noon
To this Kim assented with wise nods , and bade the Oorya observe that the lama took no money , and that the cost of his and Kim 's food would be repaid a hundred times in the good luck that would attend the caravan henceforward . He also told stories of Lahore city , and sang a song or two which made the escort laugh . As a town-mouse well acquainted with the latest songs by the most fashionable composers -- they are women for the most part -- Kim had a distinct advantage over men from a little fruit-village behind Saharunpore , but he let that advantage be inferred . At noon they turned aside to eat , and the meal was good , plentiful , and well-served on plates of clean leaves , in decency , out of drift of the dust . They gave the scraps to certain beggars , that all requirements might be fulfilled , and sat down to a long , luxurious smoke . The old lady had retreated behind her curtains , but mixed most freely in the talk , her servants arguing with and contradicting her as servants do throughout the East . She compared the cool and the pines of the Kangra and Kulu hills with the dust and the mangoes of the South ; she told a tale of some old local Gods at the edge of her husband 's territory ; she roundly abused the tobacco which she was then smoking , reviled all Brahmins , and speculated without reserve on the coming of many grandsons .