51
Bater is grateful to be alive
Bater nodded in agreement; sober now,
after the initial excitement of having fooled Billi was over. Kotwal was correct.
He could have lost one of his brothers or his sons in this war with Billi. It
was indeed better to be smart and alive, than foolish and dead. Bater
remembered his own father who had told him that it was not meant for the jungle
bush quail to be a foolish hero, but to be cautious, careful and alive. Bater
decided to call back his family. He raised himself from his hidden position,
taking courage from Kotwal’s presence nearby, and called out in a low,
repetitive whistle. The call was almost similar to any of the other whistling
bird calls that could be heard in the grassland. But it seemed to serve Bater’s
purpose appropriately, thought Kotwal, for he could see the jungle bush quail
moving towards them.
An instant before, Kotwal could only
see Bater. An instant later, there were seven jungle bush quail, standing in
front of him. How did they manage that? Kotwal wondered. They moved unseen
inside the grass, without shaking up any of the clumps, without any sound and
managed to converge at a single point, on the basis of a single call from
Bater. How did all the jungle bush quail in a flock manage to identify the
single unseen point of convergence from inside all that thick grasses, bushes
and rocks? They were really good at this. No wonder that Guturgu had suggested
that Bater would have to lead the attack.
At a signal from Bater, the jungle
bush quail family moved back from the marsh and went off to hide in the
grassland. Kotwal flew out of the marsh grasses and joined Teetiri at the lone
babool stem. Phoolchuki and Darzi had also come over to join Teetiri. Now we
will start the second step of the plan, said Teetiri, and signalled to Chimini
to move into the marsh. Kotwal and Phoolchuki were asked to go and perch
themselves over the marsh to provide support to Chimini. Salonki kept moving
around the marsh, visiting all her relatives, and ensuring that they kept
chattering and making a lot of noise all around. Darzi stayed behind with
Teetiri and later went on to sit next to Bulbul to make sure that he did not
blurt out the plan to Billi, or to any other animal or bird. That was actually
if Bulbul had understood the plan.
