me tell it," cried
+Kauwa; "let me tell the true tale of my solemn
+friend's stealing."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now we shall get at the real history of the
+Feathered Kind," chuckled Pardus. "When the
+Jungle Dwellers fall out amongst themselves and
+make much clatter, there is always the chance of
+an easy Kill."</p>
+
+<p>"Caw-aw-aw! It was this way," fairly snapped
+Crow. "A seller of small things, a <i>box wallah</i>, walking
+in an honest way fast after the <i>palki</i> of a great
+Sahib, even on the Red Road of Calcutta, by chance
+was struck by another <i>palki</i> and his box of many
+things thrown to the ground. Then this honest
+one of the straight face, Adjutant, seeing the mishap
+from his perch on the lion which is over the
+Viceroy's gate, swooped down like a proper Dacoit
+and swallowed some brown Eating which was
+like squares of butter, and made haste back to his
+perch. Even a Crow would have known better
+than that, for it was soap. And all day many of
+the Men-kind stood and looked at our baldheaded
+friend, for a great sickness came to him; and as
+he coughed, soap-bubbles floated upward. The
+Hindoos said it was a work of their gods."</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I thought," grunted Pardus; "all
+clatter, and no true story of anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," sighed Cockatoo wearily, "my Mem-Sahib
+always put me in a little house on the veranda
+at night. Though I didn't like it at all, still
+it was <i>my</i> house, and one day, in the midst of a
+rain, when I sought to enter, inside were two of
+the Cat young."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 409px;">
+<a name="i_122" id="i_122"></a>
+<img src="images/i_122.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;AND AS HE COUGHED, SOAP BUBBLES FLOATED UPWARD.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Kittens?" queried Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Ee-he-ah; and just behind me the old Cat with
+another in her mouth. Hard nuts! but such a row
+you never heard in your life. When I tried to
+drag the Kittens out, the Cat dug her beak&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Claws, you mean," corrected Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Ee-he-ah&mdash;claws in my back; but the Mem-Sahib
+took them away."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh, ugh! all lies! Bird talk!" grunted Boar.
+"What say you, Sa'-zada?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," declared the Keeper, much to the
+disgust of his questioner; "for in The Book are also
+other true tales of Cockatoo. The Mem-Sahib has
+written that he was a great mischief-maker. She
+says that on the back veranda of her bungalow was
+a filter, and when 'Cocky' wanted a bath, he used
+to turn the tap, but never knew enough to shut it
+off, so the filter was always running dry.</p>
+
+<p>"Also, there was a guava tree in the compound,
+and our friend ate all the guavas just as they ripened,
+so no one but Cocky got any of the fruit.
+That he was always fighting with Jock, her Scotch
+Terrier, and the clamor fair made her head ache."</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever Sa'-zada reads from The Book is
+most certainly true," commented Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking," began the Adjutant,
+solemnly&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You look like it," growled Wolf.</p>
+
+<p>"Of a story about Kauwa," continued the
+Adjutant&mdash;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"He stole three silver spoons from my Mem-Sahib,"
+interrupted Cocky hastily, suddenly remembering
+the incident, "and hid them in the Dog-cart,
+where they were found next day; which shows
+that he is neither wise nor honest."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine is a true tale," declared Adjutant, with
+great dignity. "One morning, looking calmly over
+the great city to see that all had been tidied up,
+I saw my little black friend, whose voice is like
+unto the squeak of a Bullock-cart, crouched in an
+open window, with wings well spread ready for
+flight.</p>
+
+<p>"'A new piece of thieving,' thought I, and,
+drawing closer, I saw Kauwa hop to the floor, pass
+over to a bed on which slept a Sahib, and gently
+take a slice of toast from the top of a cup; then
+away went the thief.</p>
+
+<p>"But the full wickedness was later, for when the
+Sahib awoke he spoke to his servant in the manner
+which Cockatoo has related of the ship. And when
+the other, who was of the Black Kind, declared
+he had put the toast beside his Master, the Sahib
+beat him for a liar. Even three mornings did
+Kauwa take the toast; but on the fourth the Sahib,
+who was pretending to sleep, nearly broke his back
+with the cast of a boot."</p>
+
+<p>"Jungle Dwellers are Jungle Dwellers, and City
+Dwellers are City Dwellers," commenced Hornbill,
+gravely, "and I'm so glad I'm a Jungle
+Dweller. These tales show what city life is like.
+Save for an occasional row with Magh's friends,
+Hanuman and the rest, whose stomachs are out of
+all proportion to the quantity of fruit to be had,
+I have led a very peaceful life in the Jungle."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;">
+<a name="i_125" id="i_125"></a>
+<img src="images/i_125.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;LEAVING JUST A PLACE FOR HER SHARP BEAK.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Tell me," queried Magh, maliciously, "do your
+Young roost on your nose?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; that is to keep inquisitive folks at a distance.
+And, talking of Young, when my wife has
+laid her two big eggs in a hole in some tree, I shut
+her up there with the eggs&mdash;make her stay home
+to mind the house and the oncoming family. I
+plaster up the hole with mud, leaving just a place
+for her sharp beak; this to keep the Monkeys from
+stealing her and the eggs."</p>
+
+<p>"Kaw-aw-aw! Talking of nests," said Kauwa,
+"when I was in Calcutta I designed a nest that
+would last forever&mdash;yes, forever. Each year before
+that time, because of the monsoon winds, my
+nest had always been destroyed; but the time I
+speak of, having a job on hand&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"On beak, you mean!" laughed Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Aw-haw!&mdash;to clean up about a cook-house behind
+a certain place of the Sahib's in which they
+bottled water of a fierce strength&mdash;as I say, being
+busy in this same compound, I spied many, many
+twigs of wire."</p>
+
+<p>"What's wire?" asked Mooswa; "I've never,
+that I know of, eaten such twigs."</p>
+
+<p>Sa'-zada explained, "Kauwa means bottled soda
+water, I fancy, and the wire from the corks."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A thought came to me," continued Kauwa, "to
+build my nest of these bright little things, and I
+did, first getting my mate's opinion on the matter,
+of course. Dead Pigs! but it <i>was</i> a nest! We
+would swing, and jump, and hang to it by our
+beaks, and never a break in the wall. But I had
+forgotten all about the selfish desire of the Men&mdash;but
+that was after. The first trouble was when
+Cuckoo&mdash;a proper <i>budmash</i> bird she is&mdash;came and
+laid two eggs in the nest. I saw the difference in
+the eggs at once, but my mate declared that they
+were all her own laying. She took rather a pride
+in her ability to lay eggs&mdash;to tell you the truth,
+we quarreled over it."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that," yawned Adjutant.</p>
+
+<p>"However, she had her way, and started to
+hatch out these foreign devils; but the Men, as
+I have said, seeing my beautiful nest, sent a Man
+of low caste up the tree, and he took it away,
+Cuckoo eggs and all. It was a good joke on the
+Cuckoo Bird, and I was so mad at the way everything
+turned out, Caw-ha! I never made it again."</p>
+
+<p>"I can swallow a plantain at one gulp," said
+Hornbill proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you toss it up first?" asked Sa'-zada,
+alluding to the peculiar habit the Hornbill has of
+throwing everything into the air, and catching it
+as he swallows it.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all in the way of slow eating," answered
+Hornbill.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Myna, "it is surely my turn. I,
+Myna, who was the pride of the Calcutta Zoo in
+the matter of speech, have sat here like a Tucktoo
+not saying a word, and listening to such as Cockatoo
+boasting about the few paltry oaths he picked
+up from the Sailor-kind. Why, damn your eyes,
+sir&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>And before Sa'-zada could still the tumult,
+Cockatoo and Myna, the best talking Bird of all
+India, were hurling the most unparliamentary language
+at each other that had ever been bandied
+about a Bird gathering.</p>
+
+<p>When Sa'-zada had stopped the indelicate scolding
+of the two Birds Myna proceeded to tell of
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>"I was born in the Burma hills, amongst the
+Shans. That's where I got my beautiful blue-black
+coat and lovely yellow beak."</p>
+
+<p>"Modest Bird," sneered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Mah Thin who snared me; but she was
+good to me, though&mdash;rice and fruit, all I could eat;
+and she never once forgot to put the turmeric and
+ground chillies in my rice; for, you know, if I did
+not get something hot in my food I'd soon die. I
+was somewhat like Cockatoo in that a Ship-man
+bought me and took me to Calcutta. He made me a
+most wise bird, and taught me many clever sayings.
+And when he was in Calcutta with his ship I would
+be put in the Zoo, so that the Sahibs from all parts
+might hear my speech.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"One day Tom&mdash;that was my master's name;
+he taught me to call him Tom&mdash;said to me, 'To-morrow
+the <i>Lat</i> Sahib, the Sirdar, and many ladies
+are coming to hear you talk; Myna.' Then he
+made me repeat over and over again, 'Good-morning,
+your Excellency.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a hard word he gave you," commented
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"It was indeed. Let claw-nosed Cockatoo try it;
+he thinks he can talk&mdash;let him try that."</p>
+
+<p>"Avast there, you lubber&mdash;&mdash;" commenced
+Cocky, but Sa'-zada stopped him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I said it over and over, and over again,
+and Tom was so pleased he gave me a graft mango
+to eat. Next day the Viceroy and many Mem-Sahibs
+and Sahibs gathered about my cage, and the
+Viceroy said, 'Good-morning, Polly.' Now this
+made me mad&mdash;to be called Polly, as though I had
+a hooked nose like Cockatoo; and in my anger
+I got excited, and, for-the-love-of-hot-spiced-rice, I
+couldn't think of what Tom had told me to say.</p>
+
+<p>"'Speak up!' said Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"In my anger, and forgetting the other thing,
+and seeing so many strange faces against the very
+bars of my cage, I blurted out, 'I'll see you damned
+first!' just as the sailors used to teach me."</p>
+
+<p>"Caw-haw-haw-haw! Very funny, indeed.
+Next to a fat bone, or the hiding of a silver spoon,
+I like a joke myself," commented Kauwa. "Once
+at the first edge of the Hot Time I went to Simla.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+That was also at the time of the going of the
+Sahibs, but after Calcutta it was dull&mdash;fair stupid.</p>
+
+<p>"One morning, as I was feeling most lonesome,
+I spied a long row of queer little Donkeys standing
+with their tails to a fence. They had brought
+loads of brick. I flew to the fence, and reaching
+far down, pulled the tail of my first Donkey. Much
+food! but he did kick&mdash;it made me laugh. I pulled
+the tail of every Donkey of the line, and when I
+had finished there wasn't a board left on the fence.
+Then the Man who was master of the fence, and
+the one that was master of the Donkeys, fought
+over this matter, and pulled each about by the
+feathers that were on their heads. It was the only
+real pleasant day I had in Simla."</p>
+
+<p>"Did-you-do-it!" screamed the Redwattled Lapwing,
+suddenly roused to animation by falling off
+Mooswa's back, where he had been trying to balance
+himself with his poor front-toed feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Caw-w-w! I did; and for three grains of corn
+I'd pull your tail, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't speaking to you," retorted Titiri the
+Lapwing; "I was dreaming of my old home in India&mdash;dreaming
+that the hunters had come into the
+rice fields to shoot the poor Paddy Birds and Bakula
+(Egret) for their feathers."</p>
+
+<p>"Murderers, you should call them, not Hunters,"
+exclaimed Hathi. "It makes me sniff in my
+nose now when I think of the Birds I've seen murdered,
+just for their feathers."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It's an outrageous shame," declared Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"I did all I could," asserted Lapwing. "When
+I saw the Gun-men coming, sneaking along,
+crouched like Pardus&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sneaking like Pardus&mdash;go on, Good Bird!"
+chimed in Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"I flew just ahead of them, and cried 'Tee-he-he!
+Here come the Murderers!' so that every bird in
+all the <i>jhils</i> about could hear me. And when Bakula,
+and Kowar the Ibis, and all the others had
+flown to safety, I shouted, 'Did-you-do-it, did-you-do-it!'
+Then the Men used language much like
+the disgraceful talk we have had from Cocky and
+Myna to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"You carried a heavy responsibility," remarked
+Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"All lies," sneered Kauwa. "Fat Bones! why,
+he can't even sit on the limb of a tree."</p>
+
+<p>"That is because of my feet," sighed Lapwing.
+"I have no toes behind."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you sleep?" asked Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"On the ground," answered Lapwing.</p>
+
+<p>"That's so," declared Sa'-zada, "for the Natives
+of the East say that Titiri sleeps on his back, and
+holds up the sky with his feet."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should the Men kill Birds for a few
+feathers?" croaked Vulture. "I don't believe it.
+Nobody asked me for one of mine. In fact the
+great trouble of all eating is the feathers or skin."</p>
+
+<p>"Whe-eh-eh!" exclaimed Ostrich, disgustedly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+"Pheu! your feathers! Even your head looks like a
+boiled Lobster. They do not kill me&mdash;the Men&mdash;but
+I know they are crazy for feathers, for they
+pull mine all out. Some day I'll give one of them a
+kick that will cure him of his feather fancy. I
+did rake one from beak to feet once with my strong
+toe nail. When I bring a foot up over my head
+and down like this&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>As Ostrich swung his leg every one skurried out
+of the way, for they knew it was like a sword
+descending.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," cried Magh, "if you only had a brain
+the size of that toe-nail&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop it!" cried Sa'-zada, for this was an unpleasant
+truth; Ostrich, though such a huge fellow
+himself, has a brain about the size of a Humming
+Bird's.</p>
+
+<p>"Talking of Wives," said Ostrich, with the most
+extraordinary irrelevance, "mine died when I was
+twenty-seven years old; and, of course, as it is the
+way with us Birds, I never took up with another,
+though I've seen the most beautifully feathered
+ones of our Kind&mdash;quite enough to make one's
+mouth water.</p>
+
+<p>"She had queer ways, to be sure&mdash;my wife. As
+you all know, our way of hatching eggs is turn
+about, the Mother Birds sitting all day, while we
+Lords of the Nest sit at night. But my wife would
+take notions sometimes and not sit at all. In that
+case I always sat night and day until the job was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+finished. By-a-sore-breast-bone! but making a
+nest in the hard-graveled desert is a job to be
+avoided."</p>
+
+<p>"Sore knuckles!" exclaimed Magh, "where are
+we at? We were talking of feathers."</p>
+
+<p>"So we were, so we were," decided Mooswa.
+"And what I want to know is, do the Men eat the
+feathers they hunt for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Jungle Dwellers!" exclaimed Magh; "if
+you were to sit in my cage for half a day you would
+see what they do with them. The Women come
+there with their heads covered with all kinds of
+feathers, red, and green, and blue&mdash;Silly! how
+would I look with my head stuck full of funny old
+feathers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Like the Devil!" exclaimed Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Like a Woman," retorted Magh. "And their
+hair is so pretty, too. I've seen red hair just like
+mine, and then to cover it up with a crest of feathers
+like Cockatoo wears; I'd be ashamed of the
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a sin to murder the Birds," whimpered
+Mooswa; "that's the worst part of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Tonk, tonk, tonk!" came a noise just like a
+small Boy striking an iron telegraph post with a
+stick. It was the small Coppersmith Bird clearing
+his throat. Very funny the green pudgy little chap
+looked with his big black mustaches.</p>
+
+<p>"The Men are great thieves," he asserted.
+"When I was a chick my Mother taught me to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+stick my tail under my wings for fear they would
+steal the feathers as I slept."</p>
+
+<p>"Steal tail feathers!" screamed Eagle; "I should
+say they would. Out in the West, where was my
+home, when a Man becomes a great Chief he sticks
+three of my tail feathers in his hair; and when the
+Head Chief of a great Indian tribe rises up to make
+a big talk, what does he hold in his hand? The
+things that are bright like water-drops&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Diamond rings," exclaimed Sa'-zada, interrupting.</p>
+
+<p>"No; he holds one of my wings to show that
+he is great."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are the King Bird, Eagle," concurred
+Sa'-zada, "the emblem of our country."</p>
+
+<p>"I can break a lamb's back with my talons,"
+assented Eagle, ignoring the sublime disdainfully,
+"but I wouldn't trust my nest within reach of any
+Man&mdash;they're a lot of thieves."</p>
+
+<p>"Nice feathers are a great trouble," asserted
+Sparrow; "I'm glad I haven't any."</p>
+
+<p>"What difference does it make?" cried Quail;
+"the Men kill me, and I'm sure I'm not gaudy."</p>
+
+<p>"You're good eating, though," chuckled Gidar
+the Jackal. "After a day's shoot of the Men-kind,
+the scent from their cook-house is fair maddening.
+Oh-h-h, ki-yi! I've had many a Quail bone in my
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Even Lapwing can't save <i>us</i> from the Hunters,"
+lamented Quail; "they play us such vile tricks.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+I've seen a rice field with a dozen bamboos stuck
+in it, and on top of each bamboo a cage with a
+tame Cock Quail; and in the center, hidden away,
+sat a man with a little drum which he tapped with
+his fingers. And the drum would whistle 'peep,
+peep, peep,' and the Birds in the cages would go
+'peep, peep, peep,' and we Cock Birds of the Jungle,
+thinking it a challenge to battle, would answer
+back, 'peep, peep, peep,' and go seeking out these
+strange Birds who were calling for fight. Of
+course, our Wives would go with us to see the
+battle, and in the end all would be snared or shot
+by the deceitful Men."</p>
+
+<p>"That's almost worse than being taken for one's
+feathers," said Egret. "I'm glad they don't
+eat me."</p>
+
+<p>"No Mussulman would eat you, Buff Egret,"
+said Gidar the Jackal. "It's because of your habit
+of picking ticks off the Pigs."</p>
+
+<p>"Some Birds do have vile habits," declared
+Crow. "Paddy Bird has a Brother in Burma who
+gets drunk on the Men's toddy."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if that be true," said Sa'-zada, "though
+he is really called 'Bacchus' in the science books."</p>
+
+<p>Said Myna, "Of all Birds, I think the Jungle
+Fowl are the worst. The Cocks do nothing but
+fight, fight, all the time&mdash;fight, and then get up in
+a tree and crow about it, as though it were to their
+credit."</p>
+
+<p>Said Kauwa the Crow, "When one of our family<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+becomes quarrelsome, or a great nuisance, we hold
+a meeting&mdash;I have seen even a thousand Crows at
+such meetings&mdash;hear all there is to say about him,
+and then if it appears that he is utterly bad we beat
+him to death."</p>
+
+<p>"Tub-full-of-bread!" exclaimed Hathi, sleepily,
+"it's my opinion that all Birds should be on their
+roosts&mdash;it's very late."</p>
+
+<p>"And roost high, too," said Magh, "for Coyote
+and Gidar have been licking their chops for
+the last hour. I've watched them. And lock
+Python up, O Sa'-zada, for high roosts won't save
+them from him."</p>
+
+<p>"All to bed, all to bed!" cried the Keeper. "To-morrow
+night we'll have some more tales."</p>
+
+<p>The last cry heard on the sleepy night air after
+all were safely in their cages was Cockatoo's "Avast
+there, you lubber!" as Myna, sticking his saucy
+yellow beak through the bars of his cage, called
+across to him, "Want a glass of grog, Polly?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Eighth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Stories of Buffalo and Bison</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;">
+<img src="images/i_8th_nite_1.jpg" width="322" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 444px;">
+<img src="images/i_8th_nite_2.jpg" width="444" height="550" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="EIGHTH_NIGHT" id="EIGHTH_NIGHT"></a><big>EIGHTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORIES OF BUFFALO AND BISON</h2>
+
+
+<p>This evening the whole Buffalo herd had
+come out of the park to the meeting-place
+in front of Chita's cage; even their brother, the
+Indian Bison, was there, as also was the true Buffalo,
+Bos Bubalus.</p>
+
+<p>Said Sa'-zada, opening his book: "We should
+learn much this evening, for Buffalo and Bison are
+to tell us of their lives. But first, let me put you
+all right as to their names. Those we have called
+Buffalo, from our own western prairies, are not
+Buffalo at all, but Bison, half-brother of Gaur, who
+also lives in India, where the true Buffalo comes
+from."</p>
+
+<p>"It does not matter," said Buff, the prairie
+Bison, "it does not matter what I'm called, seems
+to me, for all my life I have been most badly
+treated. Why, it seems no time since I was a calf,
+one of a mighty herd, on the sweet-grassed prairie,
+and in those days I thought there was nothing in
+the world like being a Buffalo.</p>
+
+<p>"The first touch of danger I remember came in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+this way. The herd had tracked, one after another,
+all walking in the same narrow path, down to
+a hollow in which was water. I was feeling frisky,
+and, seeing something move, something that
+seemed very like a calf, smaller than myself, I ran
+after it, cocking my tail, kicking my heels in the
+air, and thinking it great sport; for, Comrades, the
+great weakness of all grass-feeders is an idle curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>"And did all this happen when you had your
+tail kinked in the air, that time you were a
+silly calf?" jibed Magh, holding a peanut out
+on her under lip, and looking down at it very
+sedately, as though the subject were of little
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you my story in my own way," declared
+Buff. "The thing that I followed was like a grey
+shadow, and slipped about with no noise, but when
+I came close to it, with a vicious snarl it sprang up,
+and also there were three others hidden in the
+grass. Much milk! but I became afraid, and I believe
+I bawled. Just then I felt the ground tremble,
+and a dozen of the herd galloped towards
+me with their heads down. It was a wolf, and
+help came just in time, for the big fangs of the
+fierce brute cut my hind leg a little where he sought
+to hamstring me.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Mother explained, first bunting me
+soundly with her forehead, then licking me with
+her coarse tongue, that these Wolves were always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+following up the Herd, trying to catch a Calf, or
+sick Cow, or old Bull, to one side."</p>
+
+<p>"We have Wolves in India, too," said Arna,
+"and Chita the Leopard, and Bagh the Tiger.
+Blood drinkers! but we have many enemies there;
+even Cobra will hardly get out of the way seeking
+to carry to one's blood his sudden death. There
+are no animals so ill used, I believe, as Buffalo.</p>
+
+<p>"One has need of big Horns in the heart of the
+Jungle. Why, mine measure nine feet and a half
+from tip to tip across my forehead. And see the
+strength of them, fully the size of Bagh's leg&mdash;for
+I am a Curly Horn, which means one of great
+strength. Never have I locked Horns with a Bull
+that I have not twisted his neck till he bellowed.
+Eugh-hu, eugh! Next to lying in muddy water
+with one's nose just peeping out, there's nothing so
+pleasant as a trial of strength. And with all respect
+to Hathi's handiness of trunk, I must say I
+prefer good, stout Horns. When Bagh or Pardus
+come sneaking about, there's nothing like a long
+reach.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear that, friends," said Magh. "Here's a
+traveler from Panther's own land calls him a sneak.
+He, he he! now we shall get at the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gaur, the Bison; "Panther and all
+his tribe are sneaks. They murdered a Calf of
+mine. To be sure, it was the Wife's Calf, for
+had I been there at the time I'd have fixed him.
+She had just lain down to rest for the night,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+and the Calf was a little to one side, and this evil-spotted
+thing, Panther of the Red Kind, came
+sneaking up the wind like a proper Jungle Cat.
+He knew I was away, for he has the cunning of
+Cobra, and how was the mother to know that any
+danger threatened? He stole like a shadow close
+to the poor little Calf, and with a rush jumped on
+his back and bit his neck, breaking it, and cutting
+it so the red blood ran his life all out in a little
+while."</p>
+
+<p>"I was born in Mardian," remarked Arna, the
+Buffalo, "many years ago; and save for the loss of a
+Calf, through Chita or Bagh's treachery, or perhaps
+a lone Cow at times, our herd feared no Dweller of
+the Jungles. Mine is a big family," he ruminated,
+"for we wander over almost all India and Burma.
+Before I had grown up our Bull leader had taught
+us all the method of battle. When it was Bagh,
+we formed up, heads out, with the Calves behind,
+and if we but saw him in time, he surely was slain,
+if he sought strongly for a Kill.</p>
+
+<p>"I learned all the different sounds that come far
+ahead of danger. One's ears get wondrous sharp
+in the Jungle, I can tell you, where the little Gonds
+hunt. If a stone went singing down the hillside,
+that meant Men, and Men meant the worst kind
+of danger. No Animal starts a stone rolling; we
+are too careful for that.</p>
+
+<p>"Also do the Jungle Dwellers not break sticks
+as they travel. The crack of a broken twig meant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+Men Hunters; and when a beat was on, the Jungle
+was, indeed, possessed of great sounds. All the
+Dwellers ran mad with fear&mdash;the fear-madness
+that is like unto the way of Baola Kutta, the Mad
+Dog. There is nothing so terrible in the life of an
+Animal as the drive of the Hunters. 'Tap, tap,
+tap,' like the knocking of Horns together, meant
+the strike of Beaters against the trees, and then
+the Men's voices crying, '<i>Aree ho teri</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"I, who tremble not at the roar of a Tiger, shivered
+when I heard that, and lost all knowledge of
+which way I should run&mdash;that was in the first drive,
+of course, before I became possessed of much
+Jungle wisdom. Surely it drove us all mad. Like
+the sound of rain falling on leaves was the rush of
+Python's little feet as even he flew from the Man-danger.</p>
+
+<p>"Our best food was down in the <i>jhils</i>, also the
+nice soft mud to lie in, and in the early spring, after
+the fires had passed, the young bamboo shot up and
+we ate them. Then when we took it into our heads,
+we went up into the deep, cool sal forest and rested
+in peace. But in the Dry Time was the time of
+danger, for we had to travel far to find water. We
+are not like Antelope or Nilgai, who go without
+water for days and days.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember once when we had crept down out
+of the hills, leaving the big sal trees behind, and
+passing through tamarind, and mango, and pipal,
+and just as we were coming to the pool, which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+almost hidden in the jamin bushes, I heard a roar&mdash;there
+was a rush and a Bagh of ferocious
+strength sprang on one of our Cows and sought to
+break her neck.</p>
+
+<p>"But worse than Bagh's cruel charge was the
+silent method of the little, dark Men-kind&mdash;the
+Mariahs. Like Magh's people, they would sit
+quiet in the trees, and as we came slowly back from
+the water would shoot arrows into us. Of this we
+could have no warning, neither any chance to fight
+for our lives, only the noise of the arrow coming
+like the hiss of King Cobra, and the cruel sting of
+its sharp end. Our Bull leader got one this way
+not strong enough to bring him to his death, and
+for days and days it stayed in his side, and made
+him of such a vile temper that the Herd had to
+cast him forth, and he became what is known as a
+Solitary Bull.</p>
+
+<p>"There is some kindness in Bagh's method, more
+than in the way of these evil Men, for when he
+kills he kills, and there is no more sickness; but of
+the Men, when they hunt us with their arrows or a
+thunder-stick which strikes with a loud noise, many
+of our kind are struck and die at the end of much
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Strong as the fire-stick is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Arna means by the fire-stick a gun," explained
+Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Strong as it is," continued Arna, "we Buffalo
+are also of great strength. Why, the skin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+on my neck and withers would stop its strike any
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop the Bullet?" queried Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," asserted the Bull. "I have at least three
+buried in the thick skin of my neck, and I hardly
+know they are there. Why, it has been known in
+my Herd for a Bull to be struck fifteen times by
+one of these fire-sticks, and then the Men did not
+get him. But just behind the shoulders we are
+weak. My mother taught me a trick of this sort&mdash;'Never
+stand sideways to an enemy,' she told me.
+Yes, though it is good to be of great strength, a
+little wisdom is also of much use, even to a Buffalo."</p>
+
+<p>"It was so with us," concurred Prairie Bison.
+"From all the other animals we suffered little compared
+with the misery that came from the Men&mdash;the
+Redmen; and worse still were the Palefaces;
+it was, as you say, Brother, all because of the fire-stick."</p>
+
+<p>"Even I was struck by it," continued Arna; "it
+was this way. Early one morning I had gone down
+to a <i>jhil</i>, being alone at that time of the year, for
+our wives were busy with the Calves, and, as I was
+going to the uplands, to a favorite <i>nulla</i> of mine,
+in which to rest, suddenly I caught sight of an
+evil-faced Gond; these same Gonds being of all
+Shikaris (hunters) the most strong in their thirst
+for blood. I rushed away for the hills, thinking to
+leave him behind. I traveled far, and thought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+myself, now surely I have lost this small killer.
+Being hungry, I fed on the rich grass, but, as I fed,
+suddenly a dry twig broke in the Jungle, and I
+knew that it was either Hathi or the little Gond.
+Looking back, I saw with the Shikari another of a
+white face. Again I galloped, and trotted, and
+walked, up a long <i>nulla</i>, over a hill, around by the
+side of it, turned, and went far back, much the
+way I had come, only to one side. Then I sought
+the top of a hill where the bamboos grew thick,
+thinking to hide. As I rested, an evil smell, that
+was not of the Jungle, came to me as the wind
+turned in its course and blew up the hill. I stood
+perfectly still, even ceased to flap my ears against
+the wicked Flies. As I watched, suddenly this Man
+of the white face stood up from the grass just the
+shortest of gallops away, his thunder-stick roared,
+and something I could not see struck me most
+viciously in the shoulder. I was mad. Lashing
+my hips with my tail, and throwing my nose
+straight out, I charged him.</p>
+
+<p>"Again his thunder-stick spoke loud, but there
+was no sting&mdash;nothing, and he turned from me
+and ran down the hill. Just as I was almost upon
+him, he looked back, his foot caught in a bush and
+he fell. Now, as I have said, my big Horns are of
+great use when Bagh charges, or when another
+Bull disputes the right to command the Herd, but
+as for the small enemy lying on the ground, I could
+not get at him at all; besides, I was rushing down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+hill at great speed, so, though I lowered my head
+till my forehead almost crushed him into the earth,
+yet I had him not on the Horns, as, carried by my
+weight, I was forced to the very bottom. Before
+I could turn he was up and away, and I never saw
+him again."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_146" id="i_146"></a>
+<img src="images/i_146.jpg" width="600" height="399" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;SOMETHING I COULD NOT SEE STRUCK ME MOST VICIOUSLY IN THE SHOULDER.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"We are also killed by the Men," added Muskwa,
+the Bear. "They take off our black coats, and
+I thought, perhaps, that was lest we might come to
+life again. Yes, I think they mean to kill all Animals."</p>
+
+<p>"They have killed nearly all my people," sighed
+Prairie Cow&mdash;"nearly all of them. I know that is
+true, for one day Sa'-zada came into our corral,
+and, rubbing his nice soft hand on my forehead&mdash;I
+was sick that day, I remember&mdash;said, 'Poor old
+girl! we must take care of you, for there are not
+many of your sort left now.' Then he said it was a
+shame that the brutes had slaughtered us so."</p>
+
+<p>"Ghurr-ah!" barked Wolf, "tell of this thing,
+O Buffalo Cow, for to me it has been much of a
+mystery where the many of your kind could have
+gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Lu-ah!" sighed Prairie Cow, "it makes me sad
+to even think of it. As I have said, in my young
+life we were many, many in numbers like you have
+seen our enemies, the Men, here at times. All
+through the long, warm days of sun, we ate the
+grass that grew again as fast as we cropped it.
+Our humps became big and full of rich fat for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+cold time. Not that I had the hump on my back
+as a Calf, not needing it as food, for my mother's
+milk kept my stomach at peace when the winds
+were cold, and the grass perhaps under a white
+cover. Sometimes when the days were harsh we
+had to travel far in search of feed grass, but that
+was nothing: few of us died because of this. Even
+when the Red-faced ones sought us, they killed
+but few, for their hunger was soon stayed. But
+suddenly there came to us a time of much fear.
+Wherever we went we were chased by the Palefaces,
+and their fire-sticks were forever driving
+the fire that kills into our faces. Our Bull leader
+was always taking us farther and farther away,
+and our Herd was getting smaller and smaller.
+It was a miserable life, for there was never any
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>"At last our Bull said that we must go on a long
+trail, for the prairie wind was talking of nothing
+but danger; so we trailed far to the south. For
+days and days we passed across hot sand deserts in
+which there was little grass and hardly any drinking.
+It was terrible. My hump melted to nothing;
+we were all like that, worse than we had ever
+been after the coldest time of little sun.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we came to a land in which there was
+grass and water, and none of the Men-kind; and
+once more we were content, only for thinking of
+our friends that had been killed. I don't remember
+how long we were there&mdash;I think I had raised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+two Calves, when one day the evil that comes of
+the Men was once more with us&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is even as I have said," interrupted
+Arna; "when one thinks he has got away safely,
+and stops for a little rest, he will see that evil Gond,
+or some other of the Men-kind, waiting to do him
+harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," commented Prairie Cow; "the Palefaces
+had found us out. But I must say there was
+less use of the fire-sticks than before, and I soon
+came to know why they had trailed us across the
+Texas desert&mdash;they had come to steal our Calves.
+Never were any poor Animals so troubled by
+Man's evil ways as were we Buffalo. At first I
+thought they had not fire-sticks with them, and
+meant to kill and eat the Calves, they being less
+able to fight. I remember the very day my Calf
+was taken. As the Herd fed in a little valley, we
+saw three Wild Horses coming toward us&mdash;we
+thought they were Wild Horses, but it was an evil
+trick of the Palefaces, for beside each Horse
+walked one of the Men. They were down wind
+from us, so we did not discover this. Suddenly
+our Herd leader&mdash;he was a great Bull, too&mdash;gave
+a grunt of warning&mdash;much like Bear grunts, only
+louder; but still we could see nothing to put fear
+into our hearts. Then our leader commenced to
+throw sand up against his sides with his forefeet,
+and, lowering his head, shook it savagely.
+'Why does he wish to battle?' I wondered, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+the Wild Horses had never made trouble for my
+people.</p>
+
+<p>"Just then the Men jumped on their animals,
+and away we raced. I remember as I ran wondering
+why there was no loud bark of the fire-stick, for
+I could see the Hunters galloping fast after us; in
+fact one of them was close at my heels, for my
+youngest Calf, not two months old, could not run
+as swiftly as I wished. I was keeping him close;
+and on my other side galloped my Calf that was a
+year old.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly I heard a 'swisp' in the air, and my
+little curly-haired pet gave a choking gasp and fell
+in the grass. Of course, I could not stop at once,
+and he bawled much as I did when the Wolf was
+at my hock. When I turned in great haste I saw
+the Paleface on top of him. I was just crazy with
+rage. I charged full at the Man and his Horse,
+and it almost makes me laugh now to think how
+I kept him jumping about. He did use a small firestick
+on me, but I am sure it was because of the
+Man-fear, of which Hathi told us; I saw it in his
+eyes plain enough. But who can stand against the
+fire-stick? Not even Bagh or Hathi, as we know,
+so I was forced to flee with the Herd.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 404px;">
+<a name="i_150" id="i_150"></a>
+<img src="images/i_150.jpg" width="404" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;SUDDENLY I HEARD A &#39;SWISP&#39; IN THE AIR, AND MY LITTLE CURLY-HAIRED
+PET&nbsp;...&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"We galloped far, far, before we stopped; and
+that night there were many mothers in the Herd
+bawling and crying for their lost Calves, for these
+evil Men had stolen a great number. I felt so sad
+thinking of my little one's trouble that I could stand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+it no longer, so I went back on our trail, and, following
+up the scene of the Men-kind, came to
+where they had my Calf and the others. It was
+night. I soon found him, for a Cow Mother's nose
+is most wise when looking for her young. But I
+could not get him away with me, for he was held
+fast by something; so I stayed there and let him
+drink of my milk.</p>
+
+<p>"Even with the fear of a fire-stick on me I
+stayed with him, and in the morning when the Pale-faces
+saw me their eyes were full of much wonder.
+But I did not try to run away, and one of them,
+making many motions and noises to the other two,
+I think, commanded them not to harm me. Well,
+good Comrades," sighed the Cow, regretfully,
+"mine has been a very long story, I'm afraid, but
+when one talks of her Babe there is so much to be
+said."</p>
+
+<p>"And did they bring you here with the Calf?"
+asked Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Most surely," answered Prairie Cow; "and because
+of my milk he grew big and strong, much
+faster than grew the other Calves, and is now big
+Bull of the Herd."</p>
+
+<p>"But how fared the others with no mothers?"
+asked Chita.</p>
+
+<p>"They gave them Cow mothers of the tame
+kind," answered the Cow.</p>
+
+<p>Said Arna, scratching his back with the point
+of his long horn: "It is not quite this way with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+us in India. We stick pretty well to the <i>jhils</i> and
+Jungles, so the Men cannot kill many of us at one
+time; but still we are becoming fewer. Even those
+of the black kind now have the thunder-stick, and
+kill my comrades to sell their heads to the horn
+merchants. Think of that, Brothers, having a
+price on one's head, like a Bhil robber."</p>
+
+<p>Said Sa'-zada: "I wish all the Men who slay
+Animals, calling it sport, might have sat here to-night
+with us, that their hearts might be inclined
+more kindly toward you, Brothers, who war not
+against my kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Sa'-zada," cried Hathi, in a gentle voice, "could
+you not put all these things in a new book, and lend
+it to each one of your people so that they might
+know of these true things? Surely then they would
+not seek for the life of each one of us that has
+done them no harm."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a notion to try it, good Comrade," said
+the Keeper. "But in the meantime it is late, and
+now you must all go back to your corrals and
+cages."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, Prairie Cow," trumpeted Hathi,
+softly, caressing her forehead with his trunk; "your
+people most certainly have been badly treated by
+the Men."</p>
+
+<p>Soon silence reigned over the home of these outcasts
+from the different quarters of the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Ninth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of Unt, the Camel</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 456px;">
+<img src="images/i_9th_nite_1.jpg" width="456" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 418px;">
+<img src="images/i_9th_nite_2.jpg" width="418" height="450" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="NINTH_NIGHT" id="NINTH_NIGHT"></a><big>NINTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF UNT, THE CAMEL</h2>
+
+
+<p>The clink of a loose chain; the complaining
+wail of a swinging iron door; the squeak
+of a key turning an unwilling lock&mdash;a heavy-bolted
+lock; a flutter of wings; the crunch of giant feet on
+the echoing gravel; huge forms slipping through
+the moonlight, like prehistoric monsters; a slim,
+ribbon-like body gliding noiselessly over the grass
+cushion of the Park's sward; muffled laughter, bird
+calls and a remonstrative grunt from Wild Boar;
+the merry chatter of Magh the Orang; a guarded
+"Phrut-t-t, Phrut-t-t" from Hathi, the huge Elephant&mdash;ah,
+yes, all these; surely it was the gathering
+of old friends, who, like the listeners of the
+Arabian Night's tales, had for many evenings
+talked of their Jungle life in front of Black Panther's
+cage.</p>
+
+<p>"You are all welcome," growled Pardus.</p>
+
+<p>Magh hopped on the end of Hathi's trunk, and
+the latter lifted her gracefully to a seat on his broad
+forehead. She had Blitz, the Fox Terrier, with
+her. "You will hear some lies to-night, Pup," she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+confided to him. "But who is to talk?" she asked
+suddenly; "Chee-he! Sa'-zada, our good Keeper,
+who's to talk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Camel is to tell us of his life," answered the
+Keeper.</p>
+
+<p>"That stupid creature, who is too lazy to brace
+up and look spry, talk to us? Next we know we'll
+have a tale from Turtle."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it," sneered Boar, "if one is honest and
+a plodder like Unt, bandy-legged creatures like
+Magh will call him stupid."</p>
+
+<p>Unt, with a bubbling grunt, knelt down, doubled
+his hind legs under him like a jack-knife, made himself
+comfortable, and commenced his personal history.</p>
+
+<p>"Bul-lul-luh!" he muttered. "I was born in
+Baluchistan, on the nice white sand plains of the
+Sibi <i>Put</i> (desert). As Mooswa has said, there
+must be some great Animal who arranges things
+for us. Think of it, Comrades, I had the good fortune
+to be born in just the loveliest spot any animal
+could wish for. As far as I could see on every side
+was the hot, dry sand of the beautiful Sibi desert."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," interrupted Ostrich; "my home in
+Arabia was like that. I've listened to Arna here,
+and Bagh, telling of the thick Jungles where one
+could scarce see three lengths of his own body, and
+I must say that I think it very bad taste."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was lovely there," bubbled Unt. "No
+wonder that Bagh, when he was chased by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+Beaters, fled to the sand <i>damar</i> and hid in the
+korinda thorns. Such sweet eating they are, firm
+under one's teeth. The green food is dreadful
+stuff. Once crossing the Sibi <i>Put</i>, when I was three
+days without food, I remember coming to Jacobabad,
+a place where the foolish ones of the Men-kind
+had planted trees, and bushes, and grass, and
+kept them green with water. I ate of these three
+green things, and nearly died from a swelling in my
+stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as I have said, I was born in that nice
+sand place, and for three or four years did nothing
+but follow mother Unt about. Then they put a
+button in my nose, and tied me with a cord to the
+tail of another Unt, and put merchandise on my
+back for me to carry. There was a long line of
+us, and in front walked Dera Khan, the Master.
+We seemed to be always working, always carrying
+something; our only rest was when we were being
+loaded or unloaded. We were made to lie down
+when the packs were put on our backs, and many
+a time I have got up suddenly when the boxes were
+nearly all on, rose up first from behind, you know,
+and sent the things flying over my head. I would
+get a longer rest that way, but also I got much
+abuse, though I didn't mind it, to be sure; for, as
+Mooswa has said, our way of life is all arranged
+for us, and the abuse that was thrust upon me was
+a part of my way.</p>
+
+<p>"But one year there came to Sibi many Men of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+the war-kind, and with them were the black ones
+from Bengal. It was a fat one of this kind, one of
+little knowledge of the ways of an Unt, a 'Baboo,'
+Dera Khan called him, who caused me much
+misery. It was my lot to take him and his goods
+to the Bolan Pass, so Dera said, for the One-in-Charge,
+a Sahib, had so ordered it. When I sought
+to rise, as usual, when the load was but half in
+place, he got angry and beat me with a big-leafed
+stick he carried to keep the heat from his head.
+But in the end I brought to his knowledge the
+method of an Unt who has been beaten without
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>"When all his pots and pans, and boxes of books,
+wherein was writing, had been bound to my saddle,
+the Baboo clambered on top. I must say that I
+could understand little of his speech, for my Master,
+Dera Khan, was a Man of not many words, but
+the Baboo was as full of talk as even Magh is;
+and of very much the same intent, too&mdash;of little
+value."</p>
+
+<p>"Big lip! Crooked neck! Frightener of
+Young!" screamed Magh, hurling the epithets at
+Camel with vindictive fury.</p>
+
+<p>"Unt's tale is truly a most interesting one; there
+is much wit in his long head," commented Pardus.
+Camel rolled the cud in his mouth three or four
+times, dropped his heavy eyelids reflectively, bubbled
+a sigh of meek resignation and proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"When I rose from behind, the Baboo nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+fell over my neck; when I came sharply to my forefeet
+(for I was always a very spry, active Unt),
+he declared to Dera Khan that I had broken his
+back. But I knew this couldn't be true, for I was
+always a most unlucky Unt. Of course, this time
+I was not tied to the tail of a mate, but my leading
+line was with the Baboo. He shouted 'Jao' to me,
+and in addition called me the Son of an Evil Pig.</p>
+
+<p>"Have any of you ever seen one of my kind run
+away?" Camel asked, swinging his big head inquiringly
+about the circle.</p>
+
+<p>"I have," answered Black Panther. "Once, being
+hungry, I crept close to an Unt to ask him if he
+could tell me where I might find a Chinkara or
+other Jungle Dweller for my dinner. I saw <i>that</i>
+Camel run. For a small part of the journey I was
+on his back; but though I can cling to anything
+pretty well, yet the twists of his long legs were too
+much for me, and I landed on my head in the sand,
+nearly breaking my back."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," resumed Camel, "you will understand
+how the Baboo and his pots and pans fared when
+I ran away with him, which I did as soon as Dera
+Khan moved a little to one side. At first I couldn't
+get well into my stride, for the Baboo pulled at the
+nose rope, and called to Dera in great fear. Dera
+also ran beside me, holding to the ropes that were
+on the boxes; many things fell, coming away like
+cocoanuts from a tree. An iron pot going down
+with much speed struck my Master on his head, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+he said the same fierce words that he always used
+when I caused him trouble of any kind.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, though I ran fast, yet by tipping my
+head a little to one side I could see what was doing
+behind, and I saw a basket in which were many
+round, white things&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Eggs," suggested Cockatoo. "Those were the
+round white things Potai brought from bazaar in
+a basket."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they were in a basket," repeated Camel,
+solemnly; "so, as you say, Cocky, I suppose they
+were eggs; but, however, they came down all at
+once on the face and shoulders of my loved Master."</p>
+
+<p>"And broke, Cah-cah-cah!" laughed Kauwa the
+Crow; "I know. More than once I've seen relatives
+of mine have their eggs broken through being
+thrown out of the nest by Cuckoo Bird."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said," continued Camel, "my Master
+was a Man of few words, but at this he let go
+of the rope, and the language he used still rings in
+my ears. Dry chewing! how I fled. And behind
+chased Dera Khan, a big knife in his hand&mdash;in
+spite of his violence I had to laugh at the color the
+eggs had left on his long beard&mdash;a knife in his
+hand, and crying aloud that he would cut the Baboo's
+throat.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_161" id="i_161"></a>
+<img src="images/i_161.jpg" width="600" height="406" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;I REMAINED IN THE JHIL UNTIL MY MASTER HAD LOST THE FIERCE KILL-LOOK.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"As I swung first one side of my legs, and then
+the other over the sweet sand desert, I could feel
+the Baboo thumping up and down on my back, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+he was clinging to the saddle with both hands.
+Sometimes he abused me, and sometimes he begged
+me to stop; that I was a good Unt&mdash;his Father
+and Mother, and his greatest friend. As he would
+not be shaken off because of his fear of Dera
+Khan's knife, I carried him into a <i>jhil</i> of much
+water; there he was forced to let go, and when he
+got to the bank, if it had not been for a Sahib he
+would most surely have been killed by my Master.
+Hathi has told us of the fear-look he has seen in
+the faces of the Men-kind, and there was much of
+this in the eyes of that Baboo. I remained in the
+<i>jhil</i> until my Master had lost the fierce kill-look,
+then I came out, and save for some of the old
+abuse there was nothing done to me.</p>
+
+<p>"But we all went to the Bolan Pass, carrying
+food for those that labored there making a path
+for the Fire Caravan, the bearer of burdens that is
+neither Bullock, nor Unt, nor aught that I know
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a railroad," Sa'-zada, the Keeper, explained.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," grunted Unt, licking his pendulous
+upper lip; "perhaps, but we Unts spoke of it as the
+Fire Caravan. Still it was an evil thing, a destroyer
+of lives, many lives, for never in that whole
+land of sand-hills and desert was there so much
+heat and so much death.</p>
+
+<p>"First the <i>Bail</i> (Bullocks) died as though Bagh
+the Killer had taken each one by the throat; then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+those of my kind fell down by the fire-path and
+could not rise again. And the air, that is always
+so sweet on the hot sand plains, became like the
+evil breath of the place wherein nests Boar."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh, ugh!" grunted Wild Boar, "even there,
+by this stupid tale of Unt's, there was something
+evil to be likened to my kind."</p>
+
+<p>"The water that had been sweet ran full of a
+sickness because of all this, and the Men that drank
+of it were stricken with the Black Death. At first
+it was those of the Black-kind, and then the others,
+the Sahibs, became possessed of it. And then the
+Burra-Sahib, Huzoor the Governor, was taken with
+it; so said one of the Sahibs who came to Dera
+Khan just as he was tying a rope about my foreleg
+so that I could not rise and wander in the night.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is sixty miles to Sibi,' this Sahib, who was
+but young, said to my Master.</p>
+
+<p>"'By the Grace of Allah, it is more,' Dera answered
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"'The Big Sahib, who is my friend, is stricken
+with the Black Death,' said the young Sahib, 'and
+also the Baboo Doctor is the same, being close to
+his death; and unless I get a Healer from Sibi to-morrow,
+the Sahib who is my friend will surely
+die.'</p>
+
+<p>"'If Allah wills it so, Kismet,' answered my
+Master.</p>
+
+<p>"'Have you a fast Camel?' asked the young
+Sahib.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'This is Moti,' replied my Master, putting
+his hand on my hump, 'and when he paces, the wind
+remains behind.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then the young Sahib promised my Master
+many rupees and much work for the other Unts,
+so be it he might ride me to Sibi for a Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"By a meal of brown paper such as one picks up
+in a bazaar, I swear that I understood more of
+what that meant to my Master than many a Camel
+would have known, for had I not seen it all, this
+that I am about to tell? You know, Comrades,
+that the Burra-Sahib was a Man of a dry temper,
+and it so happened that one day Dera Khan had
+displeased him, which I just say was a way my
+Master had often. That was a full moon before
+the coming of the Black Sickness. Oh, Friends,
+but I had seen it all; it made me tremble, knowing
+of the readiness with which Dera Khan argued
+with his knife, like unto the manner of Pathans.</p>
+
+<p>"The Big Sahib would have struck my Master
+but for this same young Sahib who had now come
+with his offer of many rupees&mdash;this Sahib who had
+been there at that time. So, Comrades, there was
+<i>good</i> hate for the sick man in Dera's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"'Will you send the Camel?' said the young
+Sahib; and Dera, drawing himself up straight, even
+as I do under a heavy load, held out his hand and
+said, 'Allah! thou art a Man. My goods are your
+goods, but for the other, the one who is your friend
+and my enemy, the wrath of Allah upon him.'</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The Sahib was on my back in a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I have said before that with the Baboo and
+many kettles on my back I ran fast, but think
+you, Comrades, of the weight, and also of the poor
+rider, for there is nothing an Unt dislikes so much
+as the knock, knock, against his hump of one having
+no knowledge of proper pace. How the Sahib sat!
+Close as a pad that had been tied on; and he coaxed
+and urged&mdash;even swore a little at times, but not
+after an unreasoning manner as had the Baboo.
+He called me a Bikaneer, even his Dromedary,
+which means one of great speed; and begged me,
+if I wished food for all time, to hasten. How we
+fled in the long night, down the hot paths, splashing
+many times through the cool water that crossed
+our path&mdash;Bolan River, it is called, the water that
+comes from the high-reaching sand lands that are
+all white on their tops."</p>
+
+<p>"The snow mountains," explained Sa'-zada, for
+Camel's description was more or less vague.</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said," continued Camel, "the water
+was cool. Never once did I fall, though the round
+stones were like evil things that twist at one's feet
+to bring him down. 'Hurry, hurry, hurry!' the
+young Sahib called to me, and I laughed, thinking
+he would tire before I should.</p>
+
+<p>"On we went, passing little fires where those of
+the Cooly kind rested as they fled from the Black
+Death. Just as we came out on the flat sand which
+is the Sibi Desert, there were gathered in one place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+many Men. For a space we stopped, and
+my Rider asked if there was a Healer with
+them. They answered that they were Men of the
+war-kind going up to keep the workers from
+running away from the Black Death; even
+those at the little fires would be turned back, they
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then on again I raced. I could hear my Rider
+talking back to his friend, the Burra-Sahib, who
+lay stricken with the evil sickness, though I know
+not how he could hear him, for we were full half
+way to Sibi.</p>
+
+<p>"'Keep up your courage, Jack,' he would say,
+speaking to his Friend. 'Please God, I'll have a
+Surgeon there in time to save you yet.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then he would fall to abusing some other of
+the Men-kind, perhaps he was not a friend, whom
+he blamed for all that was wrong. 'You puffed-up
+beast,' he would say, speaking to this other, 'to
+send a lot of Men to such a death hole with a brute
+of a Bengali-Baboo to doctor them&mdash;murder them,
+and a medicine chest that was emptied in a day.
+It's a bit of luck that Baboo died, but it doesn't
+help matters much.'</p>
+
+<p>"That was the Baboo I had run away with; perhaps
+even the medicine chest had lost much through
+its fall from my back.</p>
+
+<p>"Then to me, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry! Shabaz!'
+(push on); then to his Friend, 'Poor old Man,
+Jack! what will <i>She</i> say if I don't pull you out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+this? I'll never go back to England as long as I
+live if this beastly thing snuffs you out.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then to the other, the one who had done this
+evil: 'Curse you, with your red tape economy!
+You're a C. I. E.'&mdash;whatever that meant I don't
+know&mdash;'but you've murdered old Jack, who is a
+Man. You're out of this trouble up at Simla, but
+you'll roast for this yet.'</p>
+
+<p>"You know, Comrades," said Unt, plaintively,
+"I didn't know all about this thing&mdash;I couldn't understand
+it, you see, being an Unt, and, as Magh
+says, stupid; but someway I felt like doing my best
+for the young Sahib who did not make me cross by
+beating me, but only cried 'Hurry! Shabaz! my
+swift runner,' and shook a little at the nose line in
+his haste."</p>
+
+<p>"I have often felt that way," encouraged Hathi;
+"once I remember, it was in Rangoon, that time I
+was working in the timber yards. I had a Mahout
+who never stuck the sharp iron goad in my head at
+all. He always told me everything I was to do by
+different little knocks on my ears with his knees
+as he sat on my neck. And also by soft speech, of
+course, for, as you say, Unt, it keeps one from getting
+cross, or filled with fear, and so one has only
+to think of what the Master requires. You were
+right to run fast with such a rider."</p>
+
+<p>"This is Camel's story," pleaded Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 401px;">
+<a name="i_166" id="i_166"></a>
+<img src="images/i_166.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;BUT SOME WAY I FELT LIKE DOING MY BEST.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Never mind," bubbled Unt; "I was just trying
+to remember what time we got to Sibi&mdash;I know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+it was before the sands grew hot from the sun.
+Straight to the <i>Teshil</i> (Government office) the
+young Sahib rode me. Here he made an orderly
+bring me food and drink while he went quick to
+bring a Healer for his Friend. I had scarce time to
+store half the <i>raji</i> away for future cud-chewing,
+when back he came with a Healer of the White
+Kind.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, the <i>Teshildar</i>, who was Chief of Sibi, was
+a slow-motioned Man, not given to hurry; that was
+because the hump on his stomach was large with
+the fat of great eating; and when the Sahib asked
+for another Unt to carry the Healer, this Man who
+was Chief made no haste&mdash;not at first; but when
+the young Sahib, no doubt thinking of his friend
+Jack, threatened him with the wrath of the Governor,
+also the smaller anger of his own fists, the
+<i>Teshildar</i> had an Unt of great speed quickly
+brought forth. Then the young Sahib, speaking to
+me, said, 'My heavy-eyed Friend, also one of much
+strength, can you go straight back the sixty miles?'</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, at that time I couldn't speak in his
+words, though I could understand, so I just shook
+myself, and stretched out my long hind legs, as
+much as to say, 'Mount to my back, and I will try.'</p>
+
+<p>"We started, the Healer on the other Unt, and
+the Sahib on my back. I shall never forget that
+ride. Sore legs! but at first it was not easy to keep
+up with my Comrade, who was fresh; but also was
+he a trifle like the <i>Teshildar</i>, fat in the hump, so in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+the end that had its effect, and I managed to keep
+pace with him.</p>
+
+<p>"We reached back in the Bolan just as the sun
+was straight over our heads. By the <i>raji</i> that was
+still in my gullet I was tired; so was the young
+Sahib, for when I knelt down, and he slipped
+quickly from my back, he spun round and round
+like a box that has broken loose, and came to the
+ground in haste. Just as he fell, Dera Khan
+caught him, and lifted him up; then he and the
+Healer went to the tent where was his friend Jack.
+And I heard my Master, Dera, say afterward, that
+the little Sahib never slept while it was twice dark
+and twice light; that was until the Healer said the
+stricken one, Jack, the Burra-Sahib, was again free
+of the Black Death."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is a true tale," remarked Adjutant,
+putting down his left leg and taking up his right.
+"I have seen much of this Black Death in my forty
+years of life, and the Men of the White-kind take
+great care of each other. Now, those of the Black-kind
+get the Man-fear which Hathi has spoken of,
+in their eyes, and flee fast from this terrible sickness,
+crying aloud that their livers have turned to
+water. I, myself, though I am a bird of little
+speech, could tell tales of both methods."</p>
+
+<p>"But what became of you, Unt?" queried
+Magh; "did you catch this sickness and die?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Camel, solemnly, not noticing the
+sarcasm; "the little Sahib took me from Dera Khan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+by a present of silver, and kept me to ride on, and
+in the end I was sent here to Sa'-zada."</p>
+
+<p>"It's bed-time," broke in the Keeper; "let each
+one go quickly to his cage or corral."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Tenth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of Big Tusk, the Wild Boar</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 408px;">
+<img src="images/i_10th_nite_1.jpg" width="408" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 439px;">
+<img src="images/i_10th_nite_2.jpg" width="439" height="400" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="TENTH_NIGHT" id="TENTH_NIGHT"></a><big>TENTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF BIG TUSK, THE WILD BOAR</h2>
+
+
+<p>'Twas the tenth night of what might be
+called the Sa'-zada convention, and Black
+Panther was making the iron bars of his cage jingle
+in their sockets with his full-voiced roar. Shoulders
+spread, and head low to the floor, his white fangs
+showing, he called "Waugh, waugh! Waw-houk!
+Come, Comrades. Ganesh, One-tusked Lord of the
+Jungles, Muskwa and Mooswa; you, Sher Abi,
+eater of Water-men; even little Magh; come all of
+you and listen to the lies of a Swine." Then he
+laughed: "Che-hough, che-hough! the lying tales
+of Jungli Soor."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh, ugh!" grunted Grey Boar, angrily, as
+he slipped up the graveled walk to the front
+of Leopard's cage. "In my land there is a
+saying of the Men-kind, that 'A lie can hide
+like a Panther; if it be a bad lie, that it is as
+difficult to come face to face with as Black Panther.'"</p>
+
+<p>By this time the animals had all gathered, and
+Sa'-zada opening The Book, spoke:</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This is Wild Boar's night. I am sure he will
+tell us something interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"A lie is often amusing," declared Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"That may be so," retorted Boar, "for even Sa'-zada
+has said that you are the funniest Animal in
+the Park."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should we listen to Soor's squeaky
+tales?" snarled Bagh; "when he gets excited his
+voice puts me on edge."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," interrupted Sa'-zada, "these meetings
+are so that each animal may have a chance to tell
+us what good there is in him."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why should Soor waste our time?"
+queried Magh. "Even he will know no good of
+himself."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about that," answered Sa'-zada.
+"I think every animal is for some good purpose,
+and we can tell better after we have heard Boar's
+story."</p>
+
+<p>"Here are two of us, O Sa'-zada," said Grey
+Boar. "I, who am from Burma, know of the way
+of my kind in that land, and Big Tusk, who is also
+here, being my Comrade, is from Nagpore, in
+India, and can tell you how we are persecuted in
+the North. If I am all bad, can anyone say why
+it is? I am not an eater of Bhainsa, Men's Buffalo,
+like Bagh and Pardus; neither am I, nor any of my
+Kind, known as Man-killers. Even in Hathi's
+family have there been Man-killers&mdash;the Rogue
+Hathi."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But it is said in the Jungles that you sometimes
+kill <i>Bakri</i>, the Men's Sheep," declared Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"All a lie!" answered Grey Boar. "We are
+not animals of the Kill; neither do we wreck the
+villages of the Men, as does Hathi, nor drive the
+rice-growers from their lands&mdash;lest they be eaten&mdash;as
+do Bagh and Pardus."</p>
+
+<p>"But you eat their jowari and rice," asserted
+Panther.</p>
+
+<p>"A little of it at times, perhaps, but only a little.
+Our food is of the Jungles, and how are we to know
+just what has been grown by the Men, and what
+has grown of itself? And in my land, which was
+Aracan in Burma, but for me and my people the
+Men could not live."</p>
+
+<p>"In what manner, O Benefactor of the Oppressed?"
+asked Magh, mockingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Because of Python, and Cobra, and Karait, and
+Deboia, and the other small Dealers of Death,"
+answered Grey Boar, sturdily. "We roam the
+Jungles, and when these Snakes, that are surely
+evil, rise in our paths, we trample them, and tear
+them with our tusks&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And eat them, I know, cha-hau, cha-hau!"
+laughed Hyena, smacking his watering lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," affirmed Grey Boar. "Are not we, alone,
+of all Animals for this work? When Cobra strikes,
+and fetches home, does not even Hathi, or Arna,
+or mighty Raj Bagh, die quickly? But not so with
+us. I can turn my cheek, thus, to King Cobra,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+(and he held his big grizzled head sideways), and
+when I feel the soft pat of his cold nose against my
+fat jaw, I seize him by the neck, and in a minute
+one of the worst enemies of Man is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"What says King Cobra, then&mdash;Cobra and the
+others&mdash;crawling destroyers?" asked Magh, maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Boar's story," interrupted Mooswa, seeing
+that Sa'-zada looked angry at the interruption.</p>
+
+<p>"As I was saying," continued Grey Boar, "Cobra
+and his cousins kill more of the Men-kind, many
+times over, than all the other Jungle Dwellers put
+together. Think of that, Comrades&mdash;even when
+we are searching the Jungles on every side for these
+evil Poisoners; so if it were not for us, what would
+become of the Men? Yet in a hot time of little
+Jungle food, if we but eat a small share from their
+fields, the Men revile us. Also, there is cause for
+fear at times in this labor that is ours. Once I remember
+I had a tight squeeze&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Going through a fence into a jowari field, I
+suppose," prompted Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not have my tail cut off for stealing cocoa-nuts,"
+sneered Grey Boar. "The tight squeeze was
+from Python; and do you know that to this day
+I am half a head longer than I was before our slim
+Friend twisted about my body. But I got his head
+in my strong jaws just as I was near dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you would not have managed it if he
+had not squeezed you out long," said Pardus.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What I say," continued Boar, "is, that we are
+not the Evil Kind that is in the mouth of everyone.
+Cobra crawls into the houses of the Men, and for
+fear of their evil Gods they feed him; and one
+day in anger he strikes to Kill. That is surely
+wrong. But we live in houses of our own make."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly that is a lie," interrupted Magh.
+"Thou art a wanderer in the Jungle, a dweller in
+caves, even as Pard the Panther."</p>
+
+<p>"You are wrong, Little One," declared Hathi,
+"for I have seen Boar's house. It's a sort of grass
+hauda."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," affirmed Wild Boar; "it is all of my own
+making, and of grass, to be sure. For days and
+days at a time, I do nothing but cut the strong elephant
+grass, and the big ferns, and the sweet bowlchie,
+and pile it up into a house. Then I burrow
+under it, and the rain beats it down over my back,
+and soon I have a nice, clean, waterproof nest. I
+am not a homeless vagabond like Magh and her
+wandering tribe&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And that's just it," broke in Big Tusk, the
+Nagpore Boar. "We, who are quiet and orderly
+in our manner of life, living in houses of our own
+building, as Grey Boar has said, are hunted and
+killed by the White-faced ones as a matter of sport.
+What think you of that, Sa'-zada&mdash;killed just for
+our tusks&mdash;for a pair of teeth?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is likewise so with me, my narrow-faced
+Brother," whispered Hathi. "Many of my kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+are slain for their tusks; I, who have lived amongst
+the Men, know that."</p>
+
+<p>Continued Big Tusk: "Yes, this is so; I have
+been in many a run in the corries of Nagpore. You
+see, I learned the game from my Mother when I
+was but a 'Squeaker,' for be it to the credit of the
+White ones, they kill not the Sows with their sharp
+spears."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that pig-sticking?" asked Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"It was," declared Big Tusk; "and my Mother,
+who was in charge of a Sounder of at least thirty
+Pigs, knew all about this game. We'd be feeding
+in the sweet bowlchie grass, or in a <i>thur khet</i>, when
+suddenly I'd hear her say, 'Waugh! Ung-h-gh!'
+which meant, 'Danger! lie low.' Then, watching,
+we'd see those of the Black-kind here, and there,
+and all over, with flags in their hands to drive the
+Pigs certain ways, and to show the Sahibs which
+way we went. Mother would always make us lie
+still until the very last minute; but almost always,
+sooner or later, the Sahibs would come galloping
+on their horses right in amongst us. 'Ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh!'
+Mother would call to us, and this meant,
+'Run for it, but keep to cover'; and away we'd go,
+from <i>sun khet</i> to <i>dol</i> field, and then into <i>shur</i> grass,
+from Sirsee Bund to Hirdee Bund, or into the tall,
+thick bowlchie. Now the trouble was this way:
+Mother was so big and strong that the Sahibs on
+their ponies always galloped after, thinking her a
+Boar. Even the Black Men with the flags would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+cry, '<i>Hong! Hong! Burra dant wallah!</i>' which
+means in their speech, 'A Boar of big tusks.'
+Many a time I've heard Mother chuckle over the
+run she'd given the Horsemen, for we'd lie up in
+the grass, and listen to the White-faced ones, the
+Sahibs, curse the Black Men most heartily for their
+foolishness in calling Mother a big-tusked Boar.
+It was all done to save the Tuskers, for while the
+Sahibs were chasing Mother, many an old chap
+has saved having a spear thrust through him by
+clearing off to some other <i>bund</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"You did have a good schooling," remarked
+Gidar, the Jackal. "But did the Sahibs never spear
+any of your young Brothers?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; as I have said, it was only a big-tusked
+one they cared for. But to me it seemed such a
+cruel thing, even when I was young; killing us with
+the sharp spears&mdash;for, more than once I've heard
+the scream of a Boar as he was stabbed to death."</p>
+
+<p>"But what were you doing in the <i>dol</i> grass, you
+and your big Mother?" asked Bagh. "Were not
+you eating the grain of the poor villagers? I remember
+in my time, when I was a free Lord of the
+Jungles, that a poor old <i>ryot</i> (farmer) had a little
+field&mdash;a new field it was&mdash;just in the edge of the
+Jungle. I also remember it was <i>raji</i> he grew in it,
+and he prayed to me as though I were one of his
+Hindoo Gods, asking me to keep close watch over
+his field, and to kill all the Pigs, and the Chital,
+and Black Buck that might come there to destroy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+his <i>raji</i>. Even, to give me a liking for the place,
+that I might mark it down in my line of hunt, he
+tied an old Cow there for my first Kill. I was the
+making of that Man," declared Bagh, sitting down
+and smoothing his big coarse mustache with his
+velvet paw&mdash;"the making of him, for he had a
+splendid crop of <i>raji</i>, and I, why I must have killed
+a dozen Pigs in and about his field."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear me!" cried Magh. "Sugared peanuts!
+Every Jungle Dweller is growing into a
+benefactor of the Men; even Pig is a much abused,
+innocent chap; and here's Bagh a protector of the
+poor <i>ryot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"But what were you doing in the <i>dol</i> field,
+Grunter?" queried Cobra; "that's what Bagh
+wants to know."</p>
+
+<p>"Looking for Snakes," answered Boar, sulkily.
+"But what if we did eat a trifle of the grain; was
+that excuse for the Sahibs killing us? With their
+Horses did they not beat down and destroy more
+than we did? And have not the people of the land,
+the Black-kind, taken more from us in the way of
+food than we ever did from their fields? Many a
+time have they been saved from starvation by the
+meat of my tribe. And yet, through it all, we get
+nothing but a bad name, and that just because we
+stick up for our rights. Bagh talks about keeping
+us from the Man's field; that is just like him&mdash;it
+is either a false tale or he ate 'Squeakers'&mdash;little
+Pigs that couldn't protect themselves. Would he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+tackle Me? Not a bit of it! If he did I'd soon
+put different colored stripes on his jacket&mdash;red
+stripes. He's a big, sneaking coward, that's what
+Bagh is. Why, I've seen him sitting with his back
+against a rock, afraid to move, while six Jungle
+Dogs snapped at his very nose&mdash;waiting for him
+to get up that they might fight him from all sides.
+Ugh, ugh! a fine Lord of the Jungle! a sneak, to
+eat little Pigs!</p>
+
+<p>"But I did more than keep a <i>raji</i> field for a poor
+villager; I saved his life, and from Bagh, too. I
+don't know that he had ever given me to eat willingly,
+or even made <i>pooja</i> to me, but I was coming
+up out of his <i>thur</i> field one evening, and he was
+fair in my path, with one of those foolish ringed
+sticks in his hand. 'Ugh!' I said, meaning, 'Get
+out of the way,' but he only stood there.</p>
+
+<p>"This made me cross, and I thought he was disputing
+the road with me, for I am not like Bagh,
+the Lord of the Jungle, who slinks to one side.
+Then I spoke again to the man, 'Ugh, ugh,
+wungh!' meaning that I was about to charge. All
+the time I was coming closer to him on the path.
+Then I saw what it was; my friend, Stripes the
+Tiger, was crouched just beyond the Man, lashing
+the grass with his long, silly tail.</p>
+
+<p>"Now as I had made up my mind to charge
+something that was in my path, and as the sight
+of Bagh in his evil temper drew my anger toward
+him, I drove full at his yellow throat. Just one rip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+of my tusks, and with a howl like a starved Jackal
+he cleared for the Jungle. He meant to eat that
+Man, you see."</p>
+
+<p>"Now we are getting at the truth of the matter,"
+cried Magh, gleefully. "When these Jungle
+thieves fall out, we get to know them fairly well."</p>
+
+<p>"But tell us more of this hunting of your kind
+with the spears, O brother of the Big Tusks,"
+pleaded Hathi. "It does seem an unjust thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued the Seoni Boar, "as I have
+said, while in my Mother's keeping, she taught
+me much of the ways of the Boar Hunters. Many
+a run from the Spear Men I've been in. But while
+I was small, and had not tusks, of course I was
+allowed to go, even when they came full upon the
+top of us; but in a few years my tusks grew, and
+each run became harder and more difficult to get
+away from. Besides, early in the Cold Time, at
+the time the Men call Christmas, we Boars all went
+off by ourselves, and left the Sows and Squeakers
+in peace; and, while I think of it, I've no doubt it
+was at this time that Bagh killed so many of my
+people in the <i>raji</i> fields. Had there been a big
+Tusker or two there, Tiger would have been busy
+looking for Chital or Sambhur.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, through being away from my Mother
+this way, and mixing with the other Boars, I got to
+be quite capable of taking care of myself; and, as
+I lived year after year, finally the Black Men, Ugh!
+also the White-faced ones, gave to me the name<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+of the Seoni Boar. So, with the more knowledge
+I gained with my years of being, the more I required
+it, for the closer they hunted me.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_182" id="i_182"></a>
+<img src="images/i_182.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT BAGH KILLED SO MANY OF MY PEOPLE.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Strange how it is that every Jungle Dweller's
+hand is against the Pig. I declare here, before all
+you Comrades, that more than once I have been
+lying dog-oh, close hid in the <i>bowlchie</i>, when a
+screech-voiced Peacock has commenced to cry, 'Aih-ou,
+aih-ou!' as plain as you like, 'Here he is, here
+he is!' and down on my heels would come the Spear
+Men on their rushing Ponies. But I soon learned
+to take to the Scrub-Jungle, knowing that the ponies
+would not follow me. But even there in the Jungle
+I've been hunted by the Black-kind; and then it
+was the same way, enemies afoot, and enemies overhead.
+Langur, a fool-cousin of Magh's there,
+many a time has betrayed my hiding-place to the
+hunt Man. 'Che-che-che, wow, wow!' over my
+head the silly thieves would chatter and well the
+Huntsmen would know that I had gone that way.</p>
+
+<p>"Once when I was started out of the Seoni Bund,
+and was making with full speed through the <i>dol
+khet</i>, a meddlesome white Dog came chasing after
+me, snapping at my heels, and crying, 'Bah, ki-yi,
+bah, ki-yi!' Well I knew that as long as that noise
+kept up, I might as well be running out in the open
+in full view, so I checked my pace a little, and the
+Dog, with more pluck than good sense, laid me by
+the ear. With one rip of my tusk sideways, I cast
+him open from end to end. But such matters take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+some time, and check one when the run is close, and
+before I could take to cover again, a Pony was fair
+on top of me.</p>
+
+<p>"I jinked, as only a Boar who has been in many
+a run knows how. My jink was so sudden that the
+rider, seeking to spear me under his Pony's neck,
+came a full cropper in the black cotton-earth.
+Ugh-huh-huh! it makes me laugh now when I think
+of it. Of course I hadn't time to laugh then, for I
+had no sooner jinked clear of his spear than I saw
+coming up on the other side, the longest one of the
+Men-kind that was ever in the Jungle, and what
+with his spear he seemed like a tree. At once I
+remembered what my Mother had told me to do if
+ever a Spear-hunter got full on top of me. 'Into
+the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said; 'that's
+your only hope.' I must say that I charged Bagh
+that other time with greater joy than I slashed into
+that long Sahib's Pony.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, the Hunter thought I was going to
+run for it, so when I jinked short about and ripped
+his Pony's foreleg the full length of my nose, he
+was taken quite off his guard.</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed as though part of the Jungle had
+fallen on me, for Pony and Huntman came down
+like ripe fruit off the Mowha tree. I got one rip
+at the Man's leg, and thought I'd made a fine cut,
+but I learned afterward, after they'd caught me,
+of course, that it was his boot-leg I had
+ripped&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;">
+<a name="i_184" id="i_184"></a>
+<img src="images/i_184.jpg" width="405" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;INTO THE HORSE&#39;S LEGS,&#39; THE OLD DAME HAD SAID.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Oh, Sa'-zada, I believe the Seoni Boar is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+best liar we've struck yet," said Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," declared the Keeper, "this tale of the
+pig-sticking is a true tale, for it is written in The
+Book."</p>
+
+<p>"I only tell that which is true," declared Big
+Tusk, the Seoni Boar. "And before I had got to
+the Scrub-Jungle, I had a spear driven into my
+shoulder from another Sahib, but I put my teeth
+through the giver's foot as I knocked his pony over
+from the side. It was a rare fight that day, but
+I got away at last."</p>
+
+<p>"How were you caught?" queried Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that was long afterwards, and happened
+because of Bagh's evil ways. The Huntman had
+spread a big net in the Jungle to take Bagh, who
+had slain a Woman; and in the drive, not knowing
+of this evil thing, I came full into the net, and got
+so tangled up that I could not move. When the
+White Hunter saw that it was I, the Seoni Boar,
+he said, 'Let us take him alive, for he has given us
+mighty sport and fought well.' So they made a
+cage and I was forced into it from the net."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all?" asked Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued the Orang-Outang, "from
+your own account you appear to be a very fine fellow.
+I can't understand why all the Jungle Dwellers,
+even the Men-kind, connect your name with
+everything that's evil. I doubt if one of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+could speak as well for himself, were he allowed
+to tell his own story."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said before," commented Sa'-zada,
+"it's hardly fair to give an animal a bad name
+without knowing all about him, and Boar's stories
+have all been true, I know. But it's late now, so
+each one away to his cage or corral, and sleep."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Eleventh Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Stories of Oohoo, the Wolf,<br />
+and Sher Abi, the Crocodile</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 377px;">
+<img src="images/i_11th_nite_1.jpg" width="377" height="450" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/i_11th_nite_2.jpg" width="600" height="241" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="ELEVENTH_NIGHT" id="ELEVENTH_NIGHT"></a><big>ELEVENTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORIES OF OOHOO, THE WOLF,<br />
+AND SHER ABI, THE CROCODILE</h2>
+
+
+<p>"To-night," said Sa'-zada, the Keeper,
+"we shall have a story from White
+Wolf of his home in the frozen North, and also
+one from Sher Abi, the Crocodile, of the warm
+land in which he lived, Burma."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad there is to be a tale of the North-land,"
+said Mooswa, "for it's a lovely place."</p>
+
+<p>"And Sher Abi is so stupid," added Magh the
+Orang, "that he's sure to fall to boasting of some
+of his murders."</p>
+
+<p>"There's little to choose between them in that
+respect," commented Muskwa, "except that for
+cunning there is no one but Carcajou of the same
+wit as Wolf."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Comrade," cried Oohoo, the Arctic
+Wolf; "those of my land who are short of wit go
+with a lean stomach, I can tell you. But yet it is
+just the sweetest place that any poor animal ever
+lived in."</p>
+
+<p>"It is," concurred Mooswa; "forests of green
+Spruce trees&mdash;&mdash;"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not so, Brother Tangle-leg," objected Oohoo;
+"true I have been within the Timber Boundaries,
+but that was far to the south of my home. I remember,
+once upon a time, thinking to better my
+condition, for it was a year of scarce Caribou; I
+trailed down past Great Slave Lake to the home
+of my cousin, Blue Wolf, who was Pack Leader of
+the Timber Wolves. Ghurrh-h! but they led a
+busy life. Almost day and night they were on the
+hunt, for their kill was small; a Grey Rabbit, or
+a Grouse, or a Marten&mdash;a mere mouthful for a
+full-hungered Wolf.</p>
+
+<p>"But in the Northland where one could travel
+for days and days over the white snow and the hunt
+meant a free run with no chance of cover for the
+prey, it was all a matter of strength and speed.
+Leopard has boasted of the merit of his spotted
+coat for hiding in the sun-splashed Jungle; and
+also Bagh has told how the stripes on his sides hide
+him in the strong grass. But look at me, my Comrades&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You are pretty," sneered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am dirty brown," resumed Oohoo, paying
+no attention to the taunt, "and what does that
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"That you are dirty and a Wolf," answered
+Magh, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"It shows that I live in a dirty brown place,"
+asserted Wolf. "We are all dirty brown here."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not," objected Python.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<a name="i_190" id="i_190"></a>
+<img src="images/i_190.jpg" width="600" height="403" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;ONE COULD TRAVEL FOR DAYS OVER THE WHITE SNOW.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You would be if you didn't lie in the water all
+day; but, as I was going to say, in that land of snow
+I was all white, and, by my cunning, with a careful
+stalk I always got within a running distance of&mdash;of&mdash;I
+mean anything I wanted to look at closely,
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>"A Babe Caribou, I suppose," grunted Muskwa;
+"just to see how he was coming on. Have I not
+said that he has the cunning of a great thief?"
+Bear whispered to Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"But if he talks much the truth will come out,"
+answered the Elephant.</p>
+
+<p>"There were just three of us Plain Dwellers in
+all that great Barren Land," proceeded Oohoo;
+"my kind, and Caribou, and Musk-Ox."</p>
+
+<p>"Eu-yah! the Musk-Ox are cousins of mine," remarked
+Bison. "Queer taste they have to live in
+that terrible land of rock and snow. What do they
+eat, Oohoo? Surely the sweet Buffalo Grass does
+not grow there?"</p>
+
+<p>"They do not mind the cold," answered Wolf;
+"they have the loveliest long black hair you ever
+saw on any Animal. And under that again is the
+soft grey fur&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," interrupted Sa'-zada to explain, "the
+Musk-Ox seems to have hair, and fur, and wool all
+on one pelt&mdash;much like a Sheep, and a Goat, and
+a Bison combined."</p>
+
+<p>"And as for eating," resumed Oohoo, the Wolf,
+"the rocks are thickly covered with moss&mdash;&mdash;"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Engh-h-h! what a diet!" grunted Bison. "But
+you know of their manner of life, Brother Wolf&mdash;you
+must have paid much attention to their ways.
+Now in my land when Wolves came too close we
+gathered our Calves in the center of the herd&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A most wise precaution," asserted Mooswa.
+"In the Calf time with us the moan of the Wolf
+pack caused us to make ready for battle; the Grey
+Runners seemed always in the way of a great hunger."</p>
+
+<p>"And what of grass-eating for those cousins of
+mine, the Caribou&mdash;what ate they?" sharply demanded
+Elk.</p>
+
+<p>"Caribou have this manner of life," answered
+Oohoo. "Just at the end of the great Cold Time
+all the Mothers go far into the Northland, for that
+is the Calf time with them; and by the shores of
+the great Northland water their Babe Caribou come
+forth in peace. And for food the Mothers eat moss,
+even as Musk-Ox does, for there is nothing else.
+Near to the coming of the Cold Time again the
+Mothers come back with their Calves, and the
+Bulls, who have been in the Southland, meet them."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you eat moss, Oohoo, the Wolf?" queried
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I a Grass-feeder? Did I eat my straw
+bedding and become ill, like a wide-mouthed
+Monkey that I know of?"</p>
+
+<p>"But have you not said, Brother Wolf, that in
+the Northland Musk-Ox and Caribou eat moss because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+there is nothing else? Then what manner of
+food do you find?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ghurr-r-h! Eh, what?" gasped Oohoo, feeling
+that Magh had laid bare his mode of life.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I different from the others?" he snarled,
+seeing a broad grin hovering about the mouth of
+even Sher Abi, the Crocodile. "Because I am a
+Wolf, is there a law in the Boundaries that I shall
+not eat? Bagh, and Pardus, and Python, and Sher
+Abi, they are the Blood Kind, and do they eat moss
+or grass? Boar has said that all the evil of the
+Jungle is fastened upon the Pig, and in my land it
+is the Wolf that is wicked. This has been said by
+the Man, but are they not worse than we are?
+When the hunger, which is not of my desire, comes
+strong upon me, I go forth to seek food. I kill not
+Man; but if Caribou comes my way, and that which
+is inside of me says to make a kill, shall I do so,
+or lie down and die because of hunger? If a Wolf
+makes a kill, and feasts until his hunger is dead,
+and lies down to sleep, and kills no more until he is
+again hungered, it is all wrong, and evil words are
+spoken of him. But the Men kill, and kill, never
+stopping to eat, showing that it is not because of
+hunger&mdash;they kill until there is no living thing left;
+then they boast together of the slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen this happening at Fond du Lac,
+which is a narrow crossing between two lakes in
+my own land. There the Caribou pass when they
+go to the Northland; and I have seen the Redmen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+killing these Moss-eaters as they swam from land
+to land&mdash;killing them beyond all count. In the
+Northland the Caribou were even as Buffalo on the
+Plains, they were that many; and they came like a
+running river to the crossing at Fond du Lac. The
+Men-kind were hidden behind stones, and when the
+Caribou were in the water these Red Slayers followed
+in canoes, and killed with their spears, and
+their knives, and their guns, until everything was
+red with blood. Not that they needed the sweet
+flesh because of hunger, for from many they took
+out the tongue, and left all the rest to rot. We,
+who are Wolves, and of evil repute, are not so bad
+as the Men, I think.</p>
+
+<p>"And also the killing of the Musk-Ox is by the
+Redmen," declared Oohoo.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid we must believe that," muttered
+Magh, "for Musk-Ox is not here, and it is a long
+way to the Northland for proof."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither here nor in any other animal city are
+there Musk-Ox," explained Sa'-zada; "for none
+have been brought out alive."</p>
+
+<p>"None!" added Wolf solemnly. "The Redmen
+say that if any are taken alive the others will
+all pass to some other land as did Buffalo. Not but
+that one of the White Men tried it once; but there
+is also a story of Head-taking I could tell."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell it," snapped Pardus; "one lie is as good as
+another when told of a distant Jungle."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I remember that year," began Oohoo.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+"It was colder than any other time that I have
+memory of. We had gathered into a mighty Pack,
+Comrades; all white we were&mdash;all but our Leader,
+who was Black Wolf. And such hunger! E-u-uh,
+au-uh! I was almost blind because of the hunger
+pains.</p>
+
+<p>"The Caribou that should have passed did not
+come; why, I cannot say, for it was their time of
+the year, the ending of the Cold Time."</p>
+
+<p>"Were there no Musk-Ox?" insinuated
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"A Wolf can make few kills of Musk-Ox," explained
+Oohoo, unguardedly; "that is&mdash;I mean&mdash;a
+bad Wolf who might seek a Kill of that sort. They
+are like Bison, or Arna, bunching up close in a pack
+with their big-horned heads all facing out; and even
+if the circle is broken, what then? their fur is so
+thick that it would take longer jaws than I have to
+cut a throat."</p>
+
+<p>"You've tried it, Oohoo," suggested Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I've heard of this matter," he answered.
+"But the story was this way. That time two White
+Men came to the Big Lake&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Artillery Lake, I think," explained Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"I know not, but it is a Big Water, and far
+north. And there they built a shack."</p>
+
+<p>"You were interested," remarked Muskwa.</p>
+
+<p>"There were cousins of ours, the Train Dogs,
+with them, so I sometimes went close for the chance
+of a chat&mdash;&mdash;"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The chance of a Pup, most likely," growled
+Gidar.</p>
+
+<p>"Then one Man, with two Redmen and the Dog
+Train, went north after Musk-Ox. Some of us
+followed, for we knew that where the Men were
+there would be much killing, and much eating left
+for those of a lean stomach. It might be that some
+of the Dogs would die of toil, and we were that
+hungry, that starved, that even a Huskie would be
+sweet eating.</p>
+
+<p>"As you know, Comrades, there is no timber
+grows in all that land beyond the Big Lake, so the
+Man carried a little wood in the Dog Sled to make
+hot his drinking&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Tea," suggested Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"Day after day he tramped to the North, not
+seeing anything to kill; and all the time we were
+getting hungrier and leaner of stomach. At night
+we would come close to the little tepee wherein the
+Hunter slept, and I fear that something would have
+happened to him if it had not been for the wisdom
+of our Leader, Black Wolf.</p>
+
+<p>"'Wait, Pack Comrades,' he would say, 'there
+will surely be a kill of many Musk-Ox. I know
+the way of the White Men&mdash;they come here but
+for the shedding of blood.'</p>
+
+<p>"But one night, being close to the edge of starvation,
+seeing one of the Huskies come forth from
+the tepee, not knowing what I did&mdash;Ghur-rh! I
+had him by the throat. Even now as I remember<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+it, perhaps it was another of the Pack that put his
+strong jaws on the Dog's gullet&mdash;yes, I think it was
+another.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ki, yi-i-i-i! E-e-eh!' he whined.</p>
+
+<p>"'Buh!' loud the Firestick barked as the White
+Man smote at the Pack with it.</p>
+
+<p>"After a manner there was some eating that
+night, what with the Huskie and three of our kind
+the Man slew with the Firestick."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannibal!" exclaimed Magh in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"It was to save our lives," exclaimed Oohoo.
+"At last the White Man came to a herd of Musk-Ox;
+but what think you of the temper Black Wolf
+had when he saw that the Men-kind were not for
+making a big Kill at all; just the matter of a Head
+or two to take back with them."</p>
+
+<p>"Queer taste, sure enough," cried Cockatoo.
+"Now, if it had been a head with a crest like
+mine&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Or even if it had been Magh's head," insinuated
+Pardus.</p>
+
+<p>"Eu-wh, eu-u-u-h! to think that a Pack of famished
+Wolves had trailed so far through the snow,
+holding back from a Kill of the Men-kind, and to
+get&mdash;nothing! True, the Men killed for their own
+eating and the Dogs', but what was that to a whole
+Pack? Buh-h-h! even now it makes me laugh when
+I think of the manner we tore down the tepee one
+night, for the Men had taken the eating inside to
+keep it from us.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"After that, having learned wisdom, they killed
+one of these fat creatures for us each day. Ghurrh!
+but a bite!</p>
+
+<p>"And from listening beside the tepee at night, I
+learned that the Redmen were angry because of
+the Head-taking. These Forest-Dwellers think,
+Comrades, that if they sell or give away the
+head of a Kill all their strength in the hunt will
+depart."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wondrous good thing to believe, too," declared
+Coyote. "Many an honest meal I've come
+by when I was woefully hungry through the matter
+of a head stuck on a pole, or stump, as a gift to
+Matchi-Manitou. I remember one particularly fat
+head of Muskwa&mdash;I mean&mdash;but you were saying,
+Brother Oohoo, a most interesting happening of
+the Musk-Ox when I interrupted you."</p>
+
+<p>"So, when the Redmen knew that it was heads
+their White Comrade was after, they were filled
+with anger, and a fear of the wrath of Manitou;
+they declared that something of an evil nature
+would happen to them if he took from that land
+the Heads. And, would you believe it, Comrades,
+whether there was truth in the power of this Head-matter
+or not, I am unable to say, being but Oohoo
+the Wolf, but two days from that time, as they
+journeyed back toward the Big Water, they fell in
+with a large Herd of the round-nosed Musk-Ox,
+and the Wind wrath came upon them. The Redmen,
+thinking to stop the taking of Heads, talked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+to the Moss-eaters in a loud voice, as though they
+were men, bidding them go far over the Barren
+Lands and tell all the other Musk-Ox to keep away,
+for here was a taker of Heads. But the White
+Man only laughed, and killed a Bull Leader who
+had a beautiful long black beard, swearing that
+such a Head was a prize indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Comrades, perhaps there is someone looking
+over the lives of Animals who has power with the
+Wind and the White Storm. Of this I know not,
+but it is a true tale that even as he cut the head
+from the dead Moss-eater, such a storm as had not
+been in the memory of any Dweller came with the
+full fury of a hungry Wolf Pack down upon that
+land. Like Pups of one litter all of us Wolves huddled
+together, pulling the cover of our tails over
+our noses to keep the heat in. We waited; and
+moved not that day, nor that night, nor the next
+day, nor the night after that again. Bitter as the
+storm was, I almost laughed at Black Wolf's
+lament. 'Now the men will be dead and lost to
+us when we might have had them,' he kept whimpering;
+'there will be no more killing of Musk-Ox,
+and we shall go hungry.'</p>
+
+<p>"As we crawled out when the storm ceased, our
+Leader went to where the snow was rounded up a
+little higher than the rest. 'Here is the Musk-Ox,'
+said Black Wolf; 'let us eat.'</p>
+
+<p>"I remember, as we dug at the snow there was a
+strong scent of Man. 'It is the Hunter dead, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+think,' Black Wolf said, poking his nose down into
+the snow.</p>
+
+<p>"But all at once, 'Buh!' came a hoarse call from
+the Firestick, and Black Wolf, our Leader,
+'E-e-he-uh!' fell over backward, dead. Then I
+knew what it was. The Huntman had cut open
+the Musk-Ox, and crawling inside, had kept his life
+warm through the fierce storm. But the Redmen
+had gone. Whether they had died because of the
+storm, or trailed away because of the Head-taking,
+I know not; but there they were not. Close curled
+against the Musk-Ox had lain the Hunter's three
+Dogs, and they, too, were alive.</p>
+
+<p>"Then commenced such a trail of a Man, Comrades,
+as I, Wolf though I am, never wish to see
+again. E-u-uh! eu-u-uh! but it was dreadful, for in
+his face there was the Fear Look that Hathi has
+spoken of. Night and day it was there, I think,
+for he dared not sleep as he hurried back toward
+the Big Water. Being without a Leader, we were
+like a lot of Monkeys, fighting and jangling
+amongst ourselves. Some were for killing him, but
+others said, 'Wait, surely he will make a kill of
+Musk-Ox again, and then we shall have eating&mdash;what
+is one Man to a Wolf Pack in the way of
+food?'</p>
+
+<p>"That day, coming up with a Herd, he shot two
+of the Moss-eaters, and, as we ate of them, he
+trailed to the South; but that availed him little,
+Comrades, for the swing of a Wolf's going is like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+the run of a river; and when he camped that night
+we also camped there. And the next day, and the
+next, it was the same; the Huntman pushing on
+with tiring walk striving for his life, and, behind
+the Pack&mdash;some howling for a Kill of the Man,
+and some fighting to save him that we might have
+greater eating.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the last day before we came to the Big
+Water. That day, being full famished, for we had
+passed the land of the Musk-Ox&mdash;though to be sure
+he had killed two Caribou for us&mdash;we ate his Dogs,
+and he was fleeing on foot.</p>
+
+<p>"I must say, Comrades, though I lay no claim to
+a sweet nature, yet I wished not to make a Kill of
+the Man. But five times, as I remember it, some
+of the Pack, eager for his life, closed in on him;
+and five times with the Firestick he slew many of
+my Wolf Brethren. Comrades, he made a brave
+fight to reach the shack."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a terrible tale," cried Magh, excitedly.
+"Did he reach the shack alive, Oohoo?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but would you believe it, Comrades, the
+White Man who had been left behind, through
+being alone and through drinking much Firewater,
+had become mad, even as I have seen a Wolf in the
+time of great heat; and he knew not his Comrade,
+the Huntman, but called through the closed door,
+'Go away, go away!'</p>
+
+<p>"'I am Jack,' called the Huntman.</p>
+
+<p>"'Jack is dead!' yelped the Man who was mad.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+'He is dead out in the strong storm, and you are an
+evil spirit&mdash;go away! go away!'</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hathi, it was dreadful, dreadful.</p>
+
+<p>"'Let me in, Tom; I am Jack,' pleaded the
+Huntman who had come so far through the snow;
+and, just beyond, we of the Wolf Pack waited,
+waited, waited.</p>
+
+<p>"Sa'-zada, the cry of the lone Wolf is not so
+dreadful as the yelpings of the Man who was mad.
+Even we of the Wolf Pack moved back a little
+when he called with a fierce voice. And he always
+answered: 'Go away! You are an evil spirit. Jack
+is dead! But I did not kill him&mdash;Go away!' And,
+Sa'-zada, though it is dreadful, yet it is true, he
+struck with his Firestick full through the door, and
+killed the Man who was Jack. And in the end he,
+too, died, and the Wolves buried them both after
+the manner of Wolves."</p>
+
+<p>"Chee-hough! it's a terrible tale," said Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," answered White Wolf; "and all
+that is the way of my land which is the Northland.</p>
+
+<p>"In the Hot Time sometimes there are the
+little red flowers that are roses, but in the long
+Cold Time it is as I have said, cold and a land
+of much hunger. But it is my land&mdash;the Northland."</p>
+
+<p>"Engh-h-hu!" sighed Sher Abi, opening his eyes
+as though just coming out of a dream; "I had an
+experience one time very much like that, Brother
+Wolf."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 409px;">
+<a name="i_202" id="i_202"></a>
+<img src="images/i_202.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;LET ME IN, TOM; I AM JACK,&#39; PLEADED THE HUNT MAN.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Of a snow storm, Sher Abi?" queried Mooswa,
+doubtingly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my solemn friend, I know nothing of snow;
+I speak of having a Man inside of one. As Sa'-zada
+has said, I think it's quite possible, and I'm
+sure they must rest nice and warm, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Did a Man cut you open, Magar?" sneered
+Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, little Old Woman, he did not; he was busy
+that day taking off your tail for stealing his plantains."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us about it, Magar," lisped Python.
+"Wolf's tale of his snow-land makes me shiver."</p>
+
+<p>"There is not much to tell," murmured Sher
+Abi, regretfully. "It was all over in a few minutes,
+and all an accident, too; and, besides, it was
+only one Man. You see, I was sunning myself on
+a mud bank in Cherogeah Creek, when I heard
+'thomp, thomp, thomp!' which was the sound of a
+Boatman's paddle against the side of his log dug-out.
+I slid backward into the water, keeping just
+one eye above it to see what manner of traveler it
+might be. It was old Lahbo, a villager who often
+went up and down that creek, so I started to swim
+across, meaning to come up alongside of his canoe
+and wish him the favor of Buddha. As you know,
+Comrades, all Animals love these Buddhists, for
+their Master has taught them not to take the life of
+any Jungle Dweller.</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said, I was swimming across the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+creek, when Lahbo, who must have been asleep,
+suddenly ran his canoe up on my back. It was such
+a light little dug-out, too, quite narrow, and being
+suddenly startled, I jumped, and by some means
+Lahbo's canoe was upset. Poor old Lahbo! How
+my heart ached for him when I heard him scream
+in the water."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the evil liar!" whispered Magh in Hathi's
+ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush-h!" whistled Elephant, softly, through
+his trunk; "Sher Abi was ever like this; I know
+him well. It is just his way of boasting; he knows
+nobody believes it."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Lahbo," continued Magar. "I swam
+quickly to help him, picked him up tenderly in my
+jaws, and started for the shore. I would have
+saved his life in another minute, but his cries had
+gone to the ears of some Villagers, and they were
+now on the bank of the creek, and with two Firesticks,
+also. I was in a terrible fix, Comrades; if
+I held my head under water, poor Lahbo would
+drown; if I held it up, the Village Men would kill
+me with the Firestick."</p>
+
+<p>"How did it end, Saver of Life?" asked Pardus.
+"Did poor Lahbo ask you to swallow him to save
+his life?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really can't say what did happen," answered
+Sher Abi. "To this day tears come into my eyes
+when I think of poor Lahbo. And it was all the
+fault of the Villagers, for when the Firestick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+coughed, I think the Man-fear, that Hathi has
+spoken of, came over him, for he commenced to
+wriggle about so that I couldn't hold him. I was
+so careful, too, for my teeth are sharp, and I was
+afraid of hurting him. But, anyway, before I knew
+it, Ee-eh-he! he had slipped down my throat; poor
+Lahbo! And do you know, Comrades, I'm a little
+afraid I'm not done with him yet, for he had a big
+two-handed dah (sword) in his waist-band, and
+I know that some of the pains I feel at times are
+due to that; there's nothing so hard to digest as a
+Burmese dah. And to this day, Comrades, sometimes
+when I'm jumping about it seems to me that
+bangles and rings that are inside of me string themselves
+on that sword&mdash;I fancy at times I can hear
+them jingle."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you come to have bangles inside of
+you?" asked Magh most solicitously.</p>
+
+<p>"Engh-hu! little Moon-face, you make me very
+tired. If any one tells a tale you try to put false
+words into his mouth."</p>
+
+<p>"And bangles," snapped Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"Who spoke of bangles?" asked Sher Abi. "I
+said not that they were bangles, but that it was
+like that&mdash;the pains I mean. Perhaps even Lahbo
+dropped the dah overboard, for all I know. And
+look here, little one, Moon-faced Languar, if you
+doubt what I say, you may go inside and see for
+yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"How came you to this place, Sher Abi?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+asked Mooswa. "Did the Villagers catch you
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not that time. But once, hearing a Pariah
+Dog in great distress, I thought he called to me
+for aid, even as poor Lahbo had done, so I swam
+quickly to lend him help&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Dog," jeered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"But it was all a vile trick of the Men-kind,"
+declared Magar; "though at the time, not knowing
+of this, I paid no heed to the matter. There were
+two long rows of stakes in the water coming close
+together at one end&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Lough-hu! I know," murmured Buffalo; "the
+walls of a stockade."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," sighed Sher Abi. "And as I pushed
+through the small end, the poor Dog being just
+beyond, and in great distress, a big rope drew tight
+about my neck, and before I could so much as
+object, many of the Men-kind pulled me out on to
+the dry land. Then I was sent here to Sa'-zada."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," murmured Hathi, "it seems to me
+that every Jungle-Dweller thinks he's badly
+treated, but judging from all the tales I've heard
+I think we've all got our faults&mdash;I think we're
+nearly as bad as the Men-kind."</p>
+
+<p>"My people are not," objected Buffalo; "we
+never did harm to anyone."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither did we," exclaimed Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor we," added Elk; and soon the clamor became
+general, all holding that the Men-kind who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+killed almost every animal for the sake of taking
+its life, and not because they were driven to it by
+lean stomachs, were much worse than the Jungle-Dwellers.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," decided Hathi, "it seems that most
+of you are against me, anyway. I think Buffalo is
+right in what he says, but some of us have done
+much wrong to the Men-kind&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning me, of course," ejaculated Wild Boar.
+"I, who lay no claim to being good, and who am
+counted the worst of all Animals, say, with Buffalo,
+that the Men-kind have done more harm to me
+than I to them, and have been of less benefit to me
+than I to them."</p>
+
+<p>Then Sa'-zada spoke: "Comrades, this is a question
+that we can't settle. If we were all like the
+Buddhists, and took no life except because of great
+need, perhaps it would be better. But now you
+must all go back to your cages and corrals to sleep."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title2">Twelfth Night</p>
+
+<p class="title">The Story of Sa'-Zada, "Zoo" Keeper</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 253px;">
+<img src="images/i_12th_nite_1.jpg" width="253" height="450" alt=""/>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;">
+<img src="images/i_12th_nite_2.jpg" width="387" height="500" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="TWELFTH_NIGHT" id="TWELFTH_NIGHT"></a><big>TWELFTH NIGHT</big><br /><br />
+
+THE STORY OF SA'-ZADA, THE "ZOO" KEEPER</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was the twelfth night of the Sa'-zada stories.
+For eleven evenings Tiger, and Leopard, and
+the others had told of their manner of life, with
+more or less relevancy. This night Sa'-zada, the
+little Master, was to speak of his jungle and forest
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>Magh, the Orang, was filled with a joyous anticipation.
+Perched as usual on Hathi's broad forehead,
+she gave expression to little squeaks of enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>Once even she stuck out her long, elastic under-lip
+and broke into the little jungle song she always
+had resource to when pleasantly excited:</p>
+
+<p>"Co-oo-oo-oo-oo! Co-wough, wough-oo!" with
+a rising inflection that made the listener's ears
+tingle. She even danced a modest can-can on
+Hathi's patient old head.</p>
+
+<p>The Keeper came briskly up the walk, and patting
+Hathi's trunk affectionately as it was held out
+to him, sat on the grass with his back against Mooswa's
+side.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Comrades," he commenced, "before I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+came to a state of friendship with the Jungle Dwellers,
+I was like a great many others of my kind, and
+thought the only pleasure to be got from animals
+was in killing them."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the beginning of a true talk," commented
+Pardus.</p>
+
+<p>"And, so, in that time I hunted a great deal,"
+continued Sa'-zada. "When I first went to Burma
+to live, my bungalow was just on the edge of
+the Jungle, and some of the Dwellers were always
+forcing their presence upon me&mdash;either
+Snakes, or Jackals, or Jaruk the Hyena, or the
+Bandar-Log; and one night even a Rogue Elephant&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hum-p-p-ph! he should have been prodded
+with a sharp tusk," commented Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"A Rogue Elephant," continued Sa'-zada, "came
+down and played basket-ball with my garden and
+bamboo cook-house. Gidar the Jackal, with a
+dozen companions, used to gut my kitchen, and
+then sit out in the moonlight and howl at me in
+derision."</p>
+
+<p>"We sing at night because we can't help it, and
+not because of ill will to the Men-kind," corrected
+Gidar.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, one night, as the Jackals were in the
+middle of a heavy chorus, they suddenly ceased; a
+silence as of death came over everything; it seemed
+as though all life had gone miles away from that
+part of the country. Then came a hoarse call which
+shook my little bungalow&mdash;&mdash;"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know," interrupted Gidar, "when we stop
+singing and move away silently it is to make room
+for Bagh the Killer. We object to being seen in
+the company of a murderer like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was Tiger," asserted Sa'-zada, "and
+two Sahibs, who were my companions, and, like
+myself, new to the country, determined to get
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"So next evening we took a Goat and tied it just
+inside the Jungle, each one of us lying down on the
+ground at a short distance from our bait. But the
+Goat commenced to browse quietly and refused to
+bleat. I tried jumping him up and down by the
+tail and back of his neck, and he'd bleat just as
+long as I'd pump. At last I tied him up so that
+he stood on his hind legs, and he called then with
+full vigor. For the matter of an hour we lay thus,
+when presently, behind me, I heard the stealthy
+step of some huge Jungle Dweller coming for the
+Goat.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the most deliberate animal I had ever
+waited for; it seemed hours that those carefully
+planted feet had been heading towards the back of
+my head. I could see nothing, for I was facing the
+other way, and I dared not turn over for fear of
+frightening the approaching Tiger away. This is
+a true tale, Comrades, and I did not like overmuch
+the idea of Bagh or Pardus, whichever it might be,
+pouncing upon me from behind."</p>
+
+<p>"And they would do it," declared Gidar, "for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+there is a saying in their tribe that 'a kill from
+behind is a kill of skill.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Were you afraid, little Master?" asked
+Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't like it," answered Sa'-zada, evasively.</p>
+
+<p>"I've lain close hid in the Elephant Grass," said
+Bagh, "when a mighty drive of the Sahibs was on;
+and perhaps you felt that time, O Sa'-zada, even
+as I did."</p>
+
+<p>"I, too, have heard the Pigstickers galloping,
+galloping all about a little <i>nulla</i> where I have
+sought for safety and the chance of my life," added
+Wild Boar, "and it's dreadful. If all the Sahibs
+could have known that feeling, even as you
+did, O Sa'-zada, perhaps they would hunt us
+less."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," answered the Keeper; "but I could
+hear the great animal creeping, oh, so carefully,
+step by step, hardly a twig shifting under his cautious
+feet&mdash;only a little soft rustle of the leaves as
+they whispered to the sleepy night air that something
+of evil was afoot. It got on my nerves, I
+must say, for I knew that I had not one chance in
+a thousand if Bagh were to spring upon me from
+behind. A fair fight I did not mind. I dared not
+even whisper to my companions, for they were a
+short distance from me, lest I should frighten the
+quarry away. When the soft-moving feet were
+within five yards of my head they became silent,
+and I felt that the great animal, Bagh or Pardus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+or some other Killer, was crouched ready for a
+spring.</p>
+
+<p>"One minute, two minutes, an hour&mdash;perhaps
+half the night I seemed waiting for something to
+happen. The suspense was dreadful. One of my
+comrades had heard the footsteps, too, for I could
+see his rifle gleam in the moonlight as he held it
+ready to fire at sight of the animal. The strain
+was so trying that I almost wished Bagh would
+charge.</p>
+
+<p>"But at last my nerves got the better of me and
+I turned over on my face, bringing my Express up
+to receive the visitor. The noise startled him, and
+with a hoarse bark he was off into the Jungle. It
+was only little ribbed-faced Barking Deer, who had
+come out of curiosity to see what the Goat was
+making a row about."</p>
+
+<p>Hathi gave a great sigh of relief, for the Little
+Master's story of thrilling danger had worked him
+up to a pitch of excited interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember a little tale of a happening," said
+Arna the Buffalo. "We were a herd of at least
+twenty, lying in a bit of nice, soft muddy land, for
+it was a wondrous hot day, I remember, when suddenly
+right through the midst of us walked a Sahib,
+and with him was one of the Black Men-kind. By
+his manner I knew that he had not seen us, being
+half-buried as we were in the <i>jhil</i>. Just beyond
+where we rested was a plain of the dry grass Eating,
+and to that our enemies the Men passed. Comrades,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+the method of our doing you know, when
+there is danger. If it is far away, and we see it,
+we go quickly from its presence, as is right for all
+Jungle Dwellers; but should it come suddenly close
+upon us we fight with a strength that even Bagh
+dreads.</p>
+
+<p>"As I have said, seeing the Sahib so close,
+our Leader sprang up and snorted in anger.
+Now Bagh, when he is in an evil temper,
+roars loudly; but we, being people of little
+voice, trusting more to our horns than to noise,
+only call 'Eng-ugh!' before we charge. So,
+when our Leader called twice, we rushed out
+into the field where was this Sahib. I remember
+well, the Black man ran with great speed
+across the Plain, but the Sahib faced us. In his
+eyes there was a look such as I have seen in the
+eyes of another Bull when I have challenged him,
+and it was a question whether we should fight or
+not.</p>
+
+<p>"But fear came not to this Man," added Arna,
+decidedly, "for as we raced down upon him, he
+smote at us with his Firestick, and taking the cover
+that was on his head&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"His helmet," suggested Sa'-zada.</p>
+
+<p>"The cover in his hand," proceeded Arna,
+"charged full at us, calling us evil names in a loud
+voice. I know not which of us turned in his gallop,
+but certain it is that the herd passed on either side
+of the Man and he was not hurt."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But did you not turn and trample him?" asked
+Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Arna; "when we charge we
+charge, and there's an end of it."</p>
+
+<p>"That is also our way," concurred Bagh, "except,
+perhaps, when we are struck by the Firestick,
+then sometimes we turn and charge back."</p>
+
+<p>"By-the-memory-of-honey!" said Muskwa the
+Bear, "I should like to hear a tale from Sa'-zada
+of my people."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," declared the Keeper, "there was a happening
+in connection with Muskwa's cousin,
+Grizzly, that makes me tremble&mdash;I mean, calls up
+rather unpleasant memories to this day."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad of that&mdash;Whuf! glad we're to have
+the story," corrected Muskwa, apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"It was in the Rocky Mountains," began Sa'-zada,
+"in the South Kootenay Pass. I was after
+Big Horn, the Mountain Sheep, with two Comrades,
+and a guide called Eagle Child, when we
+saw a big Grizzly coming down the side of a mountain
+called the Camel's Back.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Eagle Child was a man very eager to do
+big things, so, almost without asking my consent,
+he laid out the whole plan of campaign. On the
+side of the Camel's Back Mountain grew a spruce
+forest, and through this snow avalanches had
+ploughed roadways, from top to bottom, looking
+like the streets of a city. Eagle Child called to
+me as he forded the mountain stream on his Horse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+that he would go up one of these snow roads and
+get the Grizzly, or turn him down another one for
+me.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Comrades, Muskwa here is a man of
+peace, loving his honey and his Ants, but Grizzly
+is one to interview with great caution, and my Comrade,
+Eagle Child, being a man of unwise haste,
+you will understand, Comrades, that I expected
+strange happening when he started to interfere with
+Grizzly's evening plans, for it was toward the end
+of the day."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not wise to meddle with one of a short
+temper," declared Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not one of a short temper," objected
+Grizzly. "I seek a quarrel with no one; but, perhaps,
+if this man, who was Sa'-zada's comrade,
+sought to make a kill of one of our kind, there may
+have been trouble. If I am of a great strength
+why is that&mdash;is it so that I may be killed easily?
+Have I not strong claws just as Bagh has his teeth,
+and Boar his tusks, and Python his strength of
+squeeze?&mdash;even also have I somewhat of a squeeze
+myself. And shall I not use these things that I
+have, as do the other Forest Dwellers when their
+desire is to live? I am not like Elk that can gallop
+fast&mdash;flee from a slayer. And so, if I, being strong,
+fight for my life, it is temper, eh? Wough! I am
+as I am. But go on, Little Master&mdash;tell us of this
+happening."</p>
+
+<p>"As I was saying," recommenced Sa'-zada,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+"when Eagle Child in his great eagerness started
+after that Bear, I had an idea there would be fun,
+and there was&mdash;though I must say that I followed
+up to give him some help."</p>
+
+<p>"There was no harm in that," said Grizzly,
+magnanimously. "Comrades of the same kind
+must help each other."</p>
+
+<p>"That Eagle Child had ridden up to meet the
+Grizzly was in itself a fair promise for excitement,
+but also his Cayuse was one of the jerkiest brutes
+ever ridden by anybody. He had a great dislike
+for spurs."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right, too," bubbled Unt the Camel; "I
+remember a Cavalry Man on my back once&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Sa'-zada interrupted Camel, and continued: "A
+dig from the spurs and the Cayuse would refuse to
+budge; but, of course, the rider knew that.</p>
+
+<p>"Eagle Child thought that the Bear was working
+down in a certain direction, but, as you know, Comrades,
+Muskwa is a fellow of many notions, turning
+and twisting and changing his course beyond all
+calculations."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we are like that," assented Muskwa. "It
+is our manner of life. We find our food in small
+parts, and in many places&mdash;berries here, and Ants
+there, and perhaps Honey on the other side. We
+are not like Bagh, who goes straight for his Kill,
+for we must keep a sharp lookout or we shall find
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Grizzly evidently turned, for, while my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+Guide was looking for him in one direction, he
+bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse from
+a totally different quarter. This rather startled
+Eagle Child; and, though he should have known
+better, he dug the silly spurs into his erratic tempered
+Horse, with the result that the latter balked&mdash;bucked
+up like a stubborn mule.</p>
+
+<p>"This looked as though he meant to stop and
+fight it out&mdash;the Grizzly evidently thought so, for
+he gave a snort of rage and tore down the mountain
+full at his enemy. I dared not shoot for fear
+of striking my comrade; but one bullet wouldn't
+have mattered, anyway; it wouldn't have stopped
+the charging Grizzly. Luckily for Eagle Child,
+his Horse reared just as the Bear arrived, and
+though he was sent flying, Muskwa's cousin did
+not succeed in clawing him, his time being taken up
+in making little pieces of the Horse. Eagle Child
+arrived at the foot of the mountain very rapidly,
+for all this had happened at the top of a long shale
+cut bank, and he did not look for smooth paths, but
+just came away without regard to the means of
+transport."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that all of the tale?" inquired Magh,
+with a rather disappointed air, for she had hoped
+to hear of Muskwa's getting the worst of the encounter.</p>
+
+<p>"Not by any means," answered Sa'-zada; "that
+was but the beginning. My comrade being out of
+the way," he continued, "I fired at Grizzly."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;">
+<a name="i_220" id="i_220"></a>
+<img src="images/i_220.jpg" width="405" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;THE GRIZZLY ... BOUNCED OUT NOT TEN YARDS FROM THE CAYUSE.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"To kill him?" exclaimed Mooswa, reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"That was before I was comrade to the Jungle
+Dwellers," apologized the Keeper&mdash;"before I
+knew they were more interesting alive than dead.
+And I fear I struck him, too," he added, "for when
+he had finished knocking the Horse to pieces we
+saw him go up the side of the Camel's Back limping
+as though a leg had been broken."</p>
+
+<p>"That was a shame," declared Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"It would have been a great shame, an outrage,"
+asserted Bagh, "if I, or Pardus, or even Hathi
+had broken the leg of a Man; we would have been
+hunted by a drove of twenty Elephants, and many
+of the Men-kind."</p>
+
+<p>"But," objected Magh, "as Sa'-zada has said,
+that was before he had proper wisdom, so we bear
+him no malice. Even Muskwa does not, do you,
+old Shaggy Sides?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I did not know the law of life then," said
+the Keeper; "and Eagle Child and myself followed
+after poor old wounded Grizzly and in our hearts
+was a desire for his life. Eagle Child was cross
+because I had laughed at him when he came down
+all covered with mud, also he had lost a Horse.
+He swore that he would kill that Bear if it took a
+week."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," commented Hathi, swinging his trunk
+sideways and lifting Jaruk off his feet with a blow
+in the ribs as if by accident. "I hate the smell of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+that Jungle Scavenger," he confided to Magh in a
+whisper. "I know," he continued aloud, "I've
+heard the Sahibs swear often, over a less matter
+than the killing of a Horse, too."</p>
+
+<p>"We thought that Grizzly was badly wounded
+and couldn't go far, and that we should soon come
+within range of him up amongst the rocks."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, he went up, having a broken leg,"
+declared Pardus; "that's the way with all Forest
+Dwellers&mdash;one pitches going down on three legs."</p>
+
+<p>"But it was getting late, so we hurried fast. I
+had tied my Horse to a tree, for the climb was
+steep. Up, up, up we went; sometimes catching
+sight of Grizzly, sometimes seeing a drop of
+blood&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dreadful," whimpered Mooswa. "Why
+should Men be so eager to see the blood of Forest
+Dwellers who have not harmed them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes we saw blood on the rocks," proceeded
+Sa'-zada, "and sometimes we followed
+Grizzly's trail by the mark of a stone upturned
+where his strong claws had been planted. Once
+I got another shot at him, and struck him, too, but,
+as Greybeard here might tell you, a Grizzly is like
+Arna, he can carry off the matter of twenty bullets
+unless they happen upon his heart or brain."</p>
+
+<p>"That is even so," concurred Grizzly. "Whuff!
+I have at least a dozen in my own body. The Men
+seek to improve our tempers after that manner."</p>
+
+<p>"It was getting late," resumed Sa'-zada, "but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+still we continued upward, the Bear holding on with
+great strength. It was October, and in the hollows
+of the upper ranges snow was lying like a white
+apron in a nurse's lap. 'He went this way,' said
+the guide to me, pointing to a narrow ledge of rock
+around the side of a cliff, with a drop from it of a
+thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Eagle Child was a Stony Indian, and
+they are like Mountain Sheep in their ability to
+climb. We had to work our way down carefully
+to this ledge, helping each other lest we fall, and
+even when it was reached the yawn of the valley
+a thousand feet below caused me to tremble. So,
+cautiously we worked along this narrow path, and,
+as we rounded the point, to our great fear we saw
+that we could go no farther&mdash;a dead wall stood
+two hundred feet high in front of us. Slowly, cautiously,
+we turned our bodies, and went back; and
+then we saw what we had overlooked in our eagerness
+for poor old Grizzly's life&mdash;we could not get
+up the way we had come down&mdash;we were trapped."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a dreadful feeling," declared Pardus, "to
+be caught in a Trap&mdash;though there were no Men
+enemies about you, Sa'-zada, to make it worse."</p>
+
+<p>"Or to be shut up in a Keddah," muttered Hathi&mdash;"it's
+awful. To be taken out of one's nice pleasant
+jungle and led into a Keddah trap with those of
+the Men-kind trumpeting and calling, and even
+those of our own tribe, Elephant, taking part
+against us."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Was that what made you friend to the Jungle
+Dwellers, Sa'-zada?" asked Muskwa.</p>
+
+<p>"At the time," answered the Keeper, "I thought
+only of the dreadful fix we were in. Below, a
+thousand feet or more, the sharp tops of the spruce
+and cedar stood like spears&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I've felt a spear in my shoulder, ugh, ugh! it
+drives one fair mad with fear and pain," grunted
+Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"Under our feet was a narrow ledge of rock not
+the width of Hathi's back; behind us, and on either
+side of us, the cliffs ran up hundreds of feet. On
+the upper peak of the Camel's Back a snowstorm
+was shutting out the last grey light of day&mdash;the
+darkness of night was fast coming on. I could see
+nothing for it but to stand perfectly straight with
+our backs to the rock wall all through the bitter
+night and talk to each other to keep sleep away.
+The next day our comrades might find us, and let
+down a rope to help us up."</p>
+
+<p>"You could also think in the night of how we
+feel, O Little Brother, when we are hunted," declared
+Pardus. "Even perhaps Grizzly with his
+broken leg had to lie on some rock, afraid to travel
+in the night lest he fall."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was a good time to think of the troubles
+of Jungle Dwellers," concurred Hathi.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought of many things," said the Keeper,
+softly; "and but for Eagle Child I fear I should
+have fallen a dozen times; I felt his hand on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+my arm more than once pressing me against the
+wall. But at last morning came. I never felt
+so cold in my life, for, you see, we dared not
+move about. But it was noon before I saw
+my two comrades riding up the valley looking for
+us.</p>
+
+<p>"Eagle Child called, 'Hi, yi, yi&mdash;oh, yi!' The
+rocks threw his voice far out, and they heard it. It
+took them a long time to climb up to the place from
+where we had descended. They had brought their
+lassos with them, for they knew that we were cut
+off; and soon, but with much cautious labor, we
+were safe."</p>
+
+<p>"And what of Grizzy?" asked Muskwa, solicitously.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he, too, got away all right," answered
+Sa'-zada, "for I never saw him again&mdash;we did not
+follow him."</p>
+
+<p>"I think Wie-sah-ke-chack led you to that place,
+Little Master, to give Grizzly a chance for his
+life," commented Mooswa.</p>
+
+<p>"I like our Master's story," declared Hathi;
+"so often I've heard the Sahibs boasting of the
+Animals they have killed, but Sa'-zada tells only of
+the times fear came to him because of his wrong-doing."</p>
+
+<p>"That happening was of Greybeard, and he is
+but a cousin of mine," complained Muskwa the
+Black Bear. "Did you never meet with my family,
+Little Master?"</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If you insist upon it, Muskwa," answered
+the Keeper, "I might tell a little tale of your
+people."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like that&mdash;do," pleaded Black Bear;
+"in all the stories there has been nothing of our
+doing."</p>
+
+<p>"But they were also only relatives of yours,
+though they were black, for the happening was in
+India, and there they are called Bhalu the Bear.
+And the happening was not of my doing, either,
+for I was hunting Bagh, the Tiger."</p>
+
+<p>"Every hunter takes me for a choice," growled
+Raj Bagh.</p>
+
+<p>"But this was a bad Tiger," declared Sa'-zada;
+"he had killed many people."</p>
+
+<p>"And what of that&mdash;Waugh-houk! what of that,
+Little Master?" demanded Raj Bagh. "Have not
+many people killed many of my kind&mdash;are they not
+always killing us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Still the Little Master is right," objected
+Hathi. "If a Bull Elephant becomes Rogue, and,
+neglecting his proper eating which is in the Jungle,
+goes seeking to kill the Men-kind, does he not
+surely come into trouble?"</p>
+
+<p>"But we be flesh eaters and slayers of life," answered
+Raj Bagh.</p>
+
+<p>"Even so, though that were better otherwise, but
+do you not know of your own people that the Men-kind
+are not for Kill? Before all other Dwellers
+of the Jungle you stand forth and are ready to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+battle, but just the <i>scent</i> of Man causes you to slink
+away like Jaruk the Hyena."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that is true," commented Mooswa.
+"Wie-sah-ke-chack has arranged all that."</p>
+
+<p>Said the Keeper: "It is not right to kill the animals
+as men do, for sport, but when Bagh, or any
+other Jungle Dweller, turns Man-eater, he should
+die."</p>
+
+<p>"And Sher Abi, too," squeaked Magh; "his
+tribe are all Man-eaters&mdash;they should be all
+killed."</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate," continued the Keeper, "I was
+after this Man-eater. I had a <i>machan</i> built in a
+Pipal tree, and a Buffalo calf tied up near it&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"One of your young, Arna," said Bagh, vindictively.</p>
+
+<p>"And early in the evening I climbed into my
+<i>machan</i> and prepared for Mister Stripes."</p>
+
+<p>"That's Man's way," sneered Raj Bagh.
+"What chance have we against them up in
+a <i>machan</i>? No chance; and they call that
+sport."</p>
+
+<p>"And what chance has a village woman against
+a big-fanged Tiger?" grunted Boar. "No chance.
+It seems to me there are few in the Jungle as decent
+as Hathi and myself; we meddle not with the
+Men."</p>
+
+<p>"Just before dark," continued Sa'-zada, "I heard
+a noise coming through the Khir bushes. 'Bagh
+comes early,' I thought to myself."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He must have been hungry to scent a kill before
+dark," muttered Raj Bagh.</p>
+
+<p>"He smelt a man and thought it a good chance
+to commit murder," sneered Magh.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't Tiger at all," said the Keeper, "but
+three noisy Black Bears&mdash;Bhalu the Bear. I
+thought they would soon pass, for they do not meddle
+much with cattle."</p>
+
+<p>"No, we are not throat cutters like Bagh,"
+whuffed Muskwa.</p>
+
+<p>"But they seemed in an inquisitive mood. Now,
+the calf was tied to the foot of a toddy palm, and
+they looked at him as much as to say, 'What are
+you doing here?'"</p>
+
+<p>"I would have explained matters to them had I
+been there," exclaimed Arna, shaking his head.
+"A poor Calf!"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt they meant to help him out of his
+trouble," volunteered Muskwa.</p>
+
+<p>"Presently one of them proceeded to climb the
+toddy palm, and I thought they were looking for
+me perhaps. On the tree was a jar the natives had
+put there for catching the toddy liquor; and you can
+imagine my surprise, Comrades, when I saw Bhalu
+take a big drink out of this. When he came down
+one of his comrades went up. There were half-a-dozen
+toddy trees there, and the Bears helped
+themselves to the toddy until in the end they became
+very drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"I know how that feels," said Oungea the Water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+Monkey; "have I not told you, Comrades, of the
+gin my Master&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Caw-w-w, caw-w-w!" interrupted Crow. "I
+also know of that condition. I ate some cherries
+once that had been thrown from a bungalow in
+Calcutta, and they made my head wobble so I
+couldn't fly. A Sahib stood in the door and laughed
+and said I was drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"The cherries had been in brandy, I suppose,"
+explained Sa'-zada. "But Bhalu was most unmistakably
+drunk. They wanted to play with the Calf,
+but he became frightened and bawled. I could see
+there was small chance of a visit from Bagh with
+three drunken Bears and a bellowing Calf at the
+foot of my tree."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a nice story, Muskwa," sneered Magh.
+"I'm so glad to hear of your people and their
+ways."</p>
+
+<p>"Only cousins of mine," declared Muskwa, "and
+called Bhalu."</p>
+
+<p>"All Bears are alike," snapped Coyote; "meddlesome
+thieves."</p>
+
+<p>"They steal little Pigs," added Boar.</p>
+
+<p>"They wouldn't go away," said Sa'-zada, "and
+I began to fear that I shouldn't get a shot at
+Stripes. I did not want to shoot, because if Tiger
+was anywhere in the neighborhood it would put an
+end to his visit. I had nothing heavy to throw at
+them except my water-bottle; but, finally, taking a
+long drink to keep the thirst away for a time, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+stood up in the <i>machan</i> and let fly the bottle.
+It caught the Bear just behind the ear, and
+Bhalu, thinking one of his comrades had hurt
+him, pitched into the other two, and there
+was a fierce three-cornered fight on in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>"I can swear that it is a true tale," barked Gidar,
+"for twice I've seen a family of Bhalu's people in
+just such a stupid fight. Not that they were possessed
+of toddy, for they are silly enough at all
+times. But it is known in the Jungle that when
+Bhalu is wounded, he fights with the first one he
+sees, even his own brother, thinking he has done
+him the harm."</p>
+
+<p>"One chap got the worst of the encounter and
+reeled off into the Jungle, the other two following.
+I could hear them wrangling and snarling for a
+long distance&mdash;all the world like a party of
+drunken sailors."</p>
+
+<p>"These Bear stories are just lovely," grinned
+Magh. "Aren't they, Muskwa?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you kill Bagh, the Man-eater?" asked
+Muskwa, to change the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I stopped his murderous career that
+night," answered Sa'-zada. "He was an evil animal
+and deserved to die. Now it is late and you
+must all go to your cages."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad your people had a chance to be heard
+from, Muskwa," lisped Magh as she slid down
+Hathi's trunk. "You always looked so terribly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+respectable and honest, that I was really afraid
+to speak to you."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 406px;">
+<a name="i_230" id="i_230"></a>
+<img src="images/i_230.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt=""/>
+<span class="caption">&quot;BHALU ... PITCHED INTO THE OTHER TWO.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Phrut, phrut!" muttered Hathi through his
+trunk; "I have lived for a matter of forty years or
+so, amongst the Jungle Dwellers and with the Men-kind,
+and I think that we are all alike, all having
+some good and some bad qualities."</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">THE END</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+<h2>Books by W. A. Fraser</h2>
+
+<p class="center">Published by Charles Scribner's Sons</p>
+
+
+<h3>BRAVE HEARTS</h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>With frontispiece. 12mo, $1.50</i></p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Like the thoroughbred he writes about, Mr.
+Fraser's narrative is always full of action. He has
+the knack of telling a story."&mdash;New York <i>Evening Sun</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The author has caught the spirit of the paddock,
+track, and betting ring, and ... he manages to
+show them to us in their true colors."&mdash;Newark <i>Advertiser</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"It has the stir and go of a healthy sporting
+blood."&mdash;New York <i>Evening Post</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Of rapid movement, and as refreshing as the
+outdoor air in which the scenes are laid."&mdash;Boston <i>Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Clever, spirited, and sympathetic."&mdash;<i>The Outlook.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Few stories of outdoor sport and exercise of any
+sort equal these in vigor, reality, and suspense."&mdash;Washington <i>Evening Star</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Stories that all lovers of the noblest of domesticated
+animals will enjoy."&mdash;<i>The Churchman.</i></p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h2>BY W. A. FRASER</h2>
+
+<h3>BLOOD LILIES</h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>With illustrations by</i> F. E. <span class="smcap">Schoonover</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>12mo, $1.50</i></p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The quality of the story is strong and seamed
+with the invigorating life of nature, and at times reads
+like a Longfellow prose poem. The illustrations by
+Mr. Schoonover are of remarkable excellence."&mdash;Boston <i>Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Will keep the reader both interested and amused,
+for the author has humor as well as a sharp dramatic
+faculty."&mdash;New York <i>Sun</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The tale is one of both emotion and action.
+It has elements that will give it a hold upon the sympathies
+of its readers."&mdash;New York <i>Times Review</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"No one can read the story without a thrilling
+of the pulses. He will be exhilarated and moved....
+It is well worth mention among the best books
+of the fall."&mdash;Los Angeles <i>Times</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The men we meet here are men of flesh and
+blood and of passion.... One really cannot describe
+the beauty and pathos of the story."&mdash;San Francisco <i>Post</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The art that can so graphically draw such a
+poetic, dramatic, and pathetic picture as this of the
+wild life of these rude Northland folk is viable and
+enduring."&mdash;<i>The Independent.</i></p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h2>BY W. A. FRASER</h2>
+
+<h3>MOOSWA<br />
+
+and Others of the Boundaries</h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Illustrated by</i> <span class="smcap">Arthur Fleming</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Crown 8vo, $2.00</i></p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"In these stories we find somewhat of a return
+to the Æsopian presentation of animals, touched by
+the spirit of modernity, and, thrown over them all,
+a thorough knowledge of the animal life of the
+wilderness."&mdash;New York <i>Mail and Express</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the best nature books ever published."&mdash;Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"These stories of the doings of the fur-bearing
+animals in winter will be greatly relished by readers
+of all ages and both sexes. Besides being good stories,
+they contain any quantity of interesting information
+about the lives of these animals, their relations with
+one another, their food, and how they build their
+homes."&mdash;Boston <i>Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"He has succeeded in introducing several very
+real and charming forest acquaintances to his readers."&mdash;New York <i>Tribune</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Fraser has mingled a deal of natural history
+with folk-lore and the interests of the far fur-bearing
+lands in a volume that ought to please all
+readers of animal stories."&mdash;<i>The Interior.</i></p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h2>BY W. A. FRASER</h2>
+
+<h3>THE OUTCASTS</h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Illustrated by</i> <span class="smcap">Arthur Fleming</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Crown 8vo, $1.25 net</i></p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It has all the charm of the 'Jungle Book,' of
+which it is in no sense an imitation, of Ernest Thompson
+Seton, of Gilbert Parker's tales of Northland. The
+writing is charming, almost flawless; it is pathetic,
+curious, interesting. The woodcraft and the intimate
+knowledge of animal life and habits are a revelation."&mdash;Chicago
+<i>Tribune</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"A book worthy to be classed with Thompson
+Seton's 'Wild Animals I Have Known' and Kipling's
+'Jungle Book.'"&mdash;Boston <i>Evening Transcript</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Should be ranked among the very best....
+It is full of interest, kindly humor, and is sympathetically
+and delightfully told."&mdash;Atlanta <i>Journal</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"This book is a delightful picture of the woodland
+life of the vast stretches of that flank of the
+Rockies toward the Arctic Circle.... It is one of
+the best nature books ever published."&mdash;Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+<p class="transnote">Transcriber's Notes<br /><br />
+
+
+Added missing hyphen to "Sa'-Zada", but kept the lowercase z variation
+"Sa'-zada" which was used throughout the book. Removed the hyphen in
+"Sher Abi" for consistency. Corrected mismatched quote marks, and made
+the following changes:<br /><br />
+
+<a href="#Contents">Contents</a>: Changed "Bheh" to "Bagh" to match chapter title and
+character name.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Orig.: Raj Bheh, the King Tiger</span><br /><br />
+
+Page <a href="#Page_xi">xi</a>: "<span class="smcap">Hansor</span>, (the Laugher) Hyena" is only mentioned in the list
+of "The Dwellers in Animal Town." "Jaruk the Hyena" is used throughout
+the remainder of the book.<br /><br />
+
+Pages <a href="#Page_5">5</a> and <a href="#Page_177">177</a>: "Pard" is used instead of "Pardus;" it might be
+a nickname rather than a typo.<br /><br />
+
+Page <a href="#Page_129">129</a>: Changed "tale" to "tail".<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Orig.: I pulled the tale of every Donkey of the line</span><br /><br />
+
+Page <a href="#Page_225">225</a>: "Grizzy" may be a typo for "Grizzly," or just Muskwa's
+nickname for Grizzly.<br /><br />
+
+Note: Bakri apparently refers to a sheep or goat:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">  Page <a href="#Page_71">71</a>: a jungle Bakri (sheep)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">  Page <a href="#Page_83">83</a>: I sprang on Bakri the Goat</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">  Page <a href="#Page_175">175</a>: kill Bakri, the Men's Sheep</span><br />
+<br />
+Spelling variations:<br /><br />
+
+Pages <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>: Wie-sak-ke-chack<br />
+Pages <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>: Wie-sah-ke-chack<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser
+
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@@ -0,0 +1,6273 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Sa'-Zada Tales
+
+Author: William Alexander Fraser
+
+Illustrator: Arthur Heming
+
+Release Date: December 13, 2011 [EBook #38289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SA'-ZADA TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Darleen Dove, Shannon Barker, Diane Monico,
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/American
+Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Sa'-Zada Tales
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS BY W. A. FRASER
+
+PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+
+
+    THE SA'-ZADA TALES. Illustrated by Arthur Heming       $0.00
+
+    MOOSWA AND OTHERS OF THE BOUNDARIES. Illustrated
+      by Arthur Heming                                     $2.00
+
+    THE OUTCASTS. Illustrated by Arthur Heming.            $1.25 _net_
+
+    THE BLOOD LILIES. Illustrated by Frank Schoonover      $1.50
+
+    BRAVE HEARTS. With Frontispiece                        $1.50
+
+
+[Illustration: SA'-ZADA HAD GATHERED ALL HIS COMRADES ... FOR THE
+EVENING OF THE BIRD TALK ...
+
+(SEE PAGE 119.)]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+SA'-ZADA TALES
+
+
+By W. A. FRASER
+
+_Illustrated by_ ARTHUR HEMING
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+_NEW YORK ... MDCCCCV_
+
+
+
+
+_Copyright, 1905, by_
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
+
+_Published September, 1905_
+
+J. F. TAPLEY CO.
+NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                         PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION                                               ix
+
+THE WHITE, YELLOW, AND BLACK LEOPARD                        3
+
+HATHI GANESH, THE WHITE-EARED ELEPHANT                     39
+
+GIDAR, THE JACKAL, AND COYOTE, THE PRAIRIE WOLF            51
+
+RAJ BAGH, THE KING TIGER                                   65
+
+THE TRIBE OF KING COBRA                                    87
+
+THE STORY OF THE MONKEYS                                  103
+
+STORY OF BIRDS OF A FEATHER                               119
+
+THE BUFFALO AND BISON                                     139
+
+UNT, THE CAMEL                                            155
+
+BIG TUSK, THE WILD BOAR                                   173
+
+OOHOO, THE WOLF, AND SHER ABI, THE CROCODILE              189
+
+SA'-ZADA, THE "ZOO" KEEPER                                211
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+_From Drawings by Arthur Heming_
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+Sa'-Zada had gathered all his comrades ... for the
+  evening of the bird talk                               _Frontispiece_
+
+"The thing that had me by the paw was of a fiendish kind."          19
+
+"And away we dashed."                                               32
+
+"Then something strong grabbed me by the hind leg, and
+  pulled me ..."                                                    42
+
+"Two ruffianly Bulls ... fought me while the men slipped
+  great strong ropes over my legs"                                  46
+
+"I heard my man say ... 'Strike me dead, if he hasn't ...'"         61
+
+"But I could see that there was something very wrong ..."           70
+
+"My sire ... sprang on a big Hathi's nose"                          82
+
+"And Baba used to come every day under the bungalow to play"        90
+
+"I would stretch my body across it much after that fashion"         98
+
+"And they all clambered on to my back"                             111
+
+"And sitting beside her, cried also, being but a little
+  chap and all alone in the jungle"                                112
+
+"And as he coughed, soap bubbles floated upward."                  122
+
+"Leaving just a place for her sharp beak"                          125
+
+"Something I could not see struck me most viciously in the
+  shoulder"                                                        146
+
+"Suddenly I heard a 'swisp' in the air, and my little
+  curly-haired pet ..."                                            150
+
+"I remained in the _jhil_ until my master had lost the
+  fierce Kill-look"                                                161
+
+"But some way I felt like doing my best"                           166
+
+"It was at this time that Bagh killed so many of my people"        182
+
+"'Into the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said"                   184
+
+"One could travel for days over the white snow"                    190
+
+"'Let me in, Tom, I am Jack,' pleaded the Hunt man"                202
+
+"The grizzly ... bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse"        220
+
+"Bhalu ... pitched into the other two"                             230
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+_All his life Sa'-zada the Keeper had lived with animals. That was why
+he could talk to them, and they to him; that was why he knew that
+something must be done to keep his animal friends from fretting
+themselves to death during the dreadful heat that came like a disease
+over their part of the Greater City._
+
+_In the Greater City itself the sun smote with a fierceness that was
+like the anger of evil gods. The air vibrated with palpitating white
+heat, and the shadows were as the blue flame of a forge. Men and women
+stole from ovened streets, wide-mouthed, to places where trees swayed
+and waters babbled feebly of a cooler rest; even the children were sent
+away that they might not die of fevered blood._
+
+_But in the Animal City there was no escape. The Dwellers from distant
+deep jungles and tall forests had only blistering iron bars between
+them and the sirocco that swept from the brick walls of the Greater
+City._
+
+_It was because of this that Sa'-zada said, "I must make them talk of
+their other life, lest they die of this."_
+
+_In the Greater City men thought only of themselves; but with Sa'-zada
+it was different. The animals were his children--his friends; so he had
+contrived that all of the Peace-kind--the Grass-feeders and
+others--should come from their cages and corrals and meet each evening
+in front of the iron-bound homes which contained those of the
+Blood-kind, to tell stories of their past life._
+
+_Sa'-zada had asked Hathi, the one-tusked Elephant, who had been Ganesh
+in Hindustan, about it. In Hathi's opinion those who had seen the
+least, and were of little interest, would do all the talking--that was
+his experience of jungle life; so the Keeper had wisely arranged that
+each evening some one animal, or group, should tell the tale._
+
+
+
+
+THE DWELLERS IN ANIMAL TOWN, IN THE GREATER CITY
+
+
+SAHIB ZADA, Keeper of the Animals in the Zoo
+
+ARNA, _the Wild India Buffalo_.
+ADJUTANT, _the Scavenger Bird_.
+BHAINSA, _the Tame India Buffalo_.
+BAGHNI, _the Tigress_.
+BAGHEELA, _Young Panther or Tiger_.
+BHALU, _the Bear_.
+COYOTE, _the Prairie Wolf_.
+CARIBOU.
+CHINKARA, _Gazelle_.
+GIDAR, _the Jackal_.
+GURU, _the India Bison_.
+HANUMAN, _a Tree-dwelling Monkey_.
+HOOLUK, _the Black Monkey_.
+HORNBILL, _Bird like the Toucan_.
+HATHI, _the Elephant_.
+HANSOR, (the Laugher) _Hyena_.
+HAMADRYAD, _the King Cobra_.
+KAUWA, _the Crow_.
+MOOSWA, _the Moose_.
+MAGH, _the Ourang-Outang_.
+MOR, _the Peacock_.
+MUSK OX.
+NEWAL, _the Mongoos_.
+PARDUS, _the Panther_.
+RAJ BAGH, _the Tiger_.
+SAFED CHITA, _the White Chita, or White Leopard_.
+SOOR, _the Wild Boar_.
+SAMBHUR, _A Deer_.
+SHER ABI, _the Crocodile_.
+UNT, _the Camel_.
+WAPOOS, _the Hare_.
+ZARD CHITA, _the Yellow Leopard_.
+
+
+
+
+First Night
+
+The Stories of White, Yellow, and Black Leopard
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Sa'-zada Tales
+
+
+
+
+FIRST NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF WHITE, YELLOW, AND BLACK LEOPARD
+
+
+Through the listless leaves of the oaks and elms the moon was spraying
+silver over the hot earth when Sa'-zada, throwing down bars and
+unlocking gates, passed the words to his friends to gather at Leopard's
+cage.
+
+As he slipped the chain from Hathi's foot, and it fell with a soft
+clink on the hay bed, he said, "Ganesh, you of the one tusk, keep thou
+the Jungle Dwellers in order, for if one may judge from the manners of
+one's own kind, who are men, this weather is a breeder of evil
+tempers."
+
+"Umph, umph!" grunted Hathi complacently. "I who have seen fifty such
+times of discomfort think little of it. Surely the Sahib-kind, who are
+also long dwellers, can remember that there comes another season of
+cool. But, as you say, Master, perhaps it were well if I take into my
+trunk a cooler of water for such as may fret themselves into a fever."
+
+Even as Hathi spoke an angry roar shook the building they were in.
+
+"Hear that, Patient One," cried Sa'-zada; "Pardus, the Black Panther,
+who is at best a mighty cross chap, is in an evil way."
+
+The cry of Black Panther, which was like the falling of many cataracts,
+was causing the dead night air to tremble. "Hough-hough; a-hough!
+Huzo-or, Wah-hough!"
+
+"There, make haste, Little One!" said the Keeper to Elephant. "The
+sight of our friends who are gathering at his cage, has put Pardus in a
+temper, I fear."
+
+In front of the Leopard's house all the outside animals of the Park had
+assembled: Arna, the India Buffalo; Sher Abi, the Crocodile; Gidar, the
+Jackal, and many others; even Magh, the Ourang-Outang, was there with a
+Fox Terrier who lived in her cage.
+
+"Friends," began Sa'-zada, "if we are all to live here together in this
+Park, it were well that we know of each other's ways."
+
+"That's a good idea," declared Sher Abi; "for in my time I have known
+little of the habits of other animals. A dog, for instance, will come
+down to the water to drink----"
+
+"I know," interrupted Gidar; "and not having the wisdom of a Jungle
+Dweller like me, he will come to drink and stop to sup with one of your
+kind. Is that not so, Sher Abi?"
+
+"Perhaps, perhaps," sighed the Magar; "and at home the Pups, having
+lost a parent, fall into the clutches of Gidar the Jackal."
+
+"I like this meeting," broke in Magh; "a gathering of thieves, and
+cannibals, and murderers--Eaters of Dogs----"
+
+"And Apes," came like a soft summer sigh from the bellows-mouth of the
+Crocodile.
+
+"Friends," interrupted the Keeper, "do not fall to quarreling. Let us
+decide who is to tell the first tale. As we are at Leopard's cage,
+perhaps he should have the first chance."
+
+"I'm agreed," declared Magh; "murder stories are always interesting."
+
+"I am sure everybody would be glad to hear of your killing, Magh,"
+sneered Pardus.
+
+"Well," continued Sa'-zada, "here are three Leopards: Pard, the Black
+Leopard; Rufous, the Yellow Leopard, and White Leopard. We'll have
+their stories for this evening."
+
+"I'm no Leopard," objected Pardus, ceasing his restless walk for a
+minute. Then he took three turns up and down in front of the bars, his
+big velvet feet sounding "spufh, spufh," on the hard polished floor.
+"No," he continued, stopping in front of Sa'-zada, sitting down, and
+letting his big round head sink between his shoulders, until he looked
+up from under heavy brows with yellow-green eyes, "no, I'm a Panther.
+That is the way with the men of my land; to them we are all 'Chita,'
+or else 'Bagh,' which surely means a Tiger."
+
+"I know," answered Sa'-zada, "you are neither Bagh the Tiger, nor Chita
+the Leopard."
+
+"I should say not," answered Pardus. "Chita is long of leg and slim of
+gut--a chaser of Rabbits, and of the build of an Afghan Hound. With one
+crunch of my jaws--Waugh! Why, I could break his neck."
+
+"What's the difference, anyway," objected Magh, "whether you are a
+Leopard or Panther--you all belong to the family of Throat Cutters? But
+what bothers me is that one is black, one is yellow, and one is white;
+now, in my family, we are all of one shade."
+
+"A very dirty color, too," sneered Pardus. "Waugh-hough! no color at
+all--just _dirt_!"
+
+"That is so that murderers like you cannot see me to eat me," answered
+Magh. "If I am on the ground, am I not the color of the ground? And
+when I am curled up on the limb of a tree am I not like a knot on the
+tree trunk? That is to keep me safe from you and Python."
+
+"That may be so," answered Pardus, "but I, who hunt in the early night,
+find this black coat the very thing. Soft Paws! I have come so close to
+a Bullock, working up wind, of course, that one spring completed the
+Kill."
+
+"Umph, umph!" grunted Hathi, with eager interest. "All that appears
+reasonable; but, tell me, Brothers, why is Yellow Leopard so bright in
+his spots? And if your black coat serves you so well, how does the
+other, who is white, manage?"
+
+"I speak only of myself," joined in Rufous, the Yellow Leopard. "True,
+I also hunt at night at times, but it's slow work; perhaps a long night
+watch by a water pool, and then only the kill of a Chinkara--a
+mouthful, and in the time of scarce food, why, one must stalk when the
+Grass-feeders are within range of one's eye. Who is there amongst you
+all, even Soor (Wild Boar), with his sharp Pig eyes, that can say, when
+I am crouched amongst the bushes with the sun making bright spots all
+over the jungle, 'There is Yellow Leopard, who is a slayer.' Not only
+is it good for the Kill, this coat of mine, but when the hunt is on
+from the other side, when I seek to keep clear of the Men-kind--by my
+caution! more than once, when it has been that way, have I slipped
+quietly through the young jungle, and left the Beaters running up
+against each other, asking which way went Bagh. I am no night prowler
+like Pardus, for often have I killed in the open."
+
+"I know nothing of all this matter," declared White Leopard; "but had I
+been black like Pardus, or black-spotted like Rufous, I had died of a
+lean stomach in the white mountains from which I come. Why, there, on
+the hillside, every rock gleams white in the sunlight--not spotted,
+mind you, for there is no jungle such as Rufous speaks of; even the
+sand-hills are so white with the hot light that a mate of mine has been
+almost at my side before I knew it."
+
+"White Leopard is from the _Safed Kho_ Mountains, the White Range, in
+Afghanistan," said Sa'-zada for the information of the others.
+
+"I know," declared Unt the Camel; "I've been there--just the loveliest
+hot sandy hills and plains in the whole world. But, tell me, Little
+Brother of the Blood-kind," he bubbled, "it is not always sunlight
+there--at times the white storm comes--high up in the range--what do
+you do then?"
+
+"My coat gets whiter still," answered Leopard; "and if I close my eyes
+and stalk by scent alone, why, you would never see me till I was at
+your throat."
+
+"It's either a lie or most curious truth," grunted Magh, biting the Fox
+Terrier's ear till he squealed. "Here is a Pup that is white all the
+time, and no lies about it, either."
+
+"Oh, it's the truth," asserted Wapoos, the Hare; "in the winter time I,
+also, turn white to save my throat from Lynx or Marten; though it is
+not of my own doing, to be sure."
+
+"It's Wie-sak-ke-chack, who is God of all Animals, who arranges it this
+way," said Mooswa, solemnly.
+
+"Well," interrupted Sa'-zada, "one of you Leopards tell us of the
+manner of your coming here."
+
+"As I have said," began White Leopard, "I was born in the Safed
+Mountains, and it was a year of much hunger----"
+
+"The very year I was born," declared Magh; "there hardly seemed more
+than three nuts or berries in the world."
+
+"Come up here, Chatterbox," grunted Hathi, winding his trunk around
+Magh's body, and lifting her to his massive head.
+
+"Let me hold the Pup," whined Sher Abi, spreading his shark mouth in a
+disinterested yawn. Hathi blew a handful of small stones which he had
+been picking up, into the opening, causing Sher Abi to sputter and
+choke. When the laughter had subsided, White Leopard proceeded with his
+story.
+
+"As I have said, it was a year of much hunger, because the Affrides
+made war, and the Sahibs came, and it seemed as though everything that
+had life in it was driven out of the country. They ate up the Goats and
+Sheep, and the Bullocks and Camels they took to carry their loads. It
+was indeed a time of distressed stomachs; and, to make matters worse,
+my Father, who was a killer of Bullocks and not a Goat eater, dropped
+the matter of a thousand feet over a cliff and was killed. Then my
+mother came with me, and I was still a Cub, down to the land of the
+Marris, where there were many Sheep--the short-legged kind with the
+broad fat tails; small they were, to be sure, and hardly of the bulk of
+even a Cub's desire. The very sweetness of their flesh made one wish
+that they had grown larger. Hunger pains! but it was a long tramp on a
+lean stomach, and in the end we fell among Men thieves--those of the
+White-kind, the Sahibs."
+
+"Birds of a feather on one limb," sneered Magh, tickling Hathi on the
+ear with her sharp finger.
+
+"And in that land, though there were many Sheep, it was hard to make a
+kill. Why, the Herd Men, Pathans they were called, which I think means
+the greatest of all thieves, were as wary as Jungle Dwellers. At the
+first try my Mother got a blow in the shoulder from one of their evil,
+long-necked Firesticks."
+
+"Ha, ha!" laughed Sa'-zada; "that long gun was a _jezail_, and the
+Pathans are good marksmen, too. I could tell a story myself of their
+shooting; but go on, Chita, it's your say."
+
+"As for making a kill at night, Waugh! we had near starved watching for
+a chance; these Hillmen huddled their Sheep and Goats into caves like
+children, and slept across the opening.
+
+"And do you know, Friends, they lived so close with their Sheep, that I
+swear by my mustache they were of the same smell. Fine as my scent is,
+one night I had crept close to what my nose told me was a Sheep, and
+was just on the point of taking it by the neck when it got up on its
+hind legs and roared at me with the man cry.
+
+"We were like to die of hunger when Jaruk the Hyena came sneaking and
+laughing, and talked of a blood compact to Rani, who was my Mother. We
+were so hungry! but it was all to our undoing; for the grinning sneak
+was a coward, and led us into an evil trap. He told us of three Sahibs,
+a short journey from where we had our hunt; and these Sahibs were like
+Cubs in their little knowledge of jungle ways, having Sheep and Goats
+which they tied to stakes close by the white caves in which they lived,
+and never a guard over them at night. Waugh! well I remember, hungry as
+I was, how the smell of Hyena fair turned my stomach, so that I had
+little longing for eating of any kind; but Rani, being older and having
+more wisdom, knew that unless we soon found some method for making a
+kill we should surely die.
+
+"That night there was a small moon as we crept down over the valley and
+up to a flat-land where the Men-kind lived in little white caves--such
+odd caves, too, in one place to-day and in another the next."
+
+"He means tents," explained Sa'-zada; "being a Cave Dweller himself,
+his knowledge of houses is limited."
+
+"It's a wonder he didn't call them trees," muttered Magh.
+
+"Hyena stole along like a shadow of nothing, so smooth and soft were
+his feet--a proper sneak, I must say I thought him even then, Cub as I
+was."
+
+"Are you listening, Jaruk?" called Magh, maliciously; "this was a
+Brother of yours who was in partnership with Chita."
+
+But Hyena only grinned a frothy laugh, and slunk over behind Sher Abi.
+
+"Well," proceeded White Leopard, "we crept along, our bellies close to
+earth, till we came to a little ledge, where Rani and I waited, while
+Jaruk stole up to the white caves to see how the stalk was.
+
+"'They sleep like the young of Owls in daytime,' he whispered when he
+returned; 'even I, who am a creature of fear, and not like you, Rani, a
+slayer of Bullocks, have rubbed my lean jaws against two fat Goats that
+are chewing the sweet cud of plenty.'"
+
+"How your mouth must have watered, White Shirt," sneered Magh.
+
+"Then Rani commenced the stalk, and I, even a Cub, though I had always
+lain hidden while she was making the kill before, followed close at her
+heels. Even now I remember just how Rani made the kill. First one paw,
+and then the other, she stretched out, and pulled herself along, with
+never so much as the rattle of a single stone. The Goats were like the
+Sahibs in the caves, safe in the conceit which comes of a full stomach.
+When Rani crouched lower than ever and braced her hind paws carefully,
+I knew that the charge was on. Waugh, waugh-houk! By the neck she had
+one--for that is the way of our kind always--and with a jerk he was
+thrown on her shoulder, and away up the hill she raced. I tried for
+the other, but, being new to the kill, missed, getting only the rope in
+my teeth. Even as I chased after Rani I could not help but laugh in
+spite of my miss, for Hyena was screaming as he ran, 'Did you get the
+fat one, the very fat one?'"
+
+"The Greedy Pig," commented Magh.
+
+"Ugh, ugh, ugh!" grunted Soor. "Why should he be likened to one of my
+kind? More like he had a paunch full of peanuts, or other filth, such
+as you carry, Miss Bleary-eye; or if he were greedy, was he not like
+unto his mate, Chita, who will eat half his own weight at a single
+kill?"
+
+"Such a row I never heard in all my life," continued White Leopard;
+"the Sahibs, and the black men who serve them, ran here and there with
+blinking red eyes in their hands----"
+
+"The Man Fire," quietly commented Mooswa.
+
+"And all at once, over to one side, there was a short growl from a
+Firestick; and a Sahib called loudly, 'I've got him! I've got him!'
+
+"I wondered what it could be, for Rani and I were together with the
+Goat. I almost hoped it was Jaruk; but he was close at our heels,
+sniffing with his hungry nose, and fairly eating the sand where some of
+the Goat's blood had trickled into it. Then all the blinking red eyes
+passed swiftly to where the Sahib was, and we heard them laughing--only
+louder than Hyena laughs.
+
+"Next day Jaruk discovered that the Sahib had killed the other Goat
+with his Firestick in the dark, thinking it was Rani.
+
+"Of course, one Goat did not keep the hunger off very long; but for
+three days we did not make another kill. Not but that we tried. Each
+night we went close to the white caves, and Jaruk--I must say he had a
+nose like a Vulture's eye--came back with a tale that the Sahibs were
+watching with their Firesticks. But the next night we got another Goat.
+Cunning Animals! but Jaruk used to laugh, and even coaxed Rani to make
+a kill of one of the Men-kind.
+
+"Then one night we crept as before, close for a kill, and Jaruk came
+back to us laughing as though there wasn't a Sahib in all the Marri
+country. Rani growled at him for a fool. Waugh-houk! did he mean to
+have us all killed with his noise? And who was to do the killing, Jaruk
+asked mockingly, for the white caves were empty, he said. The Sahibs,
+and even the black-faced kind, had all gone away, and left the Goats
+and Sheep for the pleasure of our kill.
+
+"'It's a Raji (war), I'm sure,' he said; 'and they have gone out
+amongst the Pathans to kill and be killed, and while they are at it we,
+who are possessed of a great hunger, will make a kill of the Goats and
+Sheep.'
+
+"At this we went more boldly than before; but it was only a trap. These
+of the Men-kind whom we had likened to young Owls, were up on the hill
+behind a stone sangar; and just as we came to the Goats in the bright
+moonlight there was such a crashing of Firesticks, and appearing of
+what Mooswa calls the Man Fire, that I hope I may never see it again.
+Rani was killed, as also was--which was not so bad--Jaruk the Hyena. I
+had a paw broken, which to this day makes me go lame.
+
+"Then the Men-kind rushed down, and the black-faced ones were for
+killing me also; but one of the Sahibs, speaking, said: 'This is a Cub.
+We will send him to Sa'-zada.'"
+
+White Leopard ceased speaking, and Sa'-zada, putting his hand in
+between the bars, patted his paw, and said: "Poor old Chita! it may not
+be so nice here as in your own land, but we'll see that you do not go
+hungry, anyway. Now, Rufous, my big Yellow Leopard, you should also
+have an interesting account of yourself to give."
+
+"Quite likely," exclaimed Magh; "we'll hear some more rare boasting,
+I'll warrant."
+
+"A true tale is no boast," said Mooswa, solemnly. "I, who have had
+strange adventures, think it no harm to talk them over."
+
+"Oh, you'll have a chance, Fat Nose!" retorted Magh; "but first let us
+have a good, hearty lie from Leopard."
+
+"There will be no lies," declared Sa'-zada, "for I have all these
+matters in The Book--though they are not half so interestingly written,
+I must say, as you can tell them yourselves, if you are so minded."
+
+"Phrut!" muttered Hathi through his big trunk. "We'll have the lies as
+spice--that will be when Magh's turn comes."
+
+Thus appealed to, Yellow Leopard commenced: "I came from a jungle
+land--Burma."
+
+"My home," muttered Hathi, longingly.
+
+"It may have been the year White Chita speaks of, for I remember I was
+also wondrous hungry----"
+
+"You always are," sneered Magh.
+
+"Because I have not a paunch that holds a thief's load, whether it be
+fish, fruit or filth," retorted Rufous. "But, as I was saying when this
+Goat-faced Ape interrupted me, I was hungry, and, walking through the
+thick jungle, discovered a Bullock--young, of great fatness. By a rare
+chance it seemed caught in a branch of the elephant creeper----"
+
+"Elephant what?" muttered Hathi. "Not of our kind. We have naught to do
+with the killing of any young."
+
+Sa'-zada explained: "Yellow Leopard means the giant jungle vine called
+'elephant creeper,' which runs for perhaps the length of a mile, and is
+so strong that it pulls down great trees and smothers them in its
+grasp."
+
+"Oh, jungle wood," cried Hathi, much relieved, "that's an elephant of
+another color."
+
+"I shikarried the small Bullock most carefully," continued Rufous.
+"Round and round I went, taking the wind from every quarter; there was
+the scent of nothing but the white jasmine, and the yellow-hearted
+champac. When he saw me the Bullock-young became stupid with much fear;
+the two of us stood facing each other. He pulled back tight on the
+thing that held him, watching me with eyes that seemed as big as the
+black spots on my ears. I crept closer, and closer, and closer; for
+that is always the way with my kind; whether the prey be small or
+great, we kill after the same manner always. Brothers, know you aught
+of fear? We of the Blood-kind know it well. The Bullock's legs shivered
+like leaves that tremble in the wind; and he asked me with his big eyes
+to go away and not take him by the throat for his blood. How did he
+know that, Brothers--how did he know that I was not coming like one of
+his own kind to help him in his trouble? And the fear that I speak of
+was in his eyes.
+
+"With a roar, Waugh-hough! I charged full at him; my strong jaws
+fastened on his throat, and, with a quick turn upwards, I threw him on
+his back, and his neck was broken. Ghu-r-r-r-h! Whur-r-r-h! his young
+blood was sweet as it trickled into my jaws, for I was so hungry. Not
+that I drank his blood--that is a lie of the Men-kind who know little
+of our ways."
+
+"They're all alike," chattered Magh; "they murder, and it is all right
+because they are hungry."
+
+"Yes," retorted Yellow Leopard, "if I alone made a kill perhaps that
+would be wrong; but we are all alike--it is our way of life. You are an
+evil-looking, flea-covered, pot-bellied Monkey, but your kind are all
+alike, so that is also your excuse."
+
+Hathi shoved the tip of his trunk in his mouth, pretending to pick his
+teeth, but really to smother the laughter that fairly shook his huge
+sides.
+
+"By a find of much eating!" ejaculated Gidar. "How I wish I had been
+with you, Killer of Cattle. A whole Bullock! Eating of the choicest
+kind for three days at least. Often for the length of that time have I
+searched through a famine-stricken village in my native land, and in
+the end achieved nothing, in the matter of food, but a pot of hot rice
+water thrown on my back by a Boberchie (cook)--an opium-eating stealer
+of his Master's goods."
+
+"Would that you had been in my place," sneered Yellow Leopard, "for
+even as I was going away with my kill----"
+
+"Squee-squee-squee!" interrupted Magh with a sneering laugh. "Even I,
+who am a Tree Dweller of little knowledge, knew that a tale from this
+Cut-throat would soon run into a lie of great strength. May I kiss the
+Tiger if I believe that Chita carried away a young Bullock."
+
+[Illustration: "THE THING THAT HAD ME BY THE PAW WAS OF A FIENDISH
+KIND."]
+
+"You are wrong, Magh," reproved Sa'-zada; "in my hunting days have I
+seen even Bhainsa, the tame Buffalo, who is like unto a small Elephant,
+carried a full half-mile by Bagh."
+
+"Yes," asserted Yellow Leopard, "had the kill been an Ape like unto
+Magh, I had bolted it at one mouthful lest the sight of it made me ill.
+As I was saying, I took the young Bullock in my mouth, but at the first
+step my forepaw was lifted by something of great strength. I was
+surprised, for I had seen nothing--nothing but the kill. The thing that
+had me by the paw was of a fiendish kind. Jungle-wisdom! but I was at a
+loss. Dropping my prey I tried first this way and then that to break
+away, but it gave with me every time, and when I was tired lifted me to
+my hind legs, for the pull was always upward."
+
+"Was it a Naht?" queried Hathi. "One of the Burmese jungle Spirits that
+live in the Leppan Tree?"
+
+"You were snared," declared Sa'-zada; "I know, I've seen it. A strong
+green bamboo bent down, the snare fastened to it, and once over your
+paw--no wonder you were on your hind legs most of the time like a
+dancing Dervish."
+
+"Why did you not bite it off?" queried Wolf.
+
+"Neither would you," answered Leopard; "though I tried. The evil-minded
+Men seemed to know just what I would do, and had put a big loose bamboo
+over the cord. It was always down against my paw, and simply whirled
+about from my teeth."
+
+"Why didn't you trumpet?" asked Elephant.
+
+"I haven't a bugle nose like you, Brother; but I roared till the jungle
+shook in fear--even at the risk of bringing about me the Jungle Dogs,
+who hunt in packs, as you all know."
+
+"Whee-ugh!" whined Boar; "Baola, the mad kind. Nothing can stand
+against them. When they drive, the jungle is swept clean. Better to die
+in peace than make a noise and be torn to pieces by their ugly fangs."
+
+"And who came?" queried Magh. "I suppose you were like the Bullock, and
+your eyes grew big with the fear, and you begged them to go away and
+not hurt you. It was all right when you were to make the kill
+yourself--it was fine sport. Bah! I'm glad you were snared--I hate a
+taker of life."
+
+"The Men-kind came," answered Leopard meekly, for the mention of his
+fear made him abashed; "and seeing that I was caught, a Sahib would not
+let the Black-Men kill me, but set them to make a strong Bamboo cage. I
+was put in that and sent here to Sa'-zada."
+
+"I've been thinking," began Mooswa, plaintively.
+
+"Well, now!" exclaimed Magh; "I thought you were asleep, Old Heavy-eye.
+If you think with your nose, your thoughts must have been of great
+importance."
+
+Mooswa sniffed solemnly and continued: "You said you were hungry,
+Yellow Leopard. Was it not a land of much good feeding?"
+
+"It was a bad year--a year of starvation," answered Chita. "Up to that
+time the way of my life had been smooth, for I had found the manner of
+an easy kill. To be sure, Soor is not the pick of all good food----"
+
+"'Soor,' indeed!" grunted Wild Boar. "Ugh, ugh, ugh! by the length of
+my tusks you would have found me tough eating."
+
+"You see," continued Chita, paying no attention to this interruption,
+"the wild Pigs were horrid thieves----"
+
+"You were well mated," mumbled Magh, stuffing a handful of peanut
+shells in Hathi's ear.
+
+"They used to go at night to the rice fields of the poor natives, and
+chew and chew, and grunt, and row amongst themselves, until the
+Men-kind were nearly ruined because of their greediness."
+
+"But they did not eat the natives," objected Boar.
+
+"Neither did I," protested Chita--"while the Pigs lasted," he muttered
+to himself. "Knowing of all this, I made out a new kill-plan. At the
+first beginning of dark time I would go quietly down to the rice
+fields, hide myself in the straw that was near to the place where the
+Men-kind tramped the grain from its stalk with Buffalo, and wait for
+the coming of the rice thieves. Soon one dark shadow would slip from
+the jungle, then another, and another, until they were many.
+
+"'Chop, chop, chop!' I'd hear their wet mouths going in the rice; and
+all the time growling and whining amongst themselves because of the
+labor it was, and for fear that one had better chance than another; not
+in peace, but with many rows, striking sideways at each other with
+their coarse, ugly heads."
+
+"You're a beauty!" commented Wild Boar. "When you shove your ugly face
+up to the bars the women-kind scream, and jump back--I've noticed
+that."
+
+"Presently," continued Chita, "one would come my way, seeing the great
+pile of straw, and I'd have him. Jungle Dwellers! how he'd squeal; and
+his mates would scurry away jinking and bounding like Kakur Deer.
+Cowardly swine they were. Now, Buffalo, when one of my kind charged
+them, would throw themselves together like men of the war-kind, and
+stand shoulder to shoulder."
+
+"Yes; but, great Cat," objected Boar, "you took care to seize upon a
+young one, I warrant. Suppose you come out here and try a charge with
+me. Ugh, ugh! I'll soon slit up your lean sides with my sharp tusks."
+
+"Be still!" commanded Sa'-zada; "here we are all friends, and this is
+but a tale of what has been."
+
+Chita had turned in a rage at Boar's taunt, and glared through the
+bars, his great fangs bared, and tail lashing his sides. When the
+Keeper spoke he snarled in disdain at the bristling Pig, and continued
+the story.
+
+"Then came the hungry year. At the turning of the monsoons there should
+have been rain, but no rain came. All through the cold weather the
+jungle had gone on drying up, and the grass turned brown, even to the
+color of my coat. The Tree-Crickets and Toads whistled shrill and loud,
+until the jungle was like a great nest of the sweet-feeders--the Bees.
+Then when it was time for rain there was only more dryness.
+
+"The yellow-clothed Phoongyis (Priests) prayed; and the Men-kind
+brought sweetmeats and sheet-gold to their God Buddha; but still there
+was no rain. Miles and miles I traveled for a drink; and if I made a
+kill at the pool it was nothing but skin and bones. The small Deer that
+bark, what were they? Not a mouthful. And the Pigs shriveled up until
+one might as well have eaten straw. The Nilgai and the Sambhur-deer, as
+big as you, Mooswa, went away from that land of desolation, and soon
+nothing seemed to stir in all the jungle but the Koel Bird; and his cry
+of 'fee-e-ever!' forever ringing in my ears drove me full mad.
+
+"Then it was that I stalked close to the place of the Men-kind--though
+I had never killed a Bullock before--and I made a kill. But after that
+they took the Bullocks under their houses at night, thinking I would
+not venture so close.
+
+"But hunger is the death of all fear, and even there I made a kill.
+Then again the Men-kind, in their selfishness, thought to outwit me,
+for about the small village they built a stockade."
+
+"Were there no guns?" queried Hathi. "I, who have been in a big hunt
+with the Men-kind, have had them on my back with the fierce-striking
+guns, and all that was in the jungle presently fell dead."
+
+Chita laughed disagreeably.
+
+"I almost forgot about that. One day, when they were still at the
+stockade making, I saw one of these Yellow-faced Men tying two sticks
+together and sticking them in the ground, somewhat after the fashion of
+Mooswa's hind legs. Then surely it was a gun he put in the crotch of
+the sticks, pointing at the little runway I had made for myself.
+
+"I went into the elephant-grass that grew thereabout, and watching him
+took thought of this thing. 'It is to do me harm,' I said, 'for is not
+that my road? Always now I will come a little to one side, because of
+this new thing.'
+
+"And in the evening, as I came to the village, walking through the same
+coarse grass, but to one side, mind you, there saw I two of these Men
+sitting behind this thing that was surely a gun.
+
+"Only, because of thee, Sa'-zada, perhaps this part were better not in
+the story."
+
+"If it is a true tale it is a true tale," quoth Hathi, sententiously;
+"and, as the good Sa'-zada has said, of things that have happened."
+
+"Oh, tell it all," commented the Keeper.
+
+"Only say first you were hungry," sneered Magh; "hunger covers many
+sins."
+
+"Yes; I was hungry," moaned Chita; "chee-wough! so hungry. The Bullock
+I had killed was but a collection of bones tied up in a thick skin; I
+broke a good tooth trying to get a supper off him. And were not the
+Men-kind trying to do evil for me also, little nut-eater, Magh? They
+would take my skin to the Sahib and get much profit in bounty. I heard
+them say that as I lay in the thick grass. I crept close, close----"
+
+"Behind them," volunteered Wolf, "I know. You didn't look in their
+eyes, Brother, did you?"
+
+"They were busy talking," declared Chita, "and did not look my way.
+Suddenly I sprang out just to frighten them, for they were close to the
+stockade, and one ran away."
+
+"Only one?" demanded Mooswa, simply.
+
+But Chita had gone over to the corner of his cage, and sitting down,
+was swinging his big head back and forth, back and forth, with his face
+turned to the wall, like a Dog that has been whipped.
+
+"He has caught Sa'-zada's eye," whispered Magh in Hathi's ear.
+
+"It's a nasty tale," said the Keeper, "but I think it is true."
+
+"Yes; it is true," declared Wild Boar; "that is the way of his kind."
+
+"Then," said Sa'-zada, "they got this Sahib who has written in The
+Book, and set the snare for Chita and caught him."
+
+"At any rate, you were caught," muttered Hathi; "and from what you say,
+it seems to me a change for the better."
+
+"Now, Pardus," cried the Keeper, gently tapping Panther's tail, which
+hung through between the bars, "tell us of the manner of your taking."
+
+"I was caught twice," replied Pardus, blinking his eyes lazily, and
+yawning until the great teeth shone white against his black coat; "but
+you are right to call me Panther, for I am no Leopard. And it is so hot
+here and dry; quite like the place they took me to--they of the black
+faces--when I was first caught, being not more than a full-grown Cub,
+as was White Leopard. That was at Vizianagram, up in the hills; but the
+hills were not like White Leopard's, all hot and dry. The jungle was
+cool and fresh, and full of dark places to hide in, with deep pools of
+sweet water that one might drink after a kill. Here the Birds do
+nothing but scream and scold; Hornbill, and Cockatoo, and Eagle make my
+head ache with their harsh voices; there, if a Bird had occasion to
+speak, it was a song about the sweet land he lived in. It is well
+enough for Hathi to say that being trapped and brought here is a piece
+of great luck; for my part, all day long I do nothing but think, think
+of the Madras Hills. There were mango and tamarind, and peepul, and
+huge banyan trees, with strong limbs stretching so far that one could
+walk out full over the Deer paths, and wait in sweet content for a
+kill. Perhaps even a big family of bamboos growing up about one's
+resting-place, and whispering when the wind blew, and closing up their
+thick green leaves to make shade when the sun shone.
+
+"Even where the Men-kind came and sought to grow raji were plantain
+trees and palm trees--Urgh-h-ah! why should there be anything but
+jungle all over the world, it is so beautiful?"
+
+"Don't cry about it, Little Bagheela," sneered Magh, "for surely
+there's some sort of a story, some wondrous lie, in that head of
+yours."
+
+"True," continued Pardus, as though he had not caught Magh's
+observation, "there were disagreeable things even there. Of course, it
+will always be that way when the Bandar-log, the Monkeys, are about.
+Silly-headed thieves, they were doing no manner of good to any one; but
+more than once, when I've lain for hours waiting for the chance of a
+small kill, and the time of the eating had drawn near, everything would
+be upset by the mad laugh of Lungour, the Bandar-log.
+
+"But I was caught, as Leopard has said, through the coming together of
+a lean stomach and a trap of the Men-kind--neither a snare, nor the
+Fire-stick, but a cage with a door that fell. True, inside was a Goat,
+but what mattered that once the door was down?
+
+"Then they brought me down to the Raja's palace in the Plains.
+Stricken land! that was a place for any one to choose as a
+home--nothing but red earth, with less growth than there is on the end
+of my nose. The Men-kind lived in great square caves that blared white
+in the sun. Me-thinks White Leopard would have felt more at home there
+than I did."
+
+"What did those of our kind eat?" queried Hathi. "Also, where the
+Men-kind are is the Animal they call Horse, who is a Grass-eater--was
+there no grass?"
+
+"Scarce any," answered Pardus; "the Black-faced ones ran here and there
+with sharp claws, taking up the poor grass by the root, and all for the
+Raja's stables."
+
+"What did they do with you, Bagheela?" asked Magh, anxious to hear the
+story, for she was getting sleepy.
+
+"Put me in a cage in the rose garden, where were others of my
+kind--only they were of the color of Yellow Leopard. Of course, at
+first I thought it was because the Raja was not hungry, and would eat
+me another day; but in the next cage was a Leopard who had been there a
+long time, and he told me why we were shut up that way. 'It's for
+shikar,' he said. 'Soon all the Sahibs will gather, and we will be
+turned loose, and they will kill us with spears and the firestick.'"
+
+"That's right," commented Sa'-zada, nodding his head, "I've seen it;
+also is it written in The Book. The Raja was a great sportsman, and
+each year at Christmas time they had a hunt of this kind."
+
+"My Mate taught me a trick or two that helped pass the time," continued
+Black Panther. "'Bagheela,' he said to me, 'they will come to us here
+on Horses; you who have the end cage may perchance keep your hand in,
+and forget not the manner of a quick clutch with your paw. First, purr
+and look sleepy,' he advised; 'second, never strike when the Horse is
+beyond reach, for he is a creature of much fear; third, wait, wait,
+wait--have patience, Little Bagheela. Also, from in front nothing is
+done; but stand you ready at the end of your cage, which is a wall,
+because there they cannot see you, and if the Man comes close, strike
+quick and sure, for of this manner there is never but one chance.'
+
+"Now, it happened that a fat Sahib came often to the cage, and I could
+see that it was to teach the Horses not to be afraid of us. It was hard
+to mind what my Mate said, for the Sahib poked me in the ribs with a
+stick, or tickled me in the face with his riding-whip; but Yellow
+Leopard was always whispering through his whiskers, 'Wait, wait,
+wait--have patience, Little Bagheela.'"
+
+"This is a long tale," whined Magh, sleepily.
+
+"Keep still, Little One," objected Hathi, "no great stalk is ever done
+in a hurry."
+
+"One day," continued Pardus, "I heard the Horse coming by the end of my
+cage.
+
+"'Quick! Up!' called my Mate, Yellow Leopard.
+
+"Like a spring on a Buck I was up on my hind legs against the end wall,
+just at the last iron bar, ready. Around the corner came the Sahib
+quite close. It was a new Horse, and he thought to take pleasure out of
+frightening the poor Animal by a sudden sight of us.
+
+"Waugh-houk! With a strong reach I had the Sahib by the leg.
+
+"Whoo-whoo, waugh-waugh, whoo-o-o-o-waugh! how he roared. Of course, I
+did not get him altogether, for the Horse saved his life by jumping
+sideways. I licked the blood that was on my claws, and Yellow Leopard
+and I both laughed till the Keeper came running with a sharp iron bar."
+
+"I warrant you didn't laugh then," chimed in Magh.
+
+"No; he beat me, though it was all Yellow Leopard's fault. The fat
+Sahib swore that he would have the first spear in when I was let out at
+the time of the hunt. He was for having me killed in the cage; but the
+Raja said, 'No; his turn will come in the Shikar'; and when the Raja
+spoke there was an end of all argument.
+
+"'Little Bagheela,' said Yellow Leopard to me, 'we will get away to the
+jungles together at the hunt time. If they let you out first--never
+fear, Little One, you will have a start, for that is the Raja's way,
+we are to have a show for our lives, though I warrant one cannot get
+very far in five minutes--do you run very fast, and when you have come
+to the small mud-caves of the Black-kind, hide in the place where the
+Bullocks are kept. They will not look for you there, and not finding
+you they will come back, thinking you have gone to the jungles. When I
+am let out, I, too, will go that way, and together nothing will stand
+between us and the hills. Should I go first I will wait for you.'
+
+"Then one day a cage that was on wheels was put against the door behind
+which I was kept, and with bars that were hot they drove me into it.
+Then I was taken out to the fields, and when the Sahibs--there were
+many of them--had gone back on the road, the door was opened. Would you
+believe it, Friends, though I had been eating my heart out behind the
+bars yonder, now that I had the chance, I was almost afraid to venture
+on the plain. Even as I crept forth, a yellow-leafed bush suddenly bent
+in the wind, and I sprang into the air as though it were the charge of
+a Wild Boar----"
+
+"Listen to that, Friends," grunted Soor; "of all Jungle Dwellers, he
+has most fear of me."
+
+"But remembering what Yellow Leopard had said, I ran swiftly toward the
+little village that was between me and the hills; but not straight in
+the open, mind you--I had not lived by the kill in the jungle for
+nothing. First I leaped full over a long line of the fierce-pointed
+aloe bush----"
+
+"Phrut! I know that plant," muttered Hathi; "it has points sharper than
+the goad of any Mahout. Sore toes! but I know it well."
+
+"Even so," continued Pardus, "I ran swiftly along in the shadow of
+this, and soon found a Bullock cave such as Yellow Leopard spoke of. In
+the end the Men-kind could not find me, for I lay still, though once I
+heard the voice of the fat Sahib quite close, swearing that he longed
+for a sight of the 'black brute.' That was not my name, for I am Pardus
+the Panther.
+
+"After a little I heard more shouting; then there was a rustling noise
+which I knew was the gallop of Yellow Leopard. He was calling as he
+ran, 'Ehow-Ehow-Hough, Bagheela!' just as we call to our Mates in the
+jungle.
+
+"'A-Houk! here am I,' I cried, rushing out, thinking that we would soon
+be safe in the cool jungle again. And away we dashed. By the loss of a
+Kill! we had not gone far till almost in front of us we saw the fat
+Sahib and three others on their Horses full in our path.
+
+"'Oh-ho, my Black Beauty!' he cried, when he saw me; 'now we'll wipe
+out the score.'"
+
+"That's like the Men-kind," growled Raj Bagh, the Tiger; "they cage us
+and kill us, and if we so much as raise a claw in defence of our lives
+we are reviled, and they have a score against us to wipe out."
+
+[Illustration: "AND AWAY WE DASHED."]
+
+"Yes," asserted Pardus, "and long holding in their hate, too. If we
+fail in a kill, do we go long hungered, turning from everything else
+until we have slain the one that has escaped us? But there was the fat
+Sahib, who had not gone back with the others, but was still searching
+to kill me, Black Panther. Surely that was not what they call shikar
+(sport), but a matter of hate he had laid up against me."
+
+"You should have taken his beatings," declared Hathi, "even as I have,
+more times than there are tusks to your paws; phrut, phrut! it has
+always been that way with us Jungle Dwellers. When the Sahib beat us it
+is evil fortune if we do not let it rest at that. True, there was a
+Mahout once that went too far--but what am I saying? surely I am half
+asleep. It is your story, Bagheela--you were saying that the fat Sahib
+had killed you--I mean----"
+
+"Yes," said Pardus, "the fat Sahib--I stopped; so did Yellow Leopard,
+with an angry growl. Then behind I heard a little trumpet from Hathi."
+
+"Not me," exclaimed the big Elephant; "I wasn't there."
+
+"Most surely it is a wondrous lie," declared Magh; "and now he asks
+Ganesh to say he was there and saw it."
+
+"No, no!" interrupted Sa'-zada, "it was another Elephant."
+
+"Even so," affirmed Pardus; "and on his back was the Raja, coming in
+great haste.
+
+"'Charge!' roared Yellow Leopard to me, and with a rush that was full
+of wickedness he went straight for the fat Sahib; and before I knew how
+it was done, had broken his neck with the hold that we all know so
+well.
+
+"The Raja, without waiting for Hathi to kneel, jumped from his back,
+and rushing like the charge of a Sambhur, drove his spear through
+Yellow Leopard as he still held the Sahib by the throat, and killed
+him. Well I remember the spear was buried head deep in the ground.
+
+"In fear, I raced back to the mud-caves in which were the Bullocks; and
+they brought the cage again and put it to the door. But I was afraid to
+enter till they dropped fire on me from above. Then I was taken back to
+my old quarters, and in the end sent here to Sa'-zada."
+
+"It's a pity the Sahib was killed," said the Keeper; "it was a horrible
+death."
+
+"I was sorry for Yellow Leopard," declared Pardus, "for he tried to get
+me away with him to the jungles."
+
+"Chee-chee! but I am sleepy," yawned Magh, sliding down Hathi's trunk
+with the Pup under her arm. "These tales of killings are enough to make
+one have bad dreams."
+
+"Dreams!" exclaimed Sher Abi, opening his eyes, for he had been sound
+asleep; "to be sure, to be sure! I've had a very bad dream. One should
+not eat so much; but after all, I suppose it is the feathers that are
+indigestible. E-ugh-h! Sa'-zada, could you not pluck the chickens
+before you give them me to eat? There was a time when I could
+digest----"
+
+"Oh, move along, Magar!" interrupted Sa'-zada; "it is bed-time now.
+You'll have a chance to talk some other night."
+
+And presently the Animal town of the Greater City was quiet, save for
+the bubble of Camel's long throat, and the gentle snore of Hathi's
+pendulous nose. The moon blinked curiously through the whispering
+leaves, and over all there was the solemn hush that comes in the night
+when the days are days of fierce heat.
+
+
+
+
+Second Night
+
+The Story of Hathi Ganesh, the White-Eared Elephant
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SECOND NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF HATHI GANESH, THE WHITE-EARED ELEPHANT
+
+
+It was very hot. The Summer moon, pushing lazily through the whispering
+tracery of tall elm trees that cut the night sky, fell upon the same
+group of forest friends gathered in front of Tiger's cage that had been
+there the previous evening, when the Leopard brothers had discoursed so
+pleasantly of their Jungle life.
+
+"What is the tale to-night, Sa'-zada, loved Master?" asked Magh, the
+Ourang-Outang, standing with one hand on Mooswa's back, who was lying
+down.
+
+"It is the talk of Hathi," answered the Keeper.
+
+Hathi could be heard blowing softly through his trunk to clear his
+throat, then he began his story:
+
+"We were a mighty herd, all of forty, with two great Bulls in charge, I
+remember; though to be sure when it came to be a matter of danger they
+seemed to forget all about being in charge and cleared off as fast as
+they could. I soon got to know that the herd was very proud of me."
+
+"I should think they would be, my big beauty," cried Magh, patting his
+forehead affectionately.
+
+"You see," continued Hathi, "these white and pink spots all over my
+neck and ears were a sign that great luck had come to the herd. Even
+the Men-kind--but that, of course, I discovered years after at
+Ava--even the Men-kind looked upon me as sacred, being a White
+Elephant. Besides, I had but the one tusk, the right, and that is why I
+am Ganesh, the Holy One.
+
+"We wandered about in the Jungle, and when we Babe Elephants were
+tired, the whole herd waited until we had rested and fed. That's why
+the Bulls had nothing to do with leading the herd. They knew little of
+what a calf could stand, so Mah, my Mother, always gave the signal when
+we were to start or stop. I think she was very proud of being the
+mother of the lucky Calf.
+
+"But it was a lovely land to dwell in; all hills and valleys with
+plenty of cover; and down in the flat lands the Men grew raji and rice,
+and plantains.
+
+"I think there must be some very wise animal who arranges all these
+things--puts each one in the Jungle he likes best. Pardus was happy in
+his hills, and White Chita liked the snow mountains, and Yellow Leopard
+the rice fields; and Mooswa has told me when we've talked together,
+that on the far side of his lands are the loveliest spruce forests any
+Moose could wish to live in."
+
+"Perhaps it was Sa'-zada or one of his kind," ventured Muskwa, the
+Bear.
+
+"It is God who arranges it," declared the Keeper, in a soft voice.
+
+"I don't know who that may be," muttered Hathi, "but I thought there
+was someone. Such a lovely Jungle it was; tall teak trees and pinkado,
+and Telsapa from which the Men-kind drew oil for their fires.
+
+"For days, and weeks, and months it would be hot and dry; and then
+three times the big flower would come out on the padouk tree, and all
+the Elephants would laugh and squeal with their trunks, for they knew
+the rain would surely come. Yes, when we could see for the third time a
+big cluster of flowers, patter, patter on the leaves we could hear the
+rain, and soon drip, drip, drip, trickle it would come down on our
+backs, washing the dust and little sticks out of every wrinkle until
+even the old Bulls would commence to play like Calves.
+
+"We finally came to a big river early in the morning, and every one
+went in for a wash. Mind, I was only a babe about the size of a
+Buffalo. The old ones lay down in the river, just keeping their trunks
+out to breathe, and I thought to do the same, of course; but when I
+flopped over on my side--bad footing! there was nothing anywhere but
+soft, slippery water--there was quite a thousand miles of it, and dark
+as the blackest night. I could see nothing, hear nothing only the
+angry talk of the water that ran fast. They said that I screamed like a
+young pig. Then something strong grabbed me by the hind leg, and pulled
+me out up on the bank--it was Mah. She scolded roundly. Then she
+spanked me good and hard.
+
+"All that season I was not allowed to go in the water again. Mah washed
+me down with her trunk, squirting the water over me.
+
+"The eating was sweet in those Jungles; but best of all I liked the
+young plantains when they were just beyond the blossom age, all wrapped
+up in a big leaf, and juicy, and sweet.
+
+"The first happening was from an evil-minded Bagh (tiger). That evening
+I had wandered a little to one side, not knowing it, and Bagh, with a
+fierce word in his big throat, jumped full on my head. Of course I
+screamed----"
+
+"Like a Pig," interjected Boar.
+
+"Like a Babe Hathi," corrected Elephant. "And Mah, who had been looking
+for me, just in the nick of time threw Bagh many yards into the Jungle
+with her trunk. I don't know how other animals get along without a
+trunk; it seems just suited for every purpose.
+
+[Illustration: "THEN SOMETHING STRONG GRABBED ME BY THE HIND LEG, AND
+PULLED ME ..."]
+
+"The next happening was worse, for it came from the Men-kind. It was a
+hot, hot day. We were all standing on a hill in the shade of trees,
+flapping our ears to keep the flies off, when suddenly Old Bull kinked
+his head sideways, whistled softly through his trunk, and we all
+stopped flapping to listen. Even Calf as I was, I knew there was some
+danger near. In the wind there was nothing--nothing unusual, just the
+sweet scent of the tiny little white flowers that grow close to the
+short grass. But Old Bull was afraid; he gave a signal for us to move,
+and we started.
+
+"In a minute there was an awful cracking like the breaking of a tree,
+only different, and we all ran here, there, everywhere. Of course since
+that, having been taken in the hunt by the Men-kind, I know it was a
+gun, as they call it.
+
+"Old Bull charged straight for a little white cloud that rose from
+where the noise had been; then crack! crack! crack! the guns trumpeted
+all over the Jungle--but I won't tell any more of that happening,
+because Old Bull was killed; and Mah, too--though the Men-kind said
+afterwards, so I've heard, that it was a mistake, as they only killed
+Bulls, being white hunters, for the sake of the feet and tusks.
+
+"It was late in the evening before the herd gathered again, and we
+traveled far, fearing the evil of the Men-kind."
+
+"Was there no evil with your own people?" queried Wolf. "Just feeding,
+and nothing else?"
+
+"Well," answered Hathi, hesitatingly, "sometimes in a herd there grows
+up one who is a 'Rogue.' We had one such, I remember. But that also
+came about because of the Men-kind--a yellow man. It was a Hill-man,
+and when this Rogue of whom I speak--he also was a Bull--was just full
+grown, a matter of perhaps twenty years, this Hill-man thrust into his
+head, from a distance, too, being seated in a tree, an arrow.
+
+"The arrow remaining there as it did, caused this Bull to become of an
+evil temper. Quarreling, quarreling always, butting his huge head into
+a comrade because of a mere nothing; and with his tusks putting his
+mark on many of us without cause; sometimes it would be a kick from his
+forefoot, or a slap of his trunk. When we were near to the places of
+the Men-kind he would wallow in the rice fields, and pull up the young
+plantain trees by the roots, even knock the queer little houses they
+lived in to pieces, for they were but of bamboo and leaves. Of course
+the dwellers ran for their lives, and sometimes brought fire, and made
+noise with their guns, and beat gongs to frighten him away.
+
+"Many times we drove him forth from the herd; and sometimes he stayed
+away himself for days, sulky. In the end we lost him altogether, and we
+were all glad; but strange as it may appear, I saw him again in Rangoon
+in the timber yards. That was after I was caught."
+
+"Tell us about that happening," pleaded Sa'-zada, "for it is even not
+written in The Book."
+
+"I was taken in a manner full of deceit, and because I had faith in
+those of my own kind. I was, perhaps, fifteen or twenty years old at
+the time--but in a Hathi's life a year or two is of no moment, for we
+are long-lived--and what might be called second in charge of the herd,
+a condition of things which I resented somewhat, but the Herd Bull had
+been leader while I was growing up, so there was no just claim on my
+part really.
+
+"And it happened in our wanderings that we came not far from the
+greatest of all the Men's places in that land, Ava (Mandalay). One day
+as I was pulling down the young bamboos and stripping the feathered
+top, a strange _Hathni_ (female elephant) came to me and put her trunk
+softly on my neck. She was all alone, and I felt sorry for her;
+besides, she was nice--showed me such lovely places for good feeding. I
+spent a whole day with her, and the next day, too, and as we went
+through the jungle, suddenly we came to a sort of immense, strong
+_hauda_. It wasn't a bit like the Men's _haudas_ that they live in,
+else I should never have been deceived; great trunks of trees growing
+up out of the ground straight, and close together, but no branches or
+leaves to them; as square on top as the end of my leg. This
+queer-looking jungle thing troubled me. 'What is it?' I asked Hathni.
+
+"'It's my home,' she replied; 'come in, Comrade.'"
+
+"And of course the woman had her way," remarked Sa'-zada; "you went
+into the parlor, Hathi, old chap, I suppose."
+
+"Not by that name knew I it, Sa'-zada; they called it a Keddah, as I
+found out. But I went in."
+
+"And was caged," laughed Black Chita.
+
+"Inside," continued Hathi, "was a winding path, and Hathni trotted down
+this so fast that I lost her. A great wooden gate dropped behind me,
+and I knew that I was in a trap. It was a big place, but no openings to
+get out.
+
+"Then the Men-kind showed their yellow faces all over the walls, just
+like _Hanumen_--the gray-whiskered Monkey of those parts.
+
+"'A White Elephant at last, at last!' they cried; 'now will the King be
+pleased.'
+
+"I was left alone that night, but the next day the Men-kind came with
+two ruffianly Bulls of my kind who bunted and bustled me about, and
+fought me, while the men slipped great strong ropes over my legs. In a
+week I was that tired and sore from this treatment that I was ready to
+go any place. Then I was taken to Ava; and such doings! I dislike to
+tell it all; it's hardly modest.
+
+"They put a silk covering over me to keep the Flies off, and a garland
+of white jasmine flowers about my neck--sweet-smelling flowers they
+were; in my ears two big red stones of the ruby kind were placed; and
+always as I walked a great silk umbrella was over my head. And as for
+eating--humpf, humpf, humpf! they just made me ill with sweets to be
+eaten out of gold dishes."
+
+[Illustration: "TWO RUFFIANLY BULLS ... FOUGHT ME WHILE THE MEN SLIPPED
+GREAT STRONG ROPES OVER MY LEGS."]
+
+"Is this a true tale, O Sa'-zada?" queried Black Leopard. "For one of
+the jungle folk it is a strange happening."
+
+"It is true," replied the Keeper; "that was the way with the White
+Elephant at the Burma King's court, it is written in another book I
+have read."
+
+"And no one was allowed to ride on my back but the King," declared
+Hathi, "excepting, of course, the Mahout. As I walked I was afraid of
+stepping on some one; the Men-kind were forever flopping down on their
+knees to worship me. It was this way for years; then one season there
+came war; great guns spoke with a roar louder than Bagh's; and vast
+herds of the white-faced Men-kind came, letting free the blood of the
+yellow-faced ones; and in the end I was taken away, and sent down to
+Rangoon, and put to work in the timber yards. There was no worship, and
+few sweetmeats, and for silk covering I was given a harness with
+leather collar and chain traces. It was like being back in the jungle
+again--I was just a common Hathi, only I was called there Raj Singh.
+
+"It was at that time I met the Bull who was a Rogue. He was also
+working in the timber yards, but it had done him much good--his temper
+was improved."
+
+"Was it kind treatment cured him?" asked Sa'-zada.
+
+"No," replied Hathi; "they whipped him into a gentle behavior. Two big
+Bulls with heavy iron chains swinging from their trunks thrashed him
+until he promised to cease making trouble. But one day he broke out
+bad, and smashed everything--tore the Master's dogcart to pieces,
+knocked the Cooly's _haudas_ down, and trumpeted like an evil jungle
+spirit. He even killed his Mahout, which was a silly thing, though he
+declared his driver, the Mahout, sitting up on his back, one foot on
+either side, had prodded viciously at his head until poor Rogue's blood
+was on fire.
+
+"But in the end they sent me away to Sa'-zada, and I am quite content";
+and reaching his big trunk over to the Keeper, Hathi caressed the
+latter's cheek lovingly.
+
+"Oh, we are all content," declared Magh; "for Sa'-zada is a kind and
+gentle Master."
+
+"Now, all to your cages and your pens," cried the Keeper, "for it is
+late. To-morrow night, perhaps, we shall have the tale of Gidar, the
+Jackal."
+
+
+
+
+Third Night
+
+The Stories of Gidar, the Jackal, and Coyote, the Prairie Wolf
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THIRD NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF GIDAR, THE JACKAL, AND COYOTE, THE PRAIRIE WOLF
+
+
+"To-night," commenced Sa'-zada, "we are to have the interesting life
+story of the two half-brothers, Gidar and Coyote."
+
+"A thief's tale of a certainty," chuckled Magh.
+
+"In my land, which was Burma, there were none so useful as we," began
+Gidar. "Not of high repute our mission, perhaps, but still useful,
+being scavengers; and to this end we are all born with a fair appetite;
+but useful always, even Bagh knows that. I was Lieutenant to one of his
+kind--a great killer he was--for a matter of two years. Then he came by
+way of a dispute with the Men-kind, and they finished him in short
+order.
+
+"Now, you know, Brothers, our kind have steadily worked southward from
+India, pushing into new lands from all time, even like the Sahibs,
+until we are now half down through Burma. It must be a dull land that
+has not our sweet song at night. If there were but a Pack here now we'd
+sing you a rare chorus."
+
+"I've heard the song," quoth Bagh; "it's wretched."
+
+"How goes it?" asked Wolf. "Our Pack has a cry of great strength; the
+'bells of the forest,' the Redmen call it."
+
+"It's somewhat this way," said Jackal, and sitting on his haunches he
+raised his long, sharp nozzle high in air, stretching his lean throat
+toward the moon that glinted fretfully through the swaying trees; and
+on the still, quiet night air floated his cry of far-off India:
+
+     "'_Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-o!
+     I smell a dead Hindoo-oo!_'
+
+"That would be my cry, Brothers. Then from all quarters of the jungle
+the Pack would take up the song and sing back:
+
+     "'_Where, where, where, where, where, where?_'
+
+"And I would answer back cheerily:
+
+     "'_Here, here, here, here, here, here!_'
+
+"Then all together we would sing with all our lungs:
+
+     "'_Oo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-h
+     Mussulman or Hind-oo?
+     Here, there, or anywhere,
+     All flesh is flesh, we do not care._'"
+
+"A charming song," sneered Magh.
+
+"Ah, I cannot give it right; you should have heard it, little
+Eater-of-sour-fruit, in the dead closeness of a Burman jungle, from the
+many throats of a hungry Pack.
+
+"The people of that land liked the song full well, and they never
+molested us. But life was one continuous struggle for food. We were not
+slayers like Chita, or Bagh, or Python; or stealers of crops like Boar
+and Rogue Hathi; almost as simple in our way of life as Mooswa.
+
+"I remember once a fat Dog-pup of the Terrier kind, which I bagged. It
+was all the fault of the Pup's master; he tried to kill me."
+
+"You had probably been singing to him," said Sa'-zada.
+
+"We had, I admit," answered Jackal. "It was on Borongo Island; two men,
+Sahibs they were called there, you know, lived in a bungalow built on
+high posts, after the manner of all houses in that land. The bungalow
+was built on the shore, and every day the water came up under it, and
+then went back again. This was a most wise arrangement of the water's
+traveling, for it threw up many a dead Fish and Crab for our eating.
+
+"Well I remember the cook-house was a little to one side from the
+bungalow, with a poor, ill-conditioned bamboo door to it. Regularly,
+doing our scavenger work, we used to clean up that cook-house, eating
+everything the servant-kind had not devoured. Several times I made a
+great find in that very place, for the cook, it appears, was a most
+forgetful fellow. When there was nothing left for us in the way of
+food, we'd carry off the pots and pans into the jungle grass; why, I
+hardly know, but it seemed proper to do so.
+
+"Neither do I know which of the Pack first started singing under the
+bungalow; but this also afforded us much content. Many hours on in the
+dark we'd all steal gently down from the jungle, and gather under the
+house. Then, as one, we'd give voice to the hunger cry together, until
+even the Sahibs would shout in fear. It was good to make the Men-kind
+afraid; but also we would flee swiftly, for the two Sahibs would rush
+out like a jackal that had suddenly become possessed of much poisoned
+meat, and 'bang, bang, bang' with the guns.
+
+"I had much to do with Men, and just when I thought they were full
+cross because of our serenade, what was my surprise to find each
+evening a full measure of rice put in a certain place for me. 'It is
+full of the datura' (poison), I thought, and watched while a lean
+Pariah Dog from the village ate it. But there was nothing wrong with
+it. So the next evening I made haste to get a full share of it myself.
+As I ate, hurriedly I must say, twang-g! came a mighty Boar-spear.
+
+"But only the shaft of it struck my back, so I made off with great
+diligence. I heard the Sahib say as he picked up the spear, 'Missed
+him, by Jove!' You see, he had been hiding in a corner of the bungalow.
+But I was hungry, and the rice was good--most delicious--so I crept
+back with two comrades, and keeping to the thick grass, stalked the
+bungalow most carefully. I saw the Sahibs all at their eating, for the
+door was open, it being hot; you see, he thought I wouldn't come back
+so soon.
+
+"'I will eat with you,' I said, and made straight for the rice; but it
+was nearly all gone; the Terrier Pup of which I have spoken, and which
+belonged to this very Sahib who had thrown the spear, was just
+finishing his Master's bait.
+
+"'Oh, you wicked Dog!' I said, 'to steal my supper this way,' and
+knowing that his master was in the habit of throwing spears at that
+very spot, I picked him up and carried him to the jungle for safety.
+
+"'Oh, oh E-u-u-h!' how he squealed, and the Men-kind left their eating,
+and came rushing after us with much shouting, but it was dark and they
+had no chance of catching us."
+
+"And you ate the poor little fellow?" asked Mooswa.
+
+"Horrible!" cried Magh, "to eat a Dog."
+
+"Not at all bad stuffed with rice, I assure you," declared Gidar. "For
+a day or two I kept more or less out of the way; I was afraid the
+Sahibs might be very angry.
+
+"It was two nights after this I discovered more rice some distance from
+the bungalow in a pail which was sunk in the ground, and over this
+stood a couple of posts that had not been there before. I remembered
+that, so I sat by quietly watching this new thing, and trying to decide
+what it might be.
+
+"Now the Sahibs had two pigs, and as I watched, along came these two,
+grunting, and shoving things about with their long noses, and presently
+one of them discovered the rice in the pail.
+
+"'Ugh, ugh, ugh!' said he, 'just a mouthful of this will do me good.'
+You know, of course, a pig eats first and thinks after, so in this case
+he plunged his big head in the pail, and 'zip! whang!' went something,
+and before I could jump to my feet he was dangling in the air hung by
+the neck; he didn't even have a chance to squeal. Of course his mate
+took to his heels and cleared out, while I finished the rice, knowing
+the evil was in the custody of my Squeaker friend. In the morning the
+Pig was dead."
+
+"It's a fine thief's tale," commented Magh, "but in the end they caught
+you right enough."
+
+"Not there," corrected Gidar; "that was another place. A Sahib who had
+come to the jungle seeking dwellers for such places as this, made the
+taking; but with him one might as well be caught first as last, for he
+knew more of our ways than we knew of his. Now let Coyote speak; I am
+tired."
+
+"Does Coyote come from Burma, too, O Sa'-zada?" queried Magh.
+
+"No, he's from Mooswa's country; from the great plains away in the far
+West. There is not much in The Book about Coyote; that is, not much
+that's good."
+
+"I knew it," laughed Magh; "I've watched him there in his cage which is
+opposite mine, day after day, and I never saw a smile on his face."
+
+"You should be put in the cage with Hyena," declared Coyote, "if you
+think an animal has got to grin all the time to be of fair nature. Or
+of what use are you, little pot-belly, or the whole of your
+tribe--Hanuman, Hooluk, or Chimpanzee--none of you worth the nuts you
+eat; and yet you're always grinning and chattering, and playing fool
+tricks about the cage. You're a fine one to judge your fellow
+creatures."
+
+"Coyote just sits there and scratches Fleas, and growls, and snaps at
+his mate--he's a low-born sort of Wolf," continued Magh.
+
+"He's not of our kind," declared Wolf; "it's all a lie."
+
+"Never mind, never mind," cried Sa'-zada, "no doubt like all the rest
+of us he has his good and bad qualities."
+
+"I was once starving," resumed Coyote. "You who have lived in a warm
+land where something is growing all the year round, know nothing of the
+hunger that comes when the fierce blizzard blots out everything, and
+there is only snow, snow, everywhere. Can one eat snow? It's all very
+fine for you with a paunch full of candy to sit there and prate about
+stealing, but if Wie-sak-ke-chack puts the hunger pains in one's
+stomach and the fat bacon--Ghurr-h-h! but the juice of it is sweet when
+one is near dead--puts the fat bacon behind log walls, what is one to
+do, eh? Does a fellow dig, dig, dig through earth so hard that he must
+bite it out with his teeth, dig deep under the log walls for sport as
+the Cubs play in the sunshine, or just to steal? Bah, you who have
+never known hunger know not of this thing. Why, once when the ground
+was frozen hard, and I was dying inch by inch, some fierce-toothed
+Animal inside me biting, biting--only of course it was the hunger
+chewing at my stomach--I dove fair through the window of a log shack to
+get at the meat inside. The glass cut me, to be sure, but that was
+nothing to the hunger pain that goes on, on, never ceasing until there
+is food, or one is dead.
+
+"I saved a man's life once at a post called Stand-Off. The place came
+by its name in the days of a mighty fight when my Man and his comrades
+stood off the Mounted Police. These Men had been given as bad a name as
+Coyotes even. My Man may have been bad, too; but how was I to know,
+being only a Coyote? He was always throwing me bones and pieces of
+bread, and whistling to me, and calling me Jack.
+
+"Now this place Stand-Off was on the river flat, and one night in
+spring-time I heard a great flood coming down the Belly River. It was a
+still night, and the noise of the rushing water came to my ears for
+miles, but the Men heard it not, for they were all in the Shacks. Fast
+I galloped down over the flat near to the Shack where was this Man who
+had often thrown me a bone. I whimpered, and whistled, and barked the
+danger call, and howled the death-coming song, and finally my friend
+came to the door and threw a stick of wood at me, and spoke fierce
+oaths. Then he shut the door. I could hear the roaring getting louder
+and louder, and knew that soon it would be too late for all the
+Men-kind; not that I cared, except for this one. On one side of the
+town was the swift-running Belly River, and beyond a high-cut bank; on
+my side was the flat land that would soon be many feet deep with ice
+and rushing water. So I howled louder than ever, and he came out and
+strove to kill me with a Firestick, but I only ran a little piece into
+the darkness, and howled again.
+
+"Being a Man of much temper he chased me, and the noise brought out the
+others, for they thought it was Indians. I sought to lead him over to
+the side of the flat land which was next the sloping hill, knowing full
+well that the new water would flow there first.
+
+"All at once he ceased running behind me, and I, who was listening,
+knew that he scarce breathed he was that still. Now, he will hear it,
+I thought; and in an instant I heard him cry to the others: 'Boys, we
+must pull out from this--there's a devil of a freshet coming.' That was
+the way of the Men from Stand-Off; many strange words of a useless
+need.
+
+"I tell you, Comrades, it was soon an awful night; here and there the
+Men ran trying to save something--their Horses and guns for most part,
+even some of the evil firewater; and the strong swearings they used
+sounded but just as the whimpering of Wolf Pups, the wind was that
+fierce, carrying the dreadful roar of the Chinook flood.
+
+"You who have heard Bagh and Hathi scolding at each other, with perhaps
+Black Panther and Bald Eagle taking part, may know somewhat the like of
+that night's noises.
+
+"Seeing that my Man was coming riding swiftly on his Cayuse, I, too,
+ran quickly for the upland; but, as I have said, just in the hollow
+which was there, being the trail where once had run the river, the
+flood was rushing even as I have seen it in the foot-hills--the flat
+land was surrounded.
+
+"As the Men galloped up they stopped, and spoke evil words at the
+flood, rushing up and down looking for a ford. I also was afraid to
+cross.
+
+"Suddenly I thought me of a place I knew well lower down, wondrous like
+a Beaver dam, though I think there had been no Beavers in the land
+since Chief Mountain was a hole in the ground. I barked, to call my Man
+friend, and ran toward this spot.
+
+[Illustration: "I HEARD MY MAN SAY ... 'STRIKE ME DEAD IF HE
+HASN'T ...'"]
+
+"'There goes that locoed Coyote,' I heard him say; 'he's trailing for a
+crossing; damned if I don't follow him. Come on, you fellows,' and
+after me they galloped like madmen.
+
+"Just below the place that was like a dam the water was not too bad,
+for the ice had jammed up above, and it was spreading out all over the
+flat. I plunged in, for, Comrades, it was a time of great hurry.
+Swimming a river is not of my liking--none of my kind like it--but this
+seemed an evil night altogether, with no choice but to reach the
+uplands.
+
+"'Sure thing! the Coyote's dead to rights on this outfit,' I heard my
+Man say; and wallow, wallow, in the bronchos came, splashing and
+snorting. And so we crossed just as the ice broke in the jam, and swept
+down like the swift rolling of many stones. I heard my Man say as they
+all got down from the horses to empty the water out of their long
+boots, 'If I ever clap peeps on to that Coyo again, I'll shove grub
+pile into him till he busts. Strike me dead if he hasn't saved the
+whole outfit of us.'
+
+"Anyway I knew there would be much feeding and no harm if I kept close
+to these evil Men-kind, for they were great givers.
+
+"I sought to save the one man, and if there be any credit it comes to
+me because of that; the others followed him, and even they said _he_
+had saved them."
+
+"I think it is a true tale," declared Mooswa, "for I once had a
+happening in saving the life of a Boy who had been good to me."
+
+"What happened to the Men's place, Dog-Wolf?" queried Sa'-zada.
+
+"In the morning there was nothing--nothing but great pieces of ice all
+over the flat. Then the Men trailed for a place called Slideout, where
+were more evil men of the firewater way of life, and I followed,
+arranging it so that my Man saw me, and that day when he killed an
+Antelope, he left a sweet piece of the eating for me; and I might have
+lived all my life close to their camp in great fatness, but for the
+evil chance that drew the Men-kind close to a place called MacLeod. And
+it was there, being pursued by ferocious yellow-haired Dogs, I hid in a
+Hen-house and was caught. At first they were for killing me, but there
+happened a Man-Pup of that house who cried for me as his Doggie, and
+later came one of the Men-kind, gave blankets in exchange for me, and I
+was sent here to the place where is Sa'-zada."
+
+"He is either a great liar, or not so bad as is written in The Book,"
+commented Sher Abi, the Crocodile; "but in my land where was his
+Brother, the Jackal, I never heard good of his kind."
+
+"I am sure it is a true tale," declared Sa'-zada; "Coyote could not
+have made it up."
+
+
+
+
+Fourth Night
+
+The Story of Raj Bagh, the King Tiger
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+FOURTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF RAJ BAGH, THE KING TIGER
+
+
+While the Keeper Sa'-zada was still loitering over his tea, there came
+to his ears an imperious roaring call "Wah-h-h! Wah-h-h! Wah-houh!"
+
+"This is the Tiger's night, indeed," he muttered to himself. "Old Raj
+Bagh is eager to tell us the tale of his life." Then he hurried down to
+their cages and corrals saying, "Come, comrades; the King of the Jungle
+calls us."
+
+"We shall have strong tales of blood-letting to-night," muttered Magh
+the Orang-Outang.
+
+"King of the Jungle, indeed!" sneered Hathi, the Elephant. "When I was
+Lord of the jungle I knew no king--that is, amongst the animals."
+
+"Now," began Sa'-zada, opening The Book, when the Jungle Dwellers had
+all gathered in front of Bagh, the killer's cage; "now we shall know
+all about Huzoor Stripes. And mind you, Hathi, and all the rest, there
+must be no anger, for Bagh's way of life has not been of his own
+making; for with his kind it is their nature to kill that which they
+eat."
+
+"I was born in Chittagong," began Bagh, "and well I remember the little
+_Nullah_ in which my Mother kept me, a big tea garden spread over three
+hills just near our hiding place, and there was always much good
+eating.
+
+"For months after I was born my Mother made me hide in the _Nullah_.
+That was always in the evening. And as for hiding, how anyone can get
+along without stripes in his coat I can't understand. Let me hide in a
+grass field where the sun throws sharp shadows up and down across
+everything and I'll give my ration of meat for the week to anyone who
+can see me three lengths of my tail away."
+
+"Where was your Mother all this time?" queried Magh, tauntingly.
+
+"To be sure," answered Bagh, "she would be away for hours making the
+kill, and when she came back would lick my face, and teach me the sweet
+smell of new meat and hot blood. Then the next evening, just as it was
+getting dark, she would take me with her to the kill, which was usually
+a Cow, and which she had very cunningly hidden in elephant grass, or a
+bamboo clump, or some little _Nullah_. There would be still half of it
+left. I grew big and strong, and longed to make a kill on my own
+account.
+
+"But that year a terrible thing happened to the Buffaloes and Cows upon
+which we depended for food. They were all down in the Flat Lands,
+which is close by the sea, and one day when the jungle was much torn by
+strong, fierce winds, a great water came over the land, and ate up all
+the Cattle, and many of the Men-kind. Then, indeed, we fairly starved,
+for the few that were left were kept close to the bamboo houses of the
+villagers. Night after night, even in the day-time, my Mother and I
+sought for the chances of a kill, for I had grown big at that time, and
+she took me with her. We were really starving; perhaps a small Chital
+(deer), or a Dog, or something came our way once in a while, but the
+pain in my stomach was so great that I moaned, and moaned, and I
+believe it was because of me that my Mother became a Man-killer."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Mooswa. "Became a killer of the Men-kind?
+Dreadful!"
+
+"I, too, have killed Men," asserted Raj Bagh; "and why is it so evil,
+my big-nosed eater-of-grass? Your food is the leaves of the jungle, and
+you have it with you always. When you are hungry you walk, walk, and
+soon you come to where there is much food, and you eat, and with you
+that is all right--there is no evil in it. As Sa'-zada has said, it is
+our way of life to kill our eating. When there is no Chital we kill
+Sambhur; when there are no Deer we kill Pigs, or even Buffalo; when
+there is nothing but Man, and we are changed from our usual way of kill
+by great hunger, we slay Man. With all Dwellers of the Jungle, there
+is fear of the Men-kind, that is all, nothing but fear; and when once
+that is broken we kill the Men-kind even as any other Jungle Dweller."
+
+"Little Brother," began Sa'-zada, "it is spoken amongst my Kind, that a
+Man-killer is always an old, broken-toothed Tiger, full-manged, and of
+evil ways; and that once having tasted human flesh he becomes a killer
+of nothing else."
+
+"Ha-hauk!" laughed Bagh, "those be silly Jungle tales. Am I
+broken-toothed, or full of a mange, or is Raj Bagh? All a lie, Little
+Master, all a lie. It is but a chance of the Jungle that makes a
+Man-killer, even as I will tell, and the taste of the flesh is not more
+than the taste of meat.
+
+"Yes," he continued, "I was with my Mother that day, the first day of
+the Man-kill, and in my stomach was a great pain like the biting of Red
+Ants. It was near the coming of night, and we crept down into the tea
+garden where there were many of the coolie kind working amongst the
+bushes. I think my Mother was looking for a stray dog, or perhaps a
+small Bullock; but the coolies seeing us cried aloud in their fright,
+'Bagh hai!' and ran. I think it was this that made my Mother charge
+suddenly amongst them, for if they had stood and looked at us I'm sure
+we should have turned and gone away; but in the charge a Man fell.
+Baghni seized him by the neck, threw him on her back, and we both
+galloped into the jungle. After that, whenever we were hungry we went
+back to the tea garden in just the same way.
+
+"But one day a coolie saw us first and ran to his master's bungalow
+crying with much fear. Neither of us thought anything of that, for it
+was as they had done before; so we went on down in the little _Nullah_
+between the hills, looking sharply for others of the Black Workers.
+Suddenly I heard a noise as of something approaching.
+
+"'Keep still, O Baghela,' said Baghni, 'here cometh one of the
+Men-kind, and I will make a kill.'
+
+"As we waited, presently there was no sound. 'The kill has gone away,'
+I whispered to Baghni, but she struck me hard with her tail, almost
+knocking some of my teeth out; that was to keep still. There was not
+even any scent of the Men-kind in the wind now; most surely he had gone
+away, I thought. What a silly old Baghni my Mother must be.
+
+"I heard a soft whistle behind me, 'Sp-e-e-t!' just like that, much as
+you've heard Hawk in his cage call. When I looked around there was one
+of the White-face, even the Sahib of the tea garden. I knew him, for I
+had seen him once before. In his hand he held what I have since learned
+was a thunder-stick. I looked in his eyes for perhaps three lashes of
+my tail, but I could see there nothing of the Man-fear Hathi has told
+us of. Such eyes I have never seen in any animal's head; not yellow
+like those of my kind, nor red and black like Hathi's, nor even dull
+brown like Korite the killer's; just of a quiet color like a tiny bit
+of the sky coming between the leaves of the forest.
+
+"What was he waiting for, I thought. Baghni had not heard him, for she
+did not turn her head. Then he made the call like Hawk's again, and
+Baghni turned her head even as I had, and looked full at him, but he
+did not run away.
+
+"Now feeling something lifted from me, because his eyes were on Baghni,
+I think, I looked again sideways from the corner of my eye. Baghni had
+set her ears tight back, and drawn her lip up in a cross snarl, so that
+her teeth, almost the length of Boar's tusks, said as plain as could
+be, 'Now I will crush your back.' But still in his eyes that were like
+bits of sky was not the Man-fear; if I had seen it there most surely I
+had charged straight at his throat, for I was angry, and still, I
+think, filled with much fear.
+
+"Then Baghni turned around, crouched with her head low, looking
+straight at him. As she did so, the Sahib raised his thunder-stick,
+there was an awful noise from it, I heard Baghni scream 'Gur-houk!' and
+she had charged. I, too, followed her, thinking she had got this Man
+who was our kill; but just beyond in the _Nullah_, even the length of
+Bainsa's corral from here, I saw her on her side tearing up the tea
+bushes with her great paws. I stopped for the length of two breaths,
+but I could see that there was something very wrong--she was going to
+sleep. Then the greatest fear that I have ever known came over me, and
+I galloped fast into the jungle to where was my hiding-place."
+
+[Illustration: "BUT I COULD SEE THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING VERY
+WRONG ..."]
+
+"They had killed your Mother, had they, Bagh?" asked Mooswa.
+
+"I think so, for I never saw her again. I was afraid to go back where
+the men labored, and, as I had said, there were no Bullocks, and I
+nearly starved to death."
+
+"But how did they catch you?" queried Magh.
+
+"It was all because of my hunger. When I was not stronger than a jungle
+Bakri (sheep), not having eaten for days and days, I heard one night a
+Pariah Dog howling in the jungle. It took me hours to know that there
+was no danger near this crying one of the Dog-kind. I went round and
+round in circles that I had made smaller each time, and drew the wind
+from all sides into my nose to see if there was the Man scent. There
+was nothing but the Pariah, and by some means he had got into a hole.
+Of course, afterwards I knew it was the evil work of this Sahib who had
+killed Baghni. Such a hole the Pariah was in, it was as long as these
+two cages, and though wide at the bottom, it was small at the top, even
+like the cover of Magh's house yonder. I crawled in and caught the Dog
+in my strong jaws. Sweet flesh! how he howled when he knew I was
+coming.
+
+"Then with a crash something fell behind me, and closed the hole so I
+could not get out, and at once I heard them shouting."
+
+"Where had they come from so soon?" queried Magh.
+
+"They were up in the jungle trees," answered Bagh.
+
+"I think it is a fine lie," grunted Boar. "Do you mean to say, Bagh,
+that you could not see them in the trees?"
+
+"You have little knowledge of my kind, Piggy. Know you not that when
+going through the jungle we never look up?"
+
+"I do," interrupted Raj Bagh, "but I learned the trick. Brother Bagh is
+right, though; I suppose it comes from always looking for our kill on
+the ground, and I have heard that this is why the Hunters so often kill
+us from _Machans_ (shooting rest in a tree). We never see them until we
+are struck."
+
+"The Men were all about the hole," continued Bagh, "and it was he of
+the white face that cried, 'Don't kill him, don't stick him with the
+spears! He is only a Baghela, and we will take him alive for Sa'-zada.'
+
+"They dug little holes from the top, and bound me with strong ropes; it
+was so narrow I couldn't turn round, you see. Then I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada. Though he is good to me, still I wish I was back in my old
+jungle."
+
+"Ah-h-houk! Great Brothers," roared Raj Bagh. "My mate has told you of
+Chittagong and his tea gardens, but the middle jungles in India is the
+place for a Tiger to rule; and for years I was Lord of the Sumna
+Forests, and the terror of the Gonds, the little black-faced Men who
+are wondrous Shikaris. Close grass. Waw-hough! but it was beautiful
+there. The many red faces of the chewal tree smiled at me, and the
+purple ears of the sal tree listened to my roar till its great branches
+trembled in fear. Close hid in the Khagar grass I would lie and sleep
+all through the long hot day, and the little Gonds, even the big,
+white-faced Men, might pass the length of this cage from me, and not
+know that I was there. But I would know. Talking, talking always they
+would go, and if they were up wind, my nose would find them many jumps
+away.
+
+"I was born there, and Baghni, my Mother, and Sher Bagh, my Sire,
+taught me all that a Tiger should know of the ways of the Men-kind. But
+in the end both of them came to their death through the evil ways of
+these seekers for our lives. Wah, wah, wah-hough! I am a Man-killer.
+And why not?"
+
+"You should be ashamed to say so," cried Magh, petulantly, "and before
+Sa'-zada, too."
+
+"Wah! I was a Man-killer," repeated Raj Bagh, "a killer of many Men,
+but it was not my fault. When I was a cub my Sire was Lord of the Sumna
+Jungles; and close to our lair was a _jhil_ to which all animals of
+those parts came to drink when they were hot, and the hills blazed red
+with the evil fire of the little Gonds. Chetal, and Nilgai, and
+Sambhur, and the Ribbed-Faced Deer that coughed like a Wild Dog; even
+Chinkara, the little Gazelle that is but a mouthful for one of my
+needs--all came there when the forest grew dark; and always when we
+were hungry, which was often, more came than went away. It was ever the
+same with Sher Bagh, who was my Sire, and Baghni, always the same way
+in a kill with them. In those days I watched it often, for I, being a
+Bagheela, took no part except in the eating. Chita walks not softer in
+his cage than Sher Bagh would step through the jungle when he was
+stalking a kill; and then at the end with a rush it was all over.
+
+"But one year it became so hot--why, the rocks burned our pads as we
+walked; so hot that our _jhil_ dried up, and none of the Jungle
+Dwellers came to drink. It was hot, so hot, and never a drop of the
+sweet water falling. The fire crept down from the hills and ate up the
+small part of the jungle and the grass, and I think the Jungle Dwellers
+went to other parts. At any rate, as Brother Bagh has said, we were
+sore distressed for a kill. Of course, we could go and drink where the
+other Dwellers dared not, close to the villages of the little Gonds. I
+remember, being but a Baghela and having little wisdom, saying to
+Baghni, 'Why do we not kill Goru (cattle) and Bainsa, who are here in
+the hands of the Men-kind?' But Sher Bagh, who had lived into much
+wisdom, growled, and striking me hard with his paw, said, 'Little one,
+that way comes the full hate of the Men-kind, and we who fear not the
+Dwellers in the Jungle, fear Man.'
+
+"But still we became more hungry, and Baghni, whose milk was my only
+food, grew unwise and said, 'Let us kill the Goru.' But Sher Bagh
+growled at her, and said again, 'That way comes the hate of the
+Men-kind. Now when these little men who are Gonds pass near to me in
+the jungle, they salaam and say, "Peace be with you, Sher Bagh, Huzoor
+Bagh"; and they go in peace, and the fear that is on me when I look in
+their eyes passes away.'
+
+"For many nights after that we wandered far through the jungle, I with
+Baghni, and Sher Bagh by himself in another part. And in the days that
+were so hot, as I slept, great times of blood drinking and sweet
+meat-eating came to my mind--but when I woke there was nothing--nothing
+but hunger pains in my stomach. It was also this way with Baghni and
+Sher Bagh. Many times Baghni said, 'Let us kill the Goru, for of what
+use is the good will of the Men-kind if we die?'
+
+"At last Sher Bagh also became unwise, and said, 'We will kill the
+Goru, for Baghela and you, Baghni, are starving. When the Goru feed in
+a herd to-morrow, even in the time of light--which, of course, was the
+day--together we will creep close in the much-thorned korinda, and
+kill a Cow; for if we kill one in a herd there will be less trouble,
+and perhaps it will not be missed of the Men-kind.' Wah! I shall never
+forget the sweet eating of that Goru. And the drink of blood!
+Che-hough! it was as though I had been athirst since my birth.
+
+"Sher Bagh dragged the Goru to a jungle of Kakra trees, and we ate it
+all. But the next day the Horned Ones did not feed in that place, and
+as we were walking in the close of the daytime Sher Bagh heard the
+thin-voiced cry of a Gond cart coming over the road; it was like the
+song of the Koel bird; it was made by the wheels, I think. 'There will
+be Goru to the cart,' said Sher Bagh. 'Yes, two of them,' answered
+Baghni, 'but also one of the Men-kind, a little Gond.' 'Even now I am
+hungry,' declared Sher Bagh; 'when I roar in front of the Goru the
+little Gond will pass quickly into a sal tree, and then we can eat of
+his Bullocks.'
+
+"It was as my Sire had said, and we made a kill, and carried them far
+from the roadside, and had the sweetest eating for two nights. All our
+strength was coming back to us, and Baghni, purring softly, for she was
+pleased, said to her Lord, 'Did I not say "drink the blood of the
+Goru," when we were starving, and are they not easy of kill?' But Sher
+Bagh, looking up in the trees, for it was as we came to the kill for
+our second night's eating, answered, 'We must be careful, for upon us
+will surely fall the full hate of these little Gonds; and they claim a
+kill for a kill, blood for blood; it is their manner of life when they
+deal with others of the Men-kind.'
+
+"I knew that fear of the little Gonds had come strong upon my Sire when
+he looked up to the sal trees, for, as I have said, it is not of our
+habit to look up; we fear nothing of the jungle that hides in trees.
+The Peacocks, and Monkeys, and Crows, even Panther--what are they?
+Nothing to claim the time of my kind. Said Sher Bagh to Baghni, 'The
+Goru that go in carts are easy for the kill.' 'And there are always two
+of them,' answered she.
+
+"This new manner of life by practice became easy to us; we would hide
+in the khagar grass or the jowri, which is a nut grass of the Men,
+beside the road at the day's end, and always we would know of the
+cart's coming by its voice, that was like Koel bird's, or the miaou of
+a Peacock. We made many a kill of this kind. And it was this way that I
+became first of all a Man-killer, even my first kill was of the
+Men-kind, just an evil chance. It was Baghni who said to Sher Bagh,
+'Baghela must know the method of a kill. We have now not much hunger,
+so let him make the next kill of the Goru, and if he misses, it will
+not matter, for we are well fed.'
+
+"I shall never forget that night as I crouched by the road beside
+Baghni, waiting for the little Gond with his Goru. I was trembling like
+the tall grass shivers at the top when one passes through it. 'Keep
+still,' whispered Baghni; 'a little noise makes a hard kill, and much
+noise is no kill at all.' If it had been a Sambhur or a Nilgai we
+should have had no supper, for the grass whispered under me as I shook
+it with my trembling. Then down the road in the early dark came the
+cart with its snarling voice. Just as the Goru were opposite, Baghni
+struck me with her tail and cried, 'Ah-h-houk!' which means to charge.
+As I sprang, being but a Baghela, and my first kill, I was slow, and
+the Goru jumped, causing me to miss sadly. But I landed full on the
+cart, and by an evil chance the little Gond was under my paws. Mind,
+Comrades, with me it was but a kill, and I could not see his eyes, and
+without intent on my part his shoulder was in my jaws, and in less time
+than I can tell it I had him in the jungle. It was my first kill, and I
+was wild--but I don't want to talk about it. I wish he had beaten me
+off, even struck me with the thunder-stick, for, after all, what was
+the kill? not bigger than a Chetal, and it brought the full hate of the
+Men-kind to us, and Sher Bagh and Baghni were slain."
+
+"By the little Gonds?" asked Hathi.
+
+"The Gonds and the Sahibs," answered Tiger. "Even your people, Hathi,
+took part in the kill of my Sire and Baghni. But it was our old enemy,
+hunger, that caused it all. For three nights we waited by the roadside
+and no carts passed. It is true one passed; a lodhi cartman, with the
+wisdom of Cobra, put Pig's fat on the wheels of his cart, and there
+was no noise until he was right upon us, even had passed, for the stalk
+had not properly started, you see. 'Never mind,' said Baghni, 'the
+little Men of a slow wit, the Gonds, will come this way with their
+Goru, many of them'; but they didn't. And save for two old Langurs
+(monkeys) that cursed from a pipal tree as we went back to our
+_Nullah_, we saw no Dweller of the Jungle, nor of the fields. 'The hate
+of the little Gonds is coming to us,' growled Bagh. 'And I am so
+hungry,' moaned Baghni. 'Baghela should not have killed any of the
+Men-kind,' declared my Sire.
+
+"The Men go to their rest at night, even the little Gonds, knowing that
+the Jungle Dwellers will not come in great numbers to the fields
+because of our guard. And it was but an evil chance, too, that I made a
+kill of the Gond. But when we were most hungered, after many days, one
+night, not far from our _Nullah_, was a Bullock tied to a tree.
+'Waw-houk!' exclaimed Baghni, calling her Lord to the find;
+'Che-waugh!' said she, 'here is a Bail of the Men-kind; make the kill.'
+
+"'It is of their hate,' growled Sher Bagh, 'the Bullocks do not come of
+their own way here to the jungle--we must be careful.'
+
+"Half the night was gone before we had stalked all sides of the Goru,
+but there was nothing--not even up in the sal leaves. That was what
+Baghni said, for with her sharp eyes she saw Hookus (big green
+pigeon), resting on a branch, which meant that there was nothing to
+frighten him. When Sher Bagh had made the kill, he dragged it far away
+from our _Nullah_. That was most wise, Comrades; it was so that the
+Men-kind should not find our home.
+
+"When our hunger was gone Baghni said, 'We will eat again when the
+sun's light passes once more.' 'No,' growled my Sire, 'we will not come
+back to the kill, for the hate of the little Gonds will be here when
+they see that we have eaten of the Goru.'
+
+"That was wise also. To make sure, and to teach me, a Baghela, Sher
+Bagh took us down wind from the drag next night, and the scent of the
+Men-kind came strong in our faces. 'Our enemies are there,' declared
+Bagh.
+
+"Being a Baghela I thought this fine play, and by the cunning of my
+Sire we killed what we found tied in the Jungle, but never went back to
+the drag. Even once in the dark, as we hunted, hearing the grunt of a
+Goru, and going up wind to it, Sher Bagh knew that the Hunters were
+waiting in the sal and pipal trees over the bait, so we went back to
+the _Nullah_ and rested on lean stomachs."
+
+"Your Sire was too clever for them," commented Magh, as Tiger ceased
+speaking for an instant.
+
+"Perhaps it was clever," answered Raj Bagh. "But in two days more
+something came to us that no Jungle Dweller can withstand: a full beat
+of the Jungles.
+
+"Being but a Baghela," sighed Raj Bagh, "I did not know what it was
+when the beat commenced; I thought that the forest winds were in an
+evil temper, but Sher Bagh cried to Baghni, 'Quick! we must go far, for
+now comes the hate of the white-faced kind, for the beat is their way
+of a kill.' We lay quiet in our _Nullah_, thinking they might pass.
+'Tap, tap, tap!' I heard on one side, much like the klonk, klonk! of
+Mis-gar (coppersmith bird). 'What is that?' I asked my Sire.
+
+"'The sal trees cry because they are stricken by the Beaters,' he
+answered. 'Tum, tum, tum-m!' I heard from the other side of the
+_Nullah_. 'Is it the belling of a Nilgai?' I asked. 'The little Gonds
+who are of this beat call with their drums,' answered Sher Bagh. 'All
+the jungle is falling,' I cried. 'It is the coming of Hathi,' answered
+my Sire, 'for it is a beat of many Hathi. Come, Baghela, come, Baghni,'
+he called, and we stole like frightened Chinkara through the sal and
+pipal jungle.
+
+"'To the Baghni-wali nulla!' (tigress valley) cried Sher Bagh to us as
+we followed. But as we sought to enter this place of many caves a
+Beater smote at us with the thunder-stick from a tree, but that was
+only to frighten us away, for Bagh whispered, 'The Beaters are not to
+make the kill.'
+
+"'Here will be little spoor for them to follow,' growled Sher Bagh as
+we ran. Soon we thought we had lost those who sought our lives. As we
+rested for a little while in some thick, wild plum bushes they came all
+about us. There were many Hathi, and on three of the Hathi were little
+caves----"
+
+"Haudas," corrected Elephant. "That is the way the Men-kind ride on my
+back when we are in the beat."
+
+"And the Men had thunder-sticks with which they smote Sher Bagh and
+Baghni. 'Waw, waw-houk!' roared my Sire when he was
+struck--'Che-waugh!' he cried to me, 'flee, Baghela, while I charge.'
+With a rush he sprang on a big Hathi's nose, and I think he got even to
+the hauda, for the Hathi turned and ran, screaming with pain; and I,
+seeing this, broke from my cover and charged back through the Beaters
+who were on foot. Just in my path I saw one of the Beaters striking two
+sticks together. Being cross because of my hot pads, and what they had
+done to Sher Bagh, I seized this one, and took him with me.
+
+"After that, I lived alone, and because the Jungle Dwellers had fled
+from those parts, and because of the wrong we had from these Gonds, I
+became a Man-killer, eating that which was put in my reach."
+
+"How did they catch you?" questioned Wolf.
+
+[Illustration: "MY SIRE ... SPRANG ON A BIG HATHI'S NOSE."]
+
+"Because I sought to change my way of life," answered Bagh, "and
+leaving the Man-kill I made to satisfy my hunger with a Goat. I heard
+the Goat cry at night-time," continued Bagh, "and after a careful
+stalk, finding nothing of the presence of Man, I sprang on Bakri the
+Goat----"
+
+"And the Goat captured you," cried Magh, gleefully.
+
+"Together we fell into a deep hole that had been dug by the evil little
+Gonds. Though I ate the Bakri I could not get out again, and in the
+morning the Men were all about me, both white and black. How the little
+Men reviled me! But it seemed the Sahibs wanted to take me alive, so
+they dug another hole close to the one in which I was, put a big wooden
+cage with a door to it down, and then with long spears broke through
+the walls between the cage and the hole I was in. Of course, I was glad
+enough to go any place; besides, they threw down on me their dreadful
+fire. I sprang in the cage and the door dropped behind me. Then many of
+the Men-kind pulled the cage out with ropes, and I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada."
+
+
+
+
+Fifth Night
+
+The Story of the Tribe of King Cobra
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+FIFTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF THE TRIBE OF KING COBRA
+
+
+It was the fifth night of the Sa'-zada tales. As usual, Hathi, Grey
+Wolf, and all the other animals, jostling each other merrily like a lot
+of schoolboys, had gathered in front of Tiger's cage.
+
+Said the Keeper: "Comrades, you must all be very careful, for this is
+Snake's night."
+
+"Oo-o-oh!" whimpered Jackal, "is Nag the Cobra to come here among us?"
+
+Even Hathi trembled, and blowing softly through his trumpet, said: "Oh,
+Sa'-zada, I who am a Lord of the Jungle, fearing not any Dweller
+therein, feel great pains this evening. I am sure that hay is musty and
+has disagreed with me. If you do not mind, Little Brother, I will go
+back to my stall and lie down."
+
+"Will Deboia the Climber come also, Little Master?" asked Magh. "If so,
+I think my Terrier Pup is feeling unwell; I will take him to my cage
+and wrap him in his blanket. I hate snake stories, anyway."
+
+"Hiz-z-z!" laughed Python, who was already there. "Lords of the Jungle
+indeed! When I strike or throw a loop, or go swift as the wind through
+the Jungle--Thches-s-s! but I am no boaster. See our friends. When the
+smallest of my kind are to be here each one makes his excuses."
+
+"Never fear, Comrades," Sa'-zada assured the frightened animals, "Nag
+the Cobra, and Karait, and all the others will behave themselves if
+they are left alone. Only don't move about, that's all. The first law
+when Snakes are about is--keep still."
+
+"Yes, we like quietness," assented Python. "Once there was a fussy old
+Buffalo Bull who used to come to my pool and stir up the mud until it
+was scarce fit to live in. In the end I threw a loop around his neck,
+and he became one of the quietest Bulls you ever saw in your life."
+
+"Now, Comrades," said Sa'-zada, as he returned accompanied by the
+Dwellers of the Snake House, "Hamadryad, the King Cobra, has promised
+us a story."
+
+"Look at my length," cried Hamadryad, drawing his yellow and black
+mottled body through many intricate knots like a skein of colored silk;
+"think you I was born this way just as I am? At first--that was up in
+the Yoma Hills in Burma--I was not much larger than a good-sized hair
+from Tiger's mustache, and since then it has been nothing but
+adventure. Even my Mother, where she had us hid in a pile of rocks
+covered with ferns, had to fight for our lives."
+
+"Phuff!" retorted Boar, disdainfully, "many a nest of Cobra eggs have I
+rid the world of."
+
+"Not of my kind, I'll warrant," snorted Python, blowing his foul breath
+like a small sirocco almost in Pig's face. "Of Nag, or Hamadryad's
+family, perhaps, yes, for, know you, Comrades, what Nagina does with
+her eggs? Lays them in the sun to hatch _apsi_ (of themselves). But my
+Mother--ah, you should have seen her, Comrades; all the eggs gathered
+in a heap, and her great, beautiful body--much like my own in
+color--wound tenderly about them until the young came forth. Perhaps a
+matter of two moons and never a bite for her to eat all the time.
+That's what I call being a genuine Mother."
+
+"Very wise, indeed, and thoughtful," cried the Salt Water Snake. "My
+Mother--well I remember it--carried her eggs about in her body till
+they were hatched, which seems to me quite as good a plan. Also, nobody
+molests us--if they do, they die quickly. We all can kill quite as
+readily as Nag the Cobra, though there is less talk about us."
+
+"Even so," assented Hamadryad, "the proof of the matter is in being
+here; and, as I was going to say, it is this way with my people; in the
+hot weather when there is no rain we burrow in the ground for months at
+a stretch. And then the rains come on and we are driven out of our
+holes by the water, and live abroad in the Jungles for a time. It was
+at this season of the year I speak of; I had just come up out of my
+burrow and was wondrous hungry, I can tell you; and, traveling, I came
+across the trail of a Karait. I followed Karait's trail, and found him
+in a hole under a bungalow of the Men-kind. It was dry under the
+bungalow, so I rested after my meal in the hole that had been Karait's.
+It was a good place, so I lived there. Every day a young of the
+Men-kind----"
+
+"I know," interrupted Mooswa; "a Boy, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps; but the old ones called him 'Baba.' And Baba used to come
+every day under the bungalow to play. He threw little sticks and stones
+at me; but nothing to hurt, mind you, for he was small. The things he
+threw wouldn't have injured a Fly-Lizard as he crawled on the bungalow
+posts. He laughed when he saw me, and called, as he clapped his little
+hands, and I wouldn't have hurt him--why should I? I don't eat Babas.
+
+"When I heard the heavy feet of the Men I always slipped in the hole;
+but, one day, by an evil chance I was to one side looking for food, and
+Baba was following, when his Mother saw me. Such a row there was, the
+Men running, and Baba's Mother calling, and only the little one with no
+fear. Surely it was the fear of which Chita and Hathi have spoken which
+came over the Men-kind.
+
+[Illustration: "AND BABA USED TO COME EVERY DAY UNDER THE BUNGALOW TO
+PLAY...."]
+
+"There was one of a great size, like Bear Muskwa, with a stomach such
+as Magh's. He was a native baboo. He had a black face, and his voice
+was like the trumpet of Hathi; but when I went straight his way, and
+rose up to strike, his fat legs made great haste to carry him far away.
+Then I glided in the hole."
+
+"Ghur-ah! it seems a strange tale," snarled Wolf; "even I would not
+dare, being alone, to chase one of the Men-kind."
+
+"It may be true," declared Sa'-zada, "for it is written in the Book
+that Hamadryad is the only Snake that will really chase a man, and show
+fight."
+
+"I could hear the Men-kind talking and tramping about," continued King
+Cobra, "and meant to lie still till night, and then go away, for I
+usually traveled in the dark, you know. But presently there was a soft
+whistling music calling me to come out; and also at times a pleading
+voice, though of the Men-kind, I knew that, 'Ho, Bhai (brother), ho,
+Raj Naga (King Cobra)! come here, quick, Little Brother.' Then the soft
+whistle called me, sometimes loud, and sometimes low, and even the
+noise was twisting and swinging in the air just as I might myself.
+
+"Hiz-z-z-za! but I commenced to tremble; and I was full of fear, and I
+was full of love for the soft sounds, and with my eyes I wished to see
+it. So I came out of the hole, and there was a Black Man making the
+soft call from a hollow stick."
+
+"A Snake Charmer with his pipes," exclaimed Sa'-zada.
+
+"I raised up in anger, thinking that he, too, would soon run away; but
+he pointed with his hand, now this way, from side to side, even as the
+sweet sound from the hollow stick seemed to twist and curl in the air;
+and following his hand with my eyes, I commenced to swing as the hand
+swung.
+
+"'Ho, Little Brother!' he called, 'come here.'
+
+"It was to a basket at his side; for, though I meant not to do it, I
+glided into it."
+
+"That was the manner of your taking?" asked Chita.
+
+"Better than having one's toes squeezed in an iron trap," declared
+Jackal.
+
+"Or being beaten by chains," murmured Hathi.
+
+"Yes, the taking was simple enough; but if Baba had not cried, the Men
+would have killed me, I think."
+
+"And that was how you came to Lower Burma?" asked Sa'-zada.
+
+"Yes," answered Hamadryad, "this man who made music with the hollow
+stick took me with him, and at every place where there were any of his
+fellows he brought me forth from the basket, and made me dance to his
+music. That was what he called it--dance."
+
+"Why didn't you bite him?" queried Rattler, making his tail rattles
+sing in anger.
+
+"He pulled out my fangs," declared Hamadryad.
+
+"He-he," sneered Magh; "now surely it is a great lie, this wondrous
+tale of Cobra's, for in his mouth are the very fangs he says the
+black-faced player of music pulled."
+
+"Most wise Ape," said Hamadryad, ironically, "what your big head, like
+unto a Jack fruit, does not understand, is a lie, forsooth. Even though
+my teeth were pulled three times, they would grow again; but you do not
+know that--therefore it is a lie. Even now, behind these that you see,
+and perhaps yet may feel if you keep on, are others waiting the time
+when these may be broken. Was it not Hathi said some wise animal
+arranged all these things for us?"
+
+"Sa'-zada says it is God," interrupted Hathi.
+
+"This man made me fight with a Mongoos, that those of his kind might
+laugh."
+
+"What is a Mongoos?" queried Magh.
+
+"Our natural enemy," answered King Cobra, "just as Fleas and other
+Vermin are yours. But I killed the squeaky little beast with one drive
+of my head--broke his back. At Ramree a Sahib bought me from the black
+man."
+
+"That was the Sahib who sent you here, I fancy," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"Perhaps. At any rate he seemed fond of Snakes of my kind, for he put
+me in a box wherein was one of my family. But he should have known more
+about our manner of life, for he nearly starved us through ignorance of
+our taste. He puts Rats and Frogs, and Birds and such Vermin as that
+in, with never so much as a Green-Tree-Snake. The yellow-faced Burmans
+used to come in front of our cage and touch us up with sticks until my
+nose was skinned with striking at them and hitting the bars.
+
+"Our getting something to eat was a pure accident. One night this Sahib
+stepped on a Snake--a young Rock Snake, which had curled up in the path
+for the warmth of the hot earth. 'Oh, ho!' said the Sahib, bringing
+this new Snake to our cage, 'you are looking for trouble, little _Samp_
+(snake). Let us see how you get on in there,' and he threw him in our
+box, expecting to see a fight."
+
+"And did he?" queried Magh.
+
+"Hiz-z-z-za! I should say so. My mate and I fought half an hour before
+we settled who was to eat the visitor."
+
+"You two Comrades fought over it?" asked Mooswa.
+
+"Yes; that is our way. Two Snakes cannot eat one--how else should we
+settle the question? we were both hungry. Why, one day my mate flew at
+me, and I could see in his eye that he meant eating me, and in
+self-defence I was forced to put him out of the way of mischief, but
+the Sahib pulled us apart.
+
+"But if I hated the Yellow Men who came to my cage, I liked the
+Mem-Sahib (white lady). I think it was her voice. Hiz-z, hiz-z, hiz-z!
+It was as soft as the song the man had brought forth from the hollow
+stick. Sometimes I would hear her voice-song near my box, and it would
+put me to sleep; only, of course, I had to keep one eye open lest my
+mate would try to eat me----"
+
+"I had no idea Snakes were so fond of each other," said Magh,
+maliciously.
+
+"Yes; I think I should have eaten _him_ to have saved that worry. But I
+must tell you about the Mem-Sahib and the Cook. He was small and so
+black--a perfect little Pig. One day when the Sahib was away, the Cook
+became possessed of strange devils."
+
+"Became drunken on his Master's liquor, I suppose," remarked Sa'-zada.
+
+"Perhaps, for he came and took me out of the box, wound me around his
+shoulders and waist, and went with a clamor of evil sounds, in to my
+Mem-Sahib."
+
+"Just like a Man," sneered Pardus.
+
+"Even I was ashamed," continued Hamadryad. "My Mem-Sahib cried out with
+fear, and her eyes were dreadful to look into.
+
+"I glided twice about the Man-devil's neck, and drew each coil tight
+and tight and tighter, and swung my head forward until I looked into
+his eyes, and I nodded twice thus," and the King Cobra swayed his
+vicious black head back and forth with the full suggestiveness of a
+death thrust, until each one of the animals shivered with fear.
+
+"I think he died of the Man-fear Hathi has spoken of, for I did not
+strike him--it may be that the coils about his throat were over-tight.
+But I glided back to my box, and I think the Mem-Sahib knew that I did
+not wish to even make her afraid."
+
+"Most interesting," declared Sa'-zada. "Is that all, Cobra?"
+
+"Yes; I'm tired. Let Python talk."
+
+The huge Snake uncoiled three yards of his length, slipped it forward
+as easily, as noiselessly as one blows smoke, shoved his big flat head
+up over the Keeper's knee, ran his tongue out four times to moisten his
+lips, and said: "I am also from the East, and I do not like this land.
+Here my strength is nothing, for I can't eat. A Chicken twice a
+month--what is that to one of my size? Sa'-zada will eat as much in a
+day; and yet in my full strength I could crush five such as our Little
+Brother. Many loops! in my own Jungle I could wind myself about a
+Buffalo and pull his ribs together until his whole body was like loose
+earth. I have done it. Sa'-zada knows that for months and months after
+I came I ate nothing, and in the end they took me out on the floor
+there, six of them, and shoved food down my throat with a stick.
+
+"Once I had run down a Barking Deer, and swallowed him, and was having
+a little sleep, when I wandered into the most frightful sort of
+nightmare. It came to me in my sleep that Bagh had charged me of a
+sudden, and gripped my throat in his strong jaws. I opened my eyes in
+fright, and, sure enough, I was being choked with a rope in the hands
+of the Men-kind. Each end of it was fastened to a long bamboo, and the
+Men were on either side of me. I made the leaves and dry wood in that
+part of the Jungle whirl for a little, but it was no use--I couldn't
+get away. Also a man of the White-kind was sitting on a laid tree, and
+in his hands was a loud-voiced gun. But I nearly paid him out for some
+of the insult. They dragged me on to the road, and I lay there quiet
+and simple-looking. He thought I was asleep, I suppose. At any rate he
+came up and touched me on the nose with his toe.
+
+"I struck; but, though I knew it not, the rope was tight held by one of
+the Yellow-kind who stood behind me, and I but got a full choking;
+though, as I have said, the other, he of the White Face, was stricken
+with fear.
+
+"They put me in a box, but though I have no appetite here, I could eat
+there, and they gave me so many chickens that I shed my beautiful skin
+almost monthly. I nearly died from the over-diet, not being used to
+such plenty."
+
+"Tell us of your food-winning in the Jungle," craved Sa'-zada.
+
+"Though I go wondrous swift," began Python, "yet if any of the
+Deer-kind passed me on foot I could not catch them. Because of this I
+was forced to take great thought to outwit them. You, Gidar, and you,
+Hathi, know of the elephant creeper that is in all those Jungles, how
+it runs from tree to tree for many a mile--so strong that it sometimes
+pulls down the biggest wood-grower. Well, having knowledge of a Deer's
+path, I would stretch my body across it much after that fashion, and
+the silly creatures with their ribbed faces, always coughing a hoarse
+bark, and always possessed of a stupid fear, would walk right into my
+folds, thinking me a part of the creeper. Once, even, as I think of it,
+a hunter--of the White-kind he was--ate his food sitting on a coil of
+my body as I lay twisted about a tree. To tell you the truth, I was
+asleep, having fed well, and only woke up because of his sticking his
+cutting knife into my back, thinking, of course, he was standing it in
+the wood, when I suddenly squirmed and upset him, and his food and
+drink.
+
+"But when it was the dry season and the leaves were off the trees, the
+Jungle was so open that even the silly Deer could see the rich color of
+my beautiful skin, and for days and days I went hungry. Then I would go
+to the small water ponds, _Jheels_, and curling my tail about a tree on
+one side, put myself across, and catching a tree on the other side with
+my teeth, swing my body back and forth and throw the water all out on
+the land. Then I would eat all the Fish-dwellers, and go to sleep for a
+week.
+
+[Illustration: "I WOULD STRETCH MY BODY ACROSS IT MUCH AFTER THAT
+FASHION."]
+
+"Once in a land of many pigs, I worked for days and days in that part
+of the Jungle bending down small trees, and arranging the creepers
+until I had a _keddah_ with two long sides running far out into the
+Jungle. Then, going beyond, I made a great noise, rushing up and down,
+and many of these Dwellers being possessed of fear, fled into the
+_keddah_ and I devoured them."
+
+Chita sat on his haunches and looked at Python in astonishment, his big
+black head low hung, and a sneer of great unbelief on his mustached
+lips.
+
+"Surely this is the one great liar!" he exclaimed. "If these things be
+not written in the Book, then Python has most surely had such a dream
+as he has told us of."
+
+"Without doubt it is a lie," declared Magh, "but for my part I am ready
+to believe anything of his kind. In my Jungle home never once did I
+climb out on a tree limb without pinching it to see whether it was wood
+or a vile thing such as yon mottled boaster."
+
+"Are the stories of Python written in the Book, O Sa'-zada?" queried
+Mooswa.
+
+"No," answered the Keeper, "but Python may have had this strange manner
+of life."
+
+"Whether they be true tales or false tales," hissed Python, "I am now
+tired, and they are at an end."
+
+"Well," said Sa'-zada, stroking the glistening scales of the big
+Snake's head, "it is time to cage up now. Perhaps we'll all have
+strange dreams to-night."
+
+Soon the animals were sound asleep, all but Magh, who spent an hour
+chattering to Blitz, her Fox Terrier Pup, on the enormity of telling
+false tales.
+
+
+
+
+Sixth Night
+
+The Story of the Monkeys
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SIXTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF THE MONKEYS
+
+
+Such a row there had been all day in Animal Town.
+
+Sa'-zada, the Keeper, had told Magh, the Orang-outang, that the Monkeys
+were to tell stories that night at the usual meeting. That was the
+cause of the excitement.
+
+All day the Monkeys, living in a row of cages like dwellers in tenement
+houses, had chattered to each other through the bars, and admonished
+one another to think of just the cleverest things any of their family
+or ancestors had ever done.
+
+"We are like the Men-kind," Magh kept repeating; "we are the
+Bandar-log, the Jungle People.
+
+"Listen, Comrades, what is my name even? Orang-outang, which means
+Chief of the Jungle People.
+
+"See, even I have my Dog, as do the Men-kind," and she held up Blitz,
+the Fox-Terrier Pup, by the ear until he squealed and bit her in the
+arm. "See, he has bitten me even as he would a man," she cried,
+triumphantly.
+
+Two doors down were three little brown Monkeys caged with an Armadillo
+who looked like a toy, iron-plated gun-boat.
+
+"Oh, we are people who think," cried one of these, pouncing down on the
+Armadillo. The little gun-boat drew his armor plate down about him like
+a Mud-turtle. The Monkey caught the side of it with his hand, lifted it
+up, bit the Armadillo in the soft flesh, and raced up on his shelf
+where he chattered: "Oh, we are the people who think. That is not
+instinct--my father was never caged with an Armadillo."
+
+At last night came, and Sa'-zada, throwing down bars and opening cages,
+had gathered as usual his animal friends in front of Tiger's cage.
+
+"Ho, Little Brother," began Black Panther, speaking to Sa'-zada, "why
+should we who are great in our own jungles listen to these empty-headed
+Bandar-log? Was there ever any good at their hands?"
+
+"Oo-oo! A-huk, a-huk!" cried Hanuman, "you of all the thieving slayers
+should know of that matter. How many times have you been saved from
+danger because of our watchfulness--and also Bagh the Killer! Many a
+hard drive, the hunt drive of the Men-kind, has come to nothing because
+of us--because we never sleep. When your stomach is full you sleep
+soundly, trusting to a warning from us, the Bandar-log. Nothing can be
+done in the jungles that we do not know. And do we steal silently away
+as is your method? Not a bit of it. By the safety of Jungle-dwellers!
+we give the cry of beware! Listen----
+
+"A-huk, a-huk! Chee-chee-chee! Waugh, waugh, a-huk!" and the voice of
+the gray-whiskered, black-faced ape reverberated on the dead night air
+through the houses of Animal Town like the clangor of a cracked bell.
+
+"That is quite true," declared Mor, the Peacock; "I also am one of the
+Jungle Watchers--though I get little credit for it. None of the
+Dwellers thank us; and sometimes in their anger the Sahibs who are
+making the drive shoot us for our trouble, saying that we have spoiled
+sport. Many a jungle life have I saved through my cry of 'Miaou!
+Miaou!'"
+
+"Disturbers of sleep!" sneered Black Panther; "there is little to
+choose between you--you're a noisy lot of beggars."
+
+"You are hardly fair, Pardus," remonstrated Sa'-zada. "I quite believe
+what Hanuman says, for it is well known that some of the Monkey-tribe
+saved Gibraltar to the British by their watchfulness, and the men are
+more grateful than you, for to this day monkeys are protected and made
+much of there."
+
+"It was my people did that," cried Magot, the Rock Ape, blinking his
+deep, narrow-set eyes. "We have lived there for a long time."
+
+"And in Benares, where I lived once, we are people of great honor,"
+added a white-whiskered Monkey. "I should like to see Black Pardus harm
+one of us there."
+
+The speaker was Entellus, the sacred Hanuman Monkey, whose rights of
+protection in the City of Temples, Benares, was almost greater than
+that of the human dwellers.
+
+"You can't twiddle your thumbs! You can't twiddle your thumbs!" cried
+Cockatoo, mockingly.
+
+"But I can see my under lip," retorted Magh, angrily, sticking it out
+and looking down at it, "and that's more than you can do, with your
+lobster's claw of a nose."
+
+Cockatoo had hit the truth about the thumbs, for no ape can make them
+go around, only in and out straight to the palm. This matter of thumbs
+is the great line of defence between man and his disputed Simian
+ancestor.
+
+"Our manner of life," began Hanuman, in the little silence that ensued,
+"is to live in the tree-tops. Our families are raised there, and we are
+seldom on the ground."
+
+"No, the ground is a dangerous place," concurred Chimpanzee; "Leopards,
+and Snakes, and Men, and evil things of that sort about all the time.
+I, too, build a little house in the strong branches of a tree, and live
+there until the fruit gets scarce; then, of course, I have to go to a
+new part and build another."
+
+"I thought I was the only animal that had sense enough to build a
+house," grunted Wild Boar.
+
+"Perhaps you are," said Chimpanzee; "I'm no animal."
+
+"You are a Monkey----" began Boar, apologetically.
+
+"I'm not a Monkey," insisted the other, very haughtily; "they go in
+droves. But we, who are the Jungle People, build houses and have a wife
+and family just like the Men."
+
+"You can't twiddle your thumbs!" shrieked Cockatoo; but Hathi reached
+up with his trunk and tweaked the bird's nose before he could repeat
+the taunt.
+
+"Once upon a time," began Hooluk, solemnly, "there was a great Raja
+sore troubled because those of my kind, the Apes, ate all the grain and
+fruit in his country. To be sure, it was a year of much starvation. And
+the King commanded that all the Bandar-log should be killed.
+
+"Then Hanuman, the wise Ape, who was our cousin, asked of my people
+what might be done; but we, being tender-hearted, and not knowing how
+to pacify the King, hung with our heads down and wept in misery.
+
+"Now this gave Hanuman, who is most wise, an idea. He ordered all the
+other Bandar-log to go far into the jungles and hide, while we were to
+remain and lament, and declare that our friends were dead. The Raja,
+hearing our sad cry, relented, and commanded that the killing should
+cease. And since that time we have always cried thus, and our faces
+have been black, and all because of the dark sins of the other
+Bandar-log."
+
+"Was there ever such a lie----" began Pardus; but Jackal interrupted
+him, declaring that he, too, cried at night because of the wickedness
+of other Jungle Dwellers.
+
+"By my lonesome life!" muttered Mooswa. "I have heard the Loon cry on
+Slave Lake, but for a real, depressing night noise commend me to
+Hooluk. I have no doubt his tale is quite true, a cry such as he has
+could not have been given him for amusement."
+
+"Scratch my head!" cried Cockatoo; "I think Hooluk's tale is quite
+true, for even I, who am only appreciated because of my beauty----"
+
+"Hide your nose," croaked Kauwa, the Crow.
+
+"Because of my beauty," resumed Cockatoo, "I once saved the life of all
+my Master's family. The bungalow was on fire and they were asleep.
+Scree-ya ah-ah!' I cried; then, 'Quick, Pootai, bring the water----'"
+
+"To be famous one must needs know a great lie and tell it," snarled
+Pardus, disagreeably. "The way of all Jungle Dwellers is to kill
+something; but here are pot-bellied, empty-headed Apes, and Birds of
+little sense, all boasting of saving lives."
+
+"Let me talk," cried Water Monkey, scratching his ribs with industry.
+"If I tell not true tales then call Hornbill, and Jackal, and King
+Cobra to stand against me, for we are all of the same land. We were a
+big family, a full hundred of us at least, and every way was our
+way--water, and land, and tree-top. We ate fruits, and nuts, and
+grains, and things that are cast up by the waters. Talking of fishing,
+you should have seen my mother. When the sea had gone back from the
+shore we would all troop down. When the Crabs saw us coming they would
+scuttle into holes and under rocks, and we'd catch every Crab on the
+shore. It was my mother taught me the trick--wise old lady; I'd shove
+my tail under the rock, the Crab would lay hold of it, and then out
+he'd come.
+
+"Oh, there was good eating on those shores. Fat Oysters the size of a
+banana. It was mother showed me how to take a stone in my hand, and
+break them off the rocks. And, as Magh has said, we are much like the
+men, for not one of our family would eat an Oyster until he had washed
+it in the water.
+
+"But we poor people had lots of trials. Crossing the streams was worst
+of all. If we made the Monkeys bridge from tree to tree, like as not
+Python would be lying in wait to pick off one of our number. And if we
+walked across on the bottom----"
+
+"Walked on the bottom!" cried Sa'-zada, in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, we never swim; we always walk across on the bottom; though,
+sometimes, of course, we floated over on logs; but that was very
+dangerous because of Magar the Crocodile."
+
+"Ghurrgle-ugle-ugle, uh-hu!" said Sher Abi, "the long-tailed one is
+right. I could tell a true story touching that matter. Whuff-f-f! but
+it was a hot day. I was lying with my wife in the water near the bank.
+I was hungry--I am always hungry; and getting food in a small way is
+wearisome to one of my heavy habit. I was resting, and Black-head the
+Magar Bird was running about inside of my jaws catching Flies for his
+dinner. And, while I think of it, while I am by no means vain of my
+sweet nature, I claim it was most good of me to hold my heavy lips open
+for him. Suddenly Black-head gave his little cry of warning to me and
+flew up in the air. 'Something is coming,' I whispered to Abni, my
+wife; and, sure enough, it was the Bandar-log, the Water Monkeys,
+chattering and yelling, and knocking down fruit from the trees as
+though the whole jungle belonged to them.
+
+"'The old trick,' I whispered to Abni; 'float across like a log.' You
+know I can look wondrous like a log when I try; and a dinner of the
+Bandar-log, even, was not to be despised in a time of great hunger.
+
+"'Chee-chee, a-houp-a-houp, chickety-chee-chee!' You'd have thought
+their throats would split with the uproar when they saw one log
+floating across and another just starting.
+
+[Illustration: "AND THEY ALL CLAMBERED ON TO MY BACK."]
+
+"'Oh, ho!' cried the leader, swinging by his tail from a limb of the
+Mangrove tree, and peering down at me; 'the wind is driving all the
+dead trees from this side to the other. Get aboard, children, quick.'
+And they all clambered on to my back, shoving and pushing like a lot of
+Jackal pups----"
+
+"Have I not said it," cried Gidar, the Jackal, "that Sher Abi is a
+devourer of our young? Jackal pups--murderer!"
+
+"Half way across," resumed Sher Abi, "I opened an eye to take a squint
+at the general condition of these Bandar-log, as to which might be fat
+and which might be lean, and, would you believe it, the leader of these
+fool people saw me looking, and screamed with fright. I closed all the
+valves of nostrils and eyes and sank in the water. The Bandar-log were
+so excited that more than half of them jumped into my jaws, and Abni,
+who came back, hearing the noise, took care of the others. Eh-hu!
+Gluck! Monkeys are stupid, but not bad eating."
+
+"Listen to that, Comrades," cried Water Monkey. "Sher Abi the Poacher
+boasts of killing my people. Have I not said that our life is one of
+danger? He and Python are as bad as Men. My mother was killed by a Man,
+and all for the sake of a few mangoes."
+
+"But how are we to know that Mango-tree was not as others in the
+Jungle?" pleaded Monkey. "True it grew close to a bungalow, but what of
+that? Close to the Jungle, trees and bungalows are so mixed up that
+nobody knows which is free land and which is bond land. Have I not seen
+even the Men-kind frightened over such matters, and killing each other.
+But, as I have said, this Man, who was a Sahib, shot my mother as she
+was in a tree. She clung to a limb, and, young as I was, I helped her,
+holding on to her arms. All day she cried, and cried, and cried, just
+as you have heard the young of the Men-kind; and all night she cried,
+too. In the morning the Sahib came out, and I heard him say that he
+hadn't slept all night because of the wailing that was like a babe's.
+When he looked up at my mother she became so afraid that she fell dead
+at his feet. Peeping down through the leaves I saw the fear look that
+Hathi has spoken of come into the Man's eyes, only they did not look
+evil as they had when he pointed the fire-stick at us. I swung down
+from branch to branch to my mother, and sitting beside her, cried also,
+being but a little chap and all alone in the Jungle. Then the Man took
+me up in his arms and said: 'Poor little Oungea. It was a shame to kill
+the old girl; I feel like a murderer----'
+
+"He took me into the bungalow and I had a fine life of it, though he
+taught me many things that were evil."
+
+"I don't believe that," sneered Pardus.
+
+[Illustration: "AND SITTING BESIDE HER, CRIED ALSO, BEING BUT A LITTLE
+CHAP AND ALL ALONE IN THE JUNGLE...."]
+
+"Impossible! Caw-w!" laughed Kauwa.
+
+"What evil tricks are there left to teach the Bandar-log?" queried
+Hathi.
+
+"He taught me to drink gin," answered Oungea; "at first a little gin
+and much sugar, and after a time I could take it without sugar."
+
+"This rather bears out Magh's claim that you Jungle People are like the
+Men," said Sa'-zada.
+
+"Still it was not good for me, this gin," continued Oungea; "leaving
+one's head full of much soreness in the morning. But, of course, being
+young, I was possessed of much mischief that was not of the Sahib's
+teaching."
+
+"He-he! no doubt, no doubt," cried Hornbill, "it was those of your
+kind, both young and old, who plucked the feathers from my children
+once upon a time. Plaintain-at-a-gulp! but their appearance was
+unseemly. You can imagine what I should look like with my prominent
+nose and no feathers."
+
+"My Master carried in his pocket something that was forever crying
+'tick, tick, tick.' I felt sure there must be Lizards or Spiders, or
+other sweet ones of a small kind within; but one day when I had a fair
+opportunity and pulled it apart, cracking it with a stone as I had the
+Oysters, I got no eating at all, but in the end a sound beating.
+
+"Once I ate the little berries that grow on the sticks that cause the
+fire----"
+
+"Matches," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"Perhaps; I thought they were berries. Many pains! but I was sick, and
+my kind Master saved my life with cocoanut oil."
+
+"Magh knows something of that matter," declared Sa'-zada; "when she
+first came here she ate her straw bedding and it nearly killed her."
+
+"A fine record these Jungle People have," sneered Pardus. "I, who claim
+not to be wise like the Men, have sense enough to stick to my meat."
+
+"But Magh was wise," asserted Sa'-zada, "for if she had not helped us
+in every way when we were trying to save her life she would surely have
+died."
+
+"In my Master's house," said Oungea, "was one of their young, a Babe;
+and whenever I got loose, for they took to tying me up, I made straight
+for his bed, borrowed his bottle of milk--there surely was no harm in
+that, for we were babes together--and scuttled up a tree where I could
+drink the milk in peace. When I dropped the bottle down so that they
+might get it, it always broke, and I think it was because of this
+mischief that they whipped me."
+
+"Well," said Sa'-zada, "we were to have learned to-night why the
+Bandar-log were Men of the Jungle, first cousins to the Men-kind; but
+all I remember is that they ate matches and straw and got very sick.
+For my part I am very sleepy."
+
+"If you are tired, I will carry you, Hanuman," lisped Python, shoving
+his ugly fat head forward.
+
+"Even I, who find it a labor to walk on the land, will give any Monkey
+who seeks it a ride," sighed Sher Abi. "This talking of eating has made
+me hung----I mean ready to put myself out for my friends."
+
+"Take your friends in, you mean," snarled Gidar, jumping back as the
+heavy jaws of the Crocodile snapped within an inch of his nose.
+
+"I think each one will look after himself," declared Sa'-zada; "it will
+be safer. All to your cages."
+
+
+
+
+Seventh Night
+
+The Story of Birds of a Feather
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SEVENTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF BIRDS OF A FEATHER
+
+
+When Sa'-zada the Keeper had gathered all his comrades in front of
+Chita's cage for the evening of the Bird talk, Magh clambered up on her
+usual perch, Hathi's head, expostulating against the folly of throwing
+the meeting open to such gabblers.
+
+"Never mind," remarked Black Panther, "it's the great talkers that are
+thought most of here, I see. We, who have accomplished much, having
+earned an honest living, but are not over ready with the tongue, amount
+to but little."
+
+"Scree-he-ah-h!" cried Cockatoo. "By my crest! I am surely the oldest
+one here; shall I begin, O Sa'-zada?"
+
+"Cockatoo was born in Australia," declared Sa'-zada; "at least The Book
+says so, but the record of his age only goes back a matter of forty
+years."
+
+"Just so," concurred the Cockatoo, "and from there I went to India on a
+ship; and for downright evil words there is no Jungle to compare with
+a ship. Why, damn it--excuse me, friends, even the memory of my voyage
+causes me to swear.
+
+"My master, who was Captain of the ship, gave me to one of the
+Women-kind in Calcutta--'Mem-Sahib' the others called her. There I had
+just the loveliest life any poor exiled Cockatoo could wish for; it
+makes me swear--weep, I mean--when I think of the sweet Eatings she had
+for me. Not but that Sa'-zada is kind, only no one but a Woman knows
+how to look after a Cockatoo. At tiffin I was always allowed to come on
+the table, and the Mem-Sahib would take the cream from the top of the
+milk and give it to me. The Sahib threw pieces of bread at my head,
+which is like a Man's way, having no regard for the dignity of a
+Cockatoo.
+
+"One day, being frightened because of something, I fluttered to the top
+of his head, which was all bare of feathers, and verily I believe the
+Man-fear, of which Hathi has spoken, came to my new master. I could
+almost fancy I was back on the ship, for his language was much like
+that of the fo'castle.
+
+"Potai was the sweeper, a low-caste Hindoo of an evil presence; and
+save for the fact that he wore no foot-covering I should have been in a
+bad way. When the Mem-Sahib was not looking he beat me with his broom,
+simply because, that often being lonesome, I'd call aloud, 'Potai!
+Potai!' just to see him come running from the stables.
+
+"Thinking to break him of his evil habit of beating me, many times I
+hid behind the _purda_ of a door waiting for the coming of his ugly
+toes. Swisp! swisp! I'd hear the broom; 'Uh-h, uh-h!' old Potai would
+grunt, because of the stooping, and presently under the _purda_, which
+hung straight down, would peep his low-caste toes.
+
+"Click! just like that I'd nip quick, and run for the Mem-Sahib,
+screaming that Potai was beating me. I'm sure it was not an evil act on
+my part, for if any Sahib saw it he would laugh, and give me nuts or
+something sweet. That was because everyone knew that Potai was evil and
+of a low caste.
+
+"Many a time I saved the tiffin from the thieving crows----"
+
+"Caw-w-w, what-a yar-r-r-n!" growled Kauwa the Crow. "We who are the
+cleaners of cities are not thieves. What is a Cockatoo? A teller of
+false tales and a breaker of rest."
+
+"Ca-lack! even what Cockatoo has said of Kauwa is true," declared the
+Adjutant, solemnly, snapping his sword in its scabbard; "I, who am
+_the_ cleaner of cities, consider Kauwa but a thief. Once many of the
+Seven Sisters, for that is the evil name of Kauwa's tribe, stole a
+full-flavored fish from my very teeth----"
+
+"Aw, aw, aw! let me tell it, let me tell it," cried Kauwa; "let me tell
+the true tale of my solemn friend's stealing."
+
+"Now we shall get at the real history of the Feathered Kind," chuckled
+Pardus. "When the Jungle Dwellers fall out amongst themselves and make
+much clatter, there is always the chance of an easy Kill."
+
+"Caw-aw-aw! It was this way," fairly snapped Crow. "A seller of small
+things, a _box wallah_, walking in an honest way fast after the _palki_
+of a great Sahib, even on the Red Road of Calcutta, by chance was
+struck by another _palki_ and his box of many things thrown to the
+ground. Then this honest one of the straight face, Adjutant, seeing the
+mishap from his perch on the lion which is over the Viceroy's gate,
+swooped down like a proper Dacoit and swallowed some brown Eating which
+was like squares of butter, and made haste back to his perch. Even a
+Crow would have known better than that, for it was soap. And all day
+many of the Men-kind stood and looked at our baldheaded friend, for a
+great sickness came to him; and as he coughed, soap-bubbles floated
+upward. The Hindoos said it was a work of their gods."
+
+"Just what I thought," grunted Pardus; "all clatter, and no true story
+of anything."
+
+"Well," sighed Cockatoo wearily, "my Mem-Sahib always put me in a
+little house on the veranda at night. Though I didn't like it at all,
+still it was _my_ house, and one day, in the midst of a rain, when I
+sought to enter, inside were two of the Cat young."
+
+[Illustration: "AND AS HE COUGHED, SOAP BUBBLES FLOATED UPWARD."]
+
+"Kittens?" queried Sa'-zada.
+
+"Ee-he-ah; and just behind me the old Cat with another in her mouth.
+Hard nuts! but such a row you never heard in your life. When I tried to
+drag the Kittens out, the Cat dug her beak----"
+
+"Claws, you mean," corrected Sa'-zada.
+
+"Ee-he-ah--claws in my back; but the Mem-Sahib took them away."
+
+"Ugh, ugh! all lies! Bird talk!" grunted Boar. "What say you,
+Sa'-zada?"
+
+"It is true," declared the Keeper, much to the disgust of his
+questioner; "for in The Book are also other true tales of Cockatoo. The
+Mem-Sahib has written that he was a great mischief-maker. She says that
+on the back veranda of her bungalow was a filter, and when 'Cocky'
+wanted a bath, he used to turn the tap, but never knew enough to shut
+it off, so the filter was always running dry.
+
+"Also, there was a guava tree in the compound, and our friend ate all
+the guavas just as they ripened, so no one but Cocky got any of the
+fruit. That he was always fighting with Jock, her Scotch Terrier, and
+the clamor fair made her head ache."
+
+"Whatever Sa'-zada reads from The Book is most certainly true,"
+commented Magh.
+
+"I've been thinking," began the Adjutant, solemnly----
+
+"You look like it," growled Wolf.
+
+"Of a story about Kauwa," continued the Adjutant----
+
+"He stole three silver spoons from my Mem-Sahib," interrupted Cocky
+hastily, suddenly remembering the incident, "and hid them in the
+Dog-cart, where they were found next day; which shows that he is
+neither wise nor honest."
+
+"Mine is a true tale," declared Adjutant, with great dignity. "One
+morning, looking calmly over the great city to see that all had been
+tidied up, I saw my little black friend, whose voice is like unto the
+squeak of a Bullock-cart, crouched in an open window, with wings well
+spread ready for flight.
+
+"'A new piece of thieving,' thought I, and, drawing closer, I saw Kauwa
+hop to the floor, pass over to a bed on which slept a Sahib, and gently
+take a slice of toast from the top of a cup; then away went the thief.
+
+"But the full wickedness was later, for when the Sahib awoke he spoke
+to his servant in the manner which Cockatoo has related of the ship.
+And when the other, who was of the Black Kind, declared he had put the
+toast beside his Master, the Sahib beat him for a liar. Even three
+mornings did Kauwa take the toast; but on the fourth the Sahib, who was
+pretending to sleep, nearly broke his back with the cast of a boot."
+
+"Jungle Dwellers are Jungle Dwellers, and City Dwellers are City
+Dwellers," commenced Hornbill, gravely, "and I'm so glad I'm a Jungle
+Dweller. These tales show what city life is like. Save for an
+occasional row with Magh's friends, Hanuman and the rest, whose
+stomachs are out of all proportion to the quantity of fruit to be had,
+I have led a very peaceful life in the Jungle."
+
+[Illustration: "LEAVING JUST A PLACE FOR HER SHARP BEAK."]
+
+"Tell me," queried Magh, maliciously, "do your Young roost on your
+nose?"
+
+"No; that is to keep inquisitive folks at a distance. And, talking of
+Young, when my wife has laid her two big eggs in a hole in some tree, I
+shut her up there with the eggs--make her stay home to mind the house
+and the oncoming family. I plaster up the hole with mud, leaving just a
+place for her sharp beak; this to keep the Monkeys from stealing her
+and the eggs."
+
+"Kaw-aw-aw! Talking of nests," said Kauwa, "when I was in Calcutta I
+designed a nest that would last forever--yes, forever. Each year before
+that time, because of the monsoon winds, my nest had always been
+destroyed; but the time I speak of, having a job on hand----"
+
+"On beak, you mean!" laughed Sa'-zada.
+
+"Aw-haw!--to clean up about a cook-house behind a certain place of the
+Sahib's in which they bottled water of a fierce strength--as I say,
+being busy in this same compound, I spied many, many twigs of wire."
+
+"What's wire?" asked Mooswa; "I've never, that I know of, eaten such
+twigs."
+
+Sa'-zada explained, "Kauwa means bottled soda water, I fancy, and the
+wire from the corks."
+
+"A thought came to me," continued Kauwa, "to build my nest of these
+bright little things, and I did, first getting my mate's opinion on the
+matter, of course. Dead Pigs! but it _was_ a nest! We would swing, and
+jump, and hang to it by our beaks, and never a break in the wall. But I
+had forgotten all about the selfish desire of the Men--but that was
+after. The first trouble was when Cuckoo--a proper _budmash_ bird she
+is--came and laid two eggs in the nest. I saw the difference in the
+eggs at once, but my mate declared that they were all her own laying.
+She took rather a pride in her ability to lay eggs--to tell you the
+truth, we quarreled over it."
+
+"I believe that," yawned Adjutant.
+
+"However, she had her way, and started to hatch out these foreign
+devils; but the Men, as I have said, seeing my beautiful nest, sent a
+Man of low caste up the tree, and he took it away, Cuckoo eggs and all.
+It was a good joke on the Cuckoo Bird, and I was so mad at the way
+everything turned out, Caw-ha! I never made it again."
+
+"I can swallow a plantain at one gulp," said Hornbill proudly.
+
+"Why do you toss it up first?" asked Sa'-zada, alluding to the peculiar
+habit the Hornbill has of throwing everything into the air, and
+catching it as he swallows it.
+
+"It's all in the way of slow eating," answered Hornbill.
+
+"Now," said Myna, "it is surely my turn. I, Myna, who was the pride of
+the Calcutta Zoo in the matter of speech, have sat here like a Tucktoo
+not saying a word, and listening to such as Cockatoo boasting about the
+few paltry oaths he picked up from the Sailor-kind. Why, damn your
+eyes, sir----"
+
+And before Sa'-zada could still the tumult, Cockatoo and Myna, the best
+talking Bird of all India, were hurling the most unparliamentary
+language at each other that had ever been bandied about a Bird
+gathering.
+
+When Sa'-zada had stopped the indelicate scolding of the two Birds Myna
+proceeded to tell of his life.
+
+"I was born in the Burma hills, amongst the Shans. That's where I got
+my beautiful blue-black coat and lovely yellow beak."
+
+"Modest Bird," sneered Magh.
+
+"It was Mah Thin who snared me; but she was good to me, though--rice
+and fruit, all I could eat; and she never once forgot to put the
+turmeric and ground chillies in my rice; for, you know, if I did not
+get something hot in my food I'd soon die. I was somewhat like Cockatoo
+in that a Ship-man bought me and took me to Calcutta. He made me a most
+wise bird, and taught me many clever sayings. And when he was in
+Calcutta with his ship I would be put in the Zoo, so that the Sahibs
+from all parts might hear my speech.
+
+"One day Tom--that was my master's name; he taught me to call him
+Tom--said to me, 'To-morrow the _Lat_ Sahib, the Sirdar, and many
+ladies are coming to hear you talk; Myna.' Then he made me repeat over
+and over again, 'Good-morning, your Excellency.'"
+
+"It was a hard word he gave you," commented Magh.
+
+"It was indeed. Let claw-nosed Cockatoo try it; he thinks he can
+talk--let him try that."
+
+"Avast there, you lubber----" commenced Cocky, but Sa'-zada stopped
+him.
+
+"Well, I said it over and over, and over again, and Tom was so pleased
+he gave me a graft mango to eat. Next day the Viceroy and many
+Mem-Sahibs and Sahibs gathered about my cage, and the Viceroy said,
+'Good-morning, Polly.' Now this made me mad--to be called Polly, as
+though I had a hooked nose like Cockatoo; and in my anger I got
+excited, and, for-the-love-of-hot-spiced-rice, I couldn't think of what
+Tom had told me to say.
+
+"'Speak up!' said Tom.
+
+"In my anger, and forgetting the other thing, and seeing so many
+strange faces against the very bars of my cage, I blurted out, 'I'll
+see you damned first!' just as the sailors used to teach me."
+
+"Caw-haw-haw-haw! Very funny, indeed. Next to a fat bone, or the hiding
+of a silver spoon, I like a joke myself," commented Kauwa. "Once at the
+first edge of the Hot Time I went to Simla. That was also at the time
+of the going of the Sahibs, but after Calcutta it was dull--fair
+stupid.
+
+"One morning, as I was feeling most lonesome, I spied a long row of
+queer little Donkeys standing with their tails to a fence. They had
+brought loads of brick. I flew to the fence, and reaching far down,
+pulled the tail of my first Donkey. Much food! but he did kick--it made
+me laugh. I pulled the tail of every Donkey of the line, and when I had
+finished there wasn't a board left on the fence. Then the Man who was
+master of the fence, and the one that was master of the Donkeys, fought
+over this matter, and pulled each about by the feathers that were on
+their heads. It was the only real pleasant day I had in Simla."
+
+"Did-you-do-it!" screamed the Redwattled Lapwing, suddenly roused to
+animation by falling off Mooswa's back, where he had been trying to
+balance himself with his poor front-toed feet.
+
+"Caw-w-w! I did; and for three grains of corn I'd pull your tail, too."
+
+"I wasn't speaking to you," retorted Titiri the Lapwing; "I was
+dreaming of my old home in India--dreaming that the hunters had come
+into the rice fields to shoot the poor Paddy Birds and Bakula (Egret)
+for their feathers."
+
+"Murderers, you should call them, not Hunters," exclaimed Hathi. "It
+makes me sniff in my nose now when I think of the Birds I've seen
+murdered, just for their feathers."
+
+"It's an outrageous shame," declared Sa'-zada.
+
+"I did all I could," asserted Lapwing. "When I saw the Gun-men coming,
+sneaking along, crouched like Pardus----"
+
+"Sneaking like Pardus--go on, Good Bird!" chimed in Magh.
+
+"I flew just ahead of them, and cried 'Tee-he-he! Here come the
+Murderers!' so that every bird in all the _jhils_ about could hear me.
+And when Bakula, and Kowar the Ibis, and all the others had flown to
+safety, I shouted, 'Did-you-do-it, did-you-do-it!' Then the Men used
+language much like the disgraceful talk we have had from Cocky and Myna
+to-night."
+
+"You carried a heavy responsibility," remarked Sa'-zada.
+
+"All lies," sneered Kauwa. "Fat Bones! why, he can't even sit on the
+limb of a tree."
+
+"That is because of my feet," sighed Lapwing. "I have no toes behind."
+
+"Where do you sleep?" asked Magh.
+
+"On the ground," answered Lapwing.
+
+"That's so," declared Sa'-zada, "for the Natives of the East say that
+Titiri sleeps on his back, and holds up the sky with his feet."
+
+"But why should the Men kill Birds for a few feathers?" croaked
+Vulture. "I don't believe it. Nobody asked me for one of mine. In fact
+the great trouble of all eating is the feathers or skin."
+
+"Whe-eh-eh!" exclaimed Ostrich, disgustedly. "Pheu! your feathers!
+Even your head looks like a boiled Lobster. They do not kill me--the
+Men--but I know they are crazy for feathers, for they pull mine all
+out. Some day I'll give one of them a kick that will cure him of his
+feather fancy. I did rake one from beak to feet once with my strong toe
+nail. When I bring a foot up over my head and down like this----"
+
+As Ostrich swung his leg every one skurried out of the way, for they
+knew it was like a sword descending.
+
+"Yes," cried Magh, "if you only had a brain the size of that
+toe-nail----"
+
+"Stop it!" cried Sa'-zada, for this was an unpleasant truth; Ostrich,
+though such a huge fellow himself, has a brain about the size of a
+Humming Bird's.
+
+"Talking of Wives," said Ostrich, with the most extraordinary
+irrelevance, "mine died when I was twenty-seven years old; and, of
+course, as it is the way with us Birds, I never took up with another,
+though I've seen the most beautifully feathered ones of our Kind--quite
+enough to make one's mouth water.
+
+"She had queer ways, to be sure--my wife. As you all know, our way of
+hatching eggs is turn about, the Mother Birds sitting all day, while we
+Lords of the Nest sit at night. But my wife would take notions
+sometimes and not sit at all. In that case I always sat night and day
+until the job was finished. By-a-sore-breast-bone! but making a nest
+in the hard-graveled desert is a job to be avoided."
+
+"Sore knuckles!" exclaimed Magh, "where are we at? We were talking of
+feathers."
+
+"So we were, so we were," decided Mooswa. "And what I want to know is,
+do the Men eat the feathers they hunt for?"
+
+"Oh, Jungle Dwellers!" exclaimed Magh; "if you were to sit in my cage
+for half a day you would see what they do with them. The Women come
+there with their heads covered with all kinds of feathers, red, and
+green, and blue--Silly! how would I look with my head stuck full of
+funny old feathers?"
+
+"Like the Devil!" exclaimed Sa'-zada.
+
+"Like a Woman," retorted Magh. "And their hair is so pretty, too. I've
+seen red hair just like mine, and then to cover it up with a crest of
+feathers like Cockatoo wears; I'd be ashamed of the thing."
+
+"It's a sin to murder the Birds," whimpered Mooswa; "that's the worst
+part of it."
+
+"Tonk, tonk, tonk!" came a noise just like a small Boy striking an iron
+telegraph post with a stick. It was the small Coppersmith Bird clearing
+his throat. Very funny the green pudgy little chap looked with his big
+black mustaches.
+
+"The Men are great thieves," he asserted. "When I was a chick my Mother
+taught me to stick my tail under my wings for fear they would steal
+the feathers as I slept."
+
+"Steal tail feathers!" screamed Eagle; "I should say they would. Out in
+the West, where was my home, when a Man becomes a great Chief he sticks
+three of my tail feathers in his hair; and when the Head Chief of a
+great Indian tribe rises up to make a big talk, what does he hold in
+his hand? The things that are bright like water-drops----"
+
+"Diamond rings," exclaimed Sa'-zada, interrupting.
+
+"No; he holds one of my wings to show that he is great."
+
+"Yes, you are the King Bird, Eagle," concurred Sa'-zada, "the emblem of
+our country."
+
+"I can break a lamb's back with my talons," assented Eagle, ignoring
+the sublime disdainfully, "but I wouldn't trust my nest within reach of
+any Man--they're a lot of thieves."
+
+"Nice feathers are a great trouble," asserted Sparrow; "I'm glad I
+haven't any."
+
+"What difference does it make?" cried Quail; "the Men kill me, and I'm
+sure I'm not gaudy."
+
+"You're good eating, though," chuckled Gidar the Jackal. "After a day's
+shoot of the Men-kind, the scent from their cook-house is fair
+maddening. Oh-h-h, ki-yi! I've had many a Quail bone in my time."
+
+"Even Lapwing can't save _us_ from the Hunters," lamented Quail; "they
+play us such vile tricks. I've seen a rice field with a dozen bamboos
+stuck in it, and on top of each bamboo a cage with a tame Cock Quail;
+and in the center, hidden away, sat a man with a little drum which he
+tapped with his fingers. And the drum would whistle 'peep, peep, peep,'
+and the Birds in the cages would go 'peep, peep, peep,' and we Cock
+Birds of the Jungle, thinking it a challenge to battle, would answer
+back, 'peep, peep, peep,' and go seeking out these strange Birds who
+were calling for fight. Of course, our Wives would go with us to see
+the battle, and in the end all would be snared or shot by the deceitful
+Men."
+
+"That's almost worse than being taken for one's feathers," said Egret.
+"I'm glad they don't eat me."
+
+"No Mussulman would eat you, Buff Egret," said Gidar the Jackal. "It's
+because of your habit of picking ticks off the Pigs."
+
+"Some Birds do have vile habits," declared Crow. "Paddy Bird has a
+Brother in Burma who gets drunk on the Men's toddy."
+
+"I doubt if that be true," said Sa'-zada, "though he is really called
+'Bacchus' in the science books."
+
+Said Myna, "Of all Birds, I think the Jungle Fowl are the worst. The
+Cocks do nothing but fight, fight, all the time--fight, and then get up
+in a tree and crow about it, as though it were to their credit."
+
+Said Kauwa the Crow, "When one of our family becomes quarrelsome, or a
+great nuisance, we hold a meeting--I have seen even a thousand Crows at
+such meetings--hear all there is to say about him, and then if it
+appears that he is utterly bad we beat him to death."
+
+"Tub-full-of-bread!" exclaimed Hathi, sleepily, "it's my opinion that
+all Birds should be on their roosts--it's very late."
+
+"And roost high, too," said Magh, "for Coyote and Gidar have been
+licking their chops for the last hour. I've watched them. And lock
+Python up, O Sa'-zada, for high roosts won't save them from him."
+
+"All to bed, all to bed!" cried the Keeper. "To-morrow night we'll have
+some more tales."
+
+The last cry heard on the sleepy night air after all were safely in
+their cages was Cockatoo's "Avast there, you lubber!" as Myna, sticking
+his saucy yellow beak through the bars of his cage, called across to
+him, "Want a glass of grog, Polly?"
+
+
+
+
+Eighth Night
+
+The Stories of Buffalo and Bison
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+EIGHTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF BUFFALO AND BISON
+
+
+This evening the whole Buffalo herd had come out of the park to the
+meeting-place in front of Chita's cage; even their brother, the Indian
+Bison, was there, as also was the true Buffalo, Bos Bubalus.
+
+Said Sa'-zada, opening his book: "We should learn much this evening,
+for Buffalo and Bison are to tell us of their lives. But first, let me
+put you all right as to their names. Those we have called Buffalo, from
+our own western prairies, are not Buffalo at all, but Bison,
+half-brother of Gaur, who also lives in India, where the true Buffalo
+comes from."
+
+"It does not matter," said Buff, the prairie Bison, "it does not matter
+what I'm called, seems to me, for all my life I have been most badly
+treated. Why, it seems no time since I was a calf, one of a mighty
+herd, on the sweet-grassed prairie, and in those days I thought there
+was nothing in the world like being a Buffalo.
+
+"The first touch of danger I remember came in this way. The herd had
+tracked, one after another, all walking in the same narrow path, down
+to a hollow in which was water. I was feeling frisky, and, seeing
+something move, something that seemed very like a calf, smaller than
+myself, I ran after it, cocking my tail, kicking my heels in the air,
+and thinking it great sport; for, Comrades, the great weakness of all
+grass-feeders is an idle curiosity."
+
+"And did all this happen when you had your tail kinked in the air, that
+time you were a silly calf?" jibed Magh, holding a peanut out on her
+under lip, and looking down at it very sedately, as though the subject
+were of little interest.
+
+"I'll tell you my story in my own way," declared Buff. "The thing that
+I followed was like a grey shadow, and slipped about with no noise, but
+when I came close to it, with a vicious snarl it sprang up, and also
+there were three others hidden in the grass. Much milk! but I became
+afraid, and I believe I bawled. Just then I felt the ground tremble,
+and a dozen of the herd galloped towards me with their heads down. It
+was a wolf, and help came just in time, for the big fangs of the fierce
+brute cut my hind leg a little where he sought to hamstring me.
+
+"Then Mother explained, first bunting me soundly with her forehead,
+then licking me with her coarse tongue, that these Wolves were always
+following up the Herd, trying to catch a Calf, or sick Cow, or old
+Bull, to one side."
+
+"We have Wolves in India, too," said Arna, "and Chita the Leopard, and
+Bagh the Tiger. Blood drinkers! but we have many enemies there; even
+Cobra will hardly get out of the way seeking to carry to one's blood
+his sudden death. There are no animals so ill used, I believe, as
+Buffalo.
+
+"One has need of big Horns in the heart of the Jungle. Why, mine
+measure nine feet and a half from tip to tip across my forehead. And
+see the strength of them, fully the size of Bagh's leg--for I am a
+Curly Horn, which means one of great strength. Never have I locked
+Horns with a Bull that I have not twisted his neck till he bellowed.
+Eugh-hu, eugh! Next to lying in muddy water with one's nose just
+peeping out, there's nothing so pleasant as a trial of strength. And
+with all respect to Hathi's handiness of trunk, I must say I prefer
+good, stout Horns. When Bagh or Pardus come sneaking about, there's
+nothing like a long reach.
+
+"Hear that, friends," said Magh. "Here's a traveler from Panther's own
+land calls him a sneak. He, he he! now we shall get at the truth."
+
+"Yes," said Gaur, the Bison; "Panther and all his tribe are sneaks.
+They murdered a Calf of mine. To be sure, it was the Wife's Calf, for
+had I been there at the time I'd have fixed him. She had just lain down
+to rest for the night, and the Calf was a little to one side, and this
+evil-spotted thing, Panther of the Red Kind, came sneaking up the wind
+like a proper Jungle Cat. He knew I was away, for he has the cunning of
+Cobra, and how was the mother to know that any danger threatened? He
+stole like a shadow close to the poor little Calf, and with a rush
+jumped on his back and bit his neck, breaking it, and cutting it so the
+red blood ran his life all out in a little while."
+
+"I was born in Mardian," remarked Arna, the Buffalo, "many years ago;
+and save for the loss of a Calf, through Chita or Bagh's treachery, or
+perhaps a lone Cow at times, our herd feared no Dweller of the Jungles.
+Mine is a big family," he ruminated, "for we wander over almost all
+India and Burma. Before I had grown up our Bull leader had taught us
+all the method of battle. When it was Bagh, we formed up, heads out,
+with the Calves behind, and if we but saw him in time, he surely was
+slain, if he sought strongly for a Kill.
+
+"I learned all the different sounds that come far ahead of danger.
+One's ears get wondrous sharp in the Jungle, I can tell you, where the
+little Gonds hunt. If a stone went singing down the hillside, that
+meant Men, and Men meant the worst kind of danger. No Animal starts a
+stone rolling; we are too careful for that.
+
+"Also do the Jungle Dwellers not break sticks as they travel. The crack
+of a broken twig meant Men Hunters; and when a beat was on, the Jungle
+was, indeed, possessed of great sounds. All the Dwellers ran mad with
+fear--the fear-madness that is like unto the way of Baola Kutta, the
+Mad Dog. There is nothing so terrible in the life of an Animal as the
+drive of the Hunters. 'Tap, tap, tap,' like the knocking of Horns
+together, meant the strike of Beaters against the trees, and then the
+Men's voices crying, '_Aree ho teri_.'
+
+"I, who tremble not at the roar of a Tiger, shivered when I heard that,
+and lost all knowledge of which way I should run--that was in the first
+drive, of course, before I became possessed of much Jungle wisdom.
+Surely it drove us all mad. Like the sound of rain falling on leaves
+was the rush of Python's little feet as even he flew from the
+Man-danger.
+
+"Our best food was down in the _jhils_, also the nice soft mud to lie
+in, and in the early spring, after the fires had passed, the young
+bamboo shot up and we ate them. Then when we took it into our heads, we
+went up into the deep, cool sal forest and rested in peace. But in the
+Dry Time was the time of danger, for we had to travel far to find
+water. We are not like Antelope or Nilgai, who go without water for
+days and days.
+
+"I remember once when we had crept down out of the hills, leaving the
+big sal trees behind, and passing through tamarind, and mango, and
+pipal, and just as we were coming to the pool, which was almost hidden
+in the jamin bushes, I heard a roar--there was a rush and a Bagh of
+ferocious strength sprang on one of our Cows and sought to break her
+neck.
+
+"But worse than Bagh's cruel charge was the silent method of the
+little, dark Men-kind--the Mariahs. Like Magh's people, they would sit
+quiet in the trees, and as we came slowly back from the water would
+shoot arrows into us. Of this we could have no warning, neither any
+chance to fight for our lives, only the noise of the arrow coming like
+the hiss of King Cobra, and the cruel sting of its sharp end. Our Bull
+leader got one this way not strong enough to bring him to his death,
+and for days and days it stayed in his side, and made him of such a
+vile temper that the Herd had to cast him forth, and he became what is
+known as a Solitary Bull.
+
+"There is some kindness in Bagh's method, more than in the way of these
+evil Men, for when he kills he kills, and there is no more sickness;
+but of the Men, when they hunt us with their arrows or a thunder-stick
+which strikes with a loud noise, many of our kind are struck and die at
+the end of much time.
+
+"Strong as the fire-stick is----"
+
+"Arna means by the fire-stick a gun," explained Sa'-zada.
+
+"Strong as it is," continued Arna, "we Buffalo are also of great
+strength. Why, the skin on my neck and withers would stop its strike
+any time."
+
+"Stop the Bullet?" queried Sa'-zada.
+
+"Yes," asserted the Bull. "I have at least three buried in the thick
+skin of my neck, and I hardly know they are there. Why, it has been
+known in my Herd for a Bull to be struck fifteen times by one of these
+fire-sticks, and then the Men did not get him. But just behind the
+shoulders we are weak. My mother taught me a trick of this sort--'Never
+stand sideways to an enemy,' she told me. Yes, though it is good to be
+of great strength, a little wisdom is also of much use, even to a
+Buffalo."
+
+"It was so with us," concurred Prairie Bison. "From all the other
+animals we suffered little compared with the misery that came from the
+Men--the Redmen; and worse still were the Palefaces; it was, as you
+say, Brother, all because of the fire-stick."
+
+"Even I was struck by it," continued Arna; "it was this way. Early one
+morning I had gone down to a _jhil_, being alone at that time of the
+year, for our wives were busy with the Calves, and, as I was going to
+the uplands, to a favorite _nulla_ of mine, in which to rest, suddenly
+I caught sight of an evil-faced Gond; these same Gonds being of all
+Shikaris (hunters) the most strong in their thirst for blood. I rushed
+away for the hills, thinking to leave him behind. I traveled far, and
+thought to myself, now surely I have lost this small killer. Being
+hungry, I fed on the rich grass, but, as I fed, suddenly a dry twig
+broke in the Jungle, and I knew that it was either Hathi or the little
+Gond. Looking back, I saw with the Shikari another of a white face.
+Again I galloped, and trotted, and walked, up a long _nulla_, over a
+hill, around by the side of it, turned, and went far back, much the way
+I had come, only to one side. Then I sought the top of a hill where the
+bamboos grew thick, thinking to hide. As I rested, an evil smell, that
+was not of the Jungle, came to me as the wind turned in its course and
+blew up the hill. I stood perfectly still, even ceased to flap my ears
+against the wicked Flies. As I watched, suddenly this Man of the white
+face stood up from the grass just the shortest of gallops away, his
+thunder-stick roared, and something I could not see struck me most
+viciously in the shoulder. I was mad. Lashing my hips with my tail, and
+throwing my nose straight out, I charged him.
+
+"Again his thunder-stick spoke loud, but there was no sting--nothing,
+and he turned from me and ran down the hill. Just as I was almost upon
+him, he looked back, his foot caught in a bush and he fell. Now, as I
+have said, my big Horns are of great use when Bagh charges, or when
+another Bull disputes the right to command the Herd, but as for the
+small enemy lying on the ground, I could not get at him at all;
+besides, I was rushing down hill at great speed, so, though I lowered
+my head till my forehead almost crushed him into the earth, yet I had
+him not on the Horns, as, carried by my weight, I was forced to the
+very bottom. Before I could turn he was up and away, and I never saw
+him again."
+
+[Illustration: "SOMETHING I COULD NOT SEE STRUCK ME MOST VICIOUSLY IN
+THE SHOULDER."]
+
+"We are also killed by the Men," added Muskwa, the Bear. "They take off
+our black coats, and I thought, perhaps, that was lest we might come to
+life again. Yes, I think they mean to kill all Animals."
+
+"They have killed nearly all my people," sighed Prairie Cow--"nearly
+all of them. I know that is true, for one day Sa'-zada came into our
+corral, and, rubbing his nice soft hand on my forehead--I was sick that
+day, I remember--said, 'Poor old girl! we must take care of you, for
+there are not many of your sort left now.' Then he said it was a shame
+that the brutes had slaughtered us so."
+
+"Ghurr-ah!" barked Wolf, "tell of this thing, O Buffalo Cow, for to me
+it has been much of a mystery where the many of your kind could have
+gone."
+
+"Lu-ah!" sighed Prairie Cow, "it makes me sad to even think of it. As I
+have said, in my young life we were many, many in numbers like you have
+seen our enemies, the Men, here at times. All through the long, warm
+days of sun, we ate the grass that grew again as fast as we cropped it.
+Our humps became big and full of rich fat for the cold time. Not that
+I had the hump on my back as a Calf, not needing it as food, for my
+mother's milk kept my stomach at peace when the winds were cold, and
+the grass perhaps under a white cover. Sometimes when the days were
+harsh we had to travel far in search of feed grass, but that was
+nothing: few of us died because of this. Even when the Red-faced ones
+sought us, they killed but few, for their hunger was soon stayed. But
+suddenly there came to us a time of much fear. Wherever we went we were
+chased by the Palefaces, and their fire-sticks were forever driving the
+fire that kills into our faces. Our Bull leader was always taking us
+farther and farther away, and our Herd was getting smaller and smaller.
+It was a miserable life, for there was never any rest.
+
+"At last our Bull said that we must go on a long trail, for the prairie
+wind was talking of nothing but danger; so we trailed far to the south.
+For days and days we passed across hot sand deserts in which there was
+little grass and hardly any drinking. It was terrible. My hump melted
+to nothing; we were all like that, worse than we had ever been after
+the coldest time of little sun.
+
+"Then we came to a land in which there was grass and water, and none of
+the Men-kind; and once more we were content, only for thinking of our
+friends that had been killed. I don't remember how long we were
+there--I think I had raised two Calves, when one day the evil that
+comes of the Men was once more with us----"
+
+"Yes, it is even as I have said," interrupted Arna; "when one thinks he
+has got away safely, and stops for a little rest, he will see that evil
+Gond, or some other of the Men-kind, waiting to do him harm."
+
+"Just so," commented Prairie Cow; "the Palefaces had found us out. But
+I must say there was less use of the fire-sticks than before, and I
+soon came to know why they had trailed us across the Texas desert--they
+had come to steal our Calves. Never were any poor Animals so troubled
+by Man's evil ways as were we Buffalo. At first I thought they had not
+fire-sticks with them, and meant to kill and eat the Calves, they being
+less able to fight. I remember the very day my Calf was taken. As the
+Herd fed in a little valley, we saw three Wild Horses coming toward
+us--we thought they were Wild Horses, but it was an evil trick of the
+Palefaces, for beside each Horse walked one of the Men. They were down
+wind from us, so we did not discover this. Suddenly our Herd leader--he
+was a great Bull, too--gave a grunt of warning--much like Bear grunts,
+only louder; but still we could see nothing to put fear into our
+hearts. Then our leader commenced to throw sand up against his sides
+with his forefeet, and, lowering his head, shook it savagely. 'Why does
+he wish to battle?' I wondered, for the Wild Horses had never made
+trouble for my people.
+
+"Just then the Men jumped on their animals, and away we raced. I
+remember as I ran wondering why there was no loud bark of the
+fire-stick, for I could see the Hunters galloping fast after us; in
+fact one of them was close at my heels, for my youngest Calf, not two
+months old, could not run as swiftly as I wished. I was keeping him
+close; and on my other side galloped my Calf that was a year old.
+
+"Suddenly I heard a 'swisp' in the air, and my little curly-haired pet
+gave a choking gasp and fell in the grass. Of course, I could not stop
+at once, and he bawled much as I did when the Wolf was at my hock. When
+I turned in great haste I saw the Paleface on top of him. I was just
+crazy with rage. I charged full at the Man and his Horse, and it almost
+makes me laugh now to think how I kept him jumping about. He did use a
+small firestick on me, but I am sure it was because of the Man-fear, of
+which Hathi told us; I saw it in his eyes plain enough. But who can
+stand against the fire-stick? Not even Bagh or Hathi, as we know, so I
+was forced to flee with the Herd.
+
+[Illustration: "SUDDENLY I HEARD A 'SWISP' IN THE AIR, AND MY LITTLE
+CURLY-HAIRED PET ..."]
+
+"We galloped far, far, before we stopped; and that night there were
+many mothers in the Herd bawling and crying for their lost Calves, for
+these evil Men had stolen a great number. I felt so sad thinking of my
+little one's trouble that I could stand it no longer, so I went back on
+our trail, and, following up the scene of the Men-kind, came to where
+they had my Calf and the others. It was night. I soon found him, for a
+Cow Mother's nose is most wise when looking for her young. But I could
+not get him away with me, for he was held fast by something; so I
+stayed there and let him drink of my milk.
+
+"Even with the fear of a fire-stick on me I stayed with him, and in the
+morning when the Pale-faces saw me their eyes were full of much wonder.
+But I did not try to run away, and one of them, making many motions and
+noises to the other two, I think, commanded them not to harm me. Well,
+good Comrades," sighed the Cow, regretfully, "mine has been a very long
+story, I'm afraid, but when one talks of her Babe there is so much to
+be said."
+
+"And did they bring you here with the Calf?" asked Magh.
+
+"Most surely," answered Prairie Cow; "and because of my milk he grew
+big and strong, much faster than grew the other Calves, and is now big
+Bull of the Herd."
+
+"But how fared the others with no mothers?" asked Chita.
+
+"They gave them Cow mothers of the tame kind," answered the Cow.
+
+Said Arna, scratching his back with the point of his long horn: "It is
+not quite this way with us in India. We stick pretty well to the
+_jhils_ and Jungles, so the Men cannot kill many of us at one time; but
+still we are becoming fewer. Even those of the black kind now have the
+thunder-stick, and kill my comrades to sell their heads to the horn
+merchants. Think of that, Brothers, having a price on one's head, like
+a Bhil robber."
+
+Said Sa'-zada: "I wish all the Men who slay Animals, calling it sport,
+might have sat here to-night with us, that their hearts might be
+inclined more kindly toward you, Brothers, who war not against my
+kind."
+
+"Sa'-zada," cried Hathi, in a gentle voice, "could you not put all
+these things in a new book, and lend it to each one of your people so
+that they might know of these true things? Surely then they would not
+seek for the life of each one of us that has done them no harm."
+
+"I have a notion to try it, good Comrade," said the Keeper. "But in the
+meantime it is late, and now you must all go back to your corrals and
+cages."
+
+"Good-night, Prairie Cow," trumpeted Hathi, softly, caressing her
+forehead with his trunk; "your people most certainly have been badly
+treated by the Men."
+
+Soon silence reigned over the home of these outcasts from the different
+quarters of the world.
+
+
+
+
+Ninth Night
+
+The Story of Unt, the Camel
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+NINTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF UNT, THE CAMEL
+
+
+The clink of a loose chain; the complaining wail of a swinging iron
+door; the squeak of a key turning an unwilling lock--a heavy-bolted
+lock; a flutter of wings; the crunch of giant feet on the echoing
+gravel; huge forms slipping through the moonlight, like prehistoric
+monsters; a slim, ribbon-like body gliding noiselessly over the grass
+cushion of the Park's sward; muffled laughter, bird calls and a
+remonstrative grunt from Wild Boar; the merry chatter of Magh the
+Orang; a guarded "Phrut-t-t, Phrut-t-t" from Hathi, the huge
+Elephant--ah, yes, all these; surely it was the gathering of old
+friends, who, like the listeners of the Arabian Night's tales, had for
+many evenings talked of their Jungle life in front of Black Panther's
+cage.
+
+"You are all welcome," growled Pardus.
+
+Magh hopped on the end of Hathi's trunk, and the latter lifted her
+gracefully to a seat on his broad forehead. She had Blitz, the Fox
+Terrier, with her. "You will hear some lies to-night, Pup," she
+confided to him. "But who is to talk?" she asked suddenly; "Chee-he!
+Sa'-zada, our good Keeper, who's to talk?"
+
+"Camel is to tell us of his life," answered the Keeper.
+
+"That stupid creature, who is too lazy to brace up and look spry, talk
+to us? Next we know we'll have a tale from Turtle."
+
+"That's it," sneered Boar, "if one is honest and a plodder like Unt,
+bandy-legged creatures like Magh will call him stupid."
+
+Unt, with a bubbling grunt, knelt down, doubled his hind legs under him
+like a jack-knife, made himself comfortable, and commenced his personal
+history.
+
+"Bul-lul-luh!" he muttered. "I was born in Baluchistan, on the nice
+white sand plains of the Sibi _Put_ (desert). As Mooswa has said, there
+must be some great Animal who arranges things for us. Think of it,
+Comrades, I had the good fortune to be born in just the loveliest spot
+any animal could wish for. As far as I could see on every side was the
+hot, dry sand of the beautiful Sibi desert."
+
+"I know," interrupted Ostrich; "my home in Arabia was like that. I've
+listened to Arna here, and Bagh, telling of the thick Jungles where one
+could scarce see three lengths of his own body, and I must say that I
+think it very bad taste."
+
+"Yes, it was lovely there," bubbled Unt. "No wonder that Bagh, when he
+was chased by the Beaters, fled to the sand _damar_ and hid in the
+korinda thorns. Such sweet eating they are, firm under one's teeth. The
+green food is dreadful stuff. Once crossing the Sibi _Put_, when I was
+three days without food, I remember coming to Jacobabad, a place where
+the foolish ones of the Men-kind had planted trees, and bushes, and
+grass, and kept them green with water. I ate of these three green
+things, and nearly died from a swelling in my stomach.
+
+"Well, as I have said, I was born in that nice sand place, and for
+three or four years did nothing but follow mother Unt about. Then they
+put a button in my nose, and tied me with a cord to the tail of another
+Unt, and put merchandise on my back for me to carry. There was a long
+line of us, and in front walked Dera Khan, the Master. We seemed to be
+always working, always carrying something; our only rest was when we
+were being loaded or unloaded. We were made to lie down when the packs
+were put on our backs, and many a time I have got up suddenly when the
+boxes were nearly all on, rose up first from behind, you know, and sent
+the things flying over my head. I would get a longer rest that way, but
+also I got much abuse, though I didn't mind it, to be sure; for, as
+Mooswa has said, our way of life is all arranged for us, and the abuse
+that was thrust upon me was a part of my way.
+
+"But one year there came to Sibi many Men of the war-kind, and with
+them were the black ones from Bengal. It was a fat one of this kind,
+one of little knowledge of the ways of an Unt, a 'Baboo,' Dera Khan
+called him, who caused me much misery. It was my lot to take him and
+his goods to the Bolan Pass, so Dera said, for the One-in-Charge, a
+Sahib, had so ordered it. When I sought to rise, as usual, when the
+load was but half in place, he got angry and beat me with a big-leafed
+stick he carried to keep the heat from his head. But in the end I
+brought to his knowledge the method of an Unt who has been beaten
+without cause.
+
+"When all his pots and pans, and boxes of books, wherein was writing,
+had been bound to my saddle, the Baboo clambered on top. I must say
+that I could understand little of his speech, for my Master, Dera Khan,
+was a Man of not many words, but the Baboo was as full of talk as even
+Magh is; and of very much the same intent, too--of little value."
+
+"Big lip! Crooked neck! Frightener of Young!" screamed Magh, hurling
+the epithets at Camel with vindictive fury.
+
+"Unt's tale is truly a most interesting one; there is much wit in his
+long head," commented Pardus. Camel rolled the cud in his mouth three
+or four times, dropped his heavy eyelids reflectively, bubbled a sigh
+of meek resignation and proceeded:
+
+"When I rose from behind, the Baboo nearly fell over my neck; when I
+came sharply to my forefeet (for I was always a very spry, active Unt),
+he declared to Dera Khan that I had broken his back. But I knew this
+couldn't be true, for I was always a most unlucky Unt. Of course, this
+time I was not tied to the tail of a mate, but my leading line was with
+the Baboo. He shouted 'Jao' to me, and in addition called me the Son of
+an Evil Pig.
+
+"Have any of you ever seen one of my kind run away?" Camel asked,
+swinging his big head inquiringly about the circle.
+
+"I have," answered Black Panther. "Once, being hungry, I crept close to
+an Unt to ask him if he could tell me where I might find a Chinkara or
+other Jungle Dweller for my dinner. I saw _that_ Camel run. For a small
+part of the journey I was on his back; but though I can cling to
+anything pretty well, yet the twists of his long legs were too much for
+me, and I landed on my head in the sand, nearly breaking my back."
+
+"Well," resumed Camel, "you will understand how the Baboo and his pots
+and pans fared when I ran away with him, which I did as soon as Dera
+Khan moved a little to one side. At first I couldn't get well into my
+stride, for the Baboo pulled at the nose rope, and called to Dera in
+great fear. Dera also ran beside me, holding to the ropes that were on
+the boxes; many things fell, coming away like cocoanuts from a tree. An
+iron pot going down with much speed struck my Master on his head, and
+he said the same fierce words that he always used when I caused him
+trouble of any kind.
+
+"You know, though I ran fast, yet by tipping my head a little to one
+side I could see what was doing behind, and I saw a basket in which
+were many round, white things----"
+
+"Eggs," suggested Cockatoo. "Those were the round white things Potai
+brought from bazaar in a basket."
+
+"Yes, they were in a basket," repeated Camel, solemnly; "so, as you
+say, Cocky, I suppose they were eggs; but, however, they came down all
+at once on the face and shoulders of my loved Master."
+
+"And broke, Cah-cah-cah!" laughed Kauwa the Crow; "I know. More than
+once I've seen relatives of mine have their eggs broken through being
+thrown out of the nest by Cuckoo Bird."
+
+"As I have said," continued Camel, "my Master was a Man of few words,
+but at this he let go of the rope, and the language he used still rings
+in my ears. Dry chewing! how I fled. And behind chased Dera Khan, a big
+knife in his hand--in spite of his violence I had to laugh at the color
+the eggs had left on his long beard--a knife in his hand, and crying
+aloud that he would cut the Baboo's throat.
+
+[Illustration: "I REMAINED IN THE JHIL UNTIL MY MASTER HAD LOST THE
+FIERCE KILL-LOOK."]
+
+"As I swung first one side of my legs, and then the other over the
+sweet sand desert, I could feel the Baboo thumping up and down on my
+back, for he was clinging to the saddle with both hands. Sometimes he
+abused me, and sometimes he begged me to stop; that I was a good
+Unt--his Father and Mother, and his greatest friend. As he would not be
+shaken off because of his fear of Dera Khan's knife, I carried him into
+a _jhil_ of much water; there he was forced to let go, and when he got
+to the bank, if it had not been for a Sahib he would most surely have
+been killed by my Master. Hathi has told us of the fear-look he has
+seen in the faces of the Men-kind, and there was much of this in the
+eyes of that Baboo. I remained in the _jhil_ until my Master had lost
+the fierce kill-look, then I came out, and save for some of the old
+abuse there was nothing done to me.
+
+"But we all went to the Bolan Pass, carrying food for those that
+labored there making a path for the Fire Caravan, the bearer of burdens
+that is neither Bullock, nor Unt, nor aught that I know of."
+
+"It was a railroad," Sa'-zada, the Keeper, explained.
+
+"Perhaps," grunted Unt, licking his pendulous upper lip; "perhaps, but
+we Unts spoke of it as the Fire Caravan. Still it was an evil thing, a
+destroyer of lives, many lives, for never in that whole land of
+sand-hills and desert was there so much heat and so much death.
+
+"First the _Bail_ (Bullocks) died as though Bagh the Killer had taken
+each one by the throat; then those of my kind fell down by the
+fire-path and could not rise again. And the air, that is always so
+sweet on the hot sand plains, became like the evil breath of the place
+wherein nests Boar."
+
+"Ugh, ugh!" grunted Wild Boar, "even there, by this stupid tale of
+Unt's, there was something evil to be likened to my kind."
+
+"The water that had been sweet ran full of a sickness because of all
+this, and the Men that drank of it were stricken with the Black Death.
+At first it was those of the Black-kind, and then the others, the
+Sahibs, became possessed of it. And then the Burra-Sahib, Huzoor the
+Governor, was taken with it; so said one of the Sahibs who came to Dera
+Khan just as he was tying a rope about my foreleg so that I could not
+rise and wander in the night.
+
+"'It is sixty miles to Sibi,' this Sahib, who was but young, said to my
+Master.
+
+"'By the Grace of Allah, it is more,' Dera answered him.
+
+"'The Big Sahib, who is my friend, is stricken with the Black Death,'
+said the young Sahib, 'and also the Baboo Doctor is the same, being
+close to his death; and unless I get a Healer from Sibi to-morrow, the
+Sahib who is my friend will surely die.'
+
+"'If Allah wills it so, Kismet,' answered my Master.
+
+"'Have you a fast Camel?' asked the young Sahib.
+
+"'This is Moti,' replied my Master, putting his hand on my hump, 'and
+when he paces, the wind remains behind.'
+
+"Then the young Sahib promised my Master many rupees and much work for
+the other Unts, so be it he might ride me to Sibi for a Doctor.
+
+"By a meal of brown paper such as one picks up in a bazaar, I swear
+that I understood more of what that meant to my Master than many a
+Camel would have known, for had I not seen it all, this that I am about
+to tell? You know, Comrades, that the Burra-Sahib was a Man of a dry
+temper, and it so happened that one day Dera Khan had displeased him,
+which I just say was a way my Master had often. That was a full moon
+before the coming of the Black Sickness. Oh, Friends, but I had seen it
+all; it made me tremble, knowing of the readiness with which Dera Khan
+argued with his knife, like unto the manner of Pathans.
+
+"The Big Sahib would have struck my Master but for this same young
+Sahib who had now come with his offer of many rupees--this Sahib who
+had been there at that time. So, Comrades, there was _good_ hate for
+the sick man in Dera's heart.
+
+"'Will you send the Camel?' said the young Sahib; and Dera, drawing
+himself up straight, even as I do under a heavy load, held out his hand
+and said, 'Allah! thou art a Man. My goods are your goods, but for the
+other, the one who is your friend and my enemy, the wrath of Allah upon
+him.'
+
+"The Sahib was on my back in a little.
+
+"I have said before that with the Baboo and many kettles on my back I
+ran fast, but think you, Comrades, of the weight, and also of the poor
+rider, for there is nothing an Unt dislikes so much as the knock,
+knock, against his hump of one having no knowledge of proper pace. How
+the Sahib sat! Close as a pad that had been tied on; and he coaxed and
+urged--even swore a little at times, but not after an unreasoning
+manner as had the Baboo. He called me a Bikaneer, even his Dromedary,
+which means one of great speed; and begged me, if I wished food for all
+time, to hasten. How we fled in the long night, down the hot paths,
+splashing many times through the cool water that crossed our
+path--Bolan River, it is called, the water that comes from the
+high-reaching sand lands that are all white on their tops."
+
+"The snow mountains," explained Sa'-zada, for Camel's description was
+more or less vague.
+
+"As I have said," continued Camel, "the water was cool. Never once did
+I fall, though the round stones were like evil things that twist at
+one's feet to bring him down. 'Hurry, hurry, hurry!' the young Sahib
+called to me, and I laughed, thinking he would tire before I should.
+
+"On we went, passing little fires where those of the Cooly kind rested
+as they fled from the Black Death. Just as we came out on the flat sand
+which is the Sibi Desert, there were gathered in one place many Men.
+For a space we stopped, and my Rider asked if there was a Healer with
+them. They answered that they were Men of the war-kind going up to keep
+the workers from running away from the Black Death; even those at the
+little fires would be turned back, they said.
+
+"Then on again I raced. I could hear my Rider talking back to his
+friend, the Burra-Sahib, who lay stricken with the evil sickness,
+though I know not how he could hear him, for we were full half way to
+Sibi.
+
+"'Keep up your courage, Jack,' he would say, speaking to his Friend.
+'Please God, I'll have a Surgeon there in time to save you yet.'
+
+"Then he would fall to abusing some other of the Men-kind, perhaps he
+was not a friend, whom he blamed for all that was wrong. 'You puffed-up
+beast,' he would say, speaking to this other, 'to send a lot of Men to
+such a death hole with a brute of a Bengali-Baboo to doctor
+them--murder them, and a medicine chest that was emptied in a day. It's
+a bit of luck that Baboo died, but it doesn't help matters much.'
+
+"That was the Baboo I had run away with; perhaps even the medicine
+chest had lost much through its fall from my back.
+
+"Then to me, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry! Shabaz!' (push on); then to his
+Friend, 'Poor old Man, Jack! what will _She_ say if I don't pull you
+out of this? I'll never go back to England as long as I live if this
+beastly thing snuffs you out.'
+
+"Then to the other, the one who had done this evil: 'Curse you, with
+your red tape economy! You're a C. I. E.'--whatever that meant I don't
+know--'but you've murdered old Jack, who is a Man. You're out of this
+trouble up at Simla, but you'll roast for this yet.'
+
+"You know, Comrades," said Unt, plaintively, "I didn't know all about
+this thing--I couldn't understand it, you see, being an Unt, and, as
+Magh says, stupid; but someway I felt like doing my best for the young
+Sahib who did not make me cross by beating me, but only cried 'Hurry!
+Shabaz! my swift runner,' and shook a little at the nose line in his
+haste."
+
+"I have often felt that way," encouraged Hathi; "once I remember, it
+was in Rangoon, that time I was working in the timber yards. I had a
+Mahout who never stuck the sharp iron goad in my head at all. He always
+told me everything I was to do by different little knocks on my ears
+with his knees as he sat on my neck. And also by soft speech, of
+course, for, as you say, Unt, it keeps one from getting cross, or
+filled with fear, and so one has only to think of what the Master
+requires. You were right to run fast with such a rider."
+
+"This is Camel's story," pleaded Sa'-zada.
+
+[Illustration: "BUT SOME WAY I FELT LIKE DOING MY BEST."]
+
+"Never mind," bubbled Unt; "I was just trying to remember what time we
+got to Sibi--I know it was before the sands grew hot from the sun.
+Straight to the _Teshil_ (Government office) the young Sahib rode me.
+Here he made an orderly bring me food and drink while he went quick to
+bring a Healer for his Friend. I had scarce time to store half the
+_raji_ away for future cud-chewing, when back he came with a Healer of
+the White Kind.
+
+"Now, the _Teshildar_, who was Chief of Sibi, was a slow-motioned Man,
+not given to hurry; that was because the hump on his stomach was large
+with the fat of great eating; and when the Sahib asked for another Unt
+to carry the Healer, this Man who was Chief made no haste--not at
+first; but when the young Sahib, no doubt thinking of his friend Jack,
+threatened him with the wrath of the Governor, also the smaller anger
+of his own fists, the _Teshildar_ had an Unt of great speed quickly
+brought forth. Then the young Sahib, speaking to me, said, 'My
+heavy-eyed Friend, also one of much strength, can you go straight back
+the sixty miles?'
+
+"Of course, at that time I couldn't speak in his words, though I could
+understand, so I just shook myself, and stretched out my long hind
+legs, as much as to say, 'Mount to my back, and I will try.'
+
+"We started, the Healer on the other Unt, and the Sahib on my back. I
+shall never forget that ride. Sore legs! but at first it was not easy
+to keep up with my Comrade, who was fresh; but also was he a trifle
+like the _Teshildar_, fat in the hump, so in the end that had its
+effect, and I managed to keep pace with him.
+
+"We reached back in the Bolan just as the sun was straight over our
+heads. By the _raji_ that was still in my gullet I was tired; so was
+the young Sahib, for when I knelt down, and he slipped quickly from my
+back, he spun round and round like a box that has broken loose, and
+came to the ground in haste. Just as he fell, Dera Khan caught him, and
+lifted him up; then he and the Healer went to the tent where was his
+friend Jack. And I heard my Master, Dera, say afterward, that the
+little Sahib never slept while it was twice dark and twice light; that
+was until the Healer said the stricken one, Jack, the Burra-Sahib, was
+again free of the Black Death."
+
+"I think it is a true tale," remarked Adjutant, putting down his left
+leg and taking up his right. "I have seen much of this Black Death in
+my forty years of life, and the Men of the White-kind take great care
+of each other. Now, those of the Black-kind get the Man-fear which
+Hathi has spoken of, in their eyes, and flee fast from this terrible
+sickness, crying aloud that their livers have turned to water. I,
+myself, though I am a bird of little speech, could tell tales of both
+methods."
+
+"But what became of you, Unt?" queried Magh; "did you catch this
+sickness and die?"
+
+"No," replied Camel, solemnly, not noticing the sarcasm; "the little
+Sahib took me from Dera Khan by a present of silver, and kept me to
+ride on, and in the end I was sent here to Sa'-zada."
+
+"It's bed-time," broke in the Keeper; "let each one go quickly to his
+cage or corral."
+
+
+
+
+Tenth Night
+
+The Story of Big Tusk, the Wild Boar
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TENTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF BIG TUSK, THE WILD BOAR
+
+
+'Twas the tenth night of what might be called the Sa'-zada convention,
+and Black Panther was making the iron bars of his cage jingle in their
+sockets with his full-voiced roar. Shoulders spread, and head low to
+the floor, his white fangs showing, he called "Waugh, waugh! Waw-houk!
+Come, Comrades. Ganesh, One-tusked Lord of the Jungles, Muskwa and
+Mooswa; you, Sher Abi, eater of Water-men; even little Magh; come all
+of you and listen to the lies of a Swine." Then he laughed: "Che-hough,
+che-hough! the lying tales of Jungli Soor."
+
+"Ugh, ugh!" grunted Grey Boar, angrily, as he slipped up the graveled
+walk to the front of Leopard's cage. "In my land there is a saying of
+the Men-kind, that 'A lie can hide like a Panther; if it be a bad lie,
+that it is as difficult to come face to face with as Black Panther.'"
+
+By this time the animals had all gathered, and Sa'-zada opening The
+Book, spoke:
+
+"This is Wild Boar's night. I am sure he will tell us something
+interesting."
+
+"A lie is often amusing," declared Magh.
+
+"That may be so," retorted Boar, "for even Sa'-zada has said that you
+are the funniest Animal in the Park."
+
+"But why should we listen to Soor's squeaky tales?" snarled Bagh; "when
+he gets excited his voice puts me on edge."
+
+"Well," interrupted Sa'-zada, "these meetings are so that each animal
+may have a chance to tell us what good there is in him."
+
+"Then why should Soor waste our time?" queried Magh. "Even he will know
+no good of himself."
+
+"I don't know about that," answered Sa'-zada. "I think every animal is
+for some good purpose, and we can tell better after we have heard
+Boar's story."
+
+"Here are two of us, O Sa'-zada," said Grey Boar. "I, who am from
+Burma, know of the way of my kind in that land, and Big Tusk, who is
+also here, being my Comrade, is from Nagpore, in India, and can tell
+you how we are persecuted in the North. If I am all bad, can anyone say
+why it is? I am not an eater of Bhainsa, Men's Buffalo, like Bagh and
+Pardus; neither am I, nor any of my Kind, known as Man-killers. Even in
+Hathi's family have there been Man-killers--the Rogue Hathi."
+
+"But it is said in the Jungles that you sometimes kill _Bakri_, the
+Men's Sheep," declared Magh.
+
+"All a lie!" answered Grey Boar. "We are not animals of the Kill;
+neither do we wreck the villages of the Men, as does Hathi, nor drive
+the rice-growers from their lands--lest they be eaten--as do Bagh and
+Pardus."
+
+"But you eat their jowari and rice," asserted Panther.
+
+"A little of it at times, perhaps, but only a little. Our food is of
+the Jungles, and how are we to know just what has been grown by the
+Men, and what has grown of itself? And in my land, which was Aracan in
+Burma, but for me and my people the Men could not live."
+
+"In what manner, O Benefactor of the Oppressed?" asked Magh, mockingly.
+
+"Because of Python, and Cobra, and Karait, and Deboia, and the other
+small Dealers of Death," answered Grey Boar, sturdily. "We roam the
+Jungles, and when these Snakes, that are surely evil, rise in our
+paths, we trample them, and tear them with our tusks----"
+
+"And eat them, I know, cha-hau, cha-hau!" laughed Hyena, smacking his
+watering lips.
+
+"Yes," affirmed Grey Boar. "Are not we, alone, of all Animals for this
+work? When Cobra strikes, and fetches home, does not even Hathi, or
+Arna, or mighty Raj Bagh, die quickly? But not so with us. I can turn
+my cheek, thus, to King Cobra, (and he held his big grizzled head
+sideways), and when I feel the soft pat of his cold nose against my fat
+jaw, I seize him by the neck, and in a minute one of the worst enemies
+of Man is dead."
+
+"What says King Cobra, then--Cobra and the others--crawling
+destroyers?" asked Magh, maliciously.
+
+"This is Boar's story," interrupted Mooswa, seeing that Sa'-zada looked
+angry at the interruption.
+
+"As I was saying," continued Grey Boar, "Cobra and his cousins kill
+more of the Men-kind, many times over, than all the other Jungle
+Dwellers put together. Think of that, Comrades--even when we are
+searching the Jungles on every side for these evil Poisoners; so if it
+were not for us, what would become of the Men? Yet in a hot time of
+little Jungle food, if we but eat a small share from their fields, the
+Men revile us. Also, there is cause for fear at times in this labor
+that is ours. Once I remember I had a tight squeeze----"
+
+"Going through a fence into a jowari field, I suppose," prompted Magh.
+
+"I did not have my tail cut off for stealing cocoa-nuts," sneered Grey
+Boar. "The tight squeeze was from Python; and do you know that to this
+day I am half a head longer than I was before our slim Friend twisted
+about my body. But I got his head in my strong jaws just as I was near
+dead."
+
+"Perhaps you would not have managed it if he had not squeezed you out
+long," said Pardus.
+
+"What I say," continued Boar, "is, that we are not the Evil Kind that
+is in the mouth of everyone. Cobra crawls into the houses of the Men,
+and for fear of their evil Gods they feed him; and one day in anger he
+strikes to Kill. That is surely wrong. But we live in houses of our own
+make."
+
+"Certainly that is a lie," interrupted Magh. "Thou art a wanderer in
+the Jungle, a dweller in caves, even as Pard the Panther."
+
+"You are wrong, Little One," declared Hathi, "for I have seen Boar's
+house. It's a sort of grass hauda."
+
+"Yes," affirmed Wild Boar; "it is all of my own making, and of grass,
+to be sure. For days and days at a time, I do nothing but cut the
+strong elephant grass, and the big ferns, and the sweet bowlchie, and
+pile it up into a house. Then I burrow under it, and the rain beats it
+down over my back, and soon I have a nice, clean, waterproof nest. I am
+not a homeless vagabond like Magh and her wandering tribe----"
+
+"And that's just it," broke in Big Tusk, the Nagpore Boar. "We, who are
+quiet and orderly in our manner of life, living in houses of our own
+building, as Grey Boar has said, are hunted and killed by the
+White-faced ones as a matter of sport. What think you of that,
+Sa'-zada--killed just for our tusks--for a pair of teeth?"
+
+"It is likewise so with me, my narrow-faced Brother," whispered Hathi.
+"Many of my kind are slain for their tusks; I, who have lived amongst
+the Men, know that."
+
+Continued Big Tusk: "Yes, this is so; I have been in many a run in the
+corries of Nagpore. You see, I learned the game from my Mother when I
+was but a 'Squeaker,' for be it to the credit of the White ones, they
+kill not the Sows with their sharp spears."
+
+"Was that pig-sticking?" asked Sa'-zada.
+
+"It was," declared Big Tusk; "and my Mother, who was in charge of a
+Sounder of at least thirty Pigs, knew all about this game. We'd be
+feeding in the sweet bowlchie grass, or in a _thur khet_, when suddenly
+I'd hear her say, 'Waugh! Ung-h-gh!' which meant, 'Danger! lie low.'
+Then, watching, we'd see those of the Black-kind here, and there, and
+all over, with flags in their hands to drive the Pigs certain ways, and
+to show the Sahibs which way we went. Mother would always make us lie
+still until the very last minute; but almost always, sooner or later,
+the Sahibs would come galloping on their horses right in amongst us.
+'Ugh-ugh-ugh-ugh!' Mother would call to us, and this meant, 'Run for
+it, but keep to cover'; and away we'd go, from _sun khet_ to _dol_
+field, and then into _shur_ grass, from Sirsee Bund to Hirdee Bund, or
+into the tall, thick bowlchie. Now the trouble was this way: Mother was
+so big and strong that the Sahibs on their ponies always galloped
+after, thinking her a Boar. Even the Black Men with the flags would
+cry, '_Hong! Hong! Burra dant wallah!_' which means in their speech, 'A
+Boar of big tusks.' Many a time I've heard Mother chuckle over the run
+she'd given the Horsemen, for we'd lie up in the grass, and listen to
+the White-faced ones, the Sahibs, curse the Black Men most heartily for
+their foolishness in calling Mother a big-tusked Boar. It was all done
+to save the Tuskers, for while the Sahibs were chasing Mother, many an
+old chap has saved having a spear thrust through him by clearing off to
+some other _bund_."
+
+"You did have a good schooling," remarked Gidar, the Jackal. "But did
+the Sahibs never spear any of your young Brothers?"
+
+"No; as I have said, it was only a big-tusked one they cared for. But
+to me it seemed such a cruel thing, even when I was young; killing us
+with the sharp spears--for, more than once I've heard the scream of a
+Boar as he was stabbed to death."
+
+"But what were you doing in the _dol_ grass, you and your big Mother?"
+asked Bagh. "Were not you eating the grain of the poor villagers? I
+remember in my time, when I was a free Lord of the Jungles, that a poor
+old _ryot_ (farmer) had a little field--a new field it was--just in the
+edge of the Jungle. I also remember it was _raji_ he grew in it, and he
+prayed to me as though I were one of his Hindoo Gods, asking me to keep
+close watch over his field, and to kill all the Pigs, and the Chital,
+and Black Buck that might come there to destroy his _raji_. Even, to
+give me a liking for the place, that I might mark it down in my line of
+hunt, he tied an old Cow there for my first Kill. I was the making of
+that Man," declared Bagh, sitting down and smoothing his big coarse
+mustache with his velvet paw--"the making of him, for he had a splendid
+crop of _raji_, and I, why I must have killed a dozen Pigs in and about
+his field."
+
+"Oh, dear me!" cried Magh. "Sugared peanuts! Every Jungle Dweller is
+growing into a benefactor of the Men; even Pig is a much abused,
+innocent chap; and here's Bagh a protector of the poor _ryot_."
+
+"But what were you doing in the _dol_ field, Grunter?" queried Cobra;
+"that's what Bagh wants to know."
+
+"Looking for Snakes," answered Boar, sulkily. "But what if we did eat a
+trifle of the grain; was that excuse for the Sahibs killing us? With
+their Horses did they not beat down and destroy more than we did? And
+have not the people of the land, the Black-kind, taken more from us in
+the way of food than we ever did from their fields? Many a time have
+they been saved from starvation by the meat of my tribe. And yet,
+through it all, we get nothing but a bad name, and that just because we
+stick up for our rights. Bagh talks about keeping us from the Man's
+field; that is just like him--it is either a false tale or he ate
+'Squeakers'--little Pigs that couldn't protect themselves. Would he
+tackle Me? Not a bit of it! If he did I'd soon put different colored
+stripes on his jacket--red stripes. He's a big, sneaking coward, that's
+what Bagh is. Why, I've seen him sitting with his back against a rock,
+afraid to move, while six Jungle Dogs snapped at his very nose--waiting
+for him to get up that they might fight him from all sides. Ugh, ugh! a
+fine Lord of the Jungle! a sneak, to eat little Pigs!
+
+"But I did more than keep a _raji_ field for a poor villager; I saved
+his life, and from Bagh, too. I don't know that he had ever given me to
+eat willingly, or even made _pooja_ to me, but I was coming up out of
+his _thur_ field one evening, and he was fair in my path, with one of
+those foolish ringed sticks in his hand. 'Ugh!' I said, meaning, 'Get
+out of the way,' but he only stood there.
+
+"This made me cross, and I thought he was disputing the road with me,
+for I am not like Bagh, the Lord of the Jungle, who slinks to one side.
+Then I spoke again to the man, 'Ugh, ugh, wungh!' meaning that I was
+about to charge. All the time I was coming closer to him on the path.
+Then I saw what it was; my friend, Stripes the Tiger, was crouched just
+beyond the Man, lashing the grass with his long, silly tail.
+
+"Now as I had made up my mind to charge something that was in my path,
+and as the sight of Bagh in his evil temper drew my anger toward him, I
+drove full at his yellow throat. Just one rip of my tusks, and with a
+howl like a starved Jackal he cleared for the Jungle. He meant to eat
+that Man, you see."
+
+"Now we are getting at the truth of the matter," cried Magh, gleefully.
+"When these Jungle thieves fall out, we get to know them fairly well."
+
+"But tell us more of this hunting of your kind with the spears, O
+brother of the Big Tusks," pleaded Hathi. "It does seem an unjust
+thing."
+
+"Well," continued the Seoni Boar, "as I have said, while in my Mother's
+keeping, she taught me much of the ways of the Boar Hunters. Many a run
+from the Spear Men I've been in. But while I was small, and had not
+tusks, of course I was allowed to go, even when they came full upon the
+top of us; but in a few years my tusks grew, and each run became harder
+and more difficult to get away from. Besides, early in the Cold Time,
+at the time the Men call Christmas, we Boars all went off by ourselves,
+and left the Sows and Squeakers in peace; and, while I think of it,
+I've no doubt it was at this time that Bagh killed so many of my people
+in the _raji_ fields. Had there been a big Tusker or two there, Tiger
+would have been busy looking for Chital or Sambhur.
+
+"Well, through being away from my Mother this way, and mixing with the
+other Boars, I got to be quite capable of taking care of myself; and,
+as I lived year after year, finally the Black Men, Ugh! also the
+White-faced ones, gave to me the name of the Seoni Boar. So, with the
+more knowledge I gained with my years of being, the more I required it,
+for the closer they hunted me.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT BAGH KILLED SO MANY OF MY
+PEOPLE."]
+
+"Strange how it is that every Jungle Dweller's hand is against the Pig.
+I declare here, before all you Comrades, that more than once I have
+been lying dog-oh, close hid in the _bowlchie_, when a screech-voiced
+Peacock has commenced to cry, 'Aih-ou, aih-ou!' as plain as you like,
+'Here he is, here he is!' and down on my heels would come the Spear Men
+on their rushing Ponies. But I soon learned to take to the
+Scrub-Jungle, knowing that the ponies would not follow me. But even
+there in the Jungle I've been hunted by the Black-kind; and then it was
+the same way, enemies afoot, and enemies overhead. Langur, a
+fool-cousin of Magh's there, many a time has betrayed my hiding-place
+to the hunt Man. 'Che-che-che, wow, wow!' over my head the silly
+thieves would chatter and well the Huntsmen would know that I had gone
+that way.
+
+"Once when I was started out of the Seoni Bund, and was making with
+full speed through the _dol khet_, a meddlesome white Dog came chasing
+after me, snapping at my heels, and crying, 'Bah, ki-yi, bah, ki-yi!'
+Well I knew that as long as that noise kept up, I might as well be
+running out in the open in full view, so I checked my pace a little,
+and the Dog, with more pluck than good sense, laid me by the ear. With
+one rip of my tusk sideways, I cast him open from end to end. But such
+matters take some time, and check one when the run is close, and
+before I could take to cover again, a Pony was fair on top of me.
+
+"I jinked, as only a Boar who has been in many a run knows how. My jink
+was so sudden that the rider, seeking to spear me under his Pony's
+neck, came a full cropper in the black cotton-earth. Ugh-huh-huh! it
+makes me laugh now when I think of it. Of course I hadn't time to laugh
+then, for I had no sooner jinked clear of his spear than I saw coming
+up on the other side, the longest one of the Men-kind that was ever in
+the Jungle, and what with his spear he seemed like a tree. At once I
+remembered what my Mother had told me to do if ever a Spear-hunter got
+full on top of me. 'Into the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said;
+'that's your only hope.' I must say that I charged Bagh that other time
+with greater joy than I slashed into that long Sahib's Pony.
+
+"Of course, the Hunter thought I was going to run for it, so when I
+jinked short about and ripped his Pony's foreleg the full length of my
+nose, he was taken quite off his guard.
+
+"It seemed as though part of the Jungle had fallen on me, for Pony and
+Huntman came down like ripe fruit off the Mowha tree. I got one rip at
+the Man's leg, and thought I'd made a fine cut, but I learned
+afterward, after they'd caught me, of course, that it was his boot-leg
+I had ripped----"
+
+[Illustration: "'INTO THE HORSE'S LEGS,' THE OLD DAME HAD SAID."]
+
+"Oh, Sa'-zada, I believe the Seoni Boar is the best liar we've struck
+yet," said Magh.
+
+"Not so," declared the Keeper, "this tale of the pig-sticking is a true
+tale, for it is written in The Book."
+
+"I only tell that which is true," declared Big Tusk, the Seoni Boar.
+"And before I had got to the Scrub-Jungle, I had a spear driven into my
+shoulder from another Sahib, but I put my teeth through the giver's
+foot as I knocked his pony over from the side. It was a rare fight that
+day, but I got away at last."
+
+"How were you caught?" queried Magh.
+
+"Oh, that was long afterwards, and happened because of Bagh's evil
+ways. The Huntman had spread a big net in the Jungle to take Bagh, who
+had slain a Woman; and in the drive, not knowing of this evil thing, I
+came full into the net, and got so tangled up that I could not move.
+When the White Hunter saw that it was I, the Seoni Boar, he said, 'Let
+us take him alive, for he has given us mighty sport and fought well.'
+So they made a cage and I was forced into it from the net."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Magh.
+
+"Yes," replied Boar.
+
+"Well," continued the Orang-Outang, "from your own account you appear
+to be a very fine fellow. I can't understand why all the Jungle
+Dwellers, even the Men-kind, connect your name with everything that's
+evil. I doubt if one of them could speak as well for himself, were he
+allowed to tell his own story."
+
+"As I have said before," commented Sa'-zada, "it's hardly fair to give
+an animal a bad name without knowing all about him, and Boar's stories
+have all been true, I know. But it's late now, so each one away to his
+cage or corral, and sleep."
+
+
+
+
+Eleventh Night
+
+The Stories of Oohoo, the Wolf, and Sher Abi, the Crocodile
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+ELEVENTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORIES OF OOHOO, THE WOLF, AND SHER ABI, THE CROCODILE
+
+
+"To-night," said Sa'-zada, the Keeper, "we shall have a story from
+White Wolf of his home in the frozen North, and also one from Sher Abi,
+the Crocodile, of the warm land in which he lived, Burma."
+
+"I am glad there is to be a tale of the North-land," said Mooswa, "for
+it's a lovely place."
+
+"And Sher Abi is so stupid," added Magh the Orang, "that he's sure to
+fall to boasting of some of his murders."
+
+"There's little to choose between them in that respect," commented
+Muskwa, "except that for cunning there is no one but Carcajou of the
+same wit as Wolf."
+
+"Thank you, Comrade," cried Oohoo, the Arctic Wolf; "those of my land
+who are short of wit go with a lean stomach, I can tell you. But yet it
+is just the sweetest place that any poor animal ever lived in."
+
+"It is," concurred Mooswa; "forests of green Spruce trees----"
+
+"Not so, Brother Tangle-leg," objected Oohoo; "true I have been within
+the Timber Boundaries, but that was far to the south of my home. I
+remember, once upon a time, thinking to better my condition, for it was
+a year of scarce Caribou; I trailed down past Great Slave Lake to the
+home of my cousin, Blue Wolf, who was Pack Leader of the Timber Wolves.
+Ghurrh-h! but they led a busy life. Almost day and night they were on
+the hunt, for their kill was small; a Grey Rabbit, or a Grouse, or a
+Marten--a mere mouthful for a full-hungered Wolf.
+
+"But in the Northland where one could travel for days and days over the
+white snow and the hunt meant a free run with no chance of cover for
+the prey, it was all a matter of strength and speed. Leopard has
+boasted of the merit of his spotted coat for hiding in the sun-splashed
+Jungle; and also Bagh has told how the stripes on his sides hide him in
+the strong grass. But look at me, my Comrades----"
+
+"You are pretty," sneered Magh.
+
+"Here I am dirty brown," resumed Oohoo, paying no attention to the
+taunt, "and what does that mean?"
+
+"That you are dirty and a Wolf," answered Magh, innocently.
+
+"It shows that I live in a dirty brown place," asserted Wolf. "We are
+all dirty brown here."
+
+"I'm not," objected Python.
+
+[Illustration: "ONE COULD TRAVEL FOR DAYS OVER THE WHITE SNOW."]
+
+"You would be if you didn't lie in the water all day; but, as I was
+going to say, in that land of snow I was all white, and, by my cunning,
+with a careful stalk I always got within a running distance of--of--I
+mean anything I wanted to look at closely, you know."
+
+"A Babe Caribou, I suppose," grunted Muskwa; "just to see how he was
+coming on. Have I not said that he has the cunning of a great thief?"
+Bear whispered to Hathi.
+
+"But if he talks much the truth will come out," answered the Elephant.
+
+"There were just three of us Plain Dwellers in all that great Barren
+Land," proceeded Oohoo; "my kind, and Caribou, and Musk-Ox."
+
+"Eu-yah! the Musk-Ox are cousins of mine," remarked Bison. "Queer taste
+they have to live in that terrible land of rock and snow. What do they
+eat, Oohoo? Surely the sweet Buffalo Grass does not grow there?"
+
+"They do not mind the cold," answered Wolf; "they have the loveliest
+long black hair you ever saw on any Animal. And under that again is the
+soft grey fur----"
+
+"Yes," interrupted Sa'-zada to explain, "the Musk-Ox seems to have
+hair, and fur, and wool all on one pelt--much like a Sheep, and a Goat,
+and a Bison combined."
+
+"And as for eating," resumed Oohoo, the Wolf, "the rocks are thickly
+covered with moss----"
+
+"Engh-h-h! what a diet!" grunted Bison. "But you know of their manner
+of life, Brother Wolf--you must have paid much attention to their ways.
+Now in my land when Wolves came too close we gathered our Calves in the
+center of the herd----"
+
+"A most wise precaution," asserted Mooswa. "In the Calf time with us
+the moan of the Wolf pack caused us to make ready for battle; the Grey
+Runners seemed always in the way of a great hunger."
+
+"And what of grass-eating for those cousins of mine, the Caribou--what
+ate they?" sharply demanded Elk.
+
+"Caribou have this manner of life," answered Oohoo. "Just at the end of
+the great Cold Time all the Mothers go far into the Northland, for that
+is the Calf time with them; and by the shores of the great Northland
+water their Babe Caribou come forth in peace. And for food the Mothers
+eat moss, even as Musk-Ox does, for there is nothing else. Near to the
+coming of the Cold Time again the Mothers come back with their Calves,
+and the Bulls, who have been in the Southland, meet them."
+
+"Do you eat moss, Oohoo, the Wolf?" queried Magh.
+
+"Am I a Grass-feeder? Did I eat my straw bedding and become ill, like a
+wide-mouthed Monkey that I know of?"
+
+"But have you not said, Brother Wolf, that in the Northland Musk-Ox and
+Caribou eat moss because there is nothing else? Then what manner of
+food do you find?"
+
+"Ghurr-r-h! Eh, what?" gasped Oohoo, feeling that Magh had laid bare
+his mode of life.
+
+"Am I different from the others?" he snarled, seeing a broad grin
+hovering about the mouth of even Sher Abi, the Crocodile. "Because I am
+a Wolf, is there a law in the Boundaries that I shall not eat? Bagh,
+and Pardus, and Python, and Sher Abi, they are the Blood Kind, and do
+they eat moss or grass? Boar has said that all the evil of the Jungle
+is fastened upon the Pig, and in my land it is the Wolf that is wicked.
+This has been said by the Man, but are they not worse than we are? When
+the hunger, which is not of my desire, comes strong upon me, I go forth
+to seek food. I kill not Man; but if Caribou comes my way, and that
+which is inside of me says to make a kill, shall I do so, or lie down
+and die because of hunger? If a Wolf makes a kill, and feasts until his
+hunger is dead, and lies down to sleep, and kills no more until he is
+again hungered, it is all wrong, and evil words are spoken of him. But
+the Men kill, and kill, never stopping to eat, showing that it is not
+because of hunger--they kill until there is no living thing left; then
+they boast together of the slaughter.
+
+"I have seen this happening at Fond du Lac, which is a narrow crossing
+between two lakes in my own land. There the Caribou pass when they go
+to the Northland; and I have seen the Redmen killing these Moss-eaters
+as they swam from land to land--killing them beyond all count. In the
+Northland the Caribou were even as Buffalo on the Plains, they were
+that many; and they came like a running river to the crossing at Fond
+du Lac. The Men-kind were hidden behind stones, and when the Caribou
+were in the water these Red Slayers followed in canoes, and killed with
+their spears, and their knives, and their guns, until everything was
+red with blood. Not that they needed the sweet flesh because of hunger,
+for from many they took out the tongue, and left all the rest to rot.
+We, who are Wolves, and of evil repute, are not so bad as the Men, I
+think.
+
+"And also the killing of the Musk-Ox is by the Redmen," declared Oohoo.
+
+"I am afraid we must believe that," muttered Magh, "for Musk-Ox is not
+here, and it is a long way to the Northland for proof."
+
+"Neither here nor in any other animal city are there Musk-Ox,"
+explained Sa'-zada; "for none have been brought out alive."
+
+"None!" added Wolf solemnly. "The Redmen say that if any are taken
+alive the others will all pass to some other land as did Buffalo. Not
+but that one of the White Men tried it once; but there is also a story
+of Head-taking I could tell."
+
+"Tell it," snapped Pardus; "one lie is as good as another when told of
+a distant Jungle."
+
+"Well I remember that year," began Oohoo. "It was colder than any
+other time that I have memory of. We had gathered into a mighty Pack,
+Comrades; all white we were--all but our Leader, who was Black Wolf.
+And such hunger! E-u-uh, au-uh! I was almost blind because of the
+hunger pains.
+
+"The Caribou that should have passed did not come; why, I cannot say,
+for it was their time of the year, the ending of the Cold Time."
+
+"Were there no Musk-Ox?" insinuated Magh.
+
+"A Wolf can make few kills of Musk-Ox," explained Oohoo, unguardedly;
+"that is--I mean--a bad Wolf who might seek a Kill of that sort. They
+are like Bison, or Arna, bunching up close in a pack with their
+big-horned heads all facing out; and even if the circle is broken, what
+then? their fur is so thick that it would take longer jaws than I have
+to cut a throat."
+
+"You've tried it, Oohoo," suggested Magh.
+
+"No, I've heard of this matter," he answered. "But the story was this
+way. That time two White Men came to the Big Lake----"
+
+"Artillery Lake, I think," explained Sa'-zada.
+
+"I know not, but it is a Big Water, and far north. And there they built
+a shack."
+
+"You were interested," remarked Muskwa.
+
+"There were cousins of ours, the Train Dogs, with them, so I sometimes
+went close for the chance of a chat----"
+
+"The chance of a Pup, most likely," growled Gidar.
+
+"Then one Man, with two Redmen and the Dog Train, went north after
+Musk-Ox. Some of us followed, for we knew that where the Men were there
+would be much killing, and much eating left for those of a lean
+stomach. It might be that some of the Dogs would die of toil, and we
+were that hungry, that starved, that even a Huskie would be sweet
+eating.
+
+"As you know, Comrades, there is no timber grows in all that land
+beyond the Big Lake, so the Man carried a little wood in the Dog Sled
+to make hot his drinking----"
+
+"Tea," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"Day after day he tramped to the North, not seeing anything to kill;
+and all the time we were getting hungrier and leaner of stomach. At
+night we would come close to the little tepee wherein the Hunter slept,
+and I fear that something would have happened to him if it had not been
+for the wisdom of our Leader, Black Wolf.
+
+"'Wait, Pack Comrades,' he would say, 'there will surely be a kill of
+many Musk-Ox. I know the way of the White Men--they come here but for
+the shedding of blood.'
+
+"But one night, being close to the edge of starvation, seeing one of
+the Huskies come forth from the tepee, not knowing what I did--Ghur-rh!
+I had him by the throat. Even now as I remember it, perhaps it was
+another of the Pack that put his strong jaws on the Dog's gullet--yes,
+I think it was another.
+
+"'Ki, yi-i-i-i! E-e-eh!' he whined.
+
+"'Buh!' loud the Firestick barked as the White Man smote at the Pack
+with it.
+
+"After a manner there was some eating that night, what with the Huskie
+and three of our kind the Man slew with the Firestick."
+
+"Cannibal!" exclaimed Magh in disgust.
+
+"It was to save our lives," exclaimed Oohoo. "At last the White Man
+came to a herd of Musk-Ox; but what think you of the temper Black Wolf
+had when he saw that the Men-kind were not for making a big Kill at
+all; just the matter of a Head or two to take back with them."
+
+"Queer taste, sure enough," cried Cockatoo. "Now, if it had been a head
+with a crest like mine----"
+
+"Or even if it had been Magh's head," insinuated Pardus.
+
+"Eu-wh, eu-u-u-h! to think that a Pack of famished Wolves had trailed
+so far through the snow, holding back from a Kill of the Men-kind, and
+to get--nothing! True, the Men killed for their own eating and the
+Dogs', but what was that to a whole Pack? Buh-h-h! even now it makes me
+laugh when I think of the manner we tore down the tepee one night, for
+the Men had taken the eating inside to keep it from us.
+
+"After that, having learned wisdom, they killed one of these fat
+creatures for us each day. Ghurrh! but a bite!
+
+"And from listening beside the tepee at night, I learned that the
+Redmen were angry because of the Head-taking. These Forest-Dwellers
+think, Comrades, that if they sell or give away the head of a Kill all
+their strength in the hunt will depart."
+
+"It's a wondrous good thing to believe, too," declared Coyote. "Many an
+honest meal I've come by when I was woefully hungry through the matter
+of a head stuck on a pole, or stump, as a gift to Matchi-Manitou. I
+remember one particularly fat head of Muskwa--I mean--but you were
+saying, Brother Oohoo, a most interesting happening of the Musk-Ox when
+I interrupted you."
+
+"So, when the Redmen knew that it was heads their White Comrade was
+after, they were filled with anger, and a fear of the wrath of Manitou;
+they declared that something of an evil nature would happen to them if
+he took from that land the Heads. And, would you believe it, Comrades,
+whether there was truth in the power of this Head-matter or not, I am
+unable to say, being but Oohoo the Wolf, but two days from that time,
+as they journeyed back toward the Big Water, they fell in with a large
+Herd of the round-nosed Musk-Ox, and the Wind wrath came upon them. The
+Redmen, thinking to stop the taking of Heads, talked to the
+Moss-eaters in a loud voice, as though they were men, bidding them go
+far over the Barren Lands and tell all the other Musk-Ox to keep away,
+for here was a taker of Heads. But the White Man only laughed, and
+killed a Bull Leader who had a beautiful long black beard, swearing
+that such a Head was a prize indeed.
+
+"Comrades, perhaps there is someone looking over the lives of Animals
+who has power with the Wind and the White Storm. Of this I know not,
+but it is a true tale that even as he cut the head from the dead
+Moss-eater, such a storm as had not been in the memory of any Dweller
+came with the full fury of a hungry Wolf Pack down upon that land. Like
+Pups of one litter all of us Wolves huddled together, pulling the cover
+of our tails over our noses to keep the heat in. We waited; and moved
+not that day, nor that night, nor the next day, nor the night after
+that again. Bitter as the storm was, I almost laughed at Black Wolf's
+lament. 'Now the men will be dead and lost to us when we might have had
+them,' he kept whimpering; 'there will be no more killing of Musk-Ox,
+and we shall go hungry.'
+
+"As we crawled out when the storm ceased, our Leader went to where the
+snow was rounded up a little higher than the rest. 'Here is the
+Musk-Ox,' said Black Wolf; 'let us eat.'
+
+"I remember, as we dug at the snow there was a strong scent of Man. 'It
+is the Hunter dead, I think,' Black Wolf said, poking his nose down
+into the snow.
+
+"But all at once, 'Buh!' came a hoarse call from the Firestick, and
+Black Wolf, our Leader, 'E-e-he-uh!' fell over backward, dead. Then I
+knew what it was. The Huntman had cut open the Musk-Ox, and crawling
+inside, had kept his life warm through the fierce storm. But the Redmen
+had gone. Whether they had died because of the storm, or trailed away
+because of the Head-taking, I know not; but there they were not. Close
+curled against the Musk-Ox had lain the Hunter's three Dogs, and they,
+too, were alive.
+
+"Then commenced such a trail of a Man, Comrades, as I, Wolf though I
+am, never wish to see again. E-u-uh! eu-u-uh! but it was dreadful, for
+in his face there was the Fear Look that Hathi has spoken of. Night and
+day it was there, I think, for he dared not sleep as he hurried back
+toward the Big Water. Being without a Leader, we were like a lot of
+Monkeys, fighting and jangling amongst ourselves. Some were for killing
+him, but others said, 'Wait, surely he will make a kill of Musk-Ox
+again, and then we shall have eating--what is one Man to a Wolf Pack in
+the way of food?'
+
+"That day, coming up with a Herd, he shot two of the Moss-eaters, and,
+as we ate of them, he trailed to the South; but that availed him
+little, Comrades, for the swing of a Wolf's going is like the run of a
+river; and when he camped that night we also camped there. And the next
+day, and the next, it was the same; the Huntman pushing on with tiring
+walk striving for his life, and, behind the Pack--some howling for a
+Kill of the Man, and some fighting to save him that we might have
+greater eating.
+
+"It was the last day before we came to the Big Water. That day, being
+full famished, for we had passed the land of the Musk-Ox--though to be
+sure he had killed two Caribou for us--we ate his Dogs, and he was
+fleeing on foot.
+
+"I must say, Comrades, though I lay no claim to a sweet nature, yet I
+wished not to make a Kill of the Man. But five times, as I remember it,
+some of the Pack, eager for his life, closed in on him; and five times
+with the Firestick he slew many of my Wolf Brethren. Comrades, he made
+a brave fight to reach the shack."
+
+"This is a terrible tale," cried Magh, excitedly. "Did he reach the
+shack alive, Oohoo?"
+
+"Yes, but would you believe it, Comrades, the White Man who had been
+left behind, through being alone and through drinking much Firewater,
+had become mad, even as I have seen a Wolf in the time of great heat;
+and he knew not his Comrade, the Huntman, but called through the closed
+door, 'Go away, go away!'
+
+"'I am Jack,' called the Huntman.
+
+"'Jack is dead!' yelped the Man who was mad. 'He is dead out in the
+strong storm, and you are an evil spirit--go away! go away!'
+
+"Oh, Hathi, it was dreadful, dreadful.
+
+"'Let me in, Tom; I am Jack,' pleaded the Huntman who had come so far
+through the snow; and, just beyond, we of the Wolf Pack waited, waited,
+waited.
+
+"Sa'-zada, the cry of the lone Wolf is not so dreadful as the yelpings
+of the Man who was mad. Even we of the Wolf Pack moved back a little
+when he called with a fierce voice. And he always answered: 'Go away!
+You are an evil spirit. Jack is dead! But I did not kill him--Go away!'
+And, Sa'-zada, though it is dreadful, yet it is true, he struck with
+his Firestick full through the door, and killed the Man who was Jack.
+And in the end he, too, died, and the Wolves buried them both after the
+manner of Wolves."
+
+"Chee-hough! it's a terrible tale," said Magh.
+
+"It is true," answered White Wolf; "and all that is the way of my land
+which is the Northland.
+
+"In the Hot Time sometimes there are the little red flowers that are
+roses, but in the long Cold Time it is as I have said, cold and a land
+of much hunger. But it is my land--the Northland."
+
+"Engh-h-hu!" sighed Sher Abi, opening his eyes as though just coming
+out of a dream; "I had an experience one time very much like that,
+Brother Wolf."
+
+[Illustration: "'LET ME IN, TOM; I AM JACK,' PLEADED THE HUNT MAN."]
+
+"Of a snow storm, Sher Abi?" queried Mooswa, doubtingly.
+
+"No, my solemn friend, I know nothing of snow; I speak of having a Man
+inside of one. As Sa'-zada has said, I think it's quite possible, and
+I'm sure they must rest nice and warm, too."
+
+"Did a Man cut you open, Magar?" sneered Magh.
+
+"No, little Old Woman, he did not; he was busy that day taking off your
+tail for stealing his plantains."
+
+"Tell us about it, Magar," lisped Python. "Wolf's tale of his snow-land
+makes me shiver."
+
+"There is not much to tell," murmured Sher Abi, regretfully. "It was
+all over in a few minutes, and all an accident, too; and, besides, it
+was only one Man. You see, I was sunning myself on a mud bank in
+Cherogeah Creek, when I heard 'thomp, thomp, thomp!' which was the
+sound of a Boatman's paddle against the side of his log dug-out. I slid
+backward into the water, keeping just one eye above it to see what
+manner of traveler it might be. It was old Lahbo, a villager who often
+went up and down that creek, so I started to swim across, meaning to
+come up alongside of his canoe and wish him the favor of Buddha. As you
+know, Comrades, all Animals love these Buddhists, for their Master has
+taught them not to take the life of any Jungle Dweller.
+
+"As I have said, I was swimming across the creek, when Lahbo, who must
+have been asleep, suddenly ran his canoe up on my back. It was such a
+light little dug-out, too, quite narrow, and being suddenly startled, I
+jumped, and by some means Lahbo's canoe was upset. Poor old Lahbo! How
+my heart ached for him when I heard him scream in the water."
+
+"Oh, the evil liar!" whispered Magh in Hathi's ear.
+
+"Hush-h!" whistled Elephant, softly, through his trunk; "Sher Abi was
+ever like this; I know him well. It is just his way of boasting; he
+knows nobody believes it."
+
+"Poor Lahbo," continued Magar. "I swam quickly to help him, picked him
+up tenderly in my jaws, and started for the shore. I would have saved
+his life in another minute, but his cries had gone to the ears of some
+Villagers, and they were now on the bank of the creek, and with two
+Firesticks, also. I was in a terrible fix, Comrades; if I held my head
+under water, poor Lahbo would drown; if I held it up, the Village Men
+would kill me with the Firestick."
+
+"How did it end, Saver of Life?" asked Pardus. "Did poor Lahbo ask you
+to swallow him to save his life?"
+
+"I really can't say what did happen," answered Sher Abi. "To this day
+tears come into my eyes when I think of poor Lahbo. And it was all the
+fault of the Villagers, for when the Firestick coughed, I think the
+Man-fear, that Hathi has spoken of, came over him, for he commenced to
+wriggle about so that I couldn't hold him. I was so careful, too, for
+my teeth are sharp, and I was afraid of hurting him. But, anyway,
+before I knew it, Ee-eh-he! he had slipped down my throat; poor Lahbo!
+And do you know, Comrades, I'm a little afraid I'm not done with him
+yet, for he had a big two-handed dah (sword) in his waist-band, and I
+know that some of the pains I feel at times are due to that; there's
+nothing so hard to digest as a Burmese dah. And to this day, Comrades,
+sometimes when I'm jumping about it seems to me that bangles and rings
+that are inside of me string themselves on that sword--I fancy at times
+I can hear them jingle."
+
+"How did you come to have bangles inside of you?" asked Magh most
+solicitously.
+
+"Engh-hu! little Moon-face, you make me very tired. If any one tells a
+tale you try to put false words into his mouth."
+
+"And bangles," snapped Magh.
+
+"Who spoke of bangles?" asked Sher Abi. "I said not that they were
+bangles, but that it was like that--the pains I mean. Perhaps even
+Lahbo dropped the dah overboard, for all I know. And look here, little
+one, Moon-faced Languar, if you doubt what I say, you may go inside and
+see for yourself."
+
+"How came you to this place, Sher Abi?" asked Mooswa. "Did the
+Villagers catch you then?"
+
+"Not that time. But once, hearing a Pariah Dog in great distress, I
+thought he called to me for aid, even as poor Lahbo had done, so I swam
+quickly to lend him help----"
+
+"Poor Dog," jeered Magh.
+
+"But it was all a vile trick of the Men-kind," declared Magar; "though
+at the time, not knowing of this, I paid no heed to the matter. There
+were two long rows of stakes in the water coming close together at one
+end----"
+
+"Lough-hu! I know," murmured Buffalo; "the walls of a stockade."
+
+"Yes," sighed Sher Abi. "And as I pushed through the small end, the
+poor Dog being just beyond, and in great distress, a big rope drew
+tight about my neck, and before I could so much as object, many of the
+Men-kind pulled me out on to the dry land. Then I was sent here to
+Sa'-zada."
+
+"Well, well," murmured Hathi, "it seems to me that every Jungle-Dweller
+thinks he's badly treated, but judging from all the tales I've heard I
+think we've all got our faults--I think we're nearly as bad as the
+Men-kind."
+
+"My people are not," objected Buffalo; "we never did harm to anyone."
+
+"Neither did we," exclaimed Mooswa.
+
+"Nor we," added Elk; and soon the clamor became general, all holding
+that the Men-kind who killed almost every animal for the sake of
+taking its life, and not because they were driven to it by lean
+stomachs, were much worse than the Jungle-Dwellers.
+
+"Well, well," decided Hathi, "it seems that most of you are against me,
+anyway. I think Buffalo is right in what he says, but some of us have
+done much wrong to the Men-kind----"
+
+"Meaning me, of course," ejaculated Wild Boar. "I, who lay no claim to
+being good, and who am counted the worst of all Animals, say, with
+Buffalo, that the Men-kind have done more harm to me than I to them,
+and have been of less benefit to me than I to them."
+
+Then Sa'-zada spoke: "Comrades, this is a question that we can't
+settle. If we were all like the Buddhists, and took no life except
+because of great need, perhaps it would be better. But now you must all
+go back to your cages and corrals to sleep."
+
+
+
+
+Twelfth Night
+
+The Story of Sa'-Zada, "Zoo" Keeper
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TWELFTH NIGHT
+
+THE STORY OF SA'-ZADA, THE "ZOO" KEEPER
+
+
+It was the twelfth night of the Sa'-zada stories. For eleven evenings
+Tiger, and Leopard, and the others had told of their manner of life,
+with more or less relevancy. This night Sa'-zada, the little Master,
+was to speak of his jungle and forest experience.
+
+Magh, the Orang, was filled with a joyous anticipation. Perched as
+usual on Hathi's broad forehead, she gave expression to little squeaks
+of enjoyment.
+
+Once even she stuck out her long, elastic under-lip and broke into the
+little jungle song she always had resource to when pleasantly excited:
+
+"Co-oo-oo-oo-oo! Co-wough, wough-oo!" with a rising inflection that
+made the listener's ears tingle. She even danced a modest can-can on
+Hathi's patient old head.
+
+The Keeper came briskly up the walk, and patting Hathi's trunk
+affectionately as it was held out to him, sat on the grass with his
+back against Mooswa's side.
+
+"Well, Comrades," he commenced, "before I came to a state of
+friendship with the Jungle Dwellers, I was like a great many others of
+my kind, and thought the only pleasure to be got from animals was in
+killing them."
+
+"It is the beginning of a true talk," commented Pardus.
+
+"And, so, in that time I hunted a great deal," continued Sa'-zada.
+"When I first went to Burma to live, my bungalow was just on the edge
+of the Jungle, and some of the Dwellers were always forcing their
+presence upon me--either Snakes, or Jackals, or Jaruk the Hyena, or the
+Bandar-Log; and one night even a Rogue Elephant----"
+
+"Hum-p-p-ph! he should have been prodded with a sharp tusk," commented
+Hathi.
+
+"A Rogue Elephant," continued Sa'-zada, "came down and played
+basket-ball with my garden and bamboo cook-house. Gidar the Jackal,
+with a dozen companions, used to gut my kitchen, and then sit out in
+the moonlight and howl at me in derision."
+
+"We sing at night because we can't help it, and not because of ill will
+to the Men-kind," corrected Gidar.
+
+"Well, one night, as the Jackals were in the middle of a heavy chorus,
+they suddenly ceased; a silence as of death came over everything; it
+seemed as though all life had gone miles away from that part of the
+country. Then came a hoarse call which shook my little bungalow----"
+
+"I know," interrupted Gidar, "when we stop singing and move away
+silently it is to make room for Bagh the Killer. We object to being
+seen in the company of a murderer like that."
+
+"Yes, it was Tiger," asserted Sa'-zada, "and two Sahibs, who were my
+companions, and, like myself, new to the country, determined to get
+him.
+
+"So next evening we took a Goat and tied it just inside the Jungle,
+each one of us lying down on the ground at a short distance from our
+bait. But the Goat commenced to browse quietly and refused to bleat. I
+tried jumping him up and down by the tail and back of his neck, and
+he'd bleat just as long as I'd pump. At last I tied him up so that he
+stood on his hind legs, and he called then with full vigor. For the
+matter of an hour we lay thus, when presently, behind me, I heard the
+stealthy step of some huge Jungle Dweller coming for the Goat.
+
+"It was the most deliberate animal I had ever waited for; it seemed
+hours that those carefully planted feet had been heading towards the
+back of my head. I could see nothing, for I was facing the other way,
+and I dared not turn over for fear of frightening the approaching Tiger
+away. This is a true tale, Comrades, and I did not like overmuch the
+idea of Bagh or Pardus, whichever it might be, pouncing upon me from
+behind."
+
+"And they would do it," declared Gidar, "for there is a saying in
+their tribe that 'a kill from behind is a kill of skill.'"
+
+"Were you afraid, little Master?" asked Hathi.
+
+"I didn't like it," answered Sa'-zada, evasively.
+
+"I've lain close hid in the Elephant Grass," said Bagh, "when a mighty
+drive of the Sahibs was on; and perhaps you felt that time, O Sa'-zada,
+even as I did."
+
+"I, too, have heard the Pigstickers galloping, galloping all about a
+little _nulla_ where I have sought for safety and the chance of my
+life," added Wild Boar, "and it's dreadful. If all the Sahibs could
+have known that feeling, even as you did, O Sa'-zada, perhaps they
+would hunt us less."
+
+"Perhaps," answered the Keeper; "but I could hear the great animal
+creeping, oh, so carefully, step by step, hardly a twig shifting under
+his cautious feet--only a little soft rustle of the leaves as they
+whispered to the sleepy night air that something of evil was afoot. It
+got on my nerves, I must say, for I knew that I had not one chance in a
+thousand if Bagh were to spring upon me from behind. A fair fight I did
+not mind. I dared not even whisper to my companions, for they were a
+short distance from me, lest I should frighten the quarry away. When
+the soft-moving feet were within five yards of my head they became
+silent, and I felt that the great animal, Bagh or Pardus, or some
+other Killer, was crouched ready for a spring.
+
+"One minute, two minutes, an hour--perhaps half the night I seemed
+waiting for something to happen. The suspense was dreadful. One of my
+comrades had heard the footsteps, too, for I could see his rifle gleam
+in the moonlight as he held it ready to fire at sight of the animal.
+The strain was so trying that I almost wished Bagh would charge.
+
+"But at last my nerves got the better of me and I turned over on my
+face, bringing my Express up to receive the visitor. The noise startled
+him, and with a hoarse bark he was off into the Jungle. It was only
+little ribbed-faced Barking Deer, who had come out of curiosity to see
+what the Goat was making a row about."
+
+Hathi gave a great sigh of relief, for the Little Master's story of
+thrilling danger had worked him up to a pitch of excited interest.
+
+"I remember a little tale of a happening," said Arna the Buffalo. "We
+were a herd of at least twenty, lying in a bit of nice, soft muddy
+land, for it was a wondrous hot day, I remember, when suddenly right
+through the midst of us walked a Sahib, and with him was one of the
+Black Men-kind. By his manner I knew that he had not seen us, being
+half-buried as we were in the _jhil_. Just beyond where we rested was a
+plain of the dry grass Eating, and to that our enemies the Men passed.
+Comrades, the method of our doing you know, when there is danger. If
+it is far away, and we see it, we go quickly from its presence, as is
+right for all Jungle Dwellers; but should it come suddenly close upon
+us we fight with a strength that even Bagh dreads.
+
+"As I have said, seeing the Sahib so close, our Leader sprang up and
+snorted in anger. Now Bagh, when he is in an evil temper, roars loudly;
+but we, being people of little voice, trusting more to our horns than
+to noise, only call 'Eng-ugh!' before we charge. So, when our Leader
+called twice, we rushed out into the field where was this Sahib. I
+remember well, the Black man ran with great speed across the Plain, but
+the Sahib faced us. In his eyes there was a look such as I have seen in
+the eyes of another Bull when I have challenged him, and it was a
+question whether we should fight or not.
+
+"But fear came not to this Man," added Arna, decidedly, "for as we
+raced down upon him, he smote at us with his Firestick, and taking the
+cover that was on his head----"
+
+"His helmet," suggested Sa'-zada.
+
+"The cover in his hand," proceeded Arna, "charged full at us, calling
+us evil names in a loud voice. I know not which of us turned in his
+gallop, but certain it is that the herd passed on either side of the
+Man and he was not hurt."
+
+"But did you not turn and trample him?" asked Boar.
+
+"No," answered Arna; "when we charge we charge, and there's an end of
+it."
+
+"That is also our way," concurred Bagh, "except, perhaps, when we are
+struck by the Firestick, then sometimes we turn and charge back."
+
+"By-the-memory-of-honey!" said Muskwa the Bear, "I should like to hear
+a tale from Sa'-zada of my people."
+
+"Well," declared the Keeper, "there was a happening in connection with
+Muskwa's cousin, Grizzly, that makes me tremble--I mean, calls up
+rather unpleasant memories to this day."
+
+"I'm glad of that--Whuf! glad we're to have the story," corrected
+Muskwa, apologetically.
+
+"It was in the Rocky Mountains," began Sa'-zada, "in the South Kootenay
+Pass. I was after Big Horn, the Mountain Sheep, with two Comrades, and
+a guide called Eagle Child, when we saw a big Grizzly coming down the
+side of a mountain called the Camel's Back.
+
+"Now, Eagle Child was a man very eager to do big things, so, almost
+without asking my consent, he laid out the whole plan of campaign. On
+the side of the Camel's Back Mountain grew a spruce forest, and through
+this snow avalanches had ploughed roadways, from top to bottom, looking
+like the streets of a city. Eagle Child called to me as he forded the
+mountain stream on his Horse that he would go up one of these snow
+roads and get the Grizzly, or turn him down another one for me.
+
+"Now, Comrades, Muskwa here is a man of peace, loving his honey and his
+Ants, but Grizzly is one to interview with great caution, and my
+Comrade, Eagle Child, being a man of unwise haste, you will understand,
+Comrades, that I expected strange happening when he started to
+interfere with Grizzly's evening plans, for it was toward the end of
+the day."
+
+"It is not wise to meddle with one of a short temper," declared Hathi.
+
+"I am not one of a short temper," objected Grizzly. "I seek a quarrel
+with no one; but, perhaps, if this man, who was Sa'-zada's comrade,
+sought to make a kill of one of our kind, there may have been trouble.
+If I am of a great strength why is that--is it so that I may be killed
+easily? Have I not strong claws just as Bagh has his teeth, and Boar
+his tusks, and Python his strength of squeeze?--even also have I
+somewhat of a squeeze myself. And shall I not use these things that I
+have, as do the other Forest Dwellers when their desire is to live? I
+am not like Elk that can gallop fast--flee from a slayer. And so, if I,
+being strong, fight for my life, it is temper, eh? Wough! I am as I am.
+But go on, Little Master--tell us of this happening."
+
+"As I was saying," recommenced Sa'-zada, "when Eagle Child in his
+great eagerness started after that Bear, I had an idea there would be
+fun, and there was--though I must say that I followed up to give him
+some help."
+
+"There was no harm in that," said Grizzly, magnanimously. "Comrades of
+the same kind must help each other."
+
+"That Eagle Child had ridden up to meet the Grizzly was in itself a
+fair promise for excitement, but also his Cayuse was one of the
+jerkiest brutes ever ridden by anybody. He had a great dislike for
+spurs."
+
+"Quite right, too," bubbled Unt the Camel; "I remember a Cavalry Man on
+my back once----"
+
+Sa'-zada interrupted Camel, and continued: "A dig from the spurs and
+the Cayuse would refuse to budge; but, of course, the rider knew that.
+
+"Eagle Child thought that the Bear was working down in a certain
+direction, but, as you know, Comrades, Muskwa is a fellow of many
+notions, turning and twisting and changing his course beyond all
+calculations."
+
+"Yes, we are like that," assented Muskwa. "It is our manner of life. We
+find our food in small parts, and in many places--berries here, and
+Ants there, and perhaps Honey on the other side. We are not like Bagh,
+who goes straight for his Kill, for we must keep a sharp lookout or we
+shall find nothing."
+
+"Well, Grizzly evidently turned, for, while my Guide was looking for
+him in one direction, he bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse from
+a totally different quarter. This rather startled Eagle Child; and,
+though he should have known better, he dug the silly spurs into his
+erratic tempered Horse, with the result that the latter balked--bucked
+up like a stubborn mule.
+
+"This looked as though he meant to stop and fight it out--the Grizzly
+evidently thought so, for he gave a snort of rage and tore down the
+mountain full at his enemy. I dared not shoot for fear of striking my
+comrade; but one bullet wouldn't have mattered, anyway; it wouldn't
+have stopped the charging Grizzly. Luckily for Eagle Child, his Horse
+reared just as the Bear arrived, and though he was sent flying,
+Muskwa's cousin did not succeed in clawing him, his time being taken up
+in making little pieces of the Horse. Eagle Child arrived at the foot
+of the mountain very rapidly, for all this had happened at the top of a
+long shale cut bank, and he did not look for smooth paths, but just
+came away without regard to the means of transport."
+
+"And is that all of the tale?" inquired Magh, with a rather
+disappointed air, for she had hoped to hear of Muskwa's getting the
+worst of the encounter.
+
+"Not by any means," answered Sa'-zada; "that was but the beginning. My
+comrade being out of the way," he continued, "I fired at Grizzly."
+
+[Illustration: "THE GRIZZLY ... BOUNCED OUT NOT TEN YARDS FROM THE
+CAYUSE."]
+
+"To kill him?" exclaimed Mooswa, reproachfully.
+
+"That was before I was comrade to the Jungle Dwellers," apologized the
+Keeper--"before I knew they were more interesting alive than dead. And
+I fear I struck him, too," he added, "for when he had finished knocking
+the Horse to pieces we saw him go up the side of the Camel's Back
+limping as though a leg had been broken."
+
+"That was a shame," declared Mooswa.
+
+"It would have been a great shame, an outrage," asserted Bagh, "if I,
+or Pardus, or even Hathi had broken the leg of a Man; we would have
+been hunted by a drove of twenty Elephants, and many of the Men-kind."
+
+"But," objected Magh, "as Sa'-zada has said, that was before he had
+proper wisdom, so we bear him no malice. Even Muskwa does not, do you,
+old Shaggy Sides?"
+
+"No, I did not know the law of life then," said the Keeper; "and Eagle
+Child and myself followed after poor old wounded Grizzly and in our
+hearts was a desire for his life. Eagle Child was cross because I had
+laughed at him when he came down all covered with mud, also he had lost
+a Horse. He swore that he would kill that Bear if it took a week."
+
+"I know," commented Hathi, swinging his trunk sideways and lifting
+Jaruk off his feet with a blow in the ribs as if by accident. "I hate
+the smell of that Jungle Scavenger," he confided to Magh in a whisper.
+"I know," he continued aloud, "I've heard the Sahibs swear often, over
+a less matter than the killing of a Horse, too."
+
+"We thought that Grizzly was badly wounded and couldn't go far, and
+that we should soon come within range of him up amongst the rocks."
+
+"Of course, he went up, having a broken leg," declared Pardus; "that's
+the way with all Forest Dwellers--one pitches going down on three
+legs."
+
+"But it was getting late, so we hurried fast. I had tied my Horse to a
+tree, for the climb was steep. Up, up, up we went; sometimes catching
+sight of Grizzly, sometimes seeing a drop of blood----"
+
+"Dreadful," whimpered Mooswa. "Why should Men be so eager to see the
+blood of Forest Dwellers who have not harmed them?"
+
+"Sometimes we saw blood on the rocks," proceeded Sa'-zada, "and
+sometimes we followed Grizzly's trail by the mark of a stone upturned
+where his strong claws had been planted. Once I got another shot at
+him, and struck him, too, but, as Greybeard here might tell you, a
+Grizzly is like Arna, he can carry off the matter of twenty bullets
+unless they happen upon his heart or brain."
+
+"That is even so," concurred Grizzly. "Whuff! I have at least a dozen
+in my own body. The Men seek to improve our tempers after that manner."
+
+"It was getting late," resumed Sa'-zada, "but still we continued
+upward, the Bear holding on with great strength. It was October, and in
+the hollows of the upper ranges snow was lying like a white apron in a
+nurse's lap. 'He went this way,' said the guide to me, pointing to a
+narrow ledge of rock around the side of a cliff, with a drop from it of
+a thousand feet.
+
+"Now, Eagle Child was a Stony Indian, and they are like Mountain Sheep
+in their ability to climb. We had to work our way down carefully to
+this ledge, helping each other lest we fall, and even when it was
+reached the yawn of the valley a thousand feet below caused me to
+tremble. So, cautiously we worked along this narrow path, and, as we
+rounded the point, to our great fear we saw that we could go no
+farther--a dead wall stood two hundred feet high in front of us.
+Slowly, cautiously, we turned our bodies, and went back; and then we
+saw what we had overlooked in our eagerness for poor old Grizzly's
+life--we could not get up the way we had come down--we were trapped."
+
+"It's a dreadful feeling," declared Pardus, "to be caught in a
+Trap--though there were no Men enemies about you, Sa'-zada, to make it
+worse."
+
+"Or to be shut up in a Keddah," muttered Hathi--"it's awful. To be
+taken out of one's nice pleasant jungle and led into a Keddah trap with
+those of the Men-kind trumpeting and calling, and even those of our own
+tribe, Elephant, taking part against us."
+
+"Was that what made you friend to the Jungle Dwellers, Sa'-zada?" asked
+Muskwa.
+
+"At the time," answered the Keeper, "I thought only of the dreadful fix
+we were in. Below, a thousand feet or more, the sharp tops of the
+spruce and cedar stood like spears----"
+
+"I've felt a spear in my shoulder, ugh, ugh! it drives one fair mad
+with fear and pain," grunted Boar.
+
+"Under our feet was a narrow ledge of rock not the width of Hathi's
+back; behind us, and on either side of us, the cliffs ran up hundreds
+of feet. On the upper peak of the Camel's Back a snowstorm was shutting
+out the last grey light of day--the darkness of night was fast coming
+on. I could see nothing for it but to stand perfectly straight with our
+backs to the rock wall all through the bitter night and talk to each
+other to keep sleep away. The next day our comrades might find us, and
+let down a rope to help us up."
+
+"You could also think in the night of how we feel, O Little Brother,
+when we are hunted," declared Pardus. "Even perhaps Grizzly with his
+broken leg had to lie on some rock, afraid to travel in the night lest
+he fall."
+
+"Yes, it was a good time to think of the troubles of Jungle Dwellers,"
+concurred Hathi.
+
+"I thought of many things," said the Keeper, softly; "and but for Eagle
+Child I fear I should have fallen a dozen times; I felt his hand on my
+arm more than once pressing me against the wall. But at last morning
+came. I never felt so cold in my life, for, you see, we dared not move
+about. But it was noon before I saw my two comrades riding up the
+valley looking for us.
+
+"Eagle Child called, 'Hi, yi, yi--oh, yi!' The rocks threw his voice
+far out, and they heard it. It took them a long time to climb up to the
+place from where we had descended. They had brought their lassos with
+them, for they knew that we were cut off; and soon, but with much
+cautious labor, we were safe."
+
+"And what of Grizzy?" asked Muskwa, solicitously.
+
+"I hope he, too, got away all right," answered Sa'-zada, "for I never
+saw him again--we did not follow him."
+
+"I think Wie-sah-ke-chack led you to that place, Little Master, to give
+Grizzly a chance for his life," commented Mooswa.
+
+"I like our Master's story," declared Hathi; "so often I've heard the
+Sahibs boasting of the Animals they have killed, but Sa'-zada tells
+only of the times fear came to him because of his wrong-doing."
+
+"That happening was of Greybeard, and he is but a cousin of mine,"
+complained Muskwa the Black Bear. "Did you never meet with my family,
+Little Master?"
+
+"If you insist upon it, Muskwa," answered the Keeper, "I might tell a
+little tale of your people."
+
+"I should like that--do," pleaded Black Bear; "in all the stories there
+has been nothing of our doing."
+
+"But they were also only relatives of yours, though they were black,
+for the happening was in India, and there they are called Bhalu the
+Bear. And the happening was not of my doing, either, for I was hunting
+Bagh, the Tiger."
+
+"Every hunter takes me for a choice," growled Raj Bagh.
+
+"But this was a bad Tiger," declared Sa'-zada; "he had killed many
+people."
+
+"And what of that--Waugh-houk! what of that, Little Master?" demanded
+Raj Bagh. "Have not many people killed many of my kind--are they not
+always killing us?"
+
+"Still the Little Master is right," objected Hathi. "If a Bull Elephant
+becomes Rogue, and, neglecting his proper eating which is in the
+Jungle, goes seeking to kill the Men-kind, does he not surely come into
+trouble?"
+
+"But we be flesh eaters and slayers of life," answered Raj Bagh.
+
+"Even so, though that were better otherwise, but do you not know of
+your own people that the Men-kind are not for Kill? Before all other
+Dwellers of the Jungle you stand forth and are ready to battle, but
+just the _scent_ of Man causes you to slink away like Jaruk the Hyena."
+
+"I think that is true," commented Mooswa. "Wie-sah-ke-chack has
+arranged all that."
+
+Said the Keeper: "It is not right to kill the animals as men do, for
+sport, but when Bagh, or any other Jungle Dweller, turns Man-eater, he
+should die."
+
+"And Sher Abi, too," squeaked Magh; "his tribe are all Man-eaters--they
+should be all killed."
+
+"At any rate," continued the Keeper, "I was after this Man-eater. I had
+a _machan_ built in a Pipal tree, and a Buffalo calf tied up near
+it----"
+
+"One of your young, Arna," said Bagh, vindictively.
+
+"And early in the evening I climbed into my _machan_ and prepared for
+Mister Stripes."
+
+"That's Man's way," sneered Raj Bagh. "What chance have we against them
+up in a _machan_? No chance; and they call that sport."
+
+"And what chance has a village woman against a big-fanged Tiger?"
+grunted Boar. "No chance. It seems to me there are few in the Jungle as
+decent as Hathi and myself; we meddle not with the Men."
+
+"Just before dark," continued Sa'-zada, "I heard a noise coming through
+the Khir bushes. 'Bagh comes early,' I thought to myself."
+
+"He must have been hungry to scent a kill before dark," muttered Raj
+Bagh.
+
+"He smelt a man and thought it a good chance to commit murder," sneered
+Magh.
+
+"It wasn't Tiger at all," said the Keeper, "but three noisy Black
+Bears--Bhalu the Bear. I thought they would soon pass, for they do not
+meddle much with cattle."
+
+"No, we are not throat cutters like Bagh," whuffed Muskwa.
+
+"But they seemed in an inquisitive mood. Now, the calf was tied to the
+foot of a toddy palm, and they looked at him as much as to say, 'What
+are you doing here?'"
+
+"I would have explained matters to them had I been there," exclaimed
+Arna, shaking his head. "A poor Calf!"
+
+"No doubt they meant to help him out of his trouble," volunteered
+Muskwa.
+
+"Presently one of them proceeded to climb the toddy palm, and I thought
+they were looking for me perhaps. On the tree was a jar the natives had
+put there for catching the toddy liquor; and you can imagine my
+surprise, Comrades, when I saw Bhalu take a big drink out of this. When
+he came down one of his comrades went up. There were half-a-dozen toddy
+trees there, and the Bears helped themselves to the toddy until in the
+end they became very drunk."
+
+"I know how that feels," said Oungea the Water Monkey; "have I not
+told you, Comrades, of the gin my Master----"
+
+"Caw-w-w, caw-w-w!" interrupted Crow. "I also know of that condition. I
+ate some cherries once that had been thrown from a bungalow in
+Calcutta, and they made my head wobble so I couldn't fly. A Sahib stood
+in the door and laughed and said I was drunk."
+
+"The cherries had been in brandy, I suppose," explained Sa'-zada. "But
+Bhalu was most unmistakably drunk. They wanted to play with the Calf,
+but he became frightened and bawled. I could see there was small chance
+of a visit from Bagh with three drunken Bears and a bellowing Calf at
+the foot of my tree."
+
+"This is a nice story, Muskwa," sneered Magh. "I'm so glad to hear of
+your people and their ways."
+
+"Only cousins of mine," declared Muskwa, "and called Bhalu."
+
+"All Bears are alike," snapped Coyote; "meddlesome thieves."
+
+"They steal little Pigs," added Boar.
+
+"They wouldn't go away," said Sa'-zada, "and I began to fear that I
+shouldn't get a shot at Stripes. I did not want to shoot, because if
+Tiger was anywhere in the neighborhood it would put an end to his
+visit. I had nothing heavy to throw at them except my water-bottle;
+but, finally, taking a long drink to keep the thirst away for a time,
+I stood up in the _machan_ and let fly the bottle. It caught the Bear
+just behind the ear, and Bhalu, thinking one of his comrades had hurt
+him, pitched into the other two, and there was a fierce three-cornered
+fight on in a minute."
+
+"I can swear that it is a true tale," barked Gidar, "for twice I've
+seen a family of Bhalu's people in just such a stupid fight. Not that
+they were possessed of toddy, for they are silly enough at all times.
+But it is known in the Jungle that when Bhalu is wounded, he fights
+with the first one he sees, even his own brother, thinking he has done
+him the harm."
+
+"One chap got the worst of the encounter and reeled off into the
+Jungle, the other two following. I could hear them wrangling and
+snarling for a long distance--all the world like a party of drunken
+sailors."
+
+"These Bear stories are just lovely," grinned Magh. "Aren't they,
+Muskwa?"
+
+"Did you kill Bagh, the Man-eater?" asked Muskwa, to change the
+subject.
+
+"Yes, I stopped his murderous career that night," answered Sa'-zada.
+"He was an evil animal and deserved to die. Now it is late and you must
+all go to your cages."
+
+"I'm glad your people had a chance to be heard from, Muskwa," lisped
+Magh as she slid down Hathi's trunk. "You always looked so terribly
+respectable and honest, that I was really afraid to speak to you."
+
+[Illustration: "BHALU ... PITCHED INTO THE OTHER TWO."]
+
+"Phrut, phrut!" muttered Hathi through his trunk; "I have lived for a
+matter of forty years or so, amongst the Jungle Dwellers and with the
+Men-kind, and I think that we are all alike, all having some good and
+some bad qualities."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Books by W. A. Fraser
+
+Published by Charles Scribner's Sons
+
+
+BRAVE HEARTS
+
+_With frontispiece. 12mo, $1.50_
+
+"Like the thoroughbred he writes about, Mr. Fraser's narrative is
+always full of action. He has the knack of telling a story."--New York
+_Evening Sun_.
+
+"The author has caught the spirit of the paddock, track, and betting
+ring, and ... he manages to show them to us in their true
+colors."--Newark _Advertiser_.
+
+"It has the stir and go of a healthy sporting blood."--New York
+_Evening Post_.
+
+"Of rapid movement, and as refreshing as the outdoor air in which the
+scenes are laid."--Boston _Herald_.
+
+"Clever, spirited, and sympathetic."--_The Outlook._
+
+"Few stories of outdoor sport and exercise of any sort equal these in
+vigor, reality, and suspense."--Washington _Evening Star_.
+
+"Stories that all lovers of the noblest of domesticated animals will
+enjoy."--_The Churchman._
+
+
+
+
+BY W. A. FRASER
+
+BLOOD LILIES
+
+_With illustrations by_ F. E. SCHOONOVER
+
+_12mo, $1.50_
+
+
+"The quality of the story is strong and seamed with the invigorating
+life of nature, and at times reads like a Longfellow prose poem. The
+illustrations by Mr. Schoonover are of remarkable excellence."--Boston
+_Herald_.
+
+"Will keep the reader both interested and amused, for the author has
+humor as well as a sharp dramatic faculty."--New York _Sun_.
+
+"The tale is one of both emotion and action. It has elements that will
+give it a hold upon the sympathies of its readers."--New York _Times
+Review_.
+
+"No one can read the story without a thrilling of the pulses. He will
+be exhilarated and moved.... It is well worth mention among the best
+books of the fall."--Los Angeles _Times_.
+
+"The men we meet here are men of flesh and blood and of passion.... One
+really cannot describe the beauty and pathos of the story."--San
+Francisco _Post_.
+
+"The art that can so graphically draw such a poetic, dramatic, and
+pathetic picture as this of the wild life of these rude Northland folk
+is viable and enduring."--_The Independent._
+
+
+
+
+BY W. A. FRASER
+
+MOOSWA
+
+and Others of the Boundaries
+
+_Illustrated by_ ARTHUR FLEMING
+
+_Crown 8vo, $2.00_
+
+
+"In these stories we find somewhat of a return to the AEsopian
+presentation of animals, touched by the spirit of modernity, and,
+thrown over them all, a thorough knowledge of the animal life of the
+wilderness."--New York _Mail and Express_.
+
+"One of the best nature books ever published."--Brooklyn _Eagle_.
+
+"These stories of the doings of the fur-bearing animals in winter will
+be greatly relished by readers of all ages and both sexes. Besides
+being good stories, they contain any quantity of interesting
+information about the lives of these animals, their relations with one
+another, their food, and how they build their homes."--Boston _Herald_.
+
+"He has succeeded in introducing several very real and charming forest
+acquaintances to his readers."--New York _Tribune_.
+
+"Mr. Fraser has mingled a deal of natural history with folk-lore and
+the interests of the far fur-bearing lands in a volume that ought to
+please all readers of animal stories."--_The Interior._
+
+
+
+
+BY W. A. FRASER
+
+THE OUTCASTS
+
+_Illustrated by_ ARTHUR FLEMING
+
+_Crown 8vo, $1.25 net_
+
+
+"It has all the charm of the 'Jungle Book,' of which it is in no sense
+an imitation, of Ernest Thompson Seton, of Gilbert Parker's tales of
+Northland. The writing is charming, almost flawless; it is pathetic,
+curious, interesting. The woodcraft and the intimate knowledge of
+animal life and habits are a revelation."--Chicago _Tribune_.
+
+"A book worthy to be classed with Thompson Seton's 'Wild Animals I Have
+Known' and Kipling's 'Jungle Book.'"--Boston _Evening Transcript_.
+
+"Should be ranked among the very best.... It is full of interest,
+kindly humor, and is sympathetically and delightfully told."--Atlanta
+_Journal_.
+
+"This book is a delightful picture of the woodland life of the vast
+stretches of that flank of the Rockies toward the Arctic Circle.... It
+is one of the best nature books ever published."--Brooklyn _Eagle_.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+
+Added missing hyphen to "Sa'-Zada", but kept the lowercase z variation
+"Sa'-zada" which was used throughout the book. Removed the hyphen in
+"Sher Abi" for consistency. Corrected mismatched quote marks, and made
+the following changes:
+
+Contents: Changed "Bheh" to "Bagh" to match chapter title and
+character name.
+  Orig.: Raj Bheh, the King Tiger
+
+Page xi: "HANSOR, (the Laugher) Hyena" is only mentioned in the list
+of "The Dwellers in Animal Town." "Jaruk the Hyena" is used throughout
+the remainder of the book.
+
+Pages 5 and 177: "Pard" is used instead of "Pardus;" it might be
+a nickname rather than a typo.
+
+Page 129: Changed "tale" to "tail".
+  Orig.: I pulled the tale of every Donkey of the line
+
+Page 225: "Grizzy" may be a typo for "Grizzly," or just Muskwa's
+nickname for Grizzly.
+
+Note: Bakri apparently refers to a sheep or goat:
+  Page 71: a jungle Bakri (sheep)
+  Page 83: I sprang on Bakri the Goat
+  Page 175: kill Bakri, the Men's Sheep
+
+Spelling variations:
+
+Pages 8, 58: Wie-sak-ke-chack
+Pages 225, 227: Wie-sah-ke-chack
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser
+
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