`Send him hither,' said Kim, dropping from Zam-Zammah, flourishing his bare heels. `He is a foreigner, and thou art a buffalo.'

The man turned helplessly and drifted towards the boys. He was old, and his woollen gaberdine still reeked of the stinking artemisia of the mountain passes.

`O Children, what is that big house?' he said in very fair Urdu.

`The Ajaib-Gher, the Wonder House!' Kim gave him no title - such as Lala or Mian. He could not divine the man's creed.

`Ah! The Wonder House! Can any enter?'

`It is written above the door - all can enter.'

`Without payment?'

`I go in and out. I am no banker,' laughed Kim.

`Alas! I am an old man. I did not know.' Then, fingering his rosary, he half turned to the Museum.

`What is your caste? Where is your house? Have you come far?' Kim asked.

`I came by Kulu - from beyond the Kailas - but what know you? From the Hills where' - he sighed - `the air and water are fresh and cool.'

`Aha! Khitai [a Chinaman],' said Abdullah proudly. Fook Shing had once chased him out of his shop for spitting at the joss above the boots.

`Pahari [a hillman],' said little Chota Lal.

`Aye, child - a hillman from hills thou'lt never see. Didst hear of Bhotiyal [Tibet]? I am no Khitai, but a Bhotiya [Tibetan], since you must know - a lama - or, say, a guru in your tongue.'

`A guru from Tibet,' said Kim. `I have not seen such a man. They be Hindus in Tibet, then?'

`We be followers of the Middle Way, living in peace in our lamasseries, and I go to see the Four Holy Places before I die. Now do you, who are children, know as much as I do who am old.' He smiled benignantly on the boys.

`Hast thou eaten?'

He fumbled in his bosom and drew forth a worn wooden begging-bowl. The boys nodded. All priests of their acquaintance begged.

`I do not wish to eat yet.' He turned his head like an old tortoise in the sunlight. `Is it true that there are many images in the Wonder House of Lahore?' He repeated the last words as one making sure of an address.

`That is true,' said Abdullah. `It is full of heathen b&umacrontsNote. Thou also art an idolater.'

`Never mind him,' said Kim. `That is the Government's house and there is no idolatry in it, but only a Sahib with a white beard. Come with me and I will show.'

`Strange priests eat boys,' whispered Chota Lal.

`And he is a stranger and a b&umacront-parastNote [idolater],' said Abdullah, the Mohammedan.