`` He swam far down the Waingunga to cut that off , '' said Gray Brother . `` Tabaqui told him that , I know . He would never have thought of it alone . '' Mowgli stood with his finger in his mouth , thinking . `` The big ravine of the Waingunga . That opens out on the plain not half a mile from here . I can take the herd round through the jungle to the head of the ravine and then sweep down -- but he would slink out at the foot . We must block that end . Gray Brother , canst thou cut the herd in two for me ? '' `` Not I , perhaps -- but I have brought a wise helper . '' Gray Brother trotted off and dropped into a hole . Then there lifted up a huge gray head that Mowgli knew well , and the hot air was filled with the most desolate cry of all the jungle -- the hunting howl of a wolf at midday . `` Akela ! Akela ! '' said Mowgli , clapping his hands . `` I might have known that thou wouldst not forget me . We have a big work in hand . Cut the herd in two , Akela . Keep the cows and calves together , and the bulls and the plow buffaloes by themselves . '' The two wolves ran , ladies ' - chain fashion , in and out of the herd , which snorted and threw up its head , and separated into two clumps .
In one , the cow-buffaloes stood with their calves in the center , and glared and pawed , ready , if a wolf would only stay still , XXXXX charge down and trample the life out of him .
at down from in into of on that through to