"'Yes, and that strip of calm will spread until it covers the straits' I answered 'I know the box he's in—he's just about an hour too late. There's a nasty current off the point, with a tide-rip on the ebb. He'll drift away from us for several hours, then slip back in the night, when he picks up the land breeze'
"After supper we went ashore. I planned to sail in the morning, but should be down the China Sea again in three months' time. Bert had promised to make his arrangements in the meanwhile, and to leave Anjer with me on my return. I'd urged him to come at once, and would have waited a day or two longer, but he wouldn't listen to it. It was another calm, hazy evening, with no wind on the water, but a faint languorous breeze among the palms. We sat on the verandah planning the future, if you please; he seemed to want to talk about the world, and I felt it best to encourage the inclination.
"'Well, old man' said he at last 'I've got to turn in. I'm weary to the bone—didn't sleep well last night, at all. This has been an exciting time for me, you know'
"'Go ahead, and leave me here to finish out my smoke' I answered 'I'll be all right—I know my way about'
"To tell the truth, I welcomed the opportunity to sit for a while alone, in the midst of the luminous night, close to the land. Perhaps I might achieve the hint of a solution; I was baffled and pained by the tremendous vital difficulties I'd observed. The wind had risen; it swept down the hillside in a solid breath of sweetness, softly clashing together the broad leaves of the palms. Halsted, it occurred to me in a wandering moment, would now be creeping up under the lee of the land. I drew my chair to the edge of the verandah. The scene of the previous night stood vividly before me; I couldn't keep my eyes away from that region of heavy shadow, where she stood at my elbow undecided whether to kill me or let me go. Suddenly I started; was there a movement in the shadow? I watched it narrowly—-and, by Jove, in a moment she actually materialized there, as if in answer to my thoughts; advanced, became substantial, and moved into the moonlight, coming swiftly in my direction. I remained seated, chained to my chair. She came to the railing and put her hand lightly on my arm, as if administering caution. Her eyes were level with mine.
"'I must see you' said she in a repressed voice 'I have waited for him to go'
"'Me?' I exclaimed, for my first thought had been that she'd mistaken the figure on the verandah 'What do you want of me?'
"'Like you, I am his friend' she answered simply.
"'Yes?...' I parried. Face to face with her, I saw how beautiful she was. She had the golden Malay skin, dusky, full, smooth as dark marble; across her brow she wore an ornament of ivory and carved blackwood; her breast was bare in a long slit, shadowed like the face of a quiet pool. The moonlight revealed her, the jungle stood at her back: and through her hand on my arm I felt the blood of the East, rustling like water in the hills after a tropical rain.
"I stood up abruptly. 'All are his friends' said I. She lifted her eyebrows. 'Has it been thus?' she asked with meaning. I nodded, marvelling meanwhile at her admirable directness; a woman pure as diamond, true as steel. She lived, like light, in instantaneous collimation. 'Yes' said I 'he has found many friends'