The Spider admitted that he had studied the ways of the ant.
"Good. There are strangers in the house of the ant."
"Oh yes; you mean what are called the 'cows' of the ants."
"Haw! That was the word given them by the white man who was here before. They enter the house of the ant, but out of it never do they pass."
"Is this, then, the house of the ant?" asked Mr. Hume, quietly.
The chief turned to the Hunter an impassive face. "My people can build ye good huts, and there are many places thereunder near running waters, with well-grown gardens. Choose which ye like, my brothers."
"We will examine and select," said Mr. Hume, with assumed unconcern.
"And what of Hassan?"
The chief rose. "He will return like the badger to a bee-tree when the bees have quieted down."
"And you wish to keep us to help you drive him from the honey again?
Is that it?"
The chief looked down upon the valley. "A child I came here, O great one; a boy I herded goats among the hills; and while yet other boys kept the birds off the grain, I went alone into the darkness of the woods beyond to seek the man-hunters. Now they seek me. Ye have helped in one great fight. All the time Muata has been at war—the hunter and the hunted."