Kim

s son of Ye

the Rav

e Bear had

im a medi

k and quick

bolder

e dread Kloo

Itswoot

on L

for a while. In that idea, so soon as he had reached the broad road under Simla Town Hall, he

urgan's house?

,' was the answer, and Kim s

ill

wind in deodar-crowned Jakko, shouldering the stars. The house-lights, scattered on every level, made, as it were, a double

flush with the main road. No door stayed them, but a cur

with a green shade over his eyes, sat at a table, and, one by one, with short, white hands, picked up globules of light from a tray before him, threaded them on a glancing silken string, and hummed to himself the while. Kim w

ng in the vernacular: the smells made

at Kim for a full half-minute. The pupils of the eye dilated and closed to pin-pricks, as if at will. There was a fakir by the Taksali Gate who had just this gift and made money by it, especiall

id,' said Lurga

hould

stay with me till it is time to g

im repeated. 'But w

n Sahib waved his hand towa

aid Kim compo

cowling masks, and masks of idiotic terror. In a corner, a Japanese warrior, mailed and plumed, menaced him with a halberd, and a score of lances and khandas and kuttars gave back the unsteady gleam. But what interested Kim more tha

e afraid. And I am sure that that devil's b

loud, 'is like a Wonder

in a corner by the loathsome masks, pic

ndu boy breathing, however, and, guided by the sound, crawled across the floor, and cu

uckle. It could not be his soft-fleshed companion, because

b! Is it an order that thy s

voice came from behi

as he resought the quilt, 'I will beat t

his nose against a box that certainly spoke with a human tongue, but in no sort of human accent. It seemed to end in a tin trumpet and to be joined by wires to a smaller box on the f

St Xavier's. Damn Mr Lurgan's eyes!-It is some sort of machinery like a sewing-machine. Oh, it is a great cheek of him-we are not frightened that way at Lucknow-No!' Then in Hindi: 'But what does he

heard, in a high uninterested voice, that for a moment lifted the short hairs of his neck.

gain he heard a chuckle that decid

the sewing-machines of the bazar smell. He would clean that shaitan. He slipped off his jacket, and plunged it into the box's mouth. Something long and round bent under the pressure, there was

aware of Lurgan Sahi

Sahib-dom. 'There was a box in the night that gav

held out

my friends the Rajahs like them. That one is broken, but it was cheap at the p

his English, showed that he was anything but a Sahib. He seemed to understand what moved in Kim's mind ere the boy opened his mouth, and he

He is jealous, so I have put him in the corner and I shall not speak to him today. He has just t

eat to-do over this tale. Lurgan Sahib stated it as simply as

in jars crusted over with raw garnets; the devil-masks of overnight and a wall full of peacock-blue draperies; gilt figures of Buddha, and little portable lacquer altars; Russian samovars with turquoises on the lid; egg-shell china sets in quaint octagonal cane boxes; yellow ivory crucifixes-from Japan of all places in the world, so Lurgan Sahib said; carpets in dusty bales, smelling atrociously, pushed back behind torn and rotten screens of geomet

ce. 'I buy them because they are pretty, and sometimes I sell-i

reen flashes, picked out with the vicious blue-white

anew. 'There is no one but me can doctor a sick pearl and re-blue turquoises. I grant you opals-any fool can cure an opal-but for a sick pearl there is only me. Suppose

nda to refill the heavy, porous

u want

nstant, it stood at Kim's elbow, full to within half an inch of the brim-the

'That is magic.' Lurgan Sahib's smile s

w it

ill b

throw

crashed into fifty pieces, while the water

it would

t it. Look at th

hand gently on the nape of his neck, stroked it twice or thrice, and whispered: 'Look! It shall come to life again, piec

where there had been three, and above them the shadowy outline of the entire vessel. He could see the veranda through it, but it was thickening and darkening with each beat of

ng into shape,' s

t of a swimmer before sharks, who hurls himself half out of the water, his mind leaped up fr

g into shape,' whi

, and four times three was twelve. He clung desperately to the repetition. The shadow-outline of the jar cleared like a mist after rubbing eyes. There were the broken s

ng into shape?' a

en muttering softly for the last half-minute. Kim wrenched

sely while the boy rubbed his neck. 'But you are the first o

iciously. The tingle had gone from hi

e jewels will fly all to pieces if a man holds them in his hand, and knows the proper way. Tha

began to grow like a

you do? I mean, h

nd so, I think, that was what

done that same sort o

you think I should let it

ou are not

t n

he muttered. 'I am pleased with you-yes; and I am pleased with you-no. You are the first that ever save

hands softly. A small, husky sob came from behind a pile of carpets. It was the H

r if he will try to poison me again in

[Never-never. No!]',

e will kill th

-kubbee

he will do?' He tur

him go, perhaps. Why di

, and you saw someone come, and the man you were fond of was m

not poison that man,' said Kim reflectively, 'but I should beat that boy-if

everyone must

hink he i

, and next time thy heart is troubled, do not try white arsenic quite so openly. Surely the Devil Dasim was lord of

d the bale and flung himself passionately at Lurgan Sahib's f

the jewels! Oh, my Father and my Mother, send him away!'

ow he is at school-at a new madrissah-and thou shalt be his teac

nd dashed to the back of the shop, w

'Let them come from thy hand, for

m a drawer under the table dealt a half-h

m as long as thou wilt, stranger. Count and, if need be, han

at is t

nst remember them all, I cover them with this paper, and thou

re were but fifteen stones on it. 'That is easy,' he said after a minute. The chil

s, and one with a hole in it; there is one yellow stone that I can see through, and one like a pipe-stem. There are two red stones, and-

counted him out up to t

chipped at the edge. There is one Turkestan turquoise, plain with black veins, and there are two inscribed-one with a Name of God in gilt, and the other being cracked across,

' said Lurgan S

re is one ruby of Burma, of two ruttees, without a flaw, and there is a balas-ruby, flawed, of two ruttees. There is a carved iv

his hands a

er,' said Lurga

said Kim, flushing. 'Try again! With c

athered from the shop, and even the kitchen, an

fingers, and even then I will leave t

xation when the lad

ould do better. This playing with tweezer

ter,' said Lurgan Sah

ut how is

er till it is done perfect

est feather, actually

he said. 'I myself

o buy so much white arsenic when, if he had asked, I could have given it-except my boy here I have not in a long time met with one better worth

emed to be to raise money for angry Maharanees or young Rajahs. There were Babus to whom Lurgan Sahib talked with austerity and authority, but at the end of each interview he gave them money in coined silver and currency notes. There were occasional gatherings of long-coated theatrical natives who discussed metaphysics in English and Bengali, to Mr Lurgan's great edification. He was always interested in religions. At the end of the day, Kim and the Hindu boy-whose name varied at Lurgan's pleasure-were expected to give a detailed account of all that they had seen and heard-their view of each man's character, as shown in his face, talk, and manner, and their notions of his real errand. After dinner, Lurgan Sahib's fancy turned more to what might be called dressing-up, in which game he took a most informing interest. He could paint faces to a marvel; with a brush-dab

n Englishman, to a Punjabi farmer going to a fair, and to a woman without a veil. Lurgan Sahib laughed immensely, and begged Kim to stay as he was, immobile for half an hour-cross-legged, ash-smeared, and wild-eyed, in the

d effeecient performance. Except that you had told me I should have opined that-that-that you were pulling

he must lear

ck. Good-night, Lurgan.' The Babu sw

list of visitors, Lurgan Sahib asked

ht almost have deceived Mahbub Ali, but it f

e knows; but I wish t

s companion, whose eye had

-confidentially, as Lurgan Sahib nodded approval-'I do not u

tain Colonel. His honour is great only in Simla, and it is noticeable that

upon his head too-as u

with a red-painted veranda, behind that which was the old theatre in the Lower Bazar, and whispered through the sh

' said Kim

ousand-as many as

live after the news was told?' He smile

f he were very clever, he might live out the

bu's pay if so much

e risk of their lives and discover news-today it may be of far-off things, tomorrow of some hidden mountain, and the next day of some near-by men who have done a foolishness against the State. These souls are

two months I learned to write Angrezi. Even now I cannot read it well. And t

ars that so irk thee. I have proved thee in several small ways. This will not be forgotten when

must go back to Lucknow and be a good little boy and mind your book, as the English say, and perhaps, next holida

s companion was the whale-like Babu, who, with a fringed shawl wrapped round his head, and his

bedience, and Kim was content. If only, like the Babu, he could enjoy the dignity of a letter and a number-and a price upon his head! Some day he would be all that and more. Some day he might be almost as great as Mahbub Ali! The housetops of his search should be half India; he would follow Kings and Ministers, as in the old days he had followed vakils and lawyers' tou

ee months. He could paralyse St Xavier's-even the biggest boys who shaved-with the recital, were that permitted. But it was, of course, out of the question. There would be a price upon his head in good time, as Lurgan Sahib had assured

inary adventures) and, as Lurgan Sahib had said, to work. Of all the boys hurrying back to St Xavier's, from Sukkur in the sands to Galle beneath the palms, none was so f

; the book cost four annas, but could be bought second-hand in Bow Bazar for two. Still more important than Wordsworth, or the eminent authors, Burke and Hare, was the art and science of mensuration. A boy who had passed his examination in these branches-for which, by the way, there were no cram-books-could, by merely marching over a country with a compass and a level and a straight eye, carry away a picture of that country which might be sold for large sums in coined silver. But as it was occasionally inexpedient to carry about measuring-chains a boy would do well to know the precise length of his own foot-pace, so that when he

at expression, I shall give you this betel-box, which is highly valuable article and cost me two rupees only four years ago.' It was a cheap, hear

care of your body. It is great nuisance to go sick in the middle of business. I am fond of drugs myself, and they are handy to cure poor people too

ad, hailed a passing cart and jingled away, while Kim,

Mohammedan College, his age being fourteen years and ten months. He was also re-vaccinated (from which we may assume that there had been another epidemic of smallpox at Lucknow) about the same time. Pencil notes on the edge of an old muster-roll record that he was punished several times for 'conversing with improper persons', and it seems that he was once sentenced to heavy pains for 'absenting himself for a day in the company of a street beggar'. That was when he got over the gate and pleaded with the lama through a whole day down the banks of the Gumti to accompany him on the Road next holidays-for one month-for a little week;

ould stride to his cell in the cool, cut marble-the priests of the Temple were good to the old man,-wash off the dust of travel, make prayer, and depart for Lucknow, well accustomed now to the way of the rail, in a third-class carriage. Returning, it was noticeable, as his friend the Seeker pointed out to the head-priest, that he ceased for a while to mourn the loss of his River, or to draw wondrous pictures of the Wheel of Life, but preferred to talk of the beauty and wisdom of a certain mysterious chela whom no man of the Temple had ever seen. Yes, he had followed the traces of

y tried and failed. At the last they gave it as their opinion that the ring was not to be broken by any bestial power. And in a thicket, new-born, wet with moisture of birth, lay a day-old calf of the herd whose mother had died. The fettered elephant, forgetting his own agony, said: "If I do not help this suckling it will perish under our feet." So he stood above the young thing, making hi

k and in the twinkling of an eyelash abolished the ring, saying: "The appointed time has come." So the virtuous elephant who had waited temperately and done kind acts was relieved, at the appoin

chela who, seeing his master sitting in the dust outside the Gates of Learning, over-leapt the gates (though they were locked) and took his master to his hear

oves he would sit, while she laid aside her useless veil and chattered of spirits and fiends of Kulu, of grandchildren unborn, and of the free-tongued brat who had talked to her in the resting-place. Once, too, he strayed alone from the Grand Trunk Road below Umballa to the very village whose priest

the lama. 'He has gone

he vanished somewhat suddenly in the dawn after foolish talk with my granddaughter. He grows ap

arted, but the time is not ripe that we should take the Road

the boy how did he come to s

he?' asked th

s father and mother and such all. Pity that he do

religiously Kim kept to the contract made with Mahb

holiday time was absurd. 'If permission be refused to go and come as he chooses, he will make light of the refusal. Then who is to c