`` 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 Jackal 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 . `` Auspiciously met , Protector of the Poor ! '' he fawned , backing at every word . `` A delectable voice was heard , and we came in the hopes of sweet conversation . My tailless presumption , while waiting here , led me , indeed , to speak of thee . It is my hope that nothing was overheard . '' Now the Jackal had spoken just to be listened to , for he knew flattery was the best way of getting things to eat , and the Mugger knew that the Jackal had spoken for this end , and the Jackal knew that the Mugger knew , and the Mugger knew that the Jackal knew that the Mugger knew , and so they were all very contented together . The old brute pushed and panted and grunted up the bank , mumbling , `` Respect the aged and infirm ! '' and all the time his little eyes burned like coals under the heavy , horny eyelids on the top of his triangular head , as he shoved his bloated barrel-body along between his crutched legs . Then he settled down , and , accustomed as the Jackal was to his ways , he could not help starting , for the hundredth time , when he saw how exactly the Mugger imitated a log adrift on the bar . He had even taken pains to lie at the exact angle a naturally stranded log would make with the water , having regard to the current of the season at the time and place .
All this was only a matter of habit , of course , because the Mugger had come ashore for pleasure ; but a crocodile is never quite full , and if the XXXXX had been deceived by the likeness he would not have lived to philosophise over it .
Adjutant Jackal Mugger Mugger-Ghaut Protector River barrel-body hundredth shallows steam-engine