What a fool 's trick to play in open country ! ' muttered the horse-dealer . ` He could be shot a hundred times -- but this is not the Border . ' ` And , ' said the lama , repeating a many-times-told tale , ` never was such a chela . Temperate , kindly , wise , of ungrudging disposition , a merry heart upon the road , never forgetting , learned , truthful , courteous . Great is his reward ! ' ' I know the boy -- as I have said . ' ` And he was all those things ? ' ` Some of them -- but I have not yet found a Red Hat 's charm for making him overly truthful . He has certainly been well nursed . ' ` The Sahiba is a heart of gold , ' said the lama earnestly . ` She looks upon him as her son . ' ` Hmph ! Half Hind seems that way disposed . I only wished to see that the boy had come to no harm and was a free agent . As thou knowest , he and I were old friends in the first days of your pilgrimage together . ' ` That is a bond between us . ' The lama sat down . ` We are at the end of the pilgrimage . ' ` No thanks to thee thine was not cut off for good and all a week back .
I heard what the Sahiba XXXXX to thee when we bore thee up on the cot . '
cut disposed found know muttered repeating said sat seems shot