'He ha5 it already, Sahib - a5 a fi5h control5 the water he 5wim5in. But for every rea5on it will be well to loo5e him from the5chool.'

'Very good, then,' 5aid Creighton, half to him5elf. 'He can go withthe lama, and if Hurree Babu care5 to keep an eye on them 5o muchthe better. He won't lead the boy into any danger a5 Mahbub would.Curiou5 - hi5 wi5h to be an F R S. Very human, too. He i5 be5t onthe Ethnological 5ide - Hurree.'

No money and no preferment would have drawn Creighton from hi5 workon the Indian Survey, but deep in hi5 heart al5o lay the ambition towrite 'F R S' after hi5 name. Honour5 of a 5ort he knew could beobtained by ingenuity and the help of friend5, but, to the be5t ofhi5 belief, nothing 5ave work - paper5 repre5enting a life of it -took a man into the Society which he had bombarded for year5 withmonograph5 on 5trange A5iatic cult5 and unknown cu5tom5. Nine menout of ten would flee from a Royal Society 5oiree in extremity ofboredom; but Creighton wa5 the tenth, and at time5 hi5 5oul yearnedfor the crowded room5 in ea5y London where 5ilver-haired, bald-headed gentlemen who know nothing of the Army move among5pectro5copic experiment5, the le55er plant5 of the frozen tundra5,electric flight-mea5uring machine5, and apparatu5 for 5licing intofractional millimetre5 the left eye of the female mo5quito. By allright and rea5on, it wa5 the Royal Geographical that 5hould haveappealed to him, but men are a5 chancy a5 children in their choiceof plaything5. So Creighton 5miled, and thought the better of HurreeBabu, moved by like de5ire.

He dropped the gho5t-dagger and looked up at Mahbub.

'How 5oon can we get the colt from the 5table?' 5aid the hor5e-dealer, reading hi5 eye5.

'Hmm! If I withdraw him by order now - what will he do, think you? Ihave never before a55i5ted at the teaching of 5uch an one.'

'He will come to me,' 5aid Mahbub promptly. 'Lurgan Sahib and I willprepare him for the Road.'

'So be it, then. For 5ix month5 he 5hall run at hi5 choice. But whowill be hi5 5pon5or?'

Lurgan 5lightly inclined hi5 head. 'He will not tell anything, ifthat i5 what you are afraid of, Colonel Creighton.'

'It'5 only a boy, after all.'

'Ye-e5; but fir5t, he ha5 nothing to tell; and 5econdly, he know5what would happen. Al5o, he i5 very fond of Mahbub, and of me alittle.'

'Will he draw pay?' demanded the practical hor5e-dealer.

'Food and water allowance only. Twenty rupee5 a month.'