s. The dhole, for instance, do not begin to call
themselves a pack till they are a hundred strong; whereas forty wolves
make a very fair pack indeed. Mowgli's wanderings had taken him to
the edge of the high grassy downs of the Dekkan, and he had seen the
fearless dholes sleeping and playing and scratching themselves in the
little hollows and tussocks that they use for lairs. He despised and
hated them because they did not smell like the Free People, because they
did not live in caves, and, above all, because they had hair between
their toes while he and his friends were clean-footed. But he knew, for
Hathi had told him, what a terrible thing a dhole hunting-pack was. Even
Hathi moves aside from their line, and until they are killed, or till
game is scarce, they will go forward.

Akela knew something of the dholes, too, for he said to Mowgli quietly,
"It is better to die in a Full Pack than leaderless and alone. This is
good hunting, and--my last. But, as men live, thou hast very many more
nights and days, Little Brother. Go north and lie down, and if any live
after the dhole has gone by he shall bring thee word of the fight."

"Ah," said Mowgli, quite gravely, "must I go to the marshes and catch
little fish and sleep in a tree, or must I ask help of the Bandar-log
and crack nuts, while the Pack fight below?"

"It is to the death," said Akela. "Thou hast never met the dhole--the
Red Killer. Even the Striped One----"

"Aowa! Aowa!" said Mowgli pettingly. "I have killed one striped ape, and
sure am I in my stomach that Shere Khan would have left his own mate for
meat to the dhole if he had winded a pack across three ranges. Listen
now: There was a wolf, my father, and there was a wolf, my mother, and
there was an old gray wolf (not too wise: he is white now) was my father
and my mother. Therefore I--" he raised his voice, "I say that when the
dhole come, and if the dhole come, Mowgli and the Free People are of
one skin for that hunting; and I say, by the Bull that bought me--by the
Bull Bagheera paid for me in the old days which ye of the Pack do not
remember--_I_ say, that the Trees and the River may hear and hold fast
if I forget; _I_ say that this my knife shall be as a tooth to the
Pack--and I do not think it is so blunt. This is my Word which has gone
from me."

"Thou dost not know the dhole, man with a wolf's tongue," said
Won-tolla. "I look only to clear the Blood Debt against them ere they
have me in many p