"Another thunderstorm. Well! No thunder will keep me awake to-night, I
know! Good-night, little girl," he whispered, tenderly kissing her
cheek. "You do not seem to be very happy to-night, but to-morrow you
will show a brighter face. Eh?"

Nina had listened to her father with her face unmoved, with her
half-closed eyes still gazing into the night now made more intense by a
heavy thunder-cloud that had crept down from the hills blotting out the
stars, merging sky, forest, and river into one mass of almost palpable
blackness. The faint breeze had died out, but the distant rumble of
thunder and pale flashes of lightning gave warning of the approaching
storm. With a sigh the girl turned towards the table.

Almayer was in his hammock now, already half asleep.

"Take the lamp, Nina," he muttered, drowsily. "This place is full of
mosquitoes. Go to sleep, daughter."

But Nina put the lamp out and turned back again towards the balustrade of
the verandah, standing with her arm round the wooden support and looking
eagerly towards the Pantai reach. And motionless there in the oppressive
calm of the tropical night she could see at each flash of lightning the
forest lining both banks up the river, bending before the furious blast
of the coming tempest, the upper reach of the river whipped into white
foam by the wind, and the black clouds torn into fantastic shapes
trailing low over the swaying trees. Round her all was as yet stillness
and peace, but she could hear afar off the roar of the wind, the hiss of
heavy rain, the wash of the waves on the tormented river. It came nearer
and nearer, with loud thunder-claps and long flashes of vivid lightning,
followed by short periods of appalling blackness. When the storm reached