Next morning, therefore, we rose early, and sent a messenger over to the people who had the tusk, inquiring why they had not sent it over the day before as they had promised. The messenger returned saying that they were close behind him bringing the ivory. We waited with what little patience we could muster till nearly midday, when a deputation of elders turned up leading a withered, tottering skeleton, which on closer inspection proved to be an extremely ancient native. He looked more like a fossil than a human being, but, as we found, he still possessed, in a high degree, the native cunning and keenness in a bargain. The deputation carefully seated the fossil before us, and, grouping themselves respectfully round it, relapsed into a dead silence, only interrupted by the clicking of their jaws as they chewed their everlasting twigs. The fossil moved, woke up, and for some time gazed at us out of its bleared eyes, expectorating thoughtfully at intervals, while we in turn looked at it with some interest. After we had satisfied our mutual curiosity we spoke to the fossil, politely inquiring its errand. It gazed at us once more, expectorated, coughed, and announced that it was the owner of the much-disputed tusk, and had come to arrange the purchase price! “What!” we cried, “is this tusk owned by a syndicate? We have already had two ‘shauries,’ and wasted two days over it. Who _is_ the owner, anyhow?” The deputation assured us, with the utmost simplicity that _this_ was the _real_ owner; the other two were _only friends_. We resigned ourselves to the inevitable, and prepared to engineer yet another bargain. The fossil again condescended to speak, and declared that the precious tusk should not go out of his possession except in exchange for one very good cow, and three female sheep with lambs! We refused to entertain any such advance on the original price, and the matter was discussed with considerable animation and some heat for an hour or more. At the end of that time, when our patience was almost at vanishing-point, we agreed on a compromise. We argued that we had not yet seen the tusk, and consequently did not know if it was really as good as it was represented to be. We would therefore send a man over to their village, and on his return with a favourable report would give the price last demanded. On the contrary, if it were not such a good tusk as we had been led to believe, we would only give the original price asked. This plan they eventually agreed to. Resarse ben Shokar was ordered to accompany them to their village and report on the ivory.