Iasked。“Well，Icouldn’tfightthewholepopulation，andIwasn’tcomingtothemasifIwereafraidofmylife，“hesaid，withjustafainthintofhisstubbornsulkinessintheglancehegaveme。Irefrainedfrompointingouttohimthattheycouldnothaveknownthechamberswereactuallyempty。
Hehadtosatisfyhimselfinhisownway……“Anyhowitwasn’t，“herepeated，good-humouredly，“andsoIjuststoodstillandaskedthemwhatwasthematter。Thatseemedtostrikethemdumb。Isawsomeofthesethievesgoingoffwithmybox。Thatlong-leggedoldscoundrelKassimI’llshowhimtoyouto-morrowranoutfussingtomeabouttheRajahwantingtoseeme。Isaid，`Allright’；I，too，wantedtoseetheRajah，andIsimplywalkedinthroughthegateand——and——hereIam。“Helaughed，andthenwithunexpectedemphasis，“Anddoyouknowwhat’sthebestinit？“heasked。
“I’lltellyou。It’stheknowledgethathadIbeenwipedoutitisthisplacethatwouldhavebeentheloser。“
`HespokethustomebeforehishouseonthateveningI’vementioned——afterwehadwatchedthemoonfloatawayabovethechasmbetweenthehillslikeanascendingspiritoutofagrave；itssheendescended，coldandpale，liketheghostofdeadsunlight。Thereissomethinghauntinginthelightofthemoon；ithasallthedispassionatenessofadisembodiedsoul，andsomethingofitsinconceivablemystery。Itistooursunshine，which——saywhatyoulike——isallwehavetoliveby，whattheechoistothesound：
misleadingandconfusingwhetherthenotebemockingorsad。Itrobsallformsofmatter——which，afterall，isourdomain——oftheirsubstance，andgivesasinisterrealitytoshadowsalone。Andtheshadowswereveryrealaroundus，butJimbymysidelookedverystalwart，asthoughnothing——noteventheoccultpowerofmoonlight——couldrobhimofhisrealityinmyeyes。Perhaps，indeed，nothingcouldtouchhimsincehehadsurvivedtheassaultofthedarkpowers。Allwassilent，allwasstill；evenontheriverthemoonbeamssleptasonapool。Itwasthemomentofhighwater，amomentofimmobilitythataccentuatedtheutterisolationofthislostcorneroftheearth。Thehousescrowdingalongthewideshiningsweepwithoutrippleorglitter，steppingintothewaterinalineofjostling，vague，grey，silveryformsmingledwithblackmassesofshadow，werelikeaspectralherdofshapelesscreaturespressingforwardtodrinkinaspectralandlifelessstream。Hereandtherearedgleamtwinkledwithinthebamboowalls，warm，likealivingspark，significantofhumanaffections，ofshelter，ofrepose。