` Only the devils and the English walk to and fro without reason . ' ` Never make friends with the Devil , a Monkey , or a Boy . No man knows what they will do next , ' said his fellow . Kim turned a scornful back -- he did not want to hear the old story how the Devil played with the boys and repented of it and walked idly across country . The lama strode after him . All that day , whenever they passed a stream , he had turned aside to look at it , but in no case had he received any warning that he had found his River . Insensibly , too , the comfort of speaking to someone in a reasonable tongue , and of being properly considered and respected as her spiritual adviser by a well-born woman , had weaned his thoughts a little from the Search . And further , he was prepared to spend serene years in his quest ; having nothing of the white man 's impatience , but a great faith . ` Where goest thou ? ' he called after Kim . ` Nowhither -- it was a small march , and all this ' -- Kim waved his hands abroad -- ` is new to me . ' ` She is beyond question a wise and a discerning woman . But it is hard to meditate when -- ' ` All women are thus . ' Kim spoke as might have Solomon . ` Before the lamassery was a broad platform , ' the lama muttered , looping up the well-worn rosary , ` of stone . On that I have left the marks of my feet -- pacing to and fro with these . ' He clicked the beads , and began the ` Om mane pudme hum 's of his devotion ; grateful for the cool , the quiet , and the absence of dust . One thing after another drew Kim 's idle eye across the plain . There was no purpose in his wanderings , except that the build of the huts near by seemed new , and he wished to investigate . They came out on a broad tract of grazing-ground , brown and purple in the afternoon light , with a heavy clump of mangoes in the centre .
It struck XXXXX as curious that no shrine stood in so eligible a spot : the boy was observing as any priest for these things .
Devil Kim Nowhither Solomon centre grazing-ground lama lamassery pudme rosary