The man bound himself with a great oath.
"Well,I will risk that much,"said Keawe,"for that can do no harm."And he paid over his money to the man,and the man handed him the bottle.
"Imp of the bottle,"said Keawe,"I want my fifty dollars back."And sure enough he had scarce said the word before his pocket was as heavy as ever.
"To be sure this is a wonderful bottle,"said Keawe.
"And now good-morning to you,my fine fellow,and the devil go with you for me!"said the man.
"Hold on,"said Keawe,"I don't want any more of this fun.Here,take your bottle back.""You have bought it for less than I paid for it,"replied the man,rubbing his hands."It is yours now;and,for my part,I am only concerned to see the back of you."And with that he rang for his Chinese servant,and had Keawe shown out of the house.
Now,when Keawe was in the street,with the bottle under his arm,he began to think."If all is true about this bottle,I may have made a losing bargain,"thinks he."But perhaps the man was only fooling me."The first thing he did was to count his money;the sum was exact -forty-nine dollars American money,and one Chili piece."That looks like the truth,"said Keawe."Now I will try another part."The streets in that part of the city were as clean as a ship's decks,and though it was noon,there were no passengers.Keawe set the bottle in the gutter and walked away.Twice he looked back,and there was the milky,round-bellied bottle where he left it.Athird time he looked back,and turned a corner;but he had scarce done so,when something knocked upon his elbow,and behold!it was the long neck sticking up;and as for the round belly,it was jammed into the pocket of his pilot-coat.