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other, a communication from Abdulla caligraphed carefully on a large sheet of
flimsy paper and delivered to him in a green silk wrapper. The first he
could not understand. It said: "Come and see me. I am not afraid. Are
you? W." He tore it up angrily, but before the small bits of dirty paper
had the time to flutter down and settle on the floor, the anger was gone
and was replaced by a sentiment that induced him to go on his knees, pick up
the fragments of the torn message, piece it together on the top of his
chronometer box, and contemplate it long and thoughtfully, as if he had
hoped to read the answer of the horrible riddle in the very form of the
letters that went to make up that fresh insult.
Abdulla's letter he read carefully and rammed it into his pocket, also with
anger, but with anger that ended in a halfresigned, halfamused smile. He
would never give in as long as there was a chance. "It's generally the
safest way to stick to the ship as long as she will swim," was one of his
favourite sayings: "The safest and the right way. To abandon a craft
because it leaks is easybut poor work. Poor work!" Yet he was intelligent
enough to know when he was beaten, and to accept the situation like a man,
without repining. When Almayer came on board that afternoon he handed him
the letter without comment.
Almayer read it, returned it in silence, and leaning over the taffrail (the
two men were on deck) looked down for some time at the play of the eddies
round the schooner's rudder. At last he said without looking up
"That's a decent enough letter. Abdulla gives him up to you. I told you
they were getting sick of him. What are you going to do?"
Lingard cleared his throat, shuffled his feet, opened his mouth with great
determination, but said nothing for a while. At last he murmured
"I'll be hanged if I knowjust yet."
"I wish you would do something soon . . ."
"What's the hurry?" interrupted Lingard. "He can't get away. As it stands
he is at my mercy, as far as I can see."
"Yes," said Almayer, reflectively"and very little mercy he deserves too.
Abdulla's meaningas I can make it out amongst all those complimentsis: 'Get
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rid for me of that white manand we shall live in peace and share the
trade."'
"You believe that?" asked Lingard, contemptuously.
"Not altogether," answered Almayer. "No doubt we will share the trade for a
timetill he can grab the lot.
Well, what are you going to do?"
He looked up as he spoke and was surprised to see Lingard's discomposed face.
"You ain't well. Pain anywhere?" he asked, with real solicitude.
"I have been queeryou knowthese last few days, but no pain." He struck his
broad chest several times, cleared his throat with a powerful "Hem!" and
repeated: "No. No pain. Good for a few years yet. But I am bothered with
all this, I can tell you!"
"You must take care of yourself," said Almayer. Then after a pause he added:
"You will see Abdulla. Won't you?"
An Outcast of the Islands
CHAPTER FOUR
87
"I don't know. Not yet. There's plenty of time," said Lingard, impatiently.
"I wish you would do something," urged Almayer, moodily. "You know, that
woman is a perfect nuisance to me. She and her brat! Yelps all day. And the
children don't get on together. Yesterday the little devil wanted to fight
with my Nina. Scratched her face, too. A perfect savage! Like his
honourable papa. Yes, really. She worries about her husband, and whimpers
from morning to night. When she isn't weeping she is furious with me.
Yesterday she tormented me to tell her when he would be back and cried
because he was engaged in such dangerous work. I said something about it
being all rightno necessity to make a fool of herself, when she turned upon
me like a wild cat. Called me a brute, selfish, heartless; raved about her
beloved Peter risking his life for my benefit, while I did not care. Said I
took advantage of his generous goodnature to get him to do dangerous workmy
work. That he was worth twenty of the likes of me. That she would tell
youopen your eyes as to the kind of man I was, and so on. That's what I've
got to put up with for your sake. You really might consider me a little. I
haven't robbed anybody," went on Almayer, with an attempt at bitter irony"or
sold my best friend, but still you ought to have some pity on me. It's like
living in a hot fever. She is out of her wits. You make my house a refuge
for scoundrels and lunatics. It isn't fair. 'Pon my word it isn't! When
she is in her tantrums she is ridiculously ugly and screeches soit sets my
teeth on edge. Thank God! my wife got a fit of the sulks and cleared out of
the house. Lives in a riverside hut since that affairyou know.
But this Willems' wife by herself is almost more than I can bear. And I ask
myself why should I? You are exacting and no mistake. This morning I
thought she was going to claw me. Only think! She wanted to go prancing
about the settlement. She might have heard something there, so I told her
she mustn't. It wasn't safe outside our fences, I said. Thereupon she rushes
at me with her ten nails up to my eyes. 'You miserable man,'
she yells, 'even this place is not safe, and you've sent him up this awful
river where he may lose his head. If he dies before forgiving me, Heaven
will punish you for your crime . . .' My crime! I ask myself sometimes
whether I am dreaming! It will make me ill, all this. I've lost my
appetite already."
He flung his hat on deck and laid hold of his hair despairingly. Lingard
looked at him with concern.
"What did she mean by it?" he muttered, thoughtfully.
"Mean! She is crazy, I tell youand I will be, very soon, if this lasts!"
"Just a little patience, Kaspar," pleaded Lingard. "A day or so more."
Relieved or tired by his violent outburst, Almayer calmed down, picked up his
hat and, leaning against the bulwark, commenced to fan himself with it.
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"Days do pass," he said, resignedly"but that kind of thing makes a man old
before his time. What is there to think about?I can't imagine! Abdulla
says plainly that if you undertake to pilot his ship out and instruct the
halfcaste, he will drop Willems like a hot potato and be your friend ever
after. I believe him perfectly, as to Willems. It's so natural. As to
being your friend it's a lie of course, but we need not bother about that
just yet. You just say yes to Abdulla, and then whatever happens to Willems
will be nobody's business."
He interrupted himself and remained silent for a while, glaring about with
set teeth and dilated nostrils.
"You leave it to me. I'll see to it that something happens to him," he said
at last, with calm ferocity. Lingard smiled faintly.
"The fellow isn't worth a shot. Not the trouble of it," he whispered, as if
to himself. Almayer fired up suddenly.
An Outcast of the Islands
CHAPTER FOUR
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