Page 79 - HEART OF DARKNESS

Heart of Darkness

boat, for in sober truth I expected the wretched thing to
give up every moment. It was like watching the last
flickers of a life. But still we crawled. Sometimes I would
pick out a tree a little way ahead to measure our progress

towards Kurtz by, but I lost it invariably before we got
abreast. To keep the eyes so long on one thing was too
much for human patience. The manager displayed a
beautiful resignation. I fretted and fumed and took to
arguing with myself whether or no I would talk openly
with Kurtz; but before I could come to any conclusion it
occurred to me that my speech or my silence, indeed any
action of mine, would be a mere futility. What did it
matter what any one knew or ignored? What did it matter
who was manager? One gets sometimes such a flash of
insight. The essentials of this affair lay deep under the
surface, beyond my reach, and beyond my power of
meddling.
‘Towards the evening of the second day we judged
ourselves about eight miles from Kurtz’s station. I wanted
to push on; but the manager looked grave, and told me
the navigation up there was so dangerous that it would be
advisable, the sun being very low already, to wait where
we were till next morning. Moreover, he pointed out that
if the warning to approach cautiously were to be followed,

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