` To what , child ? ' said the lama . ` God knows , but so my father told me ' . I heard thy talk in the Wonder House of all those new strange places in the Hills , and if one so old and so little -- so used to truth-telling -- may go out for the small matter of a river , it seemed to me that I too must go a-travelling . If it is our fate to find those things we shall find them -- thou , thy River ; and I , my Bull , and the Strong Pillars and some other matters that I forget . ' ` It is not pillars but a Wheel from which I would be free , ' said the lama . ` That is all one . Perhaps they will make me a king , ' said Kim , serenely prepared for anything . ' I will teach thee other and better desires upon the road , ' the lama replied in the voice of authority . ` Let us go to Benares . ' ` Not by night . Thieves are abroad . Wait till the day . ' ` But there is no place to sleep . ' The old man was used to the order of his monastery , and though he slept on the ground , as the Rule decrees , preferred a decency in these things . ` We shall get good lodging at the Kashmir Serai , ' said Kim , laughing at his perplexity . ' I have a friend there . Come ! ' The hot and crowded bazars blazed with light as they made their way through the press of all the races in Upper India , and the lama mooned through it like a man in a dream . It was his first experience of a large manufacturing city , and the crowded tram-car with its continually squealing brakes frightened him .
Half pushed , half towed , he arrived at the high gate of the Kashmir XXXXX : that huge open square over against the railway station , surrounded with arched cloisters , where the camel and horse caravans put up on their return from Central Asia .
Benares Hills India Serai a-travelling first lama night tram-car truth-telling