house property for sale zamboanga city

-chapter 37 'it all begins with a remarkable exploit ofa man called brown, who stole with complete success a spanish schooner out of a smallbay near zamboanga. till i discovered the fellow my informationwas incomplete, but most unexpectedly i did come upon him a few hours before he gave uphis arrogant ghost. fortunately he was willing and able to talkbetween the choking fits of asthma, and his racked body writhed with maliciousexultation at the bare thought of jim. he exulted thus at the idea that he had"paid out the stuck-up beggar after all." he gloated over his action.

i had to bear the sunken glare of hisfierce crow-footed eyes if i wanted to know; and so i bore it, reflecting how muchcertain forms of evil are akin to madness, derived from intense egoism, inflamed by resistance, tearing the soul to pieces, andgiving factitious vigour to the body. the story also reveals unsuspected depthsof cunning in the wretched cornelius, whose abject and intense hate acts like a subtleinspiration, pointing out an unerring way towards revenge. '"i could see directly i set my eyes on himwhat sort of a fool he was," gasped the dying brown."he a man!

hell! he was a hollow sham.as if he couldn't have said straight out, 'hands off my plunder!' blast him!that would have been like a man! rot his superior soul! he had me there--but he hadn't devil enoughin him to make an end of me. not he!a thing like that letting me off as if i wasn't worth a kick!..." brown struggled desperately forbreath...."fraud....letting me off....and so i did make an end of him after all...."he choked again...."i expect this thing'll

kill me, but i shall die easy now. you...you here...i don't know your name--iwould give you a five-pound note if--if i had it--for the news--or my name's notbrown...." he grinned horribly...."gentleman brown." 'he said all these things in profoundgasps, staring at me with his yellow eyes out of a long, ravaged, brown face; hejerked his left arm; a pepper-and-salt matted beard hung almost into his lap; adirty ragged blanket covered his legs. i had found him out in bankok through thatbusybody schomberg, the hotel-keeper, who had, confidentially, directed me where tolook.

it appears that a sort of loafing, fuddledvagabond--a white man living amongst the natives with a siamese woman--hadconsidered it a great privilege to give a shelter to the last days of the famousgentleman brown. while he was talking to me in the wretchedhovel, and, as it were, fighting for every minute of his life, the siamese woman, withbig bare legs and a stupid coarse face, sat in a dark corner chewing betel stolidly. now and then she would get up for thepurpose of shooing a chicken away from the door.the whole hut shook when she walked. an ugly yellow child, naked and pot-belliedlike a little heathen god, stood at the

foot of the couch, finger in mouth, lost ina profound and calm contemplation of the dying man. 'he talked feverishly; but in the middle ofa word, perhaps, an invisible hand would take him by the throat, and he would lookat me dumbly with an expression of doubt and anguish. he seemed to fear that i would get tired ofwaiting and go away, leaving him with his tale untold, with his exultationunexpressed. he died during the night, i believe, but bythat time i had nothing more to learn. 'so much as to brown, for the present.'eight months before this, coming into

samarang, i went as usual to see stein. on the garden side of the house a malay onthe verandah greeted me shyly, and i remembered that i had seen him in patusan,in jim's house, amongst other bugis men who used to come in the evening to talk interminably over their war reminiscencesand to discuss state affairs. jim had pointed him out to me once as arespectable petty trader owning a small seagoing native craft, who had showedhimself "one of the best at the taking of the stockade." i was not very surprised to see him, sinceany patusan trader venturing as far as

samarang would naturally find his way tostein's house. i returned his greeting and passed on. at the door of stein's room i came uponanother malay in whom i recognised tamb' itam. 'i asked him at once what he was doingthere; it occurred to me that jim might have come on a visit.i own i was pleased and excited at the thought. tamb' itam looked as if he did not knowwhat to say. "is tuan jim inside?"i asked impatiently.

"no," he mumbled, hanging his head for amoment, and then with sudden earnestness, "he would not fight.he would not fight," he repeated twice. as he seemed unable to say anything else,i pushed him aside and went in. 'stein, tall and stooping, stood alone inthe middle of the room between the rows of butterfly cases. "ach! is it you, my friend?" he said sadly,peering through his glasses. a drab sack-coat of alpaca hung,unbuttoned, down to his knees. he had a panama hat on his head, and therewere deep furrows on his pale cheeks. "what's the matter now?"i asked nervously.

"there's tamb' itam there...." "come and see the girl.come and see the girl. she is here," he said, with a half-heartedshow of activity. i tried to detain him, but with gentleobstinacy he would take no notice of my eager questions."she is here, she is here," he repeated, in great perturbation. "they came here two days ago.an old man like me, a stranger--sehen sie-- cannot do much....come this way....young hearts are unforgiving...." i could see he was in utmostdistress...."the strength of life in them,

the cruel strength of life...." he mumbled, leading me round the house; ifollowed him, lost in dismal and angry conjectures.at the door of the drawing-room he barred my way. "he loved her very much," he saidinterrogatively, and i only nodded, feeling so bitterly disappointed that i would nottrust myself to speak. "very frightful," he murmured. "she can't understand me.i am only a strange old man. perhaps you...she knows you.talk to her.

we can't leave it like this. tell her to forgive him.it was very frightful." "no doubt," i said, exasperated at being inthe dark; "but have you forgiven him?" he looked at me queerly. "you shall hear," he said, and opening thedoor, absolutely pushed me in. 'you know stein's big house and the twoimmense reception-rooms, uninhabited and uninhabitable, clean, full of solitude andof shining things that look as if never beheld by the eye of man? they are cool on the hottest days, and youenter them as you would a scrubbed cave

underground. i passed through one, and in the other isaw the girl sitting at the end of a big mahogany table, on which she rested herhead, the face hidden in her arms. the waxed floor reflected her dimly asthough it had been a sheet of frozen water. the rattan screens were down, and throughthe strange greenish gloom made by the foliage of the trees outside a strong windblew in gusts, swaying the long draperies of windows and doorways. her white figure seemed shaped in snow; thependent crystals of a great chandelier clicked above her head like glitteringicicles.

she looked up and watched my approach. i was chilled as if these vast apartmentshad been the cold abode of despair. 'she recognised me at once, and as soon asi had stopped, looking down at her: "he has left me," she said quietly; "you alwaysleave us--for your own ends." her face was set. all the heat of life seemed withdrawnwithin some inaccessible spot in her breast. "it would have been easy to die with him,"she went on, and made a slight weary gesture as if giving up theincomprehensible.

"he would not! it was like a blindness--and yet it was iwho was speaking to him; it was i who stood before his eyes; it was at me that helooked all the time! ah! you are hard, treacherous, withouttruth, without compassion. what makes you so wicked?or is it that you are all mad?" 'i took her hand; it did not respond, andwhen i dropped it, it hung down to the floor. that indifference, more awful than tears,cries, and reproaches, seemed to defy time and consolation.

you felt that nothing you could say wouldreach the seat of the still and benumbing pain.'stein had said, "you shall hear." i did hear. i heard it all, listening with amazement,with awe, to the tones of her inflexible weariness. she could not grasp the real sense of whatshe was telling me, and her resentment filled me with pity for her--for him too.i stood rooted to the spot after she had finished. leaning on her arm, she stared with hardeyes, and the wind passed in gusts, the

crystals kept on clicking in the greenishgloom. she went on whispering to herself: "and yethe was looking at me! he could see my face, hear my voice, hearmy grief! when i used to sit at his feet, with mycheek against his knee and his hand on my head, the curse of cruelty and madness wasalready within him, waiting for the day. the day came!...and before the sun had sethe could not see me any more--he was made blind and deaf and without pity, as you allare. he shall have no tears from me. never, never.not one tear.

i will not!he went away from me as if i had been worse than death. he fled as if driven by some accursed thinghe had heard or seen in his sleep...." 'her steady eyes seemed to strain after theshape of a man torn out of her arms by the strength of a dream. she made no sign to my silent bow.i was glad to escape. 'i saw her once again, the same afternoon. on leaving her i had gone in search ofstein, whom i could not find indoors; and i wandered out, pursued by distressfulthoughts, into the gardens, those famous

gardens of stein, in which you can findevery plant and tree of tropical lowlands. i followed the course of the canalisedstream, and sat for a long time on a shaded bench near the ornamental pond, where somewaterfowl with clipped wings were diving and splashing noisily. the branches of casuarina trees behind meswayed lightly, incessantly, reminding me of the soughing of fir trees at home.'this mournful and restless sound was a fit accompaniment to my meditations. she had said he had been driven away fromher by a dream,--and there was no answer one could make her--there seemed to be noforgiveness for such a transgression.

and yet is not mankind itself, pushing onits blind way, driven by a dream of its greatness and its power upon the dark pathsof excessive cruelty and of excessive devotion? and what is the pursuit of truth, afterall? 'when i rose to get back to the house icaught sight of stein's drab coat through a gap in the foliage, and very soon at a turnof the path i came upon him walking with the girl. her little hand rested on his forearm, andunder the broad, flat rim of his panama hat he bent over her, grey-haired, paternal,with compassionate and chivalrous

deference. i stood aside, but they stopped, facing me.his gaze was bent on the ground at his feet; the girl, erect and slight on hisarm, stared sombrely beyond my shoulder with black, clear, motionless eyes. "schrecklich," he murmured."terrible! terrible!what can one do?" he seemed to be appealing to me, but heryouth, the length of the days suspended over her head, appealed to me more; andsuddenly, even as i realised that nothing could be said, i found myself pleading hiscause for her sake.

"you must forgive him," i concluded, and myown voice seemed to me muffled, lost in un irresponsive deaf immensity. "we all want to be forgiven," i added aftera while. '"what have i done?" she asked with herlips only. '"you always mistrusted him," i said. '"he was like the others," she pronouncedslowly. '"not like the others," i protested, butshe continued evenly, without any feeling-- '"he was false." and suddenly stein broke in."no! no! no!

my poor child!..."he patted her hand lying passively on his sleeve. "no! no!not false! true!true! true!" he tried to look into her stony face."you don't understand. ach!why you do not understand?...terrible," he said to me. "some day she shall understand."'"will you explain?"

i asked, looking hard at him.they moved on. 'i watched them. her gown trailed on the path, her blackhair fell loose. she walked upright and light by the side ofthe tall man, whose long shapeless coat hung in perpendicular folds from thestooping shoulders, whose feet moved slowly. they disappeared beyond that spinney (youmay remember) where sixteen different kinds of bamboo grow together, alldistinguishable to the learned eye. for my part, i was fascinated by theexquisite grace and beauty of that fluted

grove, crowned with pointed leaves andfeathery heads, the lightness, the vigour, the charm as distinct as a voice of thatunperplexed luxuriating life. i remember staying to look at it for a longtime, as one would linger within reach of a consoling whisper. the sky was pearly grey.it was one of those overcast days so rare in the tropics, in which memories crowdupon one, memories of other shores, of other faces. 'i drove back to town the same afternoon,taking with me tamb' itam and the other malay, in whose seagoing craft they hadescaped in the bewilderment, fear, and

gloom of the disaster. the shock of it seemed to have changedtheir natures. it had turned her passion into stone, andit made the surly taciturn tamb' itam almost loquacious. his surliness, too, was subdued intopuzzled humility, as though he had seen the failure of a potent charm in a suprememoment. the bugis trader, a shy hesitating man, wasvery clear in the little he had to say. both were evidently over-awed by a sense ofdeep inexpressible wonder, by the touch of an inscrutable mystery.'

there with marlow's signature the letterproper ended. the privileged reader screwed up his lamp,and solitary above the billowy roofs of the town, like a lighthouse-keeper above thesea, he turned to the pages of the story. chapter 38 'it all begins, as i've told you, with theman called brown,' ran the opening sentence of marlow's narrative.'you who have knocked about the western pacific must have heard of him. he was the show ruffian on the australiancoast--not that he was often to be seen there, but because he was always trottedout in the stories of lawless life a

visitor from home is treated to; and the mildest of these stories which were toldabout him from cape york to eden bay was more than enough to hang a man if told inthe right place. they never failed to let you know, too,that he was supposed to be the son of a baronet. be it as it may, it is certain he haddeserted from a home ship in the early gold-digging days, and in a few yearsbecame talked about as the terror of this or that group of islands in polynesia. he would kidnap natives, he would stripsome lonely white trader to the very

pyjamas he stood in, and after he hadrobbed the poor devil, he would as likely as not invite him to fight a duel with shot-guns on the beach--which would havebeen fair enough as these things go, if the other man hadn't been by that time alreadyhalf-dead with fright. brown was a latter-day buccaneer, sorryenough, like his more celebrated prototypes; but what distinguished him fromhis contemporary brother ruffians, like bully hayes or the mellifluous pease, or that perfumed, dundreary-whiskered,dandified scoundrel known as dirty dick, was the arrogant temper of his misdeeds anda vehement scorn for mankind at large and

for his victims in particular. the others were merely vulgar and greedybrutes, but he seemed moved by some complex intention. he would rob a man as if only todemonstrate his poor opinion of the creature, and he would bring to theshooting or maiming of some quiet, unoffending stranger a savage and vengeful earnestness fit to terrify the mostreckless of desperadoes. in the days of his greatest glory he ownedan armed barque, manned by a mixed crew of kanakas and runaway whalers, and boasted,i don't know with what truth, of being

financed on the quiet by a most respectablefirm of copra merchants. later on he ran off--it was reported--withthe wife of a missionary, a very young girl from clapham way, who had married the mild,flat-footed fellow in a moment of enthusiasm, and, suddenly transplanted tomelanesia, lost her bearings somehow. it was a dark story.she was ill at the time he carried her off, and died on board his ship. it is said--as the most wonderful put ofthe tale--that over her body he gave way to an outburst of sombre and violent grief.his luck left him, too, very soon after. he lost his ship on some rocks off malaita,and disappeared for a time as though he had

gone down with her. he is heard of next at nuka-hiva, where hebought an old french schooner out of government service. what creditable enterprise he might havehad in view when he made that purchase i can't say, but it is evident that what withhigh commissioners, consuls, men-of-war, and international control, the south seas were getting too hot to hold gentlemen ofhis kidney. clearly he must have shifted the scene ofhis operations farther west, because a year later he plays an incredibly audacious, butnot a very profitable part, in a serio-

comic business in manila bay, in which a peculating governor and an abscondingtreasurer are the principal figures; thereafter he seems to have hung around thephilippines in his rotten schooner battling with un adverse fortune, till at last, running his appointed course, he sails intojim's history, a blind accomplice of the dark powers. 'his tale goes that when a spanish patrolcutter captured him he was simply trying to run a few guns for the insurgents.if so, then i can't understand what he was doing off the south coast of mindanao.

my belief, however, is that he wasblackmailing the native villages along the coast. the principal thing is that the cutter,throwing a guard on board, made him sail in company towards zamboanga. on the way, for some reason or other, bothvessels had to call at one of these new spanish settlements--which never came toanything in the end--where there was not only a civil official in charge on shore, but a good stout coasting schooner lying atanchor in the little bay; and this craft, in every way much better than his own,brown made up his mind to steal.

'he was down on his luck--as he told mehimself. the world he had bullied for twenty yearswith fierce, aggressive disdain, had yielded him nothing in the way of materialadvantage except a small bag of silver dollars, which was concealed in his cabin so that "the devil himself couldn't smellit out." and that was all--absolutely all.he was tired of his life, and not afraid of death. but this man, who would stake his existenceon a whim with a bitter and jeering recklessness, stood in mortal fear ofimprisonment.

he had an unreasoning cold-sweat, nerve-shaking, blood-to-water-turning sort of horror at the bare possibility of beinglocked up--the sort of terror a superstitious man would feel at the thoughtof being embraced by a spectre. therefore the civil official who came onboard to make a preliminary investigation into the capture, investigated arduouslyall day long, and only went ashore after dark, muffled up in a cloak, and taking great care not to let brown's little allclink in its bag. afterwards, being a man of his word, hecontrived (the very next evening, i believe) to send off the government cutteron some urgent bit of special service.

as her commander could not spare a prizecrew, he contented himself by taking away before he left all the sails of brown'sschooner to the very last rag, and took good care to tow his two boats on to thebeach a couple of miles off. 'but in brown's crew there was a solomonislander, kidnapped in his youth and devoted to brown, who was the best man ofthe whole gang. that fellow swam off to the coaster--fivehundred yards or so--with the end of a warp made up of all the running gear unrove forthe purpose. the water was smooth, and the bay dark,"like the inside of a cow," as brown described it.

the solomon islander clambered over thebulwarks with the end of the rope in his teeth. the crew of the coaster--all tagals--wereashore having a jollification in the native village.the two shipkeepers left on board woke up suddenly and saw the devil. it had glittering eyes and leaped quick aslightning about the deck. they fell on their knees, paralysed withfear, crossing themselves and mumbling prayers. with a long knife he found in the caboosethe solomon islander, without interrupting

their orisons, stabbed first one, then theother; with the same knife he set to sawing patiently at the coir cable till suddenlyit parted under the blade with a splash. then in the silence of the bay he let out acautious shout, and brown's gang, who meantime had been peering and strainingtheir hopeful ears in the darkness, began to pull gently at their end of the warp. in less than five minutes the two schoonerscame together with a slight shock and a creak of spars. 'brown's crowd transferred themselveswithout losing an instant, taking with them their firearms and a large supply ofammunition.

they were sixteen in all: two runaway blue-jackets, a lanky deserter from a yankee man-of-war, a couple of simple, blondscandinavians, a mulatto of sorts, one bland chinaman who cooked--and the rest ofthe nondescript spawn of the south seas. none of them cared; brown bent them to hiswill, and brown, indifferent to gallows, was running away from the spectre of aspanish prison. he didn't give them the time to trans-shipenough provisions; the weather was calm, the air was charged with dew, and when theycast off the ropes and set sail to a faint off-shore draught there was no flutter in the damp canvas; their old schooner seemedto detach itself gently from the stolen

craft and slip away silently, together withthe black mass of the coast, into the night. 'they got clear away.brown related to me in detail their passage down the straits of macassar.it is a harrowing and desperate story. they were short of food and water; theyboarded several native craft and got a little from each.with a stolen ship brown did not dare to put into any port, of course. he had no money to buy anything, no papersto show, and no lie plausible enough to get him out again.

an arab barque, under the dutch flag,surprised one night at anchor off poulo laut, yielded a little dirty rice, a bunchof bananas, and a cask of water; three days of squally, misty weather from the north-east shot the schooner across the java sea. the yellow muddy waves drenched thatcollection of hungry ruffians. they sighted mail-boats moving on theirappointed routes; passed well-found home ships with rusty iron sides anchored in theshallow sea waiting for a change of weather or the turn of the tide; an english gunboat, white and trim, with two slimmasts, crossed their bows one day in the distance; and on another occasion a dutchcorvette, black and heavily sparred, loomed

up on their quarter, steaming dead slow inthe mist. they slipped through unseen or disregarded,a wan, sallow-faced band of utter outcasts, enraged with hunger and hunted by fear. brown's idea was to make for madagascar,where he expected, on grounds not altogether illusory, to sell the schoonerin tamatave, and no questions asked, or perhaps obtain some more or less forgedpapers for her. yet before he could face the long passageacross the indian ocean food was wanted-- water too. 'perhaps he had heard of patusan--orperhaps he just only happened to see the

name written in small letters on the chart--probably that of a largish village up a river in a native state, perfectly defenceless, far from the beaten tracks ofthe sea and from the ends of submarine cables. he had done that kind of thing before--inthe way of business; and this now was an absolute necessity, a question of life anddeath--or rather of liberty. of liberty! he was sure to get provisions--bullocks--rice--sweet-potatoes. the sorry gang licked their chops.

a cargo of produce for the schooner perhapscould be extorted--and, who knows?--some real ringing coined money!some of these chiefs and village headmen can be made to part freely. he told me he would have roasted their toesrather than be baulked. i believe him.his men believed him too. they didn't cheer aloud, being a dumb pack,but made ready wolfishly. 'luck served him as to weather. a few days of calm would have broughtunmentionable horrors on board that schooner, but with the help of land and seabreezes, in less than a week after clearing

the sunda straits, he anchored off the batu kring mouth within a pistol-shot of thefishing village. 'fourteen of them packed into theschooner's long-boat (which was big, having been used for cargo-work) and started upthe river, while two remained in charge of the schooner with food enough to keepstarvation off for ten days. the tide and wind helped, and early oneafternoon the big white boat under a ragged sail shouldered its way before the seabreeze into patusan reach, manned by fourteen assorted scarecrows glaring hungrily ahead, and fingering the breech-blocks of cheap rifles.

brown calculated upon the terrifyingsurprise of his appearance. they sailed in with the last of the flood;the rajah's stockade gave no sign; the first houses on both sides of the streamseemed deserted. a few canoes were seen up the reach in fullflight. brown was astonished at the size of theplace. a profound silence reigned. the wind dropped between the houses; twooars were got out and the boat held on up- stream, the idea being to effect a lodgmentin the centre of the town before the inhabitants could think of resistance.

'it seems, however, that the headman of thefishing village at batu kring had managed to send off a timely warning. when the long-boat came abreast of themosque (which doramin had built: a structure with gables and roof finials ofcarved coral) the open space before it was full of people. a shout went up, and was followed by aclash of gongs all up the river. from a point above two little brass 6-pounders were discharged, and the round- shot came skipping down the empty reach,spurting glittering jets of water in the sunshine.

in front of the mosque a shouting lot ofmen began firing in volleys that whipped athwart the current of the river; anirregular, rolling fusillade was opened on the boat from both banks, and brown's menreplied with a wild, rapid fire. the oars had been got in. 'the turn of the tide at high water comeson very quickly in that river, and the boat in mid-stream, nearly hidden in smoke,began to drift back stern foremost. along both shores the smoke thickened also,lying below the roofs in a level streak as you may see a long cloud cutting the slopeof a mountain. a tumult of war-cries, the vibrating clangof gongs, the deep snoring of drums, yells

of rage, crashes of volley-firing, made anawful din, in which brown sat confounded but steady at the tiller, working himself into a fury of hate and rage against thosepeople who dared to defend themselves. two of his men had been wounded, and he sawhis retreat cut off below the town by some boats that had put off from tunku allang'sstockade. there were six of them, full of men. while he was thus beset he perceived theentrance of the narrow creek (the same which jim had jumped at low water).it was then brim full. steering the long-boat in, they landed,and, to make a long story short, they

established themselves on a little knollabout 900 yards from the stockade, which, in fact, they commanded from that position. the slopes of the knoll were bare, butthere were a few trees on the summit. they went to work cutting these down for abreastwork, and were fairly intrenched before dark; meantime the rajah's boatsremained in the river with curious neutrality. when the sun set the glue of many brushwoodblazes lighted on the river-front, and between the double line of houses on theland side threw into black relief the roofs, the groups of slender palms, theheavy clumps of fruit trees.

brown ordered the grass round his positionto be fired; a low ring of thin flames under the slow ascending smoke wriggledrapidly down the slopes of the knoll; here and there a dry bush caught with a tall,vicious roar. the conflagration made a clear zone of firefor the rifles of the small party, and expired smouldering on the edge of theforests and along the muddy bank of the creek. a strip of jungle luxuriating in a damphollow between the knoll and the rajah's stockade stopped it on that side with agreat crackling and detonations of bursting bamboo stems.

the sky was sombre, velvety, and swarmingwith stars. the blackened ground smoked quietly withlow creeping wisps, till a little breeze came on and blew everything away. brown expected an attack to be delivered assoon as the tide had flowed enough again to enable the war-boats which had cut off hisretreat to enter the creek. at any rate he was sure there would be anattempt to carry off his long-boat, which lay below the hill, a dark high lump on thefeeble sheen of a wet mud-flat. but no move of any sort was made by theboats in the river. over the stockade and the rajah's buildingsbrown saw their lights on the water.

they seemed to be anchored across thestream. other lights afloat were moving in thereach, crossing and recrossing from side to side. there were also lights twinkling motionlessupon the long walls of houses up the reach, as far as the bend, and more still beyond,others isolated inland. the loom of the big fires disclosedbuildings, roofs, black piles as far as he could see.it was an immense place. the fourteen desperate invaders lying flatbehind the felled trees raised their chins to look over at the stir of that town thatseemed to extend up-river for miles and

swarm with thousands of angry men. they did not speak to each other.now and then they would hear a loud yell, or a single shot rang out, fired very farsomewhere. but round their position everything wasstill, dark, silent. they seemed to be forgotten, as if theexcitement keeping awake all the population had nothing to do with them, as if they hadbeen dead already.' > -chapter 39 'all the events of that night have a greatimportance, since they brought about a

situation which remained unchanged tilljim's return. jim had been away in the interior for morethan a week, and it was dain waris who had directed the first repulse. that brave and intelligent youth ("who knewhow to fight after the manner of white men") wished to settle the business off-hand, but his people were too much for him. he had not jim's racial prestige and thereputation of invincible, supernatural power. he was not the visible, tangibleincarnation of unfailing truth and of unfailing victory.

beloved, trusted, and admired as he was, hewas still one of them, while jim was one of us. moreover, the white man, a tower ofstrength in himself, was invulnerable, while dain waris could be killed. those unexpressed thoughts guided theopinions of the chief men of the town, who elected to assemble in jim's fort fordeliberation upon the emergency, as if expecting to find wisdom and courage in thedwelling of the absent white man. the shooting of brown's ruffians was so fargood, or lucky, that there had been half-a- dozen casualties amongst the defenders.

the wounded were lying on the verandahtended by their women-folk. the women and children from the lower partof the town had been sent into the fort at the first alarm. there jewel was in command, very efficientand high-spirited, obeyed by jim's "own people," who, quitting in a body theirlittle settlement under the stockade, had gone in to form the garrison. the refugees crowded round her; and throughthe whole affair, to the very disastrous last, she showed an extraordinary martialardour. it was to her that dain waris had gone atonce at the first intelligence of danger,

for you must know that jim was the only onein patusan who possessed a store of gunpowder. stein, with whom he had kept up intimaterelations by letters, had obtained from the dutch government a special authorisation toexport five hundred kegs of it to patusan. the powder-magazine was a small hut ofrough logs covered entirely with earth, and in jim's absence the girl had the key. in the council, held at eleven o'clock inthe evening in jim's dining-room, she backed up waris's advice for immediate andvigorous action. i am told that she stood up by the side ofjim's empty chair at the head of the long

table and made a warlike impassionedspeech, which for the moment extorted murmurs of approbation from the assembledheadmen. old doramin, who had not showed himselfoutside his own gate for more than a year, had been brought across with greatdifficulty. he was, of course, the chief man there. the temper of the council was veryunforgiving, and the old man's word would have been decisive; but it is my opinionthat, well aware of his son's fiery courage, he dared not pronounce the word. more dilatory counsels prevailed.a certain haji saman pointed out at great

length that "these tyrannical and ferociousmen had delivered themselves to a certain death in any case. they would stand fast on their hill andstarve, or they would try to regain their boat and be shot from ambushes across thecreek, or they would break and fly into the forest and perish singly there." he argued that by the use of properstratagems these evil-minded strangers could be destroyed without the risk of abattle, and his words had a great weight, especially with the patusan men proper. what unsettled the minds of the townsfolkwas the failure of the rajah's boats to act

at the decisive moment.it was the diplomatic kassim who represented the rajah at the council. he spoke very little, listened smilingly,very friendly and impenetrable. during the sitting messengers kept arrivingevery few minutes almost, with reports of the invaders' proceedings. wild and exaggerated rumours were flying:there was a large ship at the mouth of the river with big guns and many more men--somewhite, others with black skins and of bloodthirsty appearance. they were coming with many more boats toexterminate every living thing.

a sense of near, incomprehensible dangeraffected the common people. at one moment there was a panic in thecourtyard amongst the women; shrieking; a rush; children crying--haji sunan went outto quiet them. then a fort sentry fired at somethingmoving on the river, and nearly killed a villager bringing in his women-folk in acanoe together with the best of his domestic utensils and a dozen fowls. this caused more confusion.meantime the palaver inside jim's house went on in the presence of the girl. doramin sat fierce-faced, heavy, looking atthe speakers in turn, and breathing slow

like a bull. he didn't speak till the last, after kassimhad declared that the rajah's boats would be called in because the men were requiredto defend his master's stockade. dain waris in his father's presence wouldoffer no opinion, though the girl entreated him in jim's name to speak out. she offered him jim's own men in heranxiety to have these intruders driven out at once.he only shook his head, after a glance or two at doramin. finally, when the council broke up it hadbeen decided that the houses nearest the

creek should be strongly occupied to obtainthe command of the enemy's boat. the boat itself was not to be interferedwith openly, so that the robbers on the hill should be tempted to embark, when awell-directed fire would kill most of them, no doubt. to cut off the escape of those who mightsurvive, and to prevent more of them coming up, dain waris was ordered by doramin totake an armed party of bugis down the river to a certain spot ten miles below patusan, and there form a camp on the shore andblockade the stream with the canoes. i don't believe for a moment that doraminfeared the arrival of fresh forces.

my opinion is that his conduct was guidedsolely by his wish to keep his son out of harm's way. to prevent a rush being made into the townthe construction of a stockade was to be commenced at daylight at the end of thestreet on the left bank. the old nakhoda declared his intention tocommand there himself. a distribution of powder, bullets, andpercussion-caps was made immediately under the girl's supervision. several messengers were to be dispatched indifferent directions after jim, whose exact whereabouts were unknown.

these men started at dawn, but before thattime kassim had managed to open communications with the besieged brown. 'that accomplished diplomatist andconfidant of the rajah, on leaving the fort to go back to his master, took into hisboat cornelius, whom he found slinking mutely amongst the people in the courtyard. kassim had a little plan of his own andwanted him for an interpreter. thus it came about that towards morningbrown, reflecting upon the desperate nature of his position, heard from the marshyovergrown hollow an amicable, quavering, strained voice crying--in english--for

permission to come up, under a promise ofpersonal safety and on a very important errand.he was overjoyed. if he was spoken to he was no longer ahunted wild beast. these friendly sounds took off at once theawful stress of vigilant watchfulness as of so many blind men not knowing whence thedeathblow might come. he pretended a great reluctance. the voice declared itself "a white man--apoor, ruined, old man who had been living here for years." a mist, wet and chilly, lay on the slopesof the hill, and after some more shouting

from one to the other, brown called out,"come on, then, but alone, mind!" as a matter of fact--he told me, writhingwith rage at the recollection of his helplessness--it made no difference. they couldn't see more than a few yardsbefore them, and no treachery could make their position worse. by-and-by cornelius, in his week-day attireof a ragged dirty shirt and pants, barefooted, with a broken-rimmed pith haton his head, was made out vaguely, sidling up to the defences, hesitating, stopping tolisten in a peering posture. "come along!you are safe," yelled brown, while his men

stared. all their hopes of life became suddenlycentered in that dilapidated, mean newcomer, who in profound silence clamberedclumsily over a felled tree-trunk, and shivering, with his sour, mistrustful face, looked about at the knot of bearded,anxious, sleepless desperadoes. 'half an hour's confidential talk withcornelius opened brown's eyes as to the home affairs of patusan. he was on the alert at once. there were possibilities, immensepossibilities; but before he would talk

over cornelius's proposals he demanded thatsome food should be sent up as a guarantee of good faith. cornelius went off, creeping sluggishlydown the hill on the side of the rajah's palace, and after some delay a few of tunkuallang's men came up, bringing a scanty supply of rice, chillies, and dried fish. this was immeasurably better than nothing. later on cornelius returned accompanyingkassim, who stepped out with an air of perfect good-humoured trustfulness, insandals, and muffled up from neck to ankles in dark-blue sheeting.

he shook hands with brown discreetly, andthe three drew aside for a conference. brown's men, recovering their confidence,were slapping each other on the back, and cast knowing glances at their captain whilethey busied themselves with preparations for cooking. 'kassim disliked doramin and his bugis verymuch, but he hated the new order of things still more. it had occurred to him that these whites,together with the rajah's followers, could attack and defeat the bugis before jim'sreturn. then, he reasoned, general defection of thetownsfolk was sure to follow, and the reign

of the white man who protected poor peoplewould be over. afterwards the new allies could be dealtwith. they would have no friends. the fellow was perfectly able to perceivethe difference of character, and had seen enough of white men to know that thesenewcomers were outcasts, men without country. brown preserved a stern and inscrutabledemeanour. when he first heard cornelius's voicedemanding admittance, it brought merely the hope of a loophole for escape.

in less than an hour other thoughts wereseething in his head. urged by an extreme necessity, he had comethere to steal food, a few tons of rubber or gum may be, perhaps a handful ofdollars, and had found himself enmeshed by deadly dangers. now in consequence of these overtures fromkassim he began to think of stealing the whole country. some confounded fellow had apparentlyaccomplished something of the kind--single- handed at that.couldn't have done it very well though. perhaps they could work together--squeezeeverything dry and then go out quietly.

in the course of his negotiations withkassim he became aware that he was supposed to have a big ship with plenty of menoutside. kassim begged him earnestly to have thisbig ship with his many guns and men brought up the river without delay for the rajah'sservice. brown professed himself willing, and onthis basis the negotiation was carried on with mutual distrust. three times in the course of the morningthe courteous and active kassim went down to consult the rajah and came up busilywith his long stride. brown, while bargaining, had a sort of grimenjoyment in thinking of his wretched

schooner, with nothing but a heap of dirtin her hold, that stood for an armed ship, and a chinaman and a lame ex-beachcomber of levuka on board, who represented all hismany men. in the afternoon he obtained further dolesof food, a promise of some money, and a supply of mats for his men to make sheltersfor themselves. they lay down and snored, protected fromthe burning sunshine; but brown, sitting fully exposed on one of the felled trees,feasted his eyes upon the view of the town and the river. there was much loot there.

cornelius, who had made himself at home inthe camp, talked at his elbow, pointing out the localities, imparting advice, givinghis own version of jim's character, and commenting in his own fashion upon theevents of the last three years. brown, who, apparently indifferent andgazing away, listened with attention to every word, could not make out clearly whatsort of man this jim could be. "what's his name? jim!jim! that's not enough for a man's name.""they call him," said cornelius scornfully, "tuan jim here.

as you may say lord jim.""what is he? where does he come from?" inquired brown."what sort of man is he? is he an englishman?" "yes, yes, he's an englishman.i am an englishman too. from malacca.he is a fool. all you have to do is to kill him and thenyou are king here. everything belongs to him," explainedcornelius. "it strikes me he may be made to share withsomebody before very long," commented brown half aloud."no, no.

the proper way is to kill him the firstchance you get, and then you can do what you like," cornelius would insistearnestly. "i have lived for many years here, and i amgiving you a friend's advice." 'in such converse and in gloating over theview of patusan, which he had determined in his mind should become his prey, brownwhiled away most of the afternoon, his men, meantime, resting. on that day dain waris's fleet of canoesstole one by one under the shore farthest from the creek, and went down to close theriver against his retreat. of this brown was not aware, and kassim,who came up the knoll an hour before

sunset, took good care not to enlightenhim. he wanted the white man's ship to come upthe river, and this news, he feared, would be discouraging. he was very pressing with brown to send the"order," offering at the same time a trusty messenger, who for greater secrecy (as heexplained) would make his way by land to the mouth of the river and deliver the"order" on board. after some reflection brown judged itexpedient to tear a page out of his pocket- book, on which he simply wrote, "we aregetting on. big job.

detain the man." the stolid youth selected by kassim forthat service performed it faithfully, and was rewarded by being suddenly tipped, headfirst, into the schooner's empty hold by the ex-beachcomber and the chinaman, whothereupon hastened to put on the hatches. what became of him afterwards brown did notsay.' chapter 40 'brown's object was to gain time by foolingwith kassim's diplomacy. for doing a real stroke of business hecould not help thinking the white man was the person to work with.

he could not imagine such a chap (who mustbe confoundedly clever after all to get hold of the natives like that) refusing ahelp that would do away with the necessity for slow, cautious, risky cheating, that imposed itself as the only possible line ofconduct for a single-handed man. he, brown, would offer him the power.no man could hesitate. everything was in coming to a clearunderstanding. of course they would share. the idea of there being a fort--all readyto his hand--a real fort, with artillery (he knew this from cornelius), excited him.let him only once get in and...he would

impose modest conditions. not too low, though.the man was no fool, it seemed. they would work like brothers till...tillthe time came for a quarrel and a shot that would settle all accounts. with grim impatience of plunder he wishedhimself to be talking with the man now. the land already seemed to be his to tearto pieces, squeeze, and throw away. meantime kassim had to be fooled for thesake of food first--and for a second string.but the principal thing was to get something to eat from day to day.

besides, he was not averse to beginfighting on that rajah's account, and teach a lesson to those people who had receivedhim with shots. the lust of battle was upon him. 'i am sorry that i can't give you this partof the story, which of course i have mainly from brown, in brown's own words. there was in the broken, violent speech ofthat man, unveiling before me his thoughts with the very hand of death upon histhroat, an undisguised ruthlessness of purpose, a strange vengeful attitude towards his own past, and a blind belief inthe righteousness of his will against all

mankind, something of that feeling whichcould induce the leader of a horde of wandering cut-throats to call himselfproudly the scourge of god. no doubt the natural senseless ferocitywhich is the basis of such a character was exasperated by failure, ill-luck, and therecent privations, as well as by the desperate position in which he found himself; but what was most remarkable ofall was this, that while he planned treacherous alliances, had already settledin his own mind the fate of the white man, and intrigued in an overbearing, offhand manner with kassim, one could perceive thatwhat he had really desired, almost in spite

of himself, was to play havoc with thatjungle town which had defied him, to see it strewn over with corpses and enveloped inflames. listening to his pitiless, panting voice,i could imagine how he must have looked at it from the hillock, peopling it with imagesof murder and rapine. the part nearest to the creek wore anabandoned aspect, though as a matter of fact every house concealed a few armed menon the alert. suddenly beyond the stretch of wasteground, interspersed with small patches of low dense bush, excavations, heaps ofrubbish, with trodden paths between, a man, solitary and looking very small, strolled

out into the deserted opening of the streetbetween the shut-up, dark, lifeless buildings at the end. perhaps one of the inhabitants, who hadfled to the other bank of the river, coming back for some object of domestic use. evidently he supposed himself quite safe atthat distance from the hill on the other side of the creek. a light stockade, set up hastily, was justround the turn of the street, full of his friends.he moved leisurely. brown saw him, and instantly called to hisside the yankee deserter, who acted as a

sort of second in command. this lanky, loose-jointed fellow cameforward, wooden-faced, trailing his rifle lazily. when he understood what was wanted from hima homicidal and conceited smile uncovered his teeth, making two deep folds down hissallow, leathery cheeks. he prided himself on being a dead shot. he dropped on one knee, and taking aim froma steady rest through the unlopped branches of a felled tree, fired, and at once stoodup to look. the man, far away, turned his head to thereport, made another step forward, seemed

to hesitate, and abruptly got down on hishands and knees. in the silence that fell upon the sharpcrack of the rifle, the dead shot, keeping his eyes fixed upon the quarry, guessedthat "this there coon's health would never be a source of anxiety to his friends anymore." the man's limbs were seen to move rapidlyunder his body in an endeavour to run on all-fours. in that empty space arose a multitudinousshout of dismay and surprise. the man sank flat, face down, and moved nomore. "that showed them what we could do," saidbrown to me.

"struck the fear of sudden death into them.that was what we wanted. they were two hundred to one, and this gavethem something to think over for the night. not one of them had an idea of such a longshot before. that beggar belonging to the rajah scooteddown-hill with his eyes hanging out of his head." 'as he was telling me this he tried with ashaking hand to wipe the thin foam on his blue lips."two hundred to one. two hundred to one ... striketerror,...terror, terror, i tell you...." his own eyes were starting out of theirsockets.

he fell back, clawing the air with skinnyfingers, sat up again, bowed and hairy, glared at me sideways like some man-beastof folk-lore, with open mouth in his miserable and awful agony before he got hisspeech back after that fit. there are sights one never forgets. 'furthermore, to draw the enemy's fire andlocate such parties as might have been hiding in the bushes along the creek, brownordered the solomon islander to go down to the boat and bring an oar, as you send aspaniel after a stick into the water. this failed, and the fellow came backwithout a single shot having been fired at him from anywhere.

"there's nobody," opined some of the men.it is "onnatural," remarked the yankee. kassim had gone, by that time, very muchimpressed, pleased too, and also uneasy. pursuing his tortuous policy, he haddispatched a message to dain waris warning him to look out for the white men's ship,which, he had had information, was about to come up the river. he minimised its strength and exhorted himto oppose its passage. this double-dealing answered his purpose,which was to keep the bugis forces divided and to weaken them by fighting. on the other hand, he had in the course ofthat day sent word to the assembled bugis

chiefs in town, assuring them that he wastrying to induce the invaders to retire; his messages to the fort asked earnestlyfor powder for the rajah's men. it was a long time since tunku allang hadhad ammunition for the score or so of old muskets rusting in their arm-racks in theaudience-hall. the open intercourse between the hill andthe palace unsettled all the minds. it was already time for men to take sides,it began to be said. there would soon be much bloodshed, andthereafter great trouble for many people. the social fabric of orderly, peacefullife, when every man was sure of to-morrow, the edifice raised by jim's hands, seemedon that evening ready to collapse into a

ruin reeking with blood. the poorer folk were already taking to thebush or flying up the river. a good many of the upper class judged itnecessary to go and pay their court to the rajah. the rajah's youths jostled them rudely. old tunku allang, almost out of his mindwith fear and indecision, either kept a sullen silence or abused them violently fordaring to come with empty hands: they departed very much frightened; only old doramin kept his countrymen together andpursued his tactics inflexibly.

enthroned in a big chair behind theimprovised stockade, he issued his orders in a deep veiled rumble, unmoved, like adeaf man, in the flying rumours. 'dusk fell, hiding first the body of thedead man, which had been left lying with arms outstretched as if nailed to theground, and then the revolving sphere of the night rolled smoothly over patusan and came to a rest, showering the glitter ofcountless worlds upon the earth. again, in the exposed part of the town bigfires blazed along the only street, revealing from distance to distance upontheir glares the falling straight lines of roofs, the fragments of wattled walls

jumbled in confusion, here and there awhole hut elevated in the glow upon the vertical black stripes of a group of highpiles and all this line of dwellings, revealed in patches by the swaying flames, seemed to flicker tortuously away up-riverinto the gloom at the heart of the land. a great silence, in which the looms ofsuccessive fires played without noise, extended into the darkness at the foot ofthe hill; but the other bank of the river, all dark save for a solitary bonfire at the river-front before the fort, sent out intothe air an increasing tremor that might have been the stamping of a multitude offeet, the hum of many voices, or the fall

of an immensely distant waterfall. it was then, brown confessed to me, while,turning his back on his men, he sat looking at it all, that notwithstanding hisdisdain, his ruthless faith in himself, a feeling came over him that at last he hadrun his head against a stone wall. had his boat been afloat at the time, hebelieved he would have tried to steal away, taking his chances of a long chase down theriver and of starvation at sea. it is very doubtful whether he would havesucceeded in getting away. however, he didn't try this. for another moment he had a passing thoughtof trying to rush the town, but he

perceived very well that in the end hewould find himself in the lighted street, where they would be shot down like dogsfrom the houses. they were two hundred to one--he thought,while his men, huddling round two heaps of smouldering embers, munched the last of thebananas and roasted the few yams they owed to kassim's diplomacy. cornelius sat amongst them dozing sulkily. 'then one of the whites remembered thatsome tobacco had been left in the boat, and, encouraged by the impunity of thesolomon islander, said he would go to fetch it.

at this all the others shook off theirdespondency. brown applied to, said, "go, and be d--d toyou," scornfully. he didn't think there was any danger ingoing to the creek in the dark. the man threw a leg over the tree-trunk anddisappeared. a moment later he was heard clambering intothe boat and then clambering out. "i've got it," he cried.a flash and a report at the very foot of the hill followed. "i am hit," yelled the man."look out, look out--i am hit," and instantly all the rifles went off.

the hill squirted fire and noise into thenight like a little volcano, and when brown and the yankee with curses and cuffsstopped the panic-stricken firing, a profound, weary groan floated up from the creek, succeeded by a plaint whoseheartrending sadness was like some poison turning the blood cold in the veins. then a strong voice pronounced severaldistinct incomprehensible words somewhere beyond the creek."let no one fire," shouted brown. "what does it mean?"..."do you hear on thehill? do you hear?do you hear?" repeated the voice three

times. cornelius translated, and then prompted theanswer. "speak," cried brown, "we hear." then the voice, declaiming in the sonorousinflated tone of a herald, and shifting continually on the edge of the vague waste-land, proclaimed that between the men of the bugis nation living in patusan and the white men on the hill and those with them,there would be no faith, no compassion, no speech, no peace.a bush rustled; a haphazard volley rang out.

"dam' foolishness," muttered the yankee,vexedly grounding the butt. cornelius translated. the wounded man below the hill, aftercrying out twice, "take me up! take me up!" went on complaining in moans. while he had kept on the blackened earth ofthe slope, and afterwards crouching in the boat, he had been safe enough. it seems that in his joy at finding thetobacco he forgot himself and jumped out on her off-side, as it were. the white boat, lying high and dry, showedhim up; the creek was no more than seven

yards wide in that place, and therehappened to be a man crouching in the bush on the other bank. 'he was a bugis of tondano only lately cometo patusan, and a relation of the man shot in the afternoon.that famous long shot had indeed appalled the beholders. the man in utter security had been struckdown, in full view of his friends, dropping with a joke on his lips, and they seemed tosee in the act an atrocity which had stirred a bitter rage. that relation of his, si-lapa by name, wasthen with doramin in the stockade only a

few feet away. you who know these chaps must admit thatthe fellow showed an unusual pluck by volunteering to carry the message, alone,in the dark. creeping across the open ground, he haddeviated to the left and found himself opposite the boat.he was startled when brown's man shouted. he came to a sitting position with his gunto his shoulder, and when the other jumped out, exposing himself, he pulled thetrigger and lodged three jagged slugs point-blank into the poor wretch's stomach. then, lying flat on his face, he gavehimself up for dead, while a thin hail of

lead chopped and swished the bushes closeon his right hand; afterwards he delivered his speech shouting, bent double, dodgingall the time in cover. with the last word he leaped sideways, layclose for a while, and afterwards got back to the houses unharmed, having achieved onthat night such a renown as his children will not willingly allow to die. 'and on the hill the forlorn band let thetwo little heaps of embers go out under their bowed heads. they sat dejected on the ground withcompressed lips and downcast eyes, listening to their comrade below.

he was a strong man and died hard, withmoans now loud, now sinking to a strange confidential note of pain. sometimes he shrieked, and again, after aperiod of silence, he could be heard muttering deliriously a long andunintelligible complaint. never for a moment did he cease. '"what's the good?"brown had said unmoved once, seeing the yankee, who had been swearing under hisbreath, prepare to go down. "that's so," assented the deserter,reluctantly desisting. "there's no encouragement for wounded menhere.

only his noise is calculated to make allthe others think too much of the hereafter, cap'n." "water!" cried the wounded man in anextraordinarily clear vigorous voice, and then went off moaning feebly."ay, water. water will do it," muttered the other tohimself, resignedly. "plenty by-and-by.the tide is flowing." 'at last the tide flowed, silencing theplaint and the cries of pain, and the dawn was near when brown, sitting with his chinin the palm of his hand before patusan, as one might stare at the unscalable side of a

mountain, heard the brief ringing bark of abrass 6-pounder far away in town somewhere. "what's this?" he asked of cornelius, whohung about him. cornelius listened. a muffled roaring shout rolled down-riverover the town; a big drum began to throb, and others responded, pulsating anddroning. tiny scattered lights began to twinkle inthe dark half of the town, while the part lighted by the loom of fires hummed with adeep and prolonged murmur. "he has come," said cornelius. "what?already?

are you sure?"brown asked. "yes! yes! sure.listen to the noise." "what are they making that row about?"pursued brown. "for joy," snorted cornelius; "he is a verygreat man, but all the same, he knows no more than a child, and so they make a greatnoise to please him, because they know no better." "look here," said brown, "how is one to getat him?" "he shall come to talk to you," corneliusdeclared.

"what do you mean? come down here strolling as it were?"cornelius nodded vigorously in the dark. "yes.he will come straight here and talk to you. he is just like a fool. you shall see what a fool he is."brown was incredulous. "you shall see; you shall see," repeatedcornelius. "he is not afraid--not afraid of anything. he will come and order you to leave hispeople alone. everybody must leave his people alone.he is like a little child.

he will come to you straight." alas! he knew jim well--that "mean littleskunk," as brown called him to me. "yes, certainly," he pursued with ardour,"and then, captain, you tell that tall man with a gun to shoot him. just you kill him, and you will frighteneverybody so much that you can do anything you like with them afterwards--get what youlike--go away when you like. ha! ha! ha! fine ..." he almost danced with impatience andeagerness; and brown, looking over his

shoulder at him, could see, shown up by thepitiless dawn, his men drenched with dew, sitting amongst the cold ashes and the litter of the camp, haggard, cowed, and inrags.' -chapter 41 'to the very last moment, till the full daycame upon them with a spring, the fires on the west bank blazed bright and clear; andthen brown saw in a knot of coloured figures motionless between the advanced houses a man in european clothes, in ahelmet, all white. "that's him; look! look!"cornelius said excitedly.

all brown's men had sprung up and crowdedat his back with lustreless eyes. the group of vivid colours and dark faceswith the white figure in their midst were observing the knoll. brown could see naked arms being raised toshade the eyes and other brown arms pointing.what should he do? he looked around, and the forests thatfaced him on all sides walled the cock-pit of an unequal contest.he looked once more at his men. a contempt, a weariness, the desire oflife, the wish to try for one more chance-- for some other grave--struggled in hisbreast.

from the outline the figure presented itseemed to him that the white man there, backed up by all the power of the land, wasexamining his position through binoculars. brown jumped up on the log, throwing hisarms up, the palms outwards. the coloured group closed round the whiteman, and fell back twice before he got clear of them, walking slowly alone. brown remained standing on the log tilljim, appearing and disappearing between the patches of thorny scrub, had nearly reachedthe creek; then brown jumped off and went down to meet him on his side. 'they met, i should think, not very farfrom the place, perhaps on the very spot,

where jim took the second desperate leap ofhis life--the leap that landed him into the life of patusan, into the trust, the love,the confidence of the people. they faced each other across the creek, andwith steady eyes tried to understand each other before they opened their lips. their antagonism must have been expressedin their glances; i know that brown hated jim at first sight.whatever hopes he might have had vanished at once. this was not the man he had expected tosee. he hated him for this--and in a checkedflannel shirt with sleeves cut off at the

elbows, grey bearded, with a sunken, sun-blackened face--he cursed in his heart the other's youth and assurance, his clear eyesand his untroubled bearing. that fellow had got in a long way beforehim! he did not look like a man who would bewilling to give anything for assistance. he had all the advantages on his side--possession, security, power; he was on the side of an overwhelming force! he was not hungry and desperate, and he didnot seem in the least afraid. and there was something in the veryneatness of jim's clothes, from the white helmet to the canvas leggings and thepipeclayed shoes, which in brown's sombre

irritated eyes seemed to belong to things he had in the very shaping of his lifecondemned and flouted. '"who are you?" asked jim at last, speakingin his usual voice. "my name's brown," answered the otherloudly; "captain brown. what's yours?" and jim after a little pausewent on quietly, as if he had not heard: "what made you come here?" "you want to know," said brown bitterly."it's easy to tell. hunger.and what made you?" '"the fellow started at this," said brown,relating to me the opening of this strange

conversation between those two men,separated only by the muddy bed of a creek, but standing on the opposite poles of that conception of life which includes allmankind--"the fellow started at this and got very red in the face.too big to be questioned, i suppose. i told him that if he looked upon me as adead man with whom you may take liberties, he himself was not a whit better offreally. i had a fellow up there who had a beaddrawn on him all the time, and only waited for a sign from me.there was nothing to be shocked at in this. he had come down of his own free will.

'let us agree,' said i, 'that we are bothdead men, and let us talk on that basis, as equals.we are all equal before death,' i said. i admitted i was there like a rat in atrap, but we had been driven to it, and even a trapped rat can give a bite.he caught me up in a moment. 'not if you don't go near the trap till therat is dead.' i told him that sort of game was goodenough for these native friends of his, but i would have thought him too white to serveeven a rat so. yes, i had wanted to talk with him. not to beg for my life, though.my fellows were--well--what they were--men

like himself, anyhow.all we wanted from him was to come on in the devil's name and have it out. 'god d--n it,' said i, while he stood thereas still as a wooden post, 'you don't want to come out here every day with yourglasses to count how many of us are left on our feet. come.either bring your infernal crowd along or let us go out and starve in the open sea,by god! you have been white once, for all your talltalk of this being your own people and you being one with them.are you?

and what the devil do you get for it; whatis it you've found here that is so d--d precious?hey? you don't want us to come down hereperhaps--do you? you are two hundred to one.you don't want us to come down into the open. ah!i promise you we shall give you some sport before you've done.you talk about me making a cowardly set upon unoffending people. what's that to me that they areunoffending, when i am starving for next to

no offence?but i am not a coward. don't you be one. bring them along or, by all the fiends, weshall yet manage to send half your unoffending town to heaven with us insmoke!'" 'he was terrible--relating this to me--thistortured skeleton of a man drawn up together with his face over his knees, upona miserable bed in that wretched hovel, and lifting his head to look at me withmalignant triumph. '"that's what i told him--i knew what tosay," he began again, feebly at first, but working himself up with incredible speedinto a fiery utterance of his scorn.

"we aren't going into the forest to wanderlike a string of living skeletons dropping one after another for ants to go to workupon us before we are fairly dead. oh no!...'you don't deserve a better fate,'he said. 'and what do you deserve,' i shouted athim, 'you that i find skulking here with your mouth full of your responsibility, ofinnocent lives, of your infernal duty? what do you know more of me than i know ofyou? i came here for food.d'ye hear?--food to fill our bellies. and what did you come for? what did you ask for when you came here?we don't ask you for anything but to give

us a fight or a clear road to go backwhence we came....' 'i would fight with you now,' says he,pulling at his little moustache. 'and i would let you shoot me, andwelcome,' i said. 'this is as good a jumping-off place for meas another. i am sick of my infernal luck.but it would be too easy. there are my men in the same boat--and, bygod, i am not the sort to jump out of trouble and leave them in a d--d lurch,' isaid. he stood thinking for a while and thenwanted to know what i had done ('out there' he says, tossing his head down-stream) tobe hazed about so.

'have we met to tell each other the storyof our lives?' i asked him.'suppose you begin. no? well, i am sure i don't want to hear.keep it to yourself. i know it is no better than mine. i've lived--and so did you, though you talkas if you were one of those people that should have wings so as to go about withouttouching the dirty earth. well--it is dirty. i haven't got any wings.i am here because i was afraid once in my

life.want to know what of? of a prison. that scares me, and you may know it--ifit's any good to you. i won't ask you what scared you into thisinfernal hole, where you seem to have found pretty pickings. that's your luck and this is mine--theprivilege to beg for the favour of being shot quickly, or else kicked out to go freeand starve in my own way.'..." 'his debilitated body shook with anexultation so vehement, so assured, and so malicious that it seemed to have driven offthe death waiting for him in that hut.

the corpse of his mad self-love uprose fromrags and destitution as from the dark horrors of a tomb. it is impossible to say how much he lied tojim then, how much he lied to me now--and to himself always. vanity plays lurid tricks with our memory,and the truth of every passion wants some pretence to make it live. standing at the gate of the other world inthe guise of a beggar, he had slapped this world's face, he had spat on it, he hadthrown upon it an immensity of scorn and revolt at the bottom of his misdeeds.

he had overcome them all--men, women,savages, traders, ruffians, missionaries-- and jim--"that beefy-faced beggar." i did not begrudge him this triumph inarticulo mortis, this almost posthumous illusion of having trampled all the earthunder his feet. while he was boasting to me, in his sordidand repulsive agony, i couldn't help thinking of the chuckling talk relating tothe time of his greatest splendour when, during a year or more, gentleman brown's ship was to be seen, for many days on end,hovering off an islet befringed with green upon azure, with the dark dot of themission-house on a white beach; while

gentleman brown, ashore, was casting his spells over a romantic girl for whommelanesia had been too much, and giving hopes of a remarkable conversion to herhusband. the poor man, some time or other, had beenheard to express the intention of winning "captain brown to a better way oflife."..."bag gentleman brown for glory"-- as a leery-eyed loafer expressed it once-- "just to let them see up above what awestern pacific trading skipper looks like." and this was the man, too, who had run offwith a dying woman, and had shed tears over

her body. "carried on like a big baby," his then matewas never tired of telling, "and where the fun came in may i be kicked to death bydiseased kanakas if i know. why, gents! she was too far gone when hebrought her aboard to know him; she just lay there on her back in his bunk staringat the beam with awful shining eyes--and then she died. dam' bad sort of fever, i guess...." i remembered all these stories while,wiping his matted lump of a beard with a livid hand, he was telling me from hisnoisome couch how he got round, got in, got

home, on that confounded, immaculate,don't-you-touch-me sort of fellow. he admitted that he couldn't be scared, butthere was a way, "as broad as a turnpike, to get in and shake his twopenny soularound and inside out and upside down--by god!"' chapter 42 'i don't think he could do more thanperhaps look upon that straight path. he seemed to have been puzzled by what hesaw, for he interrupted himself in his narrative more than once to exclaim, "henearly slipped from me there. i could not make him out.

who was he?"and after glaring at me wildly he would go on, jubilating and sneering. to me the conversation of these two acrossthe creek appears now as the deadliest kind of duel on which fate looked on with hercold-eyed knowledge of the end. no, he didn't turn jim's soul inside out,but i am much mistaken if the spirit so utterly out of his reach had not been madeto taste to the full the bitterness of that contest. these were the emissaries with whom theworld he had renounced was pursuing him in his retreat--white men from "out there"where he did not think himself good enough

to live. this was all that came to him--a menace, ashock, a danger to his work. i suppose it is this sad, half-resentful,half-resigned feeling, piercing through the few words jim said now and then, thatpuzzled brown so much in the reading of his character. some great men owe most of their greatnessto the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact qualityof strength that matters for their work; and brown, as though he had been really great, had a satanic gift of finding outthe best and the weakest spot in his

victims. he admitted to me that jim wasn't of thesort that can be got over by truckling, and accordingly he took care to show himself asa man confronting without dismay ill-luck, censure, and disaster. the smuggling of a few guns was no greatcrime, he pointed out. as to coming to patusan, who had the rightto say he hadn't come to beg? the infernal people here let loose at himfrom both banks without staying to ask questions. he made the point brazenly, for, in truth,dain waris's energetic action had prevented

the greatest calamities; because brown toldme distinctly that, perceiving the size of the place, he had resolved instantly in his mind that as soon as he had gained afooting he would set fire right and left, and begin by shooting down everythingliving in sight, in order to cow and terrify the population. the disproportion of forces was so greatthat this was the only way giving him the slightest chance of attaining his ends--heargued in a fit of coughing. but he didn't tell jim this. as to the hardships and starvation they hadgone through, these had been very real; it

was enough to look at his band. he made, at the sound of a shrill whistle,all his men appear standing in a row on the logs in full view, so that jim could seethem. for the killing of the man, it had beendone--well, it had--but was not this war, bloody war--in a corner? and the fellow hadbeen killed cleanly, shot through the chest, not like that poor devil of hislying now in the creek. they had to listen to him dying for sixhours, with his entrails torn with slugs. at any rate this was a life for alife....and all this was said with the weariness, with the recklessness of a manspurred on and on by ill-luck till he cares

not where he runs. when he asked jim, with a sort of brusquedespairing frankness, whether he himself-- straight now--didn't understand that when"it came to saving one's life in the dark, one didn't care who else went--three, thirty, three hundred people"--it was as ifa demon had been whispering advice in his ear."i made him wince," boasted brown to me. "he very soon left off coming the righteousover me. he just stood there with nothing to say,and looking as black as thunder--not at me- -on the ground."

he asked jim whether he had nothing fishyin his life to remember that he was so damnedly hard upon a man trying to get outof a deadly hole by the first means that came to hand--and so on, and so on. and there ran through the rough talk a veinof subtle reference to their common blood, an assumption of common experience; asickening suggestion of common guilt, of secret knowledge that was like a bond oftheir minds and of their hearts. 'at last brown threw himself down fulllength and watched jim out of the corners of his eyes. jim on his side of the creek stood thinkingand switching his leg.

the houses in view were silent, as if apestilence had swept them clean of every breath of life; but many invisible eyeswere turned, from within, upon the two men with the creek between them, a stranded white boat, and the body of the third manhalf sunk in the mud. on the river canoes were moving again, forpatusan was recovering its belief in the stability of earthly institutions since thereturn of the white lord. the right bank, the platforms of thehouses, the rafts moored along the shores, even the roofs of bathing-huts, werecovered with people that, far away out of earshot and almost out of sight, were

straining their eyes towards the knollbeyond the rajah's stockade. within the wide irregular ring of forests,broken in two places by the sheen of the river, there was a silence. "will you promise to leave the coast?"jim asked. brown lifted and let fall his hand, givingeverything up as it were--accepting the inevitable. "and surrender your arms?"jim went on. brown sat up and glared across."surrender our arms! not till you come to take them out of ourstiff hands.

you think i am gone crazy with funk?oh no! that and the rags i stand in is all i havegot in the world, besides a few more breechloaders on board; and i expect tosell the lot in madagascar, if i ever get so far--begging my way from ship to ship." 'jim said nothing to this.at last, throwing away the switch he held in his hand, he said, as if speaking tohimself, "i don't know whether i have the power."..."you don't know! and you wanted me just now to give up myarms! that's good, too," cried brown; "supposethey say one thing to you, and do the other

thing to me." he calmed down markedly."i dare say you have the power, or what's the meaning of all this talk?" hecontinued. "what did you come down here for? to pass the time of day?"'"very well," said jim, lifting his head suddenly after a long silence."you shall have a clear road or else a clear fight." he turned on his heel and walked away.'brown got up at once, but he did not go up the hill till he had seen jim disappearbetween the first houses.

he never set his eyes on him again. on his way back he met cornelius slouchingdown with his head between his shoulders. he stopped before brown."why didn't you kill him?" he demanded in a sour, discontented voice. "because i could do better than that,"brown said with an amused smile. "never! never!" protested cornelius withenergy. "couldn't. i have lived here for many years."brown looked up at him curiously. there were many sides to the life of thatplace in arms against him; things he would

never find out. cornelius slunk past dejectedly in thedirection of the river. he was now leaving his new friends; heaccepted the disappointing course of events with a sulky obstinacy which seemed to drawmore together his little yellow old face; and as he went down he glanced askant hereand there, never giving up his fixed idea. 'henceforth events move fast without acheck, flowing from the very hearts of men like a stream from a dark source, and wesee jim amongst them, mostly through tamb' itam's eyes. the girl's eyes had watched him too, buther life is too much entwined with his:

there is her passion, her wonder, heranger, and, above all, her fear and her unforgiving love. of the faithful servant, uncomprehending asthe rest of them, it is the fidelity alone that comes into play; a fidelity and abelief in his lord so strong that even amazement is subdued to a sort of saddenedacceptance of a mysterious failure. he has eyes only for one figure, andthrough all the mazes of bewilderment he preserves his air of guardianship, ofobedience, of care. 'his master came back from his talk withthe white men, walking slowly towards the stockade in the street.

everybody was rejoiced to see him return,for while he was away every man had been afraid not only of him being killed, butalso of what would come after. jim went into one of the houses, where olddoramin had retired, and remained alone for a long time with the head of the bugissettlers. no doubt he discussed the course to followwith him then, but no man was present at the conversation. only tamb' itam, keeping as close to thedoor as he could, heard his master say, "yes. i shall let all the people know that suchis my wish; but i spoke to you, o doramin,

before all the others, and alone; for youknow my heart as well as i know yours and its greatest desire. and you know well also that i have nothought but for the people's good." then his master, lifting the sheeting inthe doorway, went out, and he, tamb' itam, had a glimpse of old doramin within,sitting in the chair with his hands on his knees, and looking between his feet. afterwards he followed his master to thefort, where all the principal bugis and patusan inhabitants had been summoned for atalk. tamb' itam himself hoped there would besome fighting.

"what was it but the taking of anotherhill?" he exclaimed regretfully. however, in the town many hoped that therapacious strangers would be induced, by the sight of so many brave men making readyto fight, to go away. it would be a good thing if they went away. since jim's arrival had been made knownbefore daylight by the gun fired from the fort and the beating of the big drum there,the fear that had hung over patusan had broken and subsided like a wave on a rock, leaving the seething foam of excitement,curiosity, and endless speculation. half of the population had been ousted outof their homes for purposes of defence, and

were living in the street on the left sideof the river, crowding round the fort, and in momentary expectation of seeing their abandoned dwellings on the threatened bankburst into flames. the general anxiety was to see the mattersettled quickly. food, through jewel's care, had been servedout to the refugees. nobody knew what their white man would do.some remarked that it was worse than in sherif ali's war. then many people did not care; noweverybody had something to lose. the movements of canoes passing to and frobetween the two parts of the town were

watched with interest. a couple of bugis war-boats lay anchored inthe middle of the stream to protect the river, and a thread of smoke stood at thebow of each; the men in them were cooking their midday rice when jim, after his interviews with brown and doramin, crossedthe river and entered by the water-gate of his fort. the people inside crowded round him, sothat he could hardly make his way to the house. they had not seen him before, because onhis arrival during the night he had only

exchanged a few words with the girl, whohad come down to the landing-stage for the purpose, and had then gone on at once to join the chiefs and the fighting men on theother bank. people shouted greetings after him. one old woman raised a laugh by pushing herway to the front madly and enjoining him in a scolding voice to see to it that her twosons, who were with doramin, did not come to harm at the hands of the robbers. several of the bystanders tried to pull heraway, but she struggled and cried, "let me go.what is this, o muslims?

this laughter is unseemly. are they not cruel, bloodthirsty robbersbent on killing?" "let her be," said jim, and as a silencefell suddenly, he said slowly, "everybody shall be safe." he entered the house before the great sigh,and the loud murmurs of satisfaction, had died out. 'there's no doubt his mind was made up thatbrown should have his way clear back to the sea.his fate, revolted, was forcing his hand. he had for the first time to affirm hiswill in the face of outspoken opposition.

"there was much talk, and at first mymaster was silent," tamb' itam said. "darkness came, and then i lit the candleson the long table. the chiefs sat on each side, and the ladyremained by my master's right hand." 'when he began to speak, the unaccustomeddifficulty seemed only to fix his resolve more immovably.the white men were now waiting for his answer on the hill. their chief had spoken to him in thelanguage of his own people, making clear many things difficult to explain in anyother speech. they were erring men whom suffering hadmade blind to right and wrong.

it is true that lives had been lostalready, but why lose more? he declared to his hearers, the assembledheads of the people, that their welfare was his welfare, their losses his losses, theirmourning his mourning. he looked round at the grave listeningfaces and told them to remember that they had fought and worked side by side. they knew his courage...here a murmurinterrupted him...and that he had never deceived them.for many years they had dwelt together. he loved the land and the people living init with a very great love. he was ready to answer with his life forany harm that should come to them if the

white men with beards were allowed toretire. they were evil-doers, but their destiny hadbeen evil, too. had he ever advised them ill?had his words ever brought suffering to the people? he asked. he believed that it would be best to letthese whites and their followers go with their lives.it would be a small gift. "i whom you have tried and found alwaystrue ask you to let them go." he turned to doramin.the old nakhoda made no movement. "then," said jim, "call in dain waris, yourson, my friend, for in this business i

shall not lead."' -chapter 43 'tamb' itam behind his chair wasthunderstruck. the declaration produced an immensesensation. "let them go because this is best in myknowledge which has never deceived you," jim insisted.there was a silence. in the darkness of the courtyard could beheard the subdued whispering, shuffling noise of many people. doramin raised his heavy head and said thatthere was no more reading of hearts than

touching the sky with the hand, but--heconsented. the others gave their opinion in turn. "it is best," "let them go," and so on.but most of them simply said that they "believed tuan jim." 'in this simple form of assent to his willlies the whole gist of the situation; their creed, his truth; and the testimony to thatfaithfulness which made him in his own eyes the equal of the impeccable men who neverfall out of the ranks. stein's words, "romantic!--romantic!" seemto ring over those distances that will never give him up now to a worldindifferent to his failings and his

virtues, and to that ardent and clinging affection that refuses him the dole oftears in the bewilderment of a great grief and of eternal separation. from the moment the sheer truthfulness ofhis last three years of life carries the day against the ignorance, the fear, andthe anger of men, he appears no longer to me as i saw him last--a white speck catching all the dim light left upon asombre coast and the darkened sea--but greater and more pitiful in the lonelinessof his soul, that remains even for her who loved him best a cruel and insolublemystery.

'it is evident that he did not mistrustbrown; there was no reason to doubt the story, whose truth seemed warranted by therough frankness, by a sort of virile sincerity in accepting the morality and theconsequences of his acts. but jim did not know the almostinconceivable egotism of the man which made him, when resisted and foiled in his will,mad with the indignant and revengeful rage of a thwarted autocrat. but if jim did not mistrust brown, he wasevidently anxious that some misunderstanding should not occur, endingperhaps in collision and bloodshed. it was for this reason that directly themalay chiefs had gone he asked jewel to get

him something to eat, as he was going outof the fort to take command in the town. on her remonstrating against this on thescore of his fatigue, he said that something might happen for which he wouldnever forgive himself. "i am responsible for every life in theland," he said. he was moody at first; she served him withher own hands, taking the plates and dishes (of the dinner-service presented him bystein) from tamb' itam. he brightened up after a while; told hershe would be again in command of the fort for another night."there's no sleep for us, old girl," he said, "while our people are in danger."

later on he said jokingly that she was thebest man of them all. "if you and dain waris had done what youwanted, not one of these poor devils would be alive to-day." "are they very bad?" she asked, leaningover his chair. "men act badly sometimes without being muchworse than others," he said after some hesitation. 'tamb' itam followed his master to thelanding-stage outside the fort. the night was clear but without a moon, andthe middle of the river was dark, while the water under each bank reflected the lightof many fires "as on a night of ramadan,"

tamb' itam said. war-boats drifted silently in the dark laneor, anchored, floated motionless with a loud ripple. that night there was much paddling in acanoe and walking at his master's heels for tamb' itam: up and down the street theytramped, where the fires were burning, inland on the outskirts of the town where small parties of men kept guard in thefields. tuan jim gave his orders and was obeyed. last of all they went to the rajah'sstockade, which a detachment of jim's

people manned on that night. the old rajah had fled early in the morningwith most of his women to a small house he had near a jungle village on a tributarystream. kassim, left behind, had attended thecouncil with his air of diligent activity to explain away the diplomacy of the daybefore. he was considerably cold-shouldered, butmanaged to preserve his smiling, quiet alertness, and professed himself highlydelighted when jim told him sternly that he proposed to occupy the stockade on thatnight with his own men. after the council broke up he was heardoutside accosting this and that deputing

chief, and speaking in a loud, gratifiedtone of the rajah's property being protected in the rajah's absence. 'about ten or so jim's men marched in.the stockade commanded the mouth of the creek, and jim meant to remain there tillbrown had passed below. a small fire was lit on the flat, grassypoint outside the wall of stakes, and tamb' itam placed a little folding-stool for hismaster. jim told him to try and sleep. tamb' itam got a mat and lay down a littleway off; but he could not sleep, though he knew he had to go on an important journeybefore the night was out.

his master walked to and fro before thefire with bowed head and with his hands behind his back.his face was sad. whenever his master approached him tamb'itam pretended to sleep, not wishing his master to know he had been watched. at last his master stood still, lookingdown on him as he lay, and said softly, "it is time."'tamb' itam arose directly and made his preparations. his mission was to go down the river,preceding brown's boat by an hour or more, to tell dain waris finally and formallythat the whites were to be allowed to pass

out unmolested. jim would not trust anybody else with thatservice. before starting, tamb' itam, more as amatter of form (since his position about jim made him perfectly known), asked for atoken. "because, tuan," he said, "the message isimportant, and these are thy very words i carry." his master first put his hand into onepocket, then into another, and finally took off his forefinger stein's silver ring,which he habitually wore, and gave it to tamb' itam.

when tamb' itam left on his mission,brown's camp on the knoll was dark but for a single small glow shining through thebranches of one of the trees the white men had cut down. 'early in the evening brown had receivedfrom jim a folded piece of paper on which was written, "you get the clear road.start as soon as your boat floats on the morning tide. let your men be careful.the bushes on both sides of the creek and the stockade at the mouth are full of well-armed men. you would have no chance, but i don'tbelieve you want bloodshed."

brown read it, tore the paper into smallpieces, and, turning to cornelius, who had brought it, said jeeringly, "good-bye, myexcellent friend." cornelius had been in the fort, and hadbeen sneaking around jim's house during the afternoon. jim chose him to carry the note because hecould speak english, was known to brown, and was not likely to be shot by somenervous mistake of one of the men as a malay, approaching in the dusk, perhapsmight have been. 'cornelius didn't go away after deliveringthe paper. brown was sitting up over a tiny fire; allthe others were lying down.

"i could tell you something you would liketo know," cornelius mumbled crossly. brown paid no attention. "you did not kill him," went on the other,"and what do you get for it? you might have had money from the rajah,besides the loot of all the bugis houses, and now you get nothing." "you had better clear out from here,"growled brown, without even looking at him. but cornelius let himself drop by his sideand began to whisper very fast, touching his elbow from time to time. what he had to say made brown sit up atfirst, with a curse.

he had simply informed him of dain waris'sarmed party down the river. at first brown saw himself completely soldand betrayed, but a moment's reflection convinced him that there could be notreachery intended. he said nothing, and after a whilecornelius remarked, in a tone of complete indifference, that there was another wayout of the river which he knew very well. "a good thing to know, too," said brown,pricking up his ears; and cornelius began to talk of what went on in town andrepeated all that had been said in council, gossiping in an even undertone at brown's ear as you talk amongst sleeping men you donot wish to wake.

"he thinks he has made me harmless, doeshe?" mumbled brown very low...."yes. he is a fool. a little child.he came here and robbed me," droned on cornelius, "and he made all the peoplebelieve him. but if something happened that they did notbelieve him any more, where would he be? and the bugis dain who is waiting for youdown the river there, captain, is the very man who chased you up here when you firstcame." brown observed nonchalantly that it wouldbe just as well to avoid him, and with the same detached, musing air corneliusdeclared himself acquainted with a

backwater broad enough to take brown's boatpast waris's camp. "you will have to be quiet," he said as anafterthought, "for in one place we pass close behind his camp. very close.they are camped ashore with their boats hauled up.""oh, we know how to be as quiet as mice; never fear," said brown. cornelius stipulated that in case he wereto pilot brown out, his canoe should be towed."i'll have to get back quick," he explained.

'it was two hours before the dawn when wordwas passed to the stockade from outlying watchers that the white robbers were comingdown to their boat. in a very short time every armed man fromone end of patusan to the other was on the alert, yet the banks of the river remainedso silent that but for the fires burning with sudden blurred flares the town mighthave been asleep as if in peace-time. a heavy mist lay very low on the water,making a sort of illusive grey light that showed nothing. when brown's long-boat glided out of thecreek into the river, jim was standing on the low point of land before the rajah'sstockade--on the very spot where for the

first time he put his foot on patusanshore. a shadow loomed up, moving in the greyness,solitary, very bulky, and yet constantly eluding the eye. a murmur of low talking came out of it.brown at the tiller heard jim speak calmly: "a clear road. you had better trust to the current whilethe fog lasts; but this will lift presently.""yes, presently we shall see clear," replied brown. 'the thirty or forty men standing withmuskets at ready outside the stockade held

their breath. the bugis owner of the prau, whom i saw onstein's verandah, and who was amongst them, told me that the boat, shaving the lowpoint close, seemed for a moment to grow big and hang over it like a mountain. "if you think it worth your while to wait aday outside," called out jim, "i'll try to send you down something--a bullock, someyams--what i can." the shadow went on moving. "yes.do," said a voice, blank and muffled out of the fog.

not one of the many attentive listenersunderstood what the words meant; and then brown and his men in their boat floatedaway, fading spectrally without the slightest sound. 'thus brown, invisible in the mist, goesout of patusan elbow to elbow with cornelius in the stern-sheets of the long-boat. "perhaps you shall get a small bullock,"said cornelius. "oh yes.bullock. yam. you'll get it if he said so.he always speaks the truth.

he stole everything i had.i suppose you like a small bullock better than the loot of many houses." "i would advise you to hold your tongue, orsomebody here may fling you overboard into this damned fog," said brown. the boat seemed to be standing still;nothing could be seen, not even the river alongside, only the water-dust flew andtrickled, condensed, down their beards and faces. it was weird, brown told me.every individual man of them felt as though he were adrift alone in a boat, haunted byan almost imperceptible suspicion of

sighing, muttering ghosts. "throw me out, would you?but i would know where i was," mumbled cornelius surlily."i've lived many years here." "not long enough to see through a fog likethis," brown said, lolling back with his arm swinging to and fro on the uselesstiller. long enough for that," snarled cornelius."that's very useful," commented brown. "am i to believe you could find thatbackway you spoke of blindfold, like this?" cornelius grunted. "are you too tired to row?" he asked aftera silence.

"no, by god!" shouted brown suddenly."out with your oars there." there was a great knocking in the fog,which after a while settled into a regular grind of invisible sweeps against invisiblethole-pins. otherwise nothing was changed, and but forthe slight splash of a dipped blade it was like rowing a balloon car in a cloud, saidbrown. thereafter cornelius did not open his lipsexcept to ask querulously for somebody to bale out his canoe, which was towing behindthe long-boat. gradually the fog whitened and becameluminous ahead. to the left brown saw a darkness as thoughhe had been looking at the back of the

departing night. all at once a big bough covered with leavesappeared above his head, and ends of twigs, dripping and still, curved slenderly closealongside. cornelius, without a word, took the tillerfrom his hand.' chapter 44 'i don't think they spoke together again. the boat entered a narrow by-channel, whereit was pushed by the oar-blades set into crumbling banks, and there was a gloom asif enormous black wings had been outspread above the mist that filled its depth to thesummits of the trees.

the branches overhead showered big dropsthrough the gloomy fog. at a mutter from cornelius, brown orderedhis men to load. "i'll give you a chance to get even withthem before we're done, you dismal cripples, you," he said to his gang. "mind you don't throw it away--you hounds."low growls answered that speech. cornelius showed much fussy concern for thesafety of his canoe. 'meantime tamb' itam had reached the end ofhis journey. the fog had delayed him a little, but hehad paddled steadily, keeping in touch with the south bank.

by-and-by daylight came like a glow in aground glass globe. the shores made on each side of the river adark smudge, in which one could detect hints of columnar forms and shadows oftwisted branches high up. the mist was still thick on the water, buta good watch was being kept, for as iamb' itam approached the camp the figures of twomen emerged out of the white vapour, and voices spoke to him boisterously. he answered, and presently a canoe layalongside, and he exchanged news with the paddlers.all was well. the trouble was over.

then the men in the canoe let go their gripon the side of his dug-out and incontinently fell out of sight. he pursued his way till he heard voicescoming to him quietly over the water, and saw, under the now lifting, swirling mist,the glow of many little fires burning on a sandy stretch, backed by lofty thin timberand bushes. there again a look-out was kept, for he waschallenged. he shouted his name as the two last sweepsof his paddle ran his canoe up on the strand.it was a big camp. men crouched in many little knots under asubdued murmur of early morning talk.

many thin threads of smoke curled slowly onthe white mist. little shelters, elevated above the ground,had been built for the chiefs. muskets were stacked in small pyramids, andlong spears were stuck singly into the sand near the fires. 'tamb' itam, assuming an air of importance,demanded to be led to dain waris. he found the friend of his white lord lyingon a raised couch made of bamboo, and sheltered by a sort of shed of stickscovered with mats. dain waris was awake, and a bright fire wasburning before his sleeping-place, which resembled a rude shrine.the only son of nakhoda doramin answered

his greeting kindly. tamb' itam began by handing him the ringwhich vouched for the truth of the messenger's words.dain waris, reclining on his elbow, bade him speak and tell all the news. beginning with the consecrated formula,"the news is good," tamb' itam delivered jim's own words. the white men, deputing with the consent ofall the chiefs, were to be allowed to pass down the river. in answer to a question or two tamb' itamthen reported the proceedings of the last

council. dain waris listened attentively to the end,toying with the ring which ultimately he slipped on the forefinger of his righthand. after hearing all he had to say hedismissed tamb' itam to have food and rest. orders for the return in the afternoon weregiven immediately. afterwards dain waris lay down again, open-eyed, while his personal attendants were preparing his food at the fire, by whichtamb' itam also sat talking to the men who lounged up to hear the latest intelligencefrom the town. the sun was eating up the mist.

a good watch was kept upon the reach of themain stream where the boat of the whites was expected to appear every moment. 'it was then that brown took his revengeupon the world which, after twenty years of contemptuous and reckless bullying, refusedhim the tribute of a common robber's success. it was an act of cold-blooded ferocity, andit consoled him on his deathbed like a memory of an indomitable defiance. stealthily he landed his men on the otherside of the island opposite to the bugis camp, and led them across.

after a short but quite silent scuffle,cornelius, who had tried to slink away at the moment of landing, resigned himself toshow the way where the undergrowth was most sparse. brown held both his skinny hands togetherbehind his back in the grip of one vast fist, and now and then impelled him forwardwith a fierce push. cornelius remained as mute as a fish,abject but faithful to his purpose, whose accomplishment loomed before him dimly. at the edge of the patch of forest brown'smen spread themselves out in cover and waited.the camp was plain from end to end before

their eyes, and no one looked their way. nobody even dreamed that the white mencould have any knowledge of the narrow channel at the back of the island. when he judged the moment come, brownyelled, "let them have it," and fourteen shots rang out like one. 'tamb' itam told me the surprise was sogreat that, except for those who fell dead or wounded, not a soul of them moved forquite an appreciable time after the first discharge. then a man screamed, and after that screama great yell of amazement and fear went up

from all the throats. a blind panic drove these men in a surgingswaying mob to and fro along the shore like a herd of cattle afraid of the water. some few jumped into the river then, butmost of them did so only after the last three times brown's men fired into theruck, brown, the only one in view, cursing and yelling, "aim low! aim low!" 'tamb' itam says that, as for him, heunderstood at the first volley what had happened.though untouched he fell down and lay as if dead, but with his eyes open.

at the sound of the first shots dain waris,reclining on the couch, jumped up and ran out upon the open shore, just in time toreceive a bullet in his forehead at the second discharge. tamb' itam saw him fling his arms wide openbefore he fell. then, he says, a great fear came upon him--not before. the white men retired as they had come--unseen. 'thus brown balanced his account with theevil fortune. notice that even in this awful outbreakthere is a superiority as of a man who carries right--the abstract thing--withinthe envelope of his common desires.

it was not a vulgar and treacherousmassacre; it was a lesson, a retribution--a demonstration of some obscure and awfulattribute of our nature which, i am afraid, is not so very far under the surface as welike to think. 'afterwards the whites depart unseen bytamb' itam, and seem to vanish from before men's eyes altogether; and the schooner,too, vanishes after the manner of stolen goods. but a story is told of a white long-boatpicked up a month later in the indian ocean by a cargo steamer. two parched, yellow, glassy-eyed,whispering skeletons in her recognised the

authority of a third, who declared that hisname was brown. his schooner, he reported, bound south witha cargo of java sugar, had sprung a bad leak and sank under his feet.he and his companions were the survivors of a crew of six. the two died on board the steamer whichrescued them. brown lived to be seen by me, and i cantestify that he had played his part to the last. 'it seems, however, that in going away theyhad neglected to cast off cornelius's canoe.

cornelius himself brown had let go at thebeginning of the shooting, with a kick for a parting benediction. tamb' itam, after arising from amongst thedead, saw the nazarene running up and down the shore amongst the corpses and theexpiring fires. he uttered little cries. suddenly he rushed to the water, and madefrantic efforts to get one of the bugis boats into the water. "afterwards, till he had seen me," relatedtamb' itam, "he stood looking at the heavy canoe and scratching his head.""what became of him?"

i asked. tamb' itam, staring hard at me, made anexpressive gesture with his right arm. "twice i struck, tuan," he said. "when he beheld me approaching he casthimself violently on the ground and made a great outcry, kicking. he screeched like a frightened hen till hefelt the point; then he was still, and lay staring at me while his life went out ofhis eyes." 'this done, tamb' itam did not tarry. he understood the importance of being thefirst with the awful news at the fort.

there were, of course, many survivors ofdain waris's party; but in the extremity of panic some had swum across the river,others had bolted into the bush. the fact is that they did not know reallywho struck that blow--whether more white robbers were not coming, whether they hadnot already got hold of the whole land. they imagined themselves to be the victimsof a vast treachery, and utterly doomed to destruction.it is said that some small parties did not come in till three days afterwards. however, a few tried to make their way backto patusan at once, and one of the canoes that were patrolling the river that morningwas in sight of the camp at the very moment

of the attack. it is true that at first the men in herleaped overboard and swam to the opposite bank, but afterwards they returned to theirboat and started fearfully up-stream. of these tamb' itam had an hour's advance.' -chapter 45 'when tamb' itam, paddling madly, came intothe town-reach, the women, thronging the platforms before the houses, were lookingout for the return of dain waris's little fleet of boats. the town had a festive air; here and theremen, still with spears or guns in their

hands, could be seen moving or standing onthe shore in groups. chinamen's shops had been opened early; butthe market-place was empty, and a sentry, still posted at the corner of the fort,made out tamb' itam, and shouted to those within. the gate was wide open.tamb' itam jumped ashore and ran in headlong.the first person he met was the girl coming down from the house. 'tamb' itam, disordered, panting, withtrembling lips and wild eyes, stood for a time before her as if a sudden spell hadbeen laid on him.

then he broke out very quickly: "they havekilled dain waris and many more." she clapped her hands, and her first wordswere, "shut the gates." most of the fortmen had gone back to theirhouses, but tamb' itam hurried on the few who remained for their turn of duty within.the girl stood in the middle of the courtyard while the others ran about. "doramin," she cried despairingly, as tamb'itam passed her. next time he went by he answered herthought rapidly, "yes. but we have all the powder in patusan." she caught him by the arm, and, pointing atthe house, "call him out," she whispered,

trembling.'tamb' itam ran up the steps. his master was sleeping. "it is i, tamb' itam," he cried at thedoor, "with tidings that cannot wait." he saw jim turn over on the pillow and openhis eyes, and he burst out at once. "this, tuan, is a day of evil, an accursedday." his master raised himself on his elbow tolisten--just as dain waris had done. and then tamb' itam began his tale, tryingto relate the story in order, calling dain waris panglima, and saying: "the panglimathen called out to the chief of his own boatmen, 'give tamb' itam something to

eat'"--when his master put his feet to theground and looked at him with such a discomposed face that the words remained inhis throat. '"speak out," said jim. "is he dead?""may you live long," cried tamb' itam. "it was a most cruel treachery. he ran out at the first shots andfell."...his master walked to the window and with his fist struck at the shutter. the room was made light; and then in asteady voice, but speaking fast, he began to give him orders to assemble a fleet ofboats for immediate pursuit, go to this

man, to the other--send messengers; and as he talked he sat down on the bed, stoopingto lace his boots hurriedly, and suddenly looked up."why do you stand here?" he asked very red- faced. "waste no time."tamb' itam did not move. "forgive me, tuan, but...but," he began tostammer. "what?" cried his master aloud, lookingterrible, leaning forward with his hands gripping the edge of the bed. "it is not safe for thy servant to go outamongst the people," said tamb' itam, after

hesitating a moment.'then jim understood. he had retreated from one world, for asmall matter of an impulsive jump, and now the other, the work of his own hands, hadfallen in ruins upon his head. it was not safe for his servant to go outamongst his own people! i believe that in that very moment he haddecided to defy the disaster in the only way it occurred to him such a disastercould be defied; but all i know is that, without a word, he came out of his room and sat before the long table, at the head ofwhich he was accustomed to regulate the affairs of his world, proclaiming daily thetruth that surely lived in his heart.

the dark powers should not rob him twice ofhis peace. he sat like a stone figure.tamb' itam, deferential, hinted at preparations for defence. the girl he loved came in and spoke to him,but he made a sign with his hand, and she was awed by the dumb appeal for silence init. she went out on the verandah and sat on thethreshold, as if to guard him with her body from dangers outside.'what thoughts passed through his head-- what memories? who can tell?everything was gone, and he who had been

once unfaithful to his trust had lost againall men's confidence. it was then, i believe, he tried to write--to somebody--and gave it up. loneliness was closing on him. people had trusted him with their lives--only for that; and yet they could never, as he had said, never be made to understandhim. those without did not hear him make asound. later, towards the evening, he came to thedoor and called for tamb' itam. "well?" he asked. "there is much weeping.much anger too," said tamb' itam.

jim looked up at him."you know," he murmured. "yes, tuan," said tamb' itam. "thy servant does know, and the gates areclosed. we shall have to fight.""fight! what for?" he asked. "for our lives.""i have no life," he said. tamb' itam heard a cry from the girl at thedoor. "who knows?" said tamb' itam. "by audacity and cunning we may evenescape.

there is much fear in men's hearts too." he went out, thinking vaguely of boats andof open sea, leaving jim and the girl together. 'i haven't the heart to set down here suchglimpses as she had given me of the hour or more she passed in there wrestling with himfor the possession of her happiness. whether he had any hope--what he expected,what he imagined--it is impossible to say. he was inflexible, and with the growingloneliness of his obstinacy his spirit seemed to rise above the ruins of hisexistence. she cried "fight!" into his ear.

she could not understand.there was nothing to fight for. he was going to prove his power in anotherway and conquer the fatal destiny itself. he came out into the courtyard, and behindhim, with streaming hair, wild of face, breathless, she staggered out and leaned onthe side of the doorway. "open the gates," he ordered. afterwards, turning to those of his men whowere inside, he gave them leave to depart to their homes."for how long, tuan?" asked one of them timidly. "for all life," he said, in a sombre tone.'a hush had fallen upon the town after the

outburst of wailing and lamentation thathad swept over the river, like a gust of wind from the opened abode of sorrow. but rumours flew in whispers, filling thehearts with consternation and horrible doubts. the robbers were coming back, bringing manyothers with them, in a great ship, and there would be no refuge in the land forany one. a sense of utter insecurity as during anearthquake pervaded the minds of men, who whispered their suspicions, looking at eachother as if in the presence of some awful portent.

'the sun was sinking towards the forestswhen dain waris's body was brought into doramin's campong. four men carried it in, covered decentlywith a white sheet which the old mother had sent out down to the gate to meet her sonon his return. they laid him at doramin's feet, and theold man sat still for a long time, one hand on each knee, looking down. the fronds of palms swayed gently, and thefoliage of fruit trees stirred above his head. every single man of his people was there,fully armed, when the old nakhoda at last

raised his eyes.he moved them slowly over the crowd, as if seeking for a missing face. again his chin sank on his breast.the whispers of many men mingled with the slight rustling of the leaves.'the malay who had brought tamb' itam and the girl to samarang was there too. "not so angry as many," he said to me, butstruck with a great awe and wonder at the "suddenness of men's fate, which hangs overtheir heads like a cloud charged with thunder." he told me that when dain waris's body wasuncovered at a sign of doramin's, he whom

they often called the white lord's friendwas disclosed lying unchanged with his eyelids a little open as if about to wake. doramin leaned forward a little more, likeone looking for something fallen on the ground.his eyes searched the body from its feet to its head, for the wound maybe. it was in the forehead and small; and therewas no word spoken while one of the by- standers, stooping, took off the silverring from the cold stiff hand. in silence he held it up before doramin. a murmur of dismay and horror ran throughthe crowd at the sight of that familiar

token. the old nakhoda stared at it, and suddenlylet out one great fierce cry, deep from the chest, a roar of pain and fury, as mightyas the bellow of a wounded bull, bringing great fear into men's hearts, by the magnitude of his anger and his sorrow thatcould be plainly discerned without words. there was a great stillness afterwards fora space, while the body was being borne aside by four men. they laid it down under a tree, and on theinstant, with one long shriek, all the women of the household began to wailtogether; they mourned with shrill cries;

the sun was setting, and in the intervals of screamed lamentations the high sing-songvoices of two old men intoning the koran chanted alone. 'about this time jim, leaning on a gun-carriage, looked at the river, and turned his back on the house; and the girl, in thedoorway, panting as if she had run herself to a standstill, was looking at him acrossthe yard. tamb' itam stood not far from his master,waiting patiently for what might happen. all at once jim, who seemed to be lost inquiet thought, turned to him and said, "time to finish this."'"tuan?" said tamb' itam, advancing with

alacrity. he did not know what his master meant, butas soon as jim made a movement the girl started too and walked down into the openspace. it seems that no one else of the people ofthe house was in sight. she tottered slightly, and about half-waydown called out to jim, who had apparently resumed his peaceful contemplation of theriver. he turned round, setting his back againstthe gun. "will you fight?" she cried."there is nothing to fight for," he said; "nothing is lost."

saying this he made a step towards her."will you fly?" she cried again. "there is no escape," he said, stoppingshort, and she stood still also, silent, devouring him with her eyes. "and you shall go?" she said slowly.he bent his head. "ah!" she exclaimed, peering at him as itwere, "you are mad or false. do you remember the night i prayed you toleave me, and you said that you could not? that it was impossible!impossible! do you remember you said you would neverleave me? why?i asked you for no promise.

you promised unasked--remember." "enough, poor girl," he said."i should not be worth having." 'tamb' itam said that while they weretalking she would laugh loud and senselessly like one under the visitationof god. his master put his hands to his head. he was fully dressed as for every day, butwithout a hat. she stopped laughing suddenly."for the last time," she cried menacingly, "will you defend yourself?" "nothing can touch me," he said in a lastflicker of superb egoism.

tamb' itam saw her lean forward where shestood, open her arms, and run at him swiftly. she flung herself upon his breast andclasped him round the neck. '"ah! but i shall hold thee thus," shecried...."thou art mine!" 'she sobbed on his shoulder. the sky over patusan was blood-red,immense, streaming like an open vein. an enormous sun nestled crimson amongst thetree-tops, and the forest below had a black and forbidding face. 'tamb' itam tells me that on that eveningthe aspect of the heavens was angry and

frightful. i may well believe it, for i know that onthat very day a cyclone passed within sixty miles of the coast, though there was hardlymore than a languid stir of air in the place. 'suddenly tamb' itam saw jim catch herarms, trying to unclasp her hands. she hung on them with her head fallen back;her hair touched the ground. "come here!" his master called, and tamb'itam helped to ease her down. it was difficult to separate her fingers. jim, bending over her, looked earnestlyupon her face, and all at once ran to the

landing-stage. tamb' itam followed him, but turning hishead, he saw that she had struggled up to her feet.she ran after them a few steps, then fell down heavily on her knees. "tuan!tuan!" called tamb' itam, "look back;" but jim was already in a canoe, standing uppaddle in hand. he did not look back. tamb' itam had just time to scramble inafter him when the canoe floated clear. the girl was then on her knees, withclasped hands, at the water-gate.

she remained thus for a time in asupplicating attitude before she sprang up. "you are false!" she screamed out afterjim. "forgive me," he cried. "never!never!" she called back. 'tamb' itam took the paddle from jim'shands, it being unseemly that he should sit while his lord paddled. when they reached the other shore hismaster forbade him to come any farther; but tamb' itam did follow him at a distance,walking up the slope to doramin's campong. 'it was beginning to grow dark.

torches twinkled here and there.those they met seemed awestruck, and stood aside hastily to let jim pass.the wailing of women came from above. the courtyard was full of armed bugis withtheir followers, and of patusan people. 'i do not know what this gathering reallymeant. were these preparations for war, or forvengeance, or to repulse a threatened invasion? many days elapsed before the people hadceased to look out, quaking, for the return of the white men with long beards and inrags, whose exact relation to their own white man they could never understand.

even for those simple minds poor jimremains under a cloud. 'doramin, alone! immense and desolate, satin his arm-chair with the pair of flintlock pistols on his knees, faced by a armedthrong. when jim appeared, at somebody'sexclamation, all the heads turned round together, and then the mass opened rightand left, and he walked up a lane of averted glances. whispers followed him; murmurs: "he hasworked all the evil." "he hath a charm."...he heard them--perhaps! 'when he came up into the light of torchesthe wailing of the women ceased suddenly.

doramin did not lift his head, and jimstood silent before him for a time. then he looked to the left, and moved inthat direction with measured steps. dain waris's mother crouched at the head ofthe body, and the grey dishevelled hair concealed her face. jim came up slowly, looked at his deadfriend, lifting the sheet, than dropped it without a word.slowly he walked back. '"he came! he came!" was running from lip to lip,making a murmur to which he moved. "he hath taken it upon his own head," avoice said aloud.

he heard this and turned to the crowd. "yes.upon my head." a few people recoiled.jim waited awhile before doramin, and then said gently, "i am come in sorrow." he waited again."i am come ready and unarmed," he repeated. 'the unwieldy old man, lowering his bigforehead like an ox under a yoke, made an effort to rise, clutching at the flintlockpistols on his knees. from his throat came gurgling, choking,inhuman sounds, and his two attendants helped him from behind.

people remarked that the ring which he haddropped on his lap fell and rolled against the foot of the white man, and that poorjim glanced down at the talisman that had opened for him the door of fame, love, and success within the wall of forests fringedwith white foam, within the coast that under the western sun looks like the verystronghold of the night. doramin, struggling to keep his feet, madewith his two supporters a swaying, tottering group; his little eyes staredwith an expression of mad pain, of rage, with a ferocious glitter, which the bystanders noticed; and then, while jimstood stiffened and with bared head in the

light of torches, looking him straight inthe face, he clung heavily with his left arm round the neck of a bowed youth, and lifting deliberately his right, shot hisson's friend through the chest. 'the crowd, which had fallen apart behindjim as soon as doramin had raised his hand, rushed tumultuously forward after the shot. they say that the white man sent right andleft at all those faces a proud and unflinching glance.then with his hand over his lips he fell forward, dead. 'and that's the end.he passes away under a cloud, inscrutable

at heart, forgotten, unforgiven, andexcessively romantic. not in the wildest days of his boyishvisions could he have seen the alluring shape of such an extraordinary success! for it may very well be that in the shortmoment of his last proud and unflinching glance, he had beheld the face of thatopportunity which, like an eastern bride, had come veiled to his side. 'but we can see him, an obscure conquerorof fame, tearing himself out of the arms of a jealous love at the sign, at the call ofhis exalted egoism. he goes away from a living woman tocelebrate his pitiless wedding with a

shadowy ideal of conduct.is he satisfied--quite, now, i wonder? we ought to know. he is one of us--and have i not stood uponce, like an evoked ghost, to answer for his eternal constancy?was i so very wrong after all? now he is no more, there are days when thereality of his existence comes to me with an immense, with an overwhelming force; andyet upon my honour there are moments, too when he passes from my eyes like a disembodied spirit astray amongst thepassions of this earth, ready to surrender himself faithfully to the claim of his ownworld of shades.

'who knows? he is gone, inscrutable at heart, and thepoor girl is leading a sort of soundless, inert life in stein's house.stein has aged greatly of late. he feels it himself, and says often that heis "preparing to leave all this; preparing to leave ..." while he waves his hand sadlyat his butterflies.' september 1899--july 1900.