'Not so bad - not so bad,' said Kim with calm. 'But have a care, my
brother, lest we - we, I say - be minded to give a curse or so in
return. And our curses have the knack of biting home.'

The Ooryas laughed; the hillman sprang forward threateningly. The
lama suddenly raised his head, bringing his huge tam-o'-shanter hat
into the full light of Kim's new-started fire.

'What is it?' said he.

The man halted as though struck to stone. 'I - I - am saved from a
great sin,' he stammered.

'The foreigner has found him a priest at last,' whispered one of
the Ooryas.

'Hai! Why is that beggar-brat not well beaten?' the old woman
cried.

The hillman drew back to the cart and whispered something to the
curtain. There was dead silence, then a muttering.

'This goes well,' thought Kim, pretending neither to see nor hear.

'When - when - he has eaten' - the hillman fawned on Kim - 'it - it
is requested that the Holy One will do the honour to talk to one
who would speak to him.'

'After he has eaten he will sleep,' Kim returned loftily. He could