“Then all Doing is evil?” Kim replied, lying out under a big tree at the fork of the Doon road, watching the little ants run over his hand. “To abstain from action is well—except to acquire merit.” “At the Gates of Learning we were taught that to abstain from action was unbefitting a Sahib. And I am a Sahib.” “Friend of all the World,”—the lama looked directly at Kim—“I am an old man—pleased with shows as are children. To those who follow the Way there is neither black nor white, Hind nor Bhotiyal. We be all souls seeking escape. No matter what thy wisdom learned among Sahibs, when we come to my River thou wilt be freed from all illusion—at my side. Hai! My bones ache for that River, as they ached in the _te-rain;_ but my spirit sits above my bones, waiting. The Search is sure!” “I am answered. Is it permitted to ask a question?” The lama inclined his stately head. “I ate thy bread for three years—as thou knowest. Holy One, whence came—?” “There is much wealth, as men count it, in Bhotiyal,” the lama returned with composure. “In my own place I have the illusion of honour. I ask for that I need. I am not concerned with the account. That is for my monastery. Ai! The black high seats in the monastery, and novices all in order!” And he told stories, tracing with a finger in the dust, of the immense and sumptuous ritual of avalanche-guarded cathedrals; of processions and devil-dances; of the changing of monks and nuns into swine; of holy cities fifteen thousand feet in the air; of intrigue between monastery and monastery; of voices among the hills, and of that mysterious mirage that dances on dry snow. He spoke even of Lhassa and of the Dalai Lama, whom he had seen and adored.