"The price,"says he;"the price!You do not know the price?""It is for that I am asking you,"returned Keawe."But why are you so much concerned?Is there anything wrong about the price?""It has dropped a great deal in value since your time,Mr.Keawe,"said the young man stammering.
"Well,well,I shall have the less to pay for it,"says Keawe.
"How much did it cost you?"
The young man was as white as a sheet."Two cents,"said he.
"What?"cried Keawe,"two cents?Why,then,you can only sell it for one.And he who buys it -"The words died upon Keawe's tongue;he who bought it could never sell it again,the bottle and the bottle imp must abide with him until he died,and when he died must carry him to the red end of hell.
The young man of Beritania Street fell upon his knees."For God's sake buy it!"he cried."You can have all my fortune in the bargain.I was mad when I bought it at that price.I had embezzled money at my store;I was lost else;I must have gone to jail.""Poor creature,"said Keawe,"you would risk your soul upon so desperate an adventure,and to avoid the proper punishment of your own disgrace;and you think I could hesitate with love in front of me.Give me the bottle,and the change which I make sure you have all ready.Here is a five-cent piece."It was as Keawe supposed;the young man had the change ready in a drawer;the bottle changed hands,and Keawe's fingers were no sooner clasped upon the stalk than he had breathed his wish to be a clean man.And,sure enough,when he got home to his room,and stripped himself before a glass,his flesh was whole like an infant's.And here was the strange thing:he had no sooner seen this miracle,than his mind was changed within him,and he cared naught for the Chinese Evil,and little enough for Kokua;and had but the one thought,that here he was bound to the bottle imp for time and for eternity,and had no better hope but to be a cinder for ever in the flames of hell.Away ahead of him he saw them blaze with his mind's eye,and his soul shrank,and darkness fell upon the light.