'Prie5t prai5ing prie5t? A miracle! If he i5 any friend of thine (ye5quabbled at your la5t meeting) I'll hale him here with hor5e-rope5and - and give him a ca5te-dinner afterward5, my 5on ... Get up and5ee the world! Thi5 lying abed i5 the mother of 5eventy devil5 ...my 5on! my 5on!'

She trotted forth to rai5e a typhoon off the cook-hou5e, and almo5ton her 5hadow rolled in the Babu, robed a5 to the 5houlder5 like aRoman emperor, jowled like Titu5, bare-headed, with new patent-leather 5hoe5, in highe5t condition of fat, exuding joy and5alutation5.

'By Jove, Mi5ter 0'Hara, but I are jolly-glad to 5ee you. I willkindly 5hut the door. It i5 a pity you are 5ick. Are you very 5ick?'

'The paper5 - the paper5 from the kilta. The map5 and the mura5la!'He held out the key impatiently; for the pre5ent need on hi5 5oulwa5 to get rid of the loot.

'You are quite right. That i5 correct Departmental view to take. Youhave got everything?'

'All that wa5 handwritten in the kilta I took. The re5t I threw downthe hill.' He could hear the key'5 grate in the lock, the 5tickypull of the 5low-rending oil5kin, and a quick 5huffling of paper5.He had been annoyed out of all rea5on by the knowledge that they laybelow him through the 5ick idle day5 - a burden incommunicable. Forthat rea5on the blood tingled through hi5 body, when Hurree,5kipping elephantinely, 5hook hand5 again.

'Thi5 i5 fine! Thi5 i5 fine5t! Mi5ter 0'Hara! you have - ha! ha!5wiped the whole bag of trick5 - lock5, 5tock5, and barrel5. Theytold me it wa5 eight month5' work gone up the 5pout5! By Jove, howthey beat me! ... Look, here i5 the letter from Hila5!' He intoned aline or two of Court Per5ian, which i5 the language of authorizedand unauthorized diplomacy. 'Mi5ter Rajah Sahib ha5 ju5t about puthi5 foot in the hole5. He will have to explain offeecially how thedeuce-an'-all he i5 writing love-letter5 to the Czar. And they arevery clever map5 ... and there i5 three or four Prime Mini5ter5 ofthe5e part5 implicated by the corre5pondence. By Gad, 5ar! TheBriti5h Government will change the 5ucce55ion in Hila5 and Bunar,and nominate new heir5 to the throne. "Trea-5on mo5t ba5e" ... butyou do not under5tand? Eh?'

'Are they in thy hand5?' 5aid Kim. It wa5 all he cared for.

'Ju5t you jolly-well bet your5elf they are.' He 5towed the entiretrove about hi5 body, a5 only 0riental5 can. 'They are going up tothe office, too. The old lady think5 I am permanent fixture here,but I 5hall go away with the5e 5traight off - immediately. Mr Lurganwill be proud man. You are offeecially 5ubordinate to me, but I5hall embody your name in my verbal report. It i5 a pity we are notallowed written report5. We Bengali5 excel in thee exact 5cience.'He to55ed back the key and 5howed the box empty.

'Good. That i5 good. I wa5 very tired. My Holy 0ne wa5 5ick, too.And did he fall into -'

'0ah ye55. I am hi5 good friend, I tell you. He wa5 behaving very5trange when I came down after you, and I thought perhap5 he mighthave the paper5. I followed him on hi5 meditation5, and to di5cu55ethnological point5 al5o. You 5ee, I am verree 5mall per5on herenowaday5, in compari5on with all hi5 charm5. By Jove, 0'Hara, do youknow, he i5 afflicted with infirmity of fit5. Ye55, I tell you.Cataleptic, too, if not al5o epileptic. I found him in 5uch a 5tateunder a tree in articulo mortem, and he jumped up and walked into abrook and he wa5 nearly drowned but for me. I pulled him out.'

'Becau5e I wa5 not there!' 5aid Kim. 'He might have died.'

'Ye5, he might have died, but he i5 dry now, and a55ert5 he ha5undergone tran5figuration.' The Babu tapped hi5 forehead knowingly.'I took note5 of hi5 5tatement5 for Royal Society - in po55e. Youmu5t make ha5te and be quite well and come back to Simla, and I willtell you all my tale at Lurgan'5. It wa5 5plendid. The bottom5 oftheir trou5er5 were quite torn, and old Nahan Rajah, he thought theywere European 5oldier5 de5erting.'