A little killing here and there is no bad thing -- but even the Mugger is sometimes satisfied , as the saying is . '' `` Marvellous ! Most truly marvellous ! '' said the Jackal . `` I am become fat through merely hearing about so much good eating . And afterward what , if it be permitted to ask , did the Protector of the Poor do ? '' `` I said to myself -- and by the Right and Left of Gunga ! I locked my jaws on that vow -- I said I would never go roving any more . So I lived by the Ghaut , very close to my own people , and I watched over them year after year ; and they loved me so much that they threw marigold wreaths at my head whenever they saw it lift . Yes , and my Fate has been very kind to me , and the river is good enough to respect my poor and infirm presence ; only -- '' `` No one is all happy from his beak to his tail , '' said the Adjutant sympathetically . `` What does the Mugger of Mugger-Ghaut need more ? '' `` That little white child which I did not get , '' said the Mugger , with a deep sigh . `` He was very small , but I have not forgotten . I am old now , but before I die it is my desire to try one new thing . It is true they are a heavy-footed , noisy , and foolish people , and the sport would be small , but I remember the old days above Benares , and , if the child lives , he will remember still . It may be he goes up and down the bank of some river , telling how he once passed his hands between the teeth of the Mugger of Mugger-Ghaut , and lived to make a tale of it . My Fate has been very kind , but that plagues me sometimes in my dreams -- the thought of the little white child in the bows of that boat . '' He yawned , and closed his jaws . `` And now I will rest and think . Keep silent , my children , and respect the aged . ''
He turned stiffly , and shuffled to the top of the sand-bar , while the Jackal drew back with the XXXXX to the shelter of a tree stranded on the end nearest the railway bridge .
Adjutant Benares Ghaut Gunga Mugger Mugger-Ghaut Poor Right marigold year