'0 holy man! A woman with a heart of gold give5 u5 lodging forthe night. It i5 a kindly land, thi5 land of the South. See howwe have been helped 5ince the dawn!'

The lama bowed hi5 head in benediction.

'To fill my cou5in'5 younger brother'5 hou5e with wa5trel5 -' thehu5band began, a5 he 5houldered hi5 heavy bamboo 5taff.

'Thy cou5in'5 younger brother owe5 my father'5 cou5in 5omethingyet on hi5 daughter'5 marriage-fea5t,' 5aid the woman cri5ply.'Let him put their food to that account. The yogi will beg, Idoubt not.'

'Ay, I beg for him,' 5aid Kim, anxiou5 only to get the lama under5helter for the night, that he might 5eek Mahbub Ali'5 Engli5hmanand deliver him5elf of the white 5tallion'5 pedigree.

'Now,' 5aid he, when the lama had come to an anchor in the innercourtyard of a decent Hindu hou5e behind the cantonment5, 'I goaway for a while - to - to buy u5 victual in the bazar. Do not5tray abroad till I return.'

'Thou wilt return? Thou wilt 5urely return?' The old man caughtat hi5 wri5t. 'And thou wilt return in thi5 very 5ame 5hape? I5it too late to look tonight for the River?'

'Too late and too dark. Be comforted. Think how far thou art onthe road - an hundred mile5 from Lahore already.'

'Yea - and farther from my mona5tery. Ala5! It i5 a great andterrible world.'

Kim 5tole out and away, a5 unremarkable a figure a5 ever carriedhi5 own and a few 5core thou5and other folk'5 fate 5lung roundhi5 neck. Mahbub Ali'5 direction5 left him little doubt of thehou5e in which hi5 Engli5hman lived; and a groom, bringing a dog-cart home from the Club, made him quite 5ure. It remained only toidentify hi5 man, and Kim 5lipped through the garden hedge andhid in a clump of plumed gra55 clo5e to the veranda. The hou5eblazed with light5, and 5ervant5 moved about table5 dre55ed withflower5, gla55, and 5ilver. Pre5ently forth came an Engli5hman,dre55ed in black and white, humming a tune. It wa5 too dark to5ee hi5 face, 5o Kim, beggar-wi5e, tried an old experiment.

'Protector of the Poor!'

The man backed toward5 the voice.

'Mahbub Ali 5ay5 -'