herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two
green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan.

'And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answer. The man's cub is mine,
Lungri--mine to me! He shall not be killed. He shall live to run with
the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter
of little naked cubs--frog-eater--fish-killer--he shall hunt _thee_!
Now get hence, or by the Sambhur that I killed (_I_ eat no starved
cattle), back thou goest to thy mother, burned beast of the jungle,
lamer than ever thou earnest into the world! Go!'

Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when
he had won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she
ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment's sake.
Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up
against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the
advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed
out of the cave-mouth growling, and when he was clear he shouted:--

'Each dog barks in his own yard! We will see what the Pack will say
to this fostering of man-cubs. The cub is mine, and to my teeth he
will come in the end, O bush-tailed thieves!'

Mother Wolf threw herself down panting among the cubs, and Father
Wolf said to her gravely:--

'Shere Khan speaks this much truth. The cub must be shown to the
Pack. Wilt thou still keep him, Mother?'

'Keep him!' she gasped. 'He came naked, by night, alone and very
hungry; yet he was not afraid! Look, he has pushed one of my babes to
one side already. And that lame butcher would have killed him and
would have run off to the Waingunga while the villagers here hunted
through all our lairs in revenge! Keep him? Assuredly I will keep
him. Lie still, little frog. O thou Mowgli--for Mowgli the Frog I
will call thee--the time will come when thou wilt hunt Shere Khan as
he has hunted thee.' 'But what will our Pack say?' said Father Wolf.
The Law of the Jungle lays down very clearly that any wolf may, when
he marries, withdraw from the Pack he belongs to; but as soon as his
cubs are old enough to stand on their feet he must bring them to the
Pack Council, which is generally held once a month at full moon, in
order that the other wolves may identify them. After that inspection
the cubs are free to run where they please, and until they have
killed their first buck no excuse is accepted if a g