Complete Works

sadness or in doubt.  As long as he looks upon many women your power will last, but should there be one, one only with whom he seems to forget you, then — ”
    “I could not live,” exclaimed Nina, covering her face with both her hands.  “Do not speak so, mother; it could not be.”
    “Then,” went on Mrs. Almayer, steadily, “to that woman, Nina, show no mercy.”
    She moved the canoe down towards the stream by the gunwale, and gripped it with both her hands, the bow pointing into the river.
    “Are you crying?” she asked sternly of her daughter, who sat still with covered face.  “Arise, and take your paddle, for he has waited long enough.  And remember, Nina, no mercy; and if you must strike, strike with a steady hand.”
    She put out all her strength, and swinging her body over the water, shot the light craft far into the stream.  When she recovered herself from the effort she tried vainly to catch a glimpse of the canoe that seemed to have dissolved suddenly into the white mist trailing over the heated waters of the Pantai.  After listening for a while intently on her knees, Mrs. Almayer rose with a deep sigh, while two tears wandered slowly down her withered cheeks.  She wiped them off quickly with a wisp of her grey hair as if ashamed of herself, but could not stifle another loud sigh, for her heart was heavy and she suffered much, being unused to tender emotions.  This time she fancied she had heard a faint noise, like the echo of her own sigh, and she stopped, straining her ears to catch the slightest sound, and peering apprehensively towards the bushes near her.
    “Who is there?” she asked, in an unsteady voice, while her imagination peopled the solitude of the riverside with ghost-like forms.  “Who is there?” she repeated faintly.
    There was no answer: only the voice of the river murmuring in sad monotone behind the white veil seemed to swell louder for a moment, to die away again in a soft whisper of eddies washing against the bank.
    Mrs. Almayer shook her head as if in answer to her own thoughts, and walked quickly away from the bushes, looking to the right and left watchfully.  She went straight towards the cooking-shed, observing that the embers of the fire there glowed more brightly than usual, as if somebody had been adding fresh fuel to the fires during the evening.  As she approached, Babalatchi, who had been squatting in the warm glow, rose and met her in the shadow outside.
    “Is she gone?” asked the anxious statesman, hastily.
    “Yes,” answered Mrs. Almayer.  “What are the white men doing?  When did you leave them?”
    “They are sleeping now, I think.  May they never wake!” exclaimed Babalatchi, fervently.  “Oh! but they are devils, and made much talk and trouble over that carcase.  The chief threatened me twice with his hand, and said he would have me tied up to a tree.  Tie me up to a tree!  Me!” he repeated, striking his breast violently.
    Mrs. Almayer laughed tauntingly.
    “And you salaamed and asked for mercy.  Men with arms by their side acted otherwise when I was young.”
    “And where are they, the men of your youth?  You mad woman!” retorted Babalatchi, angrily.  “Killed by the Dutch.  Aha!  But I shall live to deceive them.  A man knows when to fight and when to tell peaceful lies.  You would know that if you were not a woman.”
    But Mrs. Almayer did not seem to hear him.  With bent body and outstretched arm she appeared to be listening to some noise behind the shed.
    “There are strange sounds,” she whispered, with evident alarm.  “I have heard in the air the sounds of grief, as of a sigh and weeping.  That was by the riverside.  And now again I heard — ”
    “Where?” asked Babalatchi, in an altered voice.  “What did you hear?”
    “Close here.  It was like a breath long drawn.  I wish I had burnt the paper over the body before it was buried.”
    “Yes,” assented Babalatchi.  “But the white men had him thrown into a hole at once.  You know he found his death on the river,” he added cheerfully, “and his ghost may hail the canoes, but would leave the land alone.”
    Mrs. Almayer, who had been craning her neck to look round the corner of the shed, drew back her head.
    “There is nobody there,” she said, reassured.  “Is it not time for the Rajah war-canoe to go to the clearing?”
    “I have been waiting for it here, for I myself must go,” explained Babalatchi.  “I think I will go