Men are always more ready to eat than to run , Mowgli answered , trotting in and out between the low scrub bushes of the new Jungle they were exploring . Bagheera , a little to his left , made an indescribable noise in his throat . `` Here is one that has done with feeding , '' said he . A tumbled bundle of gay-coloured clothes lay under a bush , and round it was some spilt flour . `` 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 .
XXXXX sniffed the smoke that came up from the fire , broke off a morsel of the blackened bread , tasted it , and spat it out again .
Bagheera Chil Cobras Mowgli ankus centre death-song left tamarisk third