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End of the Tether







by Joseph Conrad

























I







For a long time after the course of the steamer Sofala



had been altered for the land; the low swampy coast had



retained its appearance of a mere smudge of darkness



beyond a belt of glitter。  The sunrays seemed to fall



violently upon the calm seaseemed to shatter them…



selves upon an adamantine surface into sparkling dust;



into a dazzling vapor of light that blinded the eye and



wearied the brain with its unsteady brightness。







Captain Whalley did not look at it。  When his



Serang; approaching the roomy cane arm…chair which



he filled capably; had informed him in a low voice that



the course was to be altered; he had risen at once and



had remained on his feet; face forward; while the head



of his ship swung through a quarter of a circle。  He



had not uttered a single word; not even the word to



steady the helm。  It was the Serang; an elderly; alert;



little Malay; with a very dark skin; who murmured the



order to the helmsman。  And then slowly Captain



Whalley sat down again in the arm…chair on the bridge



and fixed his eyes on the deck between his feet。







He could not hope to see anything new upon this lane



of the sea。  He had been on these coasts for the last



three years。  From Low Cape to Malantan the distance



was fifty miles; six hours' steaming for the old ship with



the tide; or seven against。  Then you steered straight



for the land; and by…and…by three palms would appear



on the sky; tall and slim; and with their disheveled heads



in a bunch; as if in confidential criticism of the dark



mangroves。  The Sofala would be headed towards the



somber strip of the coast; which at a given moment; as



the ship closed with it obliquely; would show several



clean shining fracturesthe brimful estuary of a river。



Then on through a brown liquid; three parts water and



one part black earth; on and on between the low shores;



three parts black earth and one part brackish water; the



Sofala would plow her way up…stream; as she had



done once every month for these seven years or more;



long before he was aware of her existence; long before



he had ever thought of having anything to do with her



and her invariable voyages。  The old ship ought to have



known the road better than her men; who had not been



kept so long at it without a change; better than the



faithful Serang; whom he had brought over from his



last ship to keep the captain's watch; better than he



himself; who had been her captain for the last three



years only。  She could always be depended upon to



make her courses。  Her compasses were never out。  She



was no trouble at all to take about; as if her great age



had given her knowledge; wisdom; and steadiness。  She



made her landfalls to a degree of the bearing; and al…



most to a minute of her allowed time。  At any moment;



as he sat on the bridge without looking up; or lay sleep…



less in his bed; simply by reckoning the days and the



hours he could tell where he wasthe precise spot of the



beat。  He knew it well too; this monotonous huckster's



round; up and down the Straits; he knew its order and



its sights and its people。  Malacca to begin with; in at



daylight and out at dusk; to cross over with a rigid



phosphorescent wake this highway of the Far East。



Darkness and gleams on the water; clear stars on a black



sky; perhaps the lights of a home steamer keeping her



unswerving course in the middle; or maybe the elusive



shadow of a native craft with her mat sails flitting by



silentlyand the low land on the other side in sight



at daylight。  At noon the three palms of the next place



of call; up a sluggish river。  The only white man re…



siding there was a retired young sailor; with whom he



had become friendly in the course of many voyages。



Sixty miles farther on there was another place of call;



a deep bay with only a couple of houses on the beach。



And so on; in and out; picking up coastwise cargo here



and there; and finishing with a hundred miles' steady



steaming through the maze of an archipelago of small



islands up to a large native town at the end of the beat。



There was a three days' rest for the old ship before



he started her again in inverse order; seeing the same



shores from another bearing; hearing the same voices in



the same places; back again to the Sofala's port of regis…



try on the great highway to the East; where he would



take up a berth nearly opposite the big stone pile of



the harbor office till it was time to start again on the



old round of 1600 miles and thirty days。  Not a very



enterprising life; this; for Captain Whalley; Henry



Whalley; otherwise Dare…devil HarryWhalley of the



Condor; a famous clipper in her day。  No。  Not a very



enterprising life for a man who had served famous firms;



who had sailed famous ships (more than one or two of



them his own); who had made famous passages; had



been the pioneer of new routes and new trades; who had



steered across the unsurveyed tracts of the South Seas;



and had seen the sun rise on uncharted islands。  Fifty



years at sea; and forty out in the East (〃a pretty thor…



ough apprenticeship;〃 he used to remark smilingly); had



made him honorably known to a generation of ship…



owners and merchants in all the ports from Bombay clear



over to where the East merges into the West upon the



coast of the two Americas。  His fame remained writ;



not very large but plain enough; on the Admiralty



charts。  Was there not somewhere between Australia



and China a Whalley Island and a Condor Reef?  On



that dangerous coral formation the celebrated clipper



had hung stranded for three days; her captain and crew



throwing her cargo overboard with one hand and with



the other; as it were; keeping off her a flotilla of savage



war…canoes。  At that time neither the island nor the reef



had any official existence。  Later the officers of her



Majesty's steam vessel Fusilier; dispatched to make a



survey of the route; recognized in the adoption of these



two names the enterprise of the man and the solidity of



the ship。  Besides; as anyone who cares may see; the



〃General Directory;〃 vol。 ii。 p。 410; begins the descrip…



tion of the 〃Malotu or Whalley Passage〃 with the



words: 〃This advantageous route; first discovered in



1850 by Captain Whalley in the ship Condor;〃 &c。;



and ends by recommending it warmly to sailing vessels



leaving the China ports for the south in the months



from December to April inclusive。







This was the clearest gain he had out of life。  Nothing



could rob him of this kind of fame。  The piercing of the



Isthmus of Suez; like the breaking of a dam; had let



in upon the East a flood of new ships; new men; new



methods of trade。  It had changed the face of the East…



ern seas and the very spirit of their life; so that his



early experiences meant nothing whatever to the new



generation of seamen。







In those bygone days he had handled many thousands



of pounds of his employers' money and of his own; he



had attended faithfully; as by law a shipmaster is ex…



pected to do; to the conflicting interests of owners;



charterers; and underwriters。  He had never lost a ship



or consented to a shady transaction; and he had lasted



well; outlasting in the end the conditions that had gone



to the making of his name。  He had buried his wife (in



the Gulf of Petchili); had married off his daughter to



the man of her unlucky choice; and had lost more than



an ample competence in the crash of the notorious Tra…



vancore and Deccan Banking Corporation; whose down…



fall had shaken the East like an earthquake。  And he



was sixty…five years old。











II











His age sat lightly enough on him; and of his ruin



he was not ashamed。  He had not been alone to believe



in the stability of the Banking Corporation。  Men whose



judgment in matters of finance was as expert as his sea…



manship had commended the prudence of his invest…



ments; and had themselves lost much money in the great



failure。  The only difference between him and them was



that he had lost his all。  And yet not his all。  There



had remained to him from his lost fortune a very pretty



little bark; Fair Maid; which he had bought to occupy



his leisure of a retired sailor〃to play with;〃 as he ex…



pressed it himself。








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