Kim

the pregnant

ns and stars r

eene-thy coming

high, as Earth

mults, this affr

thers', own, s

out thy horo

nds thy threadb

hn Chr

strength', which conveyed no meaning to him till he was ordered to go away and play.

ally, 'and now I need ano

ter jauntily. He was, by virtue of his o

g for a River, who is now in the Temple of the Tirthankars at Benares. Take more ink! In three days I am to go down to Nuc

the writer interrupted

it is, and I giv

nnot mistake.' The man lifted his hea

and saw Colonel Creigh

knows the fat priest in the

said the Colonel,

y. I send a letter to m

at. Hast thou said that

Read the letter, i

ng to that Holy One?' The Colonel smiled a qu

names of strangers concerned in any matter, because by the

and Kim flushed. 'I have left my cheroot-case in th

it told him that he was being tested in som

e big bazar.' The

y letter except, thrice over, Come to me! Come to me! Come to me! Now I will pay for a stamp and put it in th

a very foolish Sahib, who is a C

s his b

God-such as plants and stones and the customs of people. The dealers call him the father of fools,

all India does not talk, as Kim had heard him talk, to fools. Nor would Mahbub Ali's tone have changed, as it did every time he mentioned the Colonel's name, if the Colonel had been a fool. Consequently-and this set Kim to skip

ks, he discovered that no cheroot-case had been left behind, he beamed with delight. Here was a man after hi

s theology. He betrayed no emotion when, after the lecture, Father Victor dragged him from shop to shop buying articles of outfit, nor when envious drummer-boys kicked him because he was going to a superior school did he complai

nel will see that ye're not lost or mislaid anywhere on the road. I've given you a notion of religious matters,-at least I hope so,-an

n to think. This solitary passage was very different from that joyful down-journey i

m a Sahib.' He looked at his boots ruefully. 'No; I am Kim. This is the great world, and I am only Kim. Who is Kim?' He considered his own identity, a thin

d enter the Survey of India as a chain-man. If he were very good, and passed the proper examinations, he would be ea

turned to fluent and picturesque Urdu and Kim was contented. No man could be a fool who knew the language so inti

et them upon paper. Perhaps some day, when thou art a chain-man, I may say to thee when we are working together: "Go across those hills and see what l

it be safe to retur

what that othe

ledge of what is behind those hills-for a picture of a river an

Then, seeing the Colonel's brow clouded, he went on: 'But

hat r

uld earn them, another man might hear and forestal

up a rupee. Kim's hand half r

t will be paid for the answer, but I d

There is a good spirit in thee. Do not let it be blunted at St

. He knew well there is no hatred like tha

n. I have known boys newly entered into the service of the Government who feigned not to understand the talk or

ty-four hours' run south did the Colonel sen

hen I become a chain-man. He will use me as Mahbub Ali employed me, I think. That is go

. He swallowed his disappointment, while the Colonel bundled him into a tic

in,' he cried. 'Again, and many times, if thou ar

y dared to use the turn of equals-'a

d the Colonel, with a look that pierced through Kim

appreciatively. 'A rich city,' he said. 'Richer than Lahore. How good

down, estimating, comparing, and enjoying. There is no city-except Bombay, the queen of all-more beautiful in her garish style than Lucknow, whether you see her from the bridge over the river, or from the top of the Imambara looking down on the gilt umbrellas of the Chutter Munzil, and t

was pleased with the compliment, and told Kim many astounding

St Xavier's in Partibus, block on block of low white buildings, stands in

olk are they wi

fro from the railway station, I have never seen one that had in him the maki

er windows in a certain street, and naturally, in the exchange of compliments, had acquitted himself well. He was about to acknowledge the drive

ay here. I do not go

' said the driver petulantly. 'Is the boy mad? Last t

g, patting the dusty feet b

me. He that was my friend at the Temple of the Tirthankars gave me a guide for this journey. I ca

n, O Holy One? In what way didst thou get to Be

rit by gifts. She is at least a woman of open hands, and I made a promise to return to her house if need arose. Then, perceiving myself alone in thi

aid Kim. 'I had fo

, for, look you, India is very large, and it may be that wise men before us, some two or three, have left a record of the place of our R

ut what dost

for thee going up into the Gates of Learning. A day and a half have I waited, not because I was led by any affection towards thee-that is no part of the Way-but, as they said at the Tirthankars' Temple, because, money having been paid for learning, i

the Road and all that befell on it. Surely it

it is past their feeding

ne in this land; I know not where I go nor what shall befall me. My heart was in that letter I sent thee. E

What they will teach thee I do not know, but the priest wrote me that no son of a Sahib in all India will be better taught than thou. So from time to time, therefore, I will come again. Maybe thou wilt be such a Sahib as he

ed Kim passionately, 'how

time, now that I know the customs of letter-writers in this land, I wi

?' wailed Kim, clutching at the robe

; for, look you, all Desire is Illusion and a new binding upon the Wheel. Go up to the Gates of Learning. Let m

mble into the compound, and strode o

Learning' shut

seen the sea. He suffered the usual penalties for breaking out of bounds when there was cholera in the city. This was before he had learned to write fair English, and so was obliged to find a bazar letter-writer. He was, of course, indicted for smoking and for the use of abuse more full-flavoured than even St Xavier's had ever heard. He learned to

e Monghyr and Chunar; lost tea-gardens Shillong-way; villages where their fathers were large landholders in Oudh or the Deccan; Mission-stations a week from the nearest railway line; seaports a thousand miles south, facing the brazen Indian surf; and cinchona-plantations south of all. The mere story of their adventures, which to them were no adventures, on their road to and from school would have crisped a Western boy's hair. They were used to jogging off alone through a hundred miles of jungle, where there was always the delightful chance of being delayed by tigers; but they would no more have bathed in the English Channel in an English August than their brothers across the world w

oved. This was not insipid, single-word talk of drummer-boys. It dealt with a life he knew and in part understood. The atmosphere suited him, and he throve by inches. They gave him a white drill suit as the weather warmed, and he rejoiced in the new-found bodily comforts as he r

ences; for St Xavier's looks down on boys who 'go native all-together.' One must never forget that one is a Sahib, and that some day

the heat and the Rains. Kim was informed that he would go north to some sta

Kim, who had asked many q

t do you any harm to keep you out of mischief. Yo

thout a third party, at the cost of half an anna and a little knowledge. No word had come from the lama, but there remained the Road. Kim yearned for the caress of soft mud squishing up between the toes, as his mouth watered for mutton stewed with butter and cabbages, for rice speckled with strong scented cardamoms, for the saffron-tinted rice, garlic and onions, and t

im puffed himself that he had not spent Colonel Creighton's or Mahbub's money in riotous living. He was still lord

u will stay here' He went out into the warm rain, smiling sinfully, and s

t manner of women we be in

e cushions of that upper room. 'A little dyestuff and thr

full young, as Sahibs

he cantonments. He has beaten me twice because I went over their wall in t

thy face still while

I would not appear to he

ht of these things.

ad it also on the breast. It may be her father will te

f cloth into a little saucer of brown dye

turban. Woe is me, my head is all unshave

or one evening? Remember, the stuff does not wash away.' She shook with laughter till her bracelets and

rewing his face round as the stain dried. 'Besides,

. But a jest

orth muc

wn to take up a poor girl's time with this play, and then to say: "Is not the jest enough?

f the fat days before him. He gave the girl four annas, and ran down the stairs in the likeness of a low-caste Hindu b

t to a juggler who had left him behind sick with fever, and that he would pick up his master at Umballa. As the occupants of the carriage changed, he varied this tale, or adorned it with all the shoots of a budding fancy, the mor

young O'Hara had disappeared. Mahbub Ali was in town selling horses, and to him

will lick it up from the earth. He has gone back to the Road again for a while. The madrissak wearied him. I knew it would. Another time, I will

not dead,

fear for the boy otherwise. A mo

ourse, Mahbub's stallion ra

ome through Umballa at least, and there he has written a l

-bred vagabond; but the Colonel remembered the conversation in the train, and often in the past few months had caught himself thinkin

into the centre of the cramped little

tars, who is the Frie

is t

will come back upon the appointed day. Let the box and the bedding-roll be sent for; and if there has bee

tter,

those who do not understand this that the return may be propitious." Now the manner in which that was cast is, of course, the wor

hip to avert the Whip of Cal

d go back to the Road again, as I

sure of that,' th

e is but perfecting his knowledge. Think, Sahib! He has been three months at the schoo

er time he mus

peril of his head. Then, if he spits, or sneezes, or sits down other than as the people do whom he watches, he may be slain. Why hinder

mes to no harm, I do not desire anything be

ol. When his time is accomplished he will come to me. It is time the he

esh consignment of horses, and Kim met him on the Kalka road at dusk riding alone, begged an alms of him,

where hast

down-dow

ree, out of the

oming north; but I heard of a great feast forward in Patiala, and thither went I in the company of a firework-maker. It was a great feast' (Kim rubbed his stomach). 'I saw Rajahs, and elephants with gold and silver trappings; and they l

' said Ma

onel Sahib say? I do n

Calamity; but another time, when thou takest t

d and to write English a little at the mad

little drenched figure dancing in the wet

wilt thou come on to Umballa with

th thee, M