فصل چهارم

CHAPTER FOUR

‘I went back on board the steamer and talked to the boilermaker. We got along well together, and he was a good worker.

‘“We’ll get the rivets!” I told him.

‘“No!” he cried in great delight. “Rivets at last!”

‘We were both so happy at the thought of having some real work to do that we began to dance around the deck like madmen. We made a lot of noise.

‘“In three weeks,” I told him. “They’ll arrive in about three weeks.”

‘But they did not arrive. Something else arrived instead. It was the Eldorado Expedition. This consisted of little groups of men who arrived at the station. There was always a white man in charge. He sat on a donkey and gave orders to the native carriers who accompanied him. Five little groups like that arrived. They were ivory hunters, and they were greedy for money. They knew nothing about Africa, and they cared nothing for African people. They just wanted ivory, and the money they could earn from it. They were like men on a pilgrimage - a pilgrimage for ivory.

‘One of the pilgrims was the station manager’s uncle. He was a fat man. He looked dishonest and cunning. He talked to no one except the manager.

‘There were no rivets for our steamer. I watched the ivory hunters with disgust. I sometimes thought about Mr Kurtz. He, at least, had come to Africa with some moral idea to give him strength. I wondered if his moral ideas were as strong now as they had been at first.

‘One evening I was lying on the deck of the steamer. Suddenly I heard two men talking - the manager and his uncle. I heard the manager complaining about something.

‘“I’m not a dangerous man, but I’m not used to being given orders. I’m the manager here, after all.”

‘“Quite right,” the uncle agreed. “It is unpleasant. But perhaps the climate will get rid of him for you. He’s alone out there, isn’t he?”

‘There was a pause, and then the uncle spoke again.

‘“What else?”

‘“He sends more ivory than anyone else,” the manager replied.

“He doesn’t come himself. He sends a clerk to deliver the ivory. Nobody’s ever done that before!”

‘I realised they were talking about Mr Kurtz. I began to listen very carefully to their conversation now.

‘“The clerk says that he’s been very ill,” the manager now said.

‘“You’ll outlast him,” the fat man said. “You never get ill.”

‘They wandered away from the steamer, and I could not hear what they were saying. Then they wandered back again, and they seemed to be talking about something else. The manager was saying, “No one, as far as I know - except for some fool of a wandering trader. He’s got nothing to do with the company at all. There won’t be fair competition until we hang those fellows.”

‘“Certainly,” the uncle agreed. “Get him hanged. Why not, we can do anything in this country.”

‘Now they wandered away from the steamer again, and their voices became indistinct. When they came back I heard the manager talking:

‘“All these delays are not my fault.”

‘“It’s very sad,” the uncle said with a deep sigh. “But a man alone out there - what chance has he got?” Then his voice became suddenly cheerful. “Trust the climate, my boy. That’s what I say - trust the climate!”

‘A few days later the Eldorado Expedition disappeared into the jungle. We heard, much later, that all of their donkeys died in the jungle. I didn’t know what happened to the men and their ivory. I didn’t ask. The rivets had arrived by then, and I was excited at the prospect of meeting Kurtz very soon.’