rd
asking loudly for the long glass and saw Belarab make a sign with his
hand, when he felt the earth receive a violent blow from underneath.
While he staggered to it the heavens split over his head with a crash in
the lick of a red tongue of flame; and a sudden dreadful gloom fell all
round the stunned d'Alcacer, who beheld with terror the morning sun,
robbed of its rays, glow dull and brown through the sombre murk which
had taken possession of the universe. The Emma had blown up; and when
the rain of shattered timbers and mangled corpses falling into the
lagoon had ceased, the cloud of smoke hanging motionless under the livid
sun cast its shadow afar on the Shore of Refuge where all strife had
come to an end.

A great wail of terror ascended from the Settlement and was succeeded
by a profound silence. People could be seen bolting in unreasoning panic
away from the houses and into the fields. On the lagoon the raft of
boats had broken up. Some of them were sinking, others paddling away in
all directions. What was left above water of the Emma had burst into a
clear flame under the shadow of the cloud, the great smoky cloud that
hung solid and unstirring above the tops of the forest, visible for
miles up and down the coast and over the Shallows.

The first person to recover inside the stockade was Belarab himself.
Mechanically he murmured the exclamation of wonder, "God is great," and
looked at Lingard. But Lingard was not looking at him. The shock of the
explosion had robbed him of speech and movement. He stared at the Emma
blazing in a distant and insignificant flame under the sinister shadow
of the cloud created by Jorgenson's mistrust and contempt for the
life of men. Belarab turned away. His opinion had changed. He regarded
Lingard no longer as a betrayed man but the effect was the same. He was
no longer a man of any importance. What Belarab really wanted now was
to see all the white people clear out of the lagoon as soon as possible.
Presently he ordered the gate to be thrown open and his armed men poured
out to take possession of the Settlement. Later Tengga's houses were
set on fire and Belarab, mounting a fiery pony, issued forth to make a
triumphal progress surrounded by a great crowd of headmen and guards.

That night the white people left the stockade in a cortege of torch
bearers. Mr. Travers had to be carried down to the beach, where two of
Belarab's war-boats awaited their distinguished passengers. Mrs.