that it was worse than in Sherif Ali’s war.  Then many people did not care; now everybody had something to lose.  The movements of canoes passing to and fro between the two parts of the town were watched with interest.  A couple of Bugis war-boats lay anchored in the middle of the stream to protect the river, and a thread of smoke stood at the bow of each; the men in them were cooking their midday rice when Jim, after his interviews with Brown and Doramin, crossed the river and entered by the water-gate of his fort.  The people inside crowded round him, so that he could hardly make his way to the house.  They had not seen him before, because on his arrival during the night he had only exchanged a few words with the girl, who had come down to the landing-stage for the purpose, and had then gone on at once to join the chiefs and the fighting men on the other bank.  People shouted greetings after him.  One old woman raised a laugh by pushing her way to the front madly and enjoining him in a scolding voice to see to it that her two sons, who were with Doramin, did not come to harm at the hands of the robbers.  Several of the bystanders tried to pull her away, but she struggled and cried, “Let me go.  What is this, O Muslims?  This laughter is unseemly.  Are they not cruel, bloodthirsty robbers bent on killing?” “Let her be,” said Jim, and as a silence fell suddenly, he said slowly, “Everybody shall be safe.”  He entered the house before the great sigh, and the loud murmurs of satisfaction, had died out.

’There’s no doubt his mind was made up that Brown should have his way clear back to the sea.  His fate, revolted, was forcing his hand.  He had for the first time to affirm his will in the face of outspoken opposition.  “There was much talk, and at first my master was silent,” Tamb’ Itam said.  “Darkness came, and then I lit the candles on the long table.  The chiefs sat on each side, and the lady remained by my master’s right hand.”

’When he began to speak, the unaccustomed difficulty seemed only to fix his resolve more immovably.  The white men were now waiting for his answer on the hill.  Their chief had spoken to him in the language of his own people, making clear many things difficult to explain in any other speech.  They were erring men whom suffering had made blind to right and wrong.  It is true that lives had been lost already, but why lose more?  He declared to his hearers, the assembled heads of the people, that their welfare was his welfare, their losses his losses, their mourning his mourning.  He looked round at the grave listening faces and told them to remember that they had fought and worked side by side.  They knew his courage . . .  Here a murmur interrupted him . . .  And that he had never deceived them.  For many years they had dwelt together.  He loved the land and the people living in it with a very great love.  He was ready to answer with his life for any harm that should come to them if the white men with beards were allowed