lowing every movement of the man with the
lamp.

Meeus, catching the other's eye, motioned to him to come near. Then he
tried to speak, but the roar outside made it impossible to hear him. Adams
pointed to the roof, as if to say, "Wait till it is over," then he came
back to the sitting room, tore the leopard skin down from the wall, rolled
it up for a pillow, and lay down with his head on it.

He had been through so much of late that he had grown callous and
case-hardened; he did not care much whether the place was washed away or
not--he wanted to sleep, and he slept.

Meeus, left alone, lay watching the glimmer of the lamp shining through
the cracks of the door, and listening to the thunder of the rain.

This was the greatest rain he had experienced. He wondered if it would
flood the go-down and get at the rubber stored there; he wondered if the
soldiers had deserted their huts and taken refuge in the office. These
thoughts were of not the slightest interest to him; they just came and
strayed across his mind, which was still half-paralyzed by the great
calamity that had befallen him.

For the last half-hour an iron hand seemed round his body just on a level
with the diaphragm; this seemed growing tighter, and the tighter it grew
the more difficult it was to breathe. The fracture had been very high up,
but he knew nothing of this; he knew that his back was broken, and that
men with broken backs die, but he did not fully realize that he was going
to die till--all at once--his breathing stopped dead of its own accord,
and then of its own accord went on rapidly and shallowly. Then he
recognized that his breathing was entirely under the control of something
over which _he_ had no control.

This is the most terrible thing a man can know, for it is a thing that no
man ever knows till he is in the hands of death.

* * * * *

It was daylight when Adams awoke, and the rain had ceased.

He went to the door and opened it. It was after sunrise, but the sun was
not to be seen. The whole world was a vapour, but through which the forest
was dimly visible. The soldiers were in the courtyard; they had just come
out of the office where they had taken refuge during the night. Their huts
had been washed away, but they did not seem to mind a bit; they showed
their teeth in a grin, and shouted something when they saw the white man,
and pointed to the rainswept yard and the sky.

Adams nod