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when the liquor he brought with him was gone he returned to Batavia with a report on the mineral wealth of the interior.  Ha, ha, ha!  Good, is it not?”
    He ceased abruptly and looked at his guests with a meaningless stare.  While they laughed he was reciting to himself the old story: “Dain dead, all my plans destroyed.  This is the end of all hope and of all things.”  His heart sank within him.  He felt a kind of deadly sickness.
    “Very good.  Capital!” exclaimed both officers.  Almayer came out of his despondency with another burst of talk.
    “Eh! what about the dinner?  You have got a cook with you.  That’s all right.  There is a cooking shed in the other courtyard.  I can give you a goose.  Look at my geese — the only geese on the east coast — perhaps on the whole island.  Is that your cook?  Very good.  Here, Ali, show this Chinaman the cooking place and tell Mem Almayer to let him have room there.  My wife, gentlemen, does not come out; my daughter may.  Meantime have some more drink.  It is a hot day.”
    The lieutenant took the cigar out of his mouth, looked at the ash critically, shook it off and turned towards Almayer.
    “We have a rather unpleasant business with you,” he said.
    “I am sorry,” returned Almayer.  “It can be nothing very serious, surely.”
    “If you think an attempt to blow up forty men at least, not a serious matter you will not find many people of your opinion,” retorted the officer sharply.
    “Blow up!  What?  I know nothing about it,” exclaimed Almayer.  “Who did that, or tried to do it?”
    “A man with whom you had some dealings,” answered the lieutenant.  “He passed here under the name of Dain Maroola.  You sold him the gunpowder he had in that brig we captured.”
    “How did you hear about the brig?” asked Almayer.  “I know nothing about the powder he may have had.”
    “An Arab trader of this place has sent the information about your goings on here to Batavia, a couple of months ago,” said the officer.  “We were waiting for the brig outside, but he slipped past us at the mouth of the river, and we had to chase the fellow to the southward.  When he sighted us he ran inside the reefs and put the brig ashore.  The crew escaped in boats before we could take possession.  As our boats neared the craft it blew up with a tremendous explosion; one of the boats being too near got swamped.  Two men drowned — that is the result of your speculation, Mr. Almayer.  Now we want this Dain.  We have good grounds to suppose he is hiding in Sambir.  Do you know where he is?  You had better put yourself right with the authorities as much as possible by being perfectly frank with me.  Where is this Dain?”
    Almayer got up and walked towards the balustrade of the verandah.  He seemed not to be thinking of the officer’s question.  He looked at the body laying straight and rigid under its white cover on which the sun, declining amongst the clouds to the westward, threw a pale tinge of red.  The lieutenant waited for the answer, taking quick pulls at his half-extinguished cigar.  Behind them Ali moved noiselessly laying the table, ranging solemnly the ill-assorted and shabby crockery, the tin spoons, the forks with broken prongs, and the knives with saw-like blades and loose handles.  He had almost forgotten how to prepare the table for white men.  He felt aggrieved; Mem Nina would not help him.  He stepped back to look at his work admiringly, feeling very proud.  This must be right; and if the master afterwards is angry and swears, then so much the worse for Mem Nina.  Why did she not help?  He left the verandah to fetch the dinner.
    “Well, Mr. Almayer, will you answer my question as frankly as it is put to you?” asked the lieutenant, after a long silence.
    Almayer turned round and looked at his interlocutor steadily.  “If you catch this Dain what will you do with him?” he asked.
    The officer’s face flushed.  “This is not an answer,” he said, annoyed.
    “And what will you do with me?” went on Almayer, not heeding the interruption.
    “Are you inclined to bargain?” growled the other.  “It would be bad policy, I assure you.  At present I have no orders about your person, but we expected your assistance in catching this Malay.”
    “Ah!” interrupted Almayer, “just so: you can do nothing without me, and I, knowing the man well, am to help you in finding him.”
    “This is exactly