` Lurgan Sahib and I will prepare him for the Road . ' ` So be it , then . For six months he shall run at his choice . But who will be his sponsor ? ' Lurgan slightly inclined his head . ` He will not tell anything , if that is what you are afraid of , Colonel Creighton . ' ` It 's only a boy , after all . ' ` Ye-es ; but first , he has nothing to tell ; and secondly , he knows what would happen . Also , he is very fond of Mahbub , and of me a little . ' ` Will he draw pay ? ' demanded the practical horse-dealer . ` Food and water allowance only . Twenty rupees a month . ' One advantage of the Secret Service is that it has no worrying audit . That Service is ludicrously starved , of course , but the funds are administered by a few men who do not call for vouchers or present itemized accounts . Mahbub 's eyes lighted with almost a Sikh 's love of money . Even Lurgan 's impassive face changed . He considered the years to come when Kim would have been entered and made to the Great Game that never ceases day and night , throughout India . He foresaw honour and credit in the mouths of a chosen few , coming to him from his pupil . Lurgan Sahib had made E. 23 what E. 23 was , out of a bewildered , impertinent , lying , little North-West Province man .
But the joy of these masters was pale and smoky beside the joy of Kim when St Xavier 's Head called him aside , with word that Colonel XXXXX had sent for him . '
Creighton Game India Kim Lurgan Sikh first months night years