Lurgan Sahib had given him five rupees -- a splendid sum -- as well as the assurance of his protection if he worked . Unlike Mahbub , Lurgan Sahib had spoken most explicitly of the reward that would follow obedience , and Kim was content . If only , like the Babu , he could enjoy the dignity of a letter and a number -- and a price upon his head ! Some day he would be all that and more . Some day he might be almost as great as Mahbub Ali ! The housetops of his search should be half India ; he would follow Kings and Ministers , as in the old days he had followed vakils and lawyers ' touts across Lahore city for Mahbub Ali 's sake . Meantime , there was the present , and not at all unpleasant , fact of St Xavier 's immediately before him . There would be new boys to condescend to , and there would be tales of holiday adventures to hear . Young Martin , son of the tea-planter at Manipur , had boasted that he would go to war , with a rifle , against the head-hunters . That might be , but it was certain young Martin had not been blown half across the forecourt of a Patiala palace by an explosion of fireworks ; nor had he ... Kim fell to telling himself the story of his own adventures through the last three months . He could paralyse St Xavier 's -- even the biggest boys who shaved -- with the recital , were that permitted . But it was , of course , out of the question . There would be a price upon his head in good time , as Lurgan Sahib had assured him ; and if he talked foolishly now , not only would that price never be set , but Colonel Creighton would cast him off -- and he would be left to the wrath of Lurgan Sahib and Mahbub Ali -- for the short space of life that would remain to him . ` So I should lose Delhi for the sake of a fish , ' was his proverbial philosophy . It behoved him to forget his holidays -LRB- there would always remain the fun of inventing imaginary adventures -RRB- and , as Lurgan Sahib had said , to work . Of all the boys hurrying back to St Xavier 's , from Sukkur in the sands to Galle beneath the palms , none was so filled with virtue as Kimball O'Hara , jiggeting down to Umballa behind Hurree Chunder Mookerjee , whose name on the books of one section of the Ethnological Survey was R. 17 . And if additional spur were needed , the Babu supplied it . After a huge meal at Kalka , he spoke uninterruptedly . Was Kim going to school ? Then he , an M A of Calcutta University , would explain the advantages of education .
There were marks to be gained by due attention to Latin and Wordsworth 's Excursion -LRB- all this was Greek to XXXXX -RRB- .
Delhi Kim Manipur Patiala University days head-hunters left vakils war