محبوب علی

CHAPTER TWO

Mahbub Ali

The lama did not wake until the evening. He looked around and felt confused. He began to cry loudly.

‘What has happened?’ said Kim dressed in his disguise. ‘Has somebody robbed you?’

‘My new chela has gone!’

‘What kind of man was he?’ asked Kim.

‘He was a boy,’ answered the lama, and he told Kim about the Wonder House, his old chela and his journey in search of the River of the Arrow. Kim was amazed because he knew that the old man told the truth: in India a traveller never told the truth to a stranger. It was not safe.

‘But who are you?’ asked the lama.

‘Your chela,’ answered Kim, ‘and I will go with you to Benares. I have never met anybody like you before.’

‘Do you know where the river is?’ asked the lama.

‘No, I don’t,’ replied Kim, ‘but I will look for - for a bull - a red bull on a green field who will help me.’

‘So, let’s go to Benares,’ said the lama.

‘No, it’s almost night and it’s too dangerous to travel,’ said Kim. ‘I’ll take you to a place where we can sleep.

Kim guided the lama through the crowded and noisy streets. Finally they arrived at the Kashmir Serai, the place where the horse dealers I from Afghanistan came. The air was filled with sounds of people, horses and camels. They arrived at the place of Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun who dyed his beard red to hide his age. Kim had often gone on missions for him. Mahbub Ali trusted Kim because Kim lied with great skill to others, but Kim never lied to him. Mahbub sat on cushions and smoked a silver hookah.

‘A lama! A Red Lama! What are you doing in this part of the world?’ shouted Mahbub.

The lama held out his begging-bowl.

‘I do not give food to Tibetans! Go to my servants. One of them is a Buddhist. He may help you,’ shouted Mahbub.

‘Go!’ said Kim and gently pushed the lama towards Mahbub’s servants.

‘Go!’ said Mahbub Ali to Kim. ‘You too can eat with the servants.’

‘Please, my father is dead - my mother is dead - my stomach is empty,’ cried Kim in his saddest voice.

‘Go to my servants,’ replied Mahbub.

‘Oh, Mahbub Ali, don’t you recognize me?’ asked Kim in English.

The horse dealer was not at all surprised.

‘Little Friend of the World,’ he said, ‘what is this all about?’

‘Nothing. I am now that holy man’s disciple and we are going on a pilgrimage together - to Benares, he says. He is mad, and I am tired of Lahore city.’

‘Why have you come to me?’ asked Mahbub.

‘Well, I cannot travel without money of course, and so,’ said Kim with a smile, ‘I came to you.’

Mahbub Ali smiled too and thought quickly. Kim’s arrival was very fortunate because Mahbub was also a secret agent for the British. His official name was C25 IB. He collected information in the north during his travels as a horse dealer. Now he had very important information about five kings in the north who were making plans against the British. He had to send this information to a certain Englishman in Umballa to the south.

‘Well, I will give you some money,’ he said to Kim, ‘if you carry a message for me to Umballa to a British officer. You will say to him, “The white stallion is the very best”, and he will know you come from me.’

Mahbub quickly gave Kim a piece of paper and three silver rupees. That was a lot of money, and so Kim understood that this was a dangerous mission. He decided that he and the lama should begin their journey immediately.