rs. A strong-backed breed,' piped the voice
inside the palanquin.

'I have, too, our drugs which loosen humours of the head in hot and
angry men. Sina well compounded when the moon stands in the proper
House; yellow earths I have--arplan from China that makes a man renew
his youth and astonish his household; saffron from Kashmir, and the
best salep of Kabul. Many people have died before--'

'That I surely believe,' said Kim.

'They knew the value of my drugs. I do not give my sick the mere ink
in which a charm is written, but hot and rending drugs which descend
and wrestle with the evil.'

'Very mightily they do so,' sighed the old lady.

The voice launched into an immense tale of misfortune and bankruptcy,
studded with plentiful petitions to the Government. 'But for my fate,
which overrules all, I had been now in Government employ. I bear a
degree from the great school at Calcutta--whither, maybe, the son of
this House shall go.'

'He shall indeed. If our neighbour's brat can in a few years be made
an F A' (First Arts--she used the English word, of which she had heard
so often), 'how much more shall children clever as some that I know
bear away prizes at rich Calcutta.'

'Never,' said the voice, 'have I seen such a child! Born in an
auspicious hour, and--but for that colic which, alas! turning into
black cholers, may carry him off like a pigeon--destined to many years,
he is enviable.'

'Hai mai!' said the old lady. 'To praise children is inauspicious, or
I could listen to this talk. But the back of the house is unguarded,
and even in this soft air men think themselves to be men, and women we
know ... The child's father is away too, and I must be chowkedar
[watchman] in my old age. Up! Up! Take up the palanquin. Let the
hakim and the young priest settle between them whether charms or
medicine most avail. Ho! worthless people, fetch tobacco for the
guests, and--round the homestead go I!'

The palanquin reeled off, followed by straggling torches and a horde of
dogs. Twenty villages knew the Sahiba--her failings, her tongue, and
her large charity. Twenty villages cheated her after immemorial
custom, but no man would have stolen or robbed within her jurisdiction
for any gift under heaven. None the less, she made great parade of her
formal inspections, the riot of which could be heard half-way to
Mussoorie.

Kim relaxed, as one augur must when he meets another. The hakim, still
squatting,