Part 7 (1/2)

'It was not It was a petition Does this e of the cart Kinized that, as the eyes and the ears of the lama, he was to be propitiated

'I am but the Holy One's disciple When he has eaten perhaps he will coue!' The jewelled forefinger shook itself at hily; but he could hear the old lady's chuckle

'Nay, what is it?' he said, dropping into hisand confidential tone - the one, he well knew, that few could resist 'Is - is there any need of a son in thy family? Speak freely, for we priests -' That last was a direct plagiarism from a fakir by the Taksali Gate

'We priests! Thou art not yet old enough to -' She checked the joke with another laugh 'Believe ain, omen, O priest, think of other hter has borne her man-child'

'Two arrows in the quiver are better than one; and three are better still' Ki discreetly earthward

'True - oh, true But perhaps that will come Certainly those down- country Brahain to them, and they prophesied'

'Ah,' drawled Kim, with infinite contempt, 'they prophesied!' A professional could have done no better

'And it was not till I remembered my own Gods that my prayers were heard I chose an auspicious hour, and - perhaps thy Holy One has heard of the Abbot of the Lung-Cho lamassery It was to him I put the matter, and behold in the due time all came about as I desired The Brahhter's son has since said that it was through his prayers - which is a little error that I will explain to hio to Buddh Gaya, to o we'

'Doubly auspicious,' chirruped the old lady 'A second son at least!'

'O Friend of all the World!' The lae bed, called for Kim

'I come! I come, Holy One!' He dashed to the fire, where he found the lama already surrounded by dishes of food, the hill sourly

'Go back! Withdraw!' Kis?' They finished the meal in silence, each turned a little froarette

'Have I not said an hundred tih-bornof a Hill Rajah on pilgrie, she says, to Buddha Gay She it is sends us those dishes; and when thou art well rested she would speak to thee'

'Is this also thy work?' The laourd

'Who else watched over thee since our wonderful journey began?' Kih his nostrils and stretched hiround 'Have I failed to oversee thy co on thee' The lama inclined his sole life, and disciples not a few But to none aone out as it has to thee - thoughtful, wise, and courteous; but so of a small imp'

'And I have never seen such a priest as thou' Kim considered the benevolent yellow face wrinkle by wrinkle 'It is less than three days since we took the road together, and it is as though it were a hundred years'

'Perhaps in a former life it was permitted that I should have rendered thee some service Maybe' - he sht thee on a hook in the days when I was not enlightened, cast thee back into the river'

'Maybe,' said Kiain, froinative 'Now, as regards that woman in the bullock-cart I think she needs a second son for her daughter'

'That is no part of the Way,' sighed the lama 'But at least she is from the Hills Ah, the Hills, and the snow of the Hills!'

He rose and stalked to the cart Kiiven his ears to come too, but the laht were in an unknown tongue, for they spoke some common speech of the mountains The woman seemed to ask questions which the laain he heard the singsong cadence of a Chinese quotation It was a strange picture that Kiht and erect, the deep folds of his yellow clothing slashed with black in the light of the parao fires precisely as a knotted tree-trunk is slashed with the shadows of the low sun, addressed a tinsel and lacquered ruth which burned like a ht The patterns on the gold-worked curtains ran up and down,as the folds shook and quivered to the night wind; and when the talk grew er snapped out little sparks of light between the embroideries Behind the cart was a wall of uncertain darkness speckled with little flaht for had settled down to one soothing hu of the bullocks above their chopped straw, and whose highest was the tinkle of a Bengali dancing-girl's sitar Mosthookahs, which in full blast sound like bull-frogs

At last the lama returned A hillman walked behind him with a wadded cotton-quilt and spread it carefully by the fire

'She deserves ten thousand grandchildren,' thought Kiifts would not have come'

'A virtuous woman - and a wise one' The lama slackened off, joint by joint, like a slow camel 'The world is full of charity to those who follow the Way' He flung a fair half of the quilt over Kim

'And what said she?' Kim rolled up in his share of it

'She asked me many questions and propounded many problems - the most of which were idle tales which she had heard fro priests who pretend to follow the Way Some I answered, and some I said were foolish Many wear the Robe, but few keep the Way'

'True That is true' Kihtful, conciliatory tone of those ish to draw confidences

'But by her lights she is o with her to Buddh Gaya; her road being ours, as I understand, for many days' journey to the southward'

'And?'

'Patience a little To this I said that s She had heard reat truth of my River she had never heard Such are the priests of the lower hills! She knew the Abbot of Lung-Cho, but she did not know of my River - nor the tale of the Arrow'

'And?'

'I spoke therefore of the Search, and of the Way, and ofonly that I should accompany her and make prayer for a second son'

'Aha! ”We wo save children,' said Kiether for a while, I do not see that we in any way depart from our Search if so be we accootten the na in a sharp whisper to one of the Ooryas a few yards away 'Where is yourthe fruit gardens' He nae

'That was the place,' said the lao to carrion,' said the Oorya, in an abstracted voice

'For the sick cow a crow; for the sick man a Brahmin' Kim breathed the proverb impersonally to the shadow-tops of the trees overhead

The Oorya grunted and held his peace

'So then we go with her, Holy One?'

'Is there any reason against? I can still step aside and try all the rivers that the road overpasses She desires that I should coh in the quilt When once that imperious old lady had recovered froht it probable that she would be worth listening to

He was nearly asleep when the lama suddenly quoted a proverb: 'The husbands of the talkative have a great reward hereafter' Then Ki

The diaether Kiht This was seeing the world in real truth; this was life as he would have it - bustling and shouting, the buckling of belts, and beating of bullocks and creaking of wheels, lighting of fires and cooking of food, and new sights at every turn of the approving eye Themist swept off in a whorl of silver, the parrots shot away to soreen hosts: all the heels within ear-shot went to work India ake, and Kim was in theon a twig that he would presently use as a toothbrush; for he borrowed right- and left-handedly from all the customs of the country he knew and loved There was no need to worry about food - no need to spend a cowrie at the crowded stalls He was the disciple of a holy s would be prepared for them, and when they were respectfully invited so to do they would sit and eat For the rest - Kiled here as he cleaned his teeth - his hostess would rather heighten the enjoyment of the road He inspected her bullocks critically, as they ca under the yokes If they went too fast -it was not likely - there would be a pleasant seat for hi the pole; the lama would sit beside the driver The escort, of course, would walk The old lady, equally of course, would talk a great deal, and by what he had heard that conversation would not lack salt She was already ordering, haranguing, rebuking, and, ither servants for delays