` He took a label from a bottle of belaitee-pani -LSB- soda-water -RSB- , and , affixing it to a bridge , collected taxes for a month from those who passed , saying that it was the Sirkar 's order . Then came an Englishman and broke his head . Ah , brother , I am a town-crow , not a village-crow ! ' The policeman drew back abashed , and Kim hooted at him all down the road . ` Was there ever such a disciple as I ? ' he cried merrily to the lama . ` All earth would have picked thy bones within ten mile of Lahore city if I had not guarded thee . ' ' I consider in my own mind whether thou art a spirit , sometimes , or sometimes an evil imp , ' said the lama , smiling slowly . ' I am thy chela . ' Kim dropped into step at his side -- that indescribable gait of the long-distance tramp all the world over . ` Now let us walk , ' muttered the lama , and to the click of his rosary they walked in silence mile upon mile . The lama as usual , was deep in meditation , but Kim 's bright eyes were open wide . This broad , smiling river of life , he considered , was a vast improvement on the cramped and crowded Lahore streets . There were new people and new sights at every stride -- castes he knew and castes that were altogether out of his experience . They met a troop of long-haired , strong-scented Sansis with baskets of lizards and other unclean food on their backs , their lean dogs sniffing at their heels . These people kept their own side of the road ' , moving at a quick , furtive jog-trot , and all other castes gave them ample room ; for the Sansi is deep pollution . Behind them , walking wide and stiffly across the strong shadows , the memory of his leg-irons still on him , strode one newly released from the jail ; his full stomach and shiny skin to prove that the Government fed its prisoners better than most honest men could feed themselves . Kim knew that walk well , and made broad jest of it as they passed . Then an Akali , a wild-eyed , wild-haired Sikh devotee in the blue-checked clothes of his faith , with polished-steel quoits glistening on the cone of his tall blue turban , stalked past , returning from a visit to one of the independent Sikh States , where he had been singing the ancient glories of the Khalsa to College-trained princelings in top-boots and white-cord breeches . Kim was careful not to irritate that man ; for the Akali 's temper is short and his arm quick .
Here and there they met or were overtaken by the gaily dressed crowds of whole villages turning out to some local fair ; the women , with their babes on their hips , XXXXX behind the men , the older boys prancing on sticks of sugar-cane , dragging rude brass models of locomotives such as they sell for a halfpenny , or flashing the sun into the eyes of their betters from cheap toy mirrors .
click collected feed glistening guarded hooted singing sniffing walked walking