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Then he stooped towards Mahbub's feet to make proper acknowledgment with fluttering, quick-patting hands; his heart too full for words. Mahbub forestalled and embraced him. 'My son, said he, 'what need of words between us? But is not the little gun a delight? All six cartridges come out at one twist. It is borne in the bosom next the skin, which, as it were, keeps it oiled.
There was nobody within earshot to hear Mahbub's gasp of amazement. 'Oho! And where hast thou been? 'Up and down down and up. 'Come under a tree, out of the wet, and tell. 'I stayed for a while with an old man near Umballa; anon with a household of my acquaintance in Umballa. With one of these I went as far as Delhi to the southward. That is a wondrous city.
This is particularly dangerous. 'By Jove! Kim was thinking hard in English. 'This is dam'-tight place, but I think it is self-defence. He felt in his bosom for Mahbub's gift, and uncertainly save for a few practice shots in the Bikanir desert, he had never used the little gun pulled the trigger. 'What did I say, sar! The Babu seemed to be in tears. 'Come down here and assist to resuscitate.
About the same hour Kim heard soft feet in Mahbub's deserted stall. The horse-trader, curiously enough, had left his door unlocked, and his men were busy celebrating their return to India with a whole sheep of Mahbub's bounty.
'That North country is full of horse-dealers as an old coat of lice. 'They have not yet come in, said the pundit. 'Thou must ensnare them later. Phew! said the Flower with deep disgust, rolling Mahbub's head from her lap. 'I earn my money. Farrukh Shah is a bear, Ali Beg a swashbuckler, and old Sikandar Khan yaie! Go! I sleep now. This swine will not stir till dawn.
They suspected, among many others, the bullying, red-bearded horsedealer whose caravans ploughed through their fastnesses belly-deep in snow. At least, his caravan that season had been ambushed and shot at twice on the way down, when Mahbub's men accounted for three strange ruffians who might, or might not, have been hired for the job.
Nay' he caught Mahbub's sword-keen glance 'indeed I have never heard his name. Is he by chance he lowered his voice 'one of us? 'What talk is this of us, Sahib? Mahbub Ali returned, in the tone he used towards Europeans. 'I am a Pathan; thou art a Sahib and the son of a Sahib. Lurgan Sahib has a shop among the European shops. All Simla knows it.
The lama, sumptuously fed by Mahbub's Baltis, was already asleep in a corner of one of the stalls. Kim lay down beside him and laughed. He knew he had rendered a service to Mahbub Ali, and not for one little minute did he believe the tale of the stallion's pedigree.
The school was empty; nearly all the masters had gone away; Colonel Creighton's railway pass lay in his hand, and Kim puffed himself that he had not spent Colonel Creighton's or Mahbub's money in riotous living. He was still lord of two rupees seven annas. His new bullock-trunk, marked 'K. O'H., and bedding-roll lay in the empty sleeping-room.
Huneefa, now whispering in his ear, now talking as from an immense distance, touched him with horrible soft fingers, but Mahbub's grip never shifted from his neck till, relaxing with a sigh, the boy lost his senses. 'Allah! How he fought! We should never have done it but for the drugs. That was his white blood, I take it, said Mahbub testily. 'O Hearer! Thou that hearest with ears, be present.
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