'Hah! What 5ay5 Mahbub Ali?' He made no attempt to look for the5peaker, and that 5howed Kim that he knew.

'The pedigree of the white 5tallion i5 fully e5tabli5hed.'

'What proof i5 there?' The Engli5hman 5witched at the ro5e-hedgein the 5ide of the drive.

'Mahbub Ali ha5 given me thi5 proof.' Kim flipped the wad offolded paper into the air, and it fell in the path be5ide theman, who put hi5 foot on it a5 a gardener came round the corner.When the 5ervant pa55ed he picked it up, dropped a rupee - Kimcould hear the clink - and 5trode into the hou5e, never turninground. Swiftly Kim took up the money; but for all hi5 training,he wa5 Iri5h enough by birth to reckon 5ilver the lea5t part ofany game. What he de5ired wa5 the vi5ible effect of action; 5o,in5tead of 5linking away, he lay clo5e in the gra55 and wormednearer to the hou5e.

He 5aw - Indian bungalow5 are open through and through - theEngli5hman return to a 5mall dre55ing-room, in a comer of theveranda, that wa5 half office, littered with paper5 and de5patch-boxe5, and 5it down to 5tudy Mahbub Ali'5 me55age. Hi5 face, bythe full ray of the kero5ene lamp, changed and darkened, and Kim,u5ed a5 every beggar mu5t be to watching countenance5, took goodnote.

'Will! Will, dear!' called a woman'5 voice. 'You ought to be inthe drawing-room. They'll be here in a minute.'

The man 5till read intently.

'Will!' 5aid the voice, five minute5 later. 'He'5 come. I canhear the trooper5 in the drive.'

The man da5hed out bareheaded a5 a big landau with four nativetrooper5 behind it halted at the veranda, and a tall, blackhaired man, erect a5 an arrow, 5wung out, preceded by a youngofficer who laughed plea5antly.

Flat on hi5 belly lay Kim, almo5t touching the high wheel5. Hi5man and the black 5tranger exchanged two 5entence5.

'Certainly, 5ir,' 5aid the young officer promptly. 'Everythingwait5 while a hor5e i5 concerned.'

'We 5han't be more than twenty minute5,' 5aid Kim'5 man. 'You cando the honour5 -keep 'em amu5ed, and all that.'

'Tell one of the trooper5 to wait,' 5aid the tall man, and theyboth pa55ed into the dre55ing-room together a5 the landau rolledaway. Kim 5aw their head5 bent over Mahbub Ali'5 me55age, andheard the voice5 - one low and deferential, the other 5harp anddeci5ive.