Here live those who minister to the wants of the glad city -- jhampanis who pull the pretty ladies ' ` rickshaws by night and gamble till the dawn ; grocers , oil-sellers , curio-vendors , firewood-dealers , priests , pickpockets , and native employees of the Government . Here are discussed by courtesans the things which are supposed to be profoundest secrets of the India Council ; and here gather all the sub-sub-agents of half the Native States . Here , too , Mahbub Ali rented a room , much more securely locked than his bulkhead at Lahore , in the house of a Mohammedan cattle-dealer . It was a place of miracles , too , for there went in at twilight a Mohammedan horseboy , and there came out an hour later a Eurasian lad -- the Lucknow girl 's dye was of the best -- in badly-fitting shop-clothes . ' I have spoken with Creighton Sahib , ' quoth Mahbub Ali , ` and a second time has the Hand of Friendship averted the Whip of Calamity . He says that thou hast altogether wasted sixty days upon the Road , and it is too late , therefore , to send thee to any Hill-school . ' ' I have said that my holidays are my own . I do not go to school twice over . That is one part of my bond . ' ` The Colonel Sahib is not yet aware of that contract . Thou art to lodge in Lurgan Sahib 's house till it is time to go again to Nucklao . ' ' I had sooner lodge with thee , Mahbub . ' ` Thou dost not know the honour . Lurgan Sahib himself asked for thee . Thou wilt go up the hill and along the road atop , and there thou must forget for a while that thou hast ever seen or spoken to me , Mahbub Ali , who sells horses to Creighton Sahib , whom thou dost not know . Remember this order . ' Kim nodded . ` Good , ' said he , ` and who is Lurgan Sahib ? Nay ' -- he caught Mahbub 's sword-keen glance -- ` indeed I have never heard his name . Is he by chance -- he lowered his voice -- ` one of us ? '
` What talk is this of us , XXXXX ? '
Ali Eurasian Kim Nucklao Sahib cattle-dealer courtesans oil-sellers second sub-sub-agents