The Naked Jungle Page #2

Your coffee smells much stronger

than New Orleans coffee.

It is.

The dinner was wonderful.

Very good chicken.

It was lizard.

The climate's very pleasant here.

It's not nearly as hot

as I thought it would be.

This is winter.

That's right. We are pretty far south.

How far?

Does it matter?

Not really.

I was just trying

to make conversation.

Why?

I can't think of a single reason.

My brother wrote me

that you play the piano.

I'd like to hear you play.

We'll have our coffee

in the other room.

I'd like to hear it played

before the termites get at it.

I had it brought upriver 2,000 miles.

- For me?

- No.

For anyone who could play it.

I wanted someone who could.

Play.

What would you like to hear?

I know nothing about music.

What made you stop playing?

It's too sad. I'll play something else.

I'd like my coffee now.

Would you mind?

- One lump or two?

- Two.

Black.

Do you speak any languages?

Aimeriez-vous parler en franais?

Would you like to converse

in French?

I don't speak French.

I was merely trying to see if you were

everything my brother said you were.

Yes.

I am exactly as represented.

I speak several languages,

play the piano, converse intelligently

and have very nice teeth.

Would you care to count them?

That's what you do with horses

when you buy them, isn't it?

You count their teeth.

Fortunately, I have all mine.

- You also have a temper.

- Yes, I know.

You don't like a woman

with a temper, do you?

I don't mind.

I have a temper myself.

You surprise me.

You're very beautiful.

Intelligent, accomplished...

There must be something

wrong with you.

I'm not that lucky,

to get a perfect woman,

just like that, out of the grab bag.

There's something wrong

somewhere.

I thought you didn't like me.

I thought you were

disappointed in me.

And instead, you're afraid of me.

You think so?

You're looking for a fault in me,

anything so you can ignore me.

You know a lot

about men, don't you?

You wanted an ornament.

Something nice-looking

to go with the rest of the furniture.

Brought up the river

with great difficulty,

just keep it dusted and see

that the termites don't get at it.

That's the kind of a wife you wanted.

Instead, you got a woman.

And you're afraid of me.

I said, you know a lot about men.

More than you know about women.

Where did you learn?

From what man?

That's it, isn't it?

That's what's wrong.

You've been with another man.

I was married.

Didn't your brother tell you?

No.

He left that out.

Everything else about you...

...everything...

...all but that.

I made a point of letting

your brother know.

He should have told you.

Perhaps he knew me better

than I thought he did.

How long were you married?

Nearly a year.

He was killed.

- How?

- He drank.

He was very gay, very charming

and usually drunk.

One night he went out riding,

very gay, very charming

and very drunk.

The money you sent

to pay my debts paid his.

- So he was no good.

- He was the kindest man

- I've ever known.

- He was a weakling.

- You didn't like him.

- I loved him.

How many others have there been?

Madam...

...you've seen my house.

It took me seven years to build,

to make it what it is,

in the heart of the jungle.

They laughed at me

up and down the river,

but it's what I wanted.

I wanted it to be filled

with beautiful things.

I wanted a family I could be proud of

in this house that I'm proud of,

in the land that I took out of the river

and the jungle with my bare hands.

The only condition I ever made

about anything I brought up the river

was that it be new, worth the effort.

Madam, this piano you're sitting at

was never played by anyone

before it came here.

If you knew more about music,

you'd realize that a good piano

is better when it's played.

This is not a very good piano.

- I'm not finished with you, madam.

- Yes, you are.

Good night, Mr. Leiningen.

Attention!

Attention!

She sinned.

Now, begin.

Go back to the house, madam.

I heard the music.

If it's some kind of native ceremony,

I'd like to watch.

This is no place for you.

Will you do as I say?

I'd like to watch.

Then watch.

That's the boy

they brought in last night.

He's trying to kill him.

- Why don't you stop it?

- He stole the man's wife,

now he's being punished.

I can't stop it.

No one can.

He is dead!

He is dead!

It's over, madam.

I suggest you pay attention

to what I say in the future.

Have you no heart,

no feelings at all?

And you!

I thought you were decent

and gentle.

You're as bad as your master.

The dead man was his son.

Yes...

...you made another mistake.

Perhaps your worst mistake

was leaving New Orleans.

You'd better see exactly

what you're up against down here.

Come with me, madam.

Without these locks,

my whole plantation

would be 6 feet under the river,

where I got it from.

It took me five years

to get a foothold here.

I started with 20 acres

and four men.

I nearly forgot the English

language in that time.

I was 19 years old.

My irrigation moat.

Built by men who had never

seen one in their lives.

I had 100 men by that time.

I used to lose two or three a week.

Headhunters.

This is what we get.

Eight hundred Indians

working for me

on nearly 200,000 acres

of river bottom,

eaten by flies, worms, lice.

With a half a dozen diseases

men get in the jungle,

all for that.

So that your friends

can drink chocolate

with their breakfast in New Orleans.

Go ten miles in any direction

from here and it's civilized.

But go ten paces

beyond where I stopped

and you're in the bush,

the living jungle,

where no man has a name

and the only law is to stay alive,

even if you live like a beast.

In the jungle,

man's just another animal.

I don't believe that.

Kutina! Come here.

This is Kutina.

He's one of the first four men

who worked for me.

Kutina, this is Leiningen's woman.

I like you.

He says he likes you.

He's more civilized than the rest.

He's like Incacha.

He has Mayan blood.

They were one of the most intelligent

races in the history of the world.

They were mathematicians,

architects, builders.

But they stayed

in the jungle too long.

Kutina, show Leiningen

ma'am your treasure.

All right.

Very glad.

Kutina treasure.

- Go back to work.

- Yes.

After this, madam, stay in the house.

That's where civilization

ends down here.

Shut up.

Something wrong with that bird.

Hasn't said a word for three days...

...till now.

At that, he's said more

than you have.

Everything I say seems

to make things worse.

I'm trying not to irritate you.

I've noticed that.

I find it irritating.

I'm very tired.

Good night.

Madam.

That perfume you're wearing...

...is it one of those I had

brought up the river for you?

No, it's my own.

Why aren't you in bed?

- Make faster?

- No. Go to bed.

It wasn't locked. It never has been.

I didn't think it was necessary.

My perfume...

The perfume I wanted you to wear!

Isn't it good enough for you?

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