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"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, Section I, Part 4

Section I, Part 4

At first I was astonished, but very soon I became awfully curious to see what he would find out from me. I couldn't possibly imagine what I had in me to make it worth his while. It was very pretty to see how he baffled himself, for in truth my body was full only of chills, and my head had nothing in it but that wretched steamboat business. It was evident he took me for a perfectly shameless prevaricator. At last he got angry, and, to conceal a movement of furious annoyance, he yawned. I rose. Then I noticed a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch. The background was sombre—almost black. The movement of the woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight on the face was sinister.

"It arrested me, and he stood by civilly, holding an empty half-pint champagne bottle (medical comforts) with the candle stuck in it. To my question he said Mr. Kurtz had painted this—in this very station more than a year ago—while waiting for means to go to his trading post. 'Tell me, pray,' said I, 'who is this Mr. Kurtz?'

"'The chief of the Inner Station,' he answered in a short tone, looking away. 'Much obliged,' I said, laughing. 'And you are the brickmaker of the Central Station. Every one knows that.' He was silent for a while.

'He is a prodigy,' he said at last. 'He is an emissary of pity and science and progress, and devil knows what else. We want,' he began to declaim suddenly, 'for the guidance of the cause intrusted to us by Europe, so to speak, higher intelligence, wide sympathies, a singleness of purpose.' 'Who says that?' I asked. 'Lots of them,' he replied. 'Some even write that; and so he comes here, a special being, as you ought to know.' 'Why ought I to know?' I interrupted, really surprised. He paid no attention. 'Yes. Today he is chief of the best station, next year he will be assistant-manager, two years more and... but I dare-say you know what he will be in two years' time. You are of the new gang—the gang of virtue. The same people who sent him specially also recommended you. Oh, don't say no. I've my own eyes to trust.' Light dawned upon me. My dear aunt's influential acquaintances were producing an unexpected effect upon that young man. I nearly burst into a laugh. 'Do you read the Company's confidential correspondence?' I asked. He hadn't a word to say. It was great fun. 'When Mr. Kurtz,' I continued, severely, 'is General Manager, you won't have the opportunity.'

"He blew the candle out suddenly, and we went outside. The moon had risen. Black figures strolled about listlessly, pouring water on the glow, whence proceeded a sound of hissing; steam ascended in the moonlight, the beaten nigger groaned somewhere. 'What a row the brute makes!' said the indefatigable man with the moustaches, appearing near us. 'Serve him right. Transgression—punishment—bang! Pitiless, pitiless. That's the only way. This will prevent all conflagrations for the future. I was just telling the manager...' He noticed my companion, and became crestfallen all at once. 'Not in bed yet,' he said, with a kind of servile heartiness; 'it's so natural. Ha! Danger—agitation.' He vanished. I went on to the riverside, and the other followed me. I heard a scathing murmur at my ear, 'Heap of muffs—go to.' The pilgrims could be seen in knots gesticulating, discussing. Several had still their staves in their hands. I verily believe they took these sticks to bed with them. Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight, and through that dim stir, through the faint sounds of that lamentable courtyard, the silence of the land went home to one's very heart—its mystery, its greatness, the amazing reality of its concealed life. The hurt nigger moaned feebly somewhere near by, and then fetched a deep sigh that made me mend my pace away from there. I felt a hand introducing itself under my arm. 'My dear sir,' said the fellow, 'I don't want to be misunderstood, and especially by you, who will see Mr. Kurtz long before I can have that pleasure. I wouldn't like him to get a false idea of my disposition....'

"I let him run on, this papier-mache Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe. He, don't you see, had been planning to be assistant-manager by and by under the present man, and I could see that the coming of that Kurtz had upset them both not a little. He talked precipitately, and I did not try to stop him. I had my shoulders against the wreck of my steamer, hauled up on the slope like a carcass of some big river animal. The smell of mud, of primeval mud, by Jove! was in my nostrils, the high stillness of primeval forest was before my eyes; there were shiny patches on the black creek. The moon had spread over everything a thin layer of silver—over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple, over the great river I could see through a sombre gap glittering, glittering, as it flowed broadly by without a murmur. All this was great, expectant, mute, while the man jabbered about himself. I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace. What were we who had strayed in here? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn't talk, and perhaps was deaf as well. What was in there? I could see a little ivory coming out from there, and I had heard Mr. Kurtz was in there. I had heard enough about it, too—God knows! Yet somehow it didn't bring any image with it—no more than if I had been told an angel or a fiend was in there. I believed it in the same way one of you might believe there are inhabitants in the planet Mars. I knew once a Scotch sailmaker who was certain, dead sure, there were people in Mars. If you asked him for some idea how they looked and behaved, he would get shy and mutter something about 'walking on all-fours.' If you as much as smiled, he would—though a man of sixty—offer to fight you. I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie. You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world—what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do. Temperament, I suppose. Well, I went near enough to it by letting the young fool there believe anything he liked to imagine as to my influence in Europe. I became in an instant as much of a pretence as the rest of the bewitched pilgrims. This simply because I had a notion it somehow would be of help to that Kurtz whom at the time I did not see—you understand. He was just a word for me. I did not see the man in the name any more than you do. Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you ya dream—making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams...."

He was silent for a while.

"... No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence—that which makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream—alone...."

He paused again as if reflecting, then added:

"Of course in this you fellows see more than I could then. You see me, whom you know...."

It had become so pitch dark that we listeners could hardly see one another. For a long time already he, sitting apart, had been no more to us than a voice. There was not a word from anybody. The others might have been asleep, but I was awake. I listened, I listened on the watch for the sentence, for the word, that would give me the clue to the faint uneasiness inspired by this narrative that seemed to shape itself without human lips in the heavy night-air of the river.

"... Yes—I let him run on," Marlow began again, "and think what he pleased about the powers that were behind me. I did! And there was nothing behind me! There was nothing but that wretched, old, mangled steamboat I was leaning against, while he talked fluently about 'the necessity for every man to get on.' 'And when one comes out here, you conceive, it is not to gaze at the moon.' Mr. Kurtz was a 'universal genius,' but even a genius would find it easier to work with 'adequate tools—intelligent men.' He did not make bricks—why, there was a physical impossibility in the way—as I was well aware; and if he did secretarial work for the manager, it was because 'no sensible man rejects wantonly the confidence of his superiors.' Did I see it? I saw it. What more did I want? What I really wanted was rivets, by heaven! Rivets. To get on with the work—to stop the hole. Rivets I wanted. There were cases of them down at the coast—cases—piled up—burst—split! You kicked a loose rivet at every second step in that station-yard on the hillside. Rivets had rolled into the grove of death. You could fill your pockets with rivets for the trouble of stooping down—and there wasn't one rivet to be found where it was wanted. We had plates that would do, but nothing to fasten them with. And every week the messenger, a long negro, letter-bag on shoulder and staff in hand, left our station for the coast. And several times a week a coast caravan came in with trade goods—ghastly glazed calico that made you shudder only to look at it, glass beads value about a penny a quart, confounded spotted cotton handkerchiefs. And no rivets. Three carriers could have brought all that was wanted to set that steamboat afloat.

"He was becoming confidential now, but I fancy my unresponsive attitude must have exasperated him at last, for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man. I said I could see that very well, but what I wanted was a certain quantity of rivets—and rivets were what really Mr. Kurtz wanted, if he had only known it. Now letters went to the coast every week.... 'My dear sir,' he cried, 'I write from dictation.' I demanded rivets. There was a way—for an intelligent man. He changed his manner; became very cold, and suddenly began to talk about a hippopotamus; wondered whether sleeping on board the steamer (I stuck to my salvage night and day) I wasn't disturbed. There was an old hippo that had the bad habit of getting out on the bank and roaming at night over the station grounds. The pilgrims used to turn out in a body and empty every rifle they could lay hands on at him. Some even had sat up o' nights for him. All this energy was wasted, though. 'That animal has a charmed life,' he said; 'but you can say this only of brutes in this country. No man—you apprehend me?—no man here bears a charmed life.' He stood there for a moment in the moonlight with his delicate hooked nose set a little askew, and his mica eyes glittering without a wink, then, with a curt Good-night, he strode off. I could see he was disturbed and considerably puzzled, which made me feel more hopeful than I had been for days. It was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, the battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat. I clambered on board. She rang under my feet like an empty Huntley & Palmer biscuit-tin kicked along a gutter; she was nothing so solid in make, and rather less pretty in shape, but I had expended enough hard work on her to make me love her. No influential friend would have served me better. She had given me a chance to come out a bit—to find out what I could do. No, I don't like work. I had rather laze about and think of all the fine things that can be done. I don't like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself. Your own reality—for yourself, not for others—what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.

"I was not surprised to see somebody sitting aft, on the deck, with his legs dangling over the mud. You see I rather chummed with the few mechanics there were in that station, whom the other pilgrims naturally despised—on account of their imperfect manners, I suppose. This was the foreman—a boiler-maker by trade—a good worker. He was a lank, bony, yellow-faced man, with big intense eyes. His aspect was worried, and his head was as bald as the palm of my hand; but his hair in falling seemed to have stuck to his chin, and had prospered in the new locality, for his beard hung down to his waist. He was a widower with six young children (he had left them in charge of a sister of his to come out there), and the passion of his life was pigeon-flying. He was an enthusiast and a connoisseur. He would rave about pigeons. After work hours he used sometimes to come over from his hut for a talk about his children and his pigeons; at work, when he had to crawl in the mud under the bottom of the steamboat, he would tie up that beard of his in a kind of white serviette he brought for the purpose. It had loops to go over his ears. In the evening he could be seen squatted on the bank rinsing that wrapper in the creek with great care, then spreading it solemnly on a bush to dry.

"I slapped him on the back and shouted, 'We shall have rivets!' He scrambled to his feet exclaiming, 'No! Rivets!' as though he couldn't believe his ears. Then in a low voice, 'You... eh?' I don't know why we behaved like lunatics. I put my finger to the side of my nose and nodded mysteriously. 'Good for you!' he cried, snapped his fingers above his head, lifting one foot. I tried a jig. We capered on the iron deck. A frightful clatter came out of that hulk, and the virgin forest on the other bank of the creek sent it back in a thundering roll upon the sleeping station. It must have made some of the pilgrims sit up in their hovels. A dark figure obscured the lighted doorway of the manager's hut, vanished, then, a second or so after, the doorway itself vanished, too. We stopped, and the silence driven away by the stamping of our feet flowed back again from the recesses of the land. The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence. And it moved not. A deadened burst of mighty splashes and snorts reached us from afar, as though an icthyosaurus had been taking a bath of glitter in the great river. 'After all,' said the boiler-maker in a reasonable tone, 'why shouldn't we get the rivets?' Why not, indeed! I did not know of any reason why we shouldn't. 'They'll come in three weeks,' I said confidently.

"But they didn't. Instead of rivets there came an invasion, an infliction, a visitation. It came in sections during the next three weeks, each section headed by a donkey carrying a white man in new clothes and tan shoes, bowing from that elevation right and left to the impressed pilgrims. A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the donkey; a lot of tents, camp-stools, tin boxes, white cases, brown bales would be shot down in the courtyard, and the air of mystery would deepen a little over the muddle of the station. Five such instalments came, with their absurd air of disorderly flight with the loot of innumerable outfit shops and provision stores, that, one would think, they were lugging, after a raid, into the wilderness for equitable division. It was an inextricable mess of things decent in themselves but that human folly made look like the spoils of thieving.

"This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to secrecy. Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it ywas reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage; there was not an atom of foresight or of serious intention in the whole batch of them, and they did not seem aware these things are wanted for the work of the world. To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe. Who paid the expenses of the noble enterprise I don't know; but the uncle of our manager was leader of that lot.

"In exterior he resembled a butcher in a poor neighbourhood, and his eyes had a look of sleepy cunning. He carried his fat paunch with ostentation on his short legs, and during the time his gang infested the station spoke to no one but his nephew. You could see these two roaming about all day long with their heads close together in an everlasting confab.

"I had given up worrying myself about the rivets. One's capacity for that kind of folly is more limited than you would suppose. I said Hang!—and let things slide. I had plenty of time for meditation, and now and then I would give some thought to Kurtz. I wasn't very interested in him. No. Still, I was curious to see whether this man, who had come out equipped with moral ideas of some sort, would climb to the top after all and how he would set about his work when there."

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Section I, Part 4 Abschnitt I, Teil 4 Section I, partie 4 第1節 第4部 I skyriaus 4 dalis Secção I, Parte 4 Раздел I, часть 4 Розділ I, частина 4 第 I 节，第 4 部分

At first I was astonished, but very soon I became awfully curious to see what he would find out from me. ||||astonished||||||very|||||||||| Au début, j'étais étonné, mais très vite je suis devenu terriblement curieux de voir ce qu'il allait découvrir de moi. I couldn't possibly imagine what I had in me to make it worth his while. Je ne pouvais pas imaginer ce que j'avais en moi pour que ça en vaille la peine. Não conseguia imaginar o que é que eu tinha em mim para o fazer valer a pena. It was very pretty to see how he baffled himself, for in truth my body was full only of chills, and my head had nothing in it but that wretched steamboat business. ||||||||baffled|||||||||||||||||||||wretched|| C'était bien joli de voir comme il se déconcertait, car en vérité mon corps n'était plein que de frissons, et ma tête n'avait rien d'autre que cette maudite histoire de bateau à vapeur. It was evident he took me for a perfectly shameless prevaricator. ||||||||||liar Era evidente que ele me tomava por um prevaricador perfeitamente desavergonhado. At last he got angry, and, to conceal a movement of furious annoyance, he yawned. |||||||||||furious|||yawned Enfin il se fâcha, et, pour dissimuler un mouvement d'agacement furieux, il bâilla. I rose. Je me levai. Then I noticed a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch. |||||sketch||oils|||||||||blindfolded|||| Puis j'ai remarqué une petite esquisse à l'huile, sur un panneau, représentant une femme, drapée et les yeux bandés, portant une torche allumée. Reparei então num pequeno esboço a óleo, num painel, representando uma mulher, drapeada e vendada, com uma tocha acesa. The background was sombre—almost black. |||dark|| Le fond était sombre, presque noir. The movement of the woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight on the face was sinister. ||||||stately||||||torchlight|||||

"It arrested me, and he stood by civilly, holding an empty half-pint champagne bottle (medical comforts) with the candle stuck in it. |||||||politely||||||champagne|bottle|||||||| "Cela m'a arrêté, et il s'est tenu là civilement, tenant une bouteille de champagne vide d'une demi-pinte (confort médical) avec la bougie coincée dedans. To my question he said Mr. Kurtz had painted this—in this very station more than a year ago—while waiting for means to go to his trading post. A ma question, il m'a dit que M. Kurtz avait peint ceci — dans cette station même il y a plus d'un an — en attendant de pouvoir se rendre à son poste de traite. 'Tell me, pray,' said I, 'who is this Mr. ||please|||||| « Dites-moi, je vous prie, dis-je, qui est ce M. Kurtz?'

"'The chief of the Inner Station,' he answered in a short tone, looking away. 'Much obliged,' I said, laughing. « Bien obligé », ai-je dit en riant. 'And you are the brickmaker of the Central Station. ||||brickmaker|||| « Et vous êtes le briquetier de la gare centrale. Every one knows that.' He was silent for a while.

'He is a prodigy,' he said at last. |||prodigy|||| 'He is an emissary of pity and science and progress, and devil knows what else. « C'est un émissaire de la pitié, de la science et du progrès, et le diable sait quoi d'autre. We want,' he began to declaim suddenly, 'for the guidance of the cause intrusted to us by Europe, so to speak, higher intelligence, wide sympathies, a singleness of purpose.' |||||declaim|||||||||||||||||||||singleness|| Il nous faut, commença-t-il soudain à déclamer, pour guider la cause qui nous est confiée par l'Europe, pour ainsi dire, une plus haute intelligence, de larges sympathies, un seul but. 'Who says that?' I asked. 'Lots of them,' he replied. 'Some even write that; and so he comes here, a special being, as you ought to know.' 'Why ought I to know?' 'Pourquoi devrais-je savoir?' I interrupted, really surprised. He paid no attention. 'Yes. Today he is chief of the best station, next year he will be assistant-manager, two years more and... but I dare-say you know what he will be in two years' time. You are of the new gang—the gang of virtue. The same people who sent him specially also recommended you. Oh, don't say no. I've my own eyes to trust.' Light dawned upon me. |dawned|| La lumière s'est levée sur moi. A luz raiou sobre mim. My dear aunt's influential acquaintances were producing an unexpected effect upon that young man. Les relations influentes de ma chère tante produisaient sur ce jeune homme un effet inattendu. I nearly burst into a laugh. J'ai failli éclater de rire. 'Do you read the Company's confidential correspondence?' I asked. He hadn't a word to say. It was great fun. 'When Mr. Kurtz,' I continued, severely, 'is General Manager, you won't have the opportunity.'

"He blew the candle out suddenly, and we went outside. "Il a soufflé la bougie d'un coup et nous sommes sortis. The moon had risen. Black figures strolled about listlessly, pouring water on the glow, whence proceeded a sound of hissing; steam ascended in the moonlight, the beaten nigger groaned somewhere. ||||||||||||||||||||||||groaned| Des silhouettes noires se promenaient nonchalamment, versant de l'eau sur la lueur, d'où sortait un sifflement ; la vapeur montait au clair de lune, le nègre battu gémissait quelque part. Figuras negras passeavam apáticas, despejando água na claridade, de onde vinha um som de assobio; o vapor subia ao luar, o negro espancado gemia em algum lugar. 'What a row the brute makes!' 'Quel chahut fait la brute !' 'Que briga o bruto faz!' said the indefatigable man with the moustaches, appearing near us. ||indefatigable||||||| dit l'infatigable moustachu en apparaissant près de nous. 'Serve him right. 'Servez-le bien. — Sirva-o bem. Transgression—punishment—bang! Transgression|| Pitiless, pitiless. Impitoyable, impitoyable. That's the only way. This will prevent all conflagrations for the future. ||||fires||| I was just telling the manager...' He noticed my companion, and became crestfallen all at once. ||||||||||||sad||| J'étais juste en train de dire au directeur...' Il remarqua mon compagnon et devint tout à coup découragé. 'Not in bed yet,' he said, with a kind of servile heartiness; 'it's so natural. ||||||||||servile|||| « Pas encore au lit, dit-il avec une sorte de cordialité servile ; 'c'est tellement naturel. Ha! Danger—agitation.' He vanished. Il a disparu. I went on to the riverside, and the other followed me. I heard a scathing murmur at my ear, 'Heap of muffs—go to.' |||scathing|||||||muffs|| J'ai entendu un murmure cinglant à mon oreille : « Tas de manchons, vas-y. Ouvi um murmúrio mordaz em meu ouvido: 'Um monte de regalos — vá para'. The pilgrims could be seen in knots gesticulating, discussing. |||||||gesticulating| On voyait les pèlerins en nœuds gesticulant, discutant. Os peregrinos podiam ser vistos em nós gesticulando, discutindo. Several had still their staves in their hands. Plusieurs avaient encore leur bâton à la main. Vários ainda estavam com os bastões nas mãos. I verily believe they took these sticks to bed with them. Je crois vraiment qu'ils ont pris ces bâtons au lit avec eux. Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight, and through that dim stir, through the faint sounds of that lamentable courtyard, the silence of the land went home to one's very heart—its mystery, its greatness, the amazing reality of its concealed life. |||||||in a ghostly manner|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Au-delà de la clôture, la forêt se dressait spectralement au clair de lune, et à travers cette faible agitation, à travers les faibles sons de cette cour lamentable, le silence de la terre pénétrait jusqu'au cœur de chacun - son mystère, sa grandeur, l'étonnante réalité de son vie cachée. The hurt nigger moaned feebly somewhere near by, and then fetched a deep sigh that made me mend my pace away from there. Le nègre blessé a gémi faiblement quelque part à proximité, puis a poussé un profond soupir qui m'a fait m'éloigner de là. I felt a hand introducing itself under my arm. Je sentis une main s'introduire sous mon bras. 'My dear sir,' said the fellow, 'I don't want to be misunderstood, and especially by you, who will see Mr. Kurtz long before I can have that pleasure. 'Meu caro senhor', disse o sujeito, 'não quero ser mal interpretado, e especialmente por você, que verá o Sr. Kurtz muito antes que eu possa ter esse prazer. I wouldn't like him to get a false idea of my disposition....'

"I let him run on, this papier-mache Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe. |||||||mache|Mephistopheles||||||||||||||||||||||||||| "Je l'ai laissé courir, ce Méphistophélès en papier mâché, et il m'a semblé que si j'essayais, je pourrais passer mon index à travers lui, et ne trouverais rien à l'intérieur, sauf un peu de terre meuble, peut-être. "Deixei-o correr, esse Mefistófeles de papel machê, e me pareceu que, se tentasse, conseguiria enfiar meu dedo indicador nele e não encontraria nada dentro além de um pouco de terra solta, talvez. He, don't you see, had been planning to be assistant-manager by and by under the present man, and I could see that the coming of that Kurtz had upset them both not a little. Il, ne voyez-vous pas, avait prévu d'être sous-directeur sous l'homme actuel, et je pouvais voir que l'arrivée de ce Kurtz les avait bouleversés tous les deux. Ele, você não vê, estava planejando ser subgerente aos poucos sob o atual homem, e eu podia ver que a vinda daquele Kurtz havia chateado os dois não um pouco. He talked precipitately, and I did not try to stop him. ||precipitously|||||||| I had my shoulders against the wreck of my steamer, hauled up on the slope like a carcass of some big river animal. ||||||||||hauled|||||||||||| J'avais les épaules contre l'épave de mon bateau à vapeur, hissé sur la pente comme la carcasse d'un gros animal fluvial. The smell of mud, of primeval mud, by Jove! |||||primeval||| L'odeur de la boue, de la boue primitive, par Jove ! was in my nostrils, the high stillness of primeval forest was before my eyes; there were shiny patches on the black creek. était dans mes narines, le grand silence de la forêt primitive était devant mes yeux; il y avait des taches brillantes sur le ruisseau noir. The moon had spread over everything a thin layer of silver—over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple, over the great river I could see through a sombre gap glittering, glittering, as it flowed broadly by without a murmur. ||||||||||||||||||||||matted|vegetation||||||||||||||||||sombre||||||||||| La lune avait étendu sur tout une fine couche d'argent - sur l'herbe grasse, sur la boue, sur le mur de végétation emmêlée debout plus haut que le mur d'un temple, sur le grand fleuve que je pouvais voir à travers une sombre brèche scintillant, scintillant , car il coulait largement sans un murmure. All this was great, expectant, mute, while the man jabbered about himself. ||||expectant|||||jabbered|| Tout cela était grand, dans l'expectative, muet, tandis que l'homme bavardait sur lui-même. I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace. Je me suis demandé si l'immobilité sur le visage de l'immensité qui nous regardait tous les deux était conçue comme un appel ou comme une menace. Eu me perguntei se a quietude na face da imensidão olhando para nós dois era um apelo ou uma ameaça. What were we who had strayed in here? Qui étions-nous qui nous étions égarés ici ? O que éramos nós que tínhamos entrado aqui? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us? Pourrions-nous gérer cette chose stupide, ou est-ce qu'elle nous gérerait ? Poderíamos lidar com essa coisa idiota, ou ela lidaria conosco? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn't talk, and perhaps was deaf as well. |||||confoundedly||||||||||||| J'ai senti la taille, la taille déconcertante, de cette chose qui ne pouvait pas parler, et qui était peut-être aussi sourde. What was in there? I could see a little ivory coming out from there, and I had heard Mr. Kurtz was in there. Je pouvais voir un peu d'ivoire sortir de là, et j'avais entendu dire que M. Kurtz était là. Eu podia ver um pouco de marfim saindo de lá, e eu tinha ouvido que o Sr. Kurtz estava lá. I had heard enough about it, too—God knows! J'en avais assez entendu parler aussi - Dieu sait ! Yet somehow it didn't bring any image with it—no more than if I had been told an angel or a fiend was in there. Pourtant, d'une manière ou d'une autre, il n'apportait aucune image avec lui - pas plus que si on m'avait dit qu'un ange ou un démon se trouvait là-dedans. No entanto, de alguma forma, não trouxe nenhuma imagem com ele - não mais do que se me dissessem que um anjo ou um demônio estava lá. I believed it in the same way one of you might believe there are inhabitants in the planet Mars. Eu acreditava nisso da mesma forma que um de vocês pode acreditar que existem habitantes no planeta Marte. I knew once a Scotch sailmaker who was certain, dead sure, there were people in Mars. |||||sailmaker|||||||||| J'ai connu autrefois un fabricant de voiles écossais qui était certain, très sûr, qu'il y avait des gens sur Mars. Conheci um veleiro escocês que tinha certeza, certeza absoluta, de que havia pessoas em Marte. If you asked him for some idea how they looked and behaved, he would get shy and mutter something about 'walking on all-fours.' |||||||||||||||||mutter|||||| Si vous lui demandiez une idée de leur apparence et de leur comportement, il deviendrait timide et marmonnerait quelque chose à propos de "marcher à quatre pattes". Se você lhe pedisse alguma ideia de como eles se pareciam e se comportavam, ele ficava tímido e murmurava algo sobre 'andar de quatro'. If you as much as smiled, he would—though a man of sixty—offer to fight you. Si vous souriiez, il vous proposerait, bien qu'il ait soixante ans, de vous combattre. Se você sorrisse, ele se ofereceria – embora um homem de sessenta anos – para lutar com você. I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie. Eu não teria ido tão longe a ponto de lutar por Kurtz, mas fui por ele perto o suficiente de uma mentira. You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. ||||||||||||||||||||||||appalls| Vous savez que je déteste, déteste et ne supporte pas un mensonge, non pas parce que je suis plus hétéro que le reste d'entre nous, mais simplement parce que cela me révolte. Você sabe que eu odeio, detesto e não posso suportar uma mentira, não porque sou mais heterossexual do que o resto de nós, mas simplesmente porque isso me apavora. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world—what I want to forget. Il y a une souillure de mort, une saveur de mortalité dans les mensonges - c'est exactement ce que je hais et déteste dans le monde - ce que je veux oublier. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do. Cela me rend misérable et malade, comme mordre quelque chose de pourri ferait l'affaire. Isso me deixa infeliz e doente, como morder algo podre faria. Temperament, I suppose. Tempérament, je suppose. Well, I went near enough to it by letting the young fool there believe anything he liked to imagine as to my influence in Europe. Bem, cheguei perto o suficiente disso deixando o jovem tolo ali acreditar em qualquer coisa que ele gostasse de imaginar sobre minha influência na Europa. I became in an instant as much of a pretence as the rest of the bewitched pilgrims. Je devins en un instant autant un faux-semblant que le reste des pèlerins ensorcelés. Tornei-me num instante tão fingido quanto o resto dos peregrinos enfeitiçados. This simply because I had a notion it somehow would be of help to that Kurtz whom at the time I did not see—you understand. C'est simplement parce que j'avais l'idée que cela aiderait d'une manière ou d'une autre ce Kurtz que je n'avais pas vu à l'époque – vous comprenez. Isso simplesmente porque eu tinha a noção de que de alguma forma ajudaria aquele Kurtz que na época eu não vi — você entende. He was just a word for me. I did not see the man in the name any more than you do. Je n'ai pas plus vu l'homme du nom que vous. Eu não vi o homem no nome mais do que você. Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you ya dream—making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams...." ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||commingling|||||bewilderment||||||revolt|||||||||||||||| Il me semble que j'essaie de vous raconter votre rêve - en vain, car aucune relation d'un rêve ne peut transmettre la sensation de rêve, ce mélange d'absurdité, de surprise et de confusion dans un tremblement de révolte luttant, cette notion de être capté par l'incroyable qui est de l'essence même du rêve..." Parece-me que estou tentando lhe dizer que você sonha - fazendo uma tentativa vã, porque nenhuma relação de um sonho pode transmitir a sensação onírica, essa mistura de absurdo, surpresa e perplexidade em um tremor de revolta lutadora, essa noção de sendo capturado pelo incrível que é a própria essência dos sonhos..."

He was silent for a while.

"... No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence—that which makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating essence. |||||||||||||||epoch||||||||||||subtle|||essence "... Non, c'est impossible; il est impossible de transmettre la sensation vitale d'une époque donnée de son existence - ce qui fait sa vérité, son sens - son essence subtile et pénétrante. It is impossible. We live, as we dream—alone...."

He paused again as if reflecting, then added: Il marqua une nouvelle pause comme s'il réfléchissait, puis ajouta :

"Of course in this you fellows see more than I could then. "Claro que nisto vocês vêem mais do que eu podia então. You see me, whom you know...."

It had become so pitch dark that we listeners could hardly see one another. For a long time already he, sitting apart, had been no more to us than a voice. There was not a word from anybody. The others might have been asleep, but I was awake. I listened, I listened on the watch for the sentence, for the word, that would give me the clue to the faint uneasiness inspired by this narrative that seemed to shape itself without human lips in the heavy night-air of the river.

"... Yes—I let him run on," Marlow began again, "and think what he pleased about the powers that were behind me. "... Sim, eu o deixei correr", Marlow começou novamente, "e pensar o que ele quisesse sobre os poderes que estavam atrás de mim. I did! And there was nothing behind me! There was nothing but that wretched, old, mangled steamboat I was leaning against, while he talked fluently about 'the necessity for every man to get on.' |||||||mangled|||||||||||||||||| Não havia nada além daquele barco a vapor miserável, velho e destroçado em que eu estava encostado, enquanto ele falava fluentemente sobre 'a necessidade de todo homem embarcar'. 'And when one comes out here, you conceive, it is not to gaze at the moon.' 'E quando alguém vem aqui, você concebe, não é para olhar a lua.' Mr. Kurtz was a 'universal genius,' but even a genius would find it easier to work with 'adequate tools—intelligent men.' He did not make bricks—why, there was a physical impossibility in the way—as I was well aware; and if he did secretarial work for the manager, it was because 'no sensible man rejects wantonly the confidence of his superiors.' |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||without reason||||| Ele não fazia tijolos — ora, havia uma impossibilidade física no caminho — como eu bem sabia; e se fazia trabalho de secretariado para o gerente, era porque "nenhum homem sensato rejeita arbitrariamente a confiança de seus superiores". Did I see it? I saw it. What more did I want? What I really wanted was rivets, by heaven! |||||rivets|| Rivets. To get on with the work—to stop the hole. Rivets I wanted. There were cases of them down at the coast—cases—piled up—burst—split! You kicked a loose rivet at every second step in that station-yard on the hillside. ||||rivet||||||||||| Você chutava um rebite solto a cada segundo passo naquele pátio da estação na encosta da colina. Rivets had rolled into the grove of death. |||||grove|| You could fill your pockets with rivets for the trouble of stooping down—and there wasn't one rivet to be found where it was wanted. We had plates that would do, but nothing to fasten them with. |||||||||fasten|| Tínhamos placas que serviriam, mas nada para prendê-las. And every week the messenger, a long negro, letter-bag on shoulder and staff in hand, left our station for the coast. And several times a week a coast caravan came in with trade goods—ghastly glazed calico that made you shudder only to look at it, glass beads value about a penny a quart, confounded spotted cotton handkerchiefs. |||||||||||||||calico||||shudder|||||||beads|||||||||| E várias vezes por semana uma caravana da costa vinha com mercadorias – chita vitrificada medonha que fazia você estremecer só de olhar para ela, contas de vidro valendo cerca de um centavo por litro, lenços de algodão manchados confusos. And no rivets. Three carriers could have brought all that was wanted to set that steamboat afloat. |||||||||||||afloat Três carregadores poderiam ter trazido tudo o que era necessário para colocar aquele barco a vapor à tona.

"He was becoming confidential now, but I fancy my unresponsive attitude must have exasperated him at last, for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man. I said I could see that very well, but what I wanted was a certain quantity of rivets—and rivets were what really Mr. Kurtz wanted, if he had only known it. Now letters went to the coast every week.... 'My dear sir,' he cried, 'I write from dictation.' ||||||||||||||||dictation I demanded rivets. There was a way—for an intelligent man. He changed his manner; became very cold, and suddenly began to talk about a hippopotamus; wondered whether sleeping on board the steamer (I stuck to my salvage night and day) I wasn't disturbed. ||||||||||||||hippopotamus||||||||||||salvage|||||| Ele mudou sua maneira; ficou muito frio e de repente começou a falar sobre um hipopótamo; me perguntei se dormindo a bordo do navio a vapor (fiquei no meu salvamento dia e noite) eu não estava incomodado. There was an old hippo that had the bad habit of getting out on the bank and roaming at night over the station grounds. ||||hippo||||||||||||||||||| Havia um velho hipopótamo que tinha o mau hábito de sair na margem e perambular à noite pelos terrenos da estação. The pilgrims used to turn out in a body and empty every rifle they could lay hands on at him. Some even had sat up o' nights for him. Alguns até ficaram acordados à noite para ele. All this energy was wasted, though. 'That animal has a charmed life,' he said; 'but you can say this only of brutes in this country. |||||||||||||||brutes||| "Aquele animal tem uma vida encantadora", disse ele; 'mas você pode dizer isso apenas de brutos neste país. No man—you apprehend me?—no man here bears a charmed life.' Nenhum homem... está me prendendo?... nenhum homem aqui tem uma vida encantada. He stood there for a moment in the moonlight with his delicate hooked nose set a little askew, and his mica eyes glittering without a wink, then, with a curt Good-night, he strode off. |||||||||||||||||||||||||wink||||abrupt||||strode| Ficou ali parado por um momento ao luar com seu delicado nariz adunco um pouco torto, e seus olhos de mica brilhando sem piscar, então, com um breve boa-noite, ele se afastou. I could see he was disturbed and considerably puzzled, which made me feel more hopeful than I had been for days. Pude ver que ele estava perturbado e bastante intrigado, o que me fez sentir mais esperançosa do que há dias. It was a great comfort to turn from that chap to my influential friend, the battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steamboat. |||||||||||||||battered||||| Foi um grande conforto passar daquele sujeito para meu amigo influente, o barco a vapor amassado, retorcido e arruinado. I clambered on board. |climbed|| Subi a bordo. She rang under my feet like an empty Huntley & Palmer biscuit-tin kicked along a gutter; she was nothing so solid in make, and rather less pretty in shape, but I had expended enough hard work on her to make me love her. ||||||||Huntley|Palmer||||||gutter|||||||||||||||||expended|||||||||| Ela ressoou sob meus pés como uma lata vazia de biscoito Huntley & Palmer chutada ao longo de uma sarjeta; ela não era nada tão sólida na aparência, e menos bonita na forma, mas eu tinha trabalhado duro o suficiente com ela para me fazer amá-la. No influential friend would have served me better. She had given me a chance to come out a bit—to find out what I could do. Ela me deu uma chance de sair um pouco - para descobrir o que eu poderia fazer. No, I don't like work. I had rather laze about and think of all the fine things that can be done. |||laze|||||||||||| Eu preferia preguiçar e pensar em todas as coisas boas que podem ser feitas. I don't like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself. Não gosto de trabalho — nenhum homem gosta — mas gosto do que está no trabalho — a chance de se encontrar. Your own reality—for yourself, not for others—what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.

"I was not surprised to see somebody sitting aft, on the deck, with his legs dangling over the mud. ||||||||at the back|||||||||| "Não fiquei surpreso ao ver alguém sentado na popa, no convés, com as pernas penduradas na lama. You see I rather chummed with the few mechanics there were in that station, whom the other pilgrims naturally despised—on account of their imperfect manners, I suppose. ||||chummed||||||||||||||||||||||| Você vê que eu me relacionei com os poucos mecânicos que havia naquela estação, a quem os outros peregrinos naturalmente desprezavam – por causa de seus modos imperfeitos, suponho. This was the foreman—a boiler-maker by trade—a good worker. Este era o capataz - um caldeireiro de profissão - um bom trabalhador. He was a lank, bony, yellow-faced man, with big intense eyes. His aspect was worried, and his head was as bald as the palm of my hand; but his hair in falling seemed to have stuck to his chin, and had prospered in the new locality, for his beard hung down to his waist. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||prospered|||||||||||| He was a widower with six young children (he had left them in charge of a sister of his to come out there), and the passion of his life was pigeon-flying. Ele era viúvo com seis filhos pequenos (ele os havia deixado a cargo de uma irmã dele para ir lá), e a paixão de sua vida era voar de pombo. He was an enthusiast and a connoisseur. ||||||expert Ele era um entusiasta e um conhecedor. He would rave about pigeons. ||rave|| After work hours he used sometimes to come over from his hut for a talk about his children and his pigeons; at work, when he had to crawl in the mud under the bottom of the steamboat, he would tie up that beard of his in a kind of white serviette he brought for the purpose. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||a napkin||||| Depois do expediente, às vezes ele vinha de sua cabana para conversar sobre seus filhos e seus pombos; no trabalho, quando tinha de rastejar na lama sob o fundo do barco a vapor, amarrava aquela sua barba numa espécie de guardanapo branco que trazia para o efeito. It had loops to go over his ears. Tinha laços para passar por cima de suas orelhas. In the evening he could be seen squatted on the bank rinsing that wrapper in the creek with great care, then spreading it solemnly on a bush to dry. |||||||||||rinsing||wrapper||||||||||||||| À noite, ele podia ser visto agachado na margem, lavando aquele embrulho no riacho com muito cuidado, depois espalhando-o solenemente em um arbusto para secar.

"I slapped him on the back and shouted, 'We shall have rivets!' He scrambled to his feet exclaiming, 'No! Rivets!' as though he couldn't believe his ears. como se não pudesse acreditar em seus ouvidos. Then in a low voice, 'You... eh?' I don't know why we behaved like lunatics. |||||||lunatics Não sei por que nos comportávamos como lunáticos. I put my finger to the side of my nose and nodded mysteriously. Eu coloquei meu dedo ao lado do meu nariz e assenti misteriosamente. 'Good for you!' he cried, snapped his fingers above his head, lifting one foot. ele gritou, estalou os dedos acima da cabeça, levantando um pé. I tried a jig. |||dance We capered on the iron deck. |capered|||| A frightful clatter came out of that hulk, and the virgin forest on the other bank of the creek sent it back in a thundering roll upon the sleeping station. ||clatter||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Um estrondo assustador saiu daquele casco, e a floresta virgem na outra margem do riacho o enviou de volta em um estrondo estrondoso sobre a estação adormecida. It must have made some of the pilgrims sit up in their hovels. ||||||||||||hovels A dark figure obscured the lighted doorway of the manager's hut, vanished, then, a second or so after, the doorway itself vanished, too. |||obscured||||||||||||||||||| Uma figura escura obscureceu a porta iluminada da cabana do gerente, desapareceu, então, cerca de um segundo depois, a própria porta também desapareceu. We stopped, and the silence driven away by the stamping of our feet flowed back again from the recesses of the land. Paramos, e o silêncio afastado pelo bater de nossos pés voltou a fluir dos recessos da terra. The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence. ||||||exuberant||entangled||||||boughs|festoons||||||||rioting||||||||||||crested|||topple||||||||||||||| A grande muralha de vegetação, uma massa exuberante e emaranhada de troncos, galhos, folhas, galhos, festões, imóveis ao luar, era como uma invasão desenfreada de vida silenciosa, uma onda rolante de plantas, empilhadas, cristas, prestes a tombar sobre o riacho, para varrer cada homenzinho de nós de sua pequena existência. And it moved not. A deadened burst of mighty splashes and snorts reached us from afar, as though an icthyosaurus had been taking a bath of glitter in the great river. |||||splashes||snorts||||||||ichthyosaurus|||||bath|||||| Uma explosão amortecida de fortes respingos e bufos nos alcançou de longe, como se um ictiossauro estivesse tomando um banho de purpurina no grande rio. 一阵沉闷的水花和喷鼻声从远处传来，仿佛一条鱼龙在大河中沐浴着闪光。 'After all,' said the boiler-maker in a reasonable tone, 'why shouldn't we get the rivets?' Why not, indeed! I did not know of any reason why we shouldn't. Eu não sabia de nenhuma razão pela qual não deveríamos. 'They'll come in three weeks,' I said confidently.

"But they didn't. Instead of rivets there came an invasion, an infliction, a visitation. ||||||||infliction||visitation Em vez de rebites veio uma invasão, uma imposição, uma visitação. It came in sections during the next three weeks, each section headed by a donkey carrying a white man in new clothes and tan shoes, bowing from that elevation right and left to the impressed pilgrims. |||||||||||||||||||||||tan|||||||||||| Ele veio em seções durante as próximas três semanas, cada seção encabeçada por um burro carregando um homem branco em roupas novas e sapatos castanhos, curvando-se daquela elevação à direita e à esquerda para os peregrinos impressionados. A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the donkey; a lot of tents, camp-stools, tin boxes, white cases, brown bales would be shot down in the courtyard, and the air of mystery would deepen a little over the muddle of the station. |||||sulky||trod||||||||||||||||||bales|||||||||||||||||||||| Um bando briguento de negros mal-humorados e doloridos pisava nos calcanhares do burro; muitas barracas, bancos de acampamento, caixas de lata, estojos brancos, fardos marrons seriam derrubados no pátio, e o ar de mistério se aprofundaria um pouco sobre a confusão da estação. Five such instalments came, with their absurd air of disorderly flight with the loot of innumerable outfit shops and provision stores, that, one would think, they were lugging, after a raid, into the wilderness for equitable division. |||||||||||||plunder|||outfit|||||||||||lugging||||||||| Cinco dessas parcelas vieram, com seu ar absurdo de fuga desordenada com o saque de inúmeras lojas de roupas e provisões, que, poderíamos pensar, eles estavam arrastando, depois de um ataque, para o mato para uma divisão equitativa. It was an inextricable mess of things decent in themselves but that human folly made look like the spoils of thieving. |||inextricable|||||||||||||||||

"This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to secrecy. ||||||Eldorado|||||||||| "Esta banda devota se autodenominava Eldorado Exploring Expedition, e acredito que eles juraram segredo. Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it ywas reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage; there was not an atom of foresight or of serious intention in the whole batch of them, and they did not seem aware these things are wanted for the work of the world. ||||||||buccaneers||was|||hardihood|||audacity||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Sua conversa, no entanto, era a conversa de corsários sórdidos: era imprudente sem ousadia, ganancioso sem audácia e cruel sem coragem; não havia um átomo de previsão ou de intenção séria em todo o grupo deles, e eles não pareciam cientes de que essas coisas são necessárias para o trabalho do mundo. To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe. Arrancar tesouros das entranhas da terra era o desejo deles, sem mais propósito moral por trás disso do que os ladrões arrombando um cofre. Who paid the expenses of the noble enterprise I don't know; but the uncle of our manager was leader of that lot. Quem pagou as despesas da nobre empresa não sei; mas o tio do nosso gerente era o líder daquele lote.

"In exterior he resembled a butcher in a poor neighbourhood, and his eyes had a look of sleepy cunning. "Por fora ele parecia um açougueiro de um bairro pobre, e seus olhos tinham um ar de astúcia sonolenta. He carried his fat paunch with ostentation on his short legs, and during the time his gang infested the station spoke to no one but his nephew. |||||||||||||||||infested||||||||| You could see these two roaming about all day long with their heads close together in an everlasting confab. ||||||||||||||||||conversation Você podia ver esses dois vagando o dia todo com as cabeças juntas em uma confab eterna.

"I had given up worrying myself about the rivets. One's capacity for that kind of folly is more limited than you would suppose. I said Hang!—and let things slide. Eu disse Hang! — e deixei as coisas rolarem. I had plenty of time for meditation, and now and then I would give some thought to Kurtz. Eu tinha muito tempo para meditar e, de vez em quando, pensava um pouco em Kurtz. I wasn't very interested in him. No. Still, I was curious to see whether this man, who had come out equipped with moral ideas of some sort, would climb to the top after all and how he would set about his work when there." No entanto, estava curioso para ver se este homem, que tinha saído equipado com ideias morais de algum tipo, iria afinal subir ao topo e como iria trabalhar quando lá chegasse".