He was one insignificant person in all this roaring whirl of India , going southward to he knew not what fate . Presently the Colonel sent for him , and talked for a long time . So far as Kim could gather , he was to be diligent and enter the Survey of India as a chain-man . If he were very good , and passed the proper examinations , he would be earning thirty rupees a month at seventeen years old , and Colonel Creighton would see that he found suitable employment . Kim pretended at first to understand perhaps one word in three of this talk . Then the Colonel , seeing his mistake , turned to fluent and picturesque Urdu and Kim was contented . No man could be a fool who knew the language so intimately , who moved so gently and silently , and whose eyes were so different from the dull fat eyes of other Sahibs . ` Yes , and thou must learn how to make pictures of roads and mountains and rivers , to carry these pictures in thine eye till a suitable time comes to set them upon paper . Perhaps some day , when thou art a chain-man , I may say to thee when we are working together : `` Go across those hills and see what lies beyond . '' Then one will say : `` There are bad people living in those hills who will slay the chain-man if he be seen to look like a Sahib . '' What then ? ' Kim thought . Would it be safe to return the Colonel 's lead ? ' I would tell what that other man had said . ' ` But if I answered : `` I will give thee a hundred rupees for knowledge of what is behind those hills -- for a picture of a river and a little news of what the people say in the villages there '' ? ' ` How can I tell ? I am only a boy . Wait till I am a man . ' Then , seeing the Colonel 's brow clouded , he went on : ` But I think I should in a few days earn the hundred rupees . ' ` By what road ? '
XXXXX shook his head resolutely .
Creighton India Kim Sahib Sahibs Urdu chain-man day days old