Trascrizione completa di Chapter 2 Part 2

action was very 70 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.360 far from being aggressive. It was not even defensive in 71 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:36.199 the usual sense. It was undertaken under the stress of desperation, 72 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:41.519 and in its essence was purely protective. It developed itself, 73 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.959 I should say, two hours after the fog lifted, and 74 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.240 its commencement was at a spot, roughly speaking, about a 75 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:51.800 mile and a half below Kurtz's station. We had just 76 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:54.759 floundered and flopped round a bend when I saw an islet, 77 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:57.399 a mere grassy hummock of bright green in the middle 78 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.879 of the stream. It was the only thing of the 79 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:02.800 But as we opened the reach more I perceived it 80 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:05.360 was the head of a long sand bank, or rather 81 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.959 of a chain of shallow patches stretching down the middle 82 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:12.879 of the river. They were discolored just a wash, and 83 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.920 the whole lot was seen under the water, exactly as 84 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.120 a man's backbone is seen running down the middle of 85 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:21.920 his back under the skin. Now, as far as I 86 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.079 did see, I could go to the right or to 87 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:27.399 the left of this. I didn't know either channel. Of course, 88 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:31.600 the banks looked pretty well alike, the depth appeared the same. 89 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.040 But as I had been informed the station was on 90 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:39.680 the west side, I naturally headed for the western passage. 91 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.000 No sooner had we fairly entered it than I became 92 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.600 aware it was much narrower than I had supposed. To 93 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.199 the left of us there was the long, uninterrupted shoal, 94 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.439 and to the right a high steep bank, heavily overgrown 95 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:58.160 with bushes. Above the bush, the trees stood in serried ranks. 96 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:02.759 The twigs overhung the current thickly, and from distance to distance, 97 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:07.240 a large limb of some tree projected rigidly over the stream. 98 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:11.160 It was then well on in the afternoon. The face 99 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:13.800 of the forest was gloomy, and a broad strip of 100 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:17.959 shadow had already fallen on the water in this shadow. 101 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:21.720 We steamed up very slowly. As you may imagine, I 102 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:25.040 sheared her well inshore, the water being deepest near the bank. 103 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:29.759 As the sounding pole informed me, one of my hungry 104 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:32.800 and forbearing friends was sounding in the boughs just below me. 105 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:36.959 This steamboat was exactly like a decked scow. On the 106 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.639 deck there were two little teak wood houses with doors 107 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:43.199 and windows. The boiler was in the fore end, and 108 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:47.120 the machinery right astern. Over the whole there was a 109 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:52.040 light roof supported on stanchions. The funnel projected through that roof, 110 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:54.720 and in front of the funnel a small cabin built 111 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.759 of light planks served for a pilot house. It contained 112 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:02.920 a couch, too, campstools, a loaded martini henry leaning in 113 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:08.040 one corner, a tiny table, and the steering wheel. It 114 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:10.519 had a wide door in front and a broad shutter 115 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:14.720 at each side. All these were always thrown open. Of course, 116 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.240 I spent my days perched up there on the extreme 117 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:22.000 fore end of that roof, before the door. At night 118 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:26.879 I slept or tried to on the couch. An athletic 119 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:30.319 black belonging to some coast tribe and educated by my 120 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.759 poor predecessor was the helmsman. He sported a pair of 121 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:38.360 brass earrings, wore a blue cloth wrapper from the waist 122 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.360 to the ankles, and thought all the world of himself. 123 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:44.399 He was the most unstable kind of fool I had 124 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:48.040 ever seen. He steered with no end of a swagger 125 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:50.759 while you were by, but if he lost sight of you, 126 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.120 he became instantly the prey of an abject funk, and 127 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:56.439 would let that cripple of a steamboat get the upper 128 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:59.759 hand of him. In a minute, I was looking down 129 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:02.680 at the sound pole and feeling much annoyed to see 130 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:05.560 at each try a little more of it stuck out 131 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.279 of that river, when I saw my poleman give up 132 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:11.240 on the business suddenly and stretch himself flat on the deck, 133 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.720 without even taking the trouble to haul his pole in. 134 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.120 He kept hold on it, though, and it trailed in 135 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:21.199 the water. At the same time, the firemen, whom I 136 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.160 could also see below me, sat down abruptly before his 137 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.240 furnace and ducked his head. I was amazed. Then I 138 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:30.439 had to look at the river mighty quick, because there

139 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:34.600 was a snag in the fairway. Sticks, little sticks were 140 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:39.679 flying about, thick they were whizzing before my nose, dropping 141 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:44.080 below me, striking behind me against my pilot house. All 142 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:48.440 this time, the river, the shore, the woods were very quiet, 143 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:53.919 perfectly quiet. I could only hear the heavy splashing thump 144 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:56.679 of the stern wheal and the patter of these things. 145 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:01.879 We cleared the snag clumsily. Arrows. By jove, we were 146 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:06.120 being shot at. I stepped in quickly to close the shutter. 147 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:09.279 On the land side. That fool helmsman, his hands on 148 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:12.480 the spokes, was lifting his knees high, stamping his feet, 149 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:17.200 champing his mouth like a reined in hoarse confound him, 150 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:19.679 and we were staggering within ten feet of the bank. 151 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.840 I had to lean right out to swing the heavy shudder, 152 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:25.120 and I saw a face amongst the leaves on the 153 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.679 level with my own, looking at me, very fierce and steady. 154 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.279 And then, suddenly, as though a veil had been removed 155 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:35.919 from my eyes, I made out deep in the tangled gloom, 156 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:44.080 naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes. The bush was swarming 157 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:48.200 with human limbs and movement, glistening of Braun's color. The 158 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:51.759 twig shook, swayed, and rustled. The arrows flew out of them, 159 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.120 and then the shutter came too. Steer her straight, I 160 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.679 said to the helmsman. He held his head rigid, face forward, 161 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.159 but his eyes rolled. He kept on lifting and setting 162 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.799 down his feet gently. His mouth foamed a little. Keep quiet, 163 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.720 I said, in a fury. I might just as well 164 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:12.879 have ordered a tree not to sway in the wind. 165 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.320 I darted out below me. There was a great scuffle 166 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:21.600 of feet on the iron deck, confused exclamations. A voice screamed, 167 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.639 can you turn back? I caught sight of a V 168 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:30.360 shaped ripple on the water ahead. What another snag? A 169 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:34.120 fusillade burst out under my feet. The pilgrims had opened 170 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:37.840 with their winchesters and were simply squirting lead into that bush. 171 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:40.159 A deuce of a lot of smoke came up and 172 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:44.360 drove slowly forward. I swore at it. Now. I couldn't 173 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:47.759 see the ripple or the snag either. I stood in 174 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:51.480 the doorway peering, and the arrows came in swarms. They 175 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.639 might have been poisoned, but they looked as though they 176 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:57.960 wouldn't kill a cat. The bush began to howl. Our 177 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.440 woodcutters raised a warlike whoop. The report of a rifle 178 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:05.080 just at my back deafened me. I glanced over my shoulder, 179 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:08.000 and the pilot house was yet full of noise and smoke. 180 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:11.200 When I made a dash at the wheel, the fool 181 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.480 nigger had dropped everything to throw the shutter open and 182 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.080 let off that Martini Henry. He stood before the wide opening, glaring, 183 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:21.360 and I yelled at him to come back while I 184 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:25.039 straightened the sudden twist out of that steamboat. There was 185 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:27.120 no room to turn, even if I had wanted to. 186 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:30.720 The snag was somewhere very near ahead. In that confounded smoke. 187 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:34.000 There was no time to lose, so I just crowded 188 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.600 her into the bank, right into the bank, where I 189 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:40.600 knew the water was deep. We tore slowly along the 190 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:44.679 overhanging bushes in a whirl of broken twigs and flying leaves. 191 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:48.440 The fuselade below stopped short, as I had foreseen it 192 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.799 would when the squirts got empty. I threw my head 193 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:55.000 back to a glinting whiz that traversed the pilot house 194 00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:57.679 in at one shutter hole and out at the other. 195 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:02.559 Looking past that mad helmsman who was shaking the empty 196 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.600 rifle and yelling at the shore, I saw vague forms 197 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:12.799 of men running bent double leaping, gliding distinct, incomplete evanescent. 198 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:17.799 Something big appeared in the air before the shutter. The 199 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:21.720 rifle went overboard, and the man stepped back swiftly, looked 200 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:25.559 at me over his shoulder in an extraordinary, profound, familiar manner, 201 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.120 and fell upon my feet. The side of his head 202 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:33.960 hit the wheel twice, and the end of what appeared 203 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.000 a long cane clattered round and knocked over a little 204 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.919 camp stool. It looked as though after wrenching that thing 205 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:44.000 from somebody ashore, he had lost his balance in the effort. 206 00:12:45.879 -->

00:12:48.679 The thin smoke had blown away. We were clear of 207 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:51.200 the snag, and looking ahead I could see that in 208 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:53.799 another hundred yards or so I would be free to 209 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:57.879 shear off away from the bank. But my feet felt 210 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.759 so very warm and wet that I had to look down. 211 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:05.039 The man had rolled on his back and stared straight 212 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:09.480 up at me. Both his hands clutched that cane. It 213 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.360 was the shaft of a spear that either thrown or 214 00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:15.159 lunged through the opening, had caught him in the side, 215 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:18.799 just below the ribs. The blade had gone in out 216 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.799 of sight after making a frightful gash. My shoes were 217 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:28.159 full a pool of blood lay very still, gleaming dark 218 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:32.679 red under the wheel. His eyes shone with an amazing luster. 219 00:13:34.360 --> 00:13:37.919 The fusillade burst out again. He looked at me anxiously, 220 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.320 gripping the spear like something precious, with an air of 221 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.159 being afraid I would try to take it away from him. 222 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:46.799 I had to make an effort to free my eyes 223 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.879 from his gaze and attend to the steering. With one hand, 224 00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:52.759 I felt above my head for the line of the 225 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:57.600 steam whistle, and jerked out screech after screech hurriedly. The 226 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.919 tumult of angry and warlike yells were checked inside, and 227 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:02.879 then from the depths of the woods went out such 228 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.919 a tremulous and prolonged wail of mournful fear and utter 229 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:10.360 despair as may be imagined to follow the flight of 230 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:14.279 the last hope from the earth. There was a great 231 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:18.360 commotion in the bush. The shower of arrows stopped, a 232 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:23.480 few dropping shots rang out sharply, then silence, in which 233 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.879 the languid beat of the stern wheel came plainly to 234 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.200 my ears. I put the helm hard a starboard. At 235 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:34.080 the moment when the pilgrim in pink pajamas, very hot 236 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:38.639 and agitated appeared in the doorway, the manager sends me. 237 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:44.039 He began in an official tone and stopped short. Good God, 238 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:49.519 he said, glaring at the wounded man. We two whites 239 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:53.679 stood over him, and his lustrous and inquiring glance enveloped 240 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:57.559 us both. I declare, it looked as though he would 241 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:02.200 presently put to us some questions in an understandable language. 242 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:06.320 But he died without uttering a sound, without moving a limb, 243 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:12.559 without twitching a muscle. Only in the very last moment, 244 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:15.679 as though in response to some sign we could not see, 245 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:19.440 to some whisper we could not hear, he frowned heavily, 246 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:23.799 and that frown gave to his black death mask, an 247 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:31.960 inconceivably somber, brooding and menacing expression. The luster of inquiring 248 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:39.320 glance faded swiftly into vacant glassiness. Can you steer, I 249 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:43.720 asked the agent eagerly. He looked very dubious. But I 250 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.360 made a grab at his arm, and he understood at once. 251 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:49.919 I meant him to steer, whether or no. To tell 252 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:52.159 you the truth, I was morbidly anxious to change my 253 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:59.080 shoes and socks. He is dead, murmured the fellow, immensely impressed. No, 254 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:02.159 doubt about it, said I, tugging like mad at the 255 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:05.440 shoe laces. And by the way, I suppose mister Kurtz 256 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:09.120 is dead as well. By this time, For the moment 257 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:12.080 that was the dominant thought, there was a sense of 258 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.320 extreme disappointment, as though I had found out I had 259 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.840 been striving after something altogether without a substance. I couldn't 260 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.000 have been more disgusted if I had traveled all this 261 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:25.080 way for the sole purpose of talking with mister Kurtz. 262 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:30.919 Talking with I flung one shoe overboard and became aware 263 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.360 that that was exactly what I had been looking forward to, 264 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:40.000 a talk with Kurts. I made the strange discovery that 265 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:44.240 I had never imagined him as doing, you know, but discoursing. 266 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:48.559 I didn't say to myself, now I will never see him, 267 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.679 or now I will never shake him by the hand. 268 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:58.399 But now I will never hear him. The man presented 269 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.679 himself as a voice, not of course, that I did 270 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.599 not connect him with some sort of action. Hadn't I 271 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.119 been told, in all the tones of jealousy and admiration, 272 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.640 that he had collected, bartered, swindled, or stolen more ivory 273 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.599 than all the other agents altogether. That was not the point. 274 00:17:16.599 -->

00:17:19.720 The point was in his being a gifted creature, and 275 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:22.319 that all of his gifts, the one that stood out 276 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.359 pre eminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, 277 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:33.920 was his ability to talk, his words, the gift of expression, 278 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:41.519 the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, 279 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:47.440 the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from 280 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:52.640 the heart of an impenetrable darkness. The other she went 281 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:55.599 flying unto the devil god of that river. I thought, 282 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.480 by Jove, it's all over. We're too late. He has vanished. 283 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.880 The gift tis vanished by means of some spear, arrow, 284 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:06.240 or club. I will never hear that chap speak after all, 285 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.240 And my sorrow had a startling extravagance of emotion, even 286 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:13.440 such as I had noticed in the howling sorrow of 287 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:17.279 these savages in the bush. I couldn't have felt more 288 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:20.920 of lonely desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief, 289 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:24.960 or had missed my destiny in life? Why do you 290 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:33.319 sigh in this beastly way? Somebody absurd? Well absurd? Good Lord, 291 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:38.960 mustn't a man ever hear? Give me some tobacco. There 292 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:42.759 was a pause of profound stillness. Then a match flared, 293 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:48.880 and Marlow's lean face appeared worn hollow, with downward folds 294 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:54.799 and dropped eyelids, with an aspect of concentrated attention, And 295 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:58.000 as he took vigorous draws at his pipe, it seemed 296 00:18:58.039 --> 00:19:00.960 to retreat and advance out of the night. In the 297 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:08.319 regular flicker of tiny flame, the match went out. Absurd, 298 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:13.119 he cried, This is the worst of trying to tell here. 299 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:16.400 You all are each moored with two good addresses, like 300 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:19.680 a hulk with two anchors, a butcher round one corner, 301 00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:24.680 a policeman round another. Excellent appetites and temperature normal. You 302 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:29.359 hear normal from year's end to year's end, and you 303 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:36.720 say absurd, absurd, be exploded. Absurd, My dear boys, what 304 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.680 can you expect from a man who, out of sheer nervousness, 305 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.279 had just flung overboard a pair of new shoes. Now 306 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:45.160 I think of it, it is amazing. I did not 307 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:50.119 shed tears. I

am upon the whole proud of my fortitude. 308 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:52.839 I was cut to the quick at the idea of 309 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:57.240 having lost the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted kerts. 310 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:02.880 Of course I was wrong. The privilege was waiting for me. 311 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:07.119 Oh yes, I heard more than enough, and I was 312 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.960 right too. A voice, he was very little more than 313 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:20.599 a voice, and I heard him it this voice, other voices, 314 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:24.480 all of them were so little more than voices. And 315 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:28.720 the memory of that time itself lingers around me, impalpable, 316 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:34.920 like a dying vibration of one immense jabber, silly, atrocious, sordid, 317 00:20:35.640 --> 00:20:43.519 savage or simply mean, without any kind of sense, voices, voices, 318 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:50.079 even the girl herself. Now he was silent for a 319 00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:57.000 long time. I laid the ghost of his gifts at 320 00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:02.880 last with a lie. He began suddenly, Girl, What did 321 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.680 I mention a girl? Oh? She is out of it completely, 322 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.519 They the women, I mean, are out of it. Should 323 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:11.839 be out of it. We must help them to stay 324 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:15.640 in that beautiful world of their own lest ours gets worse. Oh, 325 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:17.680 she had to be out of it. You should have 326 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:21.920 heard the disinterred body of mister Kurt saying my intended. 327 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:26.680 You would have perceived directly then how completely she was 328 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.039 out of it. And the lofty frontal bone of mister 329 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:34.599 Kurt's they say, the hair goes on growing sometimes but 330 00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:41.039 this ah specimen was impressively bald. The wilderness had patted 331 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:44.119 him on the head, and behold, it was like a ball, 332 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:48.960 an ivory ball. It had caressed him, and lo he 333 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:54.359 had withered. It had taken him, loved him, embraced him, 334 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:59.119 got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his 335 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:03.000 soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some 336 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:10.319 devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite ivory. 337 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:14.160 I should think so. Heaps of it, stacks of it. 338 00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:17.920 The old mud shanty was bursting with it. You would 339 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:20.279 think there was not a single tusk left either above 340 00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:23.920 or below the ground in the whole country. Mostly fossil, 341 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:28.079 the manager had remarked

disparagingly. It was no more fossil 342 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:30.480 than I am. But they call it fossil when it 343 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:33.759 is dug up. It appears these niggers do bury the 344 00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:38.039 tusks sometimes, But evidently they couldn't bury this parcel deep enough. 345 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:41.680 To save the gifted mister Kurtz from his fate, we 346 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:44.200 filled the steamboat with it and had to pile a 347 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:47.319 lot on the deck. Thus he could see and enjoy 348 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:50.559 as long as he could see, because the appreciation of 349 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:54.640 this favor had remained with him to the last. You 350 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:58.920 should have heard him say, my ivory. Oh yes, I 351 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:05.240 heard him. My intended, my ivory, my station, my river, 352 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:11.200 my everything belonged to him. It made me hold my 353 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.559 breath in expectation of hearing the wilderness burst into a 354 00:23:14.599 --> 00:23:18.319 prodigious peal of laughter that would shake the fixed stars 355 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:23.000 in their places. Everything belonged to him. But that was 356 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:27.119 a trifle. The thing was to know what he belonged to, 357 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:31.000 How many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. 358 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:35.039 That was a reflection that made you creepy all over. 359 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:39.039 It was impossible. It was not good for one either, 360 00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:42.920 trying to imagine he had taken a high seat amongst 361 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:47.480 the devils of the land. I mean, literally, you can't understand. 362 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:51.680 How could you, with solid pavement under your feet, surrounded 363 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.200 by kind neighbors ready to cheer you or to fall 364 00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.880 on you, stepping delicately between the butcher and the policemen, 365 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:02.640 in the holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums. 366 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.319 How can you imagine what particular region of the first 367 00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:10.119 ages a man's untrammeled feet may take him into by 368 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:14.720 the way of solitude, utter solitude without a policeman, by 369 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:18.480 the way of silence, utter silence where no warning voice 370 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:21.920 of a kind neighbor can be heard, whispering of public opinion. 371 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.799 These little things make all the great difference. When they 372 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:29.960 are gone, you must fall back on your own innate strength, 373 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:35.079 upon your own capacity for faithfulness. Of course, you may 374 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:37.599 be too much of a fool to go wrong, too 375 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:39.839 dull even to know you are being assaulted by the 376 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:44.359 powers of darkness. I take it no fool ever made 377 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.720 a bargain for his soul with the devil. The fool 378 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:50.359 is too much of a fool, or the devil too 379 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:54.039 much of a devil, I don't know which. Or you 380 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:57.119 may be such a thunderingly exalted creature as to be 381 00:24:57.160 --> 00:25:00.799 altogether deaf and blind to anything but heavenly sight and sounds. 382 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:04.319 Then the earth for you is only a standing place. 383 00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:07.119 And whether to be like this is your loss or 384 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.799 your gain. I won't pretend to say. But most of 385 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.160 us are neither one nor the other. The earth for 386 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:15.519 us is a place to live in where we must 387 00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:20.039 put up with sights, with sounds, with smells too. By Jove, 388 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:24.279 breathe dead hippo so to speak and not be contaminated. 389 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.839 And there, don't you see. Your strength comes in that faith, 390 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:33.240 in your ability for the digging of unostentatious holes to 391 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:36.960 bury the stuff, in your power of devotion not to 392 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:44.599 yourself but to an obscure, backbreaking business. And that's difficult enough. Mind. 393 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:47.960 I am not trying to excuse or even explain. I 394 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:52.880 am trying to account myself for for mister Kurtz, for 395 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:57.440 the shade of mister Kurtz. This initiated wrath from the 396 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:01.079 back of nowhere honored me with its amazing confidence before 397 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:05.000 it vanished altogether. This was because it could speak English 398 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.799 to me. The original Curts had been educated partly in England, 399 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.799 and as he was good enough to say himself, his 400 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:17.200 sympathies were in the right place. His mother was half English, 401 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:21.720 his father was half French. All Europe contributed to the 402 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:24.759 making of Kurts. And by and by I learned that, 403 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:29.319 most appropriately, the International Society for the Suppression of Savage 404 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:32.960 Customs had entrusted him with the making of a report 405 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.119 for its future guidance, and he had written it too. 406 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:42.759 I've seen it, I've read it. It was eloquent vibrating 407 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:47.720 with eloquence, but too high strung. I think seventeen pages 408 00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:51.799 of close writing he had found time for. But this 409

00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:57.000 must have been before his let us say, nerves went 410 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:00.920 wrong and caused him to preside at certain midnight dances 411 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:05.759 ending with unspeakable rights, which, as far as I reluctantly 412 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:09.200 gathered from what I heard at various times, were offered 413 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:13.119 up to him, do you understand, to mister Kurtz himself. 414 00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:17.839 But it was a beautiful piece of writing. The opening paragraph, however, 415 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:21.400 in the light of later information, strikes me now as ominous. 416 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:25.319 He began with the argument that we whites, from the 417 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:29.839 point of development we had arrived at, must necessarily appear 418 00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:34.640 to them savages. In the nature of supernatural beings, we 419 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:37.920 approached them with the might of a deity, and so 420 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:42.160 on and so on. By this simple exercise of our will, 421 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:46.559 we can exert a power for good, practically unbounded, et cetera, 422 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:50.480 et cetera. From that point he soared and took me 423 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:56.119 with him. The peroration was magnificent, though difficult to remember. 424 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:59.400 You know, it gave me the notion of an exotic 425 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:04.680 immensity ruled by an august benevolence. It made me tingle 426 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:09.920 with enthusiasm. This was the unbounded power of eloquence of words, 427 00:28:10.519 --> 00:28:15.160 of burning noble words. There were no practical hints to 428 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:18.720 interrupt the magical current of phrases, unless a kind note 429 00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:21.680 at the foot of the last page, scrawled evidently much 430 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.920 later in an unsteady hand, may be regarded as the 431 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:29.160 exposition of a method. It was very simple, and at 432 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:32.720 the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic sentiment, 433 00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:36.920 it blazed at you, luminous and terrifying, like a flash 434 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:42.720 of lightning in a serene sky. Exterminate all the brutes. 435 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:49.279 The curious part was that he had apparently forgotten all 436 00:28:49.319 --> 00:28:54.119 about that valuable postscriptum, because later on, when he, in 437 00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:57.759 a sense came to himself, he repeatedly entreated me to 438 00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:02.680 take good care of my pamphlet. He called it, as 439 00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:04.400 it was sure to have in the future a good 440 00:29:04.440 --> 00:29:08.920 influence upon his career. I had full information about all 441 00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:12.480 these things, and besides, as it turned out, I was 442 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:16.200 to have the care of his memory. I've done enough 443 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:18.559 for it to give me the undisputable right to lay 444 00:29:18.599 --> 00:29:21.480 it if I choose for an everlasting rest in the 445 00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:26.160 dust bin of progress, amongst all the sweepings, and figuratively speaking, 446 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:31.200 all the dead cats of civilization. But then you see, 447 00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:37.440 I can't choose. He won't be forgotten. Whatever he was, 448 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:42.920 he was not common. He had the power to charm 449 00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:47.319 or frighten rudimentary souls into an aggravated witch dance in 450 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:51.960 his honor. He could also fill the small souls of 451 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:57.240 the pilgrims with bitter misgivings. He had one devoted friend 452 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.759 at least, and he had conquered one soul in the 453 00:29:59.799 --> 00:30:05.039 way world that was neither rudimentary nor tainted with self seeking. No, 454 00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:09.759 I can't forget him, though I am not prepared to 455 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:12.240 affirm the fellow is exactly worth the life we lost 456 00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:16.079 in getting to him. I missed my late helmsman, awfully. 457 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:20.079 I missed him even while his body was still lying 458 00:30:20.119 --> 00:30:23.640 in the pilot house. Perhaps you will think it passing strange, 459 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.359 this regret for a savage who was no more account 460 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.440 than a grain of sand in a black sahara. Well, 461 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:35.680 you don't see. He had something he had steered for months. 462 00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:39.119 I had him at my back, a help, an instrument. 463 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.680 It was a kind of partnership. He steered for me. 464 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.920 I had to look after him. I worried about his deficiencies, 465 00:30:47.960 --> 00:30:51.279 and thus a subtle bond had been created, of which 466 00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:55.039 I only became aware when it was suddenly broken. And 467 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:58.279 the intimate profundity of that look he gave me when 468 00:30:58.279 --> 00:31:01.799 he received his hurt remained to this day in my memory, 469 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:06.200 like a claim of distant kinship affirmed in a supreme moment. 470 00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.000 Poor fool, if he had only left that shutter alone, 471 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:16.440 he had no restraint, no restraint, just like Kurts a 472 00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:20.319 tree swayed by the wind. As soon as I had 473 00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:22.799 put on a dry pair of slippers, I dragged him out, 474 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:25.960 after first jerking the spear out of his side, which 475 00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:29.200 operation I confess I performed with my eyes shut tight. 476 00:31:30.880 -->

00:31:35.119 His heels leaped together over the little doorstep. His shoulders 477 00:31:35.160 --> 00:31:38.960 were pressed to my breast. I hugged him from behind desperately. 478 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:44.559 Oh he was heavy, heavy, heavier than any man on earth, 479 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:49.400 I should imagine. Then, without more ado, I tipped him overboard. 480 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:52.519 The current snatched him as though he had been a 481 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:55.240 wisp of grass, and I saw the body roll over 482 00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:59.640 twice before I lost sight of it. Forever, all the 483 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:02.920 pillow rooms and the manager were then congregated on the 484 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:05.960 awning deck about the pilot house, chattering at each other 485 00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:09.480 like a flock of excited magpies. And there was a 486 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:14.160 scandalized murmur at my heartless promptitude. What they wanted to 487 00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:18.079 keep that body hanging about? For? I can't guess embalm 488 00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:21.680 it maybe, But I had also heard another and a 489 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:26.640 very ominous murmur on the deck below. My friends, the 490 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:30.920 woodcutters were likewise scandalized, and with better show of reason, 491 00:32:31.240 --> 00:32:33.839 though I admit that the reason itself was quite inadmissible, 492 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.119 Oh quite. I had made up my mind that if 493 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:41.440 my late helmsman was to be eaten, the fishes alone 494 00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:44.960 should have him. He had been a very second rate 495 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:48.400 helmsman while alive, but now he was dead he might 496 00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:52.440 have become a first class temptation and possibly caused some 497 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:57.000 startling trouble. Besides, I was anxious to take the wheel 498 00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:00.000 the man in pink pajamas showing himself a hopeless duffer 499 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:04.960 at the business. This I did directly. The simple funeral 500 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:08.559 was over. We were going half speed, keeping right in 501 00:33:08.599 --> 00:33:10.920 the middle of the stream, and I listened to the 502 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:14.880 talk about me. They had given up Kurtz they had 503 00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:18.680 given up the station. Kurtz was dead, and the station 504 00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:22.119 had been burnt, and so on and so on. The 505 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:24.839 red haired pilgrim was beside himself with a thought that 506 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:29.519 at least this poor Kurts had been properly avenged. Say, 507 00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:31.559 we must have made a glorious slaughter of them in 508 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:36.720 the bush. Eh, what do you think? Say? He positively 509 00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:42.200 danced the bloodthirsty little gingery beggar, and he had

nearly 510 00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:45.400 fainted when he saw the wounded man. I could not 511 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:49.000 help saying, you made a glorious lot of smoke. Anyhow, 512 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:52.599 I had seen from the way the tops of the 513 00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:55.880 bushes rustled and flew that almost all the shots had 514 00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:59.079 gone too high. You can't hit anything unless you take 515 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:02.559 aim and fire from them shoulder. But these chaps fired 516 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:06.839 from the hip with their eyes shut. The retreat, I maintained, 517 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:10.000 and I was right, was caused by the screeching of 518 00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:14.639 the steam whistle. Upon this they forgot Kurts and began 519 00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:19.320 to howl at me with indignant protests. The manager stood 520 00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:22.280 by the wheel, murmuring confidentially about the necessity of getting 521 00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:24.920 well away down the river before dark at all events. 522 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:27.920 When I saw in the distance, a clearing on the 523 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.239 river side, and the outlines of some sort of building. 524 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:36.719 What's this, I asked. He clapped his hands in wonder 525 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:43.280 the station, he cried. I edged in at once, still 526 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:46.599 going half speed through my glasses, I saw the slope 527 00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:49.920 of a hill, interspersed with rare trees and perfectly free 528 00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:54.440 from undergrowth. A long, decaying building on the summit was 529 00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.840 half buried in the high grass. The large holes in 530 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:01.679 the peaked roof gaped black from a far. The jungle 531 00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:05.440 and the woods made a background. There was no enclosure 532 00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:07.920 or fence of any kind, but there had been one, 533 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:10.800 apparently for near the house. Half a dozen slim posts 534 00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:14.039 remained in a row, roughly trimmed and with their upper 535 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:18.800 ends ornamented with round carved balls. The rails or whatever 536 00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:22.679 there had been between had disappeared, of course. The forests 537 00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:26.519 surrounded all that. The river bank was clear, and on 538 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:29.159 the water side I saw a white man under a 539 00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:33.400 hat like a cart wheel, beckoning persistently with his whole arm. 540 00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:37.760 Examining the edge of the forest above and below, I 541 00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:42.000 was almost certain I could see movements human forms gliding 542 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:46.480 here and there. I steamed past prudently, then stopped the 543 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:50.199 engines and let her drift down. The men on the 544 00:35:50.199 --> 00:35:53.280 shore began to shout, urging us to land. We have 545 00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:56.400 been attacked, screamed the manager. I know, I know, it's 546 00:35:56.440 --> 00:35:59.280 all right, yelled back the other, and as cheerful as 547 00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:02.039 you please, come along. It's all right. I am glad. 548 00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:07.559 His aspect reminded me of something I had seen, something 549 00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:12.280 funny I had seen somewhere. As I maneuvered to get alongside, 550 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:15.920 I was asking myself, what does this fellow look like? 551 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:21.360 Suddenly I got it. He looked like a harlequin. His 552 00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:24.480 clothes had been made of some stuff that was brown, 553 00:36:24.599 --> 00:36:27.760 Holland probably, but it was covered with patches all over, 554 00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:32.360 with bright patches, blue, red and yellow patches on the back, 555 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:37.280 patches on the front, patches on elbows, on knees, colored 556 00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:41.199 binding around his jacket, scarlet edging at the bottom of 557 00:36:41.239 --> 00:36:45.079 his trousers. And the sunshine made him look extremely gay 558 00:36:45.559 --> 00:36:49.599 and wonderfully neat withal because you could see how beautifully 559 00:36:49.639 --> 00:36:54.199 all this patching had been done. A beardless, boyish face, 560 00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:59.599 very fair, no features to speak of, nose peeling, little 561 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:03.519 blue eye, eyes, smiles and frowns chasing each other, over 562 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:07.440 that open countenance, like sunshine and shadow on a windswept plain. 563 00:37:09.239 --> 00:37:12.119 Look Out, captain, he cried, there's a snag lodged in 564 00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:16.840 here last night. What another snag? I confess, I swore, shamefully. 565 00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:19.559 I had nearly holed my cripple to finish off that 566 00:37:19.679 --> 00:37:23.360 charming trip. The harlequin on the bank turned his little 567 00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:27.480 pug nose up to me. You English, he asked, All smiles, 568 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:33.119 are you? I shouted from the wheel. The smiles vanished, 569 00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:35.599 and he shook his head as if sorry for my disappointment. 570 00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:41.159 Then he brightened up. Never mind, he cried encouragingly. Are 571 00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:45.599 we in time? I asked, He is up there, he replied, 572 00:37:45.960 --> 00:37:47.880 with a toss of the head up the hill and 573 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:51.559 becoming gloomy. All of a sudden. His face was like 574 00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:55.360 the autumn sky, overcast one moment and bright the next. 575 00:37:56.719 --> 00:37:59.760 When the manager, escorted by the pilgrims all of them 576 00:37:59.800 --> 00:38:02.480 are to the teeth, had gone to the house, this 577

00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:06.559 chap came on board. I say, I don't like this. 578 00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:10.840 These natives are in the bush, I said, He assured 579 00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:14.679 me earnestly, it was all right. They are simple people. 580 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:17.960 He added, Well, I am glad you came. It took 581 00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:21.079 me all my time to keep them off, but you 582 00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:24.360 said it was all right. I cried, Oh, they meant 583 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:28.000 no harm, he said, And as I stared, he corrected himself. 584 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:34.519 Not exactly then, vivaciously, my faith, your pilot house wants 585 00:38:34.519 --> 00:38:37.280 a clean up. In the next breath, he advised me 586 00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:39.119 to keep enough steam on the boiler to blow the 587 00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:42.920 whistle in case of any trouble. One good screech will 588 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:46.000 do more for you than all your rifles. They are 589 00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:49.800 simple people, he repeated. He rattled away at such a 590 00:38:49.880 --> 00:38:53.239 rate he quite overwhelmed me. He seemed to be trying 591 00:38:53.280 --> 00:38:56.440 to make up for lots of silence, and actually hinted, 592 00:38:56.679 --> 00:39:01.440 laughing that such was the case. Don't you talk with 593 00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:06.599 mister Kurtz. I have said you don't talk with that man. 594 00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:10.920 You listen to him, he exclaimed, with severe exultation. But 595 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:14.079 now he waved his arm, and in the twinkling of 596 00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:17.960 an eye, was in the uttermost debts of despondency. In 597 00:39:18.039 --> 00:39:20.400 a moment, he came up again with a jump, possessed 598 00:39:20.440 --> 00:39:23.480 himself of both my hands, shook them continuously while he 599 00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:29.559 gabbled brother, sailor, honor, pleasure, delight, introduce myself, Russian son 600 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:34.519 of an arch priest, government of Tamboy. What tobacco, English tobacco, 601 00:39:34.599 --> 00:39:38.679 The excellent English tobacco. Now that's brotherly smoke. Where's a 602 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:42.239 sailor that does not smoke? The pipe soothed him, and 603 00:39:42.440 --> 00:39:45.039 gradually I made out he had run away from school, 604 00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:48.440 had gone to sea in a Russian ship, ran away again, 605 00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:52.320 served some time in English ships, was now reconciled with 606 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:56.880 the arch priest. He made a point of that, But 607 00:39:56.960 --> 00:40:01.280 when one is young, one must see things, gather ex experience, ideas, 608 00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:06.159 enlarge the mind. Here, I interrupted, you can never tell 609 00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:11.679 here I met mister Kurtz, he said, youthfully, solemn and reproachful. 610 00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:16.440 I held my tongue. After that, it appears he had 611 00:40:16.480 --> 00:40:19.360 persuaded a Dutch trading house on the coast to fit 612 00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:22.239 him out with stores and goods, and had started for 613 00:40:22.280 --> 00:40:25.239 the interior with a light heart and no more idea 614 00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:28.320 of what would happen to him than a baby. He 615 00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:31.559 had been wandering about that river for nearly two years alone, 616 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.199 cut off from everybody and everything. I am not so 617 00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:39.199 young as I look. I am twenty five, he said 618 00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:42.280 at first. Old Van Schueten would tell me to go 619 00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:46.440 to the devil. He narrated with keen enjoyment. But I 620 00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:49.599 stuck to him and talked and talked till at last 621 00:40:49.639 --> 00:40:51.760 he got afraid I would talk the hind leg off 622 00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:54.480 his favorite dog. So he gave me some cheap things 623 00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:56.599 and a few guns, and told me he hoped he 624 00:40:56.599 --> 00:41:00.599 would never see my face again, good old Dutchman van Shoyten. 625 00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:03.519 I've sent him one small lot of ivory a year 626 00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:05.400 ago so that he can't call me a little thief 627 00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:09.440 when I get back. I hope he got it, and 628 00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:11.760 for the rest I don't care. I had some woodstacked 629 00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:15.079 for you. That was my old house, did you see. 630 00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:17.880 I gave him Towson's book. He made as though he 631 00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:21.760 would kiss me, but restrained himself. The only book I 632 00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:24.239 had left, and I thought I had lost it, he said, 633 00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.760 looking at it ecstatically. So many accidents happened to a 634 00:41:27.800 --> 00:41:31.519 man going about alone. You know, canoes get upset sometimes, 635 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:33.960 and sometimes you got to clear out so quick when 636 00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:37.960 the people get angry. He thumbed the pages. He made 637 00:41:37.960 --> 00:41:42.519 notes in Russian. I asked, He nodded. I thought they 638 00:41:42.519 --> 00:41:47.880 were written in cipher. I said, He laughed, then became serious. 639 00:41:48.239 --> 00:41:50.480 I had lots of trouble to keep these people off, 640 00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:54.199 he said. Did they want to kill you? I asked, 641 00:41:55.400 --> 00:41:58.000 Oh no, he cried and checked himself. Why did they 642 00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:03.679 attack us? I pursued. He hesitated, then said, shamefacedly. They 643 00:42:03.719 --> 00:42:08.400 don't want him to go, don't they? I said curiously. 644 00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:13.760 He nodded, a nod full of mystery and wisdom, I 645 00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:17.320 tell you, he cried, This man has enlarged my mind. 646 00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:21.239 He opened his arms wide, staring at me with his 647 00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:29.480 little blue eyes that were perfectly round. End of Chapter two, 648 00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:33.480 Part two