I must lean on thy shoulder , ' said he , as the temple gates closed . ` We grow stiff , I think . ' The weight of a six-foot man is not light to steady through miles of crowded streets , and Kim , loaded down with bundles and packages for the way , was glad to reach the shadow of the railway bridge . ` Here we eat , ' he said resolutely , as the Kamboh , blue-robed and smiling , hove in sight , a basket in one hand and the child in the other . ` Fall to , Holy Ones ! ' he cried from fifty yards . -LRB- They were by the shoal under the first bridge-span , out of sight of hungry priests . -RRB- ` Rice and good curry , cakes all warm and well scented with hing -LSB- asafoetida -RSB- , curds and sugar . King of my fields , ' -- this to the small son -- ` let us show these holy men that we Jats of Jullundur can pay a service ... I had heard the Jains would eat nothing that they had not cooked , but truly ' -- he looked away politely over the broad river -- ` where there is no eye there is no caste . ' ` And we , ' said Kim , turning his back and heaping a leafplatter for the lama , ` are beyond all castes . ' They gorged themselves on the good food in silence . Nor till he had licked the last of the sticky sweetstuff from his little finger did Kim note that the Kamboh too was girt for travel . ` If our roads lie together , ' he said roughly , ' I go with thee . One does not often find a worker of miracles , and the child is still weak . But I am not altogether a reed . ' He picked up his lathi -- a five-foot male-bamboo ringed with bands of polished iron -- and flourished it in the air . ` The Jats are called quarrel-some , but that is not true . Except when we are crossed , we are like our own buffaloes . ' ` So be it , ' said Kim . ' A good stick is a good reason . '
The XXXXX gazed placidly up-stream , where in long , smudged perspective the ceaseless columns of smoke go up from the burning-ghats by the river .
Kim King Rice asafoetida bridge-span hing lama leafplatter male-bamboo sweetstuff