To the north and south of it rose
other islets, joyous in their brilliant colouring of green and yellow,
and on the main coast the sombre line of mangrove bushes ended to the
southward in the reddish cliffs of Tanjong Mirrah, advancing into the
sea, steep and shadowless under the clear, light of the early morning.
The bottom of the canoe grated upon the sand as the little craft ran upon
the beach. Ali leaped on shore and held on while Dain stepped out
carrying Nina in his arms, exhausted by the events and the long
travelling during the night. Almayer was the last to leave the boat, and
together with Ali ran it higher up on the beach. Then Ali, tired out by
the long paddling, laid down in the shade of the canoe, and incontinently
fell asleep. Almayer sat sideways on the gunwale, and with his arms
crossed on his breast, looked to the southward upon the sea.
After carefully laying Nina down in the shade of the bushes growing in
the middle of the islet, Dain threw himself beside her and watched in
silent concern the tears that ran down from under her closed eyelids, and
lost themselves in that fine sand upon which they both were lying face to
face. These tears and this sorrow were for him a profound and
disquieting mystery.
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