ters produced on his mind a bewildering effect. 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.

For a time Wasub listened attentively to the profound silence.

"Can we fight without a leader?" he began again. "It is the belief in
victory that gives courage. And what would poor calashes do, sons of
peasants and fishermen, freshly caught--without knowledge? They believe
in your strength--and in your power--or else--Will those whites that
came so suddenly avenge you? They are here like fish within the stakes.
Ya-wa! Who will bring the news and who will come to find the truth and
perchance to carry off your body? You go alone, Tuan!"

"There must be no fighting. It would be a calamity," insisted Lingard.
"There is blood that must not be spilt."

"Hear, Tuan!" exclaimed Wasub with heat. "The waters are running out
now." He punctuated his speech by slight jerks at the dinghy. "The
waters go and at the appointed time they shall return. And if between
their going and coming the blood of all the men in the world were poured
into it, the sea would not rise higher at the full by the breadth of my
finger nail."

"But the world would not be the same. You do not see that, serang. Give
the boat