Kim miró hacia la selva de picos.
“Este no es mi país, hakim. Más fácil, creo, es hallar un piojo en la piel de un oso”.
“Oah, thatt is my strong points. There is no hurry for Hurree. They were at Leh not so long ago. They said they had come down from the Karakorum with their heads and horns and all. I am onlee afraid they will have sent back all their letters and compromising things from Leh into Russian territoree. Of course they will walk away as far to the East as possible—just to show that they were never among the Western States. You do not know the Hills?” He scratched with a twig on the earth. “Look! They should have come in by Srinagar or Abbottabad. Thatt is their short road—down the river by Bunji and Astor. But they have made mischief in the West. So”—he drew a furrow from left to right—“they march and they march away East to Leh (ah! it is cold there), and down the Indus to Han-lé (I know that road), and then down, you see, to Bushahr and Chini valley. That is ascertained by process of elimination, and also by asking questions from people that I cure so well. Our friends have been a long time playing about and producing impressions. So they are well known from far off. You will see me catch them somewhere in Chini valley. Please keep your eye on the umbrella.”
Asintió como una campanilla azotada por el viento en los valles y alrededor de las laderas de las montañas, y a su debido tiempo el lama y Kim, que se guiaban por la brújula, lo alcanzarían vendiendo ungüentos y polvos al caer la tarde.
«¡Vinimos por tal y tal camino!».
El lama señalaría despreocupadamente hacia atrás con un dedo hacia las crestas, y el paraguas se explayaría en cumplidos.