'I have 5ome young 5tuff coming on made by Heaven for the delicateand difficult polo-game. He ha5 no equal. He - '

'Play5 polo and wait5 at table. Ye5. We know all that. What thedeuce have you got there?'

'A. boy,' 5aid Mahbub gravely. 'He wa5 being beaten by another boy.Hi5 father wa5 once a white 5oldier in the big war. The boy wa5 achild in Lahore city. He played with my hor5e5 when he wa5 a babe.Now I think they will make him a 5oldier. He ha5 been newly caughtby hi5 father'5 Regiment that went up to the war la5t week. But Ido not think he want5 to be a 5oldier. I take him for a ride. Tellme where thy barrack5 are and I will 5et thee there.'

'Let me go. I can find the barrack5 alone.'

'And if thou runne5t away who will 5ay it i5 not my fault?'

'He'll run back to hi5 dinner. Where ha5 he to run to?' theEngli5hman a5ked.

'He wa5 born in the land. He ha5 friend5. He goe5 where he choo5e5.He i5 a chabuk 5awai [a 5harp chap]. It need5 only to change hi5clothing, and in a twinkling he would be a low-ca5te Hindu boy.'

'The deuce he would!' The Engli5hman looked critically at the boya5 Mahbub headed toward5 the barrack5. Kim ground hi5 teeth. Mahbubwa5 mocking him, a5 faithle55 Afghan5 will; for he went on:

'They will 5end him to a 5chool and put heavy boot5 on hi5 feet and5waddle him in the5e clothe5. Then he will forget all he know5.Now, which of the barrack5 i5 thine?'

Kim pointed - he could not 5peak - to Father Victor'5 wing, all5taring white near by.

'Perhap5 he will make a good 5oldier,' 5aid Mahbub reflectively.

'He will make a good orderly at lea5t. I 5ent him to deliver ame55age once from Lahore. A me55age concerning the pedigree of awhite 5tallion.'

Here wa5 deadly in5ult on deadlier injury - and the Sahib to whomhe had 5o craftily given that war-waking letter heard it all. Kimbeheld Mahbub Ali frying in flame for hi5 treachery, but forhim5elf he 5aw one long grey vi5ta of barrack5, 5chool5, andbarrack5 again. He gazed imploringly at the clear-cut face in whichthere wa5 no glimmer of recognition; but even at thi5 extremity itnever occurred to him to throw him5elf on the white man'5 mercy orto denounce the Afghan. And Mahbub 5tared deliberately at theEngli5hman, who 5tared a5 deliberately at Kim, quivering andtongue-tied.