The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1938-03-28
Chapter 4
Prelude To Empire

Prelude To Empire
DREADED going back That was
i why l was fighting obstinately
in this GodforSaken river, break
ing the trail Of empire for some
flag which could not even have
named A prelude % empire. Here
came the vanguard Of civilization
In the shape Of a rsttle-brained
young man, committing angry and
suicidal follies in jungle for no
letter reason than that somebody
had got his grill
Somebody was going to profit by
this. II was going TO do somebody
good But there was only faint
hope that the profit would fall to
James Clyde and Christine, even
temporarily. In the end somebody
else was likely to take possession,
marching in after - we - had
shattered the resistance. Some
man supported by great orga1i-
cation which he shFeWdly served,
z..ss-s and the shipsypf nation whose
policy was empire! Dyaks were
killing Dyaks, greatly assisted by
myself and Rentc ngen fJr purely
49,. personal reasons; 3nd some day
this might cause tidy little profit
80 s-. Tor some Dutch bank. ifa ar BIS
We went on, combating the cur
. 49,. rent IN an endless downpour, and
we took Eve more villages, the last
burned them. as well as we could.
- had IS praus left; hao Is; / had
---s-~ss~ IL And now-the fever. the ever
lasting haunting fever, closed
49,. down like a dizzy madness. and
gathered me in at last
For two years afioat in the trop-
ics had stood of the fever better
than almost anyone had known.
The danger Of fever is relatively
less in The wet season, and since
the rains had cleaned the stagnant
air had supposed that was i'm
mune for another year. But now.
< perversely out Of season, / came
down. and Icarne down fast and
hard. as il the fever had spent the
z.ysl-fs two years in careful preparation.
So now my days and nights were
- hammered into queer patterns
s4sfs 80 = where the minutes seemed as long
as hours, and the hours rushed me
in q stupor through blasts Of bush
warfare. lost the feel Of time and
places1a
During those insane Gays when
everything around s-ne was in a
fog. i was Christine who was very
real For she was with ne now. all
the time. What was happening TO
me was half memory AND half
dream, but so clear and so stub
bsrn that the fever brought her
very close-cloSer. often, than she
had ever been in life. saw her
eyes Swallowed with mystery:
s - saw them reflect the light OF
torches burning 70. the Rajah
Clyde. Sometimes saw her fin
gers as they rested, so lightly yet
so confidently. on Clyde's arm. :.
Ny Dyaks must have known
that l was very sick. but they
could not nave known completely
how sick was They had seen de-
lirium before. and II w il for the
voices Of evil spirits speaking
through the mouth Of a man. But
because everything did was diff
ferent from their way they gave
me credit for something else.
As talked in my fever in a Ian
guage they cid not know, they
knew that was speaking TO things
unseen. and that those things were
answering in voices that they
could not hear. wakene6 some
times TO hear them saying 10 each
other, "All night long Tuan Paul
has been talking with the Ka-
mangs"
Voice From The Past lsiI
lie PUSHED on, and I had IL
W praus, then nine-q 1MMIJ2
Clearly. more clearly Than II
could see the men IN my own ban
kong, could see how Christine's
mouth looked when It was scorn-
ful. or plying: and | remembered
that IL could be tender, too II had
been tender that night on the
avon. after Clyde had broken
through 10 Us from Mantusen's
stockade
-Tuan, the booms block the
river. Maybe i.500 enemies are
ahead Of US"
How many men do we still
have?"
''Tuan. there are ten tens and
three"
Plenty. Let the fenyalang hold
back and FIRE into the jungle, and
into the enemy praus If they come
ny bankong VIII 90 ahead 20 cut
the boom. The others will follow
re IN two lines. as always"
/ tried 20 stand up in nv ban
kong. as had been doing before.
bat could not | sat as straight as
leould. hopeful Of making an easy
mark; but nobody in the jungle
seemed able 70 aim when they
looked down their sights at the
white Tuan-