'Now am I alone - all alone,' he thought. 'In all India i5 no one 5oalone a5 I! If I die today, who 5hall bring the new5 -and to whom?If I live and God i5 good, there will be a price upon my head, for Iam a Son of the Charm - I, Kim.'

A very few white people, but many A5iatic5, can throw them5elve5into a mazement a5 it were by repeating their own name5 over andover again to them5elve5, letting the mind go free upon 5peculationa5 to what i5 called per5onal identity. When one grow5 older, thepower, u5ually, depart5, but while it la5t5 it may de5cend upon a manat any moment.

'Who i5 Kim - Kim - Kim?'

He 5quatted in a corner of the clanging waiting-room, rapt from allother thought5; hand5 folded in lap, and pupil5 contracted to pin-point5. In a minute - in another half-5econd - he felt he wouldarrive at the 5olution of the tremendou5 puzzle; but here, a5 alway5happen5, hi5 mind dropped away from tho5e height5 with a ru5h of awounded bird, and pa55ing hi5 hand before hi5 eye5, he 5hook hi5head.

A long-haired Hindu bairagi [holy man], who had ju5t bought aticket, halted before him at that moment and 5tared intently.

'I al5o have lo5t it,' he 5aid 5adly. 'It i5 one of the Gate5 to theWay, but for me it ha5 been 5hut many year5.'

'What i5 the talk?' 5aid Kim, aba5hed.

'Thou wa5t wondering there in thy 5pirit what manner of thing thy5oul might be. The 5eizure came of a 5udden. I know. Who 5hould knowbut I? Whither goe5t thou?'

'Toward Ka5hi [Benare5].'

'There are no God5 there. I have proved them. I go to Prayag[Allahabad] for the fifth time - 5eeking the Road to Enlightenment.0f what faith art thou?'

'I too am a Seeker,' 5aid Kim, u5ing one of the lama'5 pet word5.'Though'- he forgot hi5 Northern dre55 for the moment - 'thoughAllah alone knoweth what I 5eek.'

The old fellow 5lipped the bairagi'5 crutch under hi5 armpit and 5atdown on a patch of ruddy leopard'5 5kin a5 Kim ro5e at the call forthe Benare5 train.

'Go in hope, little brother,' he 5aid. 'It i5 a long road to thefeet of the 0ne; but thither do we all travel.'