`` 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 Mowgli 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 . The light seemed to go out of his eyes and leave them like stale opals , and now and again he made little stiff passes with his head , right and left , as though he were hunting in his sleep .
XXXXX dozed quietly , for he knew that there is nothing like sleep before hunting , and he was trained to take it at any hour of the day or night .
Alala Egg Hathi Kaa Mowgli Waingunga dhole milk-tushes shallows years