The narrator used to work at a shipyard, carrying fruits and other goods to the docks in his pony cart. The narrator loved oranges so much that he could eat a number of oranges without a break for hours. The narrator was once caught with his seventeen oranges because his apron string broke and a policeman Pongo noticed that the narrator’s pockets were somewhat bulged.

So, the policeman looked into the narrator’s pockets and found there were seventeen oranges. Pongo wanted to set an example for the rest of the employees at the dock of the necessity of being honest and of the dire consequences of stealing anything from the dock. When the narrator was locked in the cabin, he lost hope in life, felt afraid that he would lose his job. The narrator ate all the oranges to get rid of the evidence. Pongo looked everywhere for the oranges. He looked in the narrator’s pockets and in his apron.

As there was no evidence left against the narrator, the policemen were not able to bring any charges against the narrator. He felt sick for a week and those oranges kept working away in his stomach.