1、基姆英 吉卜林 著 第七章Chapter 7 Unto whose use the pregnant suns are poisedWith idiot moons and stars retracing stars?Creep thou betweenethy comings all unnoised.Heaven hath her high, as Earth her baser, wars.Heir to these tumults, this affright, that fraye(By Adams, fathers, own, sin bound alway);Peer up, d
2、raw out thy horoscope and sayWhich planet mends thy threadbare fate or mars?Sir John Christie.In the afternoon the red-faced schoolmaster told Kim that he had been struck off the strength, which conveyed no meaning to him till he was ordered to go away and play. Then he ran to the bazar, and found t
3、he young letter-writer to whom he owed a stamp. Now I pay, said Kim royally, and now I need another letter to be written. Mahbub Ali is in Umballa, said the writer jauntily. He was, by virtue of his office, a bureau of general misinformation. This is not to Mahbub, but to a priest. Take thy pen and
4、write quickly. To Teshoo Lama, the Holy One from Bhotiyal seeking for a River, who is now in the Temple of the Tirthankars at Benares. Take more ink! In three days I am to go down to Nucklao to the school at Nucklao. The name of the school is Xavier. I do not know where that school is, but it is at
5、Nucklao. But I know Nucklao, the writer interrupted. I know the school. Tell him where it is, and I give half an anna. The reed pen scratched busily. He cannot mistake. The man lifted his head. Who watches us across the street? Kim looked up hurriedly and saw Colonel Creighton in tennis-flannels. Oh
6、, that is some Sahib who knows the fat priest in the barracks. He is beckoning me. What dost thou? said the Colonel, when Kim trotted up. II am not running away. I send a letter to my Holy One at Benares. I had not thought of that. Hast thou said that I take thee to Lucknow? Nay, I have not. Read th
7、e letter, if there be a doubt. Then why hast thou left out my name in writing to that Holy One? The Colonel smiled a queer smile. Kim took his courage in both hands. It was said once to me that it is inexpedient to write the names of strangers concerned in any matter, because by the naming of names
8、many good plans are brought to confusion. Thou hast been well taught, the Colonel replied, and Kim flushed. I have left my cheroot-case in the Padres veranda. Bring it to my house this even. Where is the house? said Kim. His quick wit told him that he was being tested in some fashion or another, and
9、 he stood on guard. Ask anyone in the big bazar. The Colonel walked on. He has forgotten his cheroot-case, said Kim, returning. I must bring it to him this evening. That is all my letter except, thrice over, Come to me! Come to me! Come to me! Now I will pay for a stamp and put it in the post. He ro
10、se to go, and as an afterthought asked: Who is that angry-faced Sahib who lost the cheroot-case? Oh, he is only Creighton Sahiba very foolish Sahib, who is a Colonel Sahib without a regiment. What is his business? God knows. He is always buying horses which he cannot ride, and asking riddles about t
11、he works of Godsuch 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,
12、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 Alis tone have changed, as it did every time he mentioned the Colonels name, if the
13、Colonel had been a fool. Consequentlyand this set Kim to skippingthere 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
14、 that he had not betrayed his knowledge of the Colonels 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 hearta tortuous and indirect person playing a hidden game. Well, if he could be a fool, so
15、 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 Godlingsnotably of a Goddess called Mary, who, he gathered, was one with Bibi Miriam of Mahbub Alis theology. He betrayed no emotion when, after the lecture, Fa
16、ther Victor dragged him from shop to shop buying articles of outfit, nor when envious drummer-boys kicked him because he was going to a superior school did he complain, but awaited the play of circumstances with an interested soul. Father Victor, good man, took him to the station, put him into an em
17、pty second-class next to Colonel Creightons first, and bade him farewell with genuine feeling. Theyll make a man o you, OHara, at St Xaviersa white man, an, I hope, a good man. They know all about your comin, an the Colonel will see that yere not lost or mislaid anywhere on the road. Ive given you a
18、 notion of religious matters,at least I hope so,and youll remember, when they ask you your religion, that youre a Cathlic. Better say Roman Cathlic, tho Im not fond of the word. Kim lit a rank cigarettehe had been careful to buy a stock in the bazarand lay down to think. This solitary passage was ve
19、ry different from that joyful down-journey in the third-class with the lama. Sahibs get little pleasure of travel, he reflected. Hai mai! I go from one place to another as it might be a kickball. It is my Kismet. No man can escape his Kismet. But I am to pray to Bibi Miriam, and I am a Sahib. He loo
20、ked at his boots ruefully. No; I am Kim. This is the great world, and I am only Kim. Who is Kim? He considered his own identity, a thing he had never done before, till his head swam. He was one insignificant person in all this roaring whirl of India, going southward to he knew not what fate. Present
21、ly the Colonel sent for him, and talked for a long time. So far as Kim could gather, he was to be diligent and enter the Survey of India as a chain-man. If he were very good, and passed the proper examinations, he would be earning thirty rupees a month at seventeen years old, and Colonel Creighton w
22、ould see that he found suitable employment. Kim pretended at first to understand perhaps one word in three of this talk. Then the Colonel, seeing his mistake, turned to fluent and picturesque Urdu and Kim was contented. No man could be a fool who knew the language so intimately, who moved so gently
23、and silently, and whose eyes were so different from the dull fat eyes of other Sahibs. Yes, and thou must learn how to make pictures of roads and mountains and rivers, to carry these pictures in thine eye till a suitable time comes to set them upon paper. Perhaps some day, when thou art a chain-man,
24、 I may say to thee when we are working together: Go across those hills and see what lies beyond. Then one will say: There are bad people living in those hills who will slay the chain-man if he be seen to look like a Sahib. What then? Kim thought. Would it be safe to return the Colonels lead? I would
25、 tell what that other man had said. But if I answered: I will give thee a hundred rupees for knowledge of what is behind those hillsfor a picture of a river and a little news of what the people say in the villages there? How can I tell? I am only a boy. Wait till I am a man. Then, seeing the Colonel
26、s brow clouded, he went on: But I think I should in a few days earn the hundred rupees. By what road? Kim shook his head resolutely. If I said how I would earn them, another man might hear and forestall me. It is not good to sell knowledge for nothing. Tell now. The Colonel held up a rupee. Kims han
27、d half reached towards it, and dropped. Nay, Sahib; nay. I know the price that will be paid for the answer, but I do not know why the question is asked. Take it for a gift, then, said Creighton, tossing it over. There is a good spirit in thee. Do not let it be blunted at St Xaviers. There are many b
28、oys there who despise the black men. Their mothers were bazar-women, said Kim. He knew well there is no hatred like that of the half-caste for his brother-in-law. True; but thou art a Sahib and the son of a Sahib. Therefore, do not at any time be led to contemn the black men. I have known boys newly
29、 entered into the service of the Government who feigned not to understand the talk or the customs of black men. Their pay was cut for ignorance. There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this. Several times in the course of the long twenty-four hours run south did the Colonel send for Kim, alw
30、ays developing this latter text. We be all on one lead-rope, then, said Kim at last, the Colonel, Mahbub Ali, and Iwhen I become a chain-man. He will use me as Mahbub Ali employed me, I think. That is good, if it allows me to return to the Road again. This clothing grows no easier by wear. When they
31、 came to the crowded Lucknow station there was no sign of the lama. He swallowed his disappointment, while the Colonel bundled him into a ticca-gharri with his neat belongings and despatched him alone to St Xaviers. I do not say farewell, because we shall meet again, he cried. Again, and many times,
32、 if thou art one of good spirit. But thou art not yet tried. Not when I brought theeKim actually dared to use the turn of equalsa white stallions pedigree that night? Much is gained by forgetting, little brother, said the Colonel, with a look that pierced through Kims shoulder-blades as he scuttled into the carriage. It took him nearly five minutes to recover. Then he sniffed the new air appreciatively. A rich city,
