countenance, round and flat, with that curl of black hair over the
forehead and a heavy, pained glance.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

He looked hard at me: I was a new face, having just replaced the chief
mate he was accustomed to see; and I think that this novelty inspired
him, as things generally did, with deep-seated mistrust.

"Didn't expect you till this evening," he remarked, suspiciously.

I didn't know why he should have been aggrieved, but he seemed to be.
I took pains to explain to him that, having picked up the beacon at the
mouth of the river just before dark and the tide serving, Captain C----
was enabled to cross the bar and there was nothing to prevent him going
up the river at night.

"Captain C---- knows this river like his own pocket," I concluded,
discursively, trying to get on terms.

"Better," said Almayer.

Leaning over the rail of the bridge, I looked at Almayer, who looked
down at the wharf in aggrieved thought. He shuffled his feet a little;
he wore straw slippers with thick soles. The morning fog had thickened
considerably. Everything round us dripped--the derricks, the rails,
every single rope in the ship--as if a fit of crying had come upon the
universe.