“Take this to him. It will altogether shut his mouth. He cannot have gone far.”
“Indeed no. They are still in the forest across the spur. Our children went to watch them when the light came, and have cried the news as they moved.”
Kim looked his astonishment; but from the edge of the sheep-pasture floated a shrill, kite-like trill. A child tending cattle had picked it up from a brother or sister on the far side of the slope that commanded Chini valley.
“My husbands are also out there gathering wood.” She drew a handful of walnuts from her bosom, split one neatly, and began to eat. Kim affected blank ignorance.
“Dost thou not know the meaning of the walnut—priest?” she said coyly, and handed him the half-shells.
“Well thought of.” He slipped the