Conrad, An Outpost of progress

Those warriors would squat in long rows, four or more deep, before the verandah, while their chiefs bargained for hours with Makola over an elephant tusk.

They were two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals, whose existence is only rendered possible through the high organization of civilized crowds.

He stood up, saw the body, and threw his arms above his head with a cry like that of a man who, waking from a trance, finds himself immured forever in a tomb.

He had left the army and had made himself so obnoxious to his family by his laziness and impudence, that an exasperated brother-in-law had made superhuman efforts to procure him an appoint- ment in the Company as a second-class agent.

Kayerts, his round eyes suffused with tears, his fat cheeks quivering, rubbed his bald head, and declared.

At any rate the director of the Great Trading Company, coming up in a steamer that resembled an enormous sardine box with a flat-roofed shed erected on it, found the station in good order, and Makola as usual quietly diligent.

If there were commissions to get, so much the better; and, trailing a sulky glance over the river, the forests, the impenetrable bush that seemed to cut off the station from the rest of the world, he muttered between his teeth, "We shall see, very soon."

They made an uncouth babbling noise when they spoke, moved in a stately manner, and sent quick, wild glances out of their startled, never-resting eyes.

He gesticulated much, and ceased very suddenly.

Just sit still and gather in the ivory those savages will bring.

And out of the great silence of the surrounding wilderness, its very hopelessness and savagery seemed to approach them nearer, to draw them gently, to look upon them, to envelop them with a solicitude irresistible, familiar, and disgusting.

He won't thank you if you blab.

Kayerts showed a drawn, flabby face above the rotundity of his stomach, which gave him a weird aspect.

In consequence of that friendship the women of Gobila's village walked in single file through the reedy grass, bringing every morning to the station, fowls, and sweet potatoes, and palm wine, and sometimes a goat.

"I--I--will--I," stuttered Kayerts.

There were two white men in charge of the trading station.

"They're all gone, hey?" asked Kayerts from the far end of the common room in a muffled voice.

"It used to make me squint whenever I walked that way," he explained to Kayerts over the morning coffee.

They were tall, slight, draped classically from neck to heel in blue fringed cloths, and carried percussion muskets over their bare right shoulders.

He had seen on the floor, protruding past the other corner, a pair of turned-up feet.

The Managing Director of the Great Civilizing Company (since we know that civilization follows trade) landed first, and incontinently lost sight of the steamer.

He regretted the clink of sabre and spurs on a fine afternoon, the barrack-room witticisms, the girls of garrison towns; but, besides, he had also a sense of grievance.

He regretted the clink of sabre and spurs on a fine afternoon, the barrack-room witticisms, the girls of garrison towns; but, besides, he had also a sense of grievance.

For days the two pioneers of trade and progress would look on their empty courtyard in the vibrating brilliance of vertical sunshine.

He was a gray-headed savage, thin and black, with a white cloth round his loins and a mangy panther skin hanging over his back.

That print discussed what it was pleased to call "Our Colonial Expansion" in high-flown language.

It represented a little girl with long bleached tresses and a rather sour face.

They discounted their virtues, suspected their motives, decried their successes; were scandalized at their duplicity or were doubtful about their courage.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

Whenever they mentioned Makola's name they always added to it an opprobrious epithet.

The first day they were very active, pottering about with hammers and nails and red calico, to put up curtains, make their house habitable and pretty; resolved to settle down comfortably to their new life.

It represented a little girl with long bleached tresses and a rather sour face.

Then as, weak and desperate, he thought, "Before I finish the next round I shall die," he heard the other man stumble heavily, then stop.

Carlier, smoking native tobacco in a short wooden pipe, would swagger up twirling his moustaches, and surveying the warriors with haughty indulgence, would say--

"Fine animals.

He expected the other to come round--to gloat over his agony.

I say!" and putting his hand in his pocket found there a dirty bit of paper and the stump of a pencil.

He had left the army and had made himself so obnoxious to his family by his laziness and impudence, that an exasperated brother-in-law had made superhuman efforts to procure him an appoint- ment in the Company as a second-class agent.

He looked round like a man who has lost his way; and he saw a dark smudge, a cross-shaped stain, upon the shifting purity of the mist.

The other assented with enthusiasm, enlarging volubly on the beauties of the situation.

Anyway, it is a different kind of gibberish to what we ever heard."

Carlier, undermined by fever, could not swagger any more, but kept tottering about, still with a devil-may-care air, as became a man who remembered his crack regiment.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

But the contact with pure unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man, brings sudden and profound trouble into the heart.

He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

Kayerts thought the door would fall in, and scrambled through the square hole that served for a window in his room.

Go and finish that palaver over there, Mr. Makola.

He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

Those warriors would squat in long rows, four or more deep, before the verandah, while their chiefs bargained for hours with Makola over an elephant tusk.

They were naked, glossy black, ornamented with snowy shells and glistening brass wire, perfect of limb.

And after glancing down complacently at his own shanks, he always concluded: "Pah!

His mouth was as dry as a cinder, and his face was wet with perspiration--and tears.

It spoke much of the rights and duties of civilization, of the sacredness of the civilizing work, and extolled the merits of those who went about bringing light, and faith and commerce to the dark places of the earth.

Makola, taciturn and impenetrable, despised the two white men.

He argued with himself about all things under heaven with that kind of wrong-headed lucidity which may be observed in some lunatics.

He assumed his superiority jocularly, but his meaning was serious.

Besides the storehouse and Makola's hut, there was only one large building in the cleared ground of the station.

The other strangers--they were six in all--strolled about with an air of ease, put their heads through the door of the storeroom, congregated round the grave, pointed understandingly at the cross, and generally made themselves at home.

They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human.

At any rate the director of the Great Trading Company, coming up in a steamer that resembled an enormous sardine box with a flat-roofed shed erected on it, found the station in good order, and Makola as usual quietly diligent.

The idea that he would, perhaps, have to bury Carlier and remain alone, gave him an inward shiver.

He was a gray-headed savage, thin and black, with a white cloth round his loins and a mangy panther skin hanging over his back.

The other strangers--they were six in all--strolled about with an air of ease, put their heads through the door of the storeroom, congregated round the grave, pointed understandingly at the cross, and generally made themselves at home.

"What lingo is that?" said the amazed Carlier.

And through the deep and tremendous noise sudden yells that resembled snatches of songs from a madhouse darted shrill and high in discordant jets of sound which seemed to rush far above the earth and drive all peace from under the stars.

"Our station is prettily situated," said one.

They were tall, slight, draped classically from neck to heel in blue fringed cloths, and carried percussion muskets over their bare right shoulders.

He lay full-length on a mat outside his door, and the youngsters sat on his chest and clambered all over him.

A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear: the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath.

Things appeared and disappeared before their eyes in an unconnected and aimless kind of way.

It seemed as if a lot of men came in, dumped heavy things on the ground, squabbled a long time, then went away.

The idea that he would, perhaps, have to bury Carlier and remain alone, gave him an inward shiver.

Perhaps he had propitiated him by a promise of more white men to play with, by and by.

Don't they stink!

I hate hypocrites.

Next day, some bales of cotton goods and a few cases of provisions having been thrown on shore, the sardine-box steamer went off, not to return for another six months.

"Slavery is an awful thing," stammered out Kayerts in an unsteady voice.

He locked the door, snatched his revolver, and stood panting.

At any rate the director of the Great Trading Company, coming up in a steamer that resembled an enormous sardine box with a flat-roofed shed erected on it, found the station in good order, and Makola as usual quietly diligent.

He stood and fumbled in his pockets (for a knife) while he faced Kayerts, who was hanging by a leather strap from the cross.

Carlier was hollow-eyed and irritable.

But the contact with pure unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man, brings sudden and profound trouble into the heart.

They were two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals, whose existence is only rendered possible through the high organization of civilized crowds.

It was the occasion for a national holiday, but Carlier had a fit of rage over it and talked about the necessity of exterminating all the niggers before the country could be made habitable.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

"Come! out with that sugar, you stingy old slave-dealer."

Days lengthened into weeks, then into months.

Rank grass began to sprout over the courtyard.

Three short, impatient screeches followed, and then, for a time, the fog-wreaths rolled on, undisturbed, through a formidable silence.

Society, not from any tenderness, but because of its strange needs, had taken care of those two men, forbidding them all independent thought, all initiative, all departure from routine; and forbidding it under pain of death.

He groped his way through the fog, calling in his ignorance upon the invisible heaven to undo its work.

"At any rate, I am rid of them for six months," retorted the director.

They all appeared to him very young, indistinguishably alike (except for stature), and he knew that they were all brothers, and also immortal.

A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear: the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath.

He accompanied the strangers across the ravine at the back of the station-ground, and returned slowly looking very thoughtful.

They were pounced upon while they slept heavily after drinking all that palm wine you've allowed Makola to give them.

His legs were much swollen, and he could hardly walk.

Then, one morning, as Kayerts and Carlier, lounging in their chairs under the verandah, talked about the approaching visit of the steamer, a knot of armed men came out of the forest and advanced towards the station.

Director will growl.

A shriek inhuman, vibrating and sudden, pierced like a sharp dart the white shroud of that land of sorrow.

A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear: the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath.

He stared at them with his round blue eyes, called out to Carlier, "Here, look! look at that fellow there--and that other one, to the left.

A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear: the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath.

For days the two pioneers of trade and progress would look on their empty courtyard in the vibrating brilliance of vertical sunshine.

He had left the army and had made himself so obnoxious to his family by his laziness and impudence, that an exasperated brother-in-law had made superhuman efforts to procure him an appoint- ment in the Company as a second-class agent.

There was something in his intonation, in the sounds of the long sentences he used, that startled the two whites.

The director was a man ruthless and efficient, who at times, but very imperceptibly, indulged in grim humour.

They were two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals, whose existence is only rendered possible through the high organization of civilized crowds.

In consequence of that friendship the women of Gobila's village walked in single file through the reedy grass, bringing every morning to the station, fowls, and sweet potatoes, and palm wine, and sometimes a goat.

He was disarmed and helpless!

Who could foresee the woe those mysterious creatures, if irritated, might bring?

To grapple effectually with even purely material problems requires more serenity of mind and more lofty courage than people generally imagine.

Makola had watched the energetic artist die of fever in the just finished house with his usual kind of "I told you so" indifference.

"What lingo is that?" said the amazed Carlier.

He had charge of a small clay storehouse with a dried-grass roof, and pretended to keep a correct account of beads, cotton cloth, red kerchiefs, brass wire, and other trade goods it contained.

"I did the best for you and the Company," said Makola, imperturbably.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

And now, released from the fostering care of men with pens behind the ears, or of men with gold lace on the sleeves, they were like those lifelong prisoners who, liberated after many years, do not know what use to make of their freedom.

Makola flitted by in the mist, shouting as he ran--

"Steamer!

They discounted their virtues, suspected their motives, decried their successes; were scandalized at their duplicity or were doubtful about their courage.

Out of that void, at times, came canoes, and men with spears in their hands would suddenly crowd the yard of the station.

And through the deep and tremendous noise sudden yells that resembled snatches of songs from a madhouse darted shrill and high in discordant jets of sound which seemed to rush far above the earth and drive all peace from under the stars.

The images of home; the memory of people like them, of men that thought and felt as they used to think and feel, receded into distances made indistinct by the glare of unclouded sunshine.

They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human.

They were mustered every morning and told off to different tasks--grass-cutting, fence-building, tree-felling, &c., &c., which no power on earth could induce them to execute efficiently.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

At the midday meal they ate very little.

Makola, taciturn and impenetrable, despised the two white men.

This appointment was a favour done to beginners.

His old thoughts, convictions, likes and dislikes, things he respected and things he abhorred, appeared in their true light at last!

Carlier and Kayerts doctored them assiduously without being able to bring them back into condition again.

On the deck the director touched his cap to the two agents, who stood on the bank waving their hats, and turning to an old servant of the Company on his passage to headquarters, said, "Look at those two imbeciles.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

Things appeared and disappeared before their eyes in an unconnected and aimless kind of way.

He came up with long strides of his skeleton legs, swinging a staff as tall as himself, and, entering the common room of the station, would squat on his heels to the left of the door.

The director was a man ruthless and efficient, who at times, but very imperceptibly, indulged in grim humour.

He returned about noon with one of yesterday's strangers, and eluded all Kayerts' attempts to close with him: had become deaf apparently.

Incidentally he reflected that the fellow dead there had been a noxious beast anyway; that men died every day in thousands; perhaps in hundreds of thousands--who could tell?--and that in the number, that one death could not possibly make any difference; couldn't have any importance, at least to a thinking creature.

In it, under a tall cross much out of the perpendicular, slept the man who had seen the beginning of all this; who had planned and had watched the construction of this outpost of progress.

Days passed, silent, exasperating, and slow.

He thought: "If I give way now to that brute of a soldier, he will begin this horror again to-morrow--and the day after--every day--raise other pretensions, trample on me, torture me, make me his slave--and I will be lost!

Some warriors spoke about burning and killing, but the cautious old savage dissuaded them.

They did very little work, and had lost their splendid physique.

He had seen on the floor, protruding past the other corner, a pair of turned-up feet.

It was built neatly of reeds, with a verandah on all the four sides.

However, for some reason or other, the natives down the river had given him the name of Makola, and it stuck to him through all his wanderings about the country.

At times he got up and whispered to his wife.

Kayerts was always ready to let him have a sniff at the ammonia bottle.

He was stalking him now!

On the sands in the middle of the stream, hippos and alligators sunned themselves side by side.

His heart thumped, and he felt hot all over at the thought of that danger.

Then turning to his companion: "This is the tribe that lives down the river; they are rather aromatic.

"I dismiss you!

He moved towards the store.

When the two men spoke, they snarled; and their silences were bitter, as if tinged by the bitterness of their thoughts.

It was like a reminiscence of something not exactly familiar, and yet resembling the speech of civilized men.

The least drunk woke up, and got shot for his sobriety.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

He listened and got confused.

He made the round along the verandah, while Kayerts sat still and looked at the corpse.

To grapple effectually with even purely material problems requires more serenity of mind and more lofty courage than people generally imagine.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

They were mustered every morning and told off to different tasks--grass-cutting, fence-building, tree-felling, &c., &c., which no power on earth could induce them to execute efficiently.

A shriek inhuman, vibrating and sudden, pierced like a sharp dart the white shroud of that land of sorrow.

It was an exceptional opportunity for them to distinguish themselves and to earn percentages on the trade.

Kayerts approved.

By and by Carlier said: "What's that filthy scoundrel up to?" and lounged out into the yard.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

He thought: "If I give way now to that brute of a soldier, he will begin this horror again to-morrow--and the day after--every day--raise other pretensions, trample on me, torture me, make me his slave--and I will be lost!

There were two white men in charge of the trading station.

Makola stood impassive and silent.

A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear: the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath.

Take that herd over to the fetish" (the storehouse was in every station called the fetish, perhaps because of the spirit of civilization it contained) "and give them up some of the rubbish you keep there.

He turned the corner, steadying himself with one hand on the wall; made a few paces, and nearly swooned.

It was not the absolute and dumb solitude of the post that impressed them so much as an inarticulate feeling that something from within them was gone, something that worked for their safety, and had kept the wilderness from interfering with their hearts.

His legs were much swollen, and he could hardly walk.

The death of the artist, who was the first white man whom he knew intimately, did not disturb this belief, because he was firmly convinced that the white stranger had pretended to die and got himself buried for some mysterious purpose of his own, into which it was useless to inquire.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

And after glancing down complacently at his own shanks, he always concluded: "Pah!

The courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and principles; every great and every insignificant thought belongs not to the individual but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion.

Their predecessor had left some torn books.

The director had the cross put up over the first agent's grave, and appointed Kayerts to the post.

If you are so irritable in the sun, you will get fever and die--like the first chief!" pronounced Makola impressively.

The plank floor was littered with the belongings of the white men; open half-empty boxes, torn wearing apparel, old boots; all the things dirty, and all the things broken, that accumulate mysteriously round untidy men.

Take that herd over to the fetish" (the storehouse was in every station called the fetish, perhaps because of the spirit of civilization it contained) "and give them up some of the rubbish you keep there.

He was completely distracted by the sudden perception that the position was without issue--that death and life had in a moment become equally difficult and terrible.

Besides, the rice rations served out by the Company did not agree with them, being a food unknown to their land, and to which they could not get used.

When Kayerts and Carlier retired, a big bonfire was flaring before the men's huts.

The fog down by the river was exceedingly dense; above, at the station, the bell rang unceasing and brazen.

I told those fellows to plant a vegetable garden, build new storehouses and fences, and construct a landing-stage.

He had plumbed in one short afternoon the depths of horror and despair, and now found repose in the conviction that life had no more secrets for him: neither had death!

Only his shoulder felt as if it had been badly wrenched, and he had lost his revolver.

Oh, the funny brute!"

After meditating for a while, Makola said softly, pointing at the dead man who lay there with his right eye blown out--

"He died of fever."

She rattled away shrilly, pointing here and there at the forests and at the river.

Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.

To compose his now disturbed nerves--and no wonder!--he tried to whistle a little.

And through the deep and tremendous noise sudden yells that resembled snatches of songs from a madhouse darted shrill and high in discordant jets of sound which seemed to rush far above the earth and drive all peace from under the stars.

"Frightful--the sufferings," grunted Carlier with conviction.

"Why," retorted Kayerts, with indignation, "I've been told that the fellow exposed himself recklessly to the sun.

He had thrown up his post in the Administration of the Telegraphs, though he had been for seventeen years perfectly happy there, to earn a dowry for his girl.

The day had come, and a heavy mist had descended upon the land: the mist penetrating, enveloping, and silent; the morning mist of tropical lands; the mist that clings and kills; the mist white and deadly, immaculate and poisonous.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

If there were commissions to get, so much the better; and, trailing a sulky glance over the river, the forests, the impenetrable bush that seemed to cut off the station from the rest of the world, he muttered between his teeth, "We shall see, very soon."

Those warriors would squat in long rows, four or more deep, before the verandah, while their chiefs bargained for hours with Makola over an elephant tusk.

It was a stratagem.

There was nobody there; and being left there alone with their weakness, they became daily more like a pair of accomplices than like a couple of devoted friends.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

The director had the cross put up over the first agent's grave, and appointed Kayerts to the post.

The river, the forest, all the great land throbbing with life, were like a great emptiness.

Then during long days there were interminable and silly discussions about plots and personages.

But belonging, as they did, to a warlike tribe with filed teeth, they had more grit, and went on stupidly living through disease and sorrow.

A shriek inhuman, vibrating and sudden, pierced like a sharp dart the white shroud of that land of sorrow.

"Joke!" said Carlier, hitching himself forward on his seat.

He had become hoarse, sarcastic, and inclined to say unpleasant things.

The first day they were very active, pottering about with hammers and nails and red calico, to put up curtains, make their house habitable and pretty; resolved to settle down comfortably to their new life.

Carlier, undermined by fever, could not swagger any more, but kept tottering about, still with a devil-may-care air, as became a man who remembered his crack regiment.

They heard footsteps, whispers, some groans.

They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human.

"Why," retorted Kayerts, with indignation, "I've been told that the fellow exposed himself recklessly to the sun.

"I don't like those chaps--and, I say, Kayerts, they must be from the coast; they've got firearms," observed the sagacious Carlier.

Kayerts was always ready to let him have a sniff at the ammonia bottle.

If there were commissions to get, so much the better; and, trailing a sulky glance over the river, the forests, the impenetrable bush that seemed to cut off the station from the rest of the world, he muttered between his teeth, "We shall see, very soon."

He threw the soapsuds skilfully over a wretched little yellow cur he had, then turning his face to the agent's house, he shouted from the distance, "All the men gone last night!"

For days the two pioneers of trade and progress would look on their empty courtyard in the vibrating brilliance of vertical sunshine.

He had left the army and had made himself so obnoxious to his family by his laziness and impudence, that an exasperated brother-in-law had made superhuman efforts to procure him an appoint- ment in the Company as a second-class agent.

So I just planted it upright.

Then, for a time, he dwelt alone with his family, his account books, and the Evil Spirit that rules the lands under the equator.

He came up with long strides of his skeleton legs, swinging a staff as tall as himself, and, entering the common room of the station, would squat on his heels to the left of the door.

There was some talk about keeping a watch in turn, but in the evening everything seemed so quiet and peaceful that they retired as usual.

The death of the artist, who was the first white man whom he knew intimately, did not disturb this belief, because he was firmly convinced that the white stranger had pretended to die and got himself buried for some mysterious purpose of his own, into which it was useless to inquire.

They made an uncouth babbling noise when they spoke, moved in a stately manner, and sent quick, wild glances out of their startled, never-resting eyes.

It flowed through a void.

Whenever they mentioned Makola's name they always added to it an opprobrious epithet.

Then turning to his companion: "This is the tribe that lives down the river; they are rather aromatic.

Nobody knows what suffering or sacrifice mean--except, perhaps the victims of the mysterious purpose of these illusions.

Carlier, an ex-non-commissioned officer of cavalry in an army guaranteed from harm by several European Powers, was less impressed.

Belonging to a tribe from a very distant part of the land of darkness and sorrow, they did not run away, naturally supposing that as wandering strangers they would be killed by the inhabitants of the country; in which they were right.

And he went away slowly to his expectant wife, leaving the two white men alone on the verandah.

He revelled in his new wisdom while he sat by the man he had killed.

As he began to stumble towards it, the station bell rang in a tumultuous peal its answer to the impatient clamour of the steamer.

I will come round when you are ready, to weigh the tusk.

And now, released from the fostering care of men with pens behind the ears, or of men with gold lace on the sleeves, they were like those lifelong prisoners who, liberated after many years, do not know what use to make of their freedom.

The river, the forest, all the great land throbbing with life, were like a great emptiness.

A shriek inhuman, vibrating and sudden, pierced like a sharp dart the white shroud of that land of sorrow.

Kayerts and Carlier walked arm in arm, drawing close to one another as children do in the dark; and they had the same, not altogether unpleasant, sense of danger which one half suspects to be imaginary.

The other assented with enthusiasm, enlarging volubly on the beauties of the situation.

He stood up, saw the body, and threw his arms above his head with a cry like that of a man who, waking from a trance, finds himself immured forever in a tomb.

The images of home; the memory of people like them, of men that thought and felt as they used to think and feel, receded into distances made indistinct by the glare of unclouded sunshine.

He had become hoarse, sarcastic, and inclined to say unpleasant things.

In the middle of the night, Carlier waking suddenly, heard a man shout loudly; then a shot was fired.

I suspended myself with both hands to the cross-piece.

The violence of the emotions he had passed through produced a feeling of exhausted serenity.

He turned his back on the others, as if about to do something tricky, and noted stealthily the weights which Carlier shouted out to him with unnecessary loudness.

Kayerts turned out also, yawning.

He burst into tears of gratitude; a loud, sobbing fit of crying.

I always thought the station on this river useless, and they just fit the station!"

He argued with himself about all things under heaven with that kind of wrong-headed lucidity which may be observed in some lunatics.

The two whites had a liking for that old and incomprehensible creature, and called him Father Gobila.

Quays, and warehouses, and barracks, and--and--billiard-rooms.

Had they been of any other tribe they would have made up their minds to die--for nothing is easier to certain savages than suicide--and so have escaped from the puzzling difficulties of existence.

Out of that void, at times, came canoes, and men with spears in their hands would suddenly crowd the yard of the station.

He regretted the clink of sabre and spurs on a fine afternoon, the barrack-room witticisms, the girls of garrison towns; but, besides, he had also a sense of grievance.

As he began to stumble towards it, the station bell rang in a tumultuous peal its answer to the impatient clamour of the steamer.

Gobila was the chief of the neighbouring villages.

The courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and principles; every great and every insignificant thought belongs not to the individual but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion.

Kayerts, the chief, was short and fat; Carlier, the assistant, was tall, with a large head and a very broad trunk perched upon a long pair of thin legs.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

The plank floor was littered with the belongings of the white men; open half-empty boxes, torn wearing apparel, old boots; all the things dirty, and all the things broken, that accumulate mysteriously round untidy men.

And now, released from the fostering care of men with pens behind the ears, or of men with gold lace on the sleeves, they were like those lifelong prisoners who, liberated after many years, do not know what use to make of their freedom.

All night they were disturbed by a lot of drumming in the villages.

Meantime Kayerts and Carlier lived on rice boiled without salt, and cursed the Company, all Africa, and the day they were born.

Then during long days there were interminable and silly discussions about plots and personages.

"What do I care with whom they went--the ungrateful brutes!" exclaimed the other.

Quays, and warehouses, and barracks, and--and--billiard-rooms.

They were naked, glossy black, ornamented with snowy shells and glistening brass wire, perfect of limb.

"Come! out with that sugar, you stingy old slave-dealer."

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

Having not a penny in the world he was compelled to accept this means of livelihood as soon as it became quite clear to him that there was nothing more to squeeze out of his relations.

Carlier, who had been fishing off the bank, came back and remarked while he showed his catch, "The niggers seem to be in a deuce of a stir; I wonder what's up.

He had left the army and had made himself so obnoxious to his family by his laziness and impudence, that an exasperated brother-in-law had made superhuman efforts to procure him an appoint- ment in the Company as a second-class agent.

And Carlier said: "It's deplorable, but, the men being Company's men the ivory is Company's ivory.

Gobila's people drummed and yelled to every new moon, as of yore, but kept away from the station.

Soon short appeals would rattle out here and there, then all mingle together, increase, become vigorous and sustained, would spread out over the forest, roll through the night, unbroken and ceaseless, near and far, as if the whole land had been one immense drum booming out steadily an appeal to heaven.

He was stalking him now!

They discounted their virtues, suspected their motives, decried their successes; were scandalized at their duplicity or were doubtful about their courage.

They were naked, glossy black, ornamented with snowy shells and glistening brass wire, perfect of limb.

And out of the great silence of the surrounding wilderness, its very hopelessness and savagery seemed to approach them nearer, to draw them gently, to look upon them, to envelop them with a solicitude irresistible, familiar, and disgusting.

Soon short appeals would rattle out here and there, then all mingle together, increase, become vigorous and sustained, would spread out over the forest, roll through the night, unbroken and ceaseless, near and far, as if the whole land had been one immense drum booming out steadily an appeal to heaven.

Who could foresee the woe those mysterious creatures, if irritated, might bring?

I always thought the station on this river useless, and they just fit the station!"

The fog down by the river was exceedingly dense; above, at the station, the bell rang unceasing and brazen.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

"Frightful--the sufferings," grunted Carlier with conviction.

At any rate the director of the Great Trading Company, coming up in a steamer that resembled an enormous sardine box with a flat-roofed shed erected on it, found the station in good order, and Makola as usual quietly diligent.

Then he heard a crashing fall on the other side of the house, as if somebody had tumbled headlong over a chair--then silence.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

Just sit still and gather in the ivory those savages will bring.

Below the high bank, the silent river flowed on glittering and steady.

This extraordinary achievement of his fancy startled him, however, and by a clever and timely effort of mind he saved himself just in time from becoming Carlier.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

At any rate, these were his brothers, and he transferred his absurd affection to them.

The other assented with enthusiasm, enlarging volubly on the beauties of the situation.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

The plank floor was littered with the belongings of the white men; open half-empty boxes, torn wearing apparel, old boots; all the things dirty, and all the things broken, that accumulate mysteriously round untidy men.

They came into the courtyard and looked about them with steady, scornful glances.

I told those fellows to plant a vegetable garden, build new storehouses and fences, and construct a landing-stage.

They lay on their hard beds and thought: "This Makola is invaluable."

Soon short appeals would rattle out here and there, then all mingle together, increase, become vigorous and sustained, would spread out over the forest, roll through the night, unbroken and ceaseless, near and far, as if the whole land had been one immense drum booming out steadily an appeal to heaven.

Appeared contemptible and childish, false and ridiculous.

He had become hoarse, sarcastic, and inclined to say unpleasant things.

"You fiend!" he yelled out.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

Kayerts, the chief, was short and fat; Carlier, the assistant, was tall, with a large head and a very broad trunk perched upon a long pair of thin legs.

Incidentally he reflected that the fellow dead there had been a noxious beast anyway; that men died every day in thousands; perhaps in hundreds of thousands--who could tell?--and that in the number, that one death could not possibly make any difference; couldn't have any importance, at least to a thinking creature.

Kayerts had been in the Administration of the Telegraphs, and knew how to express himself correctly.

And then, chaps will read that two good fellows, Kayerts and Carlier, were the first civilized men to live in this very spot!"

They were tall, slight, draped classically from neck to heel in blue fringed cloths, and carried percussion muskets over their bare right shoulders.

And after glancing down complacently at his own shanks, he always concluded: "Pah!

They were two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals, whose existence is only rendered possible through the high organization of civilized crowds.

But the two men got on well together in the fellowship of their stupidity and laziness.

They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human.

And out of the great silence of the surrounding wilderness, its very hopelessness and savagery seemed to approach them nearer, to draw them gently, to look upon them, to envelop them with a solicitude irresistible, familiar, and disgusting.

His mouth was as dry as a cinder, and his face was wet with perspiration--and tears.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

"It's incredible!" muttered Kayerts.

They were naked, glossy black, ornamented with snowy shells and glistening brass wire, perfect of limb.

They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human.

They took up these wrecks of novels, and, as they had never read anything of the kind before, they were surprised and amused.

He had charge of a small clay storehouse with a dried-grass roof, and pretended to keep a correct account of beads, cotton cloth, red kerchiefs, brass wire, and other trade goods it contained.

Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.

The river seemed to come from nowhere and flow nowhither.

Meantime Kayerts and Carlier lived on rice boiled without salt, and cursed the Company, all Africa, and the day they were born.

He sat by the corpse thinking; thinking very actively, thinking very new thoughts.

The courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and principles; every great and every insignificant thought belongs not to the individual but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion.

They chatted persistently in familiar tones.

The river, the forest, all the great land throbbing with life, were like a great emptiness.

Three short, impatient screeches followed, and then, for a time, the fog-wreaths rolled on, undisturbed, through a formidable silence.

But they were only mourning for those they had lost by the witchcraft of white men, who had brought wicked people into their country.

Gobila's manner was paternal, and he seemed really to love all white men.

Kayerts, his round eyes suffused with tears, his fat cheeks quivering, rubbed his bald head, and declared.

He made a speech to Kayerts and Carlier, pointing out to them the promising aspect of their station.

Even the brilliant sunshine disclosed nothing intelligible.

He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

He had charge of a small clay storehouse with a dried-grass roof, and pretended to keep a correct account of beads, cotton cloth, red kerchiefs, brass wire, and other trade goods it contained.

In it, under a tall cross much out of the perpendicular, slept the man who had seen the beginning of all this; who had planned and had watched the construction of this outpost of progress.

But he managed to pronounce with composure--

"That joke is in very bad taste.

Society was calling to its accomplished child to come, to be taken care of, to be instructed, to be judged, to be condemned; it called him to return to that rubbish heap from which he had wandered away, so that justice could be done.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

By and by Carlier said: "What's that filthy scoundrel up to?" and lounged out into the yard.

He darted to the left, grasping his revolver, and at the very same instant, as it seemed to him, they came into violent collision.

Carlier was smiling with marked insolence.

"Frightful--the sufferings," grunted Carlier with conviction.

It was an exceptional opportunity for them to distinguish themselves and to earn percentages on the trade.

Gobila considered them attentively.

"You flabby, good-for-nothing civilian--take that!" he howled.

It spoke much of the rights and duties of civilization, of the sacredness of the civilizing work, and extolled the merits of those who went about bringing light, and faith and commerce to the dark places of the earth.

The day had come, and a heavy mist had descended upon the land: the mist penetrating, enveloping, and silent; the morning mist of tropical lands; the mist that clings and kills; the mist white and deadly, immaculate and poisonous.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

Then, as Carlier was trying to upset the table, Kayerts in desperation made a blind rush, head low, like a cornered pig would do, and over-turning his friend, bolted along the verandah, and into his room.

He would, he said, by doing his best, try to justify the flattering confidence, &c., &c.

He couldn't decide--clear up that mystery; but he remained always very friendly.

Kayerts, without interrupting his occupation, would from time to time say in a friendly manner: "How goes it, you old image?" and they would smile at one another.

Having not a penny in the world he was compelled to accept this means of livelihood as soon as it became quite clear to him that there was nothing more to squeeze out of his relations.

"If I had had a decent brother- in-law," Carlier would remark, "a fellow with a heart, I would not be here."

The plank floor was littered with the belongings of the white men; open half-empty boxes, torn wearing apparel, old boots; all the things dirty, and all the things broken, that accumulate mysteriously round untidy men.

In consequence of that friendship the women of Gobila's village walked in single file through the reedy grass, bringing every morning to the station, fowls, and sweet potatoes, and palm wine, and sometimes a goat.

At any rate the director of the Great Trading Company, coming up in a steamer that resembled an enormous sardine box with a flat-roofed shed erected on it, found the station in good order, and Makola as usual quietly diligent.

"They're all gone, hey?" asked Kayerts from the far end of the common room in a muffled voice.

Three short, impatient screeches followed, and then, for a time, the fog-wreaths rolled on, undisturbed, through a formidable silence.

To compose his now disturbed nerves--and no wonder!--he tried to whistle a little.

Makola had watched the energetic artist die of fever in the just finished house with his usual kind of "I told you so" indifference.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

Everybody shows a respectful deference to certain sounds that he and his fellows can make.

The first day they were very active, pottering about with hammers and nails and red calico, to put up curtains, make their house habitable and pretty; resolved to settle down comfortably to their new life.

Next day, some bales of cotton goods and a few cases of provisions having been thrown on shore, the sardine-box steamer went off, not to return for another six months.

I say!" and putting his hand in his pocket found there a dirty bit of paper and the stump of a pencil.

The plank floor was littered with the belongings of the white men; open half-empty boxes, torn wearing apparel, old boots; all the things dirty, and all the things broken, that accumulate mysteriously round untidy men.

Three children rolled about in sunshine before the door of his low, shed-like dwelling.

"What do I care with whom they went--the ungrateful brutes!" exclaimed the other.

They discounted their virtues, suspected their motives, decried their successes; were scandalized at their duplicity or were doubtful about their courage.

A great silence seemed to lie heavily over the station and press on their lips.

Even the brilliant sunshine disclosed nothing intelligible.

The plank floor was littered with the belongings of the white men; open half-empty boxes, torn wearing apparel, old boots; all the things dirty, and all the things broken, that accumulate mysteriously round untidy men.

They stood still, contemplating one another with intense eyes, as if they had been looking with effort across immense distances.

The courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and principles; every great and every insignificant thought belongs not to the individual but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion.

He heard him drop into a chair cursing, and suddenly his own legs gave way, and he slid down into a sitting posture with his back to the wall.

That attempt set the country up and down the river into an uproar that could be very distinctly heard for days.

They were tall, slight, draped classically from neck to heel in blue fringed cloths, and carried percussion muskets over their bare right shoulders.

His toes were only a couple of inches above the ground; his arms hung stiffly down; he seemed to be standing rigidly at attention, but with one purple cheek playfully posed on the shoulder.

Below the high bank, the silent river flowed on glittering and steady.

"I don't like those chaps--and, I say, Kayerts, they must be from the coast; they've got firearms," observed the sagacious Carlier.

No two beings could have been more unfitted for such a struggle.

In it, under a tall cross much out of the perpendicular, slept the man who had seen the beginning of all this; who had planned and had watched the construction of this outpost of progress.

The two men watched the steamer round the bend, then, ascending arm in arm the slope of the bank, returned to the station.

They had long ago reckoned their percentages on trade, including in them that last deal of "this infamous Makola."

Kayerts showed a drawn, flabby face above the rotundity of his stomach, which gave him a weird aspect.

Things appeared and disappeared before their eyes in an unconnected and aimless kind of way.

"Some villages burn," answered Makola, who seemed to have regained his wits.

Together they did nothing, absolutely nothing, and enjoyed the sense of the idleness for which they were paid.

He threw the soapsuds skilfully over a wretched little yellow cur he had, then turning his face to the agent's house, he shouted from the distance, "All the men gone last night!"

He looked round like a man who has lost his way; and he saw a dark smudge, a cross-shaped stain, upon the shifting purity of the mist.

Kayerts followed him mechanically, thinking about the incredible desertion of the men.

I told those fellows to plant a vegetable garden, build new storehouses and fences, and construct a landing-stage.

Kayerts, the chief, was short and fat; Carlier, the assistant, was tall, with a large head and a very broad trunk perched upon a long pair of thin legs.

Who could foresee the woe those mysterious creatures, if irritated, might bring?

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

Kayerts looked at him with a stony stare.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

Kayerts, his round eyes suffused with tears, his fat cheeks quivering, rubbed his bald head, and declared.

He was completely distracted by the sudden perception that the position was without issue--that death and life had in a moment become equally difficult and terrible.

Then he heard a crashing fall on the other side of the house, as if somebody had tumbled headlong over a chair--then silence.

Makola had meant no more than he said, but his words seemed to Kayerts full of ominous menace!

He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

He expected the other to come round--to gloat over his agony.

Makola had meant no more than he said, but his words seemed to Kayerts full of ominous menace!

The two men watched the steamer round the bend, then, ascending arm in arm the slope of the bank, returned to the station.

He came up with long strides of his skeleton legs, swinging a staff as tall as himself, and, entering the common room of the station, would squat on his heels to the left of the door.

But the two men got on well together in the fellowship of their stupidity and laziness.

For days the two pioneers of trade and progress would look on their empty courtyard in the vibrating brilliance of vertical sunshine.

He regretted the streets, the pavements, the cafes, his friends of many years; all the things he used to see, day after day; all the thoughts suggested by familiar things--the thoughts effortless, monotonous, and soothing of a Government clerk; he regretted all the gossip, the small enmities, the mild venom, and the little jokes of Government offices.

Carlier, smoking native tobacco in a short wooden pipe, would swagger up twirling his moustaches, and surveying the warriors with haughty indulgence, would say--

"Fine animals.

The last fifteen lumps Kayerts had solemnly locked away in his box, together with a half-bottle of Cognac, "in case of sickness," he explained.

But the contact with pure unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man, brings sudden and profound trouble into the heart.

There was some talk about keeping a watch in turn, but in the evening everything seemed so quiet and peaceful that they retired as usual.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

Then many more shrieks, rapid and piercing, like the yells of some exasperated and ruthless creature, rent the air.

They were not happy, regretting the festive incantations, the sorceries, the human sacrifices of their own land; where they also had parents, brothers, sisters, admired chiefs, respected magicians, loved friends, and other ties supposed generally to be human.

The two men watched the steamer round the bend, then, ascending arm in arm the slope of the bank, returned to the station.

Carlier, entering into the spirit of the thing, made a military salute and answered in a brisk tone, "Your orders shall be attended to, chief!"

Makola gave himself a half-holiday, and bathed his children in the river.

When the balance was swung true, he tried to lift a tusk into the scale.

Those traders wanted carriers badly, and our men were no good here.

If there were commissions to get, so much the better; and, trailing a sulky glance over the river, the forests, the impenetrable bush that seemed to cut off the station from the rest of the world, he muttered between his teeth, "We shall see, very soon."

For days the two pioneers of trade and progress would look on their empty courtyard in the vibrating brilliance of vertical sunshine.

He gesticulated much, and ceased very suddenly.

He ran as quickly as he could, grasping the revolver, and unable yet to understand what was happening to him.

Carlier, an ex-non-commissioned officer of cavalry in an army guaranteed from harm by several European Powers, was less impressed.

Society was calling to its accomplished child to come, to be taken care of, to be instructed, to be judged, to be condemned; it called him to return to that rubbish heap from which he had wandered away, so that justice could be done.

The day had come, and a heavy mist had descended upon the land: the mist penetrating, enveloping, and silent; the morning mist of tropical lands; the mist that clings and kills; the mist white and deadly, immaculate and poisonous.

They all appeared to him very young, indistinguishably alike (except for stature), and he knew that they were all brothers, and also immortal.

On the deck the director touched his cap to the two agents, who stood on the bank waving their hats, and turning to an old servant of the Company on his passage to headquarters, said, "Look at those two imbeciles.

Carlier cleared his throat and said in a soldierly voice, "What nonsense!"

They chatted persistently in familiar tones.

On the deck the director touched his cap to the two agents, who stood on the bank waving their hats, and turning to an old servant of the Company on his passage to headquarters, said, "Look at those two imbeciles.

Kayerts and Carlier agreed that the nigger had had too much palm wine.

He regretted the clink of sabre and spurs on a fine afternoon, the barrack-room witticisms, the girls of garrison towns; but, besides, he had also a sense of grievance.

Having not a penny in the world he was compelled to accept this means of livelihood as soon as it became quite clear to him that there was nothing more to squeeze out of his relations.

It was an exceptional opportunity for them to distinguish themselves and to earn percentages on the trade.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

He looked round like a man who has lost his way; and he saw a dark smudge, a cross-shaped stain, upon the shifting purity of the mist.

Everybody shows a respectful deference to certain sounds that he and his fellows can make.

"This is a splendid book.

The two white men reluctantly went back to the house, but did not sleep.

They lived like blind men in a large room, aware only of what came in contact with them (and of that only imperfectly), but unable to see the general aspect of things.

Then, one morning, as Kayerts and Carlier, lounging in their chairs under the verandah, talked about the approaching visit of the steamer, a knot of armed men came out of the forest and advanced towards the station.

Society, not from any tenderness, but because of its strange needs, had taken care of those two men, forbidding them all independent thought, all initiative, all departure from routine; and forbidding it under pain of death.

They were mustered every morning and told off to different tasks--grass-cutting, fence-building, tree-felling, &c., &c., which no power on earth could induce them to execute efficiently.

And through the deep and tremendous noise sudden yells that resembled snatches of songs from a madhouse darted shrill and high in discordant jets of sound which seemed to rush far above the earth and drive all peace from under the stars.

Kayerts and Carlier walked arm in arm, drawing close to one another as children do in the dark; and they had the same, not altogether unpleasant, sense of danger which one half suspects to be imaginary.

There was a surprising flash of violent emotion within him, as if in the presence of something undreamt-of, dangerous, and final.

He called it "being frank with you."

Carlier, smoking native tobacco in a short wooden pipe, would swagger up twirling his moustaches, and surveying the warriors with haughty indulgence, would say--

"Fine animals.

"For the sick," mocked Carlier.

The idea that he would, perhaps, have to bury Carlier and remain alone, gave him an inward shiver.

Belonging to a tribe from a very distant part of the land of darkness and sorrow, they did not run away, naturally supposing that as wandering strangers they would be killed by the inhabitants of the country; in which they were right.

The director had the cross put up over the first agent's grave, and appointed Kayerts to the post.

"Some villages burn," answered Makola, who seemed to have regained his wits.

But the contact with pure unmitigated savagery, with primitive nature and primitive man, brings sudden and profound trouble into the heart.

Now and then one of them had a bout of fever, and the other nursed him with gentle devotion.

There is a great disturbance in the country.

In short, they behaved just like that other white creature that had hidden itself in a hole in the ground.

We talk with indignation or enthusiasm; we talk about oppression, cruelty, crime, devotion, self-sacrifice, virtue, and we know nothing real beyond the words.

Carlier, who had been fishing off the bank, came back and remarked while he showed his catch, "The niggers seem to be in a deuce of a stir; I wonder what's up.

And even he, the man of varied and startling experience, was somewhat discomposed by the manner of this finding.

Then, as Carlier was trying to upset the table, Kayerts in desperation made a blind rush, head low, like a cornered pig would do, and over-turning his friend, bolted along the verandah, and into his room.

Three children rolled about in sunshine before the door of his low, shed-like dwelling.

When it floated up it drifted away, and Gobila's people secured the carcase.

There was nobody there; and being left there alone with their weakness, they became daily more like a pair of accomplices than like a couple of devoted friends.

One must have lived on such diet to discover what ghastly trouble the necessity of swallowing one's food may become.

The director was a man ruthless and efficient, who at times, but very imperceptibly, indulged in grim humour.

Don't repeat it."

In less than a minute Carlier was kicking at the door furiously, howling, "If you don't bring out that sugar, I will shoot you at sight, like a dog.

Carlier, entering into the spirit of the thing, made a military salute and answered in a brisk tone, "Your orders shall be attended to, chief!"

Carlier, an ex-non-commissioned officer of cavalry in an army guaranteed from harm by several European Powers, was less impressed.

"You flabby, good-for-nothing civilian--take that!" he howled.

Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.

He had charge of a small clay storehouse with a dried-grass roof, and pretended to keep a correct account of beads, cotton cloth, red kerchiefs, brass wire, and other trade goods it contained.

They took up these wrecks of novels, and, as they had never read anything of the kind before, they were surprised and amused.

Makola had watched the energetic artist die of fever in the just finished house with his usual kind of "I told you so" indifference.

Makola, taciturn and impenetrable, despised the two white men.

Carlier, smoking native tobacco in a short wooden pipe, would swagger up twirling his moustaches, and surveying the warriors with haughty indulgence, would say--

"Fine animals.

Soon short appeals would rattle out here and there, then all mingle together, increase, become vigorous and sustained, would spread out over the forest, roll through the night, unbroken and ceaseless, near and far, as if the whole land had been one immense drum booming out steadily an appeal to heaven.

Then he burst out laughing, slapped Kayerts on the back and shouted, "We shall let life run easily here!

They were two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals, whose existence is only rendered possible through the high organization of civilized crowds.

The strangers left in the afternoon, after eating a meal prepared for them by Mrs. Makola.

They took up these wrecks of novels, and, as they had never read anything of the kind before, they were surprised and amused.

All at once he heard the other push his chair back; and he leaped to his feet with extreme facility.

He revelled in his new wisdom while he sat by the man he had killed.

And now, dull as they were to the subtle influences of surroundings, they felt themselves very much alone, when suddenly left unassisted to face the wilderness; a wilderness rendered more strange, more incomprehensible by the mysterious glimpses of the vigorous life it contained.

They were naked, glossy black, ornamented with snowy shells and glistening brass wire, perfect of limb.

Carlier, an ex-non-commissioned officer of cavalry in an army guaranteed from harm by several European Powers, was less impressed.

Who will talk if we hold our tongues?

Look at the muscles of that fellow third from the end.

The images of home; the memory of people like them, of men that thought and felt as they used to think and feel, receded into distances made indistinct by the glare of unclouded sunshine.

He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

Soon short appeals would rattle out here and there, then all mingle together, increase, become vigorous and sustained, would spread out over the forest, roll through the night, unbroken and ceaseless, near and far, as if the whole land had been one immense drum booming out steadily an appeal to heaven.

Suddenly Carlier said: "Catch hold of the other end, Makola--you beast!" and together they swung the tusk up.

All at once he looked dangerously in earnest.

As they were going back to the house Kayerts observed with a sigh: "It had to be done."

Next morning they saw Makola very busy setting up in the yard the big scales used for weighing ivory.

There was something in his intonation, in the sounds of the long sentences he used, that startled the two whites.

The leader, after waiting for a while, said something sharply to Makola, who shook his head.

This extraordinary achievement of his fancy startled him, however, and by a clever and timely effort of mind he saved himself just in time from becoming Carlier.

I had no idea there were such clever fellows in the world."

And through the deep and tremendous noise sudden yells that resembled snatches of songs from a madhouse darted shrill and high in discordant jets of sound which seemed to rush far above the earth and drive all peace from under the stars.

Now and then one of them had a bout of fever, and the other nursed him with gentle devotion.

He spoke English and French with a warbling accent, wrote a beautiful hand, understood bookkeeping, and cherished in his innermost heart the worship of evil spirits.

Kayerts trembled in every limb.

The accounts of crimes filled them with indignation, while tender or pathetic passages moved them deeply.

He regretted the clink of sabre and spurs on a fine afternoon, the barrack-room witticisms, the girls of garrison towns; but, besides, he had also a sense of grievance.

He had charge of a small clay storehouse with a dried-grass roof, and pretended to keep a correct account of beads, cotton cloth, red kerchiefs, brass wire, and other trade goods it contained.

The third man on the staff was a Sierra Leone nigger, who maintained that his name was Henry Price.

Kayerts, the chief, was short and fat; Carlier, the assistant, was tall, with a large head and a very broad trunk perched upon a long pair of thin legs.

Next day, some bales of cotton goods and a few cases of provisions having been thrown on shore, the sardine-box steamer went off, not to return for another six months.

He had been, at home, an unsuccessful painter who, weary of pursuing fame on an empty stomach, had gone out there through high protections.

Society, not from any tenderness, but because of its strange needs, had taken care of those two men, forbidding them all independent thought, all initiative, all departure from routine; and forbidding it under pain of death.

One must have lived on such diet to discover what ghastly trouble the necessity of swallowing one's food may become.

A man may destroy everything within himself, love and hate and belief, and even doubt; but as long as he clings to life he cannot destroy fear: the fear, subtle, indestructible, and terrible, that pervades his being; that tinges his thoughts; that lurks in his heart; that watches on his lips the struggle of his last breath.

After a few moments of an agony frightful and absurd, he decided to go and meet his doom.

To the sentiment of being alone of one's kind, to the clear perception of the loneliness of one's thoughts, of one's sensations--to the negation of the habitual, which is safe, there is added the affirmation of the unusual, which is dangerous; a suggestion of things vague, uncontrollable, and repulsive, whose discomposing intrusion excites the imagination and tries the civilized nerves of the foolish and the wise alike.

The other assented with enthusiasm, enlarging volubly on the beauties of the situation.

They chatted persistently in familiar tones.

He made a speech to Kayerts and Carlier, pointing out to them the promising aspect of their station.

He returned about noon with one of yesterday's strangers, and eluded all Kayerts' attempts to close with him: had become deaf apparently.

The courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and principles; every great and every insignificant thought belongs not to the individual but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and of its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion.

When it floated up it drifted away, and Gobila's people secured the carcase.

The day had come, and a heavy mist had descended upon the land: the mist penetrating, enveloping, and silent; the morning mist of tropical lands; the mist that clings and kills; the mist white and deadly, immaculate and poisonous.

But they were only mourning for those they had lost by the witchcraft of white men, who had brought wicked people into their country.

At any rate the director of the Great Trading Company, coming up in a steamer that resembled an enormous sardine box with a flat-roofed shed erected on it, found the station in good order, and Makola as usual quietly diligent.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

Some warriors spoke about burning and killing, but the cautious old savage dissuaded them.

Across the yard they saw Makola come out of his hut, a tin basin of soapy water in his hand.

There was then the whole breadth of the house between them.

"In the first moment I fancied the fellow was going to speak French.

And stretching away in all directions, surrounding the insignificant cleared spot of the trading post, immense forests, hiding fateful complications of fantastic life, lay in the eloquent silence of mute greatness.

"Go back, go back, please," he urged, "you spoil all."

That print discussed what it was pleased to call "Our Colonial Expansion" in high-flown language.

"What lingo is that?" said the amazed Carlier.