He beat the buffaloes with a long , polished bamboo , and told Kamya , one of the boys , to graze the cattle by themselves , while he went on with the buffaloes , and to be very careful not to stray away from the herd . An Indian grazing ground is all rocks and scrub and tussocks and little ravines , among which the herds scatter and disappear . The buffaloes generally keep to the pools and muddy places , where they lie wallowing or basking in the warm mud for hours . Mowgli drove them on to the edge of the plain where the Waingunga came out of the jungle ; then he dropped from Rama 's neck , trotted off to a bamboo clump , and found Gray Brother . `` Ah , '' said Gray Brother , `` I have waited here very many days . What is the meaning of this cattle-herding work ? '' `` It is an order , '' said Mowgli . `` I am a village herd for a while . What news of Shere Khan ? '' `` He has come back to this country , and has waited here a long time for thee . Now he has gone off again , for the game is scarce . But he means to kill thee . '' `` Very good , '' said Mowgli . `` So long as he is away do thou or one of the four brothers sit on that rock , so that I can see thee as I come out of the village . When he comes back wait for me in the ravine by the dhak tree in the center of the plain . We need not walk into Shere Khan 's mouth . '' Then Mowgli picked out a shady place , and lay down and slept while the buffaloes grazed round him . Herding in India is one of the laziest things in the world . The cattle move and crunch , and lie down , and move on again , and they do not even low . They only grunt , and the buffaloes very seldom say anything , but get down into the muddy pools one after another , and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface , and then they lie like logs .
The sun makes the rocks dance in the heat , and the herd children hear one kite -LRB- never any more -RRB- whistling almost out of sight overhead , and they know that if they died , or a cow died , that kite would sweep down , and the next kite miles away would XXXXX him drop and follow , and the next , and the next , and almost before they were dead there would be a score of hungry kites come out of nowhere .
beat come drove get grazed keep need picked see told