and the good scent of wheaten cakes cooked on ashes. The evening
patrol hurried out of the police-station with important coughings
and reiterated orders; and a live charcoal ball in the cup of a
wayside carter's hookah glowed red while Kim's eye mechanically
watched the last flicker of the sun on the brass tweezers.

The life of the parao was very like that of the Kashmir Serai on a
small scale. Kim dived into the happy Asiatic disorder which, if
you only allow time, will bring you everything that a simple man
needs.

His wants were few, because, since the lama had no caste scruples,
cooked food from the nearest stall would serve; but, for luxury's
sake, Kim bought a handful of dung-cakes to build a fire. All
about, coming and going round the little flames, men cried for oil,
or grain, or sweetmeats, or tobacco, jostling one another while
they waited their turn at the well; and under the men's voices you
heard from halted, shuttered carts the high squeals and giggles of
women whose faces should not be seen in public.

Nowadays, well-educated natives are of opinion that when their
womenfolk travel - and they visit a good deal - it is better to
take them quickly by rail in a properly screened compartment; and
that custom is spreading. But there are always those of the old
rock who hold by the use of their forefathers; and, above all,
there are always the old women - more conservative than the men -
who toward the end of their days go on a pilgrimage. They, being
withered and undesirable, do not, under certain circumstances,
object to unveiling. After their long seclusion, during which they
have always been in business touch with a thousand outside