'He is our brother in all but blood,' Akela went on; 'and ye would
kill him here! In truth, I have lived too long. Some of ye are eaters
of cattle, and of others I have heard that, under Shere Khan's
teaching, ye go by dark night and snatch children from the villager's
door-step Therefore I know ye to be cowards, and it is to cowards I
speak. It is certain that I must die, and my life is of no worth, or
I would offer that in the man-cub's place. But for the sake of the
Honour of the Pack,--a little matter that by being without a leader
ye have forgotten,--I promise that if ye let the man-cub go to his
own place, I will not, when my time comes to die, bare one tooth
against ye. I will die without fighting. That will at least save the
Pack three lives. More I cannot do; but if ye will, I can save ye the
shame that comes of killing a brother against whom there is no
fault,--a brother spoken for and bought into the Pack according to
the Law of the Jungle.'

'He is a man--a man--a man--!' snarled the Pack; and most of the
wolves began to gather round Shere Khan, whose tail was beginning to
switch.

'Now the business is in thy hands,' said Bagheera to Mowgli. '_We_
can do no more except fight.'

Mowgli stood upright--the fire-pot in his hands. Then he stretched
out his arms, and yawned in the face of the Council; but he was
furious with rage and sorrow, for, wolf-like, the wolves had never
told him how they hated him. 'Listen you!' he cried. 'There is no
need for this dog's jabber. Ye have told me so often to night that I
am a man (and indeed I would have been a wolf with you to my life's