the same kind must help each other."
"That Eagle Child had ridden up to meet the Grizzly was in itself a
fair promise for excitement, but also his Cayuse was one of the
jerkiest brutes ever ridden by anybody. He had a great dislike for
spurs."
"Quite right, too," bubbled Unt the Camel; "I remember a Cavalry Man on
my back once----"
Sa'-zada interrupted Camel, and continued: "A dig from the spurs and
the Cayuse would refuse to budge; but, of course, the rider knew that.
"Eagle Child thought that the Bear was working down in a certain
direction, but, as you know, Comrades, Muskwa is a fellow of many
notions, turning and twisting and changing his course beyond all
calculations."
"Yes, we are like that," assented Muskwa. "It is our manner of life. We
find our food in small parts, and in many places--berries here, and
Ants there, and perhaps Honey on the other side. We are not like Bagh,
who goes straight for his Kill, for we must keep a sharp lookout or we
shall find nothing."
"Well, Grizzly evidently turned, for, while my Guide was looking for
him in one direction, he bounced out not ten yards from the Cayuse from
a totally different quarter. This rather startled Eagle Child; and,
though he should have known better, he dug the silly spurs into his
erratic tempered Horse, with the result that the latter balked--bucked
up like a stubborn mule.
"This looked as though he meant to stop and fight it out--the Grizzly
evidently thought so, for he gave a snort of rage and tore down the
mountain full at his enemy. I dared not shoot for fear of striking my
comrade; but one bullet wouldn't have mattered, anyway; it wouldn't
have stopped the charging Grizzly. Luckily for Eagle Child, his Horse
reared just as the Bear arrived, and though he was sent flying,
Muskwa's cousin did not succeed in clawing him, his time being taken up
in making little pieces of the Horse. Eagle Child arrived at the foot
of the mountain very rapidly, for all this had happened at the top of a
long shale cut bank, and he did not look for smooth paths, but just
came away without regard to the means of transport."
"And is that all of the tale?" inquired Magh, with a rather
disappointed air, for she had hoped to hear of Muskwa's getting the
worst of the encounter.
"Not by any means," answered Sa'-zada; "that was but the beginning. My
comrade being out of the way," he continued, "I fired at Grizzly."
[Illustration: "THE GRIZZLY ... BOUNCED OUT NOT TEN YARDS FROM THE
CAYUSE."]
"To kill him?" exclaimed Mooswa, reproachfully.
"That was before I was comrade to the Jungle Dwellers," apologized the
Keeper--"before I knew they were more interesting alive than dead. And
I fear I struck him, too," he added, "for when he had finished knocking
the Horse to pieces we saw him go up the side of the Camel's Back
limping as though a leg had been broken."
"That was a shame," declared Mooswa.
"It would have been a great shame, an outrage," asserted Bagh, "if I,
or Pardus, or even Hathi had broken the leg of a Man; we would have
been hunted by a drove of twenty Elephants, and many of the Men-kind."
"But," objected Magh, "as Sa'-zada has said, that was before he had
proper wisdom, so we bear him no malice. Even Muskwa does not, do you,
old Shaggy Sides?"
"No, I did not know the law of life then," said the Keeper; "and Eagle
Child and myself followed after poor old wounded Grizzly and in our
hearts was a desire for his life. Eagle Child was cross because I had
laughed at him when he came down all covered with mud, also he had lost
a Horse. He swore that he would kill that Bear if it took a week."
"I know," commented Hathi, swinging his trunk sideways and lifting
Jaruk off his feet with a blow in the ribs as if by accident. "I hate
the smell of that Jungle Scavenger," he confided to Magh in a whisper.
"I know," he continued aloud, "I've heard the Sahibs swear often, over
a less matter than the killing of a Horse, too."
"We thought that Grizzly was badly wounded and couldn't go far, and
that we should soon come within range of him up amongst the rocks."
"Of course, he went up, having a broken leg," declared Pardus; "that's
the way with all Forest Dwellers--one pitches going down on three
legs."
"But it was getting late, so we hurried fast. I had tied my Horse to a
tree, for the climb was steep. Up, up, up we went; sometimes catching
sight of Grizzly, sometimes seeing a drop of blood----"
"Dreadful," whimpered Mooswa. "Why should Men be so eager to see the
blood of Forest Dwellers who have not harmed them?"
"Sometimes we saw blood on the rocks," proceeded Sa'-zada, "and
sometimes we followed Grizzly's trail by the mark of a stone upturned
where his strong claws had been planted. Once I got another shot at
him, and struck him, too, but, as Greybeard here might tell you, a
Grizzly is like Arna, he can carry off the matter of twenty bullets
unless they happen upon his heart or brain."
"That is even so," concurred Grizzly. "Whuff! I have at least a dozen
in my own body. The Men seek to improve our tempers after that manner."
"It was getting late," resumed Sa'-zada, "but still we continued
upward, the Bear holding on with great strength. It was October, and in
the hollows of the upper ranges snow was lying like a white apron in a
nurse's lap. 'He went this way,' said the guide to me, pointing to a
narrow ledge of rock around the side of a cliff, with a drop from it of
a thousand feet.
"Now, Eagle Child was a Stony Indian, and they are like Mountain Sheep
in their ability to climb. We had to work our way down carefully to
this ledge, helping each other lest we fall, and even when it was
reached the yawn of the valley a thousand feet below caused me to
tremble. So, cautiously we worked along this narrow path, and, as we
rounded the point, to our great fear we saw that we could go no
farther--a dead wall stood two hundred feet high in front of us.
Slowly, cautiously, we turned our bodies, and went back; and then we
saw what we had overlooked in our eagerness for poor old Grizzly's
life--we could not get up the way we had come down--we were trapped."
"It's a dreadful feeling," declared Pardus, "to be caught in a
Trap--though there were no Men enemies about you, Sa'-zada, to make it
worse."
"Or to be shut up in a Keddah," muttered Hathi--"it's awful. To be
taken out of one's nice pleasant jungle and led into a Keddah trap with
those of the Men-kind trumpeting and calling, and even those of our own
tribe, Elephant, taking part against us."
"Was that what made you friend to the Jungle Dwellers, Sa'-zada?" asked
Muskwa.
"At the time," answered the Keeper, "I thought only of the dreadful fix
we were in. Below, a thousand feet or more, the sharp tops of the
spruce and cedar stood like spears----"
"I've felt a spear in my shoulder, ugh, ugh! it drives one fair mad
with fear and pain," grunted Boar.
"Under our feet was a narrow ledge of rock not the width of Hathi's
back; behind us, and on either side of us, the cliffs ran up hundreds
of feet. On the upper peak of the Camel's Back a snowstorm was shutting
out the last grey light of day--the darkness of night was fast coming
on. I could see nothing for it but to stand perfectly straight with our
backs to the rock wall all through the bitter night and talk to each
other to keep sleep away. The next day our comrades might find us, and
let down a rope to help us up."
"You could also think in the night of how we feel, O Little Brother,
when we are hunted," declared Pardus. "Even perhaps Grizzly with his
broken leg had to lie on some rock, afraid to travel in the night lest
he fall."
"Yes, it was a good time to think of the troubles of Jungle Dwellers,"
concurred Hathi.
"I thought of many things," said the Keeper, softly; "and but for Eagle
Child I fear I should have fallen a dozen times; I felt his hand on my
arm more than once pressing me against the wall. But at last morning
came. I never felt so cold in my life, for, you see, we dared not move
about. But it was noon before I saw my two comrades riding up the
valley looking for us.
"Eagle Child called, 'Hi, yi, yi--oh, yi!' The rocks threw his voice
far out, and they heard it. It took them a long time to climb up to the
place from where we had descended. They had brought their lassos with
them, for they knew that we were cut off; and soon, but with much
cautious labor, we were safe."
"And what of Grizzy?" asked Muskwa, solicitously.
"I hope he, too, got away all right," answered Sa'-zada, "for I never
saw him again--we did not follow him."
"I think Wie-sah-ke-chack led you to that place, Little Master, to give
Grizzly a chance for his life," commented Mooswa.
"I like our Master's story," declared Hathi; "so often I've heard the
Sahibs boasting of the Animals they have killed, but Sa'-zada tells
only of the times fear came to him because of his wrong-doing."
"That happening was of Greybeard, and he is but a cousin of mine,"
complained Muskwa the Black Bear. "Did you never meet with my family,
Little Master?"
"If you insist upon it, Muskwa," answered the Keeper, "I might tell a
little tale of your people."
"I should like that--do," pleaded Black Bear; "in all the stories there
has been nothing of our doing."
"But they were also only relatives of yours, though they were black,
for the happening was in India, and there they are called Bhalu the
Bear. And the happening was not of my doing, either, for I was hunting
Bagh, the Tiger."
"Every hunter takes me for a choice," growled Raj Bagh.
"But this was a bad Tiger," declared Sa'-zada; "he had killed many
people."
"And what of that--Waugh-houk! what of that, Little Master?" demanded
Raj Bagh. "Have not many people killed many of my kind--are they not
always killing us?"
"Still the Little Master is right," objected Hathi. "If a Bull Elephant
becomes Rogue, and, neglecting his proper eating which is in the
Jungle, goes seeking to kill the Men-kind, does he not surely come into
trouble?"
"But we be flesh eaters and slayers of life," answered Raj Bagh.
"Even so, though that were better otherwise, but do you not know of
your own people that the Men-kind are not for Kill? Before all other
Dwellers of the Jungle you stand forth and are ready to battle, but
just the _scent_ of Man causes you to slink away like Jaruk the Hyena."
"I think that is true," commented Mooswa. "Wie-sah-ke-chack has
arranged all that."
Said the Keeper: "It is not right to kill the animals as men do, for
sport, but when Bagh, or any other Jungle Dweller, turns Man-eater, he
should die."
"And Sher Abi, too," squeaked Magh; "his tribe are all Man-eaters--they
should be all killed."
"At any rate," continued the Keeper, "I was after this Man-eater. I had
a _machan_ built in a Pipal tree, and a Buffalo calf tied up near
it----"
"One of your young, Arna," said Bagh, vindictively.
"And early in the evening I climbed into my _machan_ and prepared for
Mister Stripes."
"That's Man's way," sneered Raj Bagh. "What chance have we against them
up in a _machan_? No chance; and they call that sport."
"And what chance has a village woman against a big-fanged Tiger?"
grunted Boar. "No chance. It seems to me there are few in the Jungle as
decent as Hathi and myself; we meddle not with the Men."
"Just before dark," continued Sa'-zada, "I heard a noise coming through
the Khir bushes. 'Bagh comes early,' I thought to myself."
"He must have been hungry to scent a kill before dark," muttered Raj
Bagh.
"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."
"This is a nice story, Muskwa," sneered Magh. "I'm so glad to hear of
your people and their ways."
"Only cousins of mine," declared Muskwa, "and called Bhalu."
"All Bears are alike," snapped Coyote; "meddlesome thieves."
"They steal little Pigs," added Boar.
"They wouldn't go away," said Sa'-zada, "and I began to fear that I
shouldn't get a shot at Stripes. I did not want to shoot, because if
Tiger was anywhere in the neighborhood it would put an end to his
visit. I had nothing heavy to throw at them except my water-bottle;
but, finally, taking a long drink to keep the thirst away for a time,
I stood up in the _machan_ and let fly the bottle. It caught the Bear
just behind the ear, and Bhalu, thinking one of his comrades had hurt
him, pitched into the other two, and there was a fierce three-cornered
fight on in a minute."
"I can swear that it is a true tale," barked Gidar, "for twice I've
seen a family of Bhalu's people in just such a stupid fight. Not that
they were possessed of toddy, for they are silly enough at all times.
But it is known in the Jungle that when Bhalu is wounded, he fights
with the first one he sees, even his own brother, thinking he has done
him the harm."
"One chap got the worst of the encounter and reeled off into the
Jungle, the other two following. I could hear them wrangling and
snarling for a long distance--all the world like a party of drunken
sailors."
"These Bear stories are just lovely," grinned Magh. "Aren't they,
Muskwa?"
"Did you kill Bagh, the Man-eater?" asked Muskwa, to change the
subject.
"Yes, I stopped his murderous career that night," answered Sa'-zada.
"He was an evil animal and deserved to die. Now it is late and you must
all go to your cages."
"I'm glad your people had a chance to be heard from, Muskwa," lisped
Magh as she slid down Hathi's trunk. "You always looked so terribly
respectable and honest, that I was really afraid to speak to you."
[Illustration: "BHALU ... PITCHED INTO THE OTHER TWO."]
"Phrut, phrut!" muttered Hathi through his trunk; "I have lived for a
matter of forty years or so, amongst the Jungle Dwellers and with the
Men-kind, and I think that we are all alike, all having some good and
some bad qualities."
THE END
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* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
Added missing hyphen to "Sa'-Zada", but kept the lowercase z variation
"Sa'-zada" which was used throughout the book. Removed the hyphen in
"Sher Abi" for consistency. Corrected mismatched quote marks, and made
the following changes:
Contents: Changed "Bheh" to "Bagh" to match chapter title and
character name.
Orig.: Raj Bheh, the King Tiger
Page xi: "HANSOR, (the Laugher) Hyena" is only mentioned in the list
of "The Dwellers in Animal Town." "Jaruk the Hyena" is used throughout
the remainder of the book.
Pages 5 and 177: "Pard" is used instead of "Pardus;" it might be
a nickname rather than a typo.
Page 129: Changed "tale" to "tail".
Orig.: I pulled the tale of every Donkey of the line
Page 225: "Grizzy" may be a typo for "Grizzly," or just Muskwa's
nickname for Grizzly.
Note: Bakri apparently refers to a sheep or goat:
Page 71: a jungle Bakri (sheep)
Page 83: I sprang on Bakri the Goat
Page 175: kill Bakri, the Men's Sheep
Spelling variations:
Pages 8, 58: Wie-sak-ke-chack
Pages 225, 227: Wie-sah-ke-chack
End of Project Gutenberg's The Sa'-Zada Tales, by William Alexander Fraser