Transcript of Almayer's Folly
CHAPTER I. The well -known shrill voice startled Ormire from his dream of splendid future into the unpleasant realities of the present hour. An unpleasant voice, too. He had heard it for many years, and with every year he liked it less. No matter. There would be an end to all this soon. He shuffled uneasily, but took no further notice of the call. Leaning with both his elbows on the balustrade of the veranda, he went on looking fixedly at the great river that flowed indifferent and hurried before his eyes. He liked to look at it about the time of sunset, perhaps because at that time the sinking sun would spread a glowing gold tinge on the waters of the Pantai, and Ormire's thoughts were often busy with gold. Gold he had failed to secure. Gold the others had secured, dishonestly, of course. Or gold he meant to secure yet, through his own honest exertions, for himself and Nina. He absorbed himself in this dream of wealth and power away from this coast where he had dwelt for so many years, forgetting the bitterness of toil and strife in the vision of a great and splendid reward. They would live in Europe, he and his daughter. They would be rich and respected. Nobody would think of her mixed blood in the presence of her great beauty and of his immense wealth. Witnessing her triumphs, he would grow young again. He would forget the twenty -five years of heartbreaking struggle on this coast where he felt like a prisoner. All this was nearly within his reach. Let only day in return. And return soon he must, in his own interest, for his own share. He was now more than a week late. Perhaps he would return tonight. Such were Ormire's thoughts as, standing on the veranda of his new but already decaying house, that last failure of his life, he looked on the broad river. There was no tinge of gold on it this evening, for it had been swollen by the rains and rolled an angry and muddy flood under his inattentive eyes, carrying small driftwood and big dead logs, and whole uprooted trees with branches and foliage, amongst which the water swirled and roared angrily. One of those drifting trees grounded on the shelving shore just by the house, and Ormire, neglecting his dream, watched it with languid interest. The tree swung slowly round amid the hiss and foam of the water, and soon getting free of the obstruction, began to move downstream again, rolling slowly over, raising upwards a long denuded branch, like a hand lifted in mute to peel to heaven against the river's brutal and unnecessary violence. Ormire's interest in the fate of that tree increased rapidly. He leant over to see if it would clear the low point below. It did. Then he drew back, thinking that now its course was free down to the sea, and he envied the part of that