Conrad, Joseph. "The Secret Sharer."
THE SECRET SHARER
I
On my right hand there were lines of fishing stakes re-
sembling a mysterious system of half-submerged bamboo
fences, incomprehensible in its division of the domain of
tropical fishes, and crazy of aspect as if abandoned for-
ever by some nomad tribe of fishermen now gone to the
other end of the ocean; for there was no sign of human
habitation as far as the eye could reach. To the left a
group of barren islets, suggesting ruins of stone walls,
towers, and blockhouses, had its foundations set in a
blue sea that itself looked solid, so still and stable did it
lie below my feet; even the track of light from the west-
ering sun shone smoothly, without that animated glitter
which tells of an imperceptible ripple. And when I
turned my head to take a parting glance at the tug which
had just left us anchored outside the bar, I saw the
straight line of the flat shore joined to the stable sea,
edge to edge, with a perfect and unmarked closeness, in
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