Complete Works

what we expect,” assented the officer.  “You have broken the law, Mr. Almayer, and you ought to make amends.”
    “And save myself?”
    “Well, in a sense yes.  Your head is not in any danger,” said the lieutenant, with a short laugh.
    “Very well,” said Almayer, with decision, “I shall deliver the man up to you.”
    Both officers rose to their feet quickly, and looked for their side-arms which they had unbuckled.  Almayer laughed harshly.
    “Steady, gentlemen!” he exclaimed.  “In my own time and in my own way.  After dinner, gentlemen, you shall have him.”
    “This is preposterous,” urged the lieutenant.  “Mr. Almayer, this is no joking matter.  The man is a criminal.  He deserves to hang.  While we dine he may escape; the rumour of our arrival — ”
    Almayer walked towards the table.  “I give you my word of honour, gentlemen, that he shall not escape; I have him safe enough.”
    “The arrest should be effected before dark,” remarked the young sub.
    “I shall hold you responsible for any failure.  We are ready, but can do nothing just now without you,” added the senior, with evident annoyance.
    Almayer made a gesture of assent.  “On my word of honour,” he repeated vaguely.  “And now let us dine,” he added briskly.
    Nina came through the doorway and stood for a moment holding the curtain aside for Ali and the old Malay woman bearing the dishes; then she moved towards the three men by the table.
    “Allow me,” said Almayer, pompously.  “This is my daughter.  Nina, these gentlemen, officers of the frigate outside, have done me the honour to accept my hospitality.”
    Nina answered the low bows of the two officers by a slow inclination of the head and took her place at the table opposite her father.  All sat down.  The coxswain of the steam launch came up carrying some bottles of wine.
    “You will allow me to have this put upon the table?” said the lieutenant to Almayer.
    “What!  Wine!  You are very kind.  Certainly, I have none myself.  Times are very hard.”
    The last words of his reply were spoken by Almayer in a faltering voice.  The thought that Dain was dead recurred to him vividly again, and he felt as if an invisible hand was gripping his throat.  He reached for the gin bottle while they were uncorking the wine and swallowed a big gulp.  The lieutenant, who was speaking to Nina, gave him a quick glance.  The young sub began to recover from the astonishment and confusion caused by Nina’s unexpected appearance and great beauty.  “She was very beautiful and imposing,” he reflected, “but after all a half-caste girl.”  This thought caused him to pluck up heart and look at Nina sideways.  Nina, with composed face, was answering in a low, even voice the elder officer’s polite questions as to the country and her mode of life.  Almayer pushed his plate away and drank his guest’s wine in gloomy silence.
     

CHAPTER IX.
     
    “Can I believe what you tell me?  It is like a tale for men that listen only half awake by the camp fire, and it seems to have run off a woman’s tongue.”
    “Who is there here for me to deceive, O Rajah?” answered Babalatchi.  “Without you I am nothing.  All I have told you I believe to be true.  I have been safe for many years in the hollow of your hand.  This is no time to harbour suspicions.  The danger is very great.  We should advise and act at once, before the sun sets.”
    “Right.  Right,” muttered Lakamba, pensively.
    They had been sitting for the last hour together in the audience chamber of the Rajah’s house, for Babalatchi, as soon as he had witnessed the landing of the Dutch officers, had crossed the river to report to his master the events of the morning, and to confer with him upon the line of conduct to pursue in the face of altered circumstances.  They were both puzzled and frightened by the unexpected turn the events had taken.  The Rajah, sitting crosslegged on his chair, looked fixedly at the floor; Babalatchi was squatting close by in an attitude of deep dejection.
    “And where did you say he is hiding now?” asked Lakamba, breaking at last the silence full of gloomy forebodings in which they both had been lost for a long while.
    “In Bulangi’s clearing — the furthest one, away from the house.  They went there that very night.  The white man’s daughter took him there.  She told me so herself, speaking to me openly, for she is half white and has no