eyes--I have tried to picture such
an one altogether freed from the Wheel--desiring nothing, causing
nothing--a nun, as it were.'

'And, O imp?' The lama almost laughed aloud.

'I cannot make the picture.'

'Nor I. But there are many, many millions of lives before her. She
will get wisdom a little, it may be, in each one.'

'And will she forget how to make stews with saffron upon that road?'

'Thy mind is set on things unworthy. But she has skill. I am
refreshed all over. When we reach the lower hills I shall be yet
stronger. The hakim spoke truly to me this morn when he said a breath
from the snows blows away twenty years from the life of a man. We will
go up into the Hills--the high hills--up to the sound of snow-waters
and the sound of the trees--for a little while. The hakim said that at
any time we may return to the Plains, for we do no more than skirt the
pleasant places. The hakim is full of learning; but he is in no way
proud. I spoke to him--when thou wast talking to the Sahiba--of a
certain dizziness that lays hold upon the back of my neck in the night,
and he said it rose from excessive heat--to be cured by cool air. Upon
consideration, I marvelled that I had not thought of such a simple
remedy.'

'Didst thou tell him of thy Search?' said Kim, a little jealously. He
preferred to sway the lama by his own speech--not through the wiles of
Hurree Babu.

'Assuredly. I told him of my dream, and of the manner by which I had
acquired merit by causing thee to be taught wisdom.'

'Thou didst not say I was a Sahib?'

'What need? I have told thee many times we be but two souls seeking
escape. He said--and he is just herein--that the River of Healing will
break forth even as I dreamed--at my feet, if need be. Having found
the Way, seest thou, that shall free me from the Wheel, need I trouble
to find a way about the mere fields of earth--which are illusion? That
were senseless. I have my dreams, night upon night repeated; I have
Jataka; and I have thee, Friend of all the World. It was written in thy
horoscope that a Red Bull on a green field--I have not
forgotten--should bring thee to honour. Who but I saw that prophecy
accomplished? Indeed, I was the instrument. Thou shalt find me my
River, being in return the instrument. The Search is sure!'

He set his ivory-yellow face, serene and untroubled, towards the
beckoning Hills; his shadow shouldering far before him in the dust.

Chapt