'There is no pride,' said the lama, after a pause, 'there is no
pride among such as follow the Middle Way.'

'But thou hast said he was low-caste and discourteous.'

'Low-caste I did not say, for how can that be which is not?
Afterwards he amended his discourtesy, and I forgot the offence.
Moreover, he is as we are, bound upon the Wheel of Things; but he
does not tread the way of deliverance.' He halted at a little
runlet among the fields, and considered the hoof-pitted bank.

'Now, how wilt thou know thy River?' said Kim, squatting in the
shade of some tall sugar-cane.

'When I find it, an enlightenment will surely be given. This, I
feel, is not the place. O littlest among the waters, if only thou
couldst tell me where runs my River! But be thou blessed to make
the fields bear!'

'Look! Look!' Kim sprang to his side and dragged him back. A
yellow-and-brown streak glided from the purple rustling stems to
the bank, stretched its neck to the water, drank, and lay still -
a big cobra with fixed, lidless eyes.

'I have no stick - I have no stick,' said Kim. '1 will get me one
and break his back.'

'Why? He is upon the Wheel as we are - a life ascending or
descending - very far from deliverance. Great evil must the soul