Kim Page #4

- No.

Thou must stay with thine own people.

Have I failed thee

that I'm taken from thee?

I have known many men

in my so long life...

and chelas not a few...

but to none among them

has my heart gone out as it has to thee.

Never have I seen

such a holy man as thou.

The days are few

since we took the road together...

yet it seems as though it were 100 years.

A blessing on thee.

I want you to promise me now

you'll not try to join him.

Cheer up.

We'll make a white boy of you

as soon as we get you to Umballa.

Umballa?

You're not going to Umballa,

you're going to war.

We're not going to war, Kim,

we're on maneuvers.

We do this twice a year.

You're going to war.

That's the only reason I stay with you.

Otherwise, do you think 1,000 sentries

would keep me from my holy man?

I say it is war, a war of 8,000 men.

The lancers, the artillery, and us Red Bulls.

Major Ainsley, sir.

Will you report to the Colonel

immediately, sir? We're breaking camp.

- What's going on, Shaughnessy?

- It's war, Your Reverence.

Orders to entrain tonight

for the Khyber Pass.

Powers of darkness!

How did you know, boy?

I forgot to tell you.

Among other things, I am a prophet.

- A Company!

- F Company!

D Company! Attention!

Kim's hope of going to war with his

father's regiment was soon doomed.

The timely movement of troops

to the border had again averted war...

and Kim found himself a prisoner

in the orphanage school...

in the barracks at Umballa.

In this problem,

we have two known factors...

"A" and "B."

"X," the unknown quantity,

is arrived at by...

This is the last straw, O'Hara.

I've tried to show you

kindness and tolerance.

But when you go to sleep right in my face,

something must be done about it.

You'll be confined to barracks.

What is your price for a short letter?

What manner of white man's son are you

to need a bazaar letter writer?

Is there not a schoolmaster

in the barracks?

What manner of an inquisitive goat

are you?

Thy mother was married under a basket.

Thy father was a sweeper of the stables.

Who are you...

dressed in that fashion

to speak in that fashion?

Write as I tell you.

Bad words have made the price higher.

First, my pay:

four annas.

That is the price for sahibs.

Now fix me a true price.

Anna and a half.

There's the matter of the stamp, too.

I pay no commission on that.

Now write.

To Mahbub Ali, the horse trader at Lahore.

Mahbub Ali! Wonder of wonders!

I came with the holy man

as far as Umballa.

There I delivered with great success

the news of the white...

- The news of the bay mare's pedigree.

- Slower, a little.

But I was seized...

by the soldiers of the Red Bull...

who put me to school.

The clothes are heavy.

My heart is heavy, too.

Come and help me...

or send me some money,

for I have not sufficient...

to pay the writer who writes this letter.

What? You haven't...

Devil take ye, O'Hara!

Ain't it hot enough around here...

without having to forage around

to find a scut like you?

If they don't skin you alive

when we get back, I'll do it myself.

Now march, you lunk,

or I'll twist it out of your socket.

The school is very terrible.

I beg you to help me, Mahbub Ali,

as I have helped you in the past.

- You helped me?

- You have a short memory.

I carried a message

all the way from Lahore to Umballa.

I send many messages. I cannot

well remember one from the other.

I was to meet you

on the Grand Trunk Road.

And I would earn rupees. Many rupees.

You belong with your people.

A true man, like a true horse,

runs with his breed.

Let me go, you faithless Afghan.

Selling me back to the soldiers...

what price will they give you

for blood money?

Cheerful young devil.

I will not pay you more than 150 rupees

for the mare.

Then regretfully, Colonel sahib,

I cannot sell her to you.

You have some strange friends,

young man.

I have but one, my holy man.

Please let me go to him.

All in good time, O'Hara.

You should know that, being a prophet.

A prophet?

You knew of the trouble up north

before the marching orders were out.

The night has many eyes, Colonel... sir.

Even a cat cannot see through a wall.

Yet, 'tis said,

"Even the wall has long ears. "

Or ventilators, O'Hara?

Powers of darkness!

Will you look at this now?

A native banker's note for 1,200 rupees...

and a signature good from here to China.

And read this.

It taxes my powers. How the devil...

Yes, he's the man I mean.

...can a wandering native beggar beg...

this sum of money

to educate a white boy?

You're going to St. Xavier's.

What do you think of that, young fellow?

The holy man said he would send

the money. Naturally, he has sent it.

I'd like to see the documents

you found around his neck.

- If you'll come inside, Colonel.

- Right.

Trust a frog before a rat,

and a rat before a snake...

and a snake before a Red Beard!

Children should not see a carpet on a loom

before the pattern becomes clear.

Believe me, friend of all the world,

I do you great service.

- They'll not make a soldier out of you.

- What good is all this to me?

You'll go away, and they will return me

to the school rooms.

I shall never see my holy man again.

Mahbub Ali, come in here

for a moment, please.

Sahib?

As regards that wild young horse

you captured...

Yes, sahib.

When a colt is born to be a polo pony...

I think it would be a crime

to bind him to a heavy cart.

Yes. I'll take him to be trained

for polo only.

But first of all, he must be schooled.

- And very well-schooled.

- I'm sure that when the time comes...

he'll be a credit to the Great Game.

This way, sahib.

Coachman!

This is a fair city, this Lucknow.

It is the center of all idleness,

intrigue and luxury.

- Drive me a little through the bazaar.

- Nay.

My order is to drive you

to St. Xavier's School.

Did you hear me, son of a snake?

Father of all thieves and robbers?

Drive me through the bazaar.

You infected descendant

of unspeakable slime!

Unspeakable slime?

That is good. That is very good.

Welcome, brother.

The sky is the same color

wherever you go.

I drive many young sahibs

to and from this school.

Devils all. But to speak the truth...

I have never seen one that had in him

the making of a better devil than you.

Is that the school?

Nice little building.

Stop!

I have waited here a day and a half.

Not that I was led

by any affection for thee...

but because I acquire merit

by helping thee to wisdom.

Surely, it was a little to see me

that you came.

It is a sin to be misled by affection.

That is not part of the way.

Thou art young and will soon forget me

and our meetings.

But I shall be eating your bread.

How can I forget you?

I am all alone in this land.

Do not go altogether away.

It is manifest that I shall acquire

additional merit by...

writing thee letters

and coming to see thee from time to time.

Much rather would I leave all this...

and go with you.

Do not grieve, my chela.

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