Herding in India is one of the laziest things in the world. The cattle move and crunch, and lie down, and move on again, and they do not even low. They only grunt, and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get down into the muddy pools one after another, and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface, and then they lie like logs. The sun makes the rocks dance in the heat, and the herd children hear one kite (never any more) whistling almost out of sight overhead, and they know that if they died, or a cow died, that kite would sweep down, and the next kite miles away would see him drop and follow, and the next, and the next,and almost before they were dead there would be a score of hungry kites come out of nowhere. Then they sleep and wake and sleep again, and weave little baskets of dried grass and put grasshoppers in them; or catch two praying mantises and make them fight; or string a necklace of red and black jungle nuts; or watch a lizard basking on a rock, or a snake hunting a frog near the wallows. Then they sing long, long songs with odd native quavers at the end of them, and the day seems longer than most people"s whole lives, and perhaps they make a mud castle with mud figures of men and horses and buffaloes, and put reeds into the men"s hands, and pretend that they are kings and the figures are their armies, or that they are gods to be worshiped. Then evening comes and the children call, and the buffaloes lumber up out of the sticky mud with noises like gunshots going off one after the other, and they all string across the gray plain back to the twinkling village lights.
Day after day Mowgli would lead the buffaloes out to their wallows,and day after day he would see Gray Brother"s back a mile and a half away across the plain (so he knew that Shere Khan had not come back), and day after day he would lie on the grass listening to the noises round him, anddreaming of old days in the jungle. If Shere Khan had made a false step with his lame paw up in the jungles by the Waingunga, Mowgli would have heard him in those long, still mornings.
At last a day came when he did not see Gray Brother at the signal place, and he laughed and headed the buffaloes for the ravine by the dhk tree, which was all covered with golden-red flowers. There sat Gray Brother, every bristle on his back lifted.
“He has hidden for a month to throw you off your guard. He crossed the ranges last night with Tabaqui, hot-foot on your trail,”said the Wolf,panting.
Mowgli frowned. “I am not afraid of Shere Khan, but Tabaqui is very cunning.”
“Have no fear,” said Gray Brother, licking his lips a little.“I met Tabaqui in the dawn. Now he is telling all his wisdom to the kites, but he told me everything before I broke his back. Shere Khan"s plan is to wait for you at the village gate this evening--for you and for no one else. He is lying up now, in the big dry ravine of the Waingunga.”
“Has he eaten today, or does he hunt empty？” said Mowgli, for the answer meant life and death to him.
“He killed at dawn,--a pig,--and he has drunk too. Remember, Shere Khan could never fast, even for the sake of revenge.”
“Oh！ Fool, fool！ What a cub"s cub it is！ Eaten and drunktoo, and he thinks that I shall wait till he has slept！ Now, where does he lieup？ If there were but ten of us we might pull him down as he lies. These buffaloes will not charge unless they wind him, and I cannot speak their language. Can we get behind his track so that they may smellit？
”
“He swam far down the Waingunga to cut that off,”said Gray Brother.
“Tabaqui told him that, I know. He would never have thought of it alone.” Mowgli stood with his finger in his mouth, thinking.“The big ravine of the Waingunga. That opens out on the plain not half a mile from here. I can take the herd round through the jungle to the head of the ravine and then sweep down --but he would slink out at the foot. We must blockthat end. Gray Brother, canst you cut the herd in two for me？”
“Not I, perhaps--but I have brought a wise helper.” Gray Brother trotted off and dropped into a hole. Then there lifted up a huge gray head that Mowgli knew well, and the hot air was filled with the most desolate cry of all the jungle--the hunting howl of a wolf at midday.
“Akela！Akela！”said Mowgli, clapping his hands.“I might have known that you wouldst not forget me. We have a big work in hand. Cut the herd in two,Akela. Keep the cows and calves together, and the bulls and the plow buffaloes by themselves.”
The two wolves ran, ladies"-chain fashion, in and out of the herd,which snorted and threw up its head, and separated into two clumps. In one, the cow-buffaloes stood with their calves in the center, and glared and pawed, ready, if a wolf would only stay still, to charge down and trample the life out of him. In the other, the bulls and the young bulls snorted and stamped, but though they looked more imposing they were much less dangerous, for they had no calves to protect. No six men could have divided the herd so neatly.
“What orders！” panted Akela. “They are trying to join again.”
Mowgli slipped on to Rama"s back. “Drive the bulls away to the left,Akela. Gray Brother, when we are gone, hold the cows together, and drive them into the foot of the ravine.”
“How far？” said Gray Brother, panting and snapping.
“Till the sides are higher than Shere Khan can jump,” shouted Mowgli.
“Keep them there till we come down.” The bulls swept off as Akela bayed,and Gray Brother stopped in front of the cows. They charged down on him,and he ran just before them to the foot of the ravine, as Akela drove the bulls far to the left.
“Well done！ Another charge and they are fairly started. Careful, now--careful, Akela. A snap too much and the bulls willcharge. Hujah！ This is wilder work than driving black-buck. Didstyou think these creatures could move so swiftly？”Mowgli called.
“I have--have hunted these too in my time.” gasped Akela in the dust.
“Shall I turn them into the jungle？”
“Ay！ Turn. Swiftly turn them！ Rama is mad with rage. Oh, if I could only tell him what I need of him to-day.”The bulls were turned, to the right this time, and crashed into the standing thicket. The other herd children, watching with the cattle half a mile away, hurried to the village as fast as their legs could carry them,crying that the buffaloes had gone mad and run away.