Why should I not run away when the school was shut ? Look , too , how I , living upon my friends or working for my bread , as I did with the Sikh , have saved the Colonel Sahib a great expense . ' Mahbub 's lips twitched under his well-pruned Mohammedan moustache . ` What are a few rupees ' -- the Pathan threw out his open hand carelessly -- ` to the Colonel Sahib ? He spends them for a purpose , not in any way for love of thee . ' ` That , ' said Kim slowly , ' I knew a very long time ago . ' ` Who told ? ' ` The Colonel Sahib himself . Not in those many words , but plainly enough for one who is not altogether a mud-head . Yea , he told me in the te-rain when we went down to Lucknow . ' ` Be it so . Then I will tell thee more , Friend of all the World , though in the telling I lend thee my head . ' ` It was forfeit to me , ' said Kim , with deep relish , ` in Umballa , when thou didst pick me up on the horse after the drummer-boy beat me . ' ` Speak a little plainer . All the world may tell lies save thou and I. For equally is thy life forfeit to me if I chose to raise my finger here . ' ` And this is known to me also , ' said Kim , readjusting the live charcoal-ball on the weed . ` It is a very sure tie between us . Indeed , thy hold is surer even than mine ; for who would miss a boy beaten to death , or , it may be , thrown into a well by the roadside ? Most people here and in Simla and across the passes behind the Hills would , on the other hand , say : `` What has come to Mahbub Ali ? '' if he were found dead among his horses .
Surely , too , the Colonel XXXXX would make inquiries .
Kim Lucknow Pathan Sahib Sikh Umballa World charcoal-ball mud-head plainer