d a night and a day,' Kim pleaded.

'No, ye don't!' Father Victor saw Kim edging towards the door, and
interposed a strong leg.

'I do not understand the customs of white men. The Priest of the
Images in the Wonder House in Lahore was more courteous than the thin
one here. This boy will be taken from me. They will make a Sahib of
my disciple? Woe to me! How shall I find my River? Have they no
disciples? Ask.'

'He says he is very sorree that he cannot find the River now any more.
He says, Why have you no disciples, and stop bothering him? He wants to
be washed of his sins.'

Neither Bennett nor Father Victor found any answer ready.

Said Kim in English, distressed for the lama's agony: 'I think if you
will let me go now we will walk away quietly and not steal. We will
look for that River like before I was caught. I wish I did not come
here to find the Red Bull and all that sort of thing. I do not want
it.'

'It's the very best day's work you ever did for yourself, young man,'
said Bennett.

'Good heavens, I don't know how to console him,' said Father Victor,
watching the lama intently. 'He can't take the boy away with him, and
yet he's a good man--I'm sure he's a good man. Bennett, if you give him
that rupee he'll curse you root and branch!'

They listened to each other's breathing--three--five full minutes.
Then the lama raised his head, and looked forth across them into space
and emptiness.

'And I am a Follower of the Way,' he said bitterly. 'The sin is mine
and the punishment is mine. I made believe to myself for now I see it
was but make-belief--that thou wast sent to me to aid in the Search.
So my heart went out to thee for thy charity and thy courtesy and the
wisdom of thy little years. But those who follow the Way must permit
not the fire of any desire or attachment, for that is all Illusion. As
says ...' He quoted an old, old Chinese text, backed it with another,
and reinforced these with a third. 'I stepped aside from the Way, my
chela. It was no fault of thine. I delighted in the sight of life,
the new people upon the roads, and in thy joy at seeing these things.
I was pleased with thee who should have considered my Search and my
Search alone. Now I am sorrowful because thou art taken away and my
River is far from me. It is the Law which I have broken!'

'Powers of Darkness below!' said Father Victor, who, wise in the
confessional, heard the pain in every sentence.

'I se