` God knows . He is always buying horses which he can not ride , and 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-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 empty second-class next to Colonel Creighton 's first , and bade him farewell with genuine feeling . ` They 'll make a man o ' you , O'Hara , at St Xavier 's -- a white man , an ' , I hope , a good man . They know all about your comin ' , an ' the Colonel will see that ye 're not lost or mislaid anywhere on the road . I 've given you a notion of religious matters , -- at least I hope so , -- and you 'll remember , when they ask you your religion , that you 're a Cath ` lic .
Better say Roman XXXXX ` lic , tho ' I 'm not fond of the word . '
Cath Godlings India Mahbub Mary Sahibs Victor Xavier drummer-boys horse-dealer