"I suppose you think you're clever, to pin me to the ground in this
manner. But when my friends, the other Kalidahs, come here, they'll
tear you to pieces for treating me this way."
"P'raps," remarked Cap'n Bill, coolly, as he chopped at the logs,
"an' p'raps not. When are your folks comin' here?"
"I don't know," admitted the Kalidah. "But when they DO come, you
can't escape them."
"If they hold off long enough, I'll have my raft ready," said Cap'n Bill.
"What are you going to do with a raft?" inquired the beast.
"We're goin' over to that island, to get the Magic Flower."
The huge beast looked at him in surprise a moment, and then it began
to laugh. The laugh was a good deal like a roar, and it had a cruel
and derisive sound, but it was a laugh nevertheless.
"Good!" said the Kalidah. "Good! Very good! I'm glad you're going
to get the Magic Flower. But what will you do with it?"
"We're going to take it to Ozma, as a present on her birthday."
The Kalidah laughed again; then it became sober. "If you get to the
land on your raft before my people can catch you," it said, "you will
be safe from us. We can swim like ducks, so the girl couldn't have
escaped me by getting into the water; but Kalidahs don't go to that
island over there."
"Why not?" asked Trot.
The beast was silent.
"Tell us the reason," urged Cap'n Bill.
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