amused himself with his own thoughts. He was making a good job of the preliminary inquiry. It interested him. Then an orderly came in and told Alban that the Governor was ready for him. He rose from his seat and followed him into the Governor's room.
'Good morning, Torel.'
'Good morning, sir.'
The Governor was sitting at a large desk. He nodded to Alban and motioned to him to take a seat. The Governor was all grey. His hair was grey, his face, his eyes; he looked as though the tropical suns had washed the colour out of him; he had been in the country for thirty years and had risen one by one through all the ranks of the Service; he looked tired and depressed. Even his voice was grey. Alban liked him because he was quiet; he did not think him clever, but he had an unrivalled knowledge of the country, and his great experience was a very good substitute for intelligence. He looked at Alban for a full moment without speaking and the odd idea came to Alban that he was embarrassed. He very nearly gave him a lead.
'I saw Van Hasseldt yesterday,' said the Governor suddenly.
'Yes, sir?'
'Will you give me your account of the occurrences at the Alud Estate and of the steps you took to deal with them.'
Alban had an orderly mind. He was self-possessed. He marshalled his facts well and was able to state them with precision. He chose his words with care and spoke them fluently.
'You had a sergeant and eight policemen. Why did you not immediately go to the scene of the disturbance?'
'I thought the risk was unjustifiable.'
A thin smile was outlined on the Governor's grey face.
'If the officers of this Government had hesitated to take unjustifiable risks it would never have become a province of the British Empire.'
Alban was silent. It was difficult to talk to a man who spoke obvious nonsense.
'I am anxious to hear your reasons for the decision you took.'
Alban gave them coolly. He was quite convinced of the tightness of his action. He repeated, but more fully, what he had said in the first place to Anne. The Governor listened attentively.
'Van Hasseldt, with his manager, a Dutch friend of his, and a native overseer, seems to have coped with the situation very efficiently,' said the Governor.
'He had a lucky break. That doesn't prevent him from being a damned fool. It was madness to do what he did.'
'Do you realize that by leaving a Dutch planter to do what you should have done yourself, you have covered the Government with ridicule?'
'No, sir.'
'You've made yourself a laughing-stock in the whole colony.'
Alban smiled.
'My back is broad enough to bear the ridicule of persons to whose opinion I am entirely indifferent.'
'The utility of a government official depends very largely on his prestige, and I'm afraid his prestige is likely to be inconsiderable when he lies under the stigma of cowardice.'
Alban flushed a little.
'I don't quite know what you mean by that, sir.'
'I've gone into the matter very carefully. I've seen Captain Stratton, and Oakley, poor Prynne's assistant, and I've seen Van Hasseldt. I've listened to your defence.'
'I didn't know that I was defending myself, sir.'
'Be so good as not to interrupt me. I think you committed a grave error of judgement. As it turns out, the risk was very small, but whatever it was, I think you should have taken it. In such matters promptness and firmness are essential. It is not for me to conjecture what motive led you to send for a force of constabulary and do nothing till they came. I am afraid, however, that I consider that your usefulness in the Service is no longer very great.'
Alban looked at him with astonishment.
'But would you have gone under the circumstances?' he asked him.
'I should.'
Alban shrugged his shoulders.
'Don't you believe me?' rapped out the Governor.
'Of course I believe you, sir. But perhaps you will allow me to say that if you had been killed the colony would have suffered an irreparable loss.'
The Governor drummed on the table with his fingers. He looked out of the window and then looked again at Alban. When he spoke it was not unkindly.
'I think you are unfitted by temperament for this rather rough-and-tumble life, Torel. If you'll take my advice you'll go home. With your abilities I feel sure that you'll soon find an occupation much better suited to you.'
'I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, sir.'
'Oh, come, Torel, you're not stupid. I'm trying to