said the Jackal . `` The river has shifted even in my little life . '' Indian rivers are nearly always moving about in their beds , and will shift , sometimes , as much as two or three miles in a season , drowning the fields on one bank , and spreading good silt on the other . `` There is no knowledge so useful , '' said the Mugger , `` for new land means new quarrels . The Mugger knows . Oho ! the Mugger knows . As soon as the water has drained off , he creeps up the little creeks that men think would not hide a dog , and there he waits . Presently comes a farmer saying he will plant cucumbers here , and melons there , in the new land that the river has given him . He feels the good mud with his bare toes . Anon comes another , saying he will put onions , and carrots , and sugar-cane in such and such places . They meet as boats adrift meet , and each rolls his eye at the other under the big blue turban . The old Mugger sees and hears . Each calls the other ` Brother , ' and they go to mark out the boundaries of the new land . The Mugger hurries with them from point to point , shuffling very low through the mud . Now they begin to quarrel ! Now they say hot words ! Now they pull turbans ! Now they lift up their lathis -LRB- clubs -RRB- , and , at last , one falls backward into the mud , and the other runs away . When he comes back the dispute is settled , as the iron-bound bamboo of the loser witnesses .
Yet they are not grateful to the XXXXX .
Anon Indian Mugger bamboo cucumbers lathis melons silt sugar-cane turbans