It was over thirty days before I saw the big river. We stood near the government offices, but my work was two hundred miles farther away. So, I left as soon as possible for a place thirty miles up the river.
I travelled on a small ship. The captain knew I was a sailor and invited me to the bridge. He was young, thin, and pale, with long hair and a awkward walk. As we left the shore, he shook his head at the shore. "Lived there?" he asked. I said yes. "Great government workers, aren't they?" he said, speaking very clear English with anger. "It's amazing what some people will do for a little money. I wonder what happens to them?" I said I'd soon find out. "Oh really?" he said. He looked around carefully. "Don't be too sure," he added. "I picked up a man the other day who'd hanged himself on the road." "Hanged himself? Why?" I asked. He kept watching. "Who knows? Maybe the sun, or maybe the country itself."
Finally, we reached a bend in the river. We saw a rock cliff, piles of earth near the shore, houses on a hill, some with metal roofs, and lots of digging. The sound of fast-flowing water was loud. Many people, mostly black and naked, moved around like insects. Sometimes, the bright sun made everything very hard to see. "That's your company's office," the captain said, pointing to three wooden buildings on the slope. "I'll send your boxes up. Four, you said? Goodbye."
I found a boiler in the grass, then a path up the hill. It went around rocks and an old railway cart lying on its side, one wheel missing. It looked completely broken. I saw more old equipment and railway tracks. To the left, some trees made a shadow where something seemed to move. The path was steep. A horn blew to my right, and the black people ran. There was a loud explosion, smoke came from the cliff, and that was it. Nothing changed on the cliff face. They were building a railway. The cliff wasn't in the way, but they were exploding rock for no clear reason.
A slight noise behind me made me turn. Six Black men were walking up the path in a line, carrying small baskets of earth on their heads. The noise matched their steps. They wore fabrics around their waists, and the short ends swung like tails. I could see their ribs. Each man had an iron ring around his neck, and they were all chained together. The chain made noise as they walked. A loud sound from the cliff reminded me of a warship I'd seen firing on a land. It was a similar scary sound; but these men weren't enemies. They were prisoners, and the law, like the cannon fire, had caught them – a strange thing. They were all breathing hard, and their eyes stared ahead. They walked past me very close, without looking, like unhappy people.