FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84  
85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   >>   >|  
flung off his hat, uncovering his long, tangled hair that stuck in wisps on his perspiring forehead and straggled over his eyes, which glittered deep down in the sockets like the last sparks amongst the black embers of a burnt-out fire. An unclean beard grew out of the caverns of his sunburnt cheeks. The hand he put out towards Almayer was very unsteady. The once firm mouth had the tell-tale droop of mental suffering and physical exhaustion. He was barefooted. Almayer surveyed him with leisurely composure. "Well!" he said at last, without taking the extended hand which dropped slowly along Willems' body. "I am come," began Willems. "So I see," interrupted Almayer. "You might have spared me this treat without making me unhappy. You have been away five weeks, if I am not mistaken. I got on very well without you--and now you are here you are not pretty to look at." "Let me speak, will you!" exclaimed Willems. "Don't shout like this. Do you think yourself in the forest with your . . . your friends? This is a civilized man's house. A white man's. Understand?" "I am come," began Willems again; "I am come for your good and mine." "You look as if you had come for a good feed," chimed in the irrepressible Almayer, while Willems waved his hand in a discouraged gesture. "Don't they give you enough to eat," went on Almayer, in a tone of easy banter, "those--what am I to call them--those new relations of yours? That old blind scoundrel must be delighted with your company. You know, he was the greatest thief and murderer of those seas. Say! do you exchange confidences? Tell me, Willems, did you kill somebody in Macassar or did you only steal something?" "It is not true!" exclaimed Willems, hotly. "I only borrowed. . . . They all lied! I . . ." "Sh-sh!" hissed Almayer, warningly, with a look at the sleeping child. "So you did steal," he went on, with repressed exultation. "I thought there was something of the kind. And now, here, you steal again." For the first time Willems raised his eyes to Almayer's face. "Oh, I don't mean from me. I haven't missed anything," said Almayer, with mocking haste. "But that girl. Hey! You stole her. You did not pay the old fellow. She is no good to him now, is she?" "Stop that. Almayer!" Something in Willems' tone caused Almayer to pause. He looked narrowly at the man before him, and could not help being shocked at his appearance. "Almayer," went on Willems, "listen to m
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84  
85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Almayer

 

Willems

 

exclaimed

 

missed

 

greatest

 
company
 

delighted

 

looked

 

narrowly

 
murderer

scoundrel

 
listen
 

banter

 

relations

 

appearance

 

shocked

 

exchange

 

mocking

 

hissed

 

borrowed


warningly

 

sleeping

 

exultation

 

thought

 

repressed

 

fellow

 

Macassar

 

Something

 

caused

 

raised


confidences

 
unsteady
 

cheeks

 

sunburnt

 

unclean

 
caverns
 

exhaustion

 

barefooted

 

surveyed

 

leisurely


physical

 

suffering

 

mental

 

perspiring

 

tangled

 

uncovering

 
forehead
 

straggled

 

embers

 

sparks