ops of the
banana plantation, visible above the bushes, swayed and shook under the
touch of invisible hands gathering the fruit. On the calm water several
canoes moored to a heavy stake were crowded together, nearly bridging the
ditch just at the place where Taminah stood. The voices in the courtyard
rose at times into an outburst of calls, replies, and laughter, and then
died away into a silence that soon was broken again by a fresh clamour.
Now and again the thin blue smoke rushed out thicker and blacker, and
drove in odorous masses over the creek, wrapping her for a moment in a
suffocating veil; then, as the fresh wood caught well alight, the smoke
vanished in the bright sunlight, and only the scent of aromatic wood
drifted afar, to leeward of the crackling fires.

Taminah rested her tray on a stump of a tree, and remained standing with
her eyes turned towards Almayer's house, whose roof and part of a
whitewashed wall were visible over the bushes. The slave-girl finished
her work, and after looking for a while curiously at Taminah, pushed her
way through the dense thicket back to the courtyard. Round Taminah there
was now a complete solitude. She threw herself down on the ground, and
hid her face in her hands. Now when so close she had no courage to see
Nina. At every burst of louder voices from the courtyard she shivered in
the fear of hearing Nina's voice. She came to the resolution of waiting
where she was till dark, and then going straight to Dain's hiding-place.
From where she was she could watch the movements of white men, of Nina,
of all Dain's friends, and of all his enemies. Both were hateful alike
to her, for both would take him away beyond her reach. She hid herself
in the long grass to wait anxiously for the sunset that seemed so slow to
come.

On the other side of the ditch, behind the bush, by the clear fires, the
seamen of the frigate had encamped on the hospitable invitation of
Almayer. Almayer, roused out of his apathy by the prayers and
importunity of Nina, had managed to get down in time to the jetty so as
to receive the officers at their landing. The lieutenant in command
accepted his invitation to his house with the remark that in any case
their business was with Almayer--and perhaps not very pleasant, he added.
Almayer hardly heard him. He shook hands with them absently and led the
way towards the house. He was scarcely conscious of the polite words of
welcome he greeted the stran