each slow stroke would be his last respect the aged of the river � respect the aged the half turned his head a little in the direction of the voice and landed stiffly on the sand bar below the bridge then you saw what a brute he really was his back view was immensely respectable for he stood nearly six feet high and looked rather like a very proper in front it was different for his ally like head and neck had not a feather to them and there was a horrible raw skin on his neck under his chin � a hold all for the things his pick axe might steal legs were long and thin and but he moved them delicately and looked at them with pride as he down his gray tail feathers glanced over the smooth of his shoulder and into stand at attention a little who had been on a low bluff cocked up his ears and tail and across the to join the he was the lowest of his caste � not that the best of are good for much but this one was the peculiarly low being half a beggar half a criminal � a up of village rubbish heaps desperately timid or wildly bold hungry and full of cunning that never did him any good he said shaking as he landed may the red destroy the dogs of this village i have three for each upon me and all because i looked � only looked mark you � at an old shoe in a cow can i eat mud he scratched himself under his left ear i heard said the in a voice like a blunt saw going through a thick board � i heard there was a new bom in that same shoe to hear is one thing to know is another said the who had a very fair knowledge of picked up by listening to men round the village fires of an evening quite true so to make sure i took care of that while the dogs were busy elsewhere they were very busy said the well i must not go to the village hunting for scraps yet awhile and so there truly was a blind in that shoe it is here said the over his at his full a small thing but acceptable now that charity is dead in the world the world is iron in these days the then his restless eye caught the least id the second book possible ripple on the water and he went on quickly life is hard for us all and i doubt not that even our excellent master the pride of the and the envy of the river a a and a were all out one � said the to nobody in particular for he was rather a fine sort of a liar on his own account when he took the trouble yes the envy of the river the 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 am not when the says that he is gray how black must the be muttered the 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 water the spun round quickly and faced it is always best to face the creature he had been talking about it was a twenty four foot in what looked like plate studded and and the yellow points of his upper teeth just overhanging his beautifully lower jaw it was the blunt of older than the ill 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 and local in one he lay with his chin in the keeping his place by an almost invisible rippling of his tail and well the knew that one stroke of that same tail in the water could carry the up the bank with the rush of a steam engine met protector of the poor he at every word a voice was heard and we came in the hopes of sweet conversation my presumption while waiting here led me indeed to speak of thee it is my hope that nothing was overheard now the had spoken just to be listened to for he knew flattery was the best way of getting � things to eat and the knew that the had spoken for this end and the knew tliat the knew and the knew that the knew that the knew and so they were all very contented together the old brute pushed and panted and up the respect the aged and and all the time his little eyes burned like coals under the heavy eyelids on the top of his head as he his along between his legs then he settled down and accustomed as the was to tl the second his wa rs he could not help starting for the time when he saw how exactly the a log adrift on the bar he had even taken pains to lie at the exact angle a naturally 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 had come ashore for pleasure but a is never quite full and if the had been deceived by the likeness he would not have lived to over it my child i heard nothing said the mu er shutting one eye the water was in my ears and also i was faint with hunger since the railway bridge was built 