Part 12 (1/2)

'Noill go to the school,' said Kireat old school of St Xavier's in Partibus, block on block of lohite buildings, stands in vast grounds over against the Gumti River, at some distance from the city

'What like of folk are they within?' said Ki Sahibs - all devils But to speak truth, and I drive many of them to and fro from the railway station, I have never seen one that had in hi Sahib who'

Naturally, for he was never trained to consider them in any way improper, Kim had passed the time of day with one or two frivolous ladies at upper s in a certain street, and naturally, in the exchange of complie the driver's last insolence, when his eye - it was growing dusk - caught a figure sitting by one of the white plaster gate-pillars in the long sweep of wall

'Stop!' he cried 'Stay here I do not go to the school at once'

'But what is to pay ?' said the driver petulantly 'Is the boy irl This ti, patting the dusty feet beneath the dirty yellow robe

'I have waited here a day and a half,' the laan 'Nay, I had a disciple with ave uide for this journey I caiven '

'But why didst thou not stay with the Kulu woet to Benares? My heart has been heavy since we parted'

'The wo charms for children I separated ifts She is at least a woman of open hands, and I made a pro ht me of the te-rain to Benares, where I knew one abode in the Tirthankars' Temple as a Seeker, even as I'

'Ah! Thy River,' said Kiotten the River'

'So soon, otten it But when I had left thee it seeo to the Tee, and it may be that wise men before us, some two or three, have left a record of the place of our River There is debate in the Te, and some another They are courteous folk'

'So be it; but what dost thou do now?'

'I acquire merit in that I help thee, my chela, to wisdom The priest of that body of men who serve the Red Bull wrote me that all should be as I desired for thee I sent the money to suffice for one year, and then I ca 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' Teht that I should oversee the end of the matter They resolved my doubts most clearly I had a fear that, perhaps, I cauided by the Red Mist of affection It is not soMoreover, I am troubled by a dreaotten the Road and all that befell on it Surely it was a little to see me that thou didst co-time,' whined the driver

'Go to Jehannum and abide there with thy reputationless aunt!' Kim snarled over his shoulder 'I ao nor what shall befall me My heart was in that letter I sent thee Except for Mahbub Ali, and he is a Pathan, I have no friend save thee, Holy One Do not altogether go away'

'I have considered that also,' the la voice 'It is manifest that from time to time I shall acquiremyself that thy feet are set on wisdom What they will teach thee I do not know, but the priest wrote ht than thou So froain Maybe thou wilt be such a Sahib as he who gave me these spectacles' - the lama wiped them elaborately - 'in the Wonder House at Lahore That is my hope, for he was a Fountain of Wisdoet s'

'If I eat thy bread,' cried Kiet thee?'

'No - no' He put the boy aside 'I o back to Benares From time to time, now that I know the customs of letter- writers in this land, I will send thee a letter, and from time to time I will come and see thee'

'But whither shall I send etful that he was a Sahib

'To the Temple of the Tirthankars at Benares That is the place I have chosen till I find my River Do not weep; for, look you, all Desire is Illusion and a new binding upon the Wheel Go up to the Gates of Learning Let o, or ain

The laharri ru between each long stride

'The Gates of Learning' shut with a clang

The country born and bred boy has his own manners and customs, which do not resemble those of any other land; and his teachers approach hilish master would not understand Therefore, you would scarcely be interested in Ki two or three hundred precocious youths, most of whom had never 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 s and for the use of abuse more full-flavoured than even St Xavier's had ever heard He learned to wash himself with the Levitical scrupulosity of the native-born, who in his heart considers the Englishman rather dirty He played the usual tricks on the patient coolies pulling the punkahs in the sleeping- roo tales till the dawn; and quietly he ainst his self- reliant mates

They were sons of subordinate officials in the Railway, Telegraph, and Canal Services; of warrant-officers, so as commanders-in-chief to a feudatory Rajah's army; of captains of the Indian Marine Government pensioners, planters, Presidency shopkeepers, and missionaries A feere cadets of the old Eurasian houses that have taken strong root in Dhurrumtollah - Pereiras, De Souzas, and D'Silvas Their parents could well have educated theland, but they loved the school that had served their own youth, and generation followed sallow- hued generation at St Xavier's Their hoed from Howrah of the railway people to abandoned canton-way; villages where their fathers were large landholders in Oudh or the Deccan; Mission-stations a week from the nearest railway line; seaports a thousandthe 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 htful chance of being delayed by tigers; but they would no ust than their brothers across the world would have lain still while a leopard snuffed at their palanquin There were boys of fifteen who had spent a day and a half on an islet in the ht, of a ca from a shrine There were seniors who had requisitioned a chance-met Rajah's elephant, in the name of St Francis Xavier, when the Rains once blotted out the cart-track that led to their father's estate, and had all but lost the huge beast in a quicksand There was a boy who, he said, and none doubted, had helped his father to beat off with rifles from the veranda a rush of Akas in the days when those head-hunters were bold against lonely plantations

And every tale was told in the even, passionless voice of the native-born, mixed with quaint reflections, borrowed unconsciously from native foster-mothers, and turns of speech that showed they had been that instant translated from the vernacular Kile-word talk of drummer-boys It dealt with a life he knew and in part understood The atave him a white drill suit as the weather warmed, and he rejoiced in the new- found bodily comforts as he rejoiced to use his sharpened mind over the tasks they set hilish master; but at St Xavier's they know the first rush of s, as they know the half- collapse that sets in at twenty-two or twenty-three

None the less he remehts, Kim did not sweep the board with his reo native all-together' One et that one is a Sahib, and that some day, when examinations are passed, one will coan to understand where exaust to October - the long holidays imposed by the heat and the Rains Kio north to some station in the hills behind Ue for him

'A barrack-school?' said Kiht more

'Yes, I suppose so,' said the master 'It will not do you any har De Castro as far as Delhi'

Kient, even as the Colonel advised A boy's holiday was his own property - of so much the talk of his companions had advised him, - and a barrack-school would be toric worth anything else - he could write In three months he had discovered how men can speak to each other without 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 Ki up between the toes, as his es, for rice speckled with strong scented cardaarlic and onions, and the forbidden greasy sweetmeats of the bazars They would feed him raw beef on a platter at the barrack- school, and he ain, he was a Sahib and was at St Xavier's, and that pig Mahbub AliNo, he would not test Mahbub's hospitality - and yetHe thought it out alone in the dormitory, and came to the conclusion he had been unjust to Mahbub

The school was ehton 's railway pass lay in his hand, and Kihton's or Mahbub'sHe was still lord of two rupees seven annas His new bullock-trunk, -rooe,' said Ki at them 'You will stay here' He went out into the warht a certain house whose outside he had noted down some time before

'Arre'! Dost thou knohat manner of women we be in this quarter? Oh, shame!'

'Was I born yesterday?' Kim squatted native-fashi+on on the cushi+ons of that upper room 'A little dyestuff and three yards of cloth to help out a jest Is it , as Sahibs go, for this devilry'

'Oh, she? She is the daughter of a certain schooliment in the cantonments He has beaten me twice because I went over their wall in these clothes Noould go as a gardener's boy Old men are very jealous'

'That is true Hold thy face still while I dab on the juice'

'Not too black, Naikan I would not appear to her as a hubshi+ (nigger)'

'Oh, love s And how old is she?'

'Twelve years, I think,' said the shameless Kim 'Spread it also on the breast It may be her father will tear hed

The girl worked busily, dabbing a twist of cloth into a little saucer of brown dye that holds longer than any walnut-juice

'Now send out and get me a cloth for the turban Woe is me, my head is all unshaved! And he will surely knock off my turban'

'I am not a barber, but I will make shi+ft Thou wast born to be a breaker of hearts! All this disguise for one evening? Rehter till her bracelets and anklets jingled 'But who is to pay iven thee better stuff'

'Trust in the Gods,his face round as the stain dried 'Besides, hast thou ever helped to paint a Sahib thus before?'