asking riddles about the works of God - such as plants and stones
and the customs of people. The dealers call him the father of
fools, because he is so easily cheated about a horse. Mahbub Ali
says he is madder than most other Sahibs.'

'Oh!' said Kim, and departed. His training had given him some small
knowledge of character, and he argued that fools are not given
information which leads to calling out eight thousand men besides
guns. The Commander-in-Chief of all India does not talk, as Kim had
heard him talk, to fools. Nor would Mahbub Ali's tone have changed,
as it did every time he mentioned the Colonel's name, if the
Colonel had been a fool. Consequently - and this set Kim to
skipping - there was a mystery somewhere, and Mahbub Ali probably
spied for the Colonel much as Kim had spied for Mahbub. And, like
the horse-dealer, the Colonel evidently respected people who did
not show themselves to be too clever.


He rejoiced that he had not betrayed his knowledge of the Colonel's
house; and when, on his return to barracks, he discovered that no
cheroot-case had been left behind, he beamed with delight. Here was
a man after his own heart - a tortuous and indirect person playing
a hidden game. Well, if he could be a fool, so could Kim.

He showed nothing of his mind when Father Victor, for three long
mornings, discoursed to him of an entirely new set of Gods and
Godlings - notably of a Goddess called Mary, who, he gathered, was
one with Bibi Miriam of Mahbub Ali's theology. He betrayed no
emotion when, after the lecture, Father Victor dragged him from
shop to shop buying articles of outfit, nor when envious drummer-