Page:Kim - Rudyard Kipling (1912).djvu/160

136 should have been safe; and thou hast sold me back to the English. What price will they give thee for blood money?' 'A cheerful sort of young demon!' The Colonel bit his cigar, and turned politely to Father Victor.

'What are the letters that the fat priest is waving before the Colonel? Stand behind the stallion as though looking at my bridle!' said Mahbub Ali.

'A letter from my lama which he wrote from Jagadhir Road, saying that he will pay three hundred rupees by the year for my schooling.'

'Oho! Is the red lama of that sort? At which school?'

'God knows. I think it Nucklao.'

'Yes. There is a big school there for the sons of Sahibs—and half Sahibs. I have seen it when I sell horses there. So the lama also loved the Friend of all the World?'

'Ay; and he did not tell lies, or return me to captivity.'

'Small wonder the padre does not know how to unravel the thread. How fast he talks to the Colonel Sahib.' Mahbub Ali chuckled. 'By Allah!'—the keen eyes swept the verandah for an instant—'thy lama has sent what to me looks like a note of hand. I have had some small experience in hoondies. The Colonel Sahib is looking at it.'

'What good is all this to me?' said Kim wearily. 'Thou wilt go away, and they will return me to those empty rooms where there is no good place to sleep and where the boys beat me.'

'I do not think that. Have patience, child. All Pathans are not faithless—except in horseflesh.'

Five—ten—fifteen minutes passed, Father Victor talking energetically or asking questions which the Colonel answered.

'Now I've told you everything that I know about the boy from