Lord Jim: Chapter 38 Summary & Analysis

Marlow’s longer letter begins with the statement that everything starts with the man Brown, whom Marlow briefly mentioned earlier. Gentleman Brown is supposedly the son of a baronet, but he has done things at sea that could get him hanged. His exploits include running off with the wife of a missionary, who was ill at the time and died on his ship, prompting a violent outburst of grief from him. At another point, he gets captured by the Spanish while trying to smuggle guns.

With the help of a loyal crewmember from the Solomon Islands, Brown manages to reunite with his crew and steal a Spanish vessel. Brown’s eventual goal is to take the vessel to Madagascar. Along the way, however, he comes across Patusan somehow and sees the opportunity to stock up on supplies.

There are sixteen men with Brown, and fourteen of them go with him up the river toward Patusan in a smaller longboat while two stay behind with the schooner. When Brown first arrives at a fishing village, the place seems deserted. It turns out, however, that the villagers had been warned in advance of the approaching longboat. All of a sudden, Brown hears drums and war cries, and he sees that two of his men are wounded. Boats from Rajah Allang’s stockade block their retreat.

Brown and his men land their boat and go inland to take up a position on a knoll. Brown waits for an attack, or at least for someone to try to take his longboat, but for a long time, nothing happens. The boats from Rajah Allang seem curiously hesitant to attack.