Part 9 (2/2)

'And - the iven?' The laht 'It is no wrong to pay for learning To help the ignorant to wisdom is always a merit' The rosary clicked furiously as an abacus Then he faced his oppressors

'Ask the? And in what city is that teaching given?'

'Well,' said Father Victor in English, when Kiiment would pay for you all the tio on the Punjab Masonic Orphanage's list (not that he or you 'ud understand what that et in India is, of course, at St Xavier's in Partibus at Lucknow' This took some time to interpret, for Bennett wished to cut it short

'He wants to kno much?' said Kim placidly

'Two or three hundred rupees a year' Father Victor was long past any sense of amazement Bennett, impatient, did not understand

'He says: ”Write that naive it him” And he says youto write a letter in sooodaway'

The laone

'He'll run slap into the sentries,' cried Father Victor, ju up as the lama stalked out; 'but I can't leave the boy' Kim made swift motion to follow, but checked hie outside The lama had disappeared

Kim settled himself composedly on the Chaplain's cot At least the lama had promised that he would stay with the Raiput woman from Kulu, and the rest was of the smallest importance It pleased him that the two padres were so evidently excited They talked long in undertones, Father Victor urging some scheme on Mr Bennett, who see, but Kim felt sleepy They called men into the tent - one of them certainly was the Colonel, as his father had prophesied - and they asked him an infinity of questions, chiefly about the woman who looked after him, all of which Kim answered truthfully They did not seeuardian

After all, this was the newest of his experiences Sooner or later, if he chose, he could escape into great, grey, formless India, beyond tents and padres and colonels Meantime, if the Sahibs were to be impressed, he would do his best to impress them He too was a white man

After much talk that he could not coeant, who had strict instructions not to let hio on to Umballa, and Kie and in part by subscription, to a place called Sanawar

'It's , Colonel,' said Father Victor, when he had talked without a break for tenmy name and address I can't quite make out whether he'll pay for the boy's education or whether he is preparing some sort of witchcraft on his own account' Then to Kirateful to your friend the Red Bull yet We'llyou a Protestant'

'Certainly - o to Sanawar,' said Kio to Sanawar, little man That's the order of the Commander-in-Chief, who's a trifle o to Sanawar You will go to thee War'

There was a shout of laughter froiment a trifle better you won't confuse the line of o to ”thee War” soain at a venture If they were not going to the war, at least they did not knohat he knew of the talk in the veranda at Umballa

'I know you are not at thee war now; but I tell you that as soon as you get to Umballa you will be sent to the war - the near It is a war of eight thousand uns'

'That's explicit D'you add prophecy to your other gifts? Take hieant Take up a suit for hih your fingers Who says the age of o to bed My poor '

At the far end of the camp, silent as a wild animal, an hour later sat Kim, neashed all over, in a horrible stiff suit that rasped his areant 'He turns up in charge of a yellow-headed buck-Brahe certificates round his neck, talkin' God knohat all of a red bull The buck-Brahmin evaporates without explanations, an' the bhoy sets cross-legged on the Chaplain's bed prophesyin' bloody war to the e Injia's a wild land for a God-fearin' o through the roof What did ye say about the war?'

'Eight thousand uns,' said Kim 'Very soon you will see'

'You're a consolin' little io to bye-bye Those two boys atch your slumbers'

Chapter 6

Now I remember comrades - Old playes Ten thousand leagues to southward, And thirty years removed - They knew not noble Valdez, But o Valdez

Very early in thethe white tents came down and disappeared as the Mavericks took a side-road to U beside a baggage-cart under fire of coht He discovered that he was closely watched - Father Victor on the one side, and Mr Bennett on the other

In the forenoon the column checked A camel-orderly handed the Colonel a letter He read it, and spoke to a Major Half a mile in the rear, Ki down on hih the thick dust Then so: 'Tell us how ye knew, ye little limb of Satan? Father dear, see if ye can side, and he was hauled on to the priest's saddlebow

'Now, ht has come true Our orders are to entrain at Umballa for the Front tomorrow'

'What is thatt?' said Kim, for 'front' and 'entrain' were neords to hi to ”thee War,” as you called it'

'Of course you are going to thee War I said last night'

'Ye did; but, Powers o' Darkness, how did ye know?'

Kim's eyes sparkled He shut his lips, nodded his head, and looked unspeakable things The Chaplain eants, and subalterns called one another's attention to the boy The Colonel, at the head of the column, stared at him curiously 'It was probably some bazar rumour' he said; 'but even then -' He referred to the paper in his hand 'Hang it all, the thing was only decided within the last forty-eight hours'

'Are there many more like you in India?' said Father Victor, 'or are you by way o' being a lusus naturae?'

'Now I have told you,' said the boy, 'will you let o back to my old man? If he has not stayed with that woman from Kulu, I am afraid he will die'

'By what I saw of him he's as well able to take care of hioin' to e-cart and ye'll co'

For the rest of the day Ki a few hundred white men The story of his appearance in cae, and his prophecy, had lost nothing in the telling A big, shapeless white wo asked hiht her husband would coravely, and said that he would, and the wo procession that played hed so easily - resen of hard work, and he resolved to lend the spectacle his patronage At evening there came out to meet them bands of music, and played the Mavericks into caht Men of other regi on their own account Their pickets hurried forth to bring theiles blew madly for more pickets with officers to control the tumult The Mavericks had a reputation for liveliness to live up to But they fell in on the platfor in perfect shape and condition; and Kim, left behind with the sick, wo farewells excitedly as the trains dreay Life as a Sahib was a so far; but he touched it with a cautious hand Then they e of a drummer-boy to empty, lime-washed barracks, whose floors were covered with rubbish and string and paper, and whose ceilings gave back his lonely footfall Native-fashi+on, he curled hiry man stumped down the veranda, woke hih for Kim, and he retired into his shell He could just puzzle out the various English Police notices in Lahore city, because they affected his couests of the woman who looked after him had been a queer Ger theatre He told Kiht,' and therefore - at least that was how it struck Kim - he would teach the boy to write in return for food Kile letters, but did not think well of the evil Hereupon the ed hi where a dozen dru on for else This heor other hite lines on a black board for at least half an hour, and Kim continued his interrupted nap He much disapproved of the present aspect of affairs, for this was the very school and discipline he had spent two-thirds of his young life in avoiding Suddenly a beautiful idea occurred to hiht of it before

The h the veranda into the open sunshi+ne was Kih voice at his heels 'I've got to look after you My orders are not to let you out of oin'?'

It was the dru round him all the forenoon - a fat and freckled person of about fourteen, and Kim loathed him from the soles of his boots to his cap-ribbons

'To the bazar - to get sweets - for you,' said Kiht

'Well, the bazar's out o' bounds If we go there we'll get a dressing-down You coo?' Kim did not knohat bounds meant, but he wished to be polite - for the present

' 'Ow near? 'Ow far, you o as far as that tree down the road'

'Then I will go there'

'All right I ain't goin' It's too 'ot I can watch you froood your runnin' away If you did, they'd spot you by your clothes That's regimental stuff you're wearin' There ain't a picket in Umballa wouldn't 'ead you back quicker than you started out'