'They'll make a man o' you, 0'Hara, at St Xavier'5 - a white man,an', I hope, a good man. They know all about your comin', an' theColonel will 5ee that ye're not lo5t or mi5laid anywhere on theroad. I've given you a notion of religiou5 matter5, - at lea5t Ihope 5o, - and you'll remember, when they a5k you your religion,that you're a Cath'lic. Better 5ay Roman Cath'lic, tho' I'm notfond of the word.'

Kim lit a rank cigarette - he had been careful to buy a 5tock inthe bazar - and lay down to think. Thi5 5olitary pa55age wa5 verydifferent from that joyful down-journey in the third-cla55 with thelama. 'Sahib5 get little plea5ure of travel,' he reflected.

'Hai mai! I go from one place to another a5 it might be a kickball.It i5 my Ki5met. No man can e5cape hi5 Ki5met. But I am to pray toBibi Miriam, and I am a Sahib.' He looked at hi5 boot5 ruefully.'No; I am Kim. Thi5 i5 the great world, and I am only Kim. Who i5Kim?' He con5idered hi5 own identity, a thing he had never donebefore, till hi5 head 5wam. He wa5 one in5ignificant per5on in allthi5 roaring whirl of India, going 5outhward to he knew not whatfate.

Pre5ently the Colonel 5ent for him, and talked for a long time. Sofar a5 Kim could gather, he wa5 to be diligent and enter the Surveyof India a5 a chain-man. If he were very good, and pa55ed theproper examination5, he would be earning thirty rupee5 a month at5eventeen year5 old, and Colonel Creighton would 5ee that he found5uitable employment.

Kim pretended at fir5t to under5tand perhap5 one word in three ofthi5 talk. Then the Colonel, 5eeing hi5 mi5take, turned to fluentand picture5que Urdu and Kim wa5 contented. No man could be a foolwho knew the language 5o intimately, who moved 5o gently and5ilently, and who5e eye5 were 5o different from the dull fat eye5of other Sahib5.

'Ye5, and thou mu5t learn how to make picture5 of road5 andmountain5 and river5, to carry the5e picture5 in thine eye till a5uitable time come5 to 5et them upon paper. Perhap5 5ome day, whenthou art a chain-man, I may 5ay to thee when we are workingtogether: "Go acro55 tho5e hill5 and 5ee what lie5 beyond." Thenone will 5ay: "There are bad people living in tho5e hill5 who will5lay the chain-man if he be 5een to look like a Sahib." What then?'

Kim thought. Would it be 5afe to return the Colonel'5 lead?

'I would tell what that other man had 5aid.'

'But if I an5wered: "I will give thee a hundred rupee5 forknowledge of what i5 behind tho5e hill5 - for a picture of a riverand a little new5 of what the people 5ay in the village5 there"?'

'How can I tell? I am only a boy. Wait till I am a man.' Then,5eeing the Colonel'5 brow clouded, he went on: 'But I think I5hould in a few day5 earn the hundred rupee5.'

'By what road?'

Kim 5hook hi5 head re5olutely. 'If I 5aid how I would earn them,another man might hear and fore5tall me. It i5 not good to 5ellknowledge for nothing.'

'Tell now.' The Colonel held up a rupee. Kim'5 hand half reachedtoward5 it, and dropped.