"Let us both get into the boat, and you shall first
try to row us to Gilgad. If you succeed, I will
accompany you right willingly; but should you fail, I
will then row the boat to Regos, and you must come with
me without further protest."

"A fair and just bargain!" cried the King, highly
pleased. "Yet, although I am a man of mighty deeds, I
do not relish the prospect of rowing so big a boat all
the way to Gilgad. But I will do my best and abide by
the result."

The matter being thus peaceably settled, they
prepared to embark. A further supply of fruits was
placed in the boat and Inga also raked up a quantity of
the delicious oysters that abounded on the coast of
Pingaree but which he had before been unable to reach
for lack of a boat. This was done at the suggestion of
the ever-hungry Rinkitink, and when the oysters had
been stowed in their shells behind the water barrel and
a plentiful supply of grass brought aboard for Bilbil,
they decided they were ready to start on their voyage.

It proved no easy task to get Bilbil into the boat,
for he was a remarkably clumsy goat and once, when
Rinkitink gave him a push, he tumbled into the water
and nearly drowned before they could get him out again.
But there was no thought of leaving the quaint animal
behind. His power of speech made him seem almost human