"Another barrow-load, thank God! Another
fifteen hundred, or it may be two thousand pounds, for the saving of
Ponderevo!..."
I found out many things about myself and humanity in those weeks of
effort behind Mordet Island. I understand now the heart of the sweater,
of the harsh employer, of the nigger-driver. I had brought these
men into a danger they didn't understand, I was fiercely resolved to
overcome their opposition and bend and use them for my purpose, and I
hated the men. But I hated all humanity during the time that the quap
was near me.
And my mind was pervaded, too, by a sense of urgency and by the fear
that we should be discovered and our proceedings stopped. I wanted to
get out to sea again--to be beating up northward with our plunder. I was
afraid our masts showed to seaward and might betray us to some curious
passer on the high sea. And one evening near the end I saw a canoe
with three natives far off down the lake; I got field-glasses from the
captain and scrutinised them, and I could see them staring at us. One
man might have been a half-breed and was dressed in white.
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