‘True, but they have not yet begun to make the rubbish-heap that shall carry me. Five times have I seen the river draw back from the village and make new land at the foot of the street. Five times have I seen the village rebuilt on the banks, and I shall see it built yet five times more. I am no faithless, fish-hunting Gavial, I, at Kasi to-day and Prayag to-morrow, as the saying is, but the true and constant watcher of the ford. It is not for nothing, child, that the village bears my name, and “he who watches long,” as the saying is, “shall at last have his reward.”’
‘I have watched long – very long – nearly all my life, and my reward has been bites and blows,’ said the Jackal.
‘Ho! ho! ho!’ roared the Adjutant.
‘In August was the Jackal born;
The Rains fell in September;
“Now such a
