The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: a ship's quarter-deck. I know he popped into the mate's cabin
to impart the fact to him because the whiskers came on deck,
as it were by chance, and stole glances at me from below--
for signs of lunacy or drunkenness, I suppose.
A little before supper, feeling more restless than ever, I rejoined,
for a moment, my second self. And to find him sitting so quietly
was surprising, like something against nature, inhuman.
I developed my plan in a hurried whisper.
"I shall stand in as close as I dare and then put her round.
I will presently find means to smuggle you out of here
into the sail locker, which communicates with the lobby.
 The Secret Sharer |