In their character, however, those
words were strictly neutral.
The only time when Lingard had detected something of a deeper
comprehension in d'Alcacer was the day after the long negotiations
inside Belarab's stockade for the temporary surrender of the prisoners.
That move had been suggested to him, exactly as Mrs. Travers had told
her husband, by the rivalries of the parties and the state of public
opinion in the Settlement deprived of the presence of the man who,
theoretically at least, was the greatest power and the visible ruler
of the Shore of Refuge. Belarab still lingered at his father's tomb.
Whether that man of the embittered and pacific heart had withdrawn there
to meditate upon the unruliness of mankind and the thankless nature of
his task; or whether he had gone there simply to bathe in a particularly
clear pool which was a feature of the place, give himself up to the
enjoyment of a certain fruit which grew in profusion there and indulge
for a time in a scrupulous performance of religious exercises, his
absence from the Settlement was a fact of the utmost gravity. It is true
that the prestige of a long-unquestioned rulership and the long-settled
mental habits of the people had caused the captives to be taken straight
to Belarab's stockade as a matter of course.
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