'God's curse on all unbelievers!'said Mahbub.'I do not give to a lousy Tibetan;but ask my Baltis over yonder behind the camels.They may value your blessings.Oh,horseboys,here is a countryman of yours.See if he be hungry.'
A shaven,crouching Balti,who had come down with the horses,and who was nominally some sort of degraded Buddhist,fawned upon the priest,and in thick gutturals besought the Holy One to sit at the horseboys'fire.
'Go!'said Kim,pushing him lightly,and the lama strode away,leaving Kim at the edge of the cloister.
'Go!'said Mahbub Ali,returning to his hookah.'Little Hindu,run away.
God's curse on all unbelievers!Beg from those of my tail who are of thy faith.'
'Maharaj ,'whined Kim,using the Hindu form of address,and thoroughly enjoying the situation;'my father is dead -my mother is dead -my stomach is empty.'
'Beg from my men among the horses,I say.There must be some Hindus in my tail.'
'Oh,Mahbub Ali,but am I a Hindu?'said Kim in English.
The trader gave no sign of astonishment,but looked under shaggy eyebrows.
'Little Friend of all the World,'said he,'what is this?'
'Nothing.I am now that holy man's disciple;and we go a pilgrimage together -to Benares,he says.He is quite mad,and I am tired of Lahore city.I wish new air and water.'
'But for whom dost thou work?Why come to me?'The voice was harsh with suspicion.
'To whom else should I come?I have no money.It is not good to go about without money.Thou wilt sell many horses to the officers.They are very fine horses,these new ones:I have seen them.Give me a rupee,Mahbub Ali,and when I come to my wealth I will give thee a bond and pay.'
'Um!'said Mahbub Ali,thinking swiftly.'Thou hast never before lied to me.Call that lama -stand back in the dark.'
'Oh,our tales will agree,'said Kim,laughing.
'We go to Benares,'said the lama,as soon as he understood the drift of Mahbub Ali's questions.'The boy and I,I go to seek for a certain River.'
'Maybe -but the boy?'
'He is my disciple.He was sent,I think,to guide me to that River.
Sitting under a gun was I when he came suddenly.Such things have befallen the fortunate to whom guidance was allowed.But I remember now,he said he was of this world -a Hindu.'
'And his name?'
'That I did not ask.Is he not my disciple?'
'His country -his race -his village?Mussalman Sikh -Hindu -Jain -low caste or high?'
'Why should I ask?There is neither high nor low in the Middle Way.
If he is my chela -does -will -can anyone take him from me?for,look you,without him I shall not find my River.'He wagged his head solemnly.
'None shall take him from thee.Go,sit among my Baltis,'said Mahbub Ali,and the lama drifted off'soothed by the promise.
'Is he not quite mad?'said Kim,coming forward to the light again.
'Why should I lie to thee,Hajji ?'
Mahbub puffed his hookah in silence.Then he began,almost whispering:
'Umballa is on the road to Benares -if indeed ye two go there.'
'Tck!Tck!I tell thee he does not know how to lie -as we two know.'
'And if thou wilt carry a message for me as far as Umballa,I will give thee money.It concerns a horse -a white stallion which I have sold to an officer upon the last time I returned from the Passes.But then -stand nearer and hold up hands as begging -the pedigree of the white stallion was not fully established,and that officer,who is now at Umballa,bade me make it clear.'(Mahbub here described the horse and the appearance of the officer.)'So the message to that officer will be:'The pedigree of the white stallion is fully established.'By this will he know that thou comest from me.He will then say 'What proof hast thou?'and thou wilt answer:'Mahbub Ali has given me the proof.''
'And all for the sake of a white stallion,'said Kim,with a giggle,his eyes aflame.
'That pedigree I will give thee now -in my own fashion -and some hard words as well.'A shadow passed behind Kim,and a feeding camel.Mahbub Ali raised his voice.
'Allah!Art thou the only beggar in the city?Thy mother is dead.Thy father is dead.So is it with all of them.Well,well -'He turned as feeling on the floor beside him and tossed a flap of soft,greasy Mussalman bread to the boy.'Go and lie down among my horseboys for to-night -thou and the lama.Tomorrow I may give thee service.'
Kim slunk away,his teeth in the bread,and,as he expected,he found a small wad of folded tissue-paper wrapped in oil-skin,with three silver rupees -enormous largesse.He smiled and thrust money and paper into his leather amulet-case.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.
But Kim did not suspect that Mahbub Ali,known as one of the best horse-dealers in the Punjab,a wealthy and enterprising trader,whose caravans penetrated far and far into the Back of Beyond,was registered in one of the locked books of the Indian Survey Department as C251B.Twice or thrice yearly C25would send in a little story,baldly told but most interesting,and generally -it was checked by the statements of R17and M4-quite true.
