Kim

owe to the s

the life

Allah Who

sides t

without shi

tobacco

n for an i

ide of m

o-Side

,' said Mahbub, alluding to the Hindu

, 'I will change my faith and my b

At a shop on the outskirts of the city the change was m

for a cooked meal of the finest with the almond-curd sweet-

the Sikh,' said Kim, grinning as he squatted, 'and

cabbage and golden-brown onions. 'But tell me first, altogether and truthfully, the manner of thy escape. For, O Friend of al

tale. When he came to the disguisement and the interview with the girl in the bazar,

e healer of turquoises say to this? Now, slowly, let us he

entures between coughs as the full-

is ripe already-except that he must learn his distances and his pacings, and his rods and his compas

lled serenely.

ght that this running out

y when the school was shut? Look, too, how I, living upon my friends or working f

under his well-pruned

n hand carelessly-'to the Colonel Sahib? He spends t

lowly, 'I knew a v

o t

lainly enough for one who is not altogether a mud-head. Ye

re, Friend of all the World, though

elish, 'in Umballa, when thou didst pick me u

lies save thou and I. For equally is thy life fo

thrown into a well by the roadside? Most people here and in Simla and across the passes behind the Hills would, on the other hand, say: "What has come to Mahbub Ali?" if he were found dead among his horses. Surely, too, th

wouldst s

ere had slain him, either before or after that thief had made a full search into his saddlebags and between the soles of his slippers. Is that news to tell to

tion: 'And with these things on thy mind, dost thou lie down and rise again among all

Kim blandly. 'Who am

aid Mahbub Ali. 'But what is this

m, Mahbub. He came in as one assured that thou wouldst not soon return. My eye was against a knot-hole in the plank. He searched as it were for something-not a

eing these things, what tale didst thou

piece of Mussalmani bread, I went away to Umballa perceiving that a heavy trust was laid upon me. At that hour, had I chosen, thy head was forfeit.

-perhaps thrice, afterwards. I do not thi

e I went to Umballa, as thou knowest, but (and this thou dost not know) I lay hid in the garden

for Kim had bitten

for love, or dost tho

took a four-anna piece out

ically following the huck

sy to deal in that market, Friend of all the World.

inner. I saw him in Creighton Sahib's office. I saw the two read the white stal

l played. That war is done now, and the evil, we hope, nipped

st drugged my lama. But I bore away the old man's purse, and the Brahmin found nothing. So next morning he wa

ews is not meant to be thrown about like d

,' he made as to brush it all away with a thin brown hand-'and since then, and espec

's thought might have led?' said Mahbub, with a

very tone. 'They say at Nucklao that no Sahib

a 'black man' [kala admi] is a blood-insult. Then he rem

s betrayed by a Pathan. I was senseless; for I was but newly caught, and I wished to kill that low-caste drummer-boy. I say now, H

d the manner of using compasses to be learned in th

my time is given to me without question when the

the Colonel in th

arned at Nucklao!) Moreover, the Colonel I know since three months only. I have known one Mahbub Ali for six years. So! To the madrissah I will go. At the

people, Friend

y-walled room where the oil-lamp in its niche burned heavily through the tobac

ed out of horses' hooves, and it must suffice for many days. As to all the rest, I am well pleased, and no furt

drance till now?' said

new horse-boy. Go and bed among my men. They are n

south end of the station i

ed the impression on a piece of soft native paper. From Balkh to Bombay men

show my headman. I

h road?'

ut one, and then we return to Creighto

g when the very head is

nd headed away from the station for a mile or so. Then, fetching a wide compass, he worked back

rucks in which Mahbub's animals stood among a consignment of country-breds bought by the Bombay tram-company. The headman,

d Kim testily. 'If this be doubted, wait till he co

ed blanket for covering. Now a bed among brickbats and ballast-refuse on a damp night, between overcrowded horses and unwashed Baltis, would not appeal to many white boys; but Kim was utterly happy. Change of scene, se

iment I was very young and small and had no wisdom. But now I learn every day, and in three years the Colonel will take me out of the madrissah and let me go upon the Road with Mahbub hunting

iful dreamland when his ears caught a whisper, thin and sharp, above the monot

not her

the city. Who looks for a rat in a fro

yond the Passes a secon

m. It is a few rupees only,

be more certain; and rememb

arm, and we are far from the Bor

is blood-kin-full of bolt-holes and women behind whose clothes he

at is th

s are between us and pursuit. We have but to run back over the lines and go our way. They will not see whence

know not where Mahbub houses, and if he comes here before the dawn they will shoot him. That would be no profit for thee, Kim. And this is not a matter for the police. That would be no profit for Mahbub; and'-he giggl

mself suddenly with the terrible, bubbling, mean

a-la-la-la! Narain! Th

s died in child-bed. She haunts lonely roads, her feet are t

r waking them. Some twenty yards farther up the line he lay down again, taking care that the whisperers should hear his grunt

pped behind it, his chin on a level with the coping-stone.

hing policeman and a hurrying foot-passenger or two who sang t

hought Kim, as the beast shied at

i,' he whispered

lmost on its haunches, and

k. They pick up all the bones and nails in the city.' He stooped to

e muttered. 'The ni

will shoot thee at thy lying down, because there is a

old still, Sire of Devils!'

N

ssed belike

manner of fakir art thou, to

camp and lie down. I

till he reached a point opposite his second resting-place, slipped

nd certainly he spoke as one expecting it. I do not

Now and again a night train roared along the metals within twenty feet of him; but he had all t

n, and, catching his well-wishers from behind, summarily slay them. Here, he reflected with sorrow, another branch of the Government, totally unconnected with Colonel Creighton, might demand explanations which would be hard to suppl

rilliant noti

lishman! Of what use is the Government police if a poor Kabuli be robbed of his horses in their very trucks. This is as bad as Peshawur! I should lay a

side the station, and st

dent who was waiting to go down the line-a tall, tow-haired, horsey yo

or Lutuf Ullah. I have a truck-load up the line. Could

ahbub. You can claim a

trucks nearly all night. Fakirs do not steal horses, so I ga

head about it? 'Pon my word, it's just almost a

haps, from one of the trucks. There are many up the line. The State wil

artner. Where are

e farthest place where they

gnal-bo

side-looking up the line thus. But as regards Lutuf Ullah-a

ceman; for, as he said, the Railway had suffered much from depre

then they will wonder why there are no fakirs. The

up the line girt for action. A light engine slid through the

ltogether a fool,' said Mahbub Ali. 'To tak

m any news of the night. No one, at least, but one small horseboy, newly advanced to t

under this truck-Hajji, what shall I do with this lump of tobacco? Wrap it in paper and put it under the salt-bag? Yes-and struck them down. But one man struck at a Sahib with a fakir's buck's horn' (Kim meant the conjoined black-buck hor

madness, or a case for the civil court-the word can be punned upon both way

ead when they were put on the te-train. Their heads moved

find them for a long time. They were unfriends of mine. Thy fate and mine seem on one string. What a tale for the heal

o wished to stand well with the Pathan, was not called upon to work. They strolled on by the easiest of stages, halting every few hours at a wayside shelter. Very many Sahibs travel along the Kalka road; and, as Mahbub Ali says, every young Sahib must needs esteem himself a judge of a horse, and, though he be over head in debt to

eatly they were fools, and this made me wroth. As thus-,' and he told Kim a tale of an expression, misused in all innocence, that doubled Kim up with mirth. 'Now I see, however,'-he exhaled smoke slowly-'that it is with them as with all men-in

ols speak of a cat when a woman is brough

his with both kinds of faces. Among Sahibs, never forgetting thou art a Sahib; amo

Hindu, Jain, or Buddhis

there is a profit to be made from all; and for myself-but that I am a good Sunni and hate the men of Tirah-I could believe the same of all the Faiths. Now manifestly a Kathiawar mare taken from the sands of her birthplace and removed to the west of Bengal founders-nor is even a Ba

d altogether a d

heart is a little angry, Friend of all the World, that

hat worth do I see, and t

r to drive in that bay stallion's pickets more firmly. We do not want a horse-fight at every resting-stage, and the dun

, and if he is taken from me, I will go out of that madriss

ld on a lighter heel-rope than

d have vanished on the moment. 'My lama has sai

owl in the presence

their nails are blackened with low-caste blood, many of them

t Kim made his little point clearly and without

he boy to clean, 'I have met many men, women, and boys, and not a f

I always tell t

er to honest men.' Mahbub Ali hauled himself off the

sell

that made Mahbub halt and

tell,' said Kim, grinning

' Mahbub ga

usiness of the thieves in the

life, I have not alto

thou the Ka

thy ears in a

seless, was the man who came to search thy bulkhead at Lahore. I

thou not te

re is no need to tell more than is necessary at any one

thou some day sell my head for a fe

ring-and Mahbub, who has more of horse-coping in his little fingernail than Sikandar Khan in all his tents, must needs buy two of the worst, and that meant eight hours' laborious diplomacy and untold tobacco. But it was all pure delight-the wandering road, climbing, dipping, and sweeping about the growing spurs; the flush of the morning laid along the distant snows; the branched cacti, tier upon tier on the stony hillsides; the voices of a thousand water-channels; the chatter of the monkeys; the solemn deodars, clim

done,' said Mahbub Ali, 'comes the Col

ll,' Kim half chanted. 'Into it I will go again if Mahbub Ali or the Colonel lift hand or foot agai

Mackerson Sahib's well was new at Peshawur, cou

nister to the wants of the glad city-jhampanis who pull the pretty ladies' 'rickshaws by night and gamble till the dawn; grocers, oil-sellers, curio-vendors, firewood-dealers, priests, pickpockets, and native employees of the Government. Here are discussed by courtesans the things which are supposed to be profoundest secrets of the India Council; and here gather all the sub-

of Friendship averted the Whip of Calamity. He says that thou hast altogether wasted s

y own. I do not go to school twice

ontract. Thou art to lodge in Lurgan Sahib's

lodge with t

along the road atop, and there thou must forget for a while that thou hast ever seen or spoken to

e caught Mahbub's sword-keen glance-'indeed I have never hear

Sahib. Lurgan Sahib has a shop among the European shops. All Simla knows it. Ask there ... and, Friend of all the World, he is one to be obeye