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When a year and a day had passed Keo began watching for the return of Gouie; but he did not come, then or ever afterwards. For the black man had made a bundle of his bracelets and shell necklaces and little gold ornaments and had traveled many miles into another country, where the ancient and royal tribe of hippopotamuses was unknown.
I will!" cried Gouie. "Swear it by the bones of your grandfather!" commanded Keo, remembering that black men have no tusks to swear by. And Gouie swore it by the bones of his grandfather. Then Keo swam to the black one, who clambered upon his back again.
Then he found the walls were higher than his head, and that he was a prisoner. So he laughed a little at his own misfortune, and the laughter soothed him to sleep, so that he snored all through the night until daylight came. When Gouie peered over the edge of the pit next morning he exclaimed: "Why, 'tis Ippi the Jolly One!"
So they paid the price and climbed to their seats, after which the foremost said: "Run, mud-wallower run!" And Keo ran as before and carried them to the mouth of Glinkomok's cave, and returned alone. But now Gouie became anxious to know the fate of his fellows, for he was the only black man left in his village. So he mounted the hippopotamus and cried: "Run, river-hog run!"
Gouie had counted the days and knew when to expect Keo; but he was astonished at the monstrous size to which his captive had grown, and congratulated himself on the wise bargain he had made. And Keo was so fat that Gouie determined to eat him that is, all of him he possibly could, and the remainder of the carcass he would trade off to his fellow villagers.
Gouie was much pleased, for he knew that in a year and a day Keo would be almost full grown. So he began digging away one end of the pit and filling it up with the earth until he had made an incline which would allow the hippopotamus to climb out.
So he took a knife and tried to stick it into the hippopotamus, but the skin was so tough the knife was blunted against it. Then he tried other means; but Keo remained unhurt. And now indeed the Jolly One laughed his most gleeful laugh, till all the forest echoed the "guk-uk-uk-uk-uk!" And Gouie decided not to kill him, since that was impossible, but to use him for a beast of burden.
Keo was so pleased when he found himself upon the surface of the earth again that he indulged in a merry fit of laughter, after which he said: "Good-by, Gouie; in a year and a day you will see me again." Then he waddled away toward the river to see his mother and get his breakfast, and Gouie returned to his village.
Keo recognized the scent of a black man and tried to raise his head high enough to bite him. 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!"
Keo returned alone to the village, and Gouie asked, with surprise: "Where are my brothers:" "I do not know," answered Keo. "I took them far away, and they remained where I left them." Gouie would have asked more questions then, but another crowd of black men impatiently waited to ride on the back of the laughing hippopotamus.
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