! The cattle cars of the Manhattan Elevated rattled away, and John Perkins drifted down the stairway of the station with the released flock.
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Jupiter居
drift means one is swinging in the crowds like a boat that float on the current, unable to control what he or she can do. We can draw from this paragraph that, at least, the person in this novel is some kind of powerless and can only follow the current of people and busy life.