But Mowgli"s plan was simple enough. All he wanted to do was to make a big circle uphill and get at the head of the ravine, and then take the bulls down it and catch Shere Khan between the bulls and the cows; for he knew that after a meal and a full drink Shere Khan would not be in any condition to fight or to clamber up the sides of the ravine. He was soothing the buffaloes now by voice, and Akela had dropped far to the rear, only whimpering once or twice to hurry the rear-guard. It was a long, long circle, for they did not wish to get too near the ravine and give Shere Khan warning. At last Mowgli rounded up the bewildered herd at the head of the ravine on a grassy patch that sloped steeply down to the ravine itself. From that height you could see across the tops of the trees down to the plain below; but what Mowgli looked at was the sides of the ravine, and he saw with a great deal of satisfaction that they ran nearly straight up and down,while the vines and creepers that hung over them would give no foothold to a tiger who wanted to get out.
“Let them breathe, Akela,”he said, holding up his hand. “They have not winded him yet. Let them breathe. I must tell Shere Khan who comes.We have him in the trap.”
He put his hands to his mouth and shouted down the ravine-- it was almost like shouting down a tunnel--and the echoes jumped from rock to rock.
After a long time there came back the drawling, sleepy snarl of a fullfed tiger just wakened.
“Who calls？” said Shere Khan, and a splendid peacock fluttered up out of the ravine screeching.
“I, Mowgli. Cattle thief, it is time to come to the CouncilRock！ Down--hurry them down, Akela！ Down, Rama, down！”
The herd paused for an instant at the edge of the slope, but Akela gave tongue in the full hunting-yell, and they pitched over one after the other,just as steamers shoot rapids, the sand and stones spurting up round them.Once started, there was no chance of stopping, and before they were fairly in the bed of the ravine Rama winded Shere Khan and bellowed.
“Ha！ Ha！” said Mowgli, on his back. “Now youknowest！”and the torrent of black horns, foaming muzzles, and staring eyes whirled down the ravine just as boulders go down in floodtime; the weaker buffaloes being shouldered out to the sides of the ravine where they tore through the creepers. They knew what the business was before them--the terrible charge of the buffalo herd against which no tiger can hope to stand. Shere Khan heard the thunder of their hoofs, picked himself up, and lumbered down the ravine, looking from side to side for some way of escape, but the walls of the ravine were straight and he had to hold on, heavy with his dinner and his drink, willing to do anything rather than fight. The herd splashed through the pool he had just left, bellowing till the narrow cut rang. Mowgli heard an answering bellow from the foot of the ravine, saw Shere Khan turn (the tiger knew if the worst came to the worst it was better to meet the bulls than the cows with their calves), and then Rama tripped, stumbled, and went on again over something soft, and, with the bulls at his heels, crashed full into the other herd, while the weaker buffaloes were lifted clean off their feet by the shock of the meeting. That charge carried both herds out into the plain, goring and stamping and snorting. Mowgli watched his time, and slipped off Rama"s neck, laying about him right and left with his stick.
“Quick, Akela！ Break them up. Scatter them, or they will befighting one another. Drive them away, Akela. Hai, Rama！ Hai, hai, hai！ My children. Softly now, softly！ It is all over.”
Akela and Gray Brother ran to and fro nipping the buffaloes" legs, and though the herd wheeled once to charge up the ravine again, Mowgli、managed to turn Rama, and the others followed him to the wallows.
Shere Khan needed no more trampling. He was dead, and the kites were coming for him already.
“Brothers, that was a dog"s death,” said Mowgli, feeling for the knife he always carried in a sheath round his neck now that he lived with men.“But he would never have shown fight. His hide will look well on the Council Rock. We must get to work swiftly.”
A boy trained among men would never have dreamed of skinning a ten-foot tiger alone, but Mowgli knew better than anyone else how an animal"s skin is fitted on, and how it can be taken off. But it was hard work,and Mowgli slashed and tore and grunted for an hour, while the wolves lolled out their tongues, or came forward and tugged as he ordered them.Presently a hand fell on his shoulder, and looking up he saw Buldeo with the Tower musket. The children had told the village about the buffalo stampede, and Buldeo went out angrily, only too anxious to correct Mowgli for not taking better care of the herd. The wolves dropped out of sight as soon as they saw the man coming.
“What is this folly？” said Buldeo angrily. “To think thatyou canst skin a tiger！ Where did the buffaloes kill him？ It is the Lame Tiger too, and there is a hundred rupees on his head. Well, well, we will overlook your letting the herd run off, and perhaps I will give you one of the rupees of the reward when I have taken the skin to Khanhiwara.”
He fumbled in his waist cloth for flint and steel, and stooped down to singe Shere Khan"s whiskers. Most native hunters always singe a tiger"s whiskers to prevent his ghost from haunting them.
“Hum！” said Mowgli, half to himself as he ripped back the skin of a forepaw. “So you wilt take the hide to Khanhiwara for thereward, and perhaps give me one rupee？ Now it is in my mind that I need the skin for my own use. Heh！ Old man, take away that fire！”
“What talk is this to the chief hunter of the village？ your luck and the stupidity of your buffaloes have helped you to this kill. The tiger has just fed, or he would have gone twenty miles by this time. You canst not evenskin him properly, little beggar brat, and forsooth I, Buldeo, must be told not to singe his whiskers. Mowgli, I will not give you one anna of the reward, but only a very big beating. Leave thecarcass！”
“By the Bull that bought me,” said Mowgli, who was tryingto get at the shoulder, “must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon？ Here, Akela,this man plagues me.”