"I have spoken to my man," said Messua. "Kanhiwara is thirty miles from here, but at Kanhiwara we may find the English--" "And what Pack are they?" said Mowgli. "I do not know. They be white, and it is said that they govern all the land, and do not suffer people to burn or beat each other without witnesses. If we can get thither to-night, we live. Otherwise we die." "Live, then. No man passes the gates to-night. But what does _he_ do?" Messua's husband was on his hands and knees digging up the earth in one corner of the hut. "It is his little money," said Messua. "We can take nothing else." "Ah, yes. The stuff that passes from hand to hand and never grows warmer. Do they need it outside this place also?" said Mowgli. The man stared angrily. "He is a fool, and no devil," he muttered. "With the money I can buy a horse. We are too bruised to walk far, and the village will follow us in an hour." "I say they will _not_ follow till I choose; but the horse is well thought of, for Messua is tired." Her husband stood up and knotted the last of the rupees into his waist-cloth. Mowgli helped Messua through the window, and the cool night air revived her, but the Jungle in the starlight looked very dark and terrible. "Ye know the trail to Kanhiwara?" Mowgli whispered. They nodded. "Good. Remember, now, not to be afraid. And there is no need to go quickly. Only--only there may be some small singing in the Jungle behind you and before." "Think you we would have risked a night in the Jungle through anything less than the fear of burning? It is better to be killed by beasts than by men," said Messua's husband; but Messua looked at Mowgli and smiled. "I say," Mowgli went on, just as though he were Baloo repeating an old Jungle Law for the hundredth time to a foolish cub--"I say that not a tooth in the Jungle is bared against you; not a foot in the Jungle is lifted against you. Neither man nor beast shall stay you till ye come within eye-shot of Kanhiwara. There will be a watch about you." He turned quickly to Messua, saying, "_He_ does not believe, but thou wilt believe?" "Ay, surely, my son. Man, ghost, or wolf of the Jungle, I believe." "_He_ will be afraid when he hears my people singing. Thou wilt know and understand. Go now, and slowly, for there is no need of any haste. The gates are shut." Messua flung herself sobbing at Mowgli's feet, but he lifted her very quickly with a shiver. Then she hung about his neck and called him every name of blessing she could think of, but her husband looked enviously across his fields, and said: "_If_ we reach Kanhiwara, and I get the ear of the English, I will bring such a lawsuit against the Brahmin and old Buldeo and the others as shall eat the village to the bone. They shall pay me twice over for my crops untilled and my buffaloes unfed. I will have a great justice." Mowgli laughed. "I do not know what justice is, but--come next Rains and see what is left."