Heyst paused, and then
stepped back a pace into the room.
"White men, Lena, apparently. What are you doing?"
"I am just bathing my eyes a little," the girl's voice said from the
inner room.
"Oh, yes; all right!"
"Do you want me?"
"No. You had better--I am going down to the jetty. Yes, you had better
stay in. What an extraordinary thing!"
It was so extraordinary that nobody could possibly appreciate
how extraordinary it was but himself. His mind was full of mere
exclamations, while his feet were carrying him in the direction of the
jetty. He followed the line of the rails, escorted by Wang.
"Where were you when you first saw the boat?" he asked over his
shoulder.
Wang explained in Malay that he had gone to the shore end of the wharf,
to get a few lumps of coal from the big heap, when, happening to raise
his eyes from the ground, he saw the boat--a white man boat, not a
canoe. He had good eyes. He had seen the boat, with the men at the oars;
and here Wang made a particular gesture over his eyes, as if his vision
had received a blow. He had turned at once and run to the house to
report.
"No mistake, eh?" said Heyst, moving on. At the very outer edge of the
belt he stopped short. Wang halted behind him on the path, till the
voice of Number One called him sharply forward into the open. He obeyed.
"Where's that boat?" asked Heyst forcibly.
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