“And were fire worshipers.”
“Is that so?”
“And I have learned their language.”
“Have you, really?”
“I thought they were extinct.”
“Not by any means; they are as thick as blackberries on a bramble bush, and as lively as June bugs.”
By talking in this fashion, Max succeeded in making Ibrahim vexed, and that was the very best thing for his mind.
When his temper had cooled a little, Ibrahim became calm, and then Max told him how they had been rescued.
“They think we are from the storm gods, and so we must be, or they must think so, and we shall be safe. Once let them get any other idea into their ugly heads, and we shall be made into soup.”
“The Gondos never eat meat,” said Ibrahim, taking Max to mean what he said in a literal sense.