othed
her apprehensions. Sometimes a silence fell and Lingard bending toward
her would whisper, "It isn't so easy," and the stillness would be so
perfect that she would hear the flutter of a pigeon's wing somewhere
high up in the great overshadowing trees. And suddenly one of the men
before her without moving a limb would begin another speech rendered
more mysterious still by the total absence of action or play of feature.
Only the watchfulness of the eyes which showed that the speaker was
not communing with himself made it clear that this was not a spoken
meditation but a flow of argument directed to Lingard who now and then
uttered a few words either with a grave or a smiling expression. They
were always followed by murmurs which seemed mostly to her to convey
assent; and then a reflective silence would reign again and the
immobility of the crowd would appear more perfect than before.

When Lingard whispered to her that it was now his turn to make a
speech Mrs. Travers expected him to get up and assert himself by some
commanding gesture. But he did not. He remained seated, only his voice
had a vibrating quality though he obviously tried to restrain it, and
it travelled masterfully far into the silence. He spoke for a long time
while the sun climbing the unstained sky shifted the diminished shadows
of the trees, pouring on the heads of men its heat through the thick and
motionless foliage. Whenever murmurs arose he would stop and glancing
fearlessly at the assembly, wait till they subsided. Once or twice, they
rose to a loud hum and Mrs. Travers could hear on the other side of her
Jorgenson muttering something in his moustache. Beyond the rows of heads
Daman under the tree had folded his arms on his breast. The edge of
the white cloth concealed his forehead and at his feet the two Illanun
chiefs, half naked and bedecked with charms and ornaments of bright
feathers, of shells, with necklaces of teeth, claws, and shining beads,
remained cross-legged with their swords across their knees like two
bronze idols. Even the plumes of their head-dresses stirred not.

"Sudah! It is finished!" A movement passed along all the heads, the
seated bodies swayed to and fro. Lingard had ceased speaking. He
remained seated for a moment looking his audience all over and when he
stood up together with Mrs. Travers and Jorgenson the whole assembly
rose from the ground together and lost its ordered formation. Some
of Belarab's retainers, you