` Here , in this room . ' Lurgan Sahib waved his hand towards the darkness behind him . ` So be it , ' said Kim composedly . ` Now ? ' He nodded and held the lamp above his head . As the light swept them , there leaped out from the walls a collection of Tibetan devil-dance masks , hanging above the fiend-embroidered draperies of those ghastly functions -- horned masks , scowling masks , and masks of idiotic terror . In a corner , a Japanese warrior , mailed and plumed , menaced him with a halberd , and a score of lances and khandas and kuttars gave back the unsteady gleam . But what interested Kim more than all these things -- he had seen devil-dance masks at the Lahore Museum -- was a glimpse of the soft-eyed Hindu child who had left him in the doorway , sitting cross-legged under the table of pearls with a little smile on his scarlet lips . ' I think that Lurgan Sahib wishes to make me afraid . And I am sure that that devil 's brat below the table wishes to see me afraid . ` This place , ' he said aloud , ` is like a Wonder House . Where is my bed ? ' Lurgan Sahib pointed to a native quilt in a corner by the loathsome masks , picked up the lamp , and left the room black . ` Was that Lurgan Sahib ? ' Kim asked as he cuddled down . No answer . He could hear the Hindu boy breathing , however , and , guided by the sound , crawled across the floor , and cuffed into the darkness , crying : ` Give answer , devil ! Is this the way to lie to a Sahib ? ' From the darkness he fancied he could hear the echo of a chuckle . It could not be his soft-fleshed companion , because he was weeping .
So XXXXX lifted up his voice and called aloud : ` Lurgan Sahib !
Hindu Japanese Kim Tibetan brat halberd khandas kuttars left quilt