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 Sahib would make inquiries . But again , ' -- Kim 's face puckered with cunning , -- ` he would not make overlong inquiry , lest people should ask : `` What has this Colonel Sahib to do with that horse-dealer ? '' But I -- if I lived -- ' ` As thou wouldst surely die -- ' ` Maybe ; but I say , if I lived , I , and I alone , would know that one had come by night , as a common thief perhaps , to Mahbub Ali 's bulkhead in the serai , and there had slain him , either before or after that thief had made a full search into his saddlebags and between the soles of his slippers . Is that news to tell to the Colonel , or would he say to me -- -LRB- I have not forgotten when he sent me back for a cigar-case that he had not left behind him -RRB- -- `` What is Mahbub Ali to me ? '' ? ' Up went a gout of heavy smoke . There was a long pause : then Mahbub Ali spoke in admiration : ` And with these things on thy mind , dost thou lie down and rise again among all the Sahibs ' little sons at the madrissah and meekly take instruction from thy teachers ? ' ` It is an order , ' said Kim blandly . ` Who am I to dispute an order ? ' ' A most finished Son of Eblis , ' said Mahbub Ali . ` But what is this tale of the thief and the search ? ' ` That which I saw , ' said Kim , ` the night that my lama and I lay next thy place in the Kashmir Seral . The door was left unlocked , which I think is not thy custom , Mahbub . He came in as one assured that thou wouldst not soon return . My eye was against a knot-hole in the plank . He searched as it were for something -- not a rug , not stirrups , nor a bridle , nor brass pots -- something little and most carefully hid . Else why did he prick with an iron between the soles of thy slippers ? ' ` Ha ! '
Mahbub XXXXX smiled gently .
Ali Hills Kim Sahib Sahibs cigar-case lama left night serai