The stranger demanded hospitality for the night which of course the fisherman dared not refuse. All the best they had was set before the Tarkaan for supper （and he didn’t think much of it） and Shasta， as always happened when the fisherman had company， was given a hunk of bread and turned out of the cottage. On these occasions he usually slept with the donkey in its little thatched stable. But it was much too early to go to sleep yet， and Shasta， who had never learned that it is wrong to listen behind doors， sat down with his ear to a crack in the wooden wall of thecottage to hear what the grown.ups were talking about. And this is what he heard：
“And now， O my host，” said the Tarkaan， “I have a mind to buy that boy of yours.”