` Learn first -- teach later , ' said Lurgan Sahib . ` Is he thy master ? ' ` Truly . But how is it done ? ' ` By doing it many times over till it is done perfectly -- for it is worth doing . ' The Hindu boy , in highest feather , actually patted Kim on the back . ` Do not despair , ' he said . ' I myself will teach thee . ' ` And I will see that thou art well taught , ' said Lurgan Sahib , still speaking in the vernacular , ` for except my boy here -- it was foolish of him to buy so much white arsenic when , if he had asked , I could have given it -- except my boy here I have not in a long time met with one better worth teaching . And there are ten days more ere thou canst return to Lucknao where they teach nothing -- at the long price . We shall , I think , be friends . ' They were a most mad ten days , but Kim enjoyed himself too much to reflect on their craziness . In the morning they played the Jewel Game -- sometimes with veritable stones , sometimes with piles of swords and daggers , sometimes with photo-graphs of natives . Through the afternoons he and the Hindu boy would mount guard in the shop , sitting dumb behind a carpet-bale or a screen and watching Mr Lurgan 's many and very curious visitors . There were small Rajahs , escorts coughing in the veranda , who came to buy curiosities -- such as phonographs and mechanical toys . There were ladies in search of necklaces , and men , it seemed to Kim -- but his mind may have been vitiated by early training -- in search of the ladies ; natives from independent and feudatory Courts whose ostensible business was the repair of broken necklaces -- rivers of light poured out upon the table -- but whose true end seemed to be to raise money for angry Maharanees or young Rajahs . There were Babus to whom Lurgan Sahib talked with austerity and authority , but at the end of each interview he gave them money in coined silver and currency notes . There were occasional gatherings of long-coated theatrical natives who discussed metaphysics in English and Bengali , to Mr Lurgan 's great edification . He was always interested in religions . At the end of the day , Kim and the Hindu boy -- whose name varied at Lurgan 's pleasure -- were expected to give a detailed account of all that they had seen and heard -- their view of each man 's character , as shown in his face , talk , and manner , and their notions of his real errand .
After dinner , Lurgan XXXXX 's fancy turned more to what might be called dressing-up , in which game he took a most informing interest .
Kim Lucknao Lurgan Sahib carpet-bale craziness curiosities days edification morning