Onward And Upward
- As they start climbing the foothills of the Himalayas, the lama could not be happier; he feels like he is on his own turf at last.
- Kim, meanwhile, is hungry, cold, and tired—definitely off his game.
- Still, as Kim keeps climbing and keeps breathing all this fresh mountain air, he gets stronger.
- The Babu follows them on the road—he seems to know this whole area very well.
- Finally they reach a valley in the middle of high mountains, damp with streams that flow into the river Sutluj.
- As Kim and the lama spend the night in the valley, the Babu races on ahead to meet the two Europeans (one French and one Russian).
- They want someone local to help get them to Simla, and the Babu offers to guide them.
- The Babu also puts on a convincing display of hating the English, which the two European guys buy completely.
- As the Babu leads these two foreigners and their coolies (which is a racist term meaning cheap, unskilled workers; these are the guys carrying the baggage, so we will call them bearers), he finds Kim and the lama on the road.
- He secretly signals Kim that these two guys are The Guys, the ones they've been looking for.
- The Babu also invites the two men to look at the lama's drawing of the Great Wheel of existence.
- The lama starts explaining about the Buddhist model of human existence—the Russian quickly says that he can't understand the lama, but he wants to buy his drawing.
- The lama refuses, and the Russian reaches out as though he is going to grab the drawing.
Wow, Stuff Gets Serious Really Fast
- The Russian hits the lama right in the face, and Kim leaps at him.
- All the bearers run off into the hills ASAP—they know that it's super bad luck to hit a holy man, and they don't want to be around when the gods start throwing lightning bolts.
- The Babu jumps on Kim as though he is defending the Russian guy, but really, he's warning Kim to run after the bearers and get their papers.
- A shot hits a rock near Kim as he runs, so Kim pulls out the gun he got from Mahbub Ali and shoots back.
- He and the lama find cover behind some trees.
- The bearers all want to shoot the two Europeans in revenge for the act of sacrilege they have just seen (since, again, hitting a holy man = very bad luck).
- The lama orders the bearers not to kill anybody, but confesses to Kim that he was tempted to shoot the men and he feels deeply shaken by his moral weakness.
- He sinks to the ground, partly thanks to his injury, but also because of his disappointment in himself.
- The bearers decide to divide up the European men's loot.
- Kim steps in and says that they shouldn't take the bag full of books and instruments—it's got magic tools that only Kim can handle safely.
- Meanwhile, the Babu accompanies the two Europeans.
- He keeps telling them they have no choice now but to sneak from village to village until they can get to a city.
- Their luggage is long gone, and they will be in so much trouble if they contact the Kings—after all, hitting a holy man is the worst thing you can do around here.
- The Babu's strong words convince the Europeans, who immediately fall to fighting with each other.
- And the whole threat of the Russian spies falls apart.