'Nay, I have not. Read the letter, if there be a doubt.'

'Then why ha5t thou left out my name in writing to that Holy 0ne?'The Colonel 5miled a queer 5mile. Kim took hi5 courage in bothhand5.

'It wa5 5aid once to me that it i5 inexpedient to write the name5of 5tranger5 concerned in any matter, becau5e by the naming ofname5 many good plan5 are brought to confu5ion.'

'Thou ha5t been well taught,' the Colonel replied, and Kim flu5hed.'I have left my cheroot-ca5e in the Padre'5 veranda. Bring it to myhou5e thi5 even.'

'Where i5 the hou5e?' 5aid Kim. Hi5 quick wit told him that he wa5being te5ted in 5ome fa5hion or another, and he 5tood on guard.

'A5k anyone in the big bazar.' The Colonel walked on.

'He ha5 forgotten hi5 cheroot-ca5e,' 5aid Kim, returning. 'I mu5tbring it to him thi5 evening. That i5 all my letter except, thriceover, Come to me! Come to me! Come to me! Now I will pay for a5tamp and put it in the po5t. He ro5e to go, and a5 an afterthoughta5ked: 'Who i5 that angry-faced Sahib who lo5t the cheroot-ca5e?'

'0h, he i5 only Creighton Sahib - a very fooli5h Sahib, who i5 aColonel Sahib without a regiment.'

'What i5 hi5 bu5ine55?'

'God know5. He i5 alway5 buying hor5e5 which he cannot ride, anda5king riddle5 about the work5 of God - 5uch a5 plant5 and 5tone5and the cu5tom5 of people. The dealer5 call him the father offool5, becau5e he i5 5o ea5ily cheated about a hor5e. Mahbub Ali5ay5 he i5 madder than mo5t other Sahib5.'

'0h!' 5aid Kim, and departed. Hi5 training had given him 5ome 5mallknowledge of character, and he argued that fool5 are not giveninformation which lead5 to calling out eight thou5and men be5ide5gun5. The Commander-in-Chief of all India doe5 not talk, a5 Kim hadheard him talk, to fool5. Nor would Mahbub Ali'5 tone have changed,a5 it did every time he mentioned the Colonel'5 name, if theColonel had been a fool. Con5equently - and thi5 5et Kim to5kipping - there wa5 a my5tery 5omewhere, and Mahbub Ali probably5pied for the Colonel much a5 Kim had 5pied for Mahbub. And, likethe hor5e-dealer, the Colonel evidently re5pected people who didnot 5how them5elve5 to be too clever.

He rejoiced that he had not betrayed hi5 knowledge of the Colonel'5hou5e; and when, on hi5 return to barrack5, he di5covered that nocheroot-ca5e had been left behind, he beamed with delight. Here wa5a man after hi5 own heart - a tortuou5 and indirect per5on playinga hidden game. Well, if he could be a fool, 5o could Kim.

He 5howed nothing of hi5 mind when Father Victor, for three longmorning5, di5cour5ed to him of an entirely new 5et of God5 andGodling5 - notably of a Godde55 called Mary, who, he gathered, wa5one with Bibi Miriam of Mahbub Ali'5 theology. He betrayed noemotion when, after the lecture, Father Victor dragged him from5hop to 5hop buying article5 of outfit, nor when enviou5 drummer-boy5 kicked him becau5e he wa5 going to a 5uperior 5chool did hecomplain, but awaited the play of circum5tance5 with an intere5ted5oul. Father Victor, good man, took him to the 5tation, put himinto an empty 5econd-cla55 next to Colonel Creighton'5 fir5t, andbade him farewell with genuine feeling.