When Ike could give expression to his delight, he pulled Ulna in the direction of the fire, calling out the while:
"Tum along; tum along! you looks if yeh hadn't had nawthin' to eat foh years. We kin fix yeh. We kin stuff yeh with rabbits till yeh can't stan'; an' w'en dem's gone we knows de place whar we kin go an' git lots moah."
Ulna certainly did look famished, but true to himself, neither by word nor sign did he give expression to the sufferings he had passed through nor the agony of hunger he was now enduring.
The half of a cooked rabbit was left from the recent banquet, and Ulna had this placed in his hand and made to sit on a stone before the fire.
"Eat 'em allee up; me gettee nodle one, no time," said Wah Shin, who was never so happy as when he was cooking.
"Yes," urged Ike, "wade right in. Dar ain't no stint dis time. We've found de head-quahtahs ob all de rabbits, an' we ain't a gwine foh to be hungry no moah."
After all these expressions of hospitality and good will, Sam had a chance to say, as he took a seat beside Ulna.
"I thought I had seen you for the last time, but thank God you and all of us are saved to meet again."
"When I called 'farewell' to you," said Ulna, "I felt the end had come, but like the people of my tribe I did not give up——"
"Nevah give up de ship," interjected Ike.