The Jungle Book, part 6 · page 21 2101Run!”102Generations of monkeys had been scared into good behavior by the stories their elders told them of Kaa, the night thief, who could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows, and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived; of old Kaa, who could make himself look so like a dead branch or a rotten stump that the wisest were deceived, till the branch caught them.103Kaa was everything that the monkeys feared in the jungle, for none of them knew the limits of his power, none of them could look him in the face, and none had ever come alive out of his hug.104And so they ran, stammering with terror, to the walls and the roofs of the houses, and Baloo drew a deep breath of relief.105His fur was much thicker than Bagheera’s, but he had suffered sorely in the fight.106Then Kaa opened his mouth for the first time and spoke one long hissing word, and the far-away monkeys, hurrying to the defense of the Cold Lairs, stayed where they were, cowering, till the loaded branches bent and crackled under them.107The monkeys on the walls and the empty houses stopped their cries, and in the stillness that fell upon the city Mowgli heard Bagheera shaking his wet sides as he came up from the tank.108Then the clamor broke out again.109The monkeys leaped higher up the walls.110They clung around the necks of the big stone idols and shrieked as they skipped along the battlements, while Mowgli, dancing in the summerhouse, put his eye to the screenwork and hooted owl-fashion between his front teeth, to show his derision and contempt.111“Get the man-cub out of that trap; I can do no more,” Bagheera gasped.112“Let us take the man-cub and go.113They may attack again.”114“They will not move till I order them.115Stay you sssso!”116Kaa hissed, and the city was silent once more.117“I could not come before, Brother, but I think I heard thee call”--this was to Bagheera.118“I--I may have cried out in the battle,” Bagheera answered.119“Baloo, art thou hurt?1 2← previousThe Jungle Book, part 5next →The Jungle Book, part 7↑ back to The Jungle BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/6/page/2/