raided the country,” I said. He nodded. 'Not alone, surely!” He muttered something about the villages round that lake. 'Kurtz got the tribe to follow him, did he?” I suggested. He fidgeted a little. 'They adored him,” he said. The tone of these words was so extraordinary that I looked at him searchingly. It was curious to see his mingled eagerness and reluctance to speak of Kurtz. The man filled his life, occupied his thoughts, swayed his emotions. 'What can you expect?” he burst out; 'he came to them with thunder and lightning, you know — and they had never seen anything like it — and very terrible.

He could be very terrible. You can't judge Mr. Kurtz as you would an ordinary man. No, no, no! Now — just to give you an idea — I don't mind telling you, he wanted to