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CHAPTER FIVE

The Red Bull

The following day the old lady’s group, which now included Kim and the lama, arrived early at the next resting-place. Kim decided to take a walk until sunset. He and the lama walked across the plain I until they came to a group of mango trees. Then, far away, Kim saw four men.

‘Soldiers. British soldiers!’ said Kim. ‘Let’s wait and see. Here, we can hide behind this tree.’

Soon, two of the four soldiers went into the group of mango trees. They were the advance-party of a regiment on the move. Each one carried long sticks with flags to mark their camp for the night. ‘Here, I imagine, will be the officers’ tents,’ said one of the soldiers and pushed a stick with a flag into the ground.

Kim stared. The two soldiers walked away into the afternoon sunshine.

‘Look, Holy One!’ shouted Kim, ‘Look! It’s my sign! The red bull on a green field! And just like my father said, two men came to prepare the way!’

He pointed to the flag. It was just an ordinary flag to mark camp for the regiment. But this regiment, called the Mavericks, had put their special sign on it: the great red bull on a background of green.

Soon there were men everywhere. They set up tents on the plain and under the mango trees. Then a group of servants came, and all around them a little town appeared as they watched!

‘Now, let’s go back to the resting-place. After we have eaten we will come again,’ said Kim.

As soon as dinner was finished, he and the lama went back to the mango trees.

‘Stay here behind this tree and I will go take a closer look in that tent,’ Kim said to the lama. He went very carefully up to a large tent. It was the tent where the officers ate their dinner. In the middle of the table was a golden bull. All the officers were standing. Each one held a glass in his hand and then said some words together. Kim did not understand that the bull was only the symbol of the regiment: he thought it was some kind of god.

After the drink, one of the men, the Reverend Arthur Bennett, decided to leave and go back to his tent to sleep. As he walked out, he fell over Kim, who was lying on his stomach.

‘Oh, a boy!’ he said and he grabbed I Kim. ‘Are you a thief? Do you know what we do to thieves?’

‘I am not a thief!’ cried Kim in English, but Bennett took him to his tent.

When they arrived in Bennett’s tent, Kim saw his chance to escape and started to run away. But Bennett grabbed him again, but this time he grabbed the little cloth bag. Its string broke and Bennett held it in his hand.

‘Oh, please give that back to me,’ cried Kim in English. ‘I did not steal! That is my charm! Oh please give it back to me.’

Bennett did not listen to Kim. Instead, he called for his colleague, Father Victor.

‘I want your advice,’ said Bennett. ‘I caught this boy. I think he is a thief, but he speaks English, which is very strange. This is his charm which he wants very much.’

‘A thief who talks English?’ said Father Victor. ‘Let’s open up his charm.’

First Father Victor saw the documents of the club. Then he saw Kim’s birth certificate. Kim’s father had written on it: ‘Look after the boy. Please look after the boy’- signing his name and the name and number of his regiment.

‘Do you know what these are?’ asked Father Victor.

‘Yes,’ said Kim. ‘They are mine and I want to go away.’

Father Victor opened up his shirt and said, ‘Look, Bennett, he is not so dark! This is the son of Kimball O’Hara, who was in this regiment! This is a miracle!’

‘Yes, maybe,’ said Kim, ‘but I am not a thief! My father told me to look for a red bull on a green field, and then nine hundred devils and a colonel will look after me. So, when I saw a room full of Sahibs praying to a bull I knew I was in the right place. The holy man agrees with me. He is outside. I am his disciple.’

‘Sahibs praying to a bull! Disciple of a holy man! Is the boy mad?’ said Bennett.

‘This is certainly O’Hara’s boy,’ said Father Victor. ‘Let’s talk to this holy man.’

Bennett and Kim went to bring back the lama, who came into the tent with dignity. The lama explained his search to the two men, and Kim explained what he had discovered to the lama: he, Kim, was actually a Sahib, and his father had been a member of this regiment. Then Father Victor explained that Kim must stay with them and go to school. This interested the lama greatly.

‘Do they give or sell learning among the Sahibs? Ask them,’ said the lama and Kim interpreted.

‘They say that you pay the teacher - but the Regiment will give that money. Why talk about this? I will escape tomorrow,’ Kim said to the lama in Hindustani. But the lama ignored Kim’s talk about escaping.

‘And if you pay more money you receive better learning?’ continued the lama. ‘Ask them how much a very good school costs.’

‘Well, the school called St Xavier’s in Lucknow costs three hundred rupees a year,’ said Father Victor.

Again Kim interpreted for the lama and said to Father Victor, ‘The lama wants you to write that name and the money on a piece of paper and give it to him.’

Father Victor did that.

The lama got up suddenly. ‘Now I am going to continue my search,’ he said, and left the tent.

Bennett said, ‘Now we will take you to the town of Sanawar, where you will live and go to school.’

‘You are not going to Sanawar. You are going to war!’ answered Kim.

‘Oh, I don’t think so. You are confused. This is an army, yes, but there is no war now,’ responded Bennett.

‘Yes, there is,’ continued Kim, because he wanted to impress these Sahibs. ‘When you arrive at Umballa you will be sent to war with eight thousand men.’

‘Incredible!’ said Father Victor.