The deer and the pig had tramped all day in search of something better than dried bark and withered leaves . The buffaloes had found no wallows to be cool in , and no green crops to steal . The snakes had left the Jungle and come down to the river in the hope of finding a stray frog . They curled round wet stones , and never offered to strike when the nose of a rooting pig dislodged them . The river-turtles had long ago been killed by Bagheera , cleverest of hunters , and the fish had buried themselves deep in the dry mud . Only the Peace Rock lay across the shallows like a long snake , and the little tired ripples hissed as they dried on its hot side . It was here that Mowgli came nightly for the cool and the companionship . The most hungry of his enemies would hardly have cared for the boy then , His naked hide made him seem more lean and wretched than any of his fellows . His hair was bleached to tow colour by the sun ; his ribs stood out like the ribs of a basket , and the lumps on his knees and elbows , where he was used to track on all fours , gave his shrunken limbs the look of knotted grass-stems . But his eye , under his matted forelock , was cool and quiet , for Bagheera was his adviser in this time of trouble , and told him to go quietly , hunt slowly , and never , on any account , to lose his temper . `` It is an evil time , '' said the Black Panther , one furnace-hot evening , `` but it will go if we can live till the end . Is thy stomach full , Man-cub ? '' `` There is stuff in my stomach , but I get no good of it . Think you , Bagheera , the Rains have forgotten us and will never come again ? '' `` Not I ! We shall see the mohwa in blossom yet , and the little fawns all fat with new grass . Come down to the Peace Rock and hear the news . On my back , Little Brother . '' `` This is no time to carry weight . I can still stand alone , but -- indeed we be no fatted bullocks , we two . ''
XXXXX looked along his ragged , dusty flank and whispered .
Bagheera Brother Man-cub bullocks colour day forelock left mohwa shallows