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The Ao-chung man was their leader, and once they had opened the Sahibs' tinned foods and found that they were very good they dared not turn back. Shamlegh kitchen-midden took the dunnage. When Kim, after a night of bad dreams, stole forth to brush his teeth in the morning chill, a fair-coloured woman with turquoise-studded headgear drew him aside. 'The others have gone.
'After a blow, said a Spiti man sententiously, 'it is best to sleep. 'There is, as it were, a dizziness at the back of my neck, and a pinching in it. Let me lay my head on thy lap, chela. I am an old man, but not free from passion ... We must think of the Cause of Things. 'Give him a blanket. We dare not light a fire lest the Sahibs see. 'Better get away to Shamlegh.
When the Hills give thee back thy strength day by day? Remember we were weak and fainting down below there in the Doon. 'I became strong to do evil and to forget. A brawler and a swashbuckler upon the hillsides was I. Kim bit back a smile. 'Just and perfect is the Wheel, swerving not a hair. 'Quiet, be quiet! said Shamlegh, all arow.
It is a far cry from Simla to Chini, and farther from Shamlegh to Shamlegh-midden. 'So be it, but I carry the big kilta. The basket with the red top that the Sahibs pack themselves every morning. 'Thus it is proved, said the Shamlegh man adroitly, 'that they are Sahibs of no account.
'What a to-do is here! said the old man gently. 'Thou hast never stepped a hair's breadth from the Way of Obedience. Neglect me? Child, I have lived on thy strength as an old tree lives on the lime of a new wall. Day by day, since Shamlegh down, I have stolen strength from thee. Therefore, not through any sin of thine, art thou weakened. It is the Body the silly, stupid Body that speaks now.
Half an hour later, as the creaking litter jolted up the hill path that leads south-easterly from Shamlegh, Kim saw a tiny figure at the hut door waving a white rag. 'She has acquired merit beyond all others, said the lama. 'For to set a man upon the way to Freedom is half as great as though she had herself found it. 'Umm, said Kim thoughtfully, considering the past.
'Not as good as Yankling Sahib. The Ao-chung man took a pull at the whisky-bottle and passed it over. 'Now hear me unless any other man thinks he knows more. The challenge was not taken up. 'We go to Shamlegh when the moon rises. There we will fairly divide the baggage between us. I am content with this new little rifle and all its cartridges.
'More than that, they shall be paid in silver, quoth Kim. The Woman of Shamlegh had given it to him; and it was only fair, he argued, that her men should earn it back again. I'd not give room for an Emperor I'd hold my road for a King. To the Triple Crown I'd not bow down But this is a different thing! I'll not fight with the Powers of Air Sentry, pass him through!
Till the dawn, hour after hour, as the moonlight paled on the high peaks, and that which had been belted blackness on the sides of the far hills showed as tender green forest, the lama stared fixedly at the wall. From time to time he groaned. Outside the barred door, where discomfited kine came to ask for their old stable, Shamlegh and the coolies gave itself up to plunder and riotous living.
What should I care for mere words? She clenched her hands upon her bosom ... 'But I would not have thee to go in anger, thinking hardly of me a gatherer of cow-dung and grass at Shamlegh, but still a woman of substance. 'I think nothing, said Kim, 'but that I am grieved to go, for I am very weary; and that we need food. Here is the bag. The woman snatched it angrily. 'I was foolish, said she.
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