Heart of Darkness Chapter 3 Summary

Marlow was bewildered by the seemingly impossible existence of the adventuresome young man, who had sought out Kurtz on his own and with great excitement. He envied the young Russian’s liveliness, but not his single-minded devotion to Kurtz. The Russian went on about his talks with Kurtz and the wisdom he had gained, and noted that he nursed Kurtz through two illnesses.

The clownish young man told Marlow that Kurtz tended to wander off into the forest alone, raiding nearby villages for ivory and gaining the loyalty of the natives. He also noted that Kurtz had once threatened to shoot him for some ivory--although this did not diminish his loyalty:
"’He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased.’" Part 3, pg. 50
The young man was offended by Marlow’s suggestion that Kurtz was mad. He told Marlow that Kurtz had come back recently with the soldiers of a downriver tribe with him, the same natives who attacked the ship. Marlow comments that Kurtz’s pursuit of ivory overcame his moral goals.

He looked for Kurtz but couldn’t find him. He went ashore, being sure not to awaken any of the pilgrims.
"I did not betray Mr. Kurtz--it was ordered I should never betray him--it was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice. I was anxious to deal with this shadow by myself alone--and to this day I don’t know why I was so jealous of sharing with anyone the peculiar blackness of that experience." Part 3, pg. 57

Marlow noticed that some of the cannibals were standing guard around the all-important pile of ivory. He followed a trail that he thought must be Kurtz’s. As he walked along the trail, he remembered brief and seemingly irrelevant images from his journey--the knitting women, the pilgrims shooting rifles into the bush. He pictured himself never going back to the ship, staying alone in the woods forever.
Marlow tracked Kurtz and soon caught up to him. Kurtz attempted to warn Marlow away from the intense and bizarre ceremony going on. A nearby native stood by a fire, wearing horns, and Marlow was struck with the danger of the situation. He asked Kurtz if he knew what he was doing. Kurtz replied that he did. Marlow was not sure whether to save him or kill him:

Although he wished to keep vigil over Kurtz, Marlow was also occupied with making sure the boat was operating correctly. When Kurtz announced that he would die soon, Marlow, bringing a candle into his dark room, did not believe him. A strange expression crossed Kurtz’s face, as though he were reliving the extremes of pride, power, fear, and despair that had been his life in the interior. He spoke his final words with only Marlow there to hear: "’The horror! The horror!’" Part 3, pg. 62
Marlow blew out the candle and left the room. He sat down at the table with the pilgrims and the manager; the manager’s servant went into the cabin, then came out to announce that Kurtz was dead. The pilgrims rushed in to see.

Marlow had nothing more to do with it; the pilgrims buried Kurtz nearby. They nearly buried him as well, Marlow says. Through Kurtz he was forced to look at death, for in the last moments of his life, Kurtz was able to say something true about the whole mess of human life--"The horror! The horror!" Marlow was able to look into the darkness that Kurtz had gotten lost in, and learn from that darkness--whether to his benefit or his detriment he is unsure.
After he emerged from the jungle, Marlow ended up back in the white cityfrom which he departed. The people of the city were only a distraction from his thoughts.