sweeter by that tale of the Master and his Friend of All the World. We
would not leave him and his Wheel of Things, the River he sought in
simple faith, the trust he had in the charity of men, the message that
bade him seek release in Nirvana from the importunity of life quaintly
warring with instinctive gestures of delight and sympathy with all that
made life precious--we would not leave this exquisite story so soon,
were it not that it brings forward the imperishable side of Mr
Kipling's work to which we shall have shortly to return. _Kim_ bridges
the gap between the Indian stories and The _Jungle Book_, which means
that _Kim_ is all but the top of Mr Kipling's achievement.




V

SOLDIERS THREE

Mr Kipling's three soldiers--Mulvaney, Ortheris and Learoyd--are a
literary tradition. They are the Horatii and the Curatii, the three
Musketeers; Og, Gog and Magog; Captains Fluellin, Macmorris and Jamy;
Bardolph, Pistol and Nym. That Kipling's soldiers three are a literary
tradition is significant of their quality and rank as part of their
author's achievement. They belong rather to the efficient literary
workman who wrote the Simla tales than to the inspired author of the
Jungle books. Though we have run from the House of Suddhu to the
barrack-yard, we have not yet lost sight of Mr Kipling, decorator and
colourman in words. We shall find him conspicuously at work upon
Mulvaney, Ortheris and Learoyd. Where, at first, he seems most closely
to rub sleeves with the raw stuff of life we shall find him most aloof,