Part 12 (2/2)

'Never indeed But a jest is not money'

'It is worth much more'

'Child, thou art beyond all dispute the most shameless son of Shaitan that I have ever known to take up a poor girl's tih?” Thou wilt go very far in this world' She gave the dancing-girls' salutation in h-cut my head' Kim shi+fted froht of the fat days before hiirl four annas, and ran down the stairs in the likeness of a low-caste Hindu boy - perfect in every detail A cookshop was his next point of call, where he feasted in extravagance and greasy luxury

On Lucknow station platfor De Castro, all covered with prickly-heat, get into a second-class compartment Kim patronized a third, and was the life and soul of it He explained to the coler who had left him behind sick with fever, and that he would pick up his ed, he varied this tale, or adorned it with all the shoots of a budding fancy, theIn all India that night was no huot out and headed eastward, plashi+ng over the sodden fields to the village where the old soldier lived

About this tihton at Si O'Hara had disappeared Mahbub Ali was in town selling horses, and to hi round Annandale racecourse

'Oh, that is nothing,' said the horse-dealer 'Men are like horses At certain tiers they will lick it up froain for a while The madrissak wearied him I kneould Another time, I will take hihton Sahib It is as though a polo-pony, breaking loose, ran out to learn the game alone'

'Then he is not dead, think you?'

'Fever ht kill him I do not fear for the boy otherwise A , on the saside the Colonel

'It is as I had thought,' said the horse-dealer 'He has coh Umballa at least, and there he has written a letter tolearned in the bazar that I was here'

'Read,' said the Colonel, with a sigh of relief It was absurd that a man of his position should take an interest in a little country- bred vagabond; but the Colonel remembered the conversation in the train, and often in the past fewof the queer, silent, self-possessed boy His evasion, of course, was the height of insolence, but it argued some resource and nerve

Mahbub's eyes twinkled as he reined out into the centre of the cramped little plain, where none could come near unseen

'”The Friend of the Stars, who is the Friend of all the World -”'

'What is this?'

'A naive him in Lahore city ”The Friend of all the World takes leave to go to his own places He will co-roll be sent for; and if there has been a fault, let the Hand of Friendshi+p turn aside the Whip of Calamity” There is yet a little s are not known to those who eat with forks It is better to eat with both hands for a while Speak soft words to those who do not understand this that the return may be propitious” Now the manner in which that was cast is, of course, the work of the letter-writer, but see hoisely the boy has devised the iven except to those who know!'

'Is this the Hand of Friendshi+p to avert the Whip of Calahed the Colonel

'See hoise is the boy He would go back to the Road again, as I said Not knowing yet thy trade -'

'I am not at all sure of that,' the Colonel muttered

'He turns to me to make a peace between you Is he not wise? He says he will return He is but perfecting his knowledge Think, Sahib! He has been three months at the school And he is not mouthed to that bit For ao alone'

'Why? He went alone before he came under the Colonel Sahib's protection When he coo alone - alone, and at 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 him now? Remember how the Persians say: The jackal that lives in the wilds of Mazanderan can only be caught by the hounds of Mazanderan'

'True It is true, Mahbub Ali And if he coreat insolence on his part'

'He does not tell oes,' said Mahbub 'He is no fool When his time is accomplished he will come to me It is time the healer of pearls took him in hand He ripens too quickly - as Sahibs reckon'

This prophecy was fulfilled to the letter aup a fresh consignment of horses, and Kied an allish There was nobody within earshot to hear Mahbub's gasp of amazement

'Oho! And where hast thou been?'

'Up and down - down and up'

'Come under a tree, out of the wet, and tell'

'I stayed for a while with an old man near Umballa; anon with a household of my acquaintance in Umballa With one of these I went as far as Delhi to the southward That is a wondrous city Then I drove a bullock for a teli [an oilreat feast forward in Patiala, and thither went I in the coreat feast' (Kiold and silver trappings; and they lit all the fireworks at once, whereby eleventhem, and I was blown across a tent but took no harm Then I caroom for my bread; and so here'

'Shabash!+' said Mahbub Ali

'But what does the Colonel Sahib say? I do not wish to be beaten'

'The Hand of Friendshi+p has averted the Whip of Calamity; but another time, when thou takest the Road it will be with h for lish a little at the ether a Sahib'

'Hear hiure dancing in the wet 'Salaam - Sahib,' and he saluted ironically

'Well, art tired of the Road, or wilt thou come on to Umballa with me and work back with the horses?'

'I co I owe to the soil that grew - More to the life that fed - But ave o without shi+rts or shoes, Friends, tobacco or bread Sooner than for an instant lose Either side of my head'

The Two-Sided Man

'Then in God's na to the Hindu colour of Kim's disreputable turban

Kie , but thou hed till he nearly fell froe was made, and Kim stood up, externally at least, a Mohaainst the railway station, sent for a cooked meal of the finest with the almond-curd sweet-meats [balushai we call it] and fine-chopped Lucknow tobacco

'This is better than so as he squatted, 'and assuredly they give no such victuals at my madrissah'

'I have a desire to hear of that sareat boluses of spiced olden-brown onions 'But tell ether and truthfully, the manner of thy escape For, O Friend of all the World,' - he loosed his cracking belt - 'I do not think it is often that a Sahib and the son of a Sahib runs away from there'

'How should they? They do not know the land It was nothing,' said Kiuiseirl in the bazar, Mahbub Ali's gravity went froh

'Shabash!+ Shabash!+ Oh, well done, little one! What will the healer of turquoises say to this? Now, slowly, let us hear what befell afterwards - step by step, o'