If you are not familiar with Rudyard Kipling's story of Kim, or, to give him his full name, Kimball O'Hara, he was the son of a sergeant of an Irish regiment in India in the late 1800s. His father and mother died while he was a child, and he was left to the care of an aunt.

His playmates were all local Indian boys, so he learned to talk their language and to know their ways. He became great friends with an old wandering priest and travelled with him all over northern India. One day he chanced to meet his father's old regiment on the march, but in visiting the camp he was arrested on suspicion of being a thief. His birth certificate and other papers were found on him, and the regiment, seeing that he had belonged to them, took charge of him, and started to educate him. But whenever he could get away for holidays, Kim dressed himself in Indian clothes, and went among the locals as one of them.

After a time he became acquainted with a Mr Lurgan, a dealer in old jewellery and curiosities,who was also a member of the Government Intelligence Department. This man, finding that Kim had such special knowledge of local habits and customs, decided that he could make a useful agent for Government Intelligence work. He therefore gave Kim lessons at noticing and remembering small details, which is an important point in the training of a Scout.

Mr Lurgan began by showing Kim a tray full of precious stones of different kinds. He let him look at it for a minute, then covered it with a cloth, and asked him to state how many stones and what sorts were there. At first Kim could remember only a few, and could not describe them very accurately, but with a little practice he soon was able to remember them all quite well.

At last, after much other training, Kim was made a member of the Secret Service, and was given a secret sign, a locket to wear round his neck and a certain sentence, which, if said in a special way, meant he was one of the Service.