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Updated: June 14, 2025
Fifteen of the Pack, as well as half a dozen lahinis, lay dead by the river, and of the others not one was unmarked. And Mowgli sat through it all till the cold daybreak, when Phao's wet, red muzzle was dropped in his hand, and Mowgli drew back to show the gaunt body of Akela.
Then they banged the temple bells and blew the conches louder than ever; and Messua cried, and Buldeo embroidered the story of his adventures in the jungle, till he ended by saying that Akela stood up on his hind legs and talked like a man. The moon was just going down when Mowgli and the two wolves came to the hill of the Council Rock, and they stopped at Mother Wolf's cave.
'Look well, O Wolves. Have I kept my word? said Mowgli; and the wolves bayed Yes, and one tattered wolf howled: 'Lead us again, O Akela. Lead us again, O man-cub, for we be sick of this lawlessness, and we would be the Free People once more. 'Nay, purred Bagheera, 'that may not be. When ye are full fed, the madness may come upon you again. Not for nothing are ye called the Free People.
'Bagheera spoke truth, he panted, as he nestled down in some cattle-fodder by the window of a hut. 'To-morrow is one day both for Akela and for me. Then he pressed his face close to the window and watched the fire on the hearth.
He could smell things as very few human beings could, but he had never reached the hair-trigger-like sensitiveness of a Jungle nose; and his three months in the smoky village had set him back sadly. However, he dampened his finger, rubbed it on his nose, and stood erect to catch the upper scent, which, though it is the faintest, is the truest. "Man!" Akela growled, dropping on his haunches.
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.
Therefore, I ask, who comes to make an end of the Lone Wolf? For it is my right, by the Law of the Jungle, that ye come one by one. There was a long hush, for no single wolf cared to fight Akela to the death. Then Shere Khan roared: 'Bah! what have we to do with this toothless fool? He is doomed to die! It is the man-cub who has lived too long. Free People, he was my meat from the first.
'Who calls? said Shere Khan, and a splendid peacock fluttered up out of the ravine screeching. 'I, Mowgli. Cattle thief, it is time to come to the Council Rock! Down hurry them down, Akela! Down, Rama, down!
Shere Khan was always crossing his path in the jungle, for as Akela grew older and feebler the lame tiger had come to be great friends with the younger wolves of the Pack, who followed him for scraps, a thing Akela would never have allowed if he had dared to push his authority to the proper bounds.
I did not know that thou wast anything more than a herdsboy. May I rise up and go away, or will thy servant tear me to pieces? 'Go, and peace go with thee. Only, another time do not meddle with my game. Let him go, Akela. Buldeo hobbled away to the village as fast as he could, looking back over his shoulder in case Mowgli should change into something terrible.
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