The Works of Joseph Conrad, Volume 12W. Heinemann, 1921 |
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Common terms and phrases
afraid asked boat Bonito breath brig bungalow cabin Captain chair cheroot chief mate close course cried dare dark deck door Dutch eyes face father feeling fellow felt foresail gave gazed girl glance gone Gulf of Siam gunboat hair hands harbour head hear heard Heemskirk island Jacobus Jacobus's Jasper Allen JOSEPH CONRAD knew land laugh lieutenant lips looked Makassar Mesman mind Miss Freya mulatto murmured Nelson or Nielsen Neptun never night Oh yes old Nelson once Palembang papa perhaps phosphorescent poop potatoes quiet reef round sails Schultz second mate Secret Sharer seemed Sephora Seven Isles ship ship's side silence smile sort sound stare steward stood suddenly suppose taffrail talk tell thick thing thought told tone took turned verandah voice wait watch whispered woman wonder words
Popular passages
Page 159 - Every day there was the horrible manoeuvring to go through so that my room and then the bath-room should be' done in the usual way. I came to hate the sight of the steward, to abhor the voice of that harmless man. I felt that it was he who would bring on the disaster of discovery. It hung like a sword over our heads. ' The fourth day out, I think (we were then working down the east side of the Gulf of Siam, tack for tack, in light winds and smooth water) — the fourth day, I say, of this miserable...
Page 154 - ... else, and an accidental discovery was to be dreaded 'now more than ever. . . . The steward being engaged in laying the table for dinner, we could talk only with our eyes when I first went down. Later in the afternoon we had a cautious try at whispering. The Sunday quietness of the ship was against us; the stillness of air and water around her was against us ; the elements, the men were against us — everything was against us in our secret partnership ; time itself — for this could not go on...
Page 172 - Can you get me a little hot water from the galley?" "I am afraid, sir, the galley fire's been out for some time now." "Go and see." He flew up the stairs. "Now," I whispered, loudly, into the saloon— too loudly, perhaps, but I was afraid I couldn't make a sound.
Page 126 - I am," he said, as if startled. Then, slowly . . . ."Perhaps you too " It was so; but being a couple of years older I had left before he joined. After a quick interchange of dates a silence fell; and I thought suddenly of my absurd mate with his terrific whiskers and the "Bless my soul—you don't say so
Page 114 - ... floor half brown, half blue under the enormous dome of the sky. Corresponding in their insignificance to the islets of the sea, two small clumps of trees, one on each side of the only fault in the impeccable joint, marked the mouth of the river Meinam we had just left on the first preparatory stage of our homeward journey...
Page 143 - I at my writing-desk ready to appear busy with some papers, he behind me out of sight of the door. It would not have been prudent to talk in daytime; and I could not have stood the excitement of that queer sense of whispering to myself. Now and then, glancing over my shoulder, I saw him far back there, sitting rigidly on the low stool, his bare feet close together, his arms folded, his head hanging on his breast — and perfectly still. Anybody would have taken him for me. I was fascinated by it...
Page 137 - I've been leading for nine weeks, anybody would have got out of condition. I wasn't capable of swimming round as far as your rudder chains. And, lo and behold ! there was a ladder to get hold of. After I gripped it I said to myself, 'What's the good?
Page 117 - ... had exercised him infinitely. The ship within the islands was much more easily accounted for; and just as we were about to rise from table he made his pronouncement. She was, he doubted not, a ship from home lately arrived. Probably she drew too much water to cross the bar except at the top of spring tides. Therefore she went into that natural harbor to wait for a few days in preference to remaining in an open roadstead. "That's so," confirmed the second mate, suddenly, in his slightly hoarse...
Page 161 - It's not quite dry yet, sir." For some time longer I sat in the cuddy. Had my double vanished as he had come? But of his coming there was an explanation, whereas his disappearance would be inexplicable. ... I went slowly into my dark room, shut the door...
Page 141 - ... executed, too. I had felt the need of asserting myself without loss of time. That sneering young cub got taken down a peg or two on that occasion, and I also seized the opportunity of having a good look at the face of every foremast man as they filed past me to go to the after braces. At breakfast time, eating nothing myself, I presided with such frigid dignity that the two mates were only too glad to escape from the cabin as soon as decency permitted; and all the time the dual working of my...