d money.'

'That is the need of everyone,' said Mahbub ruefully. 'I will give
thee eight annas, for much money is not picked out of horses' hooves,
and it must suffice for many days. As to all the rest, I am well
pleased, and no further talk is needed. Make haste to learn, and in
three years, or it may be less, thou wilt be an aid--even to me.'

'Have I been such a hindrance till now?' said Kim, with a boy's giggle.

'Do not give answers,' Mahbub grunted. 'Thou art my new horse-boy. Go
and bed among my men. They are near the north end of the station, with
the horses.'

'They will beat me to the south end of the station if I come without
authority.'

Mahbub felt in his belt, wetted his thumb on a cake of Chinese ink, and
dabbed the impression on a piece of soft native paper. From Balkh to
Bombay men know that rough-ridged print with the old scar running
diagonally across it.

'That is enough to show my headman. I come in the morning.'

'By which road?' said Kim.

'By the road from the city. There is but one, and then we return to
Creighton Sahib. I have saved thee a beating.'

'Allah! What is a beating when the very head is loose on the
shoulders?'

Kim slid out quietly into the night, walked half round the house,
keeping close to the walls, and headed away from the station for a mile
or so. Then, fetching a wide compass, he worked back at leisure, for
he needed time to invent a story if any of Mahbub's retainers asked
questions.

They were camped on a piece of waste ground beside the railway, and,
being natives, had not, of course, unloaded the two trucks in which
Mahbub's animals stood among a consignment of country-breds bought by
the Bombay tram-company. The headman, a broken-down,
consumptive-looking Mohammedan, promptly challenged Kim, but was
pacified at sight of Mahbub's sign-manual.

'The Hajji has of his favour given me service,' said Kim testily. 'If
this be doubted, wait till he comes in the morning. Meantime, a place
by the fire.'

Followed the usual aimless babble that every low-caste native must
raise on every occasion. It died down, and Kim lay out behind the
little knot of Mahbub's followers, almost under the wheels of a
horse-truck, a borrowed blanket for covering. Now a bed among
brickbats and ballast-refuse on a damp night, between overcrowded
horses and unwashed Baltis, would not appeal to many white boys; but
Kim was utterly happy. Change of scene, service, and su