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He sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher the Wonder House, as the natives call the Lahore Museum. Who hold Zam-Zammah, that 'fire-breathing dragon', hold the Punjab, for the great green-bronze piece is always first of the conqueror's loot.
Let me up! cried Abdullah, climbing up Zam-Zammah's wheel. 'Thy father was a pastry-cook, Thy mother stole the ghi, sang Kim. 'All Mussalmans fell off Zam-Zammah long ago! 'Let me up! shrilled little Chota Lal in his gilt-embroidered cap. His father was worth perhaps half a million sterling, but India is the only democratic land in the world. 'The Hindus fell off Zam-Zammah too.
Then the lama took snuff from a portentous wooden snuff-gourd, fingered his rosary awhile, and so dropped into the easy sleep of age, as the shadow of Zam-Zammah grew long. Kim loafed over to the nearest tobacco-seller, a rather lively young Mohammedan woman, and begged a rank cigar of the brand that they sell to students of the Punjab University who copy English customs.
'Send him hither, said Kim, dropping from Zam-Zammah, flourishing his bare heels. 'He is a foreigner, and thou art a buffalo. The man turned helplessly and drifted towards the boys. He was old, and his woollen gaberdine still reeked of the stinking artemisia of the mountain passes. 'O Children, what is that big house? he said in very fair Urdu.
'Herein is my reward. Enter! Enter! And is all well? They passed to the inner court, where the afternoon sun sloped golden across. 'Stand that I may see. So! He peered critically. 'It is no longer a child, but a man, ripened in wisdom, walking as a physician. I did well I did well when I gave thee up to the armed men on that black night. Dost thou remember our first day under Zam-Zammah?
'A Sahib and the son of a Sahib The lama's voice was harsh with pain. 'But no white man knows the land and the customs of the land as thou knowest. How comes it this is true? 'What matter, Holy One? but remember it is only for a night or two. Remember, I can change swiftly. It will all be as it was when I first spoke to thee under Zam-Zammah the great gun
As he drummed his heels against Zam-Zammah he turned now and again from his king-of-the-castle game with little Chota Lal and Abdullah the sweetmeat-seller's son, to make a rude remark to the native policeman on guard over rows of shoes at the Museum door. The big Punjabi grinned tolerantly: he knew Kim of old. So did the water-carrier, sluicing water on the dry road from his goat-skin bag.
The lama was his trove, and he purposed to take possession. Kim's mother had been Irish, too. The old man halted by Zam-Zammah and looked round till his eye fell on Kim. The inspiration of his pilgrimage had left him for awhile, and he felt old, forlorn, and very empty. 'Do not sit under that gun, said the policeman loftily. 'Huh! Owl! was Kim's retort on the lama's behalf.
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