lk at ease with neighbours. Yes. Two households; one in--"
Lingard smiled faintly. "Tuan, let me follow you."

"No. You have said it, serang--I am alone. That is true, and alone I
shall go on this very night. But first I must bring all the white people
here. Push."

"Ready, Tuan? Look out!"

Wasub's body swung over the sea with extended arms. Lingard caught up
the sculls, and as the dinghy darted away from the brig's side he had
a complete view of the lighted poop--Shaw leaning massively over the
taffrail in sulky dejection, the flare bearers erect and rigid, the
heads along the rail, the eyes staring after him above the bulwarks. The
fore-end of the brig was wrapped in a lurid and sombre mistiness; the
sullen mingling of darkness and of light; her masts pointing straight up
could be tracked by torn gleams and vanished above as if the trucks
had been tall enough to pierce the heavy mass of vapours motionless
overhead. She was beautifully precious. His loving eyes saw her floating
at rest in a wavering halo, between an invisible sky and an invisible
sea, like a miraculous craft suspended in the air. He turned his
head away as if the sight had been too much for him at the moment of
separation, and, as soon as his little boat had passed beyond the limit
of the light thrown upon the water, he perceived very low in the black
void of the west the stern lantern of the yacht shining feebly like a
star about to set, unattainable, infinitely remote--belonging to another
universe.

PART IV. THE GIFT OF THE SHALLOWS

I

Lingard brought Mrs. Travers away from the yacht, going alone with her
in the little boat. During the bustle of the embarkment, and till the
last of the crew had left the schooner, he had remained towering and
silent by her side. It was only when the murmuring and uneasy voices
of the sailors going away in the boats had been completely lost in the
distance that his voice was heard, grave in the silence, pronouncing the
words--"Follow me." She followed him; their footsteps rang hollow and
loud on the empty deck. At the bottom of the steps he turned round and
said very low:

"Take care."

He got into the boat and held on. It seemed to him that she was
intimidated by the darkness. She felt her arm gripped firmly--"I've got
you," he said. She stepped in, headlong, trusting herself blindly to his
grip, and sank on the stern seat catching her breath a little. She heard
a slight splash, and the indistinct si