He only desired to know what to steal , and , incidentally , how to get away when he had stolen it . He thanked all the Gods of Hindustan , and Herbert Spencer , that there remained some valuables to steal . On the second day the road rose steeply to a grass spur above the forest ; and it was here , about sunset , that they came across an aged lama -- but they called him a bonze -- sitting cross-legged above a mysterious chart held down by stones , which he was explaining to a young man , evidently a neophyte , of singular , though unwashen , beauty . The striped umbrella had been sighted half a march away , and Kim had suggested a halt till it came up to them . ` Ha ! ' said Hurree Babu , resourceful as Puss-in-Boots . ` That is eminent local holy man . Probably subject of my royal master . ' ` What is he doing ? It is very curious . ' ` He is expounding holy picture -- all hand-worked . ' The two men stood bareheaded in the wash of the afternoon sunlight low across the gold-coloured grass . The sullen coolies , glad of the check , halted and slid down their loads . ` Look ! ' said the Frenchman . ` It is like a picture for the birth of a religion -- the first teacher and the first disciple . Is he a Buddhist ? ' ` Of some debased kind , ' the other answered . ` There are no true Buddhists among the Hills . But look at the folds of the drapery .
XXXXX at his eyes -- how insolent !
Look answered came expounding folds held said sighted sitting slid