Page 68 - THE JUNGLE BOOK

The Jungle Book

jungle rose up the rumbling war-shout of Baloo. The old
Bear had done his best, but he could not come before.
‘Bagheera,’ he shouted, ‘I am here. I climb! I haste!
Ahuwora! The stones slip under my feet! Wait my

coming, O most infamous Bandar-log!’ He panted up the
terrace only to disappear to the head in a wave of
monkeys, but he threw himself squarely on his haunches,
and, spreading out his forepaws, hugged as many as he
could hold, and then began to hit with a regular bat-bat-
bat, like the flipping strokes of a paddle wheel. A crash and
a splash told Mowgli that Bagheera had fought his way to
the tank where the monkeys could not follow. The
Panther lay gasping for breath, his head just out of the
water, while the monkeys stood three deep on the red
steps, dancing up and down with rage, ready to spring
upon him from all sides if he came out to help Baloo. It
was then that Bagheera lifted up his dripping chin, and in
despair gave the Snake’s Call for protection—‘We be of
one blood, ye and I’— for he believed that Kaa had turned
tail at the last minute. Even Baloo, half smothered under
the monkeys on the edge of the terrace, could not help
chuckling as he heard the Black Panther asking for help.
Kaa had only just worked his way over the west wall,
landing with a wrench that dislodged a coping stone into

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