There was nobody within earshot to hear Mahbub 's gasp of amazement . ` Oho ! And where hast thou been ? ' ` Up and down -- down and up . ' ` Come under a tree , out of the wet , and tell . ' ' I stayed for a while with an old man near Umballa ; anon with a household of my acquaintance in Umballa . With one of these I went as far as Delhi to the southward . That is a wondrous city . Then I drove a bullock for a teli -LSB- an oilman -RSB- coming north ; but I heard of a great feast forward in Patiala , and thither went I in the company of a firework-maker . It was a great feast ' -LRB- Kim rubbed his stomach -RRB- . ' I saw Rajahs , and elephants with gold and silver trappings ; and they lit all the fireworks at once , whereby eleven men were killed , my fire-work-maker among them , and I was blown across a tent but took no harm . Then I came back to the rel with a Sikh horseman , to whom I was groom for my bread ; and so here . ' ` Shabash ! ' said Mahbub Ali . ` But what does the Colonel Sahib say ? I do not wish to be beaten . ' ` The Hand of Friendship has averted the Whip of Calamity ; but another time , when thou takest the Road it will be with me . This is too early . ' ` Late enough for me . I have learned to read and to write English a little at the madrissah .
I shall soon be altogether a XXXXX . '
Ali English Oho Rajahs Sahib Umballa bullock firework-maker madrissah rel