(i)Sleepers are rectangular pieces of timber, stone or steel which are specifically cut for construction of building and railway tracks. Timber is less denser than water. So it floats. British used rivers for transportation of timber, not by boats, but by directly floating them till they reach their destination.
(ii)Dislodge is an act of forcefully removing something from its position. Sleepers that are lying stuck in the stones can be dislodged by delivering sufficient force, manually or mechanically, to the sleepers using a lever like contrivance. Also, floods can lift them and jostle them along.
(iii)The crocodile had come from deep black. water of the river where the flowing streams produced whirlpools.He had come to glassy shallows of the river to rest.He balanced his body on tiptoe on the rippled sand so that only his eyes and nostrils were visible above the water. He lay in the water motionless breathing clean sunny air.
(iv)The crocodile raised his eyes to get a clear sight of the area around the stepping stones and raised his nostrils to breath easily, this enabled him to lay motionless and concealed, in ambush, for prolonged duration. (v)Over the years, the crocodile had grown, from a baby crocodile vulnerable to birds of prey and carnivorous fishes, into a juggernaut so ferocious and formidable that nothing could pierce his inch-thick armored hide- The author is suggesting that the crocodile is invincible as he is covered with thick-Armour like hide which even a bullet cannot pierce.
(i)A mugger crocodile is a species of freshwater crocodile with a short snout found throughout the Indian subcontinent.
(ii) a)It means a large reptile which is very old as if it belonged to the times before the biblical flood. b)something which has been in existence from very old times and is unstop-able.
(iv)The crocodile is described as "an antediluvian saurian, a prehistoric juggernaut, ferocious and formidable, a vast force in water, propelled by unimaginable and irresistible power of the huge tail", suggests that he was a strong and dangerous animal
(v)The crocodile balanced on tiptoe on the rippled sand of the shallows with only his eyes and nostrils raised out of water so that he could see and breathe easily.
(i)The crocodile hatched from an egg, probably a hundred years ago, in a sandbank.The crocodile was very active because as soon as he managed to get his head out of his shell he was looking around ready to snap at anything even before he was fully hatched.
(ii)It means making use of one's craft and ferocity guided purely by natural instinct. The young crocodile could escape from predators by instinctively using his skills and fierceness.
(iii)The young crocodile faced the dangers of getting eaten by birds of prey and great carnivorous fishes who fed on baby crocodiles.
(iv)The young crocodile caught the food and stored it in holes in the river bank. The big crocodile fed mostly on fish but had also caught deer, monkeys, and ducks. He had also sometimes fed on pi-dog full of parasites and a skeleton cow. Sometimes he went down to the burning ghats and fed on half-burned bodies of Indians cast into the stream.
(v)The body of crocodile is protected with one inch thick. layer of armoured hide on the above- His eyes and the soft underarms made him vulnerable to an attack. Nothing can pierce it, even rifle bullets would bounce off.