"He smelt a man and thought it a good chance to commit murder," sneered Magh.
"It wasn't Tiger at all," said the Keeper, "but three noisy Black Bears—Bhalu the Bear. I thought they would soon pass, for they do not meddle much with cattle."
"No, we are not throat cutters like Bagh," whuffed Muskwa.
"But they seemed in an inquisitive mood. Now, the calf was tied to the foot of a toddy palm, and they looked at him as much as to say, 'What are you doing here?'"
"I would have explained matters to them had I been there," exclaimed Arna, shaking his head. "A poor Calf!"
"No doubt they meant to help him out of his trouble," volunteered Muskwa.
"Presently one of them proceeded to climb the toddy palm, and I thought they were looking for me perhaps. On the tree was a jar the natives had put there for catching the toddy liquor; and you can imagine my surprise, Comrades, when I saw Bhalu take a big drink out of this. When he came down one of his comrades went up. There were half-a-dozen toddy trees there, and the Bears helped themselves to the toddy until in the end they became very drunk."
"I know how that feels," said Oungea the Water Monkey; "have I not told you, Comrades, of the gin my Master——"
"Caw-w-w, caw-w-w!" interrupted Crow. "I also know of that condition. I ate some cherries once that had been thrown from a bungalow in Calcutta, and they made my head wobble so I couldn't fly. A Sahib stood in the door and laughed and said I was drunk."
"The cherries had been in brandy, I suppose," explained Sa'-zada. "But Bhalu was most unmistakably drunk. They wanted to play with the Calf, but he became frightened and bawled. I could see there was small chance of a visit from Bagh with three drunken Bears and a bellowing Calf at the foot of my tree."