Chapter 8 - Page 2

was the use to wonder
at the decrees of Fate, especially if they were propitious to the True
Believers? And with a pious ejaculation to Allah the Merciful, the
Compassionate, Abdulla seemed to regard the incident as closed for the
present.

Not so Reshid. He lingered by his uncle, pulling thoughtfully his neatly
trimmed beard.

"There are many lies," he murmured. "He has been dead once before, and
came to life to die again now. The Dutch will be here before many days
and clamour for the man. Shall I not believe my eyes sooner than the
tongues of women and idle men?"

"They say that the body is being taken to Almayer's compound," said
Abdulla. "If you want to go there you must go before the Dutch arrive
here. Go late. It should not be said that we have been seen inside that
man's enclosure lately."

Reshid assented to the truth of this last remark and left his uncle's
side. He leaned against the lintel of the big doorway and looked idly
across the courtyard through the open gate on to the main road of the
settlement. It lay empty, straight, and yellow under the flood of light.
In the hot noontide the smooth trunks of palm trees, the outlines of the
houses, and away there at the other end of the road the roof of Almayer's
house visible over the bushes on the dark background of forest, seemed to
quiver in the heat radiating from the steaming earth. Swarms of yellow
butterflies rose, and settled to rise again in short flights before
Reshid's half-closed eyes. From under his feet arose the dull hum of
insects in the long grass of the courtyard. He looked on sleepily.

From one of the side paths amongst the houses a woman stepped out on the
road, a slight girlish figure walking under the shade of a large tray
balanced on its head. The consciousness of something moving stirred
Reshid's half-sleeping senses into a comparative wakefulness. He
recognised Taminah, Bulangi's slave-girl, with her tray of cakes for
sale--an apparition of daily recurrence and of no importance whatever.
She was going towards Almayer's house. She could be made useful. He
roused himself up and ran towards the gate calling out, "Taminah O!" The
girl stopped, hesitated, and came back slowly.

Reshid waited, signing to her impatiently to come nearer.

When near Reshid Taminah stood with downcast eyes. Reshid looked at her
a while before he asked--

"Are you going to Almayer's house? They say in the settlement that Dain
the trader, he that was found drowned this morning, is lying in the white
man's campong."

"I have heard this talk," whispered Taminah; "and this morning by the
riverside I saw the body. Where it is now I do not