ive
the ceaseless columns of smoke go up from the burning-ghats by the
river. Now and again, despite all municipal regulations, the fragment
of a half-burned body bobbed by on the full current.

'But for thee,' said the Kamboh to Kim, drawing the child into his
hairy breast, 'I might today have gone thither--with this one. The
priests tell us that Benares is holy--which none doubt--and desirable
to die in. But I do not know their Gods, and they ask for money; and
when one has done one worship a shaved-head vows it is of none effect
except one do another. Wash here! Wash there! Pour, drink, lave, and
scatter flowers--but always pay the priests. No, the Punjab for me,
and the soil of the Jullundur-doab for the best soil in it.'

'I have said many times--in the Temple, I think--that if need be, the
River will open at our feet. We will therefore go North,' said the
lama, rising. 'I remember a pleasant place, set about with
fruit-trees, where one can walk in meditation--and the air is cooler
there. It comes from the Hills and the snow of the Hills.'

'What is the name?' said Kim.

'How should I know? Didst thou not--no, that was after the Army rose
out of the earth and took thee away. I abode there in meditation in a
room against the dovecot--except when she talked eternally.'

'Oho! the woman from Kulu. That is by Saharunpore.' Kim laughed.

'How does the spirit move thy master? Does he go afoot, for the sake
of past sins?' the Jat demanded cautiously. 'It is a far cry to
Delhi.'

'No,' said Kim. 'I will beg a tikkut for the te-rain.' One does not
own to the possession of money in India.

'Then, in the name of the Gods, let us take the fire-carriage. My son
is best in his mother's arms. The Government has brought on us many
taxes, but it gives us one good thing--the te-rain that joins friends
and unites the anxious. A wonderful matter is the te-rain.'

They all piled into it a couple of hours later, and slept through the
heat of the day. The Kamboh plied Kim with ten thousand questions as
to the lama's walk and work in life, and received some curious answers.
Kim was content to be where he was, to look out upon the flat
North-Western landscape, and to talk to the changing mob of
fellow-passengers. Even today, tickets and ticket-clipping are dark
oppression to Indian rustics. They do not understand why, when they
have paid for a magic piece of paper, strangers should punch great
pieces o