military formation - of native soldiers on leave, rejoicing to be
rid of their breeches and puttees, and saying the most outrageous
things to the most respectable women in sight. Even the seller of
Ganges-water he did not see, and Kim expected that he would at
least buy a bottle of that precious stuff. He looked steadily at
the ground, and strode as steadily hour after hour, his soul busied
elsewhere. But Kim was in the seventh heaven of joy. The Grand Trunk
at this point was built on an embankment to guard against
winter floods from the foothills, so that one walked, as it were, a
little above the country, along a stately corridor, seeing all
India spread out to left and right. It was beautiful to behold the
many-yoked grain and cotton wagons crawling over the country roads:
one could hear their axles, complaining a mile away, coming nearer,
till with shouts and yells and bad words they climbed up the steep
incline and plunged on to the hard main road, carter reviling
carter. It was equally beautiful to watch the people, little clumps
of red and blue and pink and white and saffron, turning aside to go
to their own villages, dispersing and growing small by twos and
threes across the level plain. Kim felt these things, though he
could not give tongue to his feelings, and so contented himself
with buying peeled sugar-cane and spitting the pith generously
about his path. From time to time the lama took snuff, and at last
Kim could endure the silence no longer.

'This is a good land - the land of the South!' said he. 'The air is
good; the water is good. Eh?'

'And they are all bound upon the Wheel,' said the lama. 'Bound from
life after life. To none of these has the Way been shown.' He shook
himself back to this world.