Publisher's Synopsis
Lieutenant Albert Werper had only the prestige of the name he had dishonored to thank forhis narrow escape from being cashiered. At first he had been humbly thankful, too, that they hadsent him to this Godforsaken Congo post instead of court-martialing him, as he had so justlydeserved; but now six months of the monotony, the frightful isolation and the loneliness hadwrought a change. The young man brooded continually over his fate. His days were filled withmorbid self-pity, which eventually engendered in his weak and vacillating mind a hatred forthose who had sent him here-for the very men he had at first inwardly thanked for saving himfrom the ignominy of degradation.He regretted the gay life of Brussels as he never had regretted the sins which had snatchedhim from that gayest of capitals, and as the days passed he came to center his resentment uponthe representative in Congo land of the authority which had exiled him-his captain andimmediate superior.This officer was a cold, taciturn man, inspiring little love in those directly beneath him, yetrespected and feared by the black soldiers of his little command.Werper was accustomed to sit for hours glaring at his superior as the two sat upon theveranda of their common quarters, smoking their evening cigarets in a silence which neitherseemed desirous of breaking. The senseless hatred of the lieutenant grew at last into a form ofmania. The captain's natural taciturnity he distorted into a studied attempt to insult him becauseof his past shortcomings. He imagined that his superior held him in contempt, and so he chafedand fumed inwardly until one evening his madness became suddenly homicidal. He fingered thebutt of the revolver at his hip, his eyes narrowed and his brows contracted. At last he spoke."You have insulted me for the last time!" he cried, springing to his feet. "I am an officer anda gentleman, and I shall put up with it no longer without an accounting from you, you pig."The captain, an expression of surprise upon his features, turned toward his junior. He hadseen men before with the jungle madness upon them-the madness of solitude and unrestrainedbrooding, and perhaps a touch of fever.
