Part 18 (1/2)

'But the price - the price,' said the Jat, and threw back his sturdy shoulders 'My son is o back to his ive a bowl of curds in return?'

'They are alike, these Jats,' said Ki's elephants went by ”O driver,” said he, ”ill you sell those little donkeys for?”'

The Jat burst into a roar of laughter, stifled with apologies to the la of my own country the very talk of it So are we Jats all I will co of the Gods of the Hoood little Gods - be on you bothNow, son, we grow strong again Do not spit it out, little Princeling! King of'

HeThe la old soul of hih his narrow eyes

'To heal the sick is to acquire e That isely done, O Friend of all the World'

'I wasthe little play just ended; forgetting St Xavier's; forgetting his white blood; forgetting even the Great Game as he stooped, Mohammedan-fashi+on, to touch hisI owe to thee I have eaten thy bread three years My time is finished I am loosed from the schools I come to thee'

'Herein is my reward Enter! Enter! And is all well?' They passed to the inner court, where the afternoon sun sloped golden across 'Stand that I er a child, but aas a physician I did well - I did hen I gave thee up to the arht Dost thou remember our first day under Zam-Zammah?'

'Ay,' said Kie the first day I went to -'

'The Gates of Learning? Truly And the day that we ate the cakes together at the back of the river by Nucklao Aha! Many tied for thee'

'Good reason,' quoth Ki, and attired as a Sahib Do not forget, Holy One,' he went on playfully 'I am still a Sahib - by thy favour'

'True And a Sahib in h esteem Come to my cell, chela'

'How is that known to thee?'

The lama smiled 'First by means of letters from the kindly priest e one to his own country, and I sent the hton, who had succeeded to the trusteeshi+p when Father Victor went to England with the Mavericks, was hardly the Chaplain's brother 'But I do not well understand Sahibs' letters They must be interpreted to me I chose a surer way Many times when I returned from my Search to this Temple, which has always been a nest to htenment - a man from Leh - that had been, he said, a Hindu, but wearied of all those Gods' The lama pointed to the Arhats

'A fat man?' said Kim, a twinkle in his eye

'Very fat; but I perceived in a little his s - such as devils and chars in the monasteries, and by what road we initiated the novices Ain questions; but he was a friend of thine, chela He told me that thou wast on the road to much honour as a scribe And I see thou art a physician'

'Yes, that am I - a scribe, when I am a Sahib, but it is set aside when I come as thy disciple I have accomplished the years appointed for a Sahib'

'As it were a novice?' said the la his head 'Art thou freed from the schools? I would not have thee unripe'

'I am all free In due time I take service under the Government as a scribe -'

'Not as a warrior That is well'

'But first I cos for thee, these days?' he went on quickly The ice was thin

'Very often I beg myself; but, as thou knowest, I aain at my disciple From one end to another of Hind have I travelled afoot and in the te-rain A great and a wonderful land! But here, when I put in, is as though I were in my own Bhotiyal'

He looked round the little clean cell coave hied attitude of the Bodhisat e froh, set with copper tea-cups, was before him In one corner stood a tiny altar, also of heavily carved teak, bearing a copper-gilt ie of the seated Buddha and fronted by a lamp, an incense-holder, and a pair of copper flower- pots

'The Keeper of the IKis carry remembrance; and we must reverence the Lord for that He showed the Way See!' He pointed to a curiously-built mound of coloured rice croith a fantastic metal ornament 'When I was Abbot in e Idaily It is the Sacrifice of the Universe to the Lord Thus do we of Bhotiyal offer all the world daily to the Excellent Law And I do it even now, though I know that the Excellent One is beyond all pinchings and pattings' He snuffed froourd

'It is well done, Holy One,' Ki at ease on the cushi+ons, very happy and rather tired

'And also,' the old man chuckled, 'I write pictures of the Wheel of Life Three days to a picture I was busied on it - or it ht word of thee It is good to have thee here: I will show thee my art - not for pride's sake, but because thou must learn The Sahibs have not all this world's wisdoely scented yellow Chinese paper, the brushes, and slab of Indian ink In cleanest, severest outline he had traced the Great Wheel with its six spokes, whose centre is the conjoined Hog, Snake, and Dove (Ignorance, Anger, and lust), and whose compartments are all the Heavens and hells, and all the chances of human life Men say that the Bodhisat Hirains of rice upon dust, to teach His disciples the cause of things Many ages have crystallized it into a ures whose every line carries aFew can translate the picture- parable; there are not twenty in all the world who can draw it surely without a copy: of those who can both draw and expound are but three

'I have a little learned to draw,' said Kim 'But this is a marvel beyond marvels'

'I have written it for many years,' said the lahting and the next I will teach thee the art - after due preparation; and I will show thee theof the Wheel'

'We take the Road, then?'

'The Road and our Search I was but waiting for thee It was made plain to ht of the day that the Gates of Learning first shut that without thee I should never find ain, as thou knowest, I put this fro an illusion Therefore I would not take thee with me that day at Lucknoe ate the cakes I would not take thee till the time was ripe and auspicious Froone, but it was vain Then I remembered the Tataka'

He told Ki-iron, as he had told it so often to the Jam priests

'Further testimony is not needed,' he ended serenely 'Thou wast sent for an aid That aid reain together, and our Search sure'

'Whither go we?'

'What matters, Friend of all the World? The Search, I say, is sure If need be, the River will break froround before us I acquired ave thee the jewel that is Wisdom Thou didst return, I saw even now, a follower of Sakyamuni, the Physician, whose altars are ether, and all things are as they were - Friend of all the World - Friend of the Stars - my chela!'

Then they talked of matters secular; but it was noticeable that the lama never demanded any details of life at St Xavier's, nor showed the faintest curiosity as to the manners and customs of Sahibs His mind moved all in the past, and he revived every step of their wonderful first journey together, rubbing his hands and chuckling, till it pleased hie

Kim watched the last dusty sunshi+ne fade out of the court, and played with his ghost-dagger and rosary The clamour of Benares, oldest of all earth's cities awake before the Gods, day and night, beat round the walls as the sea's roar round a breakwater Now and again, a Jain priest crossed the court, with soes, and swept the path about hi A lamp twinkled, and there followed the sound of a prayer Kim watched the stars as they rose one after another in the still, sticky dark, till he fell asleep at the foot of the altar That night he drealish word

'Holy One, there is the child to e gave the , when the lariht'

'I a' He sat down on the cushi+ons and returned to his rosary 'Surely old folk are as children,' he said pathetically 'They desire a matter - behold, it must be done at once, or they fret and weep! Many times when I was upon the Road I have been ready to stamp with my feet at the hindrance of an ox-cart in the way, or atiful -'

'But thou art indeed old, Holy One'

'The thing was done A Cause was put out into the world, and, old or young, sick or sound, knowing or unknowing, who can rein in the effect of that Cause? Does the Wheel hang still if a child spin it - or a drunkard? Chela, this is a great and a terrible world'

'I think it good,' Kim yawned 'What is there to eat? I have not eaten since yesterday even'

'I had forgotten thy need Yonder is good Bhotiyal tea and cold rice'

'We cannot walk far on such stuff' Kim felt all the European's lust for flesh-meat, which is not accessible in a Jain te-bowl, he stayed his stoht the farht the fever broke and the sweat came,' he cried 'Feel here - his skin is fresh and new! He esteereed' He drew the cloth from the child's face, and it smiled sleepily at Kiathered by the temple door They knew, and Kim knew that they kne the old la courteous folk, they had not obtruded theesture Wherefore Kim repaid them as the sun rose

'Thank the Gods of the Jains, brother,' he said, not knowing how those Gods were named 'The fever is indeed broken'

'Look! See!' The laround upon his hosts of three years 'Was there ever such a chela? He follows our Lord the Healer'

Now the Jains officially recognize all the Gods of the Hindu creed, as well as the Lingam and the Snake They wear the Brahminical thread; they adhere to every claim of Hindu caste-law But, because they knew and loved the laht the Way, because he was their guest, and because he collogued long of nights with the head-priest - as free-thinking a metaphysician as ever split one hair into seventy - they murmured assent