an axe cut off the big head, and four men dragged it across
the spit.

"The last time that I had my hand in a Mugger's mouth," said one of the
Englishmen, stooping down (he was the man who had built the bridge), "it
was when I was about five years old--coming down the river by boat to
Monghyr. I was a Mutiny baby, as they call it. Poor mother was in the
boat, too, and she often told me how she fired dad's old pistol at the
beast's head."

"Well, you've certainly had your revenge on the chief of the clan--even
if the gun has made your nose bleed. Hi, you boatmen! Haul that head up
the bank, and we'll boil it for the skull. The skin's too knocked about
to keep. Come along to bed now. This was worth sitting up all night for,
wasn't it?"

*****

Curiously enough, the Jackal and the Adjutant made the very same remark
not three minutes after the men had left.

A RIPPLE SONG

Once a ripple came to land
In the golden sunset burning--
Lapped against a maiden's hand,
By the ford returning.

Dainty foot and gentle breast--
Here, across, be glad and rest.
"Maiden, wait," the ripple saith.
"Wait awhile, for I am Death!"

"Where my lover calls I go--
Shame it were to treat him coldly--
'Twas a fish that circled so,
Turning over boldly."

Dainty foot and tender heart,
Wait the loaded ferry-cart.
"Wait, ah, wait!" the ripple saith;
"Maiden, wait, for I am Death!"

"When my lover calls I haste--
Dame Disdain was never wedded!"
Ripple-ripple round her waist,
Clear the current eddied.

Foolish heart and faithful hand,
Little feet that touched no land.
Far away the ripple sped,
Ripple--ripple--running red!

THE KING'S ANKUS

These are the Four that are never content, that have never
been filled since the Dews began--
Jacala's mouth, and the glut of the Kite, and the hands of the
Ape, and the Eyes of Man.
Jungle Saying.

Kaa, the big Rock Python, had changed his skin for perhaps the
two-hundredth time since his birth; and Mowgli, who never forgot that
he owed his life to Kaa for a night's work at Cold Lairs, which you may
perhaps remember, went to congratulate him. Skin-changing always makes
a snake moody and depressed till the new skin begins to shine and look
beautiful. Kaa never made fun of Mowgl