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- Джозеф Конрад
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Always
--
as
he
was
ready
to
confess
--
on
the
lookout
for
an
opening
to
get
on
,
it
had
become
an
instinct
with
him
to
watch
the
conduct
of
his
immediate
superiors
for
something
"
that
one
could
lay
hold
of
.
"
It
was
his
belief
that
no
skipper
in
the
world
would
keep
his
command
for
a
day
if
only
the
owners
could
be
"
made
to
know
.
"
This
romantic
and
naive
theory
had
led
him
into
trouble
more
than
once
,
but
he
remained
incorrigible
;
and
his
character
was
so
instinctively
disloyal
that
whenever
he
joined
a
ship
the
intention
of
ousting
his
commander
out
of
the
berth
and
taking
his
place
was
always
present
at
the
back
of
his
head
,
as
a
matter
of
course
.
It
filled
the
leisure
of
his
waking
hours
with
the
reveries
of
careful
plans
and
compromising
discoveries
--
the
dreams
of
his
sleep
with
images
of
lucky
turns
and
favorable
accidents
.
Skippers
had
been
known
to
sicken
and
die
at
sea
,
than
which
nothing
could
be
better
to
give
a
smart
mate
a
chance
of
showing
what
he
's
made
of
.
They
also
would
tumble
overboard
sometimes
:
he
had
heard
of
one
or
two
such
cases
.
Others
again
...
But
,
as
it
were
constitutionally
,
he
was
faithful
to
the
belief
that
the
conduct
of
no
single
one
of
them
would
stand
the
test
of
careful
watching
by
a
man
who
"
knew
what
's
what
"
and
who
kept
his
eyes
"
skinned
pretty
well
"
all
the
time
.
After
he
had
gained
a
permanent
footing
on
board
the
Sofala
he
allowed
his
perennial
hope
to
rise
high
.
To
begin
with
,
it
was
a
great
advantage
to
have
an
old
man
for
captain
:
the
sort
of
man
besides
who
in
the
nature
of
things
was
likely
to
give
up
the
job
before
long
from
one
cause
or
another
.
Sterne
was
greatly
chagrined
,
however
,
to
notice
that
he
did
not
seem
anyway
near
being
past
his
work
yet
.
Still
,
these
old
men
go
to
pieces
all
at
once
sometimes
.
Then
there
was
the
owner-engineer
close
at
hand
to
be
impressed
by
his
zeal
and
steadiness
.
Sterne
never
for
a
moment
doubted
the
obvious
nature
of
his
own
merits
(
he
was
really
an
excellent
officer
)
;
only
,
nowadays
,
professional
merit
alone
does
not
take
a
man
along
fast
enough
.
A
chap
must
have
some
push
in
him
,
and
must
keep
his
wits
at
work
too
to
help
him
forward
.
He
made
up
his
mind
to
inherit
the
charge
of
this
steamer
if
it
was
to
be
done
at
all
;
not
indeed
estimating
the
command
of
the
Sofala
as
a
very
great
catch
,
but
for
the
reason
that
,
out
East
especially
,
to
make
a
start
is
everything
,
and
one
command
leads
to
another
.
He
began
by
promising
himself
to
behave
with
great
circumspection
;
Massy
's
somber
and
fantastic
humors
intimidated
him
as
being
outside
one
's
usual
sea
experience
;
but
he
was
quite
intelligent
enough
to
realize
almost
from
the
first
that
he
was
there
in
the
presence
of
an
exceptional
situation
.
His
peculiar
prying
imagination
penetrated
it
quickly
;
the
feeling
that
there
was
in
it
an
element
which
eluded
his
grasp
exasperated
his
impatience
to
get
on
.
And
so
one
trip
came
to
an
end
,
then
another
,
and
he
had
begun
his
third
before
he
saw
an
opening
by
which
he
could
step
in
with
any
sort
of
effect
.
It
had
all
been
very
queer
and
very
obscure
;
something
had
been
going
on
near
him
,
as
if
separated
by
a
chasm
from
the
common
life
and
the
working
routine
of
the
ship
,
which
was
exactly
like
the
life
and
the
routine
of
any
other
coasting
steamer
of
that
class
.
Then
one
day
he
made
his
discovery
.
It
came
to
him
after
all
these
weeks
of
watchful
observation
and
puzzled
surmises
,
suddenly
,
like
the
long-sought
solution
of
a
riddle
that
suggests
itself
to
the
mind
in
a
flash
.
Not
with
the
same
authority
,
however
.
Great
heavens
!
Could
it
be
that
?
And
after
remaining
thunderstruck
for
a
few
seconds
he
tried
to
shake
it
off
with
self-contumely
,
as
though
it
had
been
the
product
of
an
unhealthy
bias
towards
the
Incredible
,
the
Inexplicable
,
the
Unheard-of
--
the
Mad
!
This
--
the
illuminating
moment
--
had
occurred
the
trip
before
,
on
the
return
passage
.
They
had
just
left
a
place
of
call
on
the
mainland
called
Pangu
;
they
were
steaming
straight
out
of
a
bay
.
To
the
east
a
massive
headland
closed
the
view
,
with
the
tilted
edges
of
the
rocky
strata
showing
through
its
ragged
clothing
of
rank
bushes
and
thorny
creepers
.
The
wind
had
begun
to
sing
in
the
rigging
;
the
sea
along
the
coast
,
green
and
as
if
swollen
a
little
above
the
line
of
the
horizon
,
seemed
to
pour
itself
over
,
time
after
time
,
with
a
slow
and
thundering
fall
,
into
the
shadow
of
the
leeward
cape
;
and
across
the
wide
opening
the
nearest
of
a
group
of
small
islands
stood
enveloped
in
the
hazy
yellow
light
of
a
breezy
sunrise
;
still
farther
out
the
hummocky
tops
of
other
islets
peeped
out
motionless
above
the
water
of
the
channels
between
,
scoured
tumultuously
by
the
breeze
.
The
usual
track
of
the
Sofala
both
going
and
returning
on
every
trip
led
her
for
a
few
miles
along
this
reefinfested
region
.
She
followed
a
broad
lane
of
water
,
dropping
astern
,
one
after
another
,
these
crumbs
of
the
earth
's
crust
resembling
a
squadron
of
dismasted
hulks
run
in
disorder
upon
a
foul
ground
of
rocks
and
shoals
.
