He took it, put it in his pocket. His eyes were looking away from me—nowhere. His face was anxiously set.
“How are you feeling now?” I asked.
“I don’t feel bad now, sir,” he answered stiffly. “But I am afraid of its coming on. …” The wistful smile came back on his lips for a moment. “I—I am in a blue funk about my heart, sir.”
I approached him with extended hand. His eyes not looking at me had a strained expression. He was like a man listening for a warning call.
“Won’t you shake hands, Ransome?” I said gently.
He exclaimed, flushed up dusky red, gave my hand a hard wrench—and next moment, left alone in the cabin, I listened to him going up the companion stairs cautiously, step by step, in mortal fear of starting into sudden anger our common enemy it was his hard fate to carry consciously within his faithful breast.
Colophon
The Shadow Line
was published in by
Joseph Conrad.
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Ships in a Gale,
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