Let us go on and I will sing thee the song of Nikal Seyn before Delhi -- the old song . ' And they fared out from the gloom of the mango tope , the old man 's high , shrill voice ringing across the field , as wail by long-drawn wail he unfolded the story of Nikal Seyn -LSB- Nicholson -RSB- -- the song that men sing in the Punjab to this day . Kim was delighted , and the lama listened with deep interest . ` Ahi ! Nikal Seyn is dead -- he died before Delhi ! Lances of the North , take vengeance for Nikal Seyn . ' He quavered it out to the end , marking the trills with the flat of his sword on the pony 's rump . ` And now we come to the Big Road , ' said he , after receiving the compliments of Kim ; for the lama was markedly silent . ` It is long since I have ridden this way , but thy boy 's talk stirred me . See , Holy One -- the Great Road which is the backbone of all Hind . For the most part it is shaded , as here , with four lines of trees ; the middle road -- all hard -- takes the quick traffic . In the days before rail-carriages the Sahibs travelled up and down here in hundreds . Now there are only country-carts and such like . Left and right is the rougher road for the heavy carts -- grain and cotton and timber , fodder , lime and hides . A man goes in safety here for at every few koss is a police-station . The police are thieves and extortioners -LRB- I myself would patrol it with cavalry -- young recruits under a strong captain -RRB- , but at least they do not suffer any rivals . All castes and kinds of men move here . ` Look ! Brahmins and chumars , bankers and tinkers , barbers and bunnias , pilgrims and potters -- all the world going and coming . It is to me as a river from which I am withdrawn like a log after a flood . '
And truly the Grand Trunk XXXXX is a wonderful spectacle .
Brahmins Delhi Left Punjab Road barbers castes flood tope trills