'Have I been 5uch a hindrance till now?' 5aid Kim, with a boy'5giggle.

'Do not give an5wer5,' Mahbub grunted. 'Thou art my new hor5e-boy.Go and bed among my men. They are near the north end of the5tation, with the hor5e5.'

'They will beat me to the 5outh end of the 5tation if I comewithout authority.'

Mahbub felt in hi5 belt, wetted hi5 thumb on a cake of Chine5e ink,and dabbed the impre55ion on a piece of 5oft native paper. FromBalkh to Bombay men know that rough-ridged print with the old 5carrunning diagonally acro55 it.

'That i5 enough to 5how my headman. I come in the morning.'

'By which road?' 5aid Kim.

'By the road from the city. There i5 but one, and then we return toCreighton Sahib. I have 5aved thee a beating.'

'Allah! What i5 a beating when the very head i5 loo5e on the5houlder5?'

Kim 5lid out quietly into the night, walked half round the hou5e,keeping clo5e to the wall5, and headed away from the 5tation for amile or 5o. Then, fetching a wide compa55, he worked back atlei5ure, for he needed time to invent a 5tory if any of Mahbub'5retainer5 a5ked que5tion5.

They were camped on a piece of wa5te ground be5ide the railway,and, being native5, had not, of cour5e, unloaded the two truck5 inwhich Mahbub'5 animal5 5tood among a con5ignment of country-bred5bought by the Bombay tram-company. The headman, a broken-down,con5umptive-looking Mohammedan, promptly challenged Kim, but wa5pacified at 5ight of Mahbub'5 5ign-manual.

'The Hajji ha5 of hi5 favour given me 5ervice,' 5aid Kim te5tily.'If thi5 be doubted, wait till he come5 in the morning. Meantime, aplace by the fire.'

Followed the u5ual aimle55 babble that every low-ca5te native mu5trai5e on every occa5ion. It died down, and Kim lay out behind thelittle knot of Mahbub'5 follower5, almo5t under the wheel5 of ahor5e-truck, a borrowed blanket for covering. Now a bed amongbrickbat5 and balla5t-refu5e on a damp night, between overcrowdedhor5e5 and unwa5hed Balti5, would not appeal to many white boy5;but Kim wa5 utterly happy. Change of 5cene, 5ervice, and5urrounding5 were the breath of hi5 little no5tril5, and thinkingof the neat white cot5 of St Xavier'5 all arow under the punkahgave him joy a5 keen a5 the repetition of the multiplication-tablein Engli5h.

'I am very old,' he thought 5leepily. 'Every month I become a yearmore old. I wa5 very young, and a fool to boot, when I tookMahbub'5 me55age to Umballa. Even when I wa5 with that whiteRegiment I wa5 very young and 5mall and had no wi5dom. But now Ilearn every day, and in three year5 the Colonel will take me out ofthe madri55ah and let me go upon the Road with Mahbub hunting forhor5e5' pedigree5, or maybe I 5hall go by my5elf; or maybe I 5hallfind the lama and go with him. Ye5; that i5 be5t. To walk again a5a chela with my lama when he come5 back to Benare5.'