Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-01-17

same food. He has said it." was the
jaclzals reply.
That made matters rather worse, for
what the jaekal limited at was that the
mugger must have eaten his food on
that land march fresh, and fresh every
day, instead of keeping it by him till
it was in fit and proper condition. as
every self-respecting mugger and most
wild beasts do when they can. Indeed,
one of the worst terms of contempt
along the river bed is eater of fresh
meat" II is about as bad as calling a
friend cannibal would be among
human beings.
THAT food was eaten thirty seasons
ago." said the adjutant quietly. If
we talk for thirty seasons more it will
never come back. Tell us now what
happened when the good waters were
reached after thy most wonderful land
journey. If we listened to the howl
ing of every jacl1al the business of the
town would stop, as the saying is"
The mugger must have been CRATE
full for the interruption, because he
went on with a rush:
by the Right and Left of Gunga,
when came there never did see such
waters"
'Were they better, then, than the
big flood of last season." said the
jackal
Better! That flood was no more
than comes every five years-a handful
of drowned strangers, some chickens,
and q dead bullock in muddy water
with cross-currents. But, the season
think of, the river was low, smooth
and even. and, as the gavial had warned
me, the dead English came down touch
ing each other. | got my girth in that
season, my girth and my depth. From
Agra, by Etawah and the broad waters
by Allahabad-"
''Oh, the eddy that set under the
walls of the fort at Allahabad!' said
the adjutant They came in there
like widgeon to the reeds, and round
and round they swung-thus!'
He went off into his horrible dance
again, while the jacl1al looked on en-
viously. He naturally could not re-
member the year of the mutiny they
were talking about. The mugger con-
tinued:
Yes by Allahabad. one lay still in
the slack water and let twenty go by
to pick one; and, above all, the Eng
lish were not numbered with jewelry
and nose rings and anklets as my
women are nowadays. To delight in
ornaments is to end with a rope for
necklace as the saying is. All the mug
gers of all the rivers grew fat then
but it was my fate to be fatter than
them all. The news was that the Eng
lish were being hunted into the rivers,
I'D Gy the Right and Left of Gunga W,
hvlicvCl ii wos true. So far as ! went
,orth believed it to be true, and
vent down stream beyond Monghyr
md the tor.b7 tha; loo!: over the river
Il know that place" said the ad
jutant. "Siacc those days Monghyr is
lost city, Very few live there now.
Thereafter worked up stream very
slowly and lazily, and a little above
Monghyr there came down a boatful OF
white faccs-alive! They were as re-
member, women, lying under cloth
spread over sticks, and crying aloud.
There was never o gun fired at US
watchers of the fords in those days. All
the guns We're busy elsewhere. We
could hear them day and night inland.
coming and going as the wind shifted.
I rcse up full before the boat, because
| had never seen white faces alive.
though | knew them wcll-otherwisc
A naked white child kneclcd by the
side of the boat, and, STOPPING over.
he must needs try to trail his hands
in the river. 1t is a pretty thing
to see how child loves running water
had fed that day, but there was lit
tie untitled space within me. Still, it
was for sport and not for food that
rose at the child's hands They were
so clear mark that | did not even
look when closed; and they were so
small that though my jaws rang true
am sure of that-the child drew them
up swiftly unhurt. They must have
passed between tooth and tooth-those
small white hands. | should have
caught him crosswise at the elbows.
but, as said. it was only for sport and
desire to sec new things that | rose at
all. They cried ont one after another
in the boat, and presently rose again
to watch them. The boat was too
heavy to push over. They were only
women, but he who trusts woman
will walk on duckweed in pool, as
the saying is; and by the Right and
Left of Gunga that is TRUTH
"Once a woman gave me some dried
skin from FISH" said the iaclsal. 81
had hoped to get her baby, but horse
food is better than the kick of horse,
as the saying is. What did thy woman
do?"
''She fred at me with short gun Of a
kind have never seen before or since.
Five times, one after another" (the
mugger must have met with an old
fashioned revolver); 'tand l stayed
open-mouthed and gaping, my head in
the smoke. Never did / see such
thing. Five times, as swiftly as | wave
my tail-thus.'
The jackal, who had been growing
more and more interested in the story,
had just time to leap back as the tail