第12章 PART III(1)

CHAPTER ONE

"Yes!Cat,dog,anything that can scratch or bite;as long as it is harmful enough and mangy enough.A sick tiger would make you happy--of all things.A half-dead tiger that you could weep over and palm upon some poor devil in your power,to tend and nurse for you.Never mind the consequences--to the poor devil.Let him be mangled or eaten up,of course!You haven't any pity to spare for the victims of your infernal charity.Not you!Your tender heart bleeds only for what is poisonous and deadly.Icurse the day when you set your benevolent eyes on him.I curse it...""Now then!Now then!"growled Lingard in his moustache.

Almayer,who had talked himself up to the choking point,drew a long breath and went on--"Yes!It has been always so.Always.As far back as I can remember.Don't you recollect?What about that half-starved dog you brought on board in Bankok in your arms.In your arms by!It went mad next day and bit the serang.You don't mean to say you have forgotten?The best serang you ever had!You said so yourself while you were helping us to lash him down to the chain-cable,just before he died in his fits.Now,didn't you?

Two wives and ever so many children the man left.That was your doing...And when you went out of your way and risked your ship to rescue some Chinamen from a water-logged junk in Formosa Straits,that was also a clever piece of business.Wasn't it?

Those damned Chinamen rose on you before forty-eight hours.They were cut-throats,those poor fishermen.You knew they were cut-throats before you made up your mind to run down on a lee shore in a gale of wind to save them.A mad trick!If they hadn't been scoundrels--hopeless scoundrels--you would not have put your ship in jeopardy for them,I know.You would not have risked the lives of your crew--that crew you loved so--and your own life.Wasn't that foolish!And,besides,you were not honest.Suppose you had been drowned?I would have been in a pretty mess then,left alone here with that adopted daughter of yours.Your duty was to myself first.I married that girl because you promised to make my fortune.You know you did!And then three months afterwards you go and do that mad trick--for a lot of Chinamen too.Chinamen!You have no morality.I might have been ruined for the sake of those murderous scoundrels that,after all,had to be driven overboard after killing ever so many of your crew--of your beloved crew!Do you call that honest?""Well,well!"muttered Lingard,chewing nervously the stump of his cheroot that had gone out and looking at Almayer--who stamped wildly about the verandah--much as a shepherd might look at a pet sheep in his obedient flock turning unexpectedly upon him in enraged revolt.He seemed disconcerted,contemptuously angry yet somewhat amused;and also a little hurt as if at some bitter jest at his own expense.Almayer stopped suddenly,and crossing his arms on his breast,bent his body forward and went on speaking.

"I might have been left then in an awkward hole--all on account of your absurd disregard for your safety--yet I bore no grudge.

I knew your weaknesses.But now--when I think of it!Now we are ruined.Ruined!Ruined!My poor little Nina.Ruined!"He slapped his thighs smartly,walked with small steps this way and that,seized a chair,planted it with a bang before Lingard,and sat down staring at the old seaman with haggard eyes.

Lingard,returning his stare steadily,dived slowly into various pockets,fished out at last a box of matches and proceeded to light his cheroot carefully,rolling it round and round between his lips,without taking his gaze for a moment off the distressed Almayer.Then from behind a cloud of tobacco smoke he said calmly--"If you had been in trouble as often as I have,my boy,you wouldn't carry on so.I have been ruined more than once.Well,here I am.""Yes,here you are,"interrupted Almayer."Much good it is to me.Had you been here a month ago it would have been of some use.But now!..You might as well be a thousand miles off.""You scold like a drunken fish-wife,"said Lingard,serenely.He got up and moved slowly to the front rail of the verandah.The floor shook and the whole house vibrated under his heavy step.

For a moment he stood with his back to Almayer,looking out on the river and forest of the east bank,then turned round and gazed mildly down upon him.

"It's very lonely this morning here.Hey?"he said.

Almayer lifted up his head.

"Ah!you notice it--don't you?I should think it is lonely!Yes,Captain Lingard,your day is over in Sambir.Only a month ago this verandah would have been full of people coming to greet you.Fellows would be coming up those steps grinning and salaaming--to you and to me.But our day is over.And not by my fault either.You can't say that.It's all the doing of that pet rascal of yours.Ah!He is a beauty!You should have seen him leading that hellish crowd.You would have been proud of your old favourite.""Smart fellow that,"muttered Lingard,thoughtfully.Almayer jumped up with a shriek.

"And that's all you have to say!Smart fellow!O Lord!""Don't make a show of yourself.Sit down.Let's talk quietly.I want to know all about it.So he led?""He was the soul of the whole thing.He piloted Abdulla's ship in.He ordered everything and everybody,"said Almayer,who sat down again,with a resigned air.

"When did it happen--exactly?"

"On the sixteenth I heard the first rumours of Abdulla's ship being in the river;a thing I refused to believe at first.Next day I could not doubt any more.There was a great council held openly in Lakamba's place where almost everybody in Sambir attended.On the eighteenth the Lord of the Isles was anchored in Sambir reach,abreast of my house.Let's see.Six weeks to-day,exactly.""And all that happened like this?All of a sudden.You never heard anything--no warning.Nothing.Never had an idea that something was up?Come,Almayer!""Heard!Yes,I used to hear something every day.Mostly lies. Is there anything else in Sambir?"

"You might not have believed them,"observed Lingard."In fact you ought not to have believed everything that was told to you,as if you had been a green hand on his first voyage."Almayer moved in his chair uneasily.

"That scoundrel came here one day,"he said."He had been away from the house for a couple of months living with that woman.Ionly heard about him now and then from Patalolo's people when they came over.Well one day,about noon,he appeared in this courtyard,as if he had been jerked up from hell-where he belongs."Lingard took his cheroot out,and,with his mouth full of white smoke that oozed out through his parted lips,listened,attentive.After a short pause Almayer went on,looking at the floor moodily--"I must say he looked awful.Had a bad bout of the ague probably.The left shore is very unhealthy.Strange that only the breadth of the river..."He dropped off into deep thoughtfulness as if he had forgotten his grievances in a bitter meditation upon the unsanitary condition of the virgin forests on the left bank.Lingard took this opportunity to expel the smoke in a mighty expiration and threw the stump of his cheroot over his shoulder.

"Go on,"he said,after a while."He came to see you...""But it wasn't unhealthy enough to finish him,worse luck!"went on Almayer,rousing himself,"and,as I said,he turned up here with his brazen impudence.He bullied me,he threatened vaguely.

He wanted to scare me,to blackmail me.Me!And,by heaven--he said you would approve.You!Can you conceive such impudence?

I couldn't exactly make out what he was driving at.Had I known,I would have approved him.Yes!With a bang on the head.But how could I guess that he knew enough to pilot a ship through the entrance you always said was so difficult.And,after all,that was the only danger.I could deal with anybody here--but when Abdulla came...That barque of his is armed.He carries twelve brass six-pounders,and about thirty men.Desperate beggars.Sumatra men,from Deli and Acheen.Fight all day and ask for more in the evening.That kind.""I know,I know,"said Lingard,impatiently.

"Of course,then,they were cheeky as much as you please after he anchored abreast of our jetty.Willems brought her up himself in the best berth.I could see him from this verandah standing forward,together with the half-caste master.And that woman was there too.Close to him.I heard they took her on board off Lakamba's place.Willems said he would not go higher without her.Stormed and raged.Frightened them,I believe.Abdulla had to interfere.She came off alone in a canoe,and no sooner on deck than she fell at his feet before all hands,embraced his knees,wept,raved,begged his pardon.Why?I wonder.

Everybody in Sambir is talking of it.They never heard tell or saw anything like it.I have all this from Ali,who goes about in the settlement and brings me the news.I had better know what is going on--hadn't I?From what I can make out,they--he and that woman--are looked upon as something mysterious--beyond comprehension.Some think them mad.They live alone with an old woman in a house outside Lakamba's campong and are greatly respected--or feared,I should say rather.At least,he is.He is very violent.She knows nobody,sees nobody,will speak to nobody but him.Never leaves him for a moment.It's the talk of the place.There are other rumours.From what I hear I suspect that Lakamba and Abdulla are tired of him.There's also talk of him going away in the Lord of the Isles--when she leaves here for the southward--as a kind of Abdulla's agent.At any rate,he must take the ship out.The half-caste is not equal to it as yet."Lingard,who had listened absorbed till then,began now to walk with measured steps.Almayer ceased talking and followed him with his eyes as he paced up and down with a quarter-deck swing,tormenting and twisting his long white beard,his face perplexed and thoughtful.

"So he came to you first of all,did he?"asked Lingard,without stopping.

"Yes.I told you so.He did come.Came to extort money,goods--I don't know what else.Wanted to set up as a trader--the swine!I kicked his hat into the courtyard,and he went after it,and that was the last of him till he showed up with Abdulla.

How could I know that he could do harm in that way?Or in any way at that!Any local rising I could put down easy with my own men and with Patalolo's help.""Oh!yes.Patalolo.No good.Eh?Did you try him at all?""Didn't I!"exclaimed Almayer."I went to see him myself on the twelfth.That was four days before Abdulla entered the river.

In fact,same day Willems tried to get at me.I did feel a little uneasy then.Patalolo assured me that there was no human being that did not love me in Sambir.Looked as wise as an owl.Told me not to listen to the lies of wicked people from down the river.He was alluding to that man Bulangi,who lives up the sea reach,and who had sent me word that a strange ship was anchored outside--which,of course,I repeated to Patalolo.

He would not believe.Kept on mumbling 'No!No!No!'like an old parrot,his head all of a tremble,all beslobbered with betel-nut juice.I thought there was something queer about him.Seemed so restless,and as if in a hurry to get rid of me.Well.Next day that one-eyed malefactor who lives with Lakamba--what's his name--Babalatchi,put in an appearance here!Came about mid-day,casually like,and stood there on this verandah chatting about one thing and another.Asking when I expected you,and so on.

Then,incidentally,he mentioned that they--his master and himself--were very much bothered by a ferocious white man--my friend--who was hanging about that woman--Omar's daughter.Asked my advice.Very deferential and proper.I told him the white man was not my friend,and that they had better kick him out.

Whereupon he went away salaaming,and protesting his friendship and his master's goodwill.Of course I know now the infernal nigger came to spy and to talk over some of my men.Anyway,eight were missing at the evening muster.Then I took alarm.

Did not dare to leave my house unguarded.You know what my wife is,don't you?And I did not care to take the child with me--it being late--so I sent a message to Patalolo to say that we ought to consult;that there were rumours and uneasiness in the settlement.Do you know what answer I got?"Lingard stopped short in his walk before Almayer,who went on,after an impressive pause,with growing animation.

"All brought it:'The Rajah sends a friend's greeting,and does not understand the message.'That was all.Not a word more could Ali get out of him.I could see that Ali was pretty well scared.He hung about,arranging my hammock--one thing and another.Then just before going away he mentioned that the water-gate of the Rajah's place was heavily barred,but that he could see only very few men about the courtyard.Finally he said,'There is darkness in our Rajah's house,but no sleep.Only darkness and fear and the wailing of women.'Cheerful,wasn't it?It made me feel cold down my back somehow.After Ali slipped away I stood here--by this table,and listened to the shouting and drumming in the settlement.Racket enough for twenty weddings.It was a little past midnight then."Again Almayer stopped in his narrative with an abrupt shutting of lips,as if he had said all that there was to tell,and Lingard stood staring at him,pensive and silent.A big bluebottle fly flew in recklessly into the cool verandah,and darted with loud buzzing between the two men.Lingard struck at it with his hat.

The fly swerved,and Almayer dodged his head out of the way.

Then Lingard aimed another ineffectual blow;Almayer jumped up and waved his arms about.The fly buzzed desperately,and the vibration of minute wings sounded in the peace of the early morning like a far-off string orchestra accompanying the hollow,determined stamping of the two men,who,with heads thrown back and arms gyrating on high,or again bending low with infuriated lunges,were intent upon killing the intruder.But suddenly the buzz died out in a thin thrill away in the open space of the courtyard,leaving Lingard and Almayer standing face to face in the fresh silence of the young day,looking very puzzled and idle,their arms hanging uselessly by their sides--like men disheartened by some portentous failure.

"Look at that!"muttered Lingard."Got away after all.""Nuisance,"said Almayer in the same tone."Riverside is overrun with them.This house is badly placed...mosquitos...and these big flies...last week stung Nina...been ill four days...poor child...I wonder what such damned things are made for!"CHAPTER TWO

After a long silence,during which Almayer had moved towards the table and sat down,his head between his hands,staring straight before him,Lingard,who had recommenced walking,cleared his throat and said--"What was it you were saying?"

"Ah!Yes!You should have seen this settlement that night.Idon't think anybody went to bed.I walked down to the point,and could see them.They had a big bonfire in the palm grove,and the talk went on there till the morning.When I came back here and sat in the dark verandah in this quiet house I felt so frightfully lonely that I stole in and took the child out of her cot and brought her here into my hammock.If it hadn't been for her I am sure I would have gone mad;I felt so utterly alone and helpless.Remember,I hadn't heard from you for four months.

Didn't know whether you were alive or dead.Patalolo would have nothing to do with me.My own men were deserting me like rats do a sinking hulk.That was a black night for me,Captain Lingard.

A black night as I sat here not knowing what would happen next.

They were so excited and rowdy that I really feared they would come and burn the house over my head.I went and brought my revolver.Laid it loaded on the table.There were such awful yells now and then.Luckily the child slept through it,and seeing her so pretty and peaceful steadied me somehow.Couldn't believe there was any violence in this world,looking at her lying so quiet and so unconscious of what went on.But it was very hard.Everything was at an end.You must understand that on that night there was no government in Sambir.Nothing to restrain those fellows.Patalolo had collapsed.I was abandoned by my own people,and all that lot could vent their spite on me if they wanted.They know no gratitude.How many times haven't Isaved this settlement from starvation?Absolute starvation.

Only three months ago I distributed again a lot of rice on credit.There was nothing to eat in this infernal place.They came begging on their knees.There isn't a man in Sambir,big or little,who is not in debt to Lingard &Co.Not one.You ought to be satisfied.You always said that was the right policy for us.Well,I carried it out.Ah!Captain Lingard,a policy like that should be backed by loaded rifles...""You had them!"exclaimed Lingard in the midst of his promenade,that went on more rapid as Almayer talked:the headlong tramp of a man hurrying on to do something violent.The verandah was full of dust,oppressive and choking,which rose under the old seaman's feet,and made Almayer cough again and again.

"Yes,I had!Twenty.And not a finger to pull a trigger.It's easy to talk,"he spluttered,his face very red.

Lingard dropped into a chair,and leaned back with one hand stretched out at length upon the table,the other thrown over the back of his seat.The dust settled,and the sun surging above the forest flooded the verandah with a clear light.Almayer got up and busied himself in lowering the split rattan screens that hung between the columns of the verandah.

"Phew!"said Lingard,"it will be a hot day.That's right,my boy.Keep the sun out.We don't want to be roasted alive here."Almayer came back,sat down,and spoke very calmly--"In the morning I went across to see Patalolo.I took the child with me,of course.I found the water-gate barred,and had to walk round through the bushes.Patalolo received me lying on the floor,in the dark,all the shutters closed.I could get nothing out of him but lamentations and groans.He said you must be dead.That Lakamba was coming now with Abdulla's guns to kill everybody.Said he did not mind being killed,as he was an old man,but that the wish of his heart was to make a pilgrimage.He was tired of men's ingratitude--he had no heirs--he wanted to go to Mecca and die there.He would ask Abdulla to let him go.

Then he abused Lakamba--between sobs--and you,a little.You prevented him from asking for a flag that would have been respected--he was right there--and now when his enemies were strong he was weak,and you were not there to help him.When Itried to put some heart into him,telling him he had four big guns--you know the brass six-pounders you left here last year--and that I would get powder,and that,perhaps,together we could make head against Lakamba,he simply howled at me.No matter which way he turned--he shrieked--the white men would be the death of him,while he wanted only to be a pilgrim and be at peace.My belief is,"added Almayer,after a short pause,and fixing a dull stare upon Lingard,"that the old fool saw this thing coming for a long time,and was not only too frightened to do anything himself,but actually too scared to let you or me know of his suspicions.Another of your particular pets!Well!

You have a lucky hand,I must say!"

Lingard struck a sudden blow on the table with his clenched hand.

There was a sharp crack of splitting wood.Almayer started up violently,then fell back in his chair and looked at the table.

"There!"he said,moodily,"you don't know your own strength.

This table is completely ruined.The only table I had been able to save from my wife.By and by I will have to eat squatting on the floor like a native."Lingard laughed heartily."Well then,don't nag at me like a woman at a drunken husband!"He became very serious after awhile,and added,"If it hadn't been for the loss of the Flash Iwould have been here three months ago,and all would have been well.No use crying over that.Don't you be uneasy,Kaspar.We will have everything ship-shape here in a very short time.""What?You don't mean to expel Abdulla out of here by force!Itell you,you can't."

"Not I!"exclaimed Lingard."That's all over,I am afraid.

Great pity.They will suffer for it.He will squeeze them.

Great pity.Damn it!I feel so sorry for them if I had the Flash here I would try force.Eh!Why not?However,the poor Flash is gone,and there is an end of it.Poor old hooker.Hey,Almayer?You made a voyage or two with me.Wasn't she a sweet craft?Could make her do anything but talk.She was better than a wife to me.Never scolded.Hey?...And to think that it should come to this.That I should leave her poor old bones sticking on a reef as though I had been a damned fool of a southern-going man who must have half a mile of water under his keel to be safe!Well!well!It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes,I suppose.But it's hard.Hard."He nodded sadly,with his eyes on the ground.Almayer looked at him with growing indignation.

"Upon my word,you are heartless,"he burst out;"perfectly heartless--and selfish.It does not seem to strike you--in all that--that in losing your ship--by your recklessness,I am sure--you ruin me--us,and my little Nina.What's going to become of me and of her?That's what I want to know.You brought me here,made me your partner,and now,when everything is gone to the devil--through your fault,mind you--you talk about your ship...ship!You can get another.But here.

This trade.That's gone now,thanks to Willems...Your dear Willems!""Never you mind about Willems.I will look after him,"said Lingard,severely."And as to the trade...I will make your fortune yet,my boy.Never fear.Have you got any cargo for the schooner that brought me here?""The shed is full of rattans,"answered Almayer,"and I have about eighty tons of guttah in the well.The last lot I ever will have,no doubt,"he added,bitterly.

"So,after all,there was no robbery.You've lost nothing actually.Well,then,you must...Hallo!What's the matter! ...Here!..."

"Robbery!No!"screamed Almayer,throwing up his hands.

He fell back in the chair and his face became purple.A little white foam appeared on his lips and trickled down his chin,while he lay back,showing the whites of his upturned eyes.When he came to himself he saw Lingard standing over him,with an empty water-chatty in his hand.

"You had a fit of some kind,"said the old seaman with much concern."What is it?You did give me a fright.So very sudden."Almayer,his hair all wet and stuck to his head,as if he had been diving,sat up and gasped.

"Outrage!A fiendish outrage.I..."

Lingard put the chatty on the table and looked at him in attentive silence.Almayer passed his hand over his forehead and went on in an unsteady tone:

"When I remember that,I lose all control,"he said."I told you he anchored Abdulla's ship abreast our jetty,but over to the other shore,near the Rajah's place.The ship was surrounded with boats.From here it looked as if she had been landed on a raft.Every dugout in Sambir was there.Through my glass Icould distinguish the faces of people on the poop--Abdulla,Willems,Lakamba--everybody.That old cringing scoundrel Sahamin was there.I could see quite plain.There seemed to be much talk and discussion.Finally I saw a ship's boat lowered.Some Arab got into her,and the boat went towards Patalolo's landing-place.It seems they had been refused admittance--so they say.I think myself that the water-gate was not unbarred quick enough to please the exalted messenger.At any rate I saw the boat come back almost directly.I was looking on,rather interested,when I saw Willems and some more go forward--very busy about something there.That woman was also amongst them.Ah,that woman..."

Almayer choked,and seemed on the point of having a relapse,but by a violent effort regained a comparative composure.

"All of a sudden,"he continued--"bang!They fired a shot into Patalolo's gate,and before I had time to catch my breath--I was startled,you may believe--they sent another and burst the gate open.Whereupon,I suppose,they thought they had done enough for a while,and probably felt hungry,for a feast began aft.