March 21, 2025 • 28 mins
Almayer’s Folly is a dramatic tale of ambition, greed, and personal downfall. European trader Kaspar Almayer, obsessed with finding gold in Malaysia, watches his dreams crumble as his family and fortune slip away. A haunting study of colonialism and failure.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Arding. By Tom Weiss's chapter five, at last the excitement
had died out in Zamber. The inhabitants got used to
the sight of coming and goings between Allmyer's house and
the vessel now moored to the opposite bank, and speculation
as to the feverish activity displayed by Allmyer's boatmen in
repairing old canoes ceased to interfere with the due discharge
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of domestic duties by the women of the settlement. Even
the baffle jim Eng left off troubling his muddled brain
with secrets of trade, and relapsed, by the aid of
his opium pipe, into a state of stupefied bliss, letting
Babolatchi pursue his way past his house uninvited and seemingly unnoticed.
So on that warm afternoon, when the deserted river sparkled
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under the vertical sun, the statesman of Zambier could, without
any hindrance from friendly inquirers, shove off his little canoe
from under the bushes where it was usually hidden during
his visits to Allmyer's compound. Slowly and languidly Babolachi tabble,
crouching low in the boat, making himself small under his
as enormous sun hat to escape the scorching heat reflected
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from the water. He was not in a hurry. His
master Lakamba was surely reposing. At this time of the day,
he would have apple time to cross over and greet
him on his waking with important news. Will he be displeased?
Will he strike his ebony woodstaff angrily on the floor,
frightening him by the incoherent violence of his exclamations, Or
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will he squat down with a good humored smile and
rubbing his hands gently over his stomach with a familiar gesture,
expect to rate copiously into the brass serie vessel, giving
vent to a low, approbated murmur. Such were Babilachi's thoughts
as he skillfully handled his paddle crossing the river on
his way to the Rajah's Kampong, whose stockades showed from
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behind the dense foliage of the bank, just opposite to
all Meyer's bungalow. Indeed, he report to make something certain,
meant last to confer the daily tale of suspicions, the
daily hints of familiarity, of stolen glances he had seen,
of short and burning words he had overheard exchanged between
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Dame Marula and Allmyer's daughter le Kamba had tilled them
listened to it, all calmly, with evident distrust. Now he
was going to be convinced, for Babolachi had the proof.
Had it this very morning, when fishing at break of
day in the creek over which stood Belangi's house. There
from his skiff he saw Nina's long canoe drift past,
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the girl sitting in the stern, bending over Dane, who
was stretched in the bottom of the boat with his
head resting on the girl's knees. He saw it. He
followed them, but in a short time they took to
the paddles and got away from under his observant eye.
A few minutes afterwards, he saw Balangi's slave girl paddling
in a small dugout to the town with her cakes,
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for she also had seen them in the gray dawn,
and Babolacchi grinned confidentially to himself at the recollection of
the slave girl's discomposed face, of the hard look in
her eyes, of the tremble in her voice when answering
his questions, that little Tamanah evidently admired Dane Marula that
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was good, and bab Alacchi laughed aloud at the notion. Then,
becoming suddenly serious, he began, by some strange association of
ideas to speculate upon the price for which Bolangi would
possibly sell the girl. He shook his head sadly at
the thought that Bilanji was a hard man and had
refused one hundred dollars for that same taminah only a
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few weeks ago. Then he became suddenly aware that the
canoe had drifted too far down during his meditation. He
shook off the despondency caused by the suritude of Belangi's
mercenary disposition, and taking up his paddle in a few strokes,
sheer alongside the watergate of the Raja's house. That afternoon, Almayer,
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as was his wont, lately moved about on the water side,
overlooking the repairs to his votes. He had decided, at last,
guided by the scraps of information contained in old Lingard's pocketbook,
he was going to seek for the rich gold mine
for that place where he had only to stoop to
gather up an immense fortune and realize the dream of
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his young days to obtain the necessary help. He had
shared his knowledge with Dane Marula. He had consented to
be reconciled with the Kamba, who gave his support to
the enterprise on condition of sharing the profits. He had
sacrificed his pride, his honor, and his loyalty in the
face of the enormous risk of his undertaking, Dazzled by
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the greatness of the results to be achieved by this alliance,
so distasteful yet so necessary, the dangers were great, but
Marula was brave, his men seemed as wrecked of chief,
and with Lakamba's aid, success seemed assure. For the last fortnight,
Almeyer was absorbed in the preparations, walking amongst his workmen
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and slaves, in a kind of waking trance, where practical
details as to the fitting out of the boats were
mixed up with vivid dreams of untold wealth, where the
present misery of burning sun, of the muddy and malodorous
riverbank disappeared in the gorgeous vision of a splendid future
existence for himself and Nina. He hardly saw Nina during
these last days, although the beloved daughter was ever at
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present in his thoughts. He hardly took notice of Dane,
whose constant presence in his house had become a matter
of course to him, now that they were connected by
a community of interests. When meeting the young chief, he
gave him an absent greeting and passed on, seemingly wishing
to avoid him, bent upon forgetting the hated reality of
the present by absorbing himself in his work, or else
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by letting his imagination soar far above the tree tops
into the great white clouds, away to the westward, where
the paradise of Europe was awaiting the future Eastern millionaire
and Maroula, now the bargain was struck and there was
no more business to be talked over, evidently did not
care for the white man's company. Yet Dane was always
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about the house, but he seldom stayed long by the
river side. On his daily visits to the white man,
the Melee Chief preferred to make his way quietly through
the central passage of the house, and would come out
into the garden at the back, where the fire was
burning in the cooking shed with the rice kettle swinging
over it. Under the watchful supervision of missus Allmyer, avoiding
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that shed with its black smoke and the warbling of
soft feminine voices. Dane would turn to the left. There,
on the edge of a banana plantation, a clump of
palms and mango trees formed a shady spot a few
scattered bushes, giving it a certain seclusion into which only
the serving woman's chatter or an occasional burst of laughter
could penetrate. Once in, he was invisible and hidden. There,
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leaning against the smooth trunk of a tall palm, he
waited with gleaming eyes and an assured smile to hear
the faint rustle of dry grass under the light footsteps
of Nina. From the very first moment when his eyes
beheld this to him perfection of loveliness, he felt in
his inmost heart the conviction that she would be his.
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He felt the subtle breath of mutual understanding passing between
their two savage natures, and he did not want missus
allmers encouraging smiles, to take every opportunity of approaching the girl,
and every time he spoke to her, every time he
looked into her eyes, Nina, although averting her face, felt
as if this bold looking being who spoke burning words
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into her willing ear was the embodiment of her feet,
the creature of her dreams, reckless, ferocious, ready with flashing
chrisp for his enemies, and with passion and brace for
his beloved. The ideal Malay chief of her mother's tradition,
she recognized with a thrill of delicious fear, the mysterious
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consciousness of her identity with that being, listening to his words,
it seemed to her she was born only then to
a knowledge of a new existence, that her life was
complete only when near him, and she abandoned herself to
a feeling of dreamy happiness, while with her half veiled
face and in silence, as became a Malay girl, she
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listened to Dane's words, giving up to her the whole
treasure of love and passion. His nature was capable of
with all the unrestrained enthusiasm of a man totally untrammeled
by any influence of civilized self discipline. And they used
to pass many a delicious and fast fleeting hour under
the mango trees, behind a friendly curtain of bushes, till
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Missus Allmyer's shrill voice gave the signal of unwilling separation.
Missus Allmyer had undertaken the easy task of watching her
husband lest he should inner up the smooth course of
her daughter's love affair, in which she took a great
and benignant interest. She was happy and proud to see
Dane's infatuation, believing him to be a great and powerful chief,
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and she found also a gratification of her mercenary instincts
in Dane's open handed generosity. On the eve of the
day when Baba Lachi's suspicions were confirmed by ocular demonstration,
Dane and Nina had remained longer than usual in their
shady retreat. Only all Meyer's heavy step on the veranda
and this querulous clamor for food, decided missus Allmyer to
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lift the warning cry. Mroulla leaped lightly over the low
bamboo fence and made his way stealthily through the banana
plantation down to the muddy shore of the back creek,
while Nina walked slowly towards the house to minister to
her father's once as was her wont every evening. All
Meyer felt happy enough that evening the preparations were nearly completed.
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Tomorrow he would launch his votes. In his mind's eye,
he saw the rich prize in his grasp, and with
tin spoon in his hand, he was forgetting the plateful
of rice before him in the fanciful arrangement of some
splendid banquet to take place on his arrival in Amsterdam. Nina,
reclining in the long chair, listened absently to the few
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disconnected words escaping from her father's lips. Expedition gold, What
did she care for all that? But at the name
of Maroulla mentioned by her father, she was all attention.
Dane was going down the river with his brig tomorrow
to remain away for a few days at Almyer. It
was very annoying this delay. As soon as Dane returned,
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they would have to start without loss of time, for
the river was rising. He would not be surprised if
a great flood was coming. And he pushed away his
plate with an impatient gesture on rising from the table.
But now Nina heard him, not Dane going away. That's
why he had ordered her with that quiet masterfulness. It
was her delight to obey to meet him at break
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of day in Balanci's creek. Was there a paddle in
her canoe? She thought? Was it ready? She would have
to start early at four in the morning in a
very few hours, she rose from her chair, thinking she
would require rest before the long pole. In the early morning,
the lamp was burning dimly, and her father, tired with
the day's labor, was already in his hammock. Nina put
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the lamp out and passed into a large room she
shared with the mother on the left of the central passage. Entering,
she saw that Missus Almyer had deserted the pile of
mats serving her as bed in one corner of the room,
and was now bending over the open lid of her
large wooden chest. Half a shell of coconut filled with oil,
where a cotton rag floated for a wick stood on
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the floor, surrounding her with a ruddy halo of light
shining through the black and odorous smoke. Missus Allmyer's back
was bent and her head and shoulders hidden in the
deep box. Her hands rummaged in the interior, where a
soft clink as of silver money could be heard. She
did not notice at first her daughter's approach, and Nina,
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standing silently by her, looked down on many little canvas
bags ranged in the bottom of the chest, wherefrom her
mother extracted handfuls of shining gilders and Mexican dollars, letting
them stream slowly back again through her claw like fingers.
The music of tinkling silver seemed to delight her, and
her eyes sparkled with the reflected gleam of freshly minted coins.
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She was muttering to herself, and this and this, and
yet this. Soon he will give me more, as much
more as I ask. He is a great Rajah, a
son of heaven, and she will be a Renee. He
gave all this for her. Who ever gave anything from me?
I am a slave? Am I? I am the mother
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of a great renee. She became aware suddenly of her
daughter's presence and ceased her droning, shutting the lid down violently. Then,
without rising from her crouch position, she looked up at
the girl standing by, with a vague smile on her
dreamy face. You have seen, have you, she shouted shrilly.
That is all mine, and for you it is not enough.
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He will have to give more before he takes you
away to the southern island where his father is king. You.
Hear me, you are worth more, granddaughter of Rajas. More more.
The sleepy voice of Almyer was heard on the verandah,
recommending silence. Missus Almyer extinguished a light and crept into
a corner of the room. Nina laid down on her
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back on a pile of soft mats, her hands entwined
under her head, gazing through the shutterless hole serving as
a window as the stars twinkling on the black sky.
She was awaiting the time of start for her appointed
meeting place with quiet happiness. She thought of that meeting
in the great forest, far from all human eyes and sounds,
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her soul lapsing again into the savage mood which the
genius of civilization work by the hand of Missus Fink,
could never destroy. Experience the feeling of pride and of
some slight trouble at the high value her worldly wise
mother had put upon her person. But she remembered the
expressive glances in words of Dane and tranquilized. She closed
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her eyes in a shiver of pleasant anticipation. There are
some situations where the barbarian and the so called civilized
man meet upon the same ground. It may be supposed
that Dame Maroula was not exceptionally delighted with his prospective
mother in law, nor that he actually approved of that
worthy woman's appetite for shining dollars. Yet, on that foggy morning,
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when bab Alachi, laying aside the cares of state, went
to visit his fish baskets in the Balangi Creek, Maroula
had no misgivings, experienced no feelings but those of impatience
and longing. When paddling to the east side of the
island forming the back water in question, he hid his
canoe in the bushes and strode rapidly across the islet,
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pushing with impatience through the twigs of heavy undergrowth intercrossed
over his path. From motives of prudence, he would not
take his canoe to the meeting place as Nina had done.
He had left it in the main stream till his
return from the other side of the island. The heavy,
warm fog was closing rapidly around him, but he managed
to catch a fleeting glimpse of a light away to
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the left, proceeding from Balangi's house. Then he could see
nothing in the thickening vapor, and kept to the path
only by a sort of instinct, which also led him
to the very point on the opposite shore he wished
to reach. A great log had stranded there at right
angles to the bank, forming a kind of jetty against
which the swiftly flowing stream broke with a loud ripple.
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He stepped on it with a quick but steady motion,
and in two strides found himself at the outer end,
with the rush and swirl of the foaming water at
his feet, standing there alone, as if separated from the
world the heavens earthed, the very water roaring under him.
Swallowed up in the thick veil of the morning fog,
he breathed out the name of Nina before him into
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the apparently limitless space, sure of being heard, instinctively, sure
of the nearness of the delightful creature, certain of her
being aware of his near presence as he was aware
of hers. The bow of Nina's canoe loomed up close
to the log, canted high out of the water by
the weight of the sitter and the stern. Maroula laid
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his hand in the stern and leaped lightly in, giving
it a vigorous shove. Off. The light craft, obeying the
new impulse, cleared the log by a hair's breath, and
the river, with obedient complicity, swung it broadside to the current,
and bore it off silently and rapidly between the invisible banks,
And once more Dane, at the feet of Nina, forgot
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the world, felt himself carried away, helplessly by a great
wave of supreme emotion, by a rush of joy, pride,
and desire, understood once more, with overpowering certitude, that there
was no life possible without that being he held clasped
in his arms with passionate strength, in a prolonged embrace.
Nina disengaged herself gently with a low laugh. You will
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overturn the boat, Dane, she whispered. He looked into her
eyes eagerly for a minute and let her go with
a sigh. Then, lying down in the canoe, he put
his head on her knees, gazing upwards and stretching his
arms backwards till his hands met round the girl's waist.
She bent over him, and, shaking her head, framed both
their faces in the falling locks of her long black hair,
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And so they drifted on, he speaking with all the
rude eloquence of a savage nature giving itself up without
restraint to an overmastering passion, she bending low to catch
the murmur of words sweeter to her than life itself.
To those two, nothing existed them outside the gun whales
of the narrow, un fragile crap. It was their world,
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filled with their intense and all absorbing love. They took
no heed of thickening mist, or of the breeze dying
away before sunrise. They forgot the existence of the great
forest surrounding them, of all the tropical nature awaiting the
advent of the sun. In a solemn and impressive silence
over the low river, mist hiding the boat with its freighted, young,
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passionate life and all forgetful happiness, the stars paled, and
the silvery gray tint crept over the sky from the eastward.
There was not a breath of wind, not a rustle
of stirring leaf, not a splash of leaping fish to
disturb the serene repose of all living things on the
banks of the great river. Earth, river and sky were
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wrapped up in a deep sleep from which it seemed
there would be no waking. All the seething light and
movement of tropical nature seemed concentrated in the ardent eyes
in the tumultuously beating hearts of the two beings drifting
in the canoe under the white canopy of mist over
the smooth surface of the river. Suddenly, a great sheaf
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of yellow rays shot upwards from behind the black curtain
of trees lining the banks of the pan tie. The
stars went out, the little black clouds at the zenith
glowed for a moment with crimson tints, and the thick
mists stirred by the gentle breeze. The sigh of waking
nature whirled round and broke into fantastically torn pieces, disclosing
the wrinkled surface of the river, sparkling in the broad
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light of day. Great flocks of white birds wheeled screaming
above the swaying tree tops. The sun had risen on
the east coast. Dane was the first to return to
the cares of every day life. He rose and glanced
rapidly up and down the river. His eye detected Babolachi's
boat astern and another small black speck on the glittering water,
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which was Tamino's canoe. He moved cautiously forward and kneeling,
took up a paddle. Nina at the stern took hers.
They bent their bodies to the work, throwing up the
water at every stroke, and a small craft went swiftly ahead,
leaving a narrow wake, fringed with a lace like border
of white and gleaming f Without turning his head, Dane spoke,
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somebody behind us, Nina. We must not let him gain.
I think he is too hard to recognize us. Somebody
before us also panted out Nina, without ceasing to paddle.
I think I know rejoined Dane. The sun shines over there,
but I fancy it is the girl to Mina. She
comes down every morning to my brig to sell cakes,
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stays often all day. It does not matter. Steer more
into the bank. We must get under the bushes. My
canoe is hidden not far from here. As he spoke,
his eyes watched the broad leaved NEPA's which they were
brushing in their swift and silent course. Look out, Nina,
he said. At last, there where the water palms end
and the twigs hang down under the leaning tree. Steer
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for the big green branch. He stood up, attentive, and
the boat drifted slowly inshore, Nina, guiding it by a
gentle and skillful movement of her paddle. When near enough,
Dane laid hold of the big branch, and leaning back,
shot the canoe under a low green archway of thickly
matted creepers, giving access to a miniature bay formed by
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the caving in of the bank during the last great flood.
His own boat was there, anchored by a stone, and
he stepped into it, keeping his hand on the gun
whale of Nina's canoe. In a moment, the two little
nutshells with their occupants, floated quietly side by side, reflected
by the black water in the dim light, struggling through
a high canopy of dense foliage. While above, away upon
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the broad day, flamed immense red blossoms, sending down on
their heads a shower of great dew sparkling petals that descended,
rotating slowly in a continuous and perfume stream, and over them,
under them, in the sleeping water, all around them, in
a ring a luxuriant vegetation, bathed in the warm air,
charged with strong and harsh perfumes. The intense work of
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tropical nature went on, Plants shooting upward, entwined, interlaced in
inextricable confusion, climbing madly and brutally over each other in
the terrible silence of a desperate struggle towards the life
giving sunshine above, as if struck with sudden horror at
the seething mass of corruption below, at the death and
decay from which they sprang. We must part now, said Dane,
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after a long silence. You must return at once, Nina.
I will wait till the brig drifts down here and
shall get on board them. And will you be away long?
Dane asked Nina in a low voice, long exclaimed Dane.
Would a man willingly remain long in a dark place
when I am not near you? Nina? I am like
a man that is blind? What is life to me
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without light? Nina leaned over and with a proud and
happy smile, took Dane's face between her hands, looking into
his eyes with a fond, yet questioning gaze. Apparently she
found there the confirmation of the words just said, for
a feeling of grateful security lightened for her the weight
of sorrow at the hour of parting. She believed that
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he the descendant of many great rajahs, the son of
a great chief, the master of life and death, knew
the sunshine of life only in her presence. An immense
wave of gratitude and love welled forth out of her
heart towards him. How could she make an outward and
visible sign of all she felt for the man who
had filled her heart with so much joy and so
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much pride. And in the great tumult of passion, like
a flash of lightning, came to her the reminiscence of
that despised and almost forgotten civilization she had only glanced
at inner days of restraint, of sorrow and of anger.
In the cold ashes of that hateful and miserable past,
she would find the sign of love, the fitting expression
of the boundless felicity of the present, the pledge of
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a bright and splendid future. She threw her arms around
Dane's neck and pressed her lips to his in a
long and burning kiss. He closed his eyes, surprised and
frightened at the storm raised in his breast by the
strange and to him hitherto unknown contact. And long after
Nina had pushed her canoe into the river, he remained motionless,
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without daring to open his eyes, afraid to lose a
sensation of intoxicating delight he had tasted for the first time.
Now he wanted, but immortality, he thought, to be the
equal of gods and the creatures that could open. So
the gates of paradise must be his soon would be
his forever. He opened his eyes in time to see
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through the archway of creepers the bows of his brig
come slowly into view as the vessel drifted past on
its way down the river. He must go on board, now,
he thought, Yet he was loath to leave the place
where he had learned to know what happiness meant. Time.
Yet let them go, he muttered to himself, and he
closed his eyes again under the red shower of sundent petals,
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trying to recall the scene with all its delight and
all its fear. He must have been able to join
his brig in time, after all, and found much occupation outside,
for it was in vain that Almayer looked for his
friends speed to return. The lower reach of the river,
where he so often and so impatiently directed his eyes,
remained deserted save for the rapid flitting of some fishing canoe.
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But down the upper reaches came black clouds and heavy showers,
heralding the final setting in of the rainy season, with
its thunderstorms and great floods, making the river almost impossible
of ascent from native canoes. All Meyer, strolling along the
muddy beach between his houses, watched uneasily the river rising
inch by inch, creeping slowly nearer to the boats, now
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ready and hauled up in a row under the cover
of dripping kanjang mats. Fortune seemed to elude his grasp,
and in his weary tramp backwards and forwards under the
steady rain falling from the lowering sky, a sort of
despairing indifference took possession of him. What did it matter,
It was just his luck. Those two infernal savages, Lacamba
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and Dane, induced him, with their promises of help, to
spend his last dollar into fitting out of boats. And
now one of them was gone somewhere, and the other
shut up in his stockade, would give no sign of life. No,
not even the scoundrelly Babolachi thought Almeyer would show his
face near him. Now they had sold him all the rice, brass,
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gongs and cloth necessary for his expedition. They had his
very last coin and did not care whether he went
or stayed, and with a gesture of abandoned discouragement, all
Meyer would climb up slowly to the verandah of his
new house to get out of the rain. In leaning
on the front rail, with his head sunk between his shoulders,
he would abandon himself to the current of bitter thoughts,
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oblivious of the flight of time and the pangs of hunger,
deaf to the shrill prize of his wife calling him
to the evening meal. When roused from his sad meditations
by the first rule of the evening thunderstorm, he stumbled
slowly towards the glimmering light of his old house. His
half dead hope made his ears peter naturally acute to
any sound on the river. Several nights in success he
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had heard the splash of paddles and had seen the
indistinct form of a boat. But when hailing the shadowy apparition,
his heart bounding with sudden hope of hearing Dane's voice,
he was disappointed each time with a sulky answer conveying
to him the intelligence that the Arabs were on the river,
bound on a visit to the home staying Lakamba. This
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caused him many sleepless nights spent in speculating upon the
kind of villainy those esteemable personages were hatching. Now, at last,
when all Hope seemed dead, he was overjoyed on hearing
Dane's voice. But Dane also appeared very anxious to see Lakamba,
and Almyer felt uneasy owing to a deep and inerradical
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distrust as to that ruler's disposition towards himself. Still, Dane
had returned at last, Evidently he meant to keep his bargain.
Hope revived, and that night Almyer slept soundly while Nina
watched the angry river under the last the thunderstorm sweeping
onward towards the sea. End of Chapter five. Recording by
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Tom Weiss Tom's audiobooks dot Com
Arding. By Tom Weiss's chapter five, at last the excitement
had died out in Zamber. The inhabitants got used to
the sight of coming and goings between Allmyer's house and
the vessel now moored to the opposite bank, and speculation
as to the feverish activity displayed by Allmyer's boatmen in
repairing old canoes ceased to interfere with the due discharge
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of domestic duties by the women of the settlement. Even
the baffle jim Eng left off troubling his muddled brain
with secrets of trade, and relapsed, by the aid of
his opium pipe, into a state of stupefied bliss, letting
Babolatchi pursue his way past his house uninvited and seemingly unnoticed.
So on that warm afternoon, when the deserted river sparkled
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under the vertical sun, the statesman of Zambier could, without
any hindrance from friendly inquirers, shove off his little canoe
from under the bushes where it was usually hidden during
his visits to Allmyer's compound. Slowly and languidly Babolachi tabble,
crouching low in the boat, making himself small under his
as enormous sun hat to escape the scorching heat reflected
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from the water. He was not in a hurry. His
master Lakamba was surely reposing. At this time of the day,
he would have apple time to cross over and greet
him on his waking with important news. Will he be displeased?
Will he strike his ebony woodstaff angrily on the floor,
frightening him by the incoherent violence of his exclamations, Or
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will he squat down with a good humored smile and
rubbing his hands gently over his stomach with a familiar gesture,
expect to rate copiously into the brass serie vessel, giving
vent to a low, approbated murmur. Such were Babilachi's thoughts
as he skillfully handled his paddle crossing the river on
his way to the Rajah's Kampong, whose stockades showed from
(01:54):
behind the dense foliage of the bank, just opposite to
all Meyer's bungalow. Indeed, he report to make something certain,
meant last to confer the daily tale of suspicions, the
daily hints of familiarity, of stolen glances he had seen,
of short and burning words he had overheard exchanged between
(02:14):
Dame Marula and Allmyer's daughter le Kamba had tilled them
listened to it, all calmly, with evident distrust. Now he
was going to be convinced, for Babolachi had the proof.
Had it this very morning, when fishing at break of
day in the creek over which stood Belangi's house. There
from his skiff he saw Nina's long canoe drift past,
(02:38):
the girl sitting in the stern, bending over Dane, who
was stretched in the bottom of the boat with his
head resting on the girl's knees. He saw it. He
followed them, but in a short time they took to
the paddles and got away from under his observant eye.
A few minutes afterwards, he saw Balangi's slave girl paddling
in a small dugout to the town with her cakes,
(02:59):
for she also had seen them in the gray dawn,
and Babolacchi grinned confidentially to himself at the recollection of
the slave girl's discomposed face, of the hard look in
her eyes, of the tremble in her voice when answering
his questions, that little Tamanah evidently admired Dane Marula that
(03:21):
was good, and bab Alacchi laughed aloud at the notion. Then,
becoming suddenly serious, he began, by some strange association of
ideas to speculate upon the price for which Bolangi would
possibly sell the girl. He shook his head sadly at
the thought that Bilanji was a hard man and had
refused one hundred dollars for that same taminah only a
(03:44):
few weeks ago. Then he became suddenly aware that the
canoe had drifted too far down during his meditation. He
shook off the despondency caused by the suritude of Belangi's
mercenary disposition, and taking up his paddle in a few strokes,
sheer alongside the watergate of the Raja's house. That afternoon, Almayer,
(04:05):
as was his wont, lately moved about on the water side,
overlooking the repairs to his votes. He had decided, at last,
guided by the scraps of information contained in old Lingard's pocketbook,
he was going to seek for the rich gold mine
for that place where he had only to stoop to
gather up an immense fortune and realize the dream of
(04:27):
his young days to obtain the necessary help. He had
shared his knowledge with Dane Marula. He had consented to
be reconciled with the Kamba, who gave his support to
the enterprise on condition of sharing the profits. He had
sacrificed his pride, his honor, and his loyalty in the
face of the enormous risk of his undertaking, Dazzled by
(04:48):
the greatness of the results to be achieved by this alliance,
so distasteful yet so necessary, the dangers were great, but
Marula was brave, his men seemed as wrecked of chief,
and with Lakamba's aid, success seemed assure. For the last fortnight,
Almeyer was absorbed in the preparations, walking amongst his workmen
(05:10):
and slaves, in a kind of waking trance, where practical
details as to the fitting out of the boats were
mixed up with vivid dreams of untold wealth, where the
present misery of burning sun, of the muddy and malodorous
riverbank disappeared in the gorgeous vision of a splendid future
existence for himself and Nina. He hardly saw Nina during
these last days, although the beloved daughter was ever at
(05:33):
present in his thoughts. He hardly took notice of Dane,
whose constant presence in his house had become a matter
of course to him, now that they were connected by
a community of interests. When meeting the young chief, he
gave him an absent greeting and passed on, seemingly wishing
to avoid him, bent upon forgetting the hated reality of
the present by absorbing himself in his work, or else
(05:56):
by letting his imagination soar far above the tree tops
into the great white clouds, away to the westward, where
the paradise of Europe was awaiting the future Eastern millionaire
and Maroula, now the bargain was struck and there was
no more business to be talked over, evidently did not
care for the white man's company. Yet Dane was always
(06:18):
about the house, but he seldom stayed long by the
river side. On his daily visits to the white man,
the Melee Chief preferred to make his way quietly through
the central passage of the house, and would come out
into the garden at the back, where the fire was
burning in the cooking shed with the rice kettle swinging
over it. Under the watchful supervision of missus Allmyer, avoiding
(06:40):
that shed with its black smoke and the warbling of
soft feminine voices. Dane would turn to the left. There,
on the edge of a banana plantation, a clump of
palms and mango trees formed a shady spot a few
scattered bushes, giving it a certain seclusion into which only
the serving woman's chatter or an occasional burst of laughter
could penetrate. Once in, he was invisible and hidden. There,
(07:05):
leaning against the smooth trunk of a tall palm, he
waited with gleaming eyes and an assured smile to hear
the faint rustle of dry grass under the light footsteps
of Nina. From the very first moment when his eyes
beheld this to him perfection of loveliness, he felt in
his inmost heart the conviction that she would be his.
(07:26):
He felt the subtle breath of mutual understanding passing between
their two savage natures, and he did not want missus
allmers encouraging smiles, to take every opportunity of approaching the girl,
and every time he spoke to her, every time he
looked into her eyes, Nina, although averting her face, felt
as if this bold looking being who spoke burning words
(07:48):
into her willing ear was the embodiment of her feet,
the creature of her dreams, reckless, ferocious, ready with flashing
chrisp for his enemies, and with passion and brace for
his beloved. The ideal Malay chief of her mother's tradition,
she recognized with a thrill of delicious fear, the mysterious
(08:08):
consciousness of her identity with that being, listening to his words,
it seemed to her she was born only then to
a knowledge of a new existence, that her life was
complete only when near him, and she abandoned herself to
a feeling of dreamy happiness, while with her half veiled
face and in silence, as became a Malay girl, she
(08:29):
listened to Dane's words, giving up to her the whole
treasure of love and passion. His nature was capable of
with all the unrestrained enthusiasm of a man totally untrammeled
by any influence of civilized self discipline. And they used
to pass many a delicious and fast fleeting hour under
the mango trees, behind a friendly curtain of bushes, till
(08:50):
Missus Allmyer's shrill voice gave the signal of unwilling separation.
Missus Allmyer had undertaken the easy task of watching her
husband lest he should inner up the smooth course of
her daughter's love affair, in which she took a great
and benignant interest. She was happy and proud to see
Dane's infatuation, believing him to be a great and powerful chief,
(09:12):
and she found also a gratification of her mercenary instincts
in Dane's open handed generosity. On the eve of the
day when Baba Lachi's suspicions were confirmed by ocular demonstration,
Dane and Nina had remained longer than usual in their
shady retreat. Only all Meyer's heavy step on the veranda
and this querulous clamor for food, decided missus Allmyer to
(09:35):
lift the warning cry. Mroulla leaped lightly over the low
bamboo fence and made his way stealthily through the banana
plantation down to the muddy shore of the back creek,
while Nina walked slowly towards the house to minister to
her father's once as was her wont every evening. All
Meyer felt happy enough that evening the preparations were nearly completed.
(09:58):
Tomorrow he would launch his votes. In his mind's eye,
he saw the rich prize in his grasp, and with
tin spoon in his hand, he was forgetting the plateful
of rice before him in the fanciful arrangement of some
splendid banquet to take place on his arrival in Amsterdam. Nina,
reclining in the long chair, listened absently to the few
(10:19):
disconnected words escaping from her father's lips. Expedition gold, What
did she care for all that? But at the name
of Maroulla mentioned by her father, she was all attention.
Dane was going down the river with his brig tomorrow
to remain away for a few days at Almyer. It
was very annoying this delay. As soon as Dane returned,
(10:40):
they would have to start without loss of time, for
the river was rising. He would not be surprised if
a great flood was coming. And he pushed away his
plate with an impatient gesture on rising from the table.
But now Nina heard him, not Dane going away. That's
why he had ordered her with that quiet masterfulness. It
was her delight to obey to meet him at break
(11:02):
of day in Balanci's creek. Was there a paddle in
her canoe? She thought? Was it ready? She would have
to start early at four in the morning in a
very few hours, she rose from her chair, thinking she
would require rest before the long pole. In the early morning,
the lamp was burning dimly, and her father, tired with
the day's labor, was already in his hammock. Nina put
(11:26):
the lamp out and passed into a large room she
shared with the mother on the left of the central passage. Entering,
she saw that Missus Almyer had deserted the pile of
mats serving her as bed in one corner of the room,
and was now bending over the open lid of her
large wooden chest. Half a shell of coconut filled with oil,
where a cotton rag floated for a wick stood on
(11:47):
the floor, surrounding her with a ruddy halo of light
shining through the black and odorous smoke. Missus Allmyer's back
was bent and her head and shoulders hidden in the
deep box. Her hands rummaged in the interior, where a
soft clink as of silver money could be heard. She
did not notice at first her daughter's approach, and Nina,
(12:07):
standing silently by her, looked down on many little canvas
bags ranged in the bottom of the chest, wherefrom her
mother extracted handfuls of shining gilders and Mexican dollars, letting
them stream slowly back again through her claw like fingers.
The music of tinkling silver seemed to delight her, and
her eyes sparkled with the reflected gleam of freshly minted coins.
(12:29):
She was muttering to herself, and this and this, and
yet this. Soon he will give me more, as much
more as I ask. He is a great Rajah, a
son of heaven, and she will be a Renee. He
gave all this for her. Who ever gave anything from me?
I am a slave? Am I? I am the mother
(12:50):
of a great renee. She became aware suddenly of her
daughter's presence and ceased her droning, shutting the lid down violently. Then,
without rising from her crouch position, she looked up at
the girl standing by, with a vague smile on her
dreamy face. You have seen, have you, she shouted shrilly.
That is all mine, and for you it is not enough.
(13:12):
He will have to give more before he takes you
away to the southern island where his father is king. You.
Hear me, you are worth more, granddaughter of Rajas. More more.
The sleepy voice of Almyer was heard on the verandah,
recommending silence. Missus Almyer extinguished a light and crept into
a corner of the room. Nina laid down on her
(13:33):
back on a pile of soft mats, her hands entwined
under her head, gazing through the shutterless hole serving as
a window as the stars twinkling on the black sky.
She was awaiting the time of start for her appointed
meeting place with quiet happiness. She thought of that meeting
in the great forest, far from all human eyes and sounds,
(13:54):
her soul lapsing again into the savage mood which the
genius of civilization work by the hand of Missus Fink,
could never destroy. Experience the feeling of pride and of
some slight trouble at the high value her worldly wise
mother had put upon her person. But she remembered the
expressive glances in words of Dane and tranquilized. She closed
(14:15):
her eyes in a shiver of pleasant anticipation. There are
some situations where the barbarian and the so called civilized
man meet upon the same ground. It may be supposed
that Dame Maroula was not exceptionally delighted with his prospective
mother in law, nor that he actually approved of that
worthy woman's appetite for shining dollars. Yet, on that foggy morning,
(14:39):
when bab Alachi, laying aside the cares of state, went
to visit his fish baskets in the Balangi Creek, Maroula
had no misgivings, experienced no feelings but those of impatience
and longing. When paddling to the east side of the
island forming the back water in question, he hid his
canoe in the bushes and strode rapidly across the islet,
(15:00):
pushing with impatience through the twigs of heavy undergrowth intercrossed
over his path. From motives of prudence, he would not
take his canoe to the meeting place as Nina had done.
He had left it in the main stream till his
return from the other side of the island. The heavy,
warm fog was closing rapidly around him, but he managed
to catch a fleeting glimpse of a light away to
(15:21):
the left, proceeding from Balangi's house. Then he could see
nothing in the thickening vapor, and kept to the path
only by a sort of instinct, which also led him
to the very point on the opposite shore he wished
to reach. A great log had stranded there at right
angles to the bank, forming a kind of jetty against
which the swiftly flowing stream broke with a loud ripple.
(15:42):
He stepped on it with a quick but steady motion,
and in two strides found himself at the outer end,
with the rush and swirl of the foaming water at
his feet, standing there alone, as if separated from the
world the heavens earthed, the very water roaring under him.
Swallowed up in the thick veil of the morning fog,
he breathed out the name of Nina before him into
(16:03):
the apparently limitless space, sure of being heard, instinctively, sure
of the nearness of the delightful creature, certain of her
being aware of his near presence as he was aware
of hers. The bow of Nina's canoe loomed up close
to the log, canted high out of the water by
the weight of the sitter and the stern. Maroula laid
(16:24):
his hand in the stern and leaped lightly in, giving
it a vigorous shove. Off. The light craft, obeying the
new impulse, cleared the log by a hair's breath, and
the river, with obedient complicity, swung it broadside to the current,
and bore it off silently and rapidly between the invisible banks,
And once more Dane, at the feet of Nina, forgot
(16:45):
the world, felt himself carried away, helplessly by a great
wave of supreme emotion, by a rush of joy, pride,
and desire, understood once more, with overpowering certitude, that there
was no life possible without that being he held clasped
in his arms with passionate strength, in a prolonged embrace.
Nina disengaged herself gently with a low laugh. You will
(17:08):
overturn the boat, Dane, she whispered. He looked into her
eyes eagerly for a minute and let her go with
a sigh. Then, lying down in the canoe, he put
his head on her knees, gazing upwards and stretching his
arms backwards till his hands met round the girl's waist.
She bent over him, and, shaking her head, framed both
their faces in the falling locks of her long black hair,
(17:32):
And so they drifted on, he speaking with all the
rude eloquence of a savage nature giving itself up without
restraint to an overmastering passion, she bending low to catch
the murmur of words sweeter to her than life itself.
To those two, nothing existed them outside the gun whales
of the narrow, un fragile crap. It was their world,
(17:54):
filled with their intense and all absorbing love. They took
no heed of thickening mist, or of the breeze dying
away before sunrise. They forgot the existence of the great
forest surrounding them, of all the tropical nature awaiting the
advent of the sun. In a solemn and impressive silence
over the low river, mist hiding the boat with its freighted, young,
(18:16):
passionate life and all forgetful happiness, the stars paled, and
the silvery gray tint crept over the sky from the eastward.
There was not a breath of wind, not a rustle
of stirring leaf, not a splash of leaping fish to
disturb the serene repose of all living things on the
banks of the great river. Earth, river and sky were
(18:36):
wrapped up in a deep sleep from which it seemed
there would be no waking. All the seething light and
movement of tropical nature seemed concentrated in the ardent eyes
in the tumultuously beating hearts of the two beings drifting
in the canoe under the white canopy of mist over
the smooth surface of the river. Suddenly, a great sheaf
(18:56):
of yellow rays shot upwards from behind the black curtain
of trees lining the banks of the pan tie. The
stars went out, the little black clouds at the zenith
glowed for a moment with crimson tints, and the thick
mists stirred by the gentle breeze. The sigh of waking
nature whirled round and broke into fantastically torn pieces, disclosing
the wrinkled surface of the river, sparkling in the broad
(19:19):
light of day. Great flocks of white birds wheeled screaming
above the swaying tree tops. The sun had risen on
the east coast. Dane was the first to return to
the cares of every day life. He rose and glanced
rapidly up and down the river. His eye detected Babolachi's
boat astern and another small black speck on the glittering water,
(19:41):
which was Tamino's canoe. He moved cautiously forward and kneeling,
took up a paddle. Nina at the stern took hers.
They bent their bodies to the work, throwing up the
water at every stroke, and a small craft went swiftly ahead,
leaving a narrow wake, fringed with a lace like border
of white and gleaming f Without turning his head, Dane spoke,
(20:03):
somebody behind us, Nina. We must not let him gain.
I think he is too hard to recognize us. Somebody
before us also panted out Nina, without ceasing to paddle.
I think I know rejoined Dane. The sun shines over there,
but I fancy it is the girl to Mina. She
comes down every morning to my brig to sell cakes,
(20:24):
stays often all day. It does not matter. Steer more
into the bank. We must get under the bushes. My
canoe is hidden not far from here. As he spoke,
his eyes watched the broad leaved NEPA's which they were
brushing in their swift and silent course. Look out, Nina,
he said. At last, there where the water palms end
and the twigs hang down under the leaning tree. Steer
(20:46):
for the big green branch. He stood up, attentive, and
the boat drifted slowly inshore, Nina, guiding it by a
gentle and skillful movement of her paddle. When near enough,
Dane laid hold of the big branch, and leaning back,
shot the canoe under a low green archway of thickly
matted creepers, giving access to a miniature bay formed by
(21:06):
the caving in of the bank during the last great flood.
His own boat was there, anchored by a stone, and
he stepped into it, keeping his hand on the gun
whale of Nina's canoe. In a moment, the two little
nutshells with their occupants, floated quietly side by side, reflected
by the black water in the dim light, struggling through
a high canopy of dense foliage. While above, away upon
(21:29):
the broad day, flamed immense red blossoms, sending down on
their heads a shower of great dew sparkling petals that descended,
rotating slowly in a continuous and perfume stream, and over them,
under them, in the sleeping water, all around them, in
a ring a luxuriant vegetation, bathed in the warm air,
charged with strong and harsh perfumes. The intense work of
(21:51):
tropical nature went on, Plants shooting upward, entwined, interlaced in
inextricable confusion, climbing madly and brutally over each other in
the terrible silence of a desperate struggle towards the life
giving sunshine above, as if struck with sudden horror at
the seething mass of corruption below, at the death and
decay from which they sprang. We must part now, said Dane,
(22:15):
after a long silence. You must return at once, Nina.
I will wait till the brig drifts down here and
shall get on board them. And will you be away long?
Dane asked Nina in a low voice, long exclaimed Dane.
Would a man willingly remain long in a dark place
when I am not near you? Nina? I am like
a man that is blind? What is life to me
(22:38):
without light? Nina leaned over and with a proud and
happy smile, took Dane's face between her hands, looking into
his eyes with a fond, yet questioning gaze. Apparently she
found there the confirmation of the words just said, for
a feeling of grateful security lightened for her the weight
of sorrow at the hour of parting. She believed that
(23:00):
he the descendant of many great rajahs, the son of
a great chief, the master of life and death, knew
the sunshine of life only in her presence. An immense
wave of gratitude and love welled forth out of her
heart towards him. How could she make an outward and
visible sign of all she felt for the man who
had filled her heart with so much joy and so
(23:21):
much pride. And in the great tumult of passion, like
a flash of lightning, came to her the reminiscence of
that despised and almost forgotten civilization she had only glanced
at inner days of restraint, of sorrow and of anger.
In the cold ashes of that hateful and miserable past,
she would find the sign of love, the fitting expression
of the boundless felicity of the present, the pledge of
(23:44):
a bright and splendid future. She threw her arms around
Dane's neck and pressed her lips to his in a
long and burning kiss. He closed his eyes, surprised and
frightened at the storm raised in his breast by the
strange and to him hitherto unknown contact. And long after
Nina had pushed her canoe into the river, he remained motionless,
(24:05):
without daring to open his eyes, afraid to lose a
sensation of intoxicating delight he had tasted for the first time.
Now he wanted, but immortality, he thought, to be the
equal of gods and the creatures that could open. So
the gates of paradise must be his soon would be
his forever. He opened his eyes in time to see
(24:25):
through the archway of creepers the bows of his brig
come slowly into view as the vessel drifted past on
its way down the river. He must go on board, now,
he thought, Yet he was loath to leave the place
where he had learned to know what happiness meant. Time.
Yet let them go, he muttered to himself, and he
closed his eyes again under the red shower of sundent petals,
(24:48):
trying to recall the scene with all its delight and
all its fear. He must have been able to join
his brig in time, after all, and found much occupation outside,
for it was in vain that Almayer looked for his
friends speed to return. The lower reach of the river,
where he so often and so impatiently directed his eyes,
remained deserted save for the rapid flitting of some fishing canoe.
(25:10):
But down the upper reaches came black clouds and heavy showers,
heralding the final setting in of the rainy season, with
its thunderstorms and great floods, making the river almost impossible
of ascent from native canoes. All Meyer, strolling along the
muddy beach between his houses, watched uneasily the river rising
inch by inch, creeping slowly nearer to the boats, now
(25:33):
ready and hauled up in a row under the cover
of dripping kanjang mats. Fortune seemed to elude his grasp,
and in his weary tramp backwards and forwards under the
steady rain falling from the lowering sky, a sort of
despairing indifference took possession of him. What did it matter,
It was just his luck. Those two infernal savages, Lacamba
(25:54):
and Dane, induced him, with their promises of help, to
spend his last dollar into fitting out of boats. And
now one of them was gone somewhere, and the other
shut up in his stockade, would give no sign of life. No,
not even the scoundrelly Babolachi thought Almeyer would show his
face near him. Now they had sold him all the rice, brass,
(26:15):
gongs and cloth necessary for his expedition. They had his
very last coin and did not care whether he went
or stayed, and with a gesture of abandoned discouragement, all
Meyer would climb up slowly to the verandah of his
new house to get out of the rain. In leaning
on the front rail, with his head sunk between his shoulders,
he would abandon himself to the current of bitter thoughts,
(26:38):
oblivious of the flight of time and the pangs of hunger,
deaf to the shrill prize of his wife calling him
to the evening meal. When roused from his sad meditations
by the first rule of the evening thunderstorm, he stumbled
slowly towards the glimmering light of his old house. His
half dead hope made his ears peter naturally acute to
any sound on the river. Several nights in success he
(27:00):
had heard the splash of paddles and had seen the
indistinct form of a boat. But when hailing the shadowy apparition,
his heart bounding with sudden hope of hearing Dane's voice,
he was disappointed each time with a sulky answer conveying
to him the intelligence that the Arabs were on the river,
bound on a visit to the home staying Lakamba. This
(27:22):
caused him many sleepless nights spent in speculating upon the
kind of villainy those esteemable personages were hatching. Now, at last,
when all Hope seemed dead, he was overjoyed on hearing
Dane's voice. But Dane also appeared very anxious to see Lakamba,
and Almyer felt uneasy owing to a deep and inerradical
(27:43):
distrust as to that ruler's disposition towards himself. Still, Dane
had returned at last, Evidently he meant to keep his bargain.
Hope revived, and that night Almyer slept soundly while Nina
watched the angry river under the last the thunderstorm sweeping
onward towards the sea. End of Chapter five. Recording by
(28:06):
Tom Weiss Tom's audiobooks dot Com
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