Kim (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) - Rudyard Kipling [55]
‘Powers of Darkness below!’ said Father Victor, passing all over to Mr. Bennett. ‘Do you know what these things are?’
‘Yes,’ said Kim. ‘They are mine, and I want to go away.’
‘I do not quite understand,’ said Mr. Bennett. ‘He probably brought them on purpose. It may be a begging trick of some kind.’
‘I never saw a beggar less anxious to stay with his company, then. There’s the makings of a gay mystery here. Ye believe in Providence, Bennett?’
‘I hope so.’
‘Well, I believe in miracles, so it comes to the same thing. Powers of Darkness! Kimball O’Hara! And his son! But then he’s a native, and I saw Kimball married myself to Annie Shott. How long have you had these things, boy?’
‘Ever since I was a little baby.’
Father Victor stepped forward quickly and opened the front of Kim’s upper garment. ‘You see, Bennett, he’s not very black. What’s your name?’
‘Kim.’
‘Or Kimball?’
‘Perhaps. Will you let me go away?’
‘What else?’
‘They call me Kim Rishti ke. That is Kim of the Rishti.’
‘What is that—“Rishti”?’
‘Eye-rishti-that was the Regiment—my father’s.’
‘Irish—oh, I see.’
‘Yess. That was how my father told me. My father, he has lived.’
‘Has lived where?’
‘Has lived. Of course he is dead-gone-out.’
‘Oh! That’s your abrupt way of putting it, is it?’
Bennett interrupted. ‘It is possible I have done the boy an injustice. He is certainly white, though evidently neglected. I am sure I must have bruised him. I do not think spirits——’
‘Get him a glass of sherry, then, and let him squat on the cot. Now, Kim,’ continued Father Victor, ‘no one is going to hurt you. Drink that down and tell us about yourself. The truth, if you’ve no objection.’
Kim coughed a little as he put down the empty glass, and considered. This seemed a time for caution and fancy. Small boys who prowl about camps are generally turned out after a whipping. But he had received no stripes; the amulet was evidently working in his favour, and it looked as though the Umballa horoscope and the few words that he could remember of his father’s maunderings fitted in most miraculously. Else why did the fat padre seem so impressed, and why the glass of hot yellow drink from the lean one?
‘My father, he is dead in Lahore city since I was very little. The woman, she kept kabarri152 shop near where the hire-carriages are.’ Kim began with a plunge, not quite sure how far the truth would serve him.
‘Your mother?’
‘No!—with a gesture of disgust. ‘She went out when I was born. My father, he got these papers from the Jadoo-Gher—what do you call that?’ (Bennett nodded) ‘because he was in—good-standing. What do you call that?’ (again Bennett nodded). ‘My father told me that. He said, too, and also the Brahmin who made the drawing in the dust at Umballa two days ago, he said, that I shall find a Red Bull on a green field and that the Bull shall help me.’
‘A phenomenal little liar,’ muttered Bennett.
‘Powers of Darkness below, what a country!’ murmured Father Victor. ‘Go on, Kim.’
‘I did not thieve. Besides, I am just now disciple of a very holy man. He is sitting outside. We saw two men come with flags, making the place ready. That is always so in a dream, or on account of a—a—prophecy. So I knew it was come true. I saw the Red Bull on the green field, and my father he said: “Nine hundred pukka153 devils and the Colonel riding on a horse will look after you when you find the Red Bull!” I did not know what to do when I saw the Bull, but I went away and I came again when it was dark. I wanted to see the Bull again, and I saw the Bull again with the—the Sahibs praying to it. I think the Bull shall help me. The holy man said so too. He is sitting outside. Will you hurt him, if I call him a shout now? He is very holy. He can witness to all the things I say, and he knows I am not a thief.’
‘ “Sahibs praying to a bull!” What in the world do you make of that?’ said Bennett. “‘Disciple of a holy man!” Is the boy mad?’
‘It’s O’Hara’s boy, sure enough. O‘Hara’s boy leagued