Asiatics do not wink when they have outmanoeuvred an enemy , but as Mahbub Ali cleared his throat , tightened his belt , and staggered forth under the early morning stars , he came very near to it . ` What a colt 's trick ! ' said he to himself . ` As if every girl in Peshawur did not use it ! But 't was prettily done . Now God He knows how many more there be upon the Road who have orders to test me -- perhaps with the knife . So it stands that the boy must go to Umballa -- and by rail -- for the writing is something urgent . I abide here , following the Flower and drinking wine as an Afghan coper should . ' He halted at the stall next but one to his own . His men lay there heavy with sleep . There was no sign of Kim or the lama . ` Up ! ' He stirred a sleeper . ` Whither went those who lay here last even -- the lama and the boy ? Is aught missing ? ' ` Nay , ' grunted the man , ` the old madman rose at second cockcrow saying he would go to Benares , and the young one led him away . ' ` The curse of Allah on all unbelievers ! ' said Mahbub heartily , and climbed into his own stall , growling in his beard . But it was Kim who had wakened the lama -- Kim with one eye laid against a knot-hole in the planking , who had seen the Delhi man 's search through the boxes . This was no common thief that turned over letters , bills , and saddles -- no mere burglar who ran a little knife sideways into the soles of Mahbub 's slippers , or picked the seams of the saddle-bags so deftly .
At first XXXXX had been minded to give the alarm -- the long-drawn choor -- choor !
't Asiatics Benares Delhi Kim Umballa Whither lama saddle-bags unbelievers