I need no Word from thee , for well I know -- '' `` Be it so , then , '' said Kaa . `` I will give no Word ; but what is in thy stomach to do when the dhole come ? '' `` They must swim the Waingunga . I thought to meet them with my knife in the shallows , the Pack behind me ; and so stabbing and thrusting , we a little might turn them down-stream , or cool their throats . '' `` The dhole do not turn and their throats are hot , '' said Kaa . `` There will be neither Manling nor Wolf-cub when that hunting is done , but only dry bones . '' `` Alala ! If we die , we die . It will be most good hunting . But my stomach is young , and I have not seen many Rains . I am not wise nor strong . Hast thou a better plan , Kaa ? '' `` I have seen a hundred and a hundred Rains . Ere Hathi cast his milk-tushes my trail was big in the dust . By the First Egg , I am older than many trees , and I have seen all that the Jungle has done . '' `` But THIS is new hunting , '' said Mowgli . `` Never before have the dhole crossed our trail . '' `` What is has been . What will be is no more than a forgotten year striking backward . Be still while I count those my years . ''
For a long hour XXXXX lay back among the coils , while Kaa , his head motionless on the ground , thought of all that he had seen and known since the day he came from the egg .
Alala Egg Hathi Kaa Mowgli Waingunga dhole milk-tushes shallows years