’She asked rapidly and very low, “Can you face four men with this?” He laughed while narrating this part at the recollection of his polite alacrity.  It seems he made a great display of it.  “Certainly—­of course—­certainly—­command me.”  He was not properly awake, and had a notion of being very civil in these extraordinary circumstances, of showing his unquestioning, devoted readiness.  She left the room, and he followed her; in the passage they disturbed an old hag who did the casual cooking of the household, though she was so decrepit as to be hardly able to understand human speech.  She got up and hobbled behind them, mumbling toothlessly.  On the verandah a hammock of sail-cloth, belonging to Cornelius, swayed lightly to the touch of Jim’s elbow.  It was empty.

’The Patusan establishment, like all the posts of Stein’s Trading Company, had originally consisted of four buildings.  Two of them were represented by two heaps of sticks, broken bamboos, rotten thatch, over which the four corner-posts of hardwood leaned sadly at different angles:  the principal storeroom, however, stood yet, facing the agent’s house.  It was an oblong hut, built of mud and clay; it had at one end a wide door of stout planking, which so far had not come off the hinges, and in one of the side walls there was a square aperture, a sort of window, with three wooden bars.  Before descending the few steps the girl turned her face over her shoulder and said quickly, “You were to be set upon while you slept.”  Jim tells me he experienced a sense of deception.  It was the old story.  He was weary of these attempts upon his life.  He had had his fill of these alarms.  He was sick of them.  He assured me he was angry with the girl for deceiving him.  He had followed her under the impression that it was she who wanted his help, and now he had half a mind to turn on his heel and go back in disgust.  “Do you know,” he commented profoundly, “I rather think I was not quite myself for whole weeks on end about that time.”  “Oh yes.  You were though,” I couldn’t help contradicting.

’But she moved on swiftly, and he followed her into the courtyard.  All its fences had fallen in a long time ago; the neighbours’ buffaloes would pace in the morning across the open space, snorting profoundly, without haste; the very jungle was invading it already.  Jim and the girl stopped in the rank grass.  The light in which they stood made a dense blackness all round, and only above their heads there was an opulent glitter of stars.  He told me it was a beautiful night—­quite cool, with a little stir of breeze from the river.  It seems he noticed its friendly beauty.  Remember this is a love story I am telling you now.  A lovely night seemed to breathe on them a soft caress.  The flame of the torch streamed now and then with a fluttering noise like a flag, and for a time this was the only sound.  “They are in the storeroom waiting,” whispered the girl; “they are waiting for the signal.”  “Who’s to give it?” he asked.  She shook the torch, which blazed up after a shower of sparks.  “Only you have been sleeping so restlessly,” she continued in a murmur; “I watched your sleep, too.”  “You!” he exclaimed, craning his neck to look about him.  “You think I watched on this night only!” she said, with a sort of despairing indignation.