“Oho! Is old Red Hat of that sort? At which school?”
“God knows. I think in Nucklao.”
“Yes. There is a big school there for the sons of Sahibs—and half-Sahibs. I have seen it when I sell horses there. So the lama also loved the Friend of all the World?”
“Ay; and he did not tell lies, or return me to captivity.”
“Small wonder the Padre does not know how to unravel the thread. How fast he talks to the Colonel Sahib!” Mahbub Ali chuckled. “By Allah!” the keen eyes swept the veranda for an Instant—“thy lama has sent what to me looks like a note of hand. I have had some few dealings in hoondis. The Colonel Sahib is looking at it.”
“What good is all this to me?” said Kim wearily. “Thou wilt go away, and they will return me to those empty rooms where there