emerald had not been tied to my neck, it
would have been lost in the water. I went up a tree and waited
for Kari to come out of the water.

After I had sat on a branch a little while, I saw two stony eyes
watching me. I looked, and looked and looked; a cold shiver ran
up and down my back, but I was determined not to fear and hate. I
made myself feel very brave and I stared right back into the
shining eyes. They closed. In the moonlight I could distinctly
see the head of a cobra lying on another branch very near mine. I
had disturbed him going up. I knew if I moved a little he would
get up and sting me to death, so I sat very still.

Soon there was a terrible hooting and calling in the jungle. I
heard hoofs stampeding in the distance. The noise grew louder and
louder and I could feel a vast warm tongue licking the cool
silence of the night. Then the cobra crawled along the branch to
the trunk of the tree, and then on down to the ground. I, who
was holding to the trunk, had to sit still while his cold body
passed over my finger. But I was determined not to fear and I
could feel the silken coolness passing over my hot hand. In an
instant he was gone.

Now I caught sight of Kari snorting before me. As I knew
something had taken possession of the jungle, I jumped on his
back. While we hurried along we heard the whining snarl of a
tiger, not the call of hate or killing, but the call for
protection, swiftly following our lead. Being civilized, we
instinctively knew the way out of the jungle to human habitation.
We approached the village which was still sleeping in the morning
grayness, and behind us saw horny deer, leopards, and wild cats
rushing after us. Then the boars came after us, dashing out of
the jungle in terror. Vast clouds of blackness were rising from
the horizon, and when the morning light grew more intense, I
realized they were clouds of smoke. The morning breeze was warm
and in a short time the smell of burning leaves reached me. The
forest was on fire.

We arrived at the village in an hour and a half. The sun was
already up. The leopards came and sat near the houses as
guileless as children; the boars snorted and ran into the rice
fields to hide. The tiger came and sat in the open and watched
the forest. The antelopes and the deer stood in the ponds and on
the banks of the river. By instinct they knew that the water was
the only place where the fire could not reach them. We saw flocks
of birds flying to