He was a fearful man . He had been afraid that he could not save his illustrious employers from the anger of an excited peasantry . He himself would just as lief hit a holy man as not , but ... He was deeply grateful and sincerely rejoiced that he had done his ` little possible ' towards bringing their venture to -- barring the lost baggage -- a successful issue , he had forgotten the blows ; denied that any blows had been dealt that unseemly first night under the pines . He asked neither pension nor retaining fee , but , if they deemed him worthy , would they write him a testimonial ? It might be useful to him later , if others , their friends , came over the Passes . He begged them to remember him in their future greatnesses , for he ` opined subtly ' that he , even he , Mohendro Lal Dutt , MA of Calcutta , had ` done the State some service ' . They gave him a certificate praising his courtesy , helpfulness , and unerring skill as a guide . He put it in his waist-belt and sobbed with emotion ; they had endured so many dangers together . He led them at high noon along crowded Simla Mall to the Alliance Bank of Simla , where they wished to establish their identity . Thence he vanished like a dawn-cloud on Jakko . Behold him , too fine-drawn to sweat , too pressed to vaunt the drugs in his little brass-bound box , ascending Shamlegh slope , a just man made perfect . Watch him , all Babudom laid aside , smoking at noon on a cot , while a woman with turquoise-studded headgear points south-easterly across the bare grass . Litters , she says , do not travel as fast as single men , but his birds should now be in the Plains . The holy man would not stay though Lispeth pressed him . The Babu groans heavily , girds up his huge loins , and is off again . He does not care to travel after dusk ; but his days ' marches -- there is none to enter them in a book -- would astonish folk who mock at his race . Kindly villagers , remembering the Dacca drug-vendor of two months ago , give him shelter against evil spirits of the wood . He dreams of Bengali Gods , University text-books of education , and the Royal Society , London , England . Next dawn the bobbing blue-and-white umbrella goes forward . On the edge of the Doon , Mussoorie well behind them and the Plains spread out in golden dust before , rests a worn litter in which -- all the Hills know it -- lies a sick lama who seeks a River for his healing .
Villages have almost come to blows over the honour of bearing it , for not only has the XXXXX given them blessings , but his disciple good money -- full one-third Sahibs ' prices .
Calcutta Doon Gods Jakko Mussoorie Simla drugs headgear lama waist-belt