But the man felt very sorry to think of giving his children to the Buso, and he went from place to place, hoping to find some friend who would help him.  All the time, the days of the falla ("time of contract”) were slipping by.  He could get nobody to help him.  Now it lacked only two of the nine days’ falla.  And while the children were asleep, Tuglay said to his wife, “Let us run away, and leave our babies here asleep, because to-morrow the Buso will come.”

Then Tuglay and Tuglibung ran away, and left their children.  They ran and ran until they reached the T’oluk Waig; but they could not get away from the falla.  The nine days of falla had caught up with them.

At home, the children woke up and found no mother and father there, and they began to cry.  They thought they would run after their parents.  So they left the house, and forded the river, and began to run.

When the nine days were up, the Buso came to Tuglay’s house for his pay.  When he found nobody at home, he ran after the children, carrying with him many iron axes and big bolos, and accompanied by a crowd of other buso.  In all there were three thousand buso,—­two thousand walking, and one thousand flying.  The children had the start; but the three thousand buso kept gaining on them, until they were close behind.

As they ran, the little boy said to his sister, “When we get to that field over there, where there are ripe bananas, you must not speak a word.”

But when they reached the banana-tree, the girl-child cried out, “Brother, I want to eat a banana.”

Then she ate a banana; but she felt so weak she could run no longer.  She just lay down and died.  Then the boy-child looked about for a place to put his sister’s body.  He looked at the fine branched trees, full of fruit, and saw that each single fruit was an agong, [61] and the leaves, mother-of-pearl.

To one of the trees, the boy said, “May I put my sister here?” And the tree said that he might do it.

Then the boy laid his sister on a branch of the tree, because the child was dead.

After this, the boy ran back toward the Buso who led the rest, and called out to him, “I’m going to run very fast.  Chase me now, and catch me if you can!”

So the boy ran, and the Buso chased him.  Hard pressed, the boy sprang toward a big rock, and shouted to it, “O rock, help me!  The Buso will catch me.”

“Come up!” said the rock, “I’ll help you, if I can.”

But when the boy climbed up, he found that it was not a rock, but a fine house, that was giving him shelter.  In that house lived the Black Lady (Bia t’ metum [62]), and she received the boy kindly.

As soon as the Buso came up to the rock, he smiled, and said, “The boy is here all right!  I’ll break the rock with my axe.”

But when he tried to break the rock with axe and poko, [63] the hard stone resisted; and the Buso’s tools were blunted and spoiled.