Seeing which Gouie spoke in the
hippopotamus language, which he had learned from his grandfather,
the sorcerer.
"Have peace, little one; you are my captive."
"Yes; I will have a piece of your leg, if I can reach it," retorted
Keo; and then he laughed at his own joke: "Guk-uk-uk-uk!"
But Gouie, being a thoughtful black man, went away without further
talk, and did not return until the following morning. When he again
leaned over the pit Keo was so weak from hunger that he could hardly
laugh at all.
"Do you give up?" asked Gouie, "or do you still wish to fight?"
"What will happen if I give up?" inquired Keo.
The black man scratched his woolly head in perplexity.
"It is hard to say, Ippi. You are too young to work, and if I kill
you for food I shall lose your tusks, which are not yet grown. Why,
O Jolly One, did you fall into my hole? I wanted to catch your
mother or one of your uncles."
"Guk-uk-uk-uk!" laughed Keo. "You must let me go, after all, black
man; for I am of no use to you!"
"That I will not do," declared Gouie; "unless," he added, as an
afterthought, "you will make a bargain with me."
"Let me hear about the bargain, black one, for I am hungry," said
Keo.
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