{"product_id":"2940012363053","title":"HEART OF DARKNESS","description":"The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of\u003cbr\u003ethe sails, and was at rest. The flood had made, the wind was nearly\u003cbr\u003ecalm, and being bound down the river, the only thing for it was to come\u003cbr\u003eto and wait for the turn of the tide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of\u003cbr\u003ean interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded\u003cbr\u003etogether without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails\u003cbr\u003eof the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red\u003cbr\u003eclusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. A\u003cbr\u003ehaze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness.\u003cbr\u003eThe air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed\u003cbr\u003econdensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest,\u003cbr\u003eand the greatest, town on earth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Director of Companies was our captain and our host. We four\u003cbr\u003eaffectionately watched his back as he stood in the bows looking to\u003cbr\u003eseaward. On the whole river there was nothing that looked half so\u003cbr\u003enautical. He resembled a pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness\u003cbr\u003epersonified. It was difficult to realize his work was not out there in\u003cbr\u003ethe luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding gloom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of\u003cbr\u003ethe sea. Besides holding our hearts together through long periods of\u003cbr\u003eseparation, it had the effect of making us tolerant of each other's\u003cbr\u003eyarns--and even convictions. The Lawyer--the best of old fellows--had,\u003cbr\u003ebecause of his many years and many virtues, the only cushion on deck,\u003cbr\u003eand was lying on the only rug. The Accountant had brought out already a\u003cbr\u003ebox of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones. Marlow\u003cbr\u003esat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had\u003cbr\u003esunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect,\u003cbr\u003eand, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an\u003cbr\u003eidol. The Director, satisfied the anchor had good hold, made his way\u003cbr\u003eaft and sat down amongst us. We exchanged a few words lazily. Afterwards\u003cbr\u003ethere was silence on board the yacht. For some reason or other we did\u003cbr\u003enot begin that game of dominoes. We felt meditative, and fit for nothing\u003cbr\u003ebut placid staring. The day was ending in a serenity of still and\u003cbr\u003eexquisite brilliance. The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a\u003cbr\u003especk, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the\u003cbr\u003eEssex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded\u003cbr\u003erises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds. Only the\u003cbr\u003egloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more somber\u003cbr\u003eevery minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and\u003cbr\u003efrom glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat,\u003cbr\u003eas if about to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that\u003cbr\u003egloom brooding over a crowd of men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eForthwith a change came over the waters, and the serenity became less\u003cbr\u003ebrilliant but more profound. The old river in its broad reach rested\u003cbr\u003eunruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the\u003cbr\u003erace that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a\u003cbr\u003ewaterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth. We looked at the\u003cbr\u003evenerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and\u003cbr\u003edeparts for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories. And\u003cbr\u003eindeed nothing is easier for a man who has, as the phrase goes,\u003cbr\u003e\"followed the sea\" with reverence and affection, than to evoke the\u003cbr\u003egreat spirit of the past upon the lower reaches of the Thames. The tidal\u003cbr\u003ecurrent runs to and fro in its unceasing service, crowded with memories\u003cbr\u003eof men and ships it had borne to the rest of home or to the battles\u003cbr\u003eof the sea. It had known and served all the men of whom the nation is\u003cbr\u003eproud, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin, knights all, titled\u003cbr\u003eand untitled--the great knights-errant of the sea. It had borne all the\u003cbr\u003eships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time, from\u003cbr\u003ethe Golden Hind returning with her round flanks full of treasure, to be\u003cbr\u003evisited by the Queen's Highness and thus pass out of the gigantic tale,\u003cbr\u003eto the Erebus and Terror, bound on other conquests--and that never\u003cbr\u003ereturned. It had known the ships and the men. They had sailed from\u003cbr\u003eDeptford, from Greenwich, from Erith--the adventurers and the settlers;\u003cbr\u003ekings' ships and the ships of men on 'Change; captains, admirals, the\u003cbr\u003edark \"interlopers\" of the Eastern trade, and the commissioned \"generals\"\u003cbr\u003eof East India fleets.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47169513488624,"sku":"2940012363053","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012363053_p0.jpg?v=1763567712","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012363053","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}