He had been diligent , even as the Colonel advised . A boy 's holiday was his own property -- of so much the talk of his companions had advised him , -- and a barrack-school would be torment after St Xavier 's . Moreover -- this was magic worth anything else -- he could write . In three months he had discovered how men can speak to each other without a third party , at the cost of half an anna and a little knowledge . No word had come from the lama , but there remained the Road . Kim yearned for the caress of soft mud squishing up between the toes , as his mouth watered for mutton stewed with butter and cabbages , for rice speckled with strong scented cardamoms , for the saffron-tinted rice , garlic and onions , and the forbidden greasy sweetmeats of the bazars . They would feed him raw beef on a platter at the barrack-school , and he must smoke by stealth . But again , he was a Sahib and was at St Xavier 's , and that pig Mahbub Ali ... No , he would not test Mahbub 's hospitality -- and yet ... He thought it out alone in the dormitory , and came to the conclusion he had been unjust to Mahbub . The school was empty ; nearly all the masters had gone away ; Colonel Creighton 's railway pass lay in his hand , and Kim puffed himself that he had not spent Colonel Creighton 's or Mahbub 's money in riotous living . He was still lord of two rupees seven annas . His new bullock-trunk , marked ` K. O ` H. ' , and bedding-roll lay in the empty sleeping-room . ` Sahibs are always tied to their baggage , ' said Kim , nodding at them . ` You will stay here ' He went out into the warm rain , smiling sinfully , and sought a certain house whose outside he had noted down some time before ... ` Arre ' ! Dost thou know what manner of women we be in this quarter ? Oh , shame ! ' ` Was I born yesterday ? ' Kim squatted native-fashion on the cushions of that upper room . ' A little dyestuff and three yards of cloth to help out a jest . Is it much to ask ? ' ` Who is she ?
Thou art full young , as XXXXX go , for this devilry . '
Ali Road Sahibs Xavier bazars bullock-trunk months sleeping-room sweetmeats third