I do not know thy life, but thy face is the face of the honourable and courteous.

Thou hast clung to thy Way, rendering fidelity when it was hard to give, in that Black Year of which I now remember other tales.

Enter now upon the Middle Way which is the path to Freedom.

Hear the Most Excellent Law, and do not follow dreams.' 'Speak, then, old man,' the soldier smiled, half saluting.

'We be all babblers at our age.' The lama squatted under the shade of a mango, whose shadow played checkerwise over his face; the soldier sat stiffly on the pony; and Kim, making sure that there were no snakes, lay down in the crotch of the twisted roots.
There was a drowsy buzz of small life in hot sunshine, a cooing of doves, and a sleepy drone of well-wheels across the fields.