This is how V.S. Naipaul’s novel, “A Bend in the River” closes.
“The sky hazed over and the sinking sun showed orange and was reflected in a golden line in the muddy water. Then we sailed into a golden glow…Water hyacinths pushed up in the narrow space between the steamer and the barge. We went on darkness fell. It was in this darkness that abruptly, with many loud noises, we stopped…the searchlight lit up the barge passengers, who behind bars and wired guards, as yet scarcely seemed to understand that they were adrift. Then there were gunshots. The searchlights were turned off; the barge was no longer to be seen. The steamer started out again and without lights down the river, away from the area of battle. The air would have been full of moths and flying insects. The searchlight, while it was on, had shown thousands, white in the white light.”
The scene is of escape from the menace of a military coup in a city on the coast of Africa.
Present Continuity 