brave men she had so much admired and so well helped in
their contest with the redoubtable Rajah-Laut.
    The light night breeze fanned the brig gently to the southwards, and the
great blaze of light got smaller and smaller till it twinkled only on the
horizon like a setting star. It set: the heavy canopy of smoke reflected the
glare of hidden flames for a short time and then disappeared also.
 
She realized that with this vanishing gleam her old life departed too.
Thenceforth there was slavery in the far countries, amongst strangers, in
unknown and perhaps terrible surroundings. There was in her the dread of the
unknown; but otherwise she accepted her position calmly, after the manner of her
people, and even considered it quite natural; for was she not a daughter of
warriors, conquered in battle, and did she not belong rightfully to the
victorious Rajah? Even the evident kindness of the terrible old man must spring,
she thought, from admiration for his captive, and the flattered vanity eased for
her the pangs of sorrow after such an awful calamity. Perhaps had she known of
the high walls, the quiet gardens, and the silent nuns of the Samarang convent,
where her destiny was leading her, she would have sought death in her dread and
hate of such a restraint. But in imagination she pictured to herself the usual
life of a Malay girl - the usual succession of heavy work and fierce love, of
intrigues, gold ornaments, of domestic drudgery, and of that great but occult
influence which is one of the few rights of half-savage womankind. But her
destiny in the rough hands of the old sea-dog, acting under unreasoning impulses
of the heart, took a strange and to her a terrible shape. She bore it all - the
restraint and the teaching and the new faith - with calm submission, concealing
her hate and contempt for all that new life. She learned the language very
easily, yet understood but little of the new faith the good sisters taught her,
assimilating quickly only the superstitious elements of the religion. She called
Lingard father, gently and caressingly, at each of his short and noisy visits,
under the clear impression that he was a great and dangerous power it was good
to propitiate. Was he not now her master? And during those long four years she
nourished a hope of finding favour in his eyes and ultimately becoming his wife,
counsellor, and guide.
    Those dreams of the future were dispelled by the Rajah Laut's fiat, which
made Almayer's fortune, as that young man fondly hoped. And dressed in the
hateful