coming, O most infamous Bandar-log!" He panted up the terrace only
to disappear to the head in a wave of monkeys, but he threw himself
squarely on his haunches, and, spreading out his forepaws, hugged as
many as he could hold, and then began to hit with a regular bat-bat-bat,
like the flipping strokes of a paddle wheel. A crash and a splash told
Mowgli that Bagheera had fought his way to the tank where the monkeys
could not follow. The Panther lay gasping for breath, his head just
out of the water, while the monkeys stood three deep on the red steps,
dancing up and down with rage, ready to spring upon him from all sides
if he came out to help Baloo. It was then that Bagheera lifted up his
dripping chin, and in despair gave the Snake's Call for protection--"We
be of one blood, ye and I"--for he believed that Kaa had turned tail
at the last minute. Even Baloo, half smothered under the monkeys on
the edge of the terrace, could not help chuckling as he heard the Black
Panther asking for help.

Kaa had only just worked his way over the west wall, landing with a
wrench that dislodged a coping stone into the ditch. He had no intention
of losing any advantage of the ground, and coiled and uncoiled himself
once or twice, to be sure that every foot of his long body was in
working order. All that while the fight with Baloo went on, and the
monkeys yelled in the tank round Bagheera, and Mang the Bat, flying to
and fro, carried the news of the great battle over the jungle, till even
Hathi the Wild Elephant trumpeted, and, far away, scattered bands of
the Monkey-Folk woke and came leaping along the tree-roads to help their
comrades in the Cold Lairs, and the noise of the fight roused all the
day birds for miles round. Then Kaa came straight, quickly, and anxious
to kill. The fighting strength of a python is in the driving blow of
his head backed by all the strength and weight of his body. If you can
imagine a lance, or a battering ram, or a hammer weighing nearly half