I go swiftly . My back , Little Brother . '' Mowgli tucked his left arm round Kaa 's neck , dropped his right close to his body , and straightened his feet . Then Kaa breasted the current as he alone could , and the ripple of the checked water stood up in a frill round Mowgli 's neck , and his feet were waved to and fro in the eddy under the python 's lashing sides . A mile or two above the Peace Rock the Waingunga narrows between a gorge of marble rocks from eighty to a hundred feet high , and the current runs like a mill-race between and over all manner of ugly stones . But Mowgli did not trouble his head about the water ; little water in the world could have given him a moment 's fear . He was looking at the gorge on either side and sniffing uneasily , for there was a sweetish-sourish smell in the air , very like the smell of a big ant-hill on a hot day . Instinctively he lowered himself in the water , only raising his head to breathe from time to time , and Kaa came to anchor with a double twist of his tail round a sunken rock , holding Mowgli in the hollow of a coil , while the water raced on . `` This is the Place of Death , '' said the boy . `` Why do we come here ? '' `` They sleep , '' said Kaa . `` Hathi will not turn aside for the Striped One . Yet Hathi and the Striped One together turn aside for the dhole , and the dhole they say turn aside for nothing . And yet for whom do the Little People of the Rocks turn aside ? Tell me , Master of the Jungle , who is the Master of the Jungle ? '' `` These , '' Mowgli whispered . `` It is the Place of Death . Let us go . '' `` Nay , look well , for they are asleep . It is as it was when I was not the length of thy arm . ''
The split and weatherworn rocks of the gorge of the Waingunga had been used since the beginning of the Jungle by the Little People of the Rocks -- the busy , furious , black wild bees of India ; and , as XXXXX knew well , all trails turned off half a mile before they reached the gorge .
Hathi Jungle Kaa Mowgli Striped Waingunga ant-hill dhole fro right