Kim Rudyard Kipling (web ebook reader .TXT) 📖

subordinate to me, but I shall embody your name in my verbal report. It is a pity we are not allowed written reports. We Bengalis excel in thee exact science.” He tossed back the key and showed the box empty.

“Good. That is good. I was very tired. My Holy One was sick, too. And did he fall into⁠—”

“Oah yess. I am his good friend, I tell you. He was behaving very strange when I came down after you, and I thought perhaps he might have the papers. I followed him on his meditations, and to discuss ethnological points also. You see, I am verree small person here nowadays, in comparison with all his charms. By Jove, O’Hara, do you know, he is afflicted with infirmity of fits. Yess, I tell you. Cataleptic, too, if not also epileptic. I found him in such a state under a tree in articulo mortem, and he jumped up and walked into a brook and he was nearly drowned but for me. I pulled him out.”

“Because I was not there!” said Kim. “He might have died.”

“Yes, he might have died, but he is dry now, and asserts he has undergone transfiguration.” The Babu tapped his forehead knowingly. “I took notes of his statements for Royal Society⁠—in posse. You must make haste and be quite well and come back to Simla, and I will tell you all my tale at Lurgan’s. It was splendid. The bottoms of their trousers were quite torn, and old Nahan Rajah, he thought they were European soldiers deserting.”

“Oh, the Russians? How long were they with thee?”

“One was a Frenchman. Oh, days and days and days! Now all the hill-people believe all Russians are all beggars. By Jove! they had not one dam’-thing that I did not get them. And I told the common people⁠—oah, such tales and anecdotes!⁠—I will tell you at old Lurgan’s when you come up. We will have⁠—ah⁠—a night out! It is feather in both our caps! Yess, and they gave me a certificate. That is creaming joke. You should have seen them at the Alliance Bank identifying themselves! And thank Almighty God you got their papers so well! You do not laugh verree much, but you shall laugh when you are well. Now I will go straight to the railway and get out. You shall have all sorts of credits for your game. When do you come along? We are very proud of you though you gave us great frights. And especially Mahbub.”

“Ay, Mahbub. And where is he?”

“Selling horses in this vicinity, of course.”

“Here! Why? Speak slowly. There is a thickness in my head still.”

The Babu looked shyly down his nose. “Well, you see, I am fearful man, and I do not like responsibility. You were sick, you see, and I did not know where deuce-an’-all the papers were, and if so, how many. So when I had come down here I slipped in private wire to Mahbub⁠—he was at Meerut for races⁠—and I tell him how case stands. He comes up with his men and he consorts with the lama, and then he calls me a fool, and is very rude⁠—”

“But wherefore⁠—wherefore?”

“That is what I ask. I only suggest that if anyone steals the papers I should like some good strong, brave men to rob them back again. You see, they are vitally important, and Mahbub Ali he did not know where you were.”

“Mahbub Ali to rob the Sahiba’s house? Thou art mad, Babu,” said Kim with indignation.

“I wanted the papers. Suppose she had stole them? It was only practical suggestion, I think. You are not pleased, eh?”

A native proverb⁠—unquotable⁠—showed the blackness of Kim’s disapproval.

“Well,”⁠—Hurree shrugged his shoulders⁠—“there is no accounting for thee taste. Mahbub was angry too. He has sold horses all about here, and he says old lady is pukka63 old lady and would not condescend to such ungentlemanly things. I do not care. I have got the papers, and I was very glad of moral support from Mahbub. I tell you, I am fearful man, but, somehow or other, the more fearful I am the more dam’-tight places I get into. So I was glad you came with me to Chini, and I am glad Mahbub was close by. The old lady she is sometimes very rude to me and my beautiful pills.”

“Allah be merciful!” said Kim on his elbow, rejoicing. “What a beast of wonder is a Babu! And that man walked alone⁠—if he did walk⁠—with robbed and angry foreigners!”

“Oah, thatt was nothing, after they had done beating me; but if I lost the papers it was pretty-jolly serious. Mahbub he nearly beat me too, and he went and consorted with the lama no end. I shall stick to ethnological investigations henceforwards. Now goodbye, Mister O’Hara. I can catch 4:25 p.m. to Umballa if I am quick. It will be good times when we all tell thee tale up at Mr. Lurgan’s. I shall report you offeecially better. Goodbye, my dear fallow, and when next you are under thee emotions please do not use the Mohammedan terms with the Tibetan dress.”

He shook hands twice⁠—a Babu to his boot-heels⁠—and opened the door. With the fall of the sunlight upon his still triumphant face he returned to the humble Dacca quack.

“He robbed them,” thought Kim, forgetting his own share in the game. “He tricked them. He lied to them like a Bengali. They give him a chit.64 He makes them a mock at the risk of his life⁠—I never would have gone down to them after the pistol-shots⁠—and then he says he is a fearful man⁠ ⁠… And he is a fearful man. I must get into the world again.”

At first his legs bent like bad pipe-stems, and the flood and rush of the sunlit air dazzled him. He squatted by the white wall, the mind rummaging among the incidents of the long dooli journey, the lama’s weaknesses, and, now that