For a moment the
speck of light lost in vast obscurity the brig, the boat, the hidden
coast, the Shallows, the very walls and roof of darkness--the seen
and the unseen alike seemed to be gliding smoothly onward through the
enormous gloom of space. Then, with a great mental effort, he brought
everything to a sudden standstill; and only the froth and bubbles went
on streaming past ceaselessly, unchecked by the power of his will.
"The tide has turned--you say, serang? Has it--? Well, perhaps it has,
perhaps it has," he finished, muttering to himself.
"Truly it has. Can not Tuan see it run under his own eyes?" said Wasub
with an alarmed earnestness. "Look. Now it is in my mind that a prau
coming from amongst the southern islands, if steered cunningly in the
free set of the current, would approach the bows of this, our brig,
drifting silently as a shape without a substance."
"And board suddenly--is that it?" said Lingard.
"Daman is crafty and the Illanuns are very bloodthirsty. Night is
nothing to them. They are certainly valorous. Are they not born in the
midst of fighting and are they not inspired by the evil of their hearts
even before they can speak? And their chiefs would be leading them while
you, Tuan, are going from us even now--"
"You don't want me to go?" asked Lingard.
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