The breakup of the crowd due to sheer exhaustion is made, through Conrad's symbolism, to stand for the breakup of all unions. "Seeking the shade of the walls" corresponds to people focusing on their personal subjective agendas rather than the unified crusade, a mirror in miniature of the Separatist impulses we saw break apart Sulaco. The spurs of conquest reappear as Pedro's troops begin to turn against Gamacho's. Under the "vertical sun" of disillusionment the people start "drifting away" from unity, each protected by a sombrero symbolizing his own personal dream-ideal. Finally they are drawn toward the "enticing gloom" of the various separate taverns, where (as always) dimness is symbolically linked to intoxication.