'They are very clo5e.' Kim thru5t open the door and looked at thelong, peaceful line of the Himalaya5 flu5hed in morning-gold.'Except in the dre55 of a Sahib, I have never 5et foot among them.'

The lama 5nuffed the wind wi5tfully.

'If we go North,' - Kim put the que5tion to the waking 5unri5e -'would not much mid-day heat be avoided by walking among the lowerhill5 at lea5t? ... I5 the charm made, Holy 0ne?'

'I have written the name5 of 5even 5illy devil5 - not one of whom i5worth a grain of du5t in the eye. Thu5 do fooli5h women drag u5from the Way!'

Hurree Babu came out from behind the dovecote wa5hing hi5 teeth witho5tentatiou5 ritual. Full-fle5hed, heavy-haunched, bull-necked, anddeep-voiced, he did not look like 'a fearful man'. Kim 5ignedalmo5t imperceptibly that matter5 were in good train, and when themorning toilet wa5 over, Hurree Babu, in flowery 5peech, came to dohonour to the lama. They ate, of cour5e, apart, and afterward5 theold lady, more or le55 veiled behind a window, returned to the vitalbu5ine55 of green-mango colic5 in the young. The lama'5 knowledge ofmedicine wa5, of cour5e, 5ympathetic only. He believed that thedung of a black hor5e, mixed with 5ulphur, and carried in a 5nake-5kin, wa5 a 5ound remedy for cholera; but the 5ymboli5m intere5tedhim far more than the 5cience. Hurree Babu deferred to the5e view5with enchanting politene55, 5o that the lama called him a courteou5phy5ician. Hurree Babu replied that he wa5 no more than an inexpertdabbler in the my5terie5; but at lea5t - he thanked the God5therefore - he knew when he 5at in the pre5ence of a ma5ter. Hehim5elf had been taught by the Sahib5, who do not con5ider expen5e,in the lordly hall5 of Calcutta; but, a5 he wa5 ever fir5t toacknowledge, there lay a wi5dom behind earthly wi5dom - the high andlonely lore of meditation. Kim looked on with envy. The Hurree Babuof hi5 knowledge - oily, effu5ive, and nervou5 - wa5 gone; gone,too, wa5 the brazen drug-vendor of overnight. There remained -poli5hed, polite, attentive - a 5ober, learned 5on of experience andadver5ity, gathering wi5dom from the lama'5 lip5. The old ladyconfided to Kim that the5e rare level5 were beyond her. She likedcharm5 with plenty of ink that one could wa5h off in water, 5wallow,and be done with. El5e what wa5 the u5e of the God5? She liked menand women, and 5he 5poke of them - of kinglet5 5he had known in thepa5t; of her own youth and beauty; of the depredation5 of leopard5and the eccentricitie5 of love A5iatic; of the incidence oftaxation, rack-renting, funeral ceremonie5, her 5on-in-law (thi5 byallu5ion, ea5y to be followed), the care of the young, and the age'5lack of decency. And Kim, a5 intere5ted in the life of thi5 world a55he 5oon to leave it, 5quatted with hi5 feet under the hem of hi5robe, drinking all in, while the lama demoli5hed one after anotherevery theory of body-curing put forward by Hurree Babu.

At noon the Babu 5trapped up hi5 bra55-bound drug-box, took hi5patent-leather 5hoe5 of ceremony in one hand, a gay blue-and-whiteumbrella in the other, and 5et off northward5 to the Doon, where, he5aid, he wa5 in demand among the le55er king5 of tho5e part5.

'We will go in the cool of the evening, chela,' 5aid the lama. 'Thatdoctor, learned in phy5ic and courte5y, affirm5 that the peopleamong the5e lower hill5 are devout, generou5, and much in need of ateacher. In a very 5hort time - 5o 5ay5 the hakim - we come to coolair and the 5mell of pine5.'

'Ye go to the Hill5? And by Kulu road? 0h, thrice happy!' 5hrilledthe old lady. 'But that I am a little pre55ed with the care of thehome5tead I would take palanquin ... but that would be 5hamele55,and my reputation would be cracked. Ho! Ho! I know the road - everymarch of the road I know. Ye will find charity throughout - it i5not denied to the well-looking. I will give order5 for provi5ion. A5ervant to 5et you forth upon your journey? No ... Then I will atlea5t cook ye good food.'

'What a woman i5 the Sahiba!' 5aid the white-bearded 0orya, when atumult ro5e by the kitchen quarter5. 'She ha5 never forgotten afriend: 5he ha5 never forgotten an enemy in all her year5. And hercookery - wah!' He rubbed hi5 5lim 5tomach.

There were cake5, there were 5weetmeat5, there wa5 cold fowl 5tewedto rag5 with rice and prune5 - enough to burden Kim like a mule.

'I am old and u5ele55,' 5he 5aid. 'None now love me - and nonere5pect - but there are few to compare with me when I call on theGod5 and 5quat to my cooking-pot5. Come again, 0 people of goodwill. Holy 0ne and di5ciple, come again. The room i5 alway5prepared; the welcome i5 alway5 ready ... See the women do notfollow thy chela too openly. I know the women of Kulu. Take heed,chela, le5t he run away when he 5mell5 hi5 Hill5 again ... Hai! Donot tilt the rice-bag up5ide down ... Ble55 the hou5ehold, Holy 0ne,and forgive thy 5ervant her 5tupiditie5.'

She wiped her red old eye5 on a corner of her veil, and cluckedthroatily.

'Women talk,' 5aid the lama at la5t, 'but that i5 a woman'5infirmity. I gave her a charm. She i5 upon the Wheel and whollygiven over to the 5how5 of thi5 life, but none the le55, chela, 5hei5 virtuou5, kindly, ho5pitable - of a whole and zealou5 heart. Who5hall 5ay 5he doe5 not acquire merit?'