"It was as my Sire had said, and we made a kill, and carried them far from the roadside, and had the sweetest eating for two nights. All our strength was coming back to us, and Baghni, purring softly, for she was pleased, said to her Lord, 'Did I not say "drink the blood of the Goru," when we were starving, and are they not easy of kill?' But Sher Bagh, looking up in the trees, for it was as we came to the kill for our second night's eating, answered, 'We must be careful, for upon us will surely fall the full hate of these little Gonds; and they claim a kill for a kill, blood for blood; it is their manner of life when they deal with others of the Men-kind.'
"I knew that fear of the little Gonds had come strong upon my Sire when he looked up to the sal trees, for, as I have said, it is not of our habit to look up; we fear nothing of the jungle that hides in trees. The Peacocks, and Monkeys, and Crows, even Panther—what are they? Nothing to claim the time of my kind. Said Sher Bagh to Baghni, 'The Goru that go in carts are easy for the kill.' 'And there are always two of them,' answered she.
"This new manner of life by practice became easy to us; we would hide in the khagar grass or the jowri, which is a nut grass of the Men, beside the road at the day's end, and always we would know of the cart's coming by its voice, that was like Koel bird's, or the miaou of a Peacock. We made many a kill of this kind. And it was this way that I became first of all a Man-killer, even my first kill was of the Men-kind, just an evil chance. It was Baghni who said to Sher Bagh, 'Baghela must know the method of a kill. We have now not much hunger, so let him make the next kill of the Goru, and if he misses, it will not matter, for we are well fed.'
"I shall never forget that night as I crouched by the road beside Baghni, waiting for the little Gond with his Goru. I was trembling like the tall grass shivers at the top when one passes through it. 'Keep still,' whispered Baghni; 'a little noise makes a hard kill, and much noise is no kill at all.' If it had been a Sambhur or a Nilgai we should have had no supper, for the grass whispered under me as I shook it with my trembling. Then down the road in the early dark came the cart with its snarling voice. Just as the Goru were opposite, Baghni struck me with her tail and cried, 'Ah-h-houk!' which means to charge. As I sprang, being but a Baghela, and my first kill, I was slow, and the Goru jumped, causing me to miss sadly. But I landed full on the cart, and by an evil chance the little Gond was under my paws. Mind, Comrades, with me it was but a kill, and I could not see his eyes, and without intent on my part his shoulder was in my jaws, and in less time than I can tell it I had him in the jungle. It was my first kill, and I was wild—but I don't want to talk about it. I wish he had beaten me off, even struck me with the thunder-stick, for, after all, what was the kill? not bigger than a Chetal, and it brought the full hate of the Men-kind to us, and Sher Bagh and Baghni were slain."
"By the little Gonds?" asked Hathi.
"The Gonds and the Sahibs," answered Tiger. "Even your people, Hathi, took part in the kill of my Sire and Baghni. But it was our old enemy, hunger, that caused it all. For three nights we waited by the roadside and no carts passed. It is true one passed; a lodhi cartman, with the wisdom of Cobra, put Pig's fat on the wheels of his cart, and there was no noise until he was right upon us, even had passed, for the stalk had not properly started, you see. 'Never mind,' said Baghni, 'the little Men of a slow wit, the Gonds, will come this way with their Goru, many of them'; but they didn't. And save for two old Langurs (monkeys) that cursed from a pipal tree as we went back to our Nullah, we saw no Dweller of the Jungle, nor of the fields. 'The hate of the little Gonds is coming to us,' growled Bagh. 'And I am so hungry,' moaned Baghni. 'Baghela should not have killed any of the Men-kind,' declared my Sire.
"The Men go to their rest at night, even the little Gonds, knowing that the Jungle Dwellers will not come in great numbers to the fields because of our guard. And it was but an evil chance, too, that I made a kill of the Gond. But when we were most hungered, after many days, one night, not far from our Nullah, was a Bullock tied to a tree. 'Waw-houk!' exclaimed Baghni, calling her Lord to the find; 'Che-waugh!' said she, 'here is a Bail of the Men-kind; make the kill.'
"'It is of their hate,' growled Sher Bagh, 'the Bullocks do not come of their own way here to the jungle—we must be careful.'
"Half the night was gone before we had stalked all sides of the Goru, but there was nothing—not even up in the sal leaves. That was what Baghni said, for with her sharp eyes she saw Hookus (big green pigeon), resting on a branch, which meant that there was nothing to frighten him. When Sher Bagh had made the kill, he dragged it far away from our Nullah. That was most wise, Comrades; it was so that the Men-kind should not find our home.
"When our hunger was gone Baghni said, 'We will eat again when the sun's light passes once more.' 'No,' growled my Sire, 'we will not come back to the kill, for the hate of the little Gonds will be here when they see that we have eaten of the Goru.'