'Ho, there, Friend of all the World,' he cried across the sharp-smelling smoke, 'what art thou ?' 'This Holy One's disciple,' said Kim.
'He says thou are a but [a spirit].' 'Can buts eat ?' said Kim, with a twinkle.

'For I am hungry.' 'It is no jest,' cried the lama.

'A certain astrologer of that city whose name I have forgotten--' 'That is no more than the city of Umballa where we slept last night,' Kim whispered to the priest.
'Ay, Umballa was it?
He cast a horoscope and declared that my chela should find his desire within two days.

But what said he of the meaning of the stars, Friend of all the World ?' Kim cleared his throat and looked around at the village greybeards.
'The meaning of my Star is War,' he replied pompously.
Somebody laughed at the little tattered figure strutting on the brickwork plinth under the great tree.

Where a native would have lain down, Kim's white blood set him upon his feet.
'Ay, War,' he answered.
'That is a sure prophecy,' rumbled a deep voice.