` He will make a clever juggler when the old man is dead , ' muttered the priest to the headman . ` What new trick is this ? ' ' A sign . Give me a sign , ' thundered the old soldier suddenly . ` If there were war my sons would have told me . ' ` When all is ready , thy sons , doubt not , will be told . But it is a long road from thy sons to the man in whose hands these things lie . ' Kim warmed to the game , for it reminded him of experiences in the letter-carrying line , when , for the sake of a few pice , he pretended to know more than he knew . But now he was playing for larger things -- the sheer excitement and the sense of power . He drew a new breath and went on . ` Old man , give me a sign . Do underlings order the goings of eight thousand redcoats -- with guns ? ' ` No . ' Still the old man answered as though Kim were an equal . ` Dost thou know who He is , then , that gives the order ? ' ' I have seen Him . ' ` To know again ? ' ' I have known Him since he was a lieutenant in the topkhana -LRB- the Artillery -RRB- . ' ' A tall man . A tall man with black hair , walking thus ? '
XXXXX took a few paces in a stiff , wooden style .
Kim breath doubt headman juggler pice sake topkhana underlings war