The Man Who Would Be King

The beginning of everything was in a railway train upon the road to Mhow from Ajmir.There had been a deficit in the Budget, which necessitated travelling, not Second-class,which is only half as dear as First-class, but by Intermediate, which is very awful indeed.There are no cushions in the Intermediate class, and the population are eitherIntermediate, which is Eurasian, or native, which for a long night journey is nasty; orLoafer, which is amusing though intoxicated.

Intermediates do not patronize refreshmentrooms. They carry their food in bundles and pots, and buy sweets from the nativesweetmeat-sellers, and drink the roadside water.

That is why in the hot weatherIntermediates are taken out of the carriages dead, and in all weathers are most properlylooked down upon.