Trascrizione completa di Chapter 3 Part 1

68 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:48.480 He did not know exactly in what direction. It was 69 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:52.160 dangerous to inquire too much. But mostly his expeditions had 70 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:55.600 been for ivory. But he had no goods to trade 71 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.639 with by that time. I objected, there's a good lot 72 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:02.199 of cartridges left. Even yet, he answered, looking away, to 73 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:06.079 speak plainly, he raided the country, I said. He nodded, 74 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:11.839 not alone, surely. He muttered something about the villages round 75 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:15.279 that lake. Kurtz got the tribe to follow him, did he, 76 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:21.319 I suggested. He fidgeted a little. They adored him, he said. 77 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:25.759 The tone of these words. Was so extraordinary that I 78 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:28.800 looked at him. Certainly, it was curious to see his 79 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.720 mingled eagerness and reluctance to speak of Kurts The man 80 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:38.399 filled his life, occupied his thoughts, swayed his emotions. What 81 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:41.680 can you expect? He burst out? He came to them 82 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:44.079 with thunder and lightning, you know, and they had never 83 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.319 seen anything like it, and very terrible. He could be 84 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:50.480 very terrible. You can't judge mister Kurtz as you would 85 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:53.959 an ordinary man. No, no, no, Now, just to give 86 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:57.120 you an idea, I don't mind telling you. He wanted 87 00:05:57.160 --> 00:06:00.399 to shoot me too one day, but I don't judge 88 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:07.120 him shoot you, I cried, what for? Well, I had 89 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.240 a small lot of ivory the chief of that village 90 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.040 near my house gave me. You see, I used to 91 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.800 shoot game for them. Well, he wanted it, and wouldn't 92 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.959 hear reason. He declared he would shoot me unless I 93 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:20.519 gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, 94 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:22.959 because he could do so and had a fancy for it, 95 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:25.399 and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing 96 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:28.720 whom he jolly well pleased. And it was true too. 97 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.279 I gave him the ivory. What did I care? But 98 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:35.560 I didn't clear out. No, No, I couldn't leave him. 99 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:38.199 I had to be careful, of course, till we got 100 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.720 friendly again. For a time he had his second illness. 101 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.680 Then afterwards I had to keep out of the way, 102 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:47.279 but I didn't mind. He was living for the most 103 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:50.000 part in those villages on the lake. When he came 104 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:52.480 down to the river, sometimes he would take to me, 105 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.040 and sometimes it was better for me to be careful. 106 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:59.360 This man suffered too much. He hated all this, and 107 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:02.720 somehow he couldn't get away. When I had a chance, 108 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.000 I begged him to try and leave while there was time. 109 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.600 I offered to go back with him, and he would 110 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.680 say yes, and then he would remain, go off on 111 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:16.800 another ivory hunt, disappear for weeks, forget himself amongst these people. 112 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:23.279 Forget himself. You know why he's mad, I said, he 113 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:27.800 protested indignantly. Mister Kurtz couldn't be mad. If I had 114 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:30.439 heard him talk only two days ago, I wouldn't dare 115 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:32.920 hint at such a thing. I had taken up my 116 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.959 binoculars while we talked, and was looking at the shore, 117 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:38.759 sweeping the limit of the forest at each side. And 118 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.720 at the back of the house. The consciousness of there 119 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:46.000 being people in that bush, so silent, so quiet, as 120 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:48.439 silent and quiet as the ruined house on the hill, 121 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:52.399 made me uneasy. There was no sign on the face 122 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:54.879 of nature of this amazing tale that was not so 123 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.120 much told as suggested to me in desolate exclamations, completely 124 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:04.639 by shrugs, in uninterrupted phrases, in hints ending in deep sighs. 125 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:09.399 The woods were unmoved, like a mask, heavy, like the 126 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:12.600 closed door of a prison. They looked with their air 127 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:19.319 of hidden knowledge, of patient expectation, of unapproachable silence. The 128 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:21.759 Russian was explaining to me that it was only lately 129 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.519 that mister Kurtz had come down to the river, bringing 130 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:27.079 along with him all the fighting men of that lake tribe. 131 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.120 He had been absent for several months, getting himself adored, 132 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.399 I suppose, and had come down unexpectedly with the intention 133 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.480 to all appearance of making a raid either across the 134 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.759 river or down stream. Evidently the appetite for more ivory 135 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.240 had got the better of the what shall I say, 136 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:49.720 less material aspirations. However, he had got much worse. Suddenly 137

00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:53.519 I heard he was lying helpless, and so I came up, 138 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:57.440 took my chance, said the Russian. Oh, he is bad, 139 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:01.679 very bad. I directed my glass to the house. There 140 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:03.720 were no signs of life, but there was the ruined 141 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:07.440 roof the long mud wall peeping above the grass, with 142 00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:12.000 three little square window holes, no two of the same size. 143 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:14.720 All this brought within reach of my hand, as it were. 144 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.960 And then I made a brusque movement, and one of 145 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 the remaining posts of that vanished fence leapt up in 146 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:24.200 the field of my glass. You remember, I told you 147 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:26.600 I had been struck at that distance by certain attempts 148 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.799 at ornamentation, rather remarkable in the ruinous aspect of the place. 149 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:35.200 Now I had suddenly the nearer view, and its first 150 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.919 result was to make me throw my head back, as 151 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:43.399 if before a blow. Then I went carefully from post 152 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.480 to post with my glass, and I saw my mistake. 153 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:53.200 These round knobs were not ornamental, but symbolic. They were 154 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:59.279 expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbing, food for thought and 155 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:01.840 also for vultures, if there be any looking down from 156 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.279 the sky. But at all events, for such ants as 157 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:09.080 were industrious enough to ascend the pole, they would have 158 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:12.600 been even more impressive. Those heads on the stakes. If 159 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:16.240 their faces had not been turned to the house, only 160 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.240 one the first I had made out, was facing my way. 161 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.399 I was not so shocked as you may think. The 162 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.480 start back I had given was really nothing but a 163 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:28.600 movement of surprise. I had expected to see a novel 164 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:31.720 of wood there, you know. I returned deliberately to the 165 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:35.759 first I had seen, and there it was black, dried, 166 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:40.519 sunken with closed eyelids, a head that seemed to sleep 167 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:43.159 at the top of the pole, and with the shrunken, 168 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.080 dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth. 169 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:51.279 Was smiling too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose 170 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:56.879 stream of that eternal slumber. I am not disclosing any 171 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:00.399 trade secrets. In fact, the manager said afterwards that mister 172 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:04.399 Kurtz's methods had ruined the district. I have no opinion 173 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:06.799 on that point, but I want you clearly to understand 174 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:10.080 that there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. 175 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:14.240 They only showed that mister Kurtz lacked restraint in the 176 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.120 gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting 177 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.519 in him, some small matter, which, when the pressing need arose, 178 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:27.240 could not be found under his magnificent eloquence. Whether he 179 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:30.480 knew of this deficiency himself, I can't say. I think 180 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:32.879 the knowledge came to him at last, only at the 181 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:37.120 very last. But the wilderness had found him out early 182 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:40.200 and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the 183 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:44.279 fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things 184 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.159 about himself which he did not know, things of which 185 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.720 he had no conception till he took counsel with this 186 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:55.200 great solitude, and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It 187 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:57.960 echoed loudly within him, because he was hollow at the core. 188 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:01.080 I put down the look lass, and the head that 189 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.759 had appeared near enough to be spoken to, seemed at 190 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.360 once to have leapt away from me into inaccessible distance. 191 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:11.679 The admirer of mister Kurtz was a bit crestfallen. In 192 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:14.600 a hurried, indistinct voice, he began to assure me he 193 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:18.480 had dared not to take these say cymbals down. He 194 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:20.679 was not afraid of the natives. They would not stir 195 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:24.759 till mister Kurtz gave the word. His ascendancy was extraordinary. 196 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.559 The camps of these people surrounded the place, and the 197 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:32.000 chiefs came every day to see him. They would crawl. 198 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.159 I don't want to know anything of the ceremonies used 199 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:40.879 when approaching mister Kurtz. I shouted, curious this feeling that 200 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.200 came over me, that such details would be more intolerable 201 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:47.679 than those heads drying on the stakes under mister Kurtz's windows. 202 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.080 After all, that was only a savage sight, while I 203 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.240 seemed at one bound to have been transported into some 204 00:12:55.399 -->

00:13:01.039 lightless region of subtle horrors, where pure, uncomplicate catered. Savagery 205 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:04.360 was a positive relief, being something that had a right 206 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:10.000 to exist, obviously in the sunshine. The young man looked 207 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.000 at me with surprise. I suppose it did not occur 208 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:15.279 to him that mister Kurtz was no idol of mine. 209 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:18.720 He forgot I hadn't heard any of these splendid monologs 210 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:23.960 on what was it on love, justice, conduct of life, 211 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:27.600 or what not. If it had come to crawling before 212 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:30.919 mister Kurtz, he crawled as much as the veriest savage 213 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.799 of them all. I had no idea of the conditions. 214 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:37.200 He said, these heads were the heads of rebels. I 215 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:41.519 shocked him excessively by laughing rebels. What would be the 216 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:46.799 next definition I was to hear there had been enemies, criminals, workers, 217 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:51.559 and these were rebels. Those rebellious heads looked very subdued 218 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.320 to me on their sticks. You don't know how such 219 00:13:55.320 --> 00:13:58.840 a life tries a man like Kurt's, cried Kurtz's last disciple. 220 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:04.320 Well and you, I said, I I I am a 221 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.159 simple man. I have no great thoughts. I want nothing 222 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:11.559 from anybody. How can you compare me to? His feelings 223 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.279 were too much for speech, and suddenly he broke down. 224 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:19.440 I don't understand, he groaned. I've been doing my best 225 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.159 to keep him alive, and that's enough. I had no 226 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:27.480 hand in all this. I have no abilities. There hasn't 227 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:29.679 been a drop of medicine or a mouthful of invalid 228 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:33.440 food for months. Here he was shamefully abandoned, a man 229 00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:39.720 like this with such ideas, shamefully shamefully, I I haven't 230 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:44.559 slept for the last ten nights. His voice lost itself. 231 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.919 In the calm of the evening. The long shadows of 232 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:51.080 the forest had slipped down hill while we talked, had 233 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:54.720 gone far beyond the ruined hovel, beyond the symbolic row 234 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:59.000 of the stakes. All this was in the gloom, while 235 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.720 we down there were yet in the sunshine, and the 236 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:04.440 stretch of the river abreast of the clearing glittered in 237 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:08.759 a still and dazzling splendor, with a murky and overshadowed bend. 238 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:12.639 Above and below. Not a living soul was seen on 239 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:18.320 the shore. The bushes did not rustle. Suddenly, round the 240 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:20.679 corner of the house a group of men appeared, as 241 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:23.759 though they had come up from the ground. They waded 242 00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:26.919 waist deep in the grass in a compact body, bearing 243 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:31.519 an improvised stretcher in their midst. Instantly, in the emptiness 244 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.759 of the landscape, a cry arose, whose shrillness pierced the 245 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:37.600 still air, like a sharp arrow flying straight to the 246 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:40.639 very heart of the land. And as if by enchantment, 247 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:45.360 streams of human beings, of naked human beings with spears 248 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:49.879 in their hands, with bows, with shields, with wild glances 249 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:52.879 and savage movements, were poured into the clearing by the 250 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:57.600 dark faced and pensive forest. The bushes shook, the grass 251 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.600 swayed for a time, and then everybody stood still in 252 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:04.759 attentive immobility. Now, if he does not say the right 253 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.480 thing to them, we are all done for, said the Russian. 254 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:10.639 At my elbow. The knot of men with the stretcher 255 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:14.159 had stopped too half way to the steamer, as if petrified. 256 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.320 I saw the man on the stretcher sit up lank, 257 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.159 with an uplifted arm above the shoulders of the bearers. 258 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:24.480 Let us hope that the man who can talk so 259 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.320 well of love in general will find some particular reason 260 00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:31.919 to spare us this time, I said, I resented bitterly 261 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.720 the absurd danger of our situation, as if to be 262 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:37.440 at the mercy of that atrocious phantom had been a 263 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:41.720 dishonoring necessity. I could not hear a sound, but through 264 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:45.600 my glasses I saw the thin arm extended commandingly, the 265 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:49.919 lower jaw moving, the eyes of that apparition shining darkly 266 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:57.080 far in its bony head that nodded with grotesque jerks kurts, curts. 267 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.399 That means short in German. Don't it well? The name 268 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:03.879 was as true as everything else in his life and death. 269 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:08.119 He looked at least seven feet long. His covering had 270 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:11.640 fallen off, and his body emerged from it, pitiful and appalling, 271 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:14.519 as from a winding sheet. I could see

the cage 272 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.640 of his ribs all astir, the bones of his arm waving. 273 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.599 It was as though an animated image of death carved 274 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:24.640 out of old Ivory had been shaking its hand with 275 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.359 menaces at a motionless crowd of men made of dark 276 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:31.039 and glittering bronze. I saw him open his mouth wide. 277 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:34.519 It gave him a weirdly voracious aspect, as though he 278 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.519 had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, 279 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:42.759 all the men before him. A deep voice suddenly reached me. 280 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:47.319 Faintly he must have been shouting. He fell back. Suddenly 281 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:50.880 the stretcher shook as the bearer staggered forward again, and 282 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.640 almost at the same time, I noticed that the crowd 283 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:57.559 of savages was vanishing, without any perceptible movement of retreat, 284 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.759 as if the forest that had eject to these beings 285 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.839 so suddenly had drawn them in again as the breath 286 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.799 is drawn in a long aspiration. Some of the pilgrims 287 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.480 behind the stretcher carried his arms two shot guns, a 288 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:16.680 heavy rifle and a light revolver carbine, the thunderbolts of 289 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:20.880 that pitiful Jupiter. The manager bent over him, murmuring as 290 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:23.640 he walked beside his head. They laid him down in 291 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:26.039 one of the little cabins, just a room for a 292 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:29.359 bed place, and a campstool or two. You know, we 293 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:31.920 had brought his blated correspondence, and a lot of torn 294 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.119 envelopes in open letters littered his bed. His hand roamed 295 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:39.839 feebly amongst these papers. I was struck by the fire 296 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:43.400 of his eyes and the composed languor of his expression. 297 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:47.079 It was not so much the exhaustion of disease. He 298 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:51.599 did not seem in pain. This shadow looked satiated and calm, 299 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:54.400 as though for the moment it had had its fill 300 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.559 of all the emotions. He rustled one of the letters, 301 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:01.680 and looking straight in my face, said, I am glad 302 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:06.160 somebody had been writing to him about me. These special 303 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:10.200 recommendations were turning up again. The volume of tone he emitted, 304 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:13.480 without effort, almost without the trouble of moving his lips, 305 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:21.640 amazed me. A voice, a voice. It was grave, profound, vibrating. 306 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:25.759 While the man did not seem capable of a whisper, however, 307 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:31.119 he had enough strength in him, factitious, no doubt, to 308 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:33.079 very nearly make an end of us. As you shall 309 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:38.039 hear directly, the manager appeared silently in the doorway. I 310 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:40.279 stepped out at once, and he drew the curtain after me. 311 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.440 The Russian, eyed curiously by the pilgrims, was staring at 312 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:49.599 the shore. I followed the direction of his glance. Dark 313 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:53.359 human shapes could be made out in the darkness, flitting 314 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:58.440 indistinctly against the gloomy border of the forest and near 315 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:02.640 the river, two bronze figures, leaning on tall spears, stood 316 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.319 in the sunlight under fantastic head dresses of spotted skins, 317 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:10.880 warlike and still in statuesque repose, And from right to 318 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:13.960 left along the lighted shore moved a wild and gorgeous 319 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:20.480 apparition of a woman. She walked with measured steps, draped 320 00:20:20.519 --> 00:20:24.319 in striped and fringed cloths, treading the earth proudly with 321 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:28.200 a slight jingle and flash of barbarous ornaments. She carried 322 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.799 her head high. Her hair was done in the shape 323 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.200 of a helmet. She had brass leggings to the knee, 324 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.359 brass wire gauntlets to the elbow, a crimson spot on 325 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.519 her tawny cheek, innumerable necklaces of glass beads on her neck, 326 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:48.400 bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch men that hung about her, 327 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:52.119 glittered and trembled at every step. She must have had 328 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:55.759 the value of several elephant tusks upon her. She was 329 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:00.599 savage and superb, wild eyed and magnificent. There was something 330 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:04.640 ominous and stately in her deliberate progress, and in the 331 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.160 hush that had fallen suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land. 332 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:12.519 The immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and 333 00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:17.079 mysterious life, seemed to look at her punsive, as though 334 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:18.759 it had been looking at the image of its own 335 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:23.240 tineprius and passionate soul. She came abreast of the steamer 336 00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:27.359 and stood still and faced us. Her long shadow fell 337 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:30.480 to the water's edge. Her face had a tragic and 338 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:35.119 fierce aspect

of wild sorrow and of dumb pain, mingled 339 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:40.000 with the fear of some struggling, half shaped resolve. She 340 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.880 stood looking at us without a stir, and, like the 341 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:46.880 wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose. 342 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:52.200 A whole minute passed, and then she made a step forward. 343 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:56.279 There was a low jingle, a glint of yellow metal, 344 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:00.400 a sway of fringed draperies, and she stopped, as if 345 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:03.640 her heart had failed her. The young fellow by my 346 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:08.279 side growled, the pilgrims, murmured at my back. She looked 347 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:10.559 at us all as if her life had depended upon 348 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:15.000 the unswerving steadiness of her glance. Suddenly she opened her 349 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.039 bared arms and drew them up rigid above her head, 350 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.640 as though in an uncontrollable desire to touch the sky. 351 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.400 And at the same time, the swift shadows started out 352 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:28.839 on the earth, swept around on the river, gathering the 353 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:33.839 steamer into a shadowy embrace. A formidable silence hung over 354 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:40.400 the scene. She turned away, slowly, walked on, following the bank, 355 00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:45.599 and passed into the bushes to the left. Once only 356 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:47.920 her eyes gleamed back at us in the dusk of 357 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:52.680 the thickets before she disappeared. If she had offered to 358 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:54.680 come aboard, I really think I would have tried to 359 00:22:54.680 --> 00:22:58.240 shoot her, said the man of patches nervously. I have 360 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.880 been risking my life every day for the last fortnight 361 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.559 to keep her out of the house. She got in 362 00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:06.000 one day and kicked up a row about those miserable 363 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:08.440 rags I picked up in the storm room to mend 364 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.079 my clothes with. I wasn't decent, at least it must 365 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:13.920 have been that, for she talked like a fury to 366 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.400 Kurtz for an hour, pointing at me. Now and then, 367 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:20.759 I don't understand the dialect of this tribe. Luckily for me, 368 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:23.319 I fancy Kurtz felt too ill that day to care, 369 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:27.839 or there would have been mischief. I don't understand. No, 370 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:31.680 it's too much for me. Ah well, it's all over now. 371 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:35.960 At this moment, I heard Kurtz's deep voice behind the curtain, 372 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:39.839 Save me, save the ivory. You mean, don't tell me, 373 00:23:40.279 --> 00:23:43.839 save me why I've had to save you. You are 374 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:47.480 interrupting my plans now, sick, sick, not so sick as 375 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:50.039 you would like to believe. Never mind, I'll carry my 376 00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:52.720 ideas out yet I will return. I'll show you what 377 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:56.119 can be done. You with your little peddling notions, you 378 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:01.200 are interfering with me. I will return. I the manager 379 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:03.960 came out. He did me the honor to take me 380 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:07.720 under the arm and leave me aside. He is very low, 381 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:12.480 very low, he said. He considered it necessary to sigh, 382 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:16.720 but neglected to be consistently sorrowful. We have done all 383 00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:18.960 we could for him, haven't we. But there is no 384 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.480 disguising the fact mister Kurtz has done more harm than 385 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:24.319 good to the company. He did not see. The time 386 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:29.559 was not ripe for vigorous action. Cautiously, cautiously, that's my principle. 387 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.119 We must be cautious. Yet the district is close to 388 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.079 us for a time deplorable upon the whole the trade 389 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:40.119 will suffer. I don't deny there is a remarkable quantity 390 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:44.200 of ivory, mostly fossil. We must save it at all events. 391 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:48.200 But look how precarious the position is. And why because 392 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:53.160 the method is unsound, do you, said I, looking at 393 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:59.200 the shore, call it unsound method? Without doubt, he exclaimed hotly. 394 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:05.880 Don't you no method at all? I murmured. After a while, exactly, 395 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:10.279 he exulted. I anticipated this shows a complete want of judgment. 396 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:12.759 It is my duty to point it out in the 397 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:17.440 proper quarter, Oh said I. That fellow what's his name, 398 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:21.599 the brickmaker, will make a readable report for you. He 399 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:24.960 appeared confounded. For a moment. It seemed to me I 400 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.279 had never breathed an atmosphere so vile, and I turned 401 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:33.720 mentally to Kurtz for relief, positively for relief. Nevertheless, I 402 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:37.880 think mister Kurtz is a remarkable man, I said, with emphasis. 403 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:41.680 He started dropped on me a heavy glance and said 404 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:46.480 very quietly he was and turned his back on me. 405 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:50.400 My hour of favor was over. I found myself lumping 406 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:53.000 along with Kurts as a partisan

of methods for which 407 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:57.480 the time was not ripe. I was unsound, ah, but 408 00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:00.000 it was something to have, at least a choice of nightmare. 409 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:04.160 I had turned to the wilderness, really, not to mister Kurtz, 410 00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:07.119 who I was ready to admit was as good as buried. 411 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:10.000 And for a moment it seemed to me as if 412 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.319 I also were buried in a vast grave full of 413 00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:17.519 unspeakable secrets. I felt an intolerable weight oppressing my breast, 414 00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:21.680 the smell of the damp earth, the unseen presence of 415 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:27.880 victorious corruption, the darkness of an impenetrable night. The Russian 416 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.279 tapped me on the shoulder. I heard him mumbling and 417 00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:34.799 stammered something about brother Seamen couldn't conceal knowledge of matters 418 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:39.960 that would affect mister Kurtse's reputation. I waited for him. 419 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:44.079 Evidently mister Kurtz was not in his grave. I suspect 420 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:46.839 that for him, mister Kurtz was one of the immortals. 421 00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:52.480 Well said, I at last speak out as it happens. 422 00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:56.720 I am mister Kurtz's friend in a way. He stated, 423 00:26:56.759 --> 00:26:59.119 with a good deal of formality, that had we not 424 00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:01.920 been of the same profession, he would have kept the 425 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:06.559 matter to himself without regard to consequences. He suspected there 426 00:27:06.599 --> 00:27:08.680 was an active ill will towards him on the part 427 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:11.880 of these white men. That you are right, I said, 428 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:16.079 remembering a certain conversation I had overheard. The manager thinks 429 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:19.559 you ought to be hanged. He showed a concern at 430 00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:24.240 this intelligence, which amused me at first. I had better 431 00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:28.079 get out of the way quietly, he said, earnestly. I 432 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:30.079 can do no more for Kurtz now, and they would 433 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.279 soon find some excuse. What's to stop them. There's a 434 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:37.920 military post three hundred miles from here. Well, upon my word, 435 00:27:38.119 --> 00:27:39.960 said I, perhaps you had better go. If you have 436 00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:44.279 any friends amongst the savages near by plenty, he said. 437 00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:47.160 They are simple people, and I want nothing, you know, 438 00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:52.440 he stood, biting his lip. Then I don't want any 439 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:55.079 harm to happen to these whites here. But of course 440 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:58.519 I was thinking of mister Kurtz's reputation. But you are 441 00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:02.920 a brother's seaman, and all right, said I after a time, 442 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:07.519 mister Kurtse's reputation is safe with me. I did not 443 00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:13.640 know how truly I spoke. He informed me, lowering his voice, 444 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:16.000 that it was Curse who had ordered the attack to 445 00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:19.440 be made on the steamer. He hated sometimes the idea 446 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:22.839 of being taken away and then again. But I don't 447 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:25.720 understand these matters. I am a simple man. He thought 448 00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:27.920 it would scare you away, that you would give it up. 449 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:31.680 Thinking him dead, I could not stop him. Oh, I 450 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:35.759 had an awful time of it this last month. Very well, 451 00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:41.279 I said, he is all right now, yes, he muttered, 452 00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:46.400 not very convinced apparently, Thanks, said I I shall keep 453 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:51.440 my eyes open, but quiet, eh, he urged anxiously. It 454 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:55.480 would be awful for his reputation if anybody here, I 455 00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:59.680 promised a complete discretion with great gravity. I have a 456 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.680 cane and three black fellows waiting, not very far, I 457 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:05.359 am off. Could you give me a few martini Henry cartages? 458 00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:10.640 I could, and did with proper secrecy. He helped himself 459 00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:12.559 with a wink at me to a handful of my 460 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:18.400 tobacco between sailors, you know, good English tobacco. At the 461 00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:21.799 door of the pilot house, he turned round. I say, 462 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.599 haven't you a pair of shoes you could spare? He 463 00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:29.039 raised one leg. Look. The soles were tied with knotted 464 00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:32.720 strings sandalwise under his bare feet. I rooted out an 465 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:35.480 old pear, at which he looked with admiration, before tucking 466 00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:39.519 it under his left arm. One of his pockets, bright red, 467 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:43.799 was bulging with cartridges. From the other, dark blue, peeped 468 00:29:43.799 --> 00:29:47.720 Towson's inquiry, et cetera, et cetera. He seemed to think 469 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:53.000 himself excellently well equipped for a renewed encounter with the wilderness. Ah, 470 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:56.160 I'll never never meet such a man again. You ought 471 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:59.160 to have heard him recite poetry his own too, it 472 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:02.920 was he told me poetry. He rolled his eyes at 473 00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:07.599 the recollection of these delights. Oh, he enlarged my mind. 474 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:11.960 Good Bye, said I. He shook hands and vanished in 475 00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:15.519 the night. Sometimes I asked myself whether I had ever 476 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:19.119 really seen him, whether it was possible to meet such 477 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:20.000 a phenomenon.