Carlier

Carlier is one of the main characters of the short story “An Outpost of Progress” by Joseph Conrad. He is Kayerts’ assistant at the African trading station. Physically, he is “all, with a large head and a very broad trunk perched upon a long pair of thin legs” and has a mustache. He is also a smoker. Before his current job, Carlier was “officer of cavalry in an army guaranteed harmless by several European Powers”. He currently has no money and has got the job through his brother-in-law: 

He had left the army and had made himself so obnoxious to his family by his laziness and impudence, that an exasperated brother-in-law had made superhuman efforts to procure him an appointment in the Company as a second-class agent.

Just like Kayerts, Carlier is lazy and unfit for his job at the trading station. However, he is keen...