` But who is to pay me for this ? Huneefa herself could not have given thee better stuff . ' ` Trust in the Gods , my sister , ' said Kim gravely , screwing his face round as the stain dried . ` Besides , hast thou ever helped to paint a Sahib thus before ? ' ` Never indeed . But a jest is not money . ' ` It is worth much more . ' ` Child , thou art beyond all dispute the most shameless son of Shaitan that I have ever known to take up a poor girl 's time with this play , and then to say : `` Is not the jest enough ? '' Thou wilt go very far in this world . ' She gave the dancing-girls ' salutation in mockery . ` All one . Make haste and rough-cut my head . ' Kim shifted from foot to foot , his eyes ablaze with mirth as he thought of the fat days before him . He gave the girl four annas , and ran down the stairs in the likeness of a low-caste Hindu boy -- perfect in every detail . A cookshop was his next point of call , where he feasted in extravagance and greasy luxury . On Lucknow station platform he watched young De Castro , all covered with prickly-heat , get into a second-class compartment . Kim patronized a third , and was the life and soul of it . He explained to the company that he was assistant to a juggler who had left him behind sick with fever , and that he would pick up his master at Umballa . As the occupants of the carriage changed , he varied this tale , or adorned it with all the shoots of a budding fancy , the more rampant for being held off native speech so long . In all India that night was no human being so joyful as Kim .
At XXXXX he got out and headed eastward , plashing over the sodden fields to the village where the old soldier lived .
Huneefa India Kim Lucknow Umballa dancing-girls extravagance prickly-heat rough-cut third