The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
page 13 of 246 (05%)
page 13 of 246 (05%)
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"At such a season as this to kill Man! Was no other game afoot?" said Bagheera scornfully, drawing himself out of the tainted water, and shaking each paw, cat-fashion, as he did so. "I killed for choice--not for food." The horrified whisper began again, and Hathi's watchful little white eye cocked itself in Shere Khan's direction. "For choice," Shere Khan drawled. "Now come I to drink and make me clean again. Is there any to forbid?" Bagheera's back began to curve like a bamboo in a high wind, but Hathi lifted up his trunk and spoke quietly. "Thy kill was from choice?" he asked; and when Hathi asks a question it is best to answer. "Even so. It was my right and my Night. Thou knowest, O Hathi." Shere Khan spoke almost courteously. "Yes, I know," Hathi answered; and, after a little silence, "Hast thou drunk thy fill?" "For to-night, yes." "Go, then. The river is to drink, and not to defile. None but the Lame Tiger would so have boasted of his right at this season when--when we suffer together--Man and Jungle People alike." Clean or unclean, get to thy lair, Shere Khan!" |
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