332 KIPLING
If there should follow a thousand swords to carry
my bones away, Belike the price of a jackal's meal were more than
a thief could pay. They will feed their horse on the standing crop,
their men on the garnered grain, The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when
all the cattle are slain. But if thou thinkest the price be fair, and thy
brethren wait to sup, The hound is kin to the jackal-spawn, howl, dog,
and call them up ! And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer
and gear and stack, Give me my father's mare again, and I'll fight my
own way back ! ' Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon
his feet. 'No talk shall be of dogs,' said he, 'when wolf and
grey wolf meet.
May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath. What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the
dawn with Death ? ' Lightly answered the Colonel's son : ' I hold by the
blood of my clan ; Take up the mare for my father's gift By God she
has carried a man ! ' The red mare ran to the Colonel's son, and nuzzled
her nose in his breast, 'We be two strong men,' said Kamal then, 'but she
loveth the younger best.
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