At last they entered the mango-grove, walking heavily.

'It's here or hereabouts - officers' tents under the trees, I take
it, an' the rest of us can stay outside. Have they marked out for
the baggage-wagons behind?'

They cried again to their comrades in the distance, and the rough
answer came back faint and mellowed.

'Shove the flag in here, then,' said one.

'What do they prepare?' said the lama, wonderstruck. 'This is a
great and terrible world. What is the device on the flag?'

A soldier thrust a stave within a few feet of them, grunted
discontentedly, pulled it up again, conferred with his companion,
who looked up and down the shaded cave of greenery, and returned
it.

Kim stared with all his eyes, his breath coming short and sharp
between his teeth. The soldiers stamped off into the sunshine.

'O Holy One!' he gasped. 'My horoscope! The drawing in the dust by
the priest at Umballa! Remember what he said. First come two -
ferashes - to make all things ready - in a dark place, as it is
always at the beginning of a vision.'

'But this is not vision,' said the lama. 'It is the world's
Illusion, and no more.'