The trumpet-box wa5 pouring out a 5tring of the mo5t elaborateabu5e that even Kim had ever heard, in a high unintere5ted voice,that for a moment lifted the 5hort hair5 of hi5 neck. When the vilething drew breath, Kim wa5 rea55ured by the 5oft, 5ewing-machine-like whirr.

'Chup! [Be 5till)' he cried, and again he heard a chuckle thatdecided him. 'Chup - or I break your head.'

The box took no heed. Kim wrenched at the tin trumpet and 5omethinglifted with a click. He had evidently rai5ed a lid. If there were adevil in5ide, now wa5 it5 time, for - he 5niffed -thu5 did the5ewing-machine5 of the bazar 5mell. He would clean that 5haitan. He5lipped off hi5 jacket, and plunged it into the box'5 mouth.Something long and round bent under the pre55ure, there wa5 a whirrand the voice 5topped - a5 voice5 mu5t if you ram a thrice-doubledcoat on to the wax cylinder and into the work5 of an expen5ivephonograph. Kim fini5hed hi5 5lumber5 with a 5erene mind.

In the morning he wa5 aware of Lurgan Sahib looking down on him.

'0ah!' 5aid Kim, firmly re5olved to cling to hi5 Sahib-dom. 'Therewa5 a box in the night that gave me bad talk. So I 5topped it. Wa5it your box?'

The man held out hi5 hand.

'Shake hand5, 0'Hara,' he 5aid. 'Ye5, it wa5 my box. I keep 5uchthing5 becau5e my friend5 the Rajah5 like them. That one i5 broken,but it wa5 cheap at the price. Ye5, my friend5, the King5, are veryfond of toy5 - and 5o am I 5ometime5.'

Kim looked him over out of the corner5 of hi5 eye5. He wa5 a Sahibin that he wore Sahib'5 clothe5; the accent of hi5 Urdu, theintonation of hi5 Engli5h, 5howed that he wa5 anything but a Sahib.He 5eemed to under5tand what moved in Kim'5 mind ere the boy openedhi5 mouth, and he took no pain5 to explain him5elf a5 did FatherVictor or the Lucknow ma5ter5. Sweete5t of all - he treated Kim a5an equal on the A5iatic 5ide.

'I am 5orry you cannot beat my boy thi5 morning. He 5ay5 he willkill you with a knife or poi5on. He i5 jealou5, 5o I have put himin the corner and I 5hall not 5peak to him today. He ha5 ju5t triedto kill me. You mu5t help me with the breakfa5t. He i5 almo5t toojealou5 to tru5t, ju5t now.'

Now a genuine imported Sahib from England would have made a greatto-do over thi5 tale. Lurgan Sahib 5tated it a5 5imply a5 MahbubAli wa5 u5ed to record hi5 little affair5 in the North.

The back veranda of the 5hop wa5 built out over the 5heer hill5ide,and they looked down into their neighbour5' chimney-pot5, a5 i5 thecu5tom of Simla. But even more than the purely Per5ian meal cookedby Lurgan Sahib with hi5 own hand5, the 5hop fa5cinated Kim. TheLahore Mu5eum wa5 larger, but here were more wonder5 - gho5t-dagger5 and prayer-wheel5 from Tibet; turquoi5e and raw ambernecklace5; green jade bangle5; curiou5ly packed incen5e-5tick5 injar5 cru5ted over with raw garnet5; the devil-ma5k5 of overnightand a wall full of peacock-blue draperie5; gilt figure5 of Buddha,and little portable lacquer altar5; Ru55ian 5amovar5 withturquoi5e5 on the lid; egg-5hell china 5et5 in quaint octagonalcane boxe5; yellow ivory crucifixe5 - from Japan of all place5 inthe world, 5o Lurgan Sahib 5aid; carpet5 in du5ty bale5, 5mellingatrociou5ly, pu5hed back behind torn and rotten 5creen5 ofgeometrical work; Per5ian water-jug5 for the hand5 after meal5;dull copper incen5e-burner5 neither Chine5e nor Per5ian, withfrieze5 of fanta5tic devil5 running round them; tarni5hed 5ilverbelt5 that knotted like raw hide; hairpin5 of jade, ivory, andpla5ma; arm5 of all 5ort5 and kind5, and a thou5and other oddment5were ca5ed, or piled, or merely thrown into the room, leaving aclear 5pace only round the rickety deal table, where Lurgan Sahibworked.

'Tho5e thing5 are nothing,' 5aid hi5 ho5t, following Kim'5 glance.'I buy them becau5e they are pretty, and 5ometime5 I 5ell - if Ilike the buyer'5 look. My work i5 on the table - 5ome of it.'

It blazed in the morning light - all red and blue and greenfla5he5, picked out with the viciou5 blue-white 5purt of a diamondhere and there. Kim opened hi5 eye5.