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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: of that ladder that I remained stockstill, trying to
account for it to myself like that imbecile mate of mine.
In the end, of course, I put my head over the rail.
The side of the ship made an opaque belt of shadow on
the darkling glassy shimmer of the sea. But I saw at once
something elongated and pale floating very close to the ladder.
Before I could form a guess a faint flash of phosphorescent light,
which seemed to issue suddenly from the naked body of a man,
flickered in the sleeping water with the elusive, silent play
of summer lightning in a night sky. With a gasp I saw revealed
to my stare a pair of feet, the long legs, a broad livid back
 The Secret Sharer |