Van Slyck was leisurely strolling along the tree-lined lane that led from the iron-wood stockade to the cluster of houses colloquially designated "Amsterdam" when the impatient Muller perceived his approach.
"Devil take the man, why doesn't he hurry?" the controlleur swore. With a peremptory gesture he signaled Van Slyck to make haste.
"By the beard of Nassau," the captain exclaimed. "Does that swine think he can make a Van Slyck skip like a butcher's boy? Things have come to a pretty pass in the colonies when a Celebes half-breed imagines he can make the best blood of Amsterdam fetch and carry for him."
Deliberately turning his back on the controlleur, he affected to admire the surpassingly beautiful bay of Bulungan, heaven's own blue melting into green on the shingly shore, with a thousand sabres of iridescent foam stabbing the morning horizon. Muller was fuming when the commandant finally sauntered on the veranda, selected a fat, black cigar from the humidor, and gracefully lounged in an easy chair.
"Donder en bliksem! kapitein, but you lie abed later every morning," he growled.
Van Slyck's thin lips curled with aristocratic scorn.
"We cannot all be such conscientious public servants as you, mynheer," he observed ironically.
Muller was in that state of nervous agitation that a single jarring word would have roused an unrestricted torrent of abuse. Fortunately for Van Slyck, however, he was obtuse to irony. He took the remark literally and for the moment, like oil on troubled waters, it calmed the rising tide of his wrath at what he deemed the governor-general's black ingratitude.
"Well, kapitein, gij kebt gelijk (you are right, captain)" he assented heavily. The blubbery folds under his chin crimsoned with his cheeks in complacent self-esteem. "There are not many men who would have done so well as I have under the conditions I had to face—under the conditions I had to face—kapitein. Ja! Not many men. I have worked and slaved to build up this residency. For two years now I have done a double duty—I have been both resident and controlleur. Jawel!"
Recollection of the skipper's unpleasant news recurred to him. His face darkened like a tropic sky before a cloudburst.