Chapters 3-4 Summary

Obi and Clara's affair is hardly love first sight. They meet in London; he is tongue-tied by her beauty and steps on her feet during their lone dance. Eighteen months later, he is surprised to see her taking the same boat home. Clara is talking with elderly Mrs. Wright, who is returning to Freetown, and a man named John Macmillan, an administrative officer in Northern Nigeria. Clara does not recall the NCNC dance. Awakening early on his first morning out, Obi stands by the rails to look at a sea gone overnight from placid to choppy. He recalls "They that go down to the sea in ships" and is moved, although he has little religion left. At breakfast, Obi sits between Macmillan and a Nigerian civil servant, Stephen Udom. Across from him is Mr. Jones of the United Africa Company. To...