Mahbub Ali was in town selling horses , and to him the Colonel confided the affair one morning cantering round Annandale racecourse . ` Oh , that is nothing , ' said the horse-dealer . ` Men are like horses . At certain times they need salt , and if that salt is not in the mangers they will lick it up from the earth . He has gone back to the Road again for a while . The madrissak wearied him . I knew it would . Another time , I will take him upon the Road myself . Do not be troubled , Creighton Sahib . It is as though a polo-pony , breaking loose , ran out to learn the game alone . ' ` Then he is not dead , think you ? ' ` Fever might kill him . I do not fear for the boy otherwise . A monkey does not fall among trees . ' Next morning , on the same course , Mahbub 's stallion ranged alongside the Colonel . ` It is as I had thought , ' said the horse-dealer . ` He has come through Umballa at least , and there he has written a letter to me , having learned in the bazar that I was here . ' ` Read , ' said the Colonel , with a sigh of relief . It was absurd that a man of his position should take an interest in a little country-bred vagabond ; but the Colonel remembered the conversation in the train , and often in the past few months had caught himself thinking of the queer , silent , self-possessed boy . His evasion , of course , was the height of insolence , but it argued some resource and nerve .
XXXXX 's eyes twinkled as he reined out into the centre of the cramped little plain , where none could come near unseen . '
Ali Mahbub Road Sahib Umballa fall madrissak mangers months racecourse