my trail!" Mowgli shouted. "Tell Baloo of the Seeonee Pack and Bagheera
of the Council Rock."

"In whose name, Brother?" Rann had never seen Mowgli before, though of
course he had heard of him.

"Mowgli, the Frog. Man-cub they call me! Mark my tra-il!"

The last words were shrieked as he was being swung through the air, but
Rann nodded and rose up till he looked no bigger than a speck of dust,
and there he hung, watching with his telescope eyes the swaying of the
treetops as Mowgli's escort whirled along.

"They never go far," he said with a chuckle. "They never do what they
set out to do. Always pecking at new things are the Bandar-log. This
time, if I have any eye-sight, they have pecked down trouble for
themselves, for Baloo is no fledgling and Bagheera can, as I know, kill
more than goats."

So he rocked on his wings, his feet gathered up under him, and waited.

Meantime, Baloo and Bagheera were furious with rage and grief. Bagheera
climbed as he had never climbed before, but the thin branches broke
beneath his weight, and he slipped down, his claws full of bark.

"Why didst thou not warn the man-cub?" he roared to poor Baloo, who had
set off at a clumsy trot in the hope of overtaking the monkeys. "What
was the use of half slaying him with blows if thou didst not warn him?"

"Haste! O haste! We--we may catch them yet!" Baloo panted.