We shall live a--a
glorious life. You shall see."
Again he stood silent by his daughter's side looking at that enchanting
vision. After a while he shook his clenched hand towards the sleeping
settlement.
"Ah! my friend Abdulla," he cried, "we shall see who will have the best
of it after all these years!"
He looked up the river and remarked calmly:
"Another thunderstorm. Well! No thunder will keep me awake to-night, I
know! Good-night, little girl," he whispered, tenderly kissing her
cheek. "You do not seem to be very happy to-night, but to-morrow you
will show a brighter face. Eh?"
Nina had listened to her father with her face unmoved, with her
half-closed eyes still gazing into the night now made more intense by a
heavy thunder-cloud that had crept down from the hills blotting out the
stars, merging sky, forest, and river into one mass of almost palpable
blackness. The faint breeze had died out, but the distant rumble of
thunder and pale flashes of lightning gave warning of the approaching
storm. With a sigh the girl turned towards the table.
Almayer was in his hammock now, already half asleep.
"Take the lamp, Nina," he muttered, drowsily. "This place is full of
mosquitoes. Go to sleep, daughter.
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