`` That was done by the bamboo again , '' said Mowgli . `` See ! that white dust is what men eat . They have taken the kill from this one , -- he carried their food , -- and given him for a kill to Chil , the Kite . '' `` It is the third , '' said Bagheera . `` I will go with new , big frogs to the Father of Cobras , and feed him fat , '' said Mowgli to himself . `` The drinker of elephant 's blood is Death himself -- but still I do not understand ! '' `` Follow ! '' said Bagheera . They had not gone half a mile farther when they heard Ko , the Crow , singing the death-song in the top of a tamarisk under whose shade three men were lying . A half-dead fire smoked in the centre of the circle , under an iron plate which held a blackened and burned cake of unleavened bread . Close to the fire , and blazing in the sunshine , lay the ruby-and-turquoise ankus . `` The thing works quickly ; all ends here , '' said Bagheera . `` How did THESE die , Mowgli ? There is no mark on any . '' A Jungle-dweller gets to learn by experience as much as many doctors know of poisonous plants and berries . Mowgli sniffed the smoke that came up from the fire , broke off a morsel of the blackened bread , tasted it , and spat it out again . `` Apple of Death , '' he coughed . `` The first must have made it ready in the food for THESE , who killed him , having first killed the Gond . '' `` Good hunting , indeed !
The kills follow close , '' said XXXXX .
Bagheera Chil Cobras Jungle-dweller Mowgli centre death-song fire first third