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- Джозеф Конрад
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- Стр. 39/95
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But
how
could
you
bargain
with
a
man
of
that
sort
?
It
was
like
going
into
a
tiger
's
den
with
a
piece
of
raw
meat
in
your
hand
.
He
was
as
likely
as
not
to
rend
you
for
your
pains
.
In
fact
,
he
was
always
threatening
to
do
that
very
thing
;
and
the
urgency
of
the
case
,
combined
with
the
impossibility
of
handling
it
with
safety
,
made
Sterne
in
his
watches
below
toss
and
mutter
open-eyed
in
his
bunk
,
for
hours
,
as
though
he
had
been
burning
with
fever
.
Occurrences
like
the
crossing
of
the
bar
just
now
were
extremely
alarming
to
his
prospects
.
He
did
not
want
to
be
left
behind
by
some
swift
catastrophe
.
Massy
being
on
the
bridge
,
the
old
man
had
to
brace
himself
up
and
make
a
show
,
he
supposed
.
But
it
was
getting
very
bad
with
him
,
very
bad
indeed
,
now
.
Even
Massy
had
been
emboldened
to
find
fault
this
time
;
Sterne
,
listening
at
the
foot
of
the
ladder
,
had
heard
the
other
's
whimpering
and
artless
denunciations
.
Luckily
the
beast
was
very
stupid
and
could
not
see
the
why
of
all
this
.
However
,
small
blame
to
him
;
it
took
a
clever
man
to
hit
upon
the
cause
.
Nevertheless
,
it
was
high
time
to
do
something
.
The
old
man
's
game
could
not
be
kept
up
for
many
days
more
.
"
I
may
yet
lose
my
life
at
this
fooling
--
let
alone
my
chance
,
"
Sterne
mumbled
angrily
to
himself
,
after
the
stooping
back
of
the
chief
engineer
had
disappeared
round
the
corner
of
the
skylight
.
Yes
,
no
doubt
--
he
thought
;
but
to
blurt
out
his
knowledge
would
not
advance
his
prospects
.
On
the
contrary
,
it
would
blast
them
utterly
as
likely
as
not
.
He
dreaded
another
failure
.
He
had
a
vague
consciousness
of
not
being
much
liked
by
his
fellows
in
this
part
of
the
world
;
inexplicably
enough
,
for
he
had
done
nothing
to
them
.
Envy
,
he
supposed
.
People
were
always
down
on
a
clever
chap
who
made
no
bones
about
his
determination
to
get
on
.
To
do
your
duty
and
count
on
the
gratitude
of
that
brute
Massy
would
be
sheer
folly
.
He
was
a
bad
lot
.
Unmanly
!
A
vicious
man
!
Bad
!
Bad
!
A
brute
!
A
brute
without
a
spark
of
anything
human
about
him
;
without
so
much
as
simple
curiosity
even
,
or
else
surely
he
would
have
responded
in
some
way
to
all
these
hints
he
had
been
given
...
Such
insensibility
was
almost
mysterious
.
Massy
's
state
of
exasperation
seemed
to
Sterne
to
have
made
him
stupid
beyond
the
ordinary
silliness
of
shipowners
.
Sterne
,
meditating
on
the
embarrassments
of
that
stupidity
,
forgot
himself
completely
.
His
stony
,
unwinking
stare
was
fixed
on
the
planks
of
the
deck
.
The
slight
quiver
agitating
the
whole
fabric
of
the
ship
was
more
perceptible
in
the
silent
river
,
shaded
and
still
like
a
forest
path
.
The
Sofala
,
gliding
with
an
even
motion
,
had
passed
beyond
the
coast-belt
of
mud
and
mangroves
.
The
shores
rose
higher
,
in
firm
sloping
banks
,
and
the
forest
of
big
trees
came
down
to
the
brink
.
Where
the
earth
had
been
crumbled
by
the
floods
it
showed
a
steep
brown
cut
,
denuding
a
mass
of
roots
intertwined
as
if
wrestling
underground
;
and
in
the
air
,
the
interlaced
boughs
,
bound
and
loaded
with
creepers
,
carried
on
the
struggle
for
life
,
mingled
their
foliage
in
one
solid
wall
of
leaves
,
with
here
and
there
the
shape
of
an
enormous
dark
pillar
soaring
,
or
a
ragged
opening
,
as
if
torn
by
the
flight
of
a
cannonball
,
disclosing
the
impenetrable
gloom
within
,
the
secular
inviolable
shade
of
the
virgin
forest
.
The
thump
of
the
engines
reverberated
regularly
like
the
strokes
of
a
metronome
beating
the
measure
of
the
vast
silence
,
the
shadow
of
the
western
wall
had
fallen
across
the
river
,
and
the
smoke
pouring
backwards
from
the
funnel
eddied
down
behind
the
ship
,
spread
a
thin
dusky
veil
over
the
somber
water
,
which
,
checked
by
the
flood-tide
,
seemed
to
lie
stagnant
in
the
whole
straight
length
of
the
reaches
.
Sterne
's
body
,
as
if
rooted
on
the
spot
,
trembled
slightly
from
top
to
toe
with
the
internal
vibration
of
the
ship
;
from
under
his
feet
came
sometimes
a
sudden
clang
of
iron
,
the
noisy
burst
of
a
shout
below
;
to
the
right
the
leaves
of
the
tree-tops
caught
the
rays
of
the
low
sun
,
and
seemed
to
shine
with
a
golden
green
light
of
their
own
shimmering
around
the
highest
boughs
which
stood
out
black
against
a
smooth
blue
sky
that
seemed
to
droop
over
the
bed
of
the
river
like
the
roof
of
a
tent
.
The
passengers
for
Batu
Beru
,
kneeling
on
the
planks
,
were
engaged
in
rolling
their
bedding
of
mats
busily
;
they
tied
up
bundles
,
they
snapped
the
locks
of
wooden
chests
.
A
pockmarked
peddler
of
small
wares
threw
his
head
back
to
drain
into
his
throat
the
last
drops
out
of
an
earthenware
bottle
before
putting
it
away
in
a
roll
of
blankets
.
Knots
of
traveling
traders
standing
about
the
deck
conversed
in
low
tones
;
the
followers
of
a
small
Rajah
from
down
the
coast
,
broad-faced
,
simple
young
fellows
in
white
drawers
and
round
white
cotton
caps
with
their
colored
sarongs
twisted
across
their
bronze
shoulders
,
squatted
on
their
hams
on
the
hatch
,
chewing
betel
with
bright
red
mouths
as
if
they
had
been
tasting
blood
.
Their
spears
,
lying
piled
up
together
within
the
circle
of
their
bare
toes
,
resembled
a
casual
bundle
of
dry
bamboos
;
a
thin
,
livid
Chinaman
,
with
a
bulky
package
wrapped
up
in
leaves
already
thrust
under
his
arm
,
gazed
ahead
eagerly
;
a
wandering
Kling
rubbed
his
teeth
with
a
bit
of
wood
,
pouring
over
the
side
a
bright
stream
of
water
out
of
his
lips
;
the
fat
Rajah
dozed
in
a
shabby
deck-chair
,
--
and
at
the
turn
of
every
bend
the
two
walls
of
leaves
reappeared
running
parallel
along
the
banks
,
with
their
impenetrable
solidity
fading
at
the
top
to
a
vaporous
mistiness
of
countless
slender
twigs
growing
free
,
of
young
delicate
branches
shooting
from
the
topmost
limbs
of
hoary
trunks
,
of
feathery
heads
of
climbers
like
delicate
silver
sprays
standing
up
without
a
quiver
.
There
was
not
a
sign
of
a
clearing
anywhere
;
not
a
trace
of
human
habitation
,
except
when
in
one
place
,
on
the
bare
end
of
a
low
point
under
an
isolated
group
of
slender
tree-ferns
,
the
jagged
,
tangled
remnants
of
an
old
hut
on
piles
appeared
with
that
peculiar
aspect
of
ruined
bamboo
walls
that
look
as
if
smashed
with
a
club
.
Farther
on
,
half
hidden
under
the
drooping
bushes
,
a
canoe
containing
a
man
and
a
woman
,
together
with
a
dozen
green
cocoanuts
in
a
heap
,
rocked
helplessly
after
the
Sofala
had
passed
,
like
a
navigating
contrivance
of
venturesome
insects
,
of
traveling
ants
;
while
two
glassy
folds
of
water
streaming
away
from
each
bow
of
the
steamer
across
the
whole
width
of
the
river
ran
with
her
up
stream
smoothly
,
fretting
their
outer
ends
into
a
brown
whispering
tumble
of
froth
against
the
miry
foot
of
each
bank
.
