The Arabs had found out the river, had established a
trading post in Sambir, and where they traded they would be masters and
suffer no rival. Lingard returned unsuccessful from his first
expedition, and departed again spending all the profits of the legitimate
trade on his mysterious journeys. Almayer struggled with the
difficulties of his position, friendless and unaided, save for the
protection given to him for Lingard's sake by the old Rajah, the
predecessor of Lakamba. Lakamba himself, then living as a private
individual on a rice clearing, seven miles down the river, exercised all
his influence towards the help of the white man's enemies, plotting
against the old Rajah and Almayer with a certainty of combination,
pointing clearly to a profound knowledge of their most secret affairs.
Outwardly friendly, his portly form was often to be seen on Almayer's
verandah; his green turban and gold-embroidered jacket shone in the front
rank of the decorous throng of Malays coming to greet Lingard on his
returns from the interior; his salaams were of the lowest, and his hand-
shakings of the heartiest, when welcoming the old trader. But his small
eyes took in the signs of the times, and he departed from those
interviews with a satisfied and furtive smile to hold long consultations
with his friend and ally, Syed Abdulla, the chief of the Arab trading
post, a man of great wealth and of great influence in the islands.
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