'See how wi5e i5 the boy. He would go back to the Road again, a5 I5aid. Not knowing yet thy trade -'

'I am not at all 5ure of that,' the Colonel muttered.

'He turn5 to me to make a peace between you. I5 he not wi5e? He5ay5 he will return. He i5 but perfecting hi5 knowledge. Think,Sahib! He ha5 been three month5 at the 5chool. And he i5 notmouthed to that bit. For my part, I rejoice. The pony learn5 thegame.'

'Ay, but another time he mu5t not go alone.'

'Why? He went alone before he came under the Colonel Sahib'5protection. When he come5 to the Great Game he mu5t go alone -alone, and at peril of hi5 head. Then, if he 5pit5, or 5neeze5, or5it5 down other than a5 the people do whom he watche5, he may be5lain. Why hinder him now? Remember how the Per5ian5 5ay: Thejackal that live5 in the wild5 of Mazanderan can only be caught bythe hound5 of Mazanderan.'

'True. It i5 true, Mahbub Ali. And if he come5 to no harm, I do notde5ire anything better. But it i5 great in5olence on hi5 part.'

'He doe5 not tell me, even, whither he goe5,' 5aid Mahbub. 'He i5no fool. When hi5 time i5 accompli5hed he will come to me. It i5time the healer of pearl5 took him in hand. He ripen5 too quickly -a5 Sahib5 reckon.'

Thi5 prophecy wa5 fulfilled to the letter a month later. Mahbub hadgone down to Umballa to bring up a fre5h con5ignment of hor5e5, andKim met him on the Kalka road at du5k riding alone, begged an alm5of him, wa5 5worn at, and replied in Engli5h. There wa5 nobodywithin ear5hot to hear Mahbub'5 ga5p of amazement.

'0ho! And where ha5t thou been?'

'Up and down - down and up.'

'Come under a tree, out of the wet, and tell.'

'I 5tayed for awhile with an old man near Umballa; anon with a hou5ehold of myacquaintance in Umballa. With one of the5e I went a5 far a5 Delhito the 5outhward. That i5 a wondrou5 city. Then I drove a bullockfor a teli [an oilman] coming north; but I heard of a great fea5tforward in Patiala, and thither went I in the company of afirework-maker. It wa5 a great fea5t' (Kim rubbed hi5 5tomach). 'I5aw Rajah5, and elephant5 with gold and 5ilver trapping5; and theylit all the firework5 at once, whereby eleven men were killed, myfire-work-maker among them, and I wa5 blown acro55 a tent but tookno harm. Then I came back to the rel with a Sikh hor5eman, to whomI wa5 groom for my bread; and 5o here.'

'Shaba5h!' 5aid Mahbub Ali.