`` And then ? '' `` From the insides of this boat they were taking out great pieces of white stuff , which , in a little while , turned to water . Much split off , and fell about on the shore , and the rest they swiftly put into a house with thick walls . But a boatman , who laughed , took a piece no larger than a small dog , and threw it to me . I -- all my people -- swallow without reflection , and that piece I swallowed as is our custom . Immediately I was afflicted with an excessive cold which , beginning in my crop , ran down to the extreme end of my toes , and deprived me even of speech , while the boatmen laughed at me . Never have I felt such cold . I danced in my grief and amazement till I could recover my breath and then I danced and cried out against the falseness of this world ; and the boatmen derided me till they fell down . 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 XXXXX .
Adjutant Calcutta Lake Mugger burn falseness first ice-ship lamentings left