He let the gold pieces fall, and move forward. The floor of the vault was buried some five or six feet deep in coined gold
and silver that had burst from the sacks it had been originally stored in, and, in the long years, the metal had packed and
settled as sand packs at low tide. On it and in it and rising through it, as wrecks lift through the sand, were jewelled
elephant-howdahs of embossed silver, studded with plates of hammered gold, and adorned with carbuncles and
turquoises. There were palanquins and litters for carrying queens, framed and braced with silver and enamel, with jade-
handled poles and amber curtain-rings; there were golden candlesticks hung with pierced emeralds that quivered on the
branches; there were studded images, five feet high, of forgotten gods, silver with jewelled eyes; there were coats of mail,
gold inlaid on steel, and fringed with rotted and blackened seed-pearls; there were helmets, crested and beaded with
pigeonโs-blood rubies; there were shields of lacquer, of tortoise-shell and rhinoceros-hide, strapped and bossed with red
gold and set with emeralds at the edge; there were sheaves of diamond-hilted swords, daggers, and hunting-knives; there
were golden sacrificial bowls and ladles, and portable altars of a shape that never sees the light of day; there were jade cups
and bracelets; there were incense-burners, combs, and pots for perfume, henna, and eye-powder, all in embossed gold;
there were nose-rings, armlets, head-bands, finger-rings, and girdles past any counting; there were belts, seven fingers
broad, of square-cut diamonds and rubies, and wooden boxes, trebly clamped with iron, from which the wood had fallen
away in powder, showing the pile of uncut star-sapphires, opals, catโs-eyes, sapphires, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and
garnets within.
The White Cobra was right. No mere money would begin to pay the value of this treasure, the sifted pickings of
centuries of war, plunder, trade, and taxation. The coins alone were priceless, leaving out of count all the precious stones;
and the dead weight of the gold and silver alone might be two or three hundred tons. Every native ruler in India today,
however poor, has a hoard to which he is always adding; and though, once in a long while, some enlightened prince may
send off forty or fifty bullock-cart loads of silver to be exchanged for Government securities, the bulk of them keep their
treasure and the knowledge of it very closely to themselves.
But Mowgli naturally did not understand what these things meant. The knives interested him a little, but they did not
balance so well as his own, and so he dropped them. At last he found something really fascinating laid on the front of a
howdah half buried in the coins. It was a three-foot ankus, or elephant-goad โ something like a small boat-hook. The top
was one round, shining ruby, and eight inches of the handle below it were studded with rough turquoises close together,
giving a most satisfactory grip. Below them was a rim of jade with a flower-pattern running round it โ only the leaves were
emeralds, and the blossoms were rubies sunk in the cool, green stone. The rest of the handle was a shaft of pure ivory,
while the point โ the spike and hook โ was gold-inlaid steel with pictures of elephant-catching; and the pictures attracted
Mowgli, who saw that they had something to do with his friend Hathi the Silent.
The White Cobra had been following him closely.
โIs this not worth dying to behold?โ he said. โHave I not done thee a great favour?โ
โI do not understand,โ said Mowgli. โThe things are hard and cold, and by no means good to eat. But thisโโ he lifted
the ankus โโI desire to take away, that I may see it in the sun. Thou sayest they are all thine? Wilt thou give it to me, and I
will bring thee frogs to eat?โ
The White Cobra fairly shook with evil delight. โAssuredly I will give it,โ he said. โAll that is here I will give thee โ till
thou goest away.โ
โBut I go now. This place is dark and cold, and I wish to take the thorn-pointed thing to the Jungle.โ
โLook by thy foot! What is that there?โ Mowgli picked up something white and smooth. โIt is the bone of a manโs
head,โ he said quietly. โAnd here are two more.โ
โThey came to take the treasure away many years ago. I spoke to them in the dark, and they lay still.โ
โBut what do I need of this that is called treasure? If thou wilt give me the ankus to take away, it is good hunting. If
not, it is good hunting none the less. I do not fight with the Poison People, and I was also taught the Master-word of thy
tribe.โ
โThere is but one Master-word here. It is mine!โ
Kaa flung himself forward with blazing eyes. โWho bade me bring the Man?โ he hissed.
โI surely,โ the old Cobra lisped. โIt is long since I have seen Man, and this Man speaks our tongue.