'Unfasten him,' Marinus tells Gerritszoon, 'and stay out of my reach.'

'Oh, you you ain't the Chief an' y'ain't the Deputy neither an' I swear by God--' ain't the Chief an' y'ain't the Deputy neither an' I swear by God--'

'Unfasten him now,' the doctor commands, 'or when that bladder-stone of yours is so big that your piss is blood and you are screaming like a terrified child for a lithotomy, then I I swear by swear by my my God that my hand shall slip with tragic, slow and agonising consequences.' God that my hand shall slip with tragic, slow and agonising consequences.'

' 'Twas our duty,' Gerritszoon growls, 'to beat the evil out of him.'

He stands away. 'It's his life life,' declares Ivo Oost, 'you beat out of him.'

Marinus hands his stick to Jacob and kneels by the slave's side.

'Were we supposed to look on,' Fischer asks, 'and let him kill us?'

Marinus works the cord free. With Jacob's help, he tries to turn Sjako over.

'Well, Chief V. ain't goin' to be pleased,' sniffs Arie Grote, 'at this this handlin' an' stowage of Company property, eh?' handlin' an' stowage of Company property, eh?'

A cry of pain grows from Sjako's chest, and fades again.

Marinus bundles his coat under Sjako's head, murmurs to the beaten Malay in his own language and examines the opened skull. The slave shudders and Marinus grimaces and asks, 'Why is there glass in this head wound?'

'Like I said,' replies Fischer, 'if you listened, he was drinking stolen rum.'

'And attacked himself,' asks Marinus, 'with the bottle in his hand?'

'I wrestled it off of 'im,' says Gerritszoon, 'to use on 'im.'

'The black dog tried to murder us!' Fischer is shouting. 'With a hammer!'

'Hammer? Crowbar? Bottle? You'd better tally your story better than that.'

'I shan't tolerate,' threatens Fischer, 'these - these insinuations, Doctor.'

Eelattu arrives with the stretcher. Marinus tells Jacob, 'Help, Domburger.'

Sekita taps aside the house interpreters with his fan and looks at the scene in disgust. 'That is the Su-ya-ko?'

The first course of the officers' supper is a sweet soup of French onions. Vorstenbosch drinks it in displeased silence. He and van Cleef returned to Dejima in buoyant spirits, but these were dashed by news of Sjako's beating. Marinus is still at the Hospital, treating the Malay's many wounds. The Chief even dismissed Cupido and Philander from their musical duties, saying that he was not in the mood for music. It is left to Deputy van Cleef and Captain Lacy to entertain the company with their impressions of the Nagasaki residence of the Lord of Satsuma and his household. Jacob suspects that his patron doesn't wholly believe Fischer's and Gerritszoon's version of events in the crate store, but to say so would place the word of a Black slave above a White officer and hand. 'What sort of precedent,' Jacob imagines Vorstenbosch thinking, 'would that set for the other slaves and servants?' Fischer maintains a cautious reserve, sensing that his hopes of retaining the head clerk's post are in jeopardy. When Arie Grote and his kitchen boy serve up the venison pie, Captain Lacy despatches his servant for a half-dozen bottles of barley mash, but Vorstenbosch doesn't notice: he mutters, 'What in God's name is keeping Marinus?' and sends Cupido to fetch the doctor. Cupido is a long time gone. Lacy recounts a polished narrative about fighting alongside George Washington at the Battle of Bunker Hill and devours three servings of apricot pudding before Marinus limps into the Dining Room.

'We had despaired,' says Vorstenbosch, 'of your joining us, Doctor.'

'A cracked clavicle,' Marinus sits down, 'a fractured ulna; a broken jaw; a splintered rib; three teeth gone; grievous bruising in general, to his face and genitals in particular; and a kneecap part detached from its femur. When he walks again, he shall limp as skilfully as I, and, as you saw, his looks are gone for good.'

Fischer drinks his Yankee mash as if this has nothing to do with him.

'Then the slave is not,' asks van Cleef, 'in danger of his life?'

'As of now, no, but I don't discount infections and fevers.'

'For how long,' Vorstenbosch snaps a toothpick, 'should he convalesce?'

'Until he is healed. Thereafter, I recommend his duties be light.'

Lacy snorts. 'Here, all all slaves' duties are light: Dejima is a field of clover.' slaves' duties are light: Dejima is a field of clover.'

'Have you extracted,' asks Vorstenbosch, 'the slave's version of events?'

'I hope, sir,' Fischer says, 'that Mr Gerritszoon's and my testimony is more than a mere "version of events".'

'Damage to Company property must be investigated, Fischer.'

Captain Lacy fans himself with his hat. 'In Carolina, it would be Mr Fischer's compensation from the slave's owners we'd be discussing.'

'After, one trusts, establishing the facts. Dr Marinus: why did the slave absent himself from the mustering? He's been here years. He knows the rules.'

'I'd blame those same "years".' Marinus spoons himself some pudding, 'They have worn away at him and induced a nervous collapse.'

'Doctor, you are -' Lacy laughs and chokes '- you are incomparable! A "nervous collapse"? What next? A mule too melancholic to pull? A hen too lachrymose to lay?'

'Sjako has a wife and son in Batavia,' says Marinus. 'When Gijsbert Hemmij brought him to Dejima seven years ago, this family was divided. Hemmij promised Sjako his freedom in return for faithful service when he returned to Java.'

'Had I but one dollar one dollar for every nigger spoilt,' Lacy exclaims, 'by a rashly promised manumission, I could buy all of Florida!' for every nigger spoilt,' Lacy exclaims, 'by a rashly promised manumission, I could buy all of Florida!'

'But when Chief Hemmij died,' van Cleef objects, 'his promise died too.'

'This spring, Daniel Snitker told Sjako the oath would be honoured after the trading season. Sjako was led to believe,' Marinus stuffs tobacco into his pipe, 'he would be sailing to Batavia as a free man in a few weeks' time, and had fixed his heart on labouring for his family's liberty upon the Shenandoah Shenandoah's arrival.'

'Snitker's word,' says Lacy, 'isn't worth the paper it wasn't written on.'

'Just yesterday,' Marinus lights a taper from the candle and sucks his pipe into life, 'Sjako learnt this promise is reneged and his freedom is dashed to pieces.'

'The slave is to stay here,' says the Chief, 'for my term of office. Dejima lacks hands.'

'Then why profess surprise,' the doctor breathes out a cloud of smoke, 'at his state of mind? Seven plus five equals twelve when last I I looked: twelve years. Sjako was brought here in his seventeenth year: he shan't be leaving until his twenty-ninth. His son shall be sold long before then, and his wife mated to another.' looked: twelve years. Sjako was brought here in his seventeenth year: he shan't be leaving until his twenty-ninth. His son shall be sold long before then, and his wife mated to another.'

'How can I I "renege" on a promise "renege" on a promise I I never made?' Vorstenbosch objects. never made?' Vorstenbosch objects.

'That is an acute and logical point, sir,' says Peter Fischer.

'My wife and daughters,' says van Cleef, 'I haven't seen in eight eight years!' years!'

'You are a deputy,' Marinus picks at a scab of blood on his cuff, 'here to make yourself rich. Sjako is a slave, here to make his masters comfortable.'

'A slave is a slave,' Peter Fischer declaims, 'because he does a slave's work!'

'What about,' Lacy cleans his ear with a fork-prong, 'a night at the theatre, to lift his spirits? We could stage Othello Othello, perhaps?'

'Are we not in danger,' asks van Cleef, 'of losing sight of the principal point? That today a slave attempted to murder two of our colleagues?'

'Another excellent point, sir,' says Fischer, 'if I may say so.'

'Sjako,' Marinus places his thumbs together, 'denies attacking his assailants.'

Fischer leans back on his chair and declares to the chandelier 'Fa!'

'Sjako says the two White masters set about him quite unprovoked.'

'The would-be cut-throat,' Fischer states, 'is a liar of the blackest dye.'

'Blacks do do lie,' Lacy opens his snuff-box, 'like geese shit slime.' lie,' Lacy opens his snuff-box, 'like geese shit slime.'

'Why,' Marinus places his pipe on its stand, 'would Sjako attack you?'

'Savages don't need motives!' Fischer spits in the spittoon. 'Your type, Dr Marinus, sit at your meetings, nod wisely at wind about "the true cost of the sugar in our tea" from an "Improved Negro" in wig and waistcoat. I, I I, am not a man created by Swedish gardens but by Surinam jungles where one sees the Negro in his natural habitat. Earn yourself one of these these' - Peter Fischer unbuttons his shirt to display a three-inch scar above his collarbone - 'and then then tell me a savage has a soul just because he can recite the Lord's Prayer, like any parrot.' tell me a savage has a soul just because he can recite the Lord's Prayer, like any parrot.'

Lacy peers close, impressed. 'How did you pick up that that souvenir?' souvenir?'

'Whilst recuperating at Goed Accoord,' Fischer answers, glowering at the doctor, 'a plantation on the Commewina, two days upriver from Paramaribo. My platoon had gone to cleanse the basin of runaway slaves who attack in gangs. The colonists call them "Rebels": I call them "Vermin". We had burnt many of their nests and yam fields, but the dry season overtook us, when Hell has no worse hole. Not one of my men was free from beri-beri or ring-worm fever. The house-Blacks of Goed Accoord betrayed our weakness, and on the third dawn, they slithered up to the house and attacked. Hundreds of the vipers crawled out of the dry slime and dropped from the trees. With musket, bayonet and bare hands, my men and I made a valiant defence, but when a mace struck my skull, I collapsed. Hours must have passed. When I awoke, my arms and feet were bound. My jaw was - how do you say? - mislocated. I lay in a row of wounded men in the Drawing Room. Some begged for mercy, but no Negro understands the concept. The slave leader arrived and bidded his butchers extract the men's hearts for their victory feast. This they did,' Fischer swills his mash around his glass, 'slowly, without first killing their victims.'

'Such barbarity and wickedness,' van Cleef declares, 'beggars belief!'

Vorstenbosch sends Philander and Weh downstairs for bottles of Rhenish.

'My unluckier comrades, Swiss Fourgeoud, DeJohnette, and my bosom friend, Tom Isberg, they suffered the agonies of Christ. Their screams shall haunt me until I die, and so shall the Blacks' laughter. They stored the hearts in a chamber pot, just inches from where I lay. The room stunk of the slaughterhouse; the air was black with flies. It was darkness when my turn came. I was the last but one. They slung me on the table. Despite my fear, I played dead and prayed God to take my soul quickly. One then uttered, "Son de go sleeby caba. Mekewe liby den tara dago tay tamara." Meaning, the sun was sinking, they'd leave these last two "dogs" for the following day. The drumming, feasting and fornication had begun and the butchers were loath to miss the fun. So, a butcher impaled me to the table with a bayonet, like a butterfly collector's pin, and I was left without a guard.'

Insects dirty the air over the candelabra like a malign halo.

A rust-coloured lizard sits on the blade of Jacob's butter-knife.

'Now, I prayed to God for strength. By twisting my head, I could seize the bayonet's blade between my teeth and slowly work it loose. I lost pints of blood, but refused to succumb to weakness. My freedom was won. Under the table was Joosse, my platoon's last survivor. Joosse was a Zeelander, like Clerk de Zoet . . .'

Well, now, thinks Jacob, what an opportune coincidence what an opportune coincidence.

'. . . and Joosse was a coward, I am sorry to say. He was too afraid to move until my Reason conquered his fear. Under the coat of darkness, we left Goed Accoord behind. For seven days, we beat a path through that green pestilence with our bare hands. We had no food but the maggots breeding in our wounds. Many times, Joosse begged to be allowed to die. But honour obliged me to protect even the frail Zeelander from death. Finally, by God's grace, we reached Fort Sommelsdyck, where the Commewina meets the Cottica. We were more dead than alive. My superior officer confessed later that he had expected me to die within hours. "Never underestimate a Prussian again," I told him. The Governor of Surinam presented me with a medal, and six weeks later I led two hundred men back to Goed Accoord. A glorious revenge was extracted on the Vermin, but I am not a man who brags of his own achievements.'

Weh and Philander return with the bottles of Rhenish.

'A most edifying history,' says Lacy. 'I salute your courage, Mr Fischer.'

'The passage where you ate the maggots,' remarks Marinus, 'rather over-egged the brulee brulee.'

'The doctor's disbelief,' Fischer addresses the senior officers, 'is caused by his sentimental attitudes to savages, I am very sorry to say.'

'The doctor's disbelief,' Marinus peers at the label on the Rhenish, 'is a natural reaction to vainglorious piffle.'

'Your accusations,' Fischer retorts, 'deserve no reply.'

Jacob finds an island chain of mosquito bites across his hand.

'Slavery may be an injustice to some,' says van Cleef, 'but no one can deny that all Empires are founded upon the institution.'

'Then may the Devil,' Marinus twists in the corkscrew, 'take all Empires.'

'What an extraordinary utterance,' declares Lacy, 'to hear from the mouth of a colonial officer!'

'Extraordinary,' agrees Fischer, 'and revealing, not to say Jacobinical Jacobinical.'

'I am no "colonial officer": I am a physician, scholar and traveller.'

'You hunt for your fortune,' says Lacy, 'courtesy of the Dutch Empire.'

'My treasure is botanical.' The cork pops. 'The fortunes I leave to you.'

'How very "Enlightened", outre outre and French, which nation, by the by, learnt the perils of abolishing slavery. Anarchy set the Caribbean alight; plantations were pillaged; men strung up from trees; and by the time Paris had its Negroes back in chains, Hispaniola was lost.' and French, which nation, by the by, learnt the perils of abolishing slavery. Anarchy set the Caribbean alight; plantations were pillaged; men strung up from trees; and by the time Paris had its Negroes back in chains, Hispaniola was lost.'

'Yet the British Empire,' Jacob says, 'is embracing abolition.'

Vorstenbosch looks at his one-time protege like an evaluator.

'The British,' Lacy warns, 'are engaged in some trickery or other: as time shall tell.'

'And those citizens in your own northern states,' says Marinus, 'who recognise--'

'Those Yankee leeches,' Captain Lacy wags his knife, 'grow fat on our our taxes!' taxes!'

'In the animal kingdom,' says van Cleef, 'the vanquished are eaten by those more favoured by Nature. Slavery is merciful by comparison: the lesser races keep their lives in exchange for their labour.'

'What use,' the Doctor pours himself a glass of wine, 'is an eaten slave?'

The grandfather clock in the State Room strikes ten times.

'Displeased as I am,' Vorstenbosch arrives at a decision, 'about the events in the crate store, Fischer, I accept that you and Gerritszoon acted in self-defence.'

'I swear, sir,' Fischer tilts his head, 'we had no other choice.'

Marinus grimaces at his glass of Rhenish. 'Atrocious aftertaste.'

Lacy brushes his moustache. 'What about your your slave, Doctor?' slave, Doctor?'

'Eelattu, sir, is no more a slave than your first mate. I found him in Jaffna five years ago, beaten and left for dead by a gang of Portuguese whalers. During his recovery, the boy's quickness of mind persuaded me to offer him employ as my chirurgical assistant, for pay, from my own pocket. He may quit his post when he wishes, with wages and character. Can any man on the Shenandoah Shenandoah say as much?' say as much?'

'Indians, I'll admit,' Lacy walks over to the chamber pot, 'ape civilised manners well enough; and I've entered Pacific Islanders and Chinamen into the Shenandoah Shenandoah's books, so I know of what I speak. But for Africans . . .' the Captain unbuttons his breeches and urinates into the pot '. . . slavery's the best life: were they ever turned loose, they'd starve before the week was out, without they murdered White families for their larders. They know only the present moment: they cannot plan, farm, invent or imagine.' He shakes free the last drops of urine and tucks his shirt into his breeches. 'To condemn slavery,' Captain Lacy scratches beneath his collar, 'is, moreover, to condemn Holy Scripture. Blacks are descended from Noah's bestial son Ham, who bedded his own mother: Ham's lineage were thereby accursed. It's there in the ninth book of Genesis, plain as day. "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren." The White race, however, is descended from Japheth: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and Canaan shall be his servant." Or do I lie, Mr de Zoet?'

All the assembled eyes turn to the nephew of the parsonage.

'Those particular verses are problematical,' says Jacob.