The chief wonder of the matter , setting aside that marvellous coldness , was that there was nothing at all in my crop when I had finished my lamentings ! '' The Adjutant had done his very best to describe his feelings after swallowing a seven-pound lump of Wenham Lake ice , off an American ice-ship , in the days before Calcutta made her ice by machinery ; but as he did not know what ice was , and as the Mugger and the Jackal knew rather less , the tale missed fire . `` Anything , '' said the Mugger , shutting his left eye again -- `` ANYTHING is possible that comes out of a boat thrice the size of Mugger-Ghaut . My village is not a small one . '' There was a whistle overhead on the bridge , and the Delhi Mail slid across , all the carriages gleaming with light , and the shadows faithfully following along the river . It clanked away into the dark again ; but the Mugger and the Jackal were so well used to it that they never turned their heads . `` Is that anything less wonderful than a boat thrice the size of Mugger-Ghaut ? '' said the bird , looking up . `` I saw that built , child . Stone by stone I saw the bridge-piers rise , and when the men fell off -LRB- they were wondrous sure-footed for the most part -- but WHEN they fell -RRB- I was ready . After the first pier was made they never thought to look down the stream for the body to burn . There , again , I saved much trouble . There was nothing strange in the building of the bridge , '' said the Mugger . `` But that which goes across , pulling the roofed carts ! That is strange , '' the Adjutant repeated . `` It is , past any doubt , a new breed of bullock . Some day it will not be able to keep its foothold up yonder , and will fall as the men did . The old Mugger will then be ready . '' The Jackal looked at the Adjutant and the Adjutant looked at the Jackal . If there was one thing they were more certain of than another , it was that the engine was everything in the wide world except a bullock .
The Jackal had watched it time and again from the aloe hedges by the side of the line , and the XXXXX had seen engines since the first locomotive ran in India .
Adjutant Jackal Lake Mugger bullock fall fire foothold lamentings left