`` To hear is one thing ; to know is another , '' said the Jackal , who had a very fair knowledge of proverbs , picked up by listening to men round the village fires of an evening . `` Quite true . So , to make sure , I took care of that puppy while the dogs were busy elsewhere . '' `` They were VERY busy , '' said the Jackal . `` Well , I must not go to the village hunting for scraps yet awhile . And so there truly was a blind puppy in that shoe ? '' `` It is here , '' said the Adjutant , squinting over his beak at his full pouch . `` A small thing , but acceptable now that charity is dead in the world . '' `` Ahai ! The world is iron in these days , '' wailed the Jackal . Then his restless eye caught the least possible ripple on the water , and he went on quickly : `` Life is hard for us all , and I doubt not that even our excellent master , the Pride of the Ghaut and the Envy of the River -- '' `` A liar , a flatterer , and a Jackal were all hatched out of the same egg , '' said the Adjutant to nobody in particular ; for he was rather a fine sort of a liar on his own account when he took the trouble . `` Yes , the Envy of the River , '' the Jackal repeated , raising his voice . `` Even he , I doubt not , finds that since the bridge has been built good food is more scarce . But on the other hand , though I would by no means say this to his noble face , he is so wise and so virtuous -- as I , alas I am not -- '' `` When the Jackal owns he is gray , how black must the Jackal be ! '' muttered the Adjutant . He could not see what was coming . `` That his food never fails , and in consequence -- '' There was a soft grating sound , as though a boat had just touched in shoal water . The Jackal spun round quickly and faced -LRB- it is always best to face -RRB- the creature he had been talking about . It was a twenty-four-foot crocodile , cased in what looked like treble-riveted boiler-plate , studded and keeled and crested ; the yellow points of his upper teeth just overhanging his beautifully fluted lower jaw . It was the blunt-nosed Mugger of Mugger-Ghaut , older than any man in the village , who had given his name to the village ; the demon of the ford before the railway bridge , came -- murderer , man-eater , and local fetish in one .
He lay with his chin in the shallows , keeping his place by an almost invisible rippling of his tail , and well the XXXXX knew that one stroke of that same tail in the water would carry the Mugger up the bank with the rush of a steam-engine .
Adjutant Ahai Ghaut Jackal River beak days evening flatterer man-eater