Why , said Buldeo , the head-man of the village would report that Messua and her husband had died of snake-bite . THAT was all arranged , and the only thing now was to kill the Wolf-child . They did not happen to have seen anything of such a creature ? The charcoal-burners looked round cautiously , and thanked their stars they had not ; but they had no doubt that so brave a man as Buldeo would find him if any one could . The sun was getting rather low , and they had an idea that they would push on to Buldeo 's village and see that wicked witch . Buldeo said that , though it was his duty to kill the Devil-child , he could not think of letting a party of unarmed men go through the Jungle , which might produce the Wolf-demon at any minute , without his escort . He , therefore , would accompany them , and if the sorcerer 's child appeared -- well , he would show them how the best hunter in Seeonee dealt with such things . The Brahmin , he said , had given him a charm against the creature that made everything perfectly safe . `` What says he ? What says he ? What says he ? '' the wolves repeated every few minutes ; and Mowgli translated until he came to the witch part of the story , which was a little beyond him , and then he said that the man and woman who had been so kind to him were trapped . `` Does Man trap Man ? '' said Bagheera . `` So he says . I can not understand the talk . They are all mad together . What have Messua and her man to do with me that they should be put in a trap ; and what is all this talk about the Red Flower ? I must look to this . Whatever they would do to Messua they will not do till Buldeo returns .
And so -- '' Mowgli thought hard , with his fingers playing round the haft of the skinning-knife , while Buldeo and the XXXXX went off very valiantly in single file .
Bagheera Brahmin Red Wolf-child Wolf-demon charcoal-burners head-man minute minutes sorcerer