Mahbub Ali had incautiously driven home the sharp-edged stirrup.

(He was not the new sort of fluent horse-dealer who wears English boots and spurs.) Kim drew his own conclusions from that betrayal.
'That was a small matter.

It lay on the straight road to Benares.

I and the Sahib have by this time forgotten it.

I send so many letters and messages to men who ask questions about horses, I cannot well remember one from the other.