There were the broken shards; there was the spilt water drying in the sun, and through the cracks of the veranda showed, all ribbed, the white house-wall below--and thrice twelve was thirty-six! 'Look! Is it coming into shape ?' asked Lurgan Sahib.
'But it is smashed--smashed,' he gasped--Lurgan Sahib had been muttering softly for the last half-minute.

Kim wrenched his head aside.

'Look! Dekho! It is there as it was there.' 'It is there as it was there,' said Lurgan, watching Kim closely while the boy rubbed his neck.

'But you are the first of many who has ever seen it so.' He wiped his broad forehead.
'Was that more magic ?' Kim asked suspiciously.

The tingle had gone from his veins; he felt unusually wide awake.
'No, that was not magic.