` It is a very big dinner , ' said Kim , looking at the plates . ` Small wonder . The guest of honour is none other than the Jang-i-Lat Sahib -LSB- the Commander-in-Chief -RSB- . ' ` Ho ! ' said Kim , with the correct guttural note of wonder . He had learned what he wanted , and when the scullion turned he was gone . ` And all that trouble , ' said he to himself , thinking as usual in Hindustani , ` for a horse 's pedigree ! Mahbub Ali should have come to me to learn a little lying . Every time before that I have borne a message it concerned a woman . Now it is men . Better . The tall man said that they will loose a great army to punish someone -- somewhere -- the news goes to Pindi and Peshawur . There are also guns . Would I had crept nearer . It is big news ! ' He returned to find the cultivator 's cousin 's younger brother discussing the family law-suit in all its bearings with the cultivator and his wife and a few friends , while the lama dozed . After the evening meal some one passed him a water-pipe ; and Kim felt very much of a man as he pulled at the smooth coconut-shell , his legs spread abroad in the moonlight , his tongue clicking in remarks from time to time . His hosts were most polite ; for the cultivator 's wife had told them of his vision of the Red Bull , and of his probable descent from another world . Moreover , the lama was a great and venerable curiosity . The family priest , an old , tolerant Sarsut Brahmin , dropped in later , and naturally started a theological argument to impress the family .
By creed , of course , they were all on their priest 's side , but the XXXXX was the guest and the novelty .
Brahmin Ho Kim Peshawur coconut-shell cultivator evening lama scullion water-pipe