Heart of Darkness

The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest....

The sea reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In...

The Director of Companies was our captain and our host. We four affectionately watched his back as...

Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea. Besides holding our...

And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and from glowing white changed...

Forthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less brilliant but more profound....

The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore. The Chapman...

He was the only man of us who still followed the sea. The worst that could be said of him was that...

His remark did not seem at all surprising. It was just like Marlow. It was accepted in silence. No...

Mind, he began again, lifting one arm from the elbow, the palm of the hand outwards, so that, with...

He broke off. Flames glided in the river, small green flames, red flames, white flames, pursuing,...

I dont want to bother you much with what happened to me personally, he began, showing in this...

I had then, as you remember, just returned to London after a lot of Indian Ocean, Pacific, China...

Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or...

True, by this time it was not a blank space any more. It had got filled since my boyhood with...

I am sorry to own I began to worry them. This was already a fresh departure for me. I was not used...

I got my appointment of course; and I got it very quick. It appears the Company had received news...

I flew around like mad to get ready, and before forty eight hours I was crossing the Channel to...

A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with venetian blinds,...

In about forty five seconds I found myself again in the waiting room with the compassionate...

I began to feel slightly uneasy. You know I am not used to such ceremonies, and there was something...

There was yet a visit to the doctor. A simple formality, assured me the secretary, with an air of...

The old doctor felt my pulse, evidently thinking of something else the while. Good, good for there,...

One thing more remained to do say good bye to my excellent aunt. I found her triumphant. I had a...

You forget, dear Charlie, that the labourer is worthy of his hire, she said, brightly. Its queer...

After this I got embraced, told to wear flannel, be sure to write often, and so on and I left. In...

I left in a French steamer, and she called in every blamed port they have out there, for, as far as...

We gave her her letters I heard the men in that lonely ship were dying of fever at the rate of...

It was upward of thirty days before I saw the mouth of the big river. We anchored off the seat of...

I had my passage on a little sea going steamer. Her captain was a Swede, and knowing me for a...

At last we opened a reach. A rocky cliff appeared, mounds of turned up earth by the shore, houses...

I came upon a boiler wallowing in the grass, then found a path leading up the hill. It turned aside...

A slight clinking behind me made me turn my head. Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the...

Instead of going up, I turned and descended to the left. My idea was to let that chain gang get out...

I avoided a vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope, the purpose of which I...

Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the...

They were dying slowly it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were...

Near the same tree two more bundles of acute angles sat with their legs drawn up. One, with his...

I didnt want any more loitering in the shade, and I made haste towards the station. When near the...

I shook hands with this miracle, and I learned he was the Companys chief accountant, and that all...

Everything else in the station was in a muddle heads, things, buildings. Strings of dusty niggers...

I had to wait in the station for ten days an eternity. I lived in a hut in the yard, but to be out...

One day he remarked, without lifting his head, In the interior you will no doubt meet Mr. Kurtz. On...

Suddenly there was a growing murmur of voices and a great tramping of feet. A caravan had come in....

He turned to his work. The noise outside had ceased, and presently in going out I stopped at the...

No use telling you much about that. Paths, paths, everywhere; a stamped in network of paths...

I did not see the real significance of that wreck at once. I fancy I see it now, but I am not sure...

My first interview with the manager was curious. He did not ask me to sit down after my twenty mile...

He began to speak as soon as he saw me. I had been very long on the road. He could not wait. Had to...

I went to work the next day, turning, so to speak, my back on that station. In that way only it...

Oh, these months. Well, never mind. Various things happened. One evening a grass shed full of...

I strolled up. There was no hurry. You see the thing had gone off like a box of matches. It had...

I had no idea why he wanted to be sociable, but as we chatted in there it suddenly occurred to me...

It arrested me, and he stood by civilly, holding an empty half pint champagne bottle medical...

The chief of the Inner Station, he answered in a short tone, looking away. Much obliged, I said,...

He blew the candle out suddenly, and we went outside. The moon had risen. Black figures strolled...

I let him run on, this papier mache Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could...

... No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life sensation of any given epoch of ones...

It had become so pitch dark that we listeners could hardly see one another. For a long time already...

... Yes I let him run on, Marlow began again, and think what he pleased about the powers that were...

He was becoming confidential now, but I fancy my unresponsive attitude must have exasperated him at...

I was not surprised to see somebody sitting aft, on the deck, with his legs dangling over the mud....

I slapped him on the back and shouted, We shall have rivets. He scrambled to his feet exclaiming,...

But they didnt. Instead of rivets there came an invasion, an infliction, a visitation. It came in...

This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to...

In exterior he resembled a butcher in a poor neighbourhood, and his eyes had a look of sleepy...

I had given up worrying myself about the rivets. Ones capacity for that kind of folly is more...

One evening as I was lying flat on the deck of my steamboat, I heard voices approaching and there...

I was broad awake by this time, but, lying perfectly at ease, remained still, having no inducement...

They swore aloud together out of sheer fright, I believe then pretending not to know anything of my...

In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness, that closed upon it as the...

Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when...

I beg your pardon. I forgot the heartache which makes up the rest of the price. And indeed what...

The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered...

Some fifty miles below the Inner Station we came upon a hut of reeds, an inclined and melancholy...

I had been dimly aware for some time of a worrying noise, and when I lifted my eyes I saw the wood...

I started the lame engine ahead. It must be this miserable trader this intruder, exclaimed the...

The current was more rapid now, the steamer seemed at her last gasp, the stern wheel flopped...

Towards the evening of the second day we judged ourselves about eight miles from Kurtzs station. I...

I went forward, and ordered the chain to be hauled in short, so as to be ready to trip the anchor...

Two pilgrims were quarrelling in hurried whispers as to which bank. Left. no, no; how can you....

I did not think they would attack, for several obvious reasons. The thick fog was one. If they left...

You should have seen the pilgrims stare. They had no heart to grin, or even to revile me. but I...

It developed itself, I should say, two hours after the fog lifted, and its commencement was at a...

No sooner had we fairly entered it than I became aware it was much narrower than I had supposed. To...

One of my hungry and forbearing friends was sounding in the bows just below me. This steamboat was...

I was looking down at the sounding pole, and feeling much annoyed to see at each try a little more...

We tore slowly along the overhanging bushes in a whirl of broken twigs and flying leaves. The...

We two whites stood over him, and his lustrous and inquiring glance enveloped us both. I declare it...

For the moment that was the dominant thought. There was a sense of extreme disappointment, as...

The other shoe went flying unto the devil god of that river. I thought, By Jove. its all over. We...

There was a pause of profound stillness, then a match flared, and Marlows lean face appeared, worn,...

Absurd. he cried. This is the worst of trying to tell.... Here you all are, each moored with two...

I laid the ghost of his gifts at last with a lie, he began, suddenly. Girl. What. Did I mention a...

Poor fool. If he had only left that shutter alone. He had no restraint, no restraint just like...

This I did directly the simple funeral was over. We were going half speed, keeping right in the...

The manager stood by the wheel murmuring confidentially about the necessity of getting well away...

Through my glasses I saw the slope of a hill interspersed with rare trees and perfectly free from...

His aspect reminded me of something I had seen something funny I had seen somewhere. As I...

When the manager, escorted by the pilgrims, all of them armed to the teeth, had gone to the house...

The pipe soothed him, and gradually I made out he had run away from school, had gone to sea in a...

I gave him Towsons book. He made as though he would kiss me, but restrained himself. The only book...

I looked at him, lost in astonishment. There he was before me, in motley, as though he had...

They had come together unavoidably, like two ships becalmed near each other, and lay rubbing sides...

He threw his arms up. We were on deck at the time, and the headman of my wood cutters, lounging...

On the contrary. It appears their intercourse had been very much broken by various causes. He had,...

I am not disclosing any trade secrets. In fact, the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtzs methods...

The admirer of Mr. Kurtz was a bit crestfallen. In a hurried, indistinct voice he began to assure...

His voice lost itself in the calm of the evening. The long shadows of the forest had slipped...

Suddenly round the corner of the house a group of men appeared, as though they had come up from the...

Now, if he does not say the right thing to them we are all done for, said the Russian at my elbow....

Some of the pilgrims behind the stretcher carried his arms two shot guns, a heavy rifle, and a...

He rustled one of the letters, and looking straight in my face said, I am glad. Somebody had been...

Dark human shapes could be made out in the distance, flitting indistinctly against the gloomy...

She walked with measured steps, draped in striped and fringed cloths, treading the earth proudly,...

She came abreast of the steamer, stood still, and faced us. Her long shadow fell to the waters...

If she had offered to come aboard I really think I would have tried to shoot her, said the man of...

At this moment I heard Kurtzs deep voice behind the curtain. Save me. save the ivory, you mean....

The manager came out. He did me the honour to take me under the arm and lead me aside. He is very...

I had turned to the wilderness really, not to Mr. Kurtz, who, I was ready to admit, was as good as...

He stated with a good deal of formality that had we not been of the same profession, he would have...

He informed me, lowering his voice, that it was Kurtz who had ordered the attack to be made on the...

When I woke up shortly after midnight his warning came to my mind with its hint of danger that...

I think I would have raised an outcry if I had believed my eyes. But I didnt believe them at first...

There was an agent buttoned up inside an ulster and sleeping on a chair on deck within three feet...

As soon as I got on the bank I saw a trail a broad trail through the grass. I remember the...

I kept to the track though then stopped to listen. The night was very clear; a dark blue space,...

I came upon him, and, if he had not heard me coming, I would have fallen over him, too, but he got...

I had immense plans, he muttered irresolutely. Yes, said I; but if you try to shout Ill smash your...

When next day we left at noon, the crowd, of whose presence behind the curtain of trees I had been...

We had carried Kurtz into the pilot house. there was more air there. Lying on the couch, he stared...

He kept on looking out past me with fiery, longing eyes, with a mingled expression of wistfulness...

I pulled the string of the whistle, and I did this because I saw the pilgrims on deck getting out...

The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with...

Kurtz discoursed. A voice. a voice. It rang deep to the very last. It survived his strength to hide...

Sometimes he was contemptibly childish. He desired to have kings meet him at railway stations on...

We broke down as I had expected and had to lie up for repairs at the head of an island. This delay...

His was an impenetrable darkness. I looked at him as you peer down at a man who is lying at the...

One evening coming in with a candle I was startled to hear him say a little tremulously, I am lying...

Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope...

I blew the candle out and left the cabin. The pilgrims were dining in the mess room, and I took my...

All the pilgrims rushed out to see. I remained, and went on with my dinner. I believe I was...

However, as you see, I did not go to join Kurtz there and then. I did not. I remained to dream the...

No, they did not bury me, though there is a period of time which I remember mistily, with a...

Thus I was left at last with a slim packet of letters and the girls portrait. She struck me as...

I thought his memory was like the other memories of the dead that accumulate in every mans life a...

The dusk was falling. I had to wait in a lofty drawing room with three long windows from floor to...

She came forward, all in black, with a pale head, floating towards me in the dusk. She was in...

You were his friend, she went on. His friend, she repeated, a little louder. You must have been, if...

I listened. The darkness deepened. I was not even sure whether he had given me the right bundle. I...