heaven--he said you would
approve. You! Can you conceive such impudence? I couldn't exactly make
out what he was driving at. Had I known, I would have approved him. Yes!
With a bang on the head. But how could I guess that he knew enough to
pilot a ship through the entrance you always said was so difficult. And,
after all, that was the only danger. I could deal with anybody here--but
when Abdulla came. . . . That barque of his is armed. He carries twelve
brass six-pounders, and about thirty men. Desperate beggars. Sumatra
men, from Deli and Acheen. Fight all day and ask for more in the
evening. That kind."

"I know, I know," said Lingard, impatiently.

"Of course, then, they were cheeky as much as you please after he
anchored abreast of our jetty. Willems brought her up himself in
the best berth. I could see him from this verandah standing forward,
together with the half-caste master. And that woman was there too. Close
to him. I heard they took her on board off Lakamba's place. Willems said
he would not go higher without her. Stormed and raged. Frightened them,
I believe. Abdulla had to interfere. She came off alone in a canoe, and
no sooner on deck than she fell at his feet before all hands, embraced
his knees, wept, raved, begged his pardon. Why? I wonder. Everybody in
Sambir is talking of it. They never heard tell or saw anything like it.
I have all this from Ali, who goes about in the settlement and brings me
the news. I had better know what is going on--hadn't I? From what I
can make out, they--he and that woman--are looked upon as something
mysterious--beyond comprehension. Some think them mad. They live alone
with an old woman in a house outside Lakamba's campong and are greatly
respected--or feared, I should say rather. At least, he is. He is very
violent. She knows nobody, sees nobody, will speak to nobody but him.
Never leaves him for a moment. It's the talk of the place. There are
other rumours. From what I hear I suspect that Lakamba and Abdulla are
tired of him. There's also talk of him going away in the Lord of the
Isles--when she leaves here for the southward--as a kind of Abdulla's
agent. At any rate, he must take the ship out. The half-caste is not
equal to it as yet."

Lingard, who had listened absorbed till then, began now to walk with
measured steps. Almayer ceased talking and followed him with his eyes as
he paced up and down with a quarter-deck swing, tormenting and twisting
his long white bear