The Outstation Summary

The Outstation Summary

Mr. Warburton, a British man who owned an Outstation in Borneo, got where he was because he was able to hang around the aristocrats of a more wealthy colony, and they, thinking Warburton was rich himself, shared their wealth with him. However, one must spend money to make money, so he gambled as if he were rich. He quickly lost all of his money and so, as was the most obvious solution at the time, he moved to the colony of Borneo where we meet him now.

In Borneo, he's doing well enough on his own, and while he can be snobby at times, he gets along with the native people just fine. The real action starts when an Australian man named Alan Cooper comes along. Mr. Warburton has been the only white man on the island for quite some time and he's gotten fairly used to it, so the surprise of seeing Alan Cooper there is unsettling. However, considering all the trouble Mr. Cooper took to get there, Mr. Warburton is friendly enough and gives him a bungalow to stay in.

As they meet for dinner, each dressing in his own style, there is quickly and obvious clash. Mr. Warburton, who, as we heard before, had a tendency to be on the snobby side, dressed in his usual formal British attire, while Mr. Cooper wears his usual casual clothes. They obviously clash, and Mr. Cooper refuses to listen to Mr. Warburton when he's talking about how to handle the natives, and finally it comes to a climax when Mr. Cooper calls Mr. Warburton a "snob" to his face.

The next morning Mr. Cooper is found dead, killed by one of the Natives.