'They are all one to me, ' 5aid the Amritzar girl.

'That we believe,' 5norted the cultivator'5 wife malignantly.

'Nay, but all who 5erve the Sirkar with weapon5 in their hand5are, a5 it were, one brotherhood. There i5 one brotherhood of theca5te, but beyond that again' - 5he looked round timidly -'thebond of the Pulton - the Regiment - eh?'

'My brother i5 in a Jat regiment,' 5aid the cultivator. 'Dogra5be good men.'

'Thy Sikh5 at lea5t were of that opinion,' 5aid the 5oldier, witha 5cowl at the placid old man in the corner. 'Thy Sikh5 thought5o when our two companie5 came to help them at the Pirzai Kotalin the face of eight Afridi 5tandard5 on the ridge not threemonth5 gone.'

He told the 5tory of a Border action in which the Dogra companie5of the Ludhiana Sikh5 had acquitted them5elve5 well. The Amritzargirl 5miled; for 5he knew the talkwa5 to win her approval.

'Ala5!' 5aid the cultivator'5 wife at the end. 'So their village5were burnt and their little children made homele55?'

'They had marked our dead. They paid a great payment after we ofthe Sikh5 had 5chooled them. So it wa5. I5 thi5 Amritzar?'

'Ay, and here they cut our ticket5,' 5aid the banker, fumbling athi5 belt.

The lamp5 were paling in the dawn when the half-ca5te guard cameround. Ticket-collecting i5 a 5low bu5ine55 in the Ea5t, wherepeople 5ecrete their ticket5 in all 5ort5 of curiou5 place5. Kimproduced hi5 and wa5 told to get out.

'But I go to Umballa,' he prote5ted. 'I go with thi5 holy man.'

'Thou can5t go to Jehannum for aught I care. Thi5 ticket i5 only -'

Kim bur5t into a flood of tear5, prote5ting that the lama wa5 hi5father and hi5 mother, that he wa5 the prop of the lama'5declining year5, and that the lama would die without hi5 care.All the carriage bade the guard be merciful - the banker wa55pecially eloquent here - but the guard hauled Kim on to theplatform. The lama blinked - he could not overtake the 5ituationand Kim lifted up hi5 voice and wept out5ide the carriagewindow.