de,
By his serpents disobeyed,
By his clumsiness bewrayed,'
By the people mocked to scorn--
So 'tis not with juggler born!
Pinch of dust or withered flower,
Chance-flung fruit or borrowed staff,
Serve his need and shore his power,
Bind the spell, or loose the laugh!
But a man who, etc.

The Juggler's Song, op. 15

Followed a sudden natural reaction.

'Now am I alone--all alone,' he thought. 'In all India is no one so
alone as I! If I die today, who shall bring the news--and to whom? If I
live and God is good, there will be a price upon my head, for I am a
Son of the Charm--I, Kim.'

A very few white people, but many Asiatics, can throw themselves into a
mazement as it were by repeating their own names over and over again to
themselves, letting the mind go free upon speculation as to what is
called personal identity. When one grows older, the power, usually,
departs, but while it lasts it may descend upon a man at any moment.

'Who is Kim--Kim--Kim?'

He squatted in a corner of the clanging waiting-room, rapt from all
other thoughts; hands folded in lap, and pupils contracted to
pin-points. In a minute--in another half-second--he felt he would
arrive at the solution of the tremendous puzzle; but here, as always
happens, his mind dropped away from those heights with a rush of a
wounded bird, and passing his hand before his eyes, he shook his head.

A long-haired Hindu bairagi [holy man], who had just bought a ticket,
halted before him at that moment and stared intently.

'I also have lost it,' he said sadly. 'It is one of the Gates to the
Way, but for me it has been shut many years.'

'What is the talk?' said Kim, abashed.

'Thou wast wondering there in thy spirit what manner of thing thy soul
might be. The seizure came of a sudden. I know. Who should know but
I? Whither goest thou?'

'Toward Kashi [Benares].'

'There are no Gods there. I have proved them. I go to Prayag
[Allahabad] for the fifth time--seeking the Road to Enlightenment. Of
what faith art thou?'

'I too am a Seeker,' said Kim, using one of the lama's pet words.
'Though'--he forgot his Northern dress for the moment--'though Allah
alone knoweth what I seek.'

The old fellow slipped the bairagi's crutch under his armpit and sat
down on a patch of ruddy leopard's skin as Kim rose at the call for the
Benares train.

'Go in hope, little brother,' he said. 'It is a long road to the feet
of the One; but thi