Kim had been kicked as far as single letters, but did not think well of them.
'I do not know anything.

Go away!' said Kim, scenting evil.

Hereupon the man caught him by the ear, dragged him to a room in a far-off wing where a dozen drummer-boys were sitting on forms, and told him to be still if he could do nothing else.

This he managed very successfully.
The man explained something or other with white lines on a black board for at least half an hour, and Kim continued his interrupted nap.

He much disapproved of the present aspect of affairs, for this was the very school and discipline he had spent two-thirds of his young life in avoiding.