diff options
Diffstat (limited to '2021.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 2021.txt | 17546 |
1 files changed, 17546 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/2021.txt b/2021.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd2f8d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/2021.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17546 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, by Joseph Conrad + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOSTROMO: A TALE OF THE SEABOARD *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +NOSTROMO + +A TALE OF THE SEABOARD + + +By Joseph Conrad + + + + +"So foul a sky clears not without a storm." --SHAKESPEARE + + + + +TO JOHN GALSWORTHY + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + + +"_Nostromo_" is the most anxiously meditated of the longer novels which +belong to the period following upon the publication of the "Typhoon" +volume of short stories. + +I don't mean to say that I became then conscious of any impending change +in my mentality and in my attitude towards the tasks of my writing +life. And perhaps there was never any change, except in that mysterious, +extraneous thing which has nothing to do with the theories of art; a +subtle change in the nature of the inspiration; a phenomenon for which I +can not in any way be held responsible. What, however, did cause me some +concern was that after finishing the last story of the "Typhoon" volume +it seemed somehow that there was nothing more in the world to write +about. + +This so strangely negative but disturbing mood lasted some little +time; and then, as with many of my longer stories, the first hint for +"Nostromo" came to me in the shape of a vagrant anecdote completely +destitute of valuable details. + +As a matter of fact in 1875 or '6, when very young, in the West Indies +or rather in the Gulf of Mexico, for my contacts with land were short, +few, and fleeting, I heard the story of some man who was supposed to +have stolen single-handed a whole lighter-full of silver, somewhere on +the Tierra Firme seaboard during the troubles of a revolution. + +On the face of it this was something of a feat. But I heard no details, +and having no particular interest in crime qua crime I was not likely to +keep that one in my mind. And I forgot it till twenty-six or seven +years afterwards I came upon the very thing in a shabby volume picked +up outside a second-hand book-shop. It was the life story of an American +seaman written by himself with the assistance of a journalist. In the +course of his wanderings that American sailor worked for some months on +board a schooner, the master and owner of which was the thief of whom I +had heard in my very young days. I have no doubt of that because there +could hardly have been two exploits of that peculiar kind in the same +part of the world and both connected with a South American revolution. + +The fellow had actually managed to steal a lighter with silver, and +this, it seems, only because he was implicitly trusted by his employers, +who must have been singularly poor judges of character. In the sailor's +story he is represented as an unmitigated rascal, a small cheat, +stupidly ferocious, morose, of mean appearance, and altogether unworthy +of the greatness this opportunity had thrust upon him. What was +interesting was that he would boast of it openly. + +He used to say: "People think I make a lot of money in this schooner of +mine. But that is nothing. I don't care for that. Now and then I go +away quietly and lift a bar of silver. I must get rich slowly--you +understand." + +There was also another curious point about the man. Once in the course +of some quarrel the sailor threatened him: "What's to prevent me +reporting ashore what you have told me about that silver?" + +The cynical ruffian was not alarmed in the least. He actually laughed. +"You fool, if you dare talk like that on shore about me you will get a +knife stuck in your back. Every man, woman, and child in that port is +my friend. And who's to prove the lighter wasn't sunk? I didn't show you +where the silver is hidden. Did I? So you know nothing. And suppose I +lied? Eh?" + +Ultimately the sailor, disgusted with the sordid meanness of that +impenitent thief, deserted from the schooner. The whole episode takes +about three pages of his autobiography. Nothing to speak of; but as I +looked them over, the curious confirmation of the few casual words +heard in my early youth evoked the memories of that distant time when +everything was so fresh, so surprising, so venturesome, so interesting; +bits of strange coasts under the stars, shadows of hills in the +sunshine, men's passions in the dusk, gossip half-forgotten, faces grown +dim. . . . Perhaps, perhaps, there still was in the world something to +write about. Yet I did not see anything at first in the mere story. A +rascal steals a large parcel of a valuable commodity--so people say. +It's either true or untrue; and in any case it has no value in itself. +To invent a circumstantial account of the robbery did not appeal to me, +because my talents not running that way I did not think that the game +was worth the candle. It was only when it dawned upon me that the +purloiner of the treasure need not necessarily be a confirmed rogue, +that he could be even a man of character, an actor and possibly a victim +in the changing scenes of a revolution, it was only then that I had the +first vision of a twilight country which was to become the province +of Sulaco, with its high shadowy Sierra and its misty Campo for mute +witnesses of events flowing from the passions of men short-sighted in +good and evil. + +Such are in very truth the obscure origins of "Nostromo"--the book. From +that moment, I suppose, it had to be. Yet even then I hesitated, as if +warned by the instinct of self-preservation from venturing on a distant +and toilsome journey into a land full of intrigues and revolutions. But +it had to be done. + +It took the best part of the years 1903-4 to do; with many intervals +of renewed hesitation, lest I should lose myself in the ever-enlarging +vistas opening before me as I progressed deeper in my knowledge of the +country. Often, also, when I had thought myself to a standstill over the +tangled-up affairs of the Republic, I would, figuratively speaking, pack +my bag, rush away from Sulaco for a change of air and write a few pages +of the "Mirror of the Sea." But generally, as I've said before, my +sojourn on the Continent of Latin America, famed for its hospitality, +lasted for about two years. On my return I found (speaking somewhat in +the style of Captain Gulliver) my family all well, my wife heartily +glad to learn that the fuss was all over, and our small boy considerably +grown during my absence. + +My principal authority for the history of Costaguana is, of course, my +venerated friend, the late Don Jose Avellanos, Minister to the Courts of +England and Spain, etc., etc., in his impartial and eloquent "History of +Fifty Years of Misrule." That work was never published--the reader will +discover why--and I am in fact the only person in the world possessed +of its contents. I have mastered them in not a few hours of earnest +meditation, and I hope that my accuracy will be trusted. In justice to +myself, and to allay the fears of prospective readers, I beg to point +out that the few historical allusions are never dragged in for the +sake of parading my unique erudition, but that each of them is closely +related to actuality; either throwing a light on the nature of current +events or affecting directly the fortunes of the people of whom I speak. + +As to their own histories I have tried to set them down, Aristocracy +and People, men and women, Latin and Anglo-Saxon, bandit and politician, +with as cool a hand as was possible in the heat and clash of my own +conflicting emotions. And after all this is also the story of their +conflicts. It is for the reader to say how far they are deserving of +interest in their actions and in the secret purposes of their hearts +revealed in the bitter necessities of the time. I confess that, for me, +that time is the time of firm friendships and unforgotten hospitalities. +And in my gratitude I must mention here Mrs. Gould, "the first lady +of Sulaco," whom we may safely leave to the secret devotion of Dr. +Monygham, and Charles Gould, the Idealist-creator of Material Interests +whom we must leave to his Mine--from which there is no escape in this +world. + +About Nostromo, the second of the two racially and socially contrasted +men, both captured by the silver of the San Tome Mine, I feel bound to +say something more. + +I did not hesitate to make that central figure an Italian. First of +all the thing is perfectly credible: Italians were swarming into the +Occidental Province at the time, as anybody who will read further can +see; and secondly, there was no one who could stand so well by the side +of Giorgio Viola the Garibaldino, the Idealist of the old, humanitarian +revolutions. For myself I needed there a Man of the People as free as +possible from his class-conventions and all settled modes of thinking. +This is not a side snarl at conventions. My reasons were not moral but +artistic. Had he been an Anglo-Saxon he would have tried to get into +local politics. But Nostromo does not aspire to be a leader in a +personal game. He does not want to raise himself above the mass. He is +content to feel himself a power--within the People. + +But mainly Nostromo is what he is because I received the inspiration for +him in my early days from a Mediterranean sailor. Those who have read +certain pages of mine will see at once what I mean when I say that +Dominic, the padrone of the Tremolino, might under given circumstances +have been a Nostromo. At any rate Dominic would have understood the +younger man perfectly--if scornfully. He and I were engaged together in +a rather absurd adventure, but the absurdity does not matter. It is a +real satisfaction to think that in my very young days there must, after +all, have been something in me worthy to command that man's half-bitter +fidelity, his half-ironic devotion. Many of Nostromo's speeches I have +heard first in Dominic's voice. His hand on the tiller and his fearless +eyes roaming the horizon from within the monkish hood shadowing his +face, he would utter the usual exordium of his remorseless wisdom: "_Vous +autres gentilhommes!_" in a caustic tone that hangs on my ear yet. Like +Nostromo! "You _hombres finos!_" Very much like Nostromo. But Dominic the +Corsican nursed a certain pride of ancestry from which my Nostromo is +free; for Nostromo's lineage had to be more ancient still. He is a man +with the weight of countless generations behind him and no parentage to +boast of. . . . Like the People. + +In his firm grip on the earth he inherits, in his improvidence and +generosity, in his lavishness with his gifts, in his manly vanity, in +the obscure sense of his greatness and in his faithful devotion with +something despairing as well as desperate in its impulses, he is a Man +of the People, their very own unenvious force, disdaining to lead but +ruling from within. Years afterwards, grown older as the famous Captain +Fidanza, with a stake in the country, going about his many affairs +followed by respectful glances in the modernized streets of Sulaco, +calling on the widow of the cargador, attending the Lodge, listening in +unmoved silence to anarchist speeches at the meeting, the enigmatical +patron of the new revolutionary agitation, the trusted, the wealthy +comrade Fidanza with the knowledge of his moral ruin locked up in his +breast, he remains essentially a Man of the People. In his mingled +love and scorn of life and in the bewildered conviction of having been +betrayed, of dying betrayed he hardly knows by what or by whom, he is +still of the People, their undoubted Great Man--with a private history +of his own. + +One more figure of those stirring times I would like to mention: and +that is Antonia Avellanos--the "beautiful Antonia." Whether she is a +possible variation of Latin-American girlhood I wouldn't dare to affirm. +But, for me, she is. Always a little in the background by the side of +her father (my venerated friend) I hope she has yet relief enough to +make intelligible what I am going to say. Of all the people who had seen +with me the birth of the Occidental Republic, she is the only one +who has kept in my memory the aspect of continued life. Antonia the +Aristocrat and Nostromo the Man of the People are the artisans of the +New Era, the true creators of the New State; he by his legendary and +daring feat, she, like a woman, simply by the force of what she is: +the only being capable of inspiring a sincere passion in the heart of a +trifler. + +If anything could induce me to revisit Sulaco (I should hate to see all +these changes) it would be Antonia. And the true reason for that--why +not be frank about it?--the true reason is that I have modelled her on +my first love. How we, a band of tallish schoolboys, the chums of +her two brothers, how we used to look up to that girl just out of the +schoolroom herself, as the standard-bearer of a faith to which we all +were born but which she alone knew how to hold aloft with an unflinching +hope! She had perhaps more glow and less serenity in her soul than +Antonia, but she was an uncompromising Puritan of patriotism with no +taint of the slightest worldliness in her thoughts. I was not the only +one in love with her; but it was I who had to hear oftenest her scathing +criticism of my levities--very much like poor Decoud--or stand the +brunt of her austere, unanswerable invective. She did not quite +understand--but never mind. That afternoon when I came in, a shrinking +yet defiant sinner, to say the final good-bye I received a hand-squeeze +that made my heart leap and saw a tear that took my breath away. She was +softened at the last as though she had suddenly perceived (we were such +children still!) that I was really going away for good, going very far +away--even as far as Sulaco, lying unknown, hidden from our eyes in the +darkness of the Placid Gulf. + +That's why I long sometimes for another glimpse of the "beautiful +Antonia" (or can it be the Other?) moving in the dimness of the great +cathedral, saying a short prayer at the tomb of the first and last +Cardinal-Archbishop of Sulaco, standing absorbed in filial devotion +before the monument of Don Jose Avellanos, and, with a lingering, +tender, faithful glance at the medallion-memorial to Martin Decoud, +going out serenely into the sunshine of the Plaza with her upright +carriage and her white head; a relic of the past disregarded by men +awaiting impatiently the Dawns of other New Eras, the coming of more +Revolutions. + +But this is the idlest of dreams; for I did understand perfectly well +at the time that the moment the breath left the body of the Magnificent +Capataz, the Man of the People, freed at last from the toils of love and +wealth, there was nothing more for me to do in Sulaco. + + +J. C. + +October, 1917. + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART FIRST THE SILVER OF THE MINE + +PART SECOND THE ISABELS + +PART THIRD THE LIGHTHOUSE + + + + +NOSTROMO + + + + +PART FIRST THE SILVER OF THE MINE + + +CHAPTER ONE + +In the time of Spanish rule, and for many years afterwards, the town of +Sulaco--the luxuriant beauty of the orange gardens bears witness to its +antiquity--had never been commercially anything more important than a +coasting port with a fairly large local trade in ox-hides and indigo. +The clumsy deep-sea galleons of the conquerors that, needing a brisk +gale to move at all, would lie becalmed, where your modern ship built on +clipper lines forges ahead by the mere flapping of her sails, had been +barred out of Sulaco by the prevailing calms of its vast gulf. Some +harbours of the earth are made difficult of access by the treachery +of sunken rocks and the tempests of their shores. Sulaco had found an +inviolable sanctuary from the temptations of a trading world in +the solemn hush of the deep Golfo Placido as if within an enormous +semi-circular and unroofed temple open to the ocean, with its walls of +lofty mountains hung with the mourning draperies of cloud. + +On one side of this broad curve in the straight seaboard of the Republic +of Costaguana, the last spur of the coast range forms an insignificant +cape whose name is Punta Mala. From the middle of the gulf the point of +the land itself is not visible at all; but the shoulder of a steep hill +at the back can be made out faintly like a shadow on the sky. + +On the other side, what seems to be an isolated patch of blue mist +floats lightly on the glare of the horizon. This is the peninsula +of Azuera, a wild chaos of sharp rocks and stony levels cut about by +vertical ravines. It lies far out to sea like a rough head of stone +stretched from a green-clad coast at the end of a slender neck of +sand covered with thickets of thorny scrub. Utterly waterless, for the +rainfall runs off at once on all sides into the sea, it has not soil +enough--it is said--to grow a single blade of grass, as if it were +blighted by a curse. The poor, associating by an obscure instinct of +consolation the ideas of evil and wealth, will tell you that it is +deadly because of its forbidden treasures. The common folk of the +neighbourhood, peons of the estancias, vaqueros of the seaboard plains, +tame Indians coming miles to market with a bundle of sugar-cane or a +basket of maize worth about threepence, are well aware that heaps of +shining gold lie in the gloom of the deep precipices cleaving the stony +levels of Azuera. Tradition has it that many adventurers of olden time +had perished in the search. The story goes also that within men's memory +two wandering sailors--Americanos, perhaps, but gringos of some sort for +certain--talked over a gambling, good-for-nothing mozo, and the three +stole a donkey to carry for them a bundle of dry sticks, a water-skin, +and provisions enough to last a few days. Thus accompanied, and with +revolvers at their belts, they had started to chop their way with +machetes through the thorny scrub on the neck of the peninsula. + +On the second evening an upright spiral of smoke (it could only have +been from their camp-fire) was seen for the first time within memory of +man standing up faintly upon the sky above a razor-backed ridge on the +stony head. The crew of a coasting schooner, lying becalmed three miles +off the shore, stared at it with amazement till dark. A negro fisherman, +living in a lonely hut in a little bay near by, had seen the start and +was on the lookout for some sign. He called to his wife just as the +sun was about to set. They had watched the strange portent with envy, +incredulity, and awe. + +The impious adventurers gave no other sign. The sailors, the Indian, +and the stolen burro were never seen again. As to the mozo, a Sulaco +man--his wife paid for some masses, and the poor four-footed beast, +being without sin, had been probably permitted to die; but the two +gringos, spectral and alive, are believed to be dwelling to this day +amongst the rocks, under the fatal spell of their success. Their souls +cannot tear themselves away from their bodies mounting guard over the +discovered treasure. They are now rich and hungry and thirsty--a strange +theory of tenacious gringo ghosts suffering in their starved and parched +flesh of defiant heretics, where a Christian would have renounced and +been released. + +These, then, are the legendary inhabitants of Azuera guarding its +forbidden wealth; and the shadow on the sky on one side with the round +patch of blue haze blurring the bright skirt of the horizon on the +other, mark the two outermost points of the bend which bears the name of +Golfo Placido, because never a strong wind had been known to blow upon +its waters. + +On crossing the imaginary line drawn from Punta Mala to Azuera the +ships from Europe bound to Sulaco lose at once the strong breezes of the +ocean. They become the prey of capricious airs that play with them for +thirty hours at a stretch sometimes. Before them the head of the calm +gulf is filled on most days of the year by a great body of motionless +and opaque clouds. On the rare clear mornings another shadow is cast +upon the sweep of the gulf. The dawn breaks high behind the towering +and serrated wall of the Cordillera, a clear-cut vision of dark peaks +rearing their steep slopes on a lofty pedestal of forest rising from the +very edge of the shore. Amongst them the white head of Higuerota rises +majestically upon the blue. Bare clusters of enormous rocks sprinkle +with tiny black dots the smooth dome of snow. + +Then, as the midday sun withdraws from the gulf the shadow of the +mountains, the clouds begin to roll out of the lower valleys. They +swathe in sombre tatters the naked crags of precipices above the wooded +slopes, hide the peaks, smoke in stormy trails across the snows of +Higuerota. The Cordillera is gone from you as if it had dissolved itself +into great piles of grey and black vapours that travel out slowly to +seaward and vanish into thin air all along the front before the blazing +heat of the day. The wasting edge of the cloud-bank always strives for, +but seldom wins, the middle of the gulf. The sun--as the sailors say--is +eating it up. Unless perchance a sombre thunder-head breaks away from +the main body to career all over the gulf till it escapes into the +offing beyond Azuera, where it bursts suddenly into flame and crashes +like a sinster pirate-ship of the air, hove-to above the horizon, +engaging the sea. + +At night the body of clouds advancing higher up the sky smothers the +whole quiet gulf below with an impenetrable darkness, in which the sound +of the falling showers can be heard beginning and ceasing abruptly--now +here, now there. Indeed, these cloudy nights are proverbial with the +seamen along the whole west coast of a great continent. Sky, land, and +sea disappear together out of the world when the Placido--as the saying +is--goes to sleep under its black poncho. The few stars left below the +seaward frown of the vault shine feebly as into the mouth of a black +cavern. In its vastness your ship floats unseen under your feet, her +sails flutter invisible above your head. The eye of God Himself--they +add with grim profanity--could not find out what work a man's hand is +doing in there; and you would be free to call the devil to your aid with +impunity if even his malice were not defeated by such a blind darkness. + +The shores on the gulf are steep-to all round; three uninhabited islets +basking in the sunshine just outside the cloud veil, and opposite the +entrance to the harbour of Sulaco, bear the name of "The Isabels." + +There is the Great Isabel; the Little Isabel, which is round; and +Hermosa, which is the smallest. + +That last is no more than a foot high, and about seven paces across, +a mere flat top of a grey rock which smokes like a hot cinder after +a shower, and where no man would care to venture a naked sole before +sunset. On the Little Isabel an old ragged palm, with a thick bulging +trunk rough with spines, a very witch amongst palm trees, rustles a +dismal bunch of dead leaves above the coarse sand. The Great Isabel has +a spring of fresh water issuing from the overgrown side of a ravine. +Resembling an emerald green wedge of land a mile long, and laid flat +upon the sea, it bears two forest trees standing close together, with +a wide spread of shade at the foot of their smooth trunks. A ravine +extending the whole length of the island is full of bushes; and +presenting a deep tangled cleft on the high side spreads itself out on +the other into a shallow depression abutting on a small strip of sandy +shore. + +From that low end of the Great Isabel the eye plunges through an opening +two miles away, as abrupt as if chopped with an axe out of the regular +sweep of the coast, right into the harbour of Sulaco. It is an oblong, +lake-like piece of water. On one side the short wooded spurs and valleys +of the Cordillera come down at right angles to the very strand; on +the other the open view of the great Sulaco plain passes into the opal +mystery of great distances overhung by dry haze. The town of Sulaco +itself--tops of walls, a great cupola, gleams of white miradors in a +vast grove of orange trees--lies between the mountains and the plain, +at some little distance from its harbour and out of the direct line of +sight from the sea. + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +The only sign of commercial activity within the harbour, visible from +the beach of the Great Isabel, is the square blunt end of the wooden +jetty which the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (the O.S.N. of familiar +speech) had thrown over the shallow part of the bay soon after they had +resolved to make of Sulaco one of their ports of call for the Republic +of Costaguana. The State possesses several harbours on its long +seaboard, but except Cayta, an important place, all are either small +and inconvenient inlets in an iron-bound coast--like Esmeralda, for +instance, sixty miles to the south--or else mere open roadsteads exposed +to the winds and fretted by the surf. + +Perhaps the very atmospheric conditions which had kept away the +merchant fleets of bygone ages induced the O.S.N. Company to violate the +sanctuary of peace sheltering the calm existence of Sulaco. The variable +airs sporting lightly with the vast semicircle of waters within the head +of Azuera could not baffle the steam power of their excellent fleet. +Year after year the black hulls of their ships had gone up and down +the coast, in and out, past Azuera, past the Isabels, past Punta +Mala--disregarding everything but the tyranny of time. Their names, the +names of all mythology, became the household words of a coast that had +never been ruled by the gods of Olympus. The Juno was known only for +her comfortable cabins amidships, the Saturn for the geniality of her +captain and the painted and gilt luxuriousness of her saloon, whereas +the Ganymede was fitted out mainly for cattle transport, and to be +avoided by coastwise passengers. The humblest Indian in the obscurest +village on the coast was familiar with the Cerberus, a little black +puffer without charm or living accommodation to speak of, whose mission +was to creep inshore along the wooded beaches close to mighty ugly +rocks, stopping obligingly before every cluster of huts to collect +produce, down to three-pound parcels of indiarubber bound in a wrapper +of dry grass. + +And as they seldom failed to account for the smallest package, rarely +lost a bullock, and had never drowned a single passenger, the name of +the O.S.N. stood very high for trustworthiness. People declared that +under the Company's care their lives and property were safer on the +water than in their own houses on shore. + +The O.S.N.'s superintendent in Sulaco for the whole Costaguana section +of the service was very proud of his Company's standing. He resumed it +in a saying which was very often on his lips, "We never make mistakes." +To the Company's officers it took the form of a severe injunction, "We +must make no mistakes. I'll have no mistakes here, no matter what Smith +may do at his end." + +Smith, on whom he had never set eyes in his life, was the other +superintendent of the service, quartered some fifteen hundred miles away +from Sulaco. "Don't talk to me of your Smith." + +Then, calming down suddenly, he would dismiss the subject with studied +negligence. + +"Smith knows no more of this continent than a baby." + +"Our excellent Senor Mitchell" for the business and official world of +Sulaco; "Fussy Joe" for the commanders of the Company's ships, Captain +Joseph Mitchell prided himself on his profound knowledge of men and +things in the country--cosas de Costaguana. Amongst these last he +accounted as most unfavourable to the orderly working of his Company +the frequent changes of government brought about by revolutions of the +military type. + +The political atmosphere of the Republic was generally stormy in these +days. The fugitive patriots of the defeated party had the knack of +turning up again on the coast with half a steamer's load of small arms +and ammunition. Such resourcefulness Captain Mitchell considered as +perfectly wonderful in view of their utter destitution at the time of +flight. He had observed that "they never seemed to have enough change +about them to pay for their passage ticket out of the country." And +he could speak with knowledge; for on a memorable occasion he had been +called upon to save the life of a dictator, together with the lives of a +few Sulaco officials--the political chief, the director of the customs, +and the head of police--belonging to an overturned government. Poor +Senor Ribiera (such was the dictator's name) had come pelting eighty +miles over mountain tracks after the lost battle of Socorro, in the hope +of out-distancing the fatal news--which, of course, he could not manage +to do on a lame mule. The animal, moreover, expired under him at the end +of the Alameda, where the military band plays sometimes in the evenings +between the revolutions. "Sir," Captain Mitchell would pursue with +portentous gravity, "the ill-timed end of that mule attracted attention +to the unfortunate rider. His features were recognized by several +deserters from the Dictatorial army amongst the rascally mob already +engaged in smashing the windows of the Intendencia." + +Early on the morning of that day the local authorities of Sulaco had +fled for refuge to the O.S.N. Company's offices, a strong building +near the shore end of the jetty, leaving the town to the mercies of a +revolutionary rabble; and as the Dictator was execrated by the populace +on account of the severe recruitment law his necessities had compelled +him to enforce during the struggle, he stood a good chance of being +torn to pieces. Providentially, Nostromo--invaluable fellow--with some +Italian workmen, imported to work upon the National Central Railway, +was at hand, and managed to snatch him away--for the time at least. +Ultimately, Captain Mitchell succeeded in taking everybody off in his +own gig to one of the Company's steamers--it was the Minerva--just then, +as luck would have it, entering the harbour. + +He had to lower these gentlemen at the end of a rope out of a hole in +the wall at the back, while the mob which, pouring out of the town, had +spread itself all along the shore, howled and foamed at the foot of the +building in front. He had to hurry them then the whole length of the +jetty; it had been a desperate dash, neck or nothing--and again it was +Nostromo, a fellow in a thousand, who, at the head, this time, of the +Company's body of lightermen, held the jetty against the rushes of the +rabble, thus giving the fugitives time to reach the gig lying ready +for them at the other end with the Company's flag at the stern. Sticks, +stones, shots flew; knives, too, were thrown. Captain Mitchell exhibited +willingly the long cicatrice of a cut over his left ear and temple, made +by a razor-blade fastened to a stick--a weapon, he explained, very much +in favour with the "worst kind of nigger out here." + +Captain Mitchell was a thick, elderly man, wearing high, pointed collars +and short side-whiskers, partial to white waistcoats, and really very +communicative under his air of pompous reserve. + +"These gentlemen," he would say, staring with great solemnity, "had +to run like rabbits, sir. I ran like a rabbit myself. Certain forms of +death are--er--distasteful to a--a--er--respectable man. They would have +pounded me to death, too. A crazy mob, sir, does not discriminate. Under +providence we owed our preservation to my Capataz de Cargadores, as they +called him in the town, a man who, when I discovered his value, sir, was +just the bos'n of an Italian ship, a big Genoese ship, one of the few +European ships that ever came to Sulaco with a general cargo before the +building of the National Central. He left her on account of some very +respectable friends he made here, his own countrymen, but also, I +suppose, to better himself. Sir, I am a pretty good judge of character. +I engaged him to be the foreman of our lightermen, and caretaker of our +jetty. That's all that he was. But without him Senor Ribiera would have +been a dead man. This Nostromo, sir, a man absolutely above reproach, +became the terror of all the thieves in the town. We were infested, +infested, overrun, sir, here at that time by ladrones and matreros, +thieves and murderers from the whole province. On this occasion they +had been flocking into Sulaco for a week past. They had scented the end, +sir. Fifty per cent. of that murdering mob were professional bandits +from the Campo, sir, but there wasn't one that hadn't heard of Nostromo. +As to the town leperos, sir, the sight of his black whiskers and white +teeth was enough for them. They quailed before him, sir. That's what the +force of character will do for you." + +It could very well be said that it was Nostromo alone who saved the +lives of these gentlemen. Captain Mitchell, on his part, never left them +till he had seen them collapse, panting, terrified, and exasperated, +but safe, on the luxuriant velvet sofas in the first-class saloon of the +Minerva. To the very last he had been careful to address the ex-Dictator +as "Your Excellency." + +"Sir, I could do no other. The man was down--ghastly, livid, one mass of +scratches." + +The Minerva never let go her anchor that call. The superintendent +ordered her out of the harbour at once. No cargo could be landed, of +course, and the passengers for Sulaco naturally refused to go ashore. +They could hear the firing and see plainly the fight going on at the +edge of the water. The repulsed mob devoted its energies to an attack +upon the Custom House, a dreary, unfinished-looking structure with many +windows two hundred yards away from the O.S.N. Offices, and the only +other building near the harbour. Captain Mitchell, after directing the +commander of the Minerva to land "these gentlemen" in the first port of +call outside Costaguana, went back in his gig to see what could be done +for the protection of the Company's property. That and the property +of the railway were preserved by the European residents; that is, by +Captain Mitchell himself and the staff of engineers building the road, +aided by the Italian and Basque workmen who rallied faithfully round +their English chiefs. The Company's lightermen, too, natives of the +Republic, behaved very well under their Capataz. An outcast lot of +very mixed blood, mainly negroes, everlastingly at feud with the other +customers of low grog shops in the town, they embraced with delight +this opportunity to settle their personal scores under such favourable +auspices. There was not one of them that had not, at some time or other, +looked with terror at Nostromo's revolver poked very close at his face, +or been otherwise daunted by Nostromo's resolution. He was "much of a +man," their Capataz was, they said, too scornful in his temper ever to +utter abuse, a tireless taskmaster, and the more to be feared because +of his aloofness. And behold! there he was that day, at their head, +condescending to make jocular remarks to this man or the other. + +Such leadership was inspiriting, and in truth all the harm the +mob managed to achieve was to set fire to one--only one--stack of +railway-sleepers, which, being creosoted, burned well. The main attack +on the railway yards, on the O.S.N. Offices, and especially on the +Custom House, whose strong room, it was well known, contained a large +treasure in silver ingots, failed completely. Even the little hotel kept +by old Giorgio, standing alone halfway between the harbour and the town, +escaped looting and destruction, not by a miracle, but because with the +safes in view they had neglected it at first, and afterwards found no +leisure to stop. Nostromo, with his Cargadores, was pressing them too +hard then. + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +It might have been said that there he was only protecting his own. From +the first he had been admitted to live in the intimacy of the family +of the hotel-keeper who was a countryman of his. Old Giorgio Viola, +a Genoese with a shaggy white leonine head--often called simply "the +Garibaldino" (as Mohammedans are called after their prophet)--was, to +use Captain Mitchell's own words, the "respectable married friend" by +whose advice Nostromo had left his ship to try for a run of shore luck +in Costaguana. + +The old man, full of scorn for the populace, as your austere republican +so often is, had disregarded the preliminary sounds of trouble. He +went on that day as usual pottering about the "casa" in his slippers, +muttering angrily to himself his contempt of the non-political nature of +the riot, and shrugging his shoulders. In the end he was taken unawares +by the out-rush of the rabble. It was too late then to remove his +family, and, indeed, where could he have run to with the portly Signora +Teresa and two little girls on that great plain? So, barricading every +opening, the old man sat down sternly in the middle of the darkened cafe +with an old shot-gun on his knees. His wife sat on another chair by his +side, muttering pious invocations to all the saints of the calendar. + +The old republican did not believe in saints, or in prayers, or in +what he called "priest's religion." Liberty and Garibaldi were his +divinities; but he tolerated "superstition" in women, preserving in +these matters a lofty and silent attitude. + +His two girls, the eldest fourteen, and the other two years younger, +crouched on the sanded floor, on each side of the Signora Teresa, with +their heads on their mother's lap, both scared, but each in her own +way, the dark-haired Linda indignant and angry, the fair Giselle, the +younger, bewildered and resigned. The Patrona removed her arms, which +embraced her daughters, for a moment to cross herself and wring her +hands hurriedly. She moaned a little louder. + +"Oh! Gian' Battista, why art thou not here? Oh! why art thou not here?" + +She was not then invoking the saint himself, but calling upon Nostromo, +whose patron he was. And Giorgio, motionless on the chair by her side, +would be provoked by these reproachful and distracted appeals. + +"Peace, woman! Where's the sense of it? There's his duty," he murmured +in the dark; and she would retort, panting-- + +"Eh! I have no patience. Duty! What of the woman who has been like a +mother to him? I bent my knee to him this morning; don't you go out, +Gian' Battista--stop in the house, Battistino--look at those two little +innocent children!" + +Mrs. Viola was an Italian, too, a native of Spezzia, and though +considerably younger than her husband, already middle-aged. She had a +handsome face, whose complexion had turned yellow because the climate +of Sulaco did not suit her at all. Her voice was a rich contralto. When, +with her arms folded tight under her ample bosom, she scolded the squat, +thick-legged China girls handling linen, plucking fowls, pounding corn +in wooden mortars amongst the mud outbuildings at the back of the house, +she could bring out such an impassioned, vibrating, sepulchral note that +the chained watch-dog bolted into his kennel with a great rattle. Luis, +a cinnamon-coloured mulatto with a sprouting moustache and thick, dark +lips, would stop sweeping the cafe with a broom of palm-leaves to let +a gentle shudder run down his spine. His languishing almond eyes would +remain closed for a long time. + +This was the staff of the Casa Viola, but all these people had fled +early that morning at the first sounds of the riot, preferring to hide +on the plain rather than trust themselves in the house; a preference for +which they were in no way to blame, since, whether true or not, it +was generally believed in the town that the Garibaldino had some money +buried under the clay floor of the kitchen. The dog, an irritable, +shaggy brute, barked violently and whined plaintively in turns at the +back, running in and out of his kennel as rage or fear prompted him. + +Bursts of great shouting rose and died away, like wild gusts of wind on +the plain round the barricaded house; the fitful popping of shots +grew louder above the yelling. Sometimes there were intervals of +unaccountable stillness outside, and nothing could have been more gaily +peaceful than the narrow bright lines of sunlight from the cracks in the +shutters, ruled straight across the cafe over the disarranged chairs +and tables to the wall opposite. Old Giorgio had chosen that bare, +whitewashed room for a retreat. It had only one window, and its only +door swung out upon the track of thick dust fenced by aloe hedges +between the harbour and the town, where clumsy carts used to creak along +behind slow yokes of oxen guided by boys on horseback. + +In a pause of stillness Giorgio cocked his gun. The ominous sound wrung +a low moan from the rigid figure of the woman sitting by his side. A +sudden outbreak of defiant yelling quite near the house sank all at once +to a confused murmur of growls. Somebody ran along; the loud catching of +his breath was heard for an instant passing the door; there were hoarse +mutters and footsteps near the wall; a shoulder rubbed against the +shutter, effacing the bright lines of sunshine pencilled across the +whole breadth of the room. Signora Teresa's arms thrown about the +kneeling forms of her daughters embraced them closer with a convulsive +pressure. + +The mob, driven away from the Custom House, had broken up into several +bands, retreating across the plain in the direction of the town. The +subdued crash of irregular volleys fired in the distance was answered by +faint yells far away. In the intervals the single shots rang feebly, and +the low, long, white building blinded in every window seemed to be +the centre of a turmoil widening in a great circle about its closed-up +silence. But the cautious movements and whispers of a routed party +seeking a momentary shelter behind the wall made the darkness of the +room, striped by threads of quiet sunlight, alight with evil, stealthy +sounds. The Violas had them in their ears as though invisible ghosts +hovering about their chairs had consulted in mutters as to the +advisability of setting fire to this foreigner's casa. + +It was trying to the nerves. Old Viola had risen slowly, gun in hand, +irresolute, for he did not see how he could prevent them. Already voices +could be heard talking at the back. Signora Teresa was beside herself +with terror. + +"Ah! the traitor! the traitor!" she mumbled, almost inaudibly. "Now we +are going to be burnt; and I bent my knee to him. No! he must run at the +heels of his English." + +She seemed to think that Nostromo's mere presence in the house would +have made it perfectly safe. So far, she, too, was under the spell of +that reputation the Capataz de Cargadores had made for himself by +the waterside, along the railway line, with the English and with the +populace of Sulaco. To his face, and even against her husband, she +invariably affected to laugh it to scorn, sometimes good-naturedly, +more often with a curious bitterness. But then women are unreasonable in +their opinions, as Giorgio used to remark calmly on fitting occasions. +On this occasion, with his gun held at ready before him, he stooped down +to his wife's head, and, keeping his eyes steadfastly on the barricaded +door, he breathed out into her ear that Nostromo would have been +powerless to help. What could two men shut up in a house do against +twenty or more bent upon setting fire to the roof? Gian' Battista was +thinking of the casa all the time, he was sure. + +"He think of the casa! He!" gasped Signora Viola, crazily. She struck +her breast with her open hands. "I know him. He thinks of nobody but +himself." + +A discharge of firearms near by made her throw her head back and close +her eyes. Old Giorgio set his teeth hard under his white moustache, and +his eyes began to roll fiercely. Several bullets struck the end of the +wall together; pieces of plaster could be heard falling outside; a voice +screamed "Here they come!" and after a moment of uneasy silence there +was a rush of running feet along the front. + +Then the tension of old Giorgio's attitude relaxed, and a smile of +contemptuous relief came upon his lips of an old fighter with a leonine +face. These were not a people striving for justice, but thieves. Even to +defend his life against them was a sort of degradation for a man who had +been one of Garibaldi's immortal thousand in the conquest of Sicily. He +had an immense scorn for this outbreak of scoundrels and leperos, who +did not know the meaning of the word "liberty." + +He grounded his old gun, and, turning his head, glanced at the coloured +lithograph of Garibaldi in a black frame on the white wall; a thread +of strong sunshine cut it perpendicularly. His eyes, accustomed to the +luminous twilight, made out the high colouring of the face, the red of +the shirt, the outlines of the square shoulders, the black patch of the +Bersagliere hat with cock's feathers curling over the crown. An immortal +hero! This was your liberty; it gave you not only life, but immortality +as well! + +For that one man his fanaticism had suffered no diminution. In the +moment of relief from the apprehension of the greatest danger, perhaps, +his family had been exposed to in all their wanderings, he had turned to +the picture of his old chief, first and only, then laid his hand on his +wife's shoulder. + +The children kneeling on the floor had not moved. Signora Teresa opened +her eyes a little, as though he had awakened her from a very deep and +dreamless slumber. Before he had time in his deliberate way to say a +reassuring word she jumped up, with the children clinging to her, one on +each side, gasped for breath, and let out a hoarse shriek. + +It was simultaneous with the bang of a violent blow struck on the +outside of the shutter. They could hear suddenly the snorting of a +horse, the restive tramping of hoofs on the narrow, hard path in front +of the house; the toe of a boot struck at the shutter again; a spur +jingled at every blow, and an excited voice shouted, "Hola! hola, in +there!" + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +All the morning Nostromo had kept his eye from afar on the Casa Viola, +even in the thick of the hottest scrimmage near the Custom House. "If +I see smoke rising over there," he thought to himself, "they are lost." +Directly the mob had broken he pressed with a small band of Italian +workmen in that direction, which, indeed, was the shortest line towards +the town. That part of the rabble he was pursuing seemed to think of +making a stand under the house; a volley fired by his followers from +behind an aloe hedge made the rascals fly. In a gap chopped out for +the rails of the harbour branch line Nostromo appeared, mounted on +his silver-grey mare. He shouted, sent after them one shot from his +revolver, and galloped up to the cafe window. He had an idea that old +Giorgio would choose that part of the house for a refuge. + +His voice had penetrated to them, sounding breathlessly hurried: "Hola! +Vecchio! O, Vecchio! Is it all well with you in there?" + +"You see--" murmured old Viola to his wife. Signora Teresa was silent +now. Outside Nostromo laughed. + +"I can hear the padrona is not dead." + +"You have done your best to kill me with fear," cried Signora Teresa. +She wanted to say something more, but her voice failed her. + +Linda raised her eyes to her face for a moment, but old Giorgio shouted +apologetically-- + +"She is a little upset." + +Outside Nostromo shouted back with another laugh-- + +"She cannot upset me." + +Signora Teresa found her voice. + +"It is what I say. You have no heart--and you have no conscience, Gian' +Battista--" + +They heard him wheel his horse away from the shutters. The party he led +were babbling excitedly in Italian and Spanish, inciting each other to +the pursuit. He put himself at their head, crying, "Avanti!" + +"He has not stopped very long with us. There is no praise from strangers +to be got here," Signora Teresa said tragically. "Avanti! Yes! That is +all he cares for. To be first somewhere--somehow--to be first with these +English. They will be showing him to everybody. 'This is our Nostromo!'" +She laughed ominously. "What a name! What is that? Nostromo? He would +take a name that is properly no word from them." + +Meantime Giorgio, with tranquil movements, had been unfastening the +door; the flood of light fell on Signora Teresa, with her two girls +gathered to her side, a picturesque woman in a pose of maternal +exaltation. Behind her the wall was dazzlingly white, and the crude +colours of the Garibaldi lithograph paled in the sunshine. + +Old Viola, at the door, moved his arm upwards as if referring all his +quick, fleeting thoughts to the picture of his old chief on the wall. +Even when he was cooking for the "Signori Inglesi"--the engineers (he +was a famous cook, though the kitchen was a dark place)--he was, as +it were, under the eye of the great man who had led him in a glorious +struggle where, under the walls of Gaeta, tyranny would have expired +for ever had it not been for that accursed Piedmontese race of kings +and ministers. When sometimes a frying-pan caught fire during a delicate +operation with some shredded onions, and the old man was seen backing +out of the doorway, swearing and coughing violently in an acrid cloud +of smoke, the name of Cavour--the arch intriguer sold to kings and +tyrants--could be heard involved in imprecations against the China +girls, cooking in general, and the brute of a country where he was +reduced to live for the love of liberty that traitor had strangled. + +Then Signora Teresa, all in black, issuing from another door, advanced, +portly and anxious, inclining her fine, black-browed head, opening her +arms, and crying in a profound tone-- + +"Giorgio! thou passionate man! Misericordia Divina! In the sun like +this! He will make himself ill." + +At her feet the hens made off in all directions, with immense strides; +if there were any engineers from up the line staying in Sulaco, a young +English face or two would appear at the billiard-room occupying one end +of the house; but at the other end, in the cafe, Luis, the mulatto, took +good care not to show himself. The Indian girls, with hair like flowing +black manes, and dressed only in a shift and short petticoat, stared +dully from under the square-cut fringes on their foreheads; the noisy +frizzling of fat had stopped, the fumes floated upwards in sunshine, +a strong smell of burnt onions hung in the drowsy heat, enveloping the +house; and the eye lost itself in a vast flat expanse of grass to the +west, as if the plain between the Sierra overtopping Sulaco and the +coast range away there towards Esmeralda had been as big as half the +world. + +Signora Teresa, after an impressive pause, remonstrated-- + +"Eh, Giorgio! Leave Cavour alone and take care of yourself now we are +lost in this country all alone with the two children, because you cannot +live under a king." + +And while she looked at him she would sometimes put her hand hastily +to her side with a short twitch of her fine lips and a knitting of +her black, straight eyebrows like a flicker of angry pain or an angry +thought on her handsome, regular features. + +It was pain; she suppressed the twinge. It had come to her first a few +years after they had left Italy to emigrate to America and settle at +last in Sulaco after wandering from town to town, trying shopkeeping +in a small way here and there; and once an organized enterprise of +fishing--in Maldonado--for Giorgio, like the great Garibaldi, had been a +sailor in his time. + +Sometimes she had no patience with pain. For years its gnawing had been +part of the landscape embracing the glitter of the harbour under +the wooded spurs of the range; and the sunshine itself was heavy and +dull--heavy with pain--not like the sunshine of her girlhood, in which +middle-aged Giorgio had wooed her gravely and passionately on the shores +of the gulf of Spezzia. + +"You go in at once, Giorgio," she directed. "One would think you do not +wish to have any pity on me--with four Signori Inglesi staying in the +house." "_Va bene, va bene_," Giorgio would mutter. He obeyed. The Signori +Inglesi would require their midday meal presently. He had been one +of the immortal and invincible band of liberators who had made the +mercenaries of tyranny fly like chaff before a hurricane, "_un uragano +terribile_." But that was before he was married and had children; and +before tyranny had reared its head again amongst the traitors who had +imprisoned Garibaldi, his hero. + +There were three doors in the front of the house, and each afternoon the +Garibaldino could be seen at one or another of them with his big bush of +white hair, his arms folded, his legs crossed, leaning back his leonine +head against the side, and looking up the wooded slopes of the foothills +at the snowy dome of Higuerota. The front of his house threw off a black +long rectangle of shade, broadening slowly over the soft ox-cart track. +Through the gaps, chopped out in the oleander hedges, the harbour branch +railway, laid out temporarily on the level of the plain, curved away its +shining parallel ribbons on a belt of scorched and withered grass within +sixty yards of the end of the house. In the evening the empty material +trains of flat cars circled round the dark green grove of Sulaco, +and ran, undulating slightly with white jets of steam, over the plain +towards the Casa Viola, on their way to the railway yards by the +harbour. The Italian drivers saluted him from the foot-plate with raised +hand, while the negro brakesmen sat carelessly on the brakes, looking +straight forward, with the rims of their big hats flapping in the wind. +In return Giorgio would give a slight sideways jerk of the head, without +unfolding his arms. + +On this memorable day of the riot his arms were not folded on his chest. +His hand grasped the barrel of the gun grounded on the threshold; he +did not look up once at the white dome of Higuerota, whose cool purity +seemed to hold itself aloof from a hot earth. His eyes examined the +plain curiously. Tall trails of dust subsided here and there. In +a speckless sky the sun hung clear and blinding. Knots of men ran +headlong; others made a stand; and the irregular rattle of firearms came +rippling to his ears in the fiery, still air. Single figures on foot +raced desperately. Horsemen galloped towards each other, wheeled round +together, separated at speed. Giorgio saw one fall, rider and horse +disappearing as if they had galloped into a chasm, and the movements of +the animated scene were like the passages of a violent game played upon +the plain by dwarfs mounted and on foot, yelling with tiny throats, +under the mountain that seemed a colossal embodiment of silence. Never +before had Giorgio seen this bit of plain so full of active life; his +gaze could not take in all its details at once; he shaded his eyes with +his hand, till suddenly the thundering of many hoofs near by startled +him. + +A troop of horses had broken out of the fenced paddock of the Railway +Company. They came on like a whirlwind, and dashed over the line +snorting, kicking, squealing in a compact, piebald, tossing mob of bay, +brown, grey backs, eyes staring, necks extended, nostrils red, long +tails streaming. As soon as they had leaped upon the road the thick dust +flew upwards from under their hoofs, and within six yards of Giorgio +only a brown cloud with vague forms of necks and cruppers rolled by, +making the soil tremble on its passage. + +Viola coughed, turning his face away from the dust, and shaking his head +slightly. + +"There will be some horse-catching to be done before to-night," he +muttered. + +In the square of sunlight falling through the door Signora Teresa, +kneeling before the chair, had bowed her head, heavy with a twisted +mass of ebony hair streaked with silver, into the palm of her hands. +The black lace shawl she used to drape about her face had dropped to +the ground by her side. The two girls had got up, hand-in-hand, in short +skirts, their loose hair falling in disorder. The younger had thrown +her arm across her eyes, as if afraid to face the light. Linda, with +her hand on the other's shoulder, stared fearlessly. Viola looked at his +children. The sun brought out the deep lines on his face, and, energetic +in expression, it had the immobility of a carving. It was impossible to +discover what he thought. Bushy grey eyebrows shaded his dark glance. + +"Well! And do you not pray like your mother?" + +Linda pouted, advancing her red lips, which were almost too red; but she +had admirable eyes, brown, with a sparkle of gold in the irises, full of +intelligence and meaning, and so clear that they seemed to throw a glow +upon her thin, colourless face. There were bronze glints in the sombre +clusters of her hair, and the eyelashes, long and coal black, made her +complexion appear still more pale. + +"Mother is going to offer up a lot of candles in the church. She always +does when Nostromo has been away fighting. I shall have some to carry up +to the Chapel of the Madonna in the Cathedral." + +She said all this quickly, with great assurance, in an animated, +penetrating voice. Then, giving her sister's shoulder a slight shake, +she added-- + +"And she will be made to carry one, too!" + +"Why made?" inquired Giorgio, gravely. "Does she not want to?" + +"She is timid," said Linda, with a little burst of laughter. "People +notice her fair hair as she goes along with us. They call out after +her, 'Look at the Rubia! Look at the Rubiacita!' They call out in the +streets. She is timid." + +"And you? You are not timid--eh?" the father pronounced, slowly. + +She tossed back all her dark hair. + +"Nobody calls out after me." + +Old Giorgio contemplated his children thoughtfully. There was two years +difference between them. They had been born to him late, years after +the boy had died. Had he lived he would have been nearly as old as Gian' +Battista--he whom the English called Nostromo; but as to his daughters, +the severity of his temper, his advancing age, his absorption in his +memories, had prevented his taking much notice of them. He loved his +children, but girls belong more to the mother, and much of his affection +had been expended in the worship and service of liberty. + +When quite a youth he had deserted from a ship trading to La Plata, to +enlist in the navy of Montevideo, then under the command of Garibaldi. +Afterwards, in the Italian legion of the Republic struggling against the +encroaching tyranny of Rosas, he had taken part, on great plains, on the +banks of immense rivers, in the fiercest fighting perhaps the world had +ever known. He had lived amongst men who had declaimed about liberty, +suffered for liberty, died for liberty, with a desperate exaltation, and +with their eyes turned towards an oppressed Italy. His own enthusiasm +had been fed on scenes of carnage, on the examples of lofty devotion, on +the din of armed struggle, on the inflamed language of proclamations. +He had never parted from the chief of his choice--the fiery apostle of +independence--keeping by his side in America and in Italy till after +the fatal day of Aspromonte, when the treachery of kings, emperors, +and ministers had been revealed to the world in the wounding and +imprisonment of his hero--a catastrophe that had instilled into him +a gloomy doubt of ever being able to understand the ways of Divine +justice. + +He did not deny it, however. It required patience, he would say. Though +he disliked priests, and would not put his foot inside a church for +anything, he believed in God. Were not the proclamations against tyrants +addressed to the peoples in the name of God and liberty? "God for +men--religions for women," he muttered sometimes. In Sicily, an +Englishman who had turned up in Palermo after its evacuation by the army +of the king, had given him a Bible in Italian--the publication of the +British and Foreign Bible Society, bound in a dark leather cover. +In periods of political adversity, in the pauses of silence when the +revolutionists issued no proclamations, Giorgio earned his living with +the first work that came to hand--as sailor, as dock labourer on the +quays of Genoa, once as a hand on a farm in the hills above Spezzia--and +in his spare time he studied the thick volume. He carried it with +him into battles. Now it was his only reading, and in order not to be +deprived of it (the print was small) he had consented to accept the +present of a pair of silver-mounted spectacles from Senora Emilia Gould, +the wife of the Englishman who managed the silver mine in the mountains +three leagues from the town. She was the only Englishwoman in Sulaco. + +Giorgio Viola had a great consideration for the English. This feeling, +born on the battlefields of Uruguay, was forty years old at the very +least. Several of them had poured their blood for the cause of freedom +in America, and the first he had ever known he remembered by the name of +Samuel; he commanded a negro company under Garibaldi, during the famous +siege of Montevideo, and died heroically with his negroes at the fording +of the Boyana. He, Giorgio, had reached the rank of ensign-alferez-and +cooked for the general. Later, in Italy, he, with the rank of +lieutenant, rode with the staff and still cooked for the general. He had +cooked for him in Lombardy through the whole campaign; on the march to +Rome he had lassoed his beef in the Campagna after the American manner; +he had been wounded in the defence of the Roman Republic; he was one of +the four fugitives who, with the general, carried out of the woods the +inanimate body of the general's wife into the farmhouse where she died, +exhausted by the hardships of that terrible retreat. He had survived +that disastrous time to attend his general in Palermo when the +Neapolitan shells from the castle crashed upon the town. He had cooked +for him on the field of Volturno after fighting all day. And everywhere +he had seen Englishmen in the front rank of the army of freedom. +He respected their nation because they loved Garibaldi. Their very +countesses and princesses had kissed the general's hands in London, it +was said. He could well believe it; for the nation was noble, and the +man was a saint. It was enough to look once at his face to see the +divine force of faith in him and his great pity for all that was poor, +suffering, and oppressed in this world. + +The spirit of self-forgetfulness, the simple devotion to a vast +humanitarian idea which inspired the thought and stress of that +revolutionary time, had left its mark upon Giorgio in a sort of austere +contempt for all personal advantage. This man, whom the lowest class in +Sulaco suspected of having a buried hoard in his kitchen, had all his +life despised money. The leaders of his youth had lived poor, had died +poor. It had been a habit of his mind to disregard to-morrow. It was +engendered partly by an existence of excitement, adventure, and wild +warfare. But mostly it was a matter of principle. It did not resemble +the carelessness of a condottiere, it was a puritanism of conduct, born +of stern enthusiasm like the puritanism of religion. + +This stern devotion to a cause had cast a gloom upon Giorgio's old +age. It cast a gloom because the cause seemed lost. Too many kings and +emperors flourished yet in the world which God had meant for the people. +He was sad because of his simplicity. Though always ready to help his +countrymen, and greatly respected by the Italian emigrants wherever he +lived (in his exile he called it), he could not conceal from himself +that they cared nothing for the wrongs of down-trodden nations. They +listened to his tales of war readily, but seemed to ask themselves what +he had got out of it after all. There was nothing that they could see. +"We wanted nothing, we suffered for the love of all humanity!" he cried +out furiously sometimes, and the powerful voice, the blazing eyes, the +shaking of the white mane, the brown, sinewy hand pointing upwards as +if to call heaven to witness, impressed his hearers. After the old man +had broken off abruptly with a jerk of the head and a movement of the +arm, meaning clearly, "But what's the good of talking to you?" they +nudged each other. There was in old Giorgio an energy of feeling, a +personal quality of conviction, something they called "terribilita"--"an +old lion," they used to say of him. Some slight incident, a chance +word would set him off talking on the beach to the Italian fishermen of +Maldonado, in the little shop he kept afterwards (in Valparaiso) to his +countrymen customers; of an evening, suddenly, in the cafe at one end of +the Casa Viola (the other was reserved for the English engineers) to the +select clientele of engine-drivers and foremen of the railway shops. + +With their handsome, bronzed, lean faces, shiny black ringlets, +glistening eyes, broad-chested, bearded, sometimes a tiny gold ring in +the lobe of the ear, the aristocracy of the railway works listened +to him, turning away from their cards or dominoes. Here and there a +fair-haired Basque studied his hand meantime, waiting without protest. +No native of Costaguana intruded there. This was the Italian stronghold. +Even the Sulaco policemen on a night patrol let their horses pace softly +by, bending low in the saddle to glance through the window at the heads +in a fog of smoke; and the drone of old Giorgio's declamatory narrative +seemed to sink behind them into the plain. Only now and then the +assistant of the chief of police, some broad-faced, brown little +gentleman, with a great deal of Indian in him, would put in an +appearance. Leaving his man outside with the horses he advanced with a +confident, sly smile, and without a word up to the long trestle table. +He pointed to one of the bottles on the shelf; Giorgio, thrusting his +pipe into his mouth abruptly, served him in person. Nothing would be +heard but the slight jingle of the spurs. His glass emptied, he would +take a leisurely, scrutinizing look all round the room, go out, and ride +away slowly, circling towards the town. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +In this way only was the power of the local authorities vindicated +amongst the great body of strong-limbed foreigners who dug the earth, +blasted the rocks, drove the engines for the "progressive and +patriotic undertaking." In these very words eighteen months before the +Excellentissimo Senor don Vincente Ribiera, the Dictator of Costaguana, +had described the National Central Railway in his great speech at the +turning of the first sod. + +He had come on purpose to Sulaco, and there was a one-o'clock +dinner-party, a convite offered by the O.S.N. Company on board the Juno +after the function on shore. Captain Mitchell had himself steered the +cargo lighter, all draped with flags, which, in tow of the Juno's steam +launch, took the Excellentissimo from the jetty to the ship. Everybody +of note in Sulaco had been invited--the one or two foreign merchants, +all the representatives of the old Spanish families then in town, the +great owners of estates on the plain, grave, courteous, simple men, +caballeros of pure descent, with small hands and feet, conservative, +hospitable, and kind. The Occidental Province was their stronghold; +their Blanco party had triumphed now; it was their President-Dictator, +a Blanco of the Blancos, who sat smiling urbanely between the +representatives of two friendly foreign powers. They had come with him +from Sta. Marta to countenance by their presence the enterprise in +which the capital of their countries was engaged. The only lady of that +company was Mrs. Gould, the wife of Don Carlos, the administrator of the +San Tome silver mine. The ladies of Sulaco were not advanced enough to +take part in the public life to that extent. They had come out strongly +at the great ball at the Intendencia the evening before, but Mrs. Gould +alone had appeared, a bright spot in the group of black coats behind the +President-Dictator, on the crimson cloth-covered stage erected under a +shady tree on the shore of the harbour, where the ceremony of turning +the first sod had taken place. She had come off in the cargo lighter, +full of notabilities, sitting under the flutter of gay flags, in the +place of honour by the side of Captain Mitchell, who steered, and her +clear dress gave the only truly festive note to the sombre gathering in +the long, gorgeous saloon of the Juno. + +The head of the chairman of the railway board (from London), handsome +and pale in a silvery mist of white hair and clipped beard, hovered near +her shoulder attentive, smiling, and fatigued. The journey from London +to Sta. Marta in mail boats and the special carriages of the Sta. +Marta coast-line (the only railway so far) had been tolerable--even +pleasant--quite tolerable. But the trip over the mountains to Sulaco was +another sort of experience, in an old diligencia over impassable roads +skirting awful precipices. + +"We have been upset twice in one day on the brink of very deep ravines," +he was telling Mrs. Gould in an undertone. "And when we arrived here +at last I don't know what we should have done without your hospitality. +What an out-of-the-way place Sulaco is!--and for a harbour, too! +Astonishing!" + +"Ah, but we are very proud of it. It used to be historically important. +The highest ecclesiastical court for two viceroyalties, sat here in the +olden time," she instructed him with animation. + +"I am impressed. I didn't mean to be disparaging. You seem very +patriotic." + +"The place is lovable, if only by its situation. Perhaps you don't know +what an old resident I am." + +"How old, I wonder," he murmured, looking at her with a slight smile. +Mrs. Gould's appearance was made youthful by the mobile intelligence of +her face. "We can't give you your ecclesiastical court back again; but +you shall have more steamers, a railway, a telegraph-cable--a future +in the great world which is worth infinitely more than any amount +of ecclesiastical past. You shall be brought in touch with something +greater than two viceroyalties. But I had no notion that a place on +a sea-coast could remain so isolated from the world. If it had been a +thousand miles inland now--most remarkable! Has anything ever happened +here for a hundred years before to-day?" + +While he talked in a slow, humorous tone, she kept her little smile. +Agreeing ironically, she assured him that certainly not--nothing ever +happened in Sulaco. Even the revolutions, of which there had been two in +her time, had respected the repose of the place. Their course ran in the +more populous southern parts of the Republic, and the great valley of +Sta. Marta, which was like one great battlefield of the parties, with +the possession of the capital for a prize and an outlet to another +ocean. They were more advanced over there. Here in Sulaco they heard +only the echoes of these great questions, and, of course, their official +world changed each time, coming to them over their rampart of mountains +which he himself had traversed in an old diligencia, with such a risk to +life and limb. + +The chairman of the railway had been enjoying her hospitality for +several days, and he was really grateful for it. It was only since he +had left Sta. Marta that he had utterly lost touch with the feeling +of European life on the background of his exotic surroundings. In the +capital he had been the guest of the Legation, and had been kept busy +negotiating with the members of Don Vincente's Government--cultured men, +men to whom the conditions of civilized business were not unknown. + +What concerned him most at the time was the acquisition of land for the +railway. In the Sta. Marta Valley, where there was already one line in +existence, the people were tractable, and it was only a matter of price. +A commission had been nominated to fix the values, and the difficulty +resolved itself into the judicious influencing of the Commissioners. +But in Sulaco--the Occidental Province for whose very development the +railway was intended--there had been trouble. It had been lying for ages +ensconced behind its natural barriers, repelling modern enterprise by +the precipices of its mountain range, by its shallow harbour opening +into the everlasting calms of a gulf full of clouds, by the benighted +state of mind of the owners of its fertile territory--all these +aristocratic old Spanish families, all those Don Ambrosios this and Don +Fernandos that, who seemed actually to dislike and distrust the coming +of the railway over their lands. It had happened that some of the +surveying parties scattered all over the province had been warned off +with threats of violence. In other cases outrageous pretensions as to +price had been raised. But the man of railways prided himself on being +equal to every emergency. Since he was met by the inimical sentiment of +blind conservatism in Sulaco he would meet it by sentiment, too, before +taking his stand on his right alone. The Government was bound to carry +out its part of the contract with the board of the new railway company, +even if it had to use force for the purpose. But he desired nothing less +than an armed disturbance in the smooth working of his plans. They +were much too vast and far-reaching, and too promising to leave a stone +unturned; and so he imagined to get the President-Dictator over there +on a tour of ceremonies and speeches, culminating in a great function +at the turning of the first sod by the harbour shore. After all he was +their own creature--that Don Vincente. He was the embodied triumph of +the best elements in the State. These were facts, and, unless facts +meant nothing, Sir John argued to himself, such a man's influence must +be real, and his personal action would produce the conciliatory effect +he required. He had succeeded in arranging the trip with the help of a +very clever advocate, who was known in Sta. Marta as the agent of the +Gould silver mine, the biggest thing in Sulaco, and even in the whole +Republic. It was indeed a fabulously rich mine. Its so-called agent, +evidently a man of culture and ability, seemed, without official +position, to possess an extraordinary influence in the highest +Government spheres. He was able to assure Sir John that the +President-Dictator would make the journey. He regretted, however, in +the course of the same conversation, that General Montero insisted upon +going, too. + +General Montero, whom the beginning of the struggle had found an obscure +army captain employed on the wild eastern frontier of the State, had +thrown in his lot with the Ribiera party at a moment when special +circumstances had given that small adhesion a fortuitous importance. +The fortunes of war served him marvellously, and the victory of Rio Seco +(after a day of desperate fighting) put a seal to his success. At the +end he emerged General, Minister of War, and the military head of the +Blanco party, although there was nothing aristocratic in his descent. +Indeed, it was said that he and his brother, orphans, had been brought +up by the munificence of a famous European traveller, in whose service +their father had lost his life. Another story was that their father +had been nothing but a charcoal burner in the woods, and their mother a +baptised Indian woman from the far interior. + +However that might be, the Costaguana Press was in the habit of styling +Montero's forest march from his commandancia to join the Blanco forces +at the beginning of the troubles, the "most heroic military exploit of +modern times." About the same time, too, his brother had turned up from +Europe, where he had gone apparently as secretary to a consul. Having, +however, collected a small band of outlaws, he showed some talent as +guerilla chief and had been rewarded at the pacification by the post of +Military Commandant of the capital. + +The Minister of War, then, accompanied the Dictator. The board of the +O.S.N. Company, working hand-in-hand with the railway people for the +good of the Republic, had on this important occasion instructed Captain +Mitchell to put the mail-boat Juno at the disposal of the distinguished +party. Don Vincente, journeying south from Sta. Marta, had embarked at +Cayta, the principal port of Costaguana, and came to Sulaco by sea. +But the chairman of the railway company had courageously crossed the +mountains in a ramshackle diligencia, mainly for the purpose of meeting +his engineer-in-chief engaged in the final survey of the road. + +For all the indifference of a man of affairs to nature, whose hostility +can always be overcome by the resources of finance, he could not help +being impressed by his surroundings during his halt at the surveying +camp established at the highest point his railway was to reach. He spent +the night there, arriving just too late to see the last dying glow of +sunlight upon the snowy flank of Higuerota. Pillared masses of black +basalt framed like an open portal a portion of the white field lying +aslant against the west. In the transparent air of the high altitudes +everything seemed very near, steeped in a clear stillness as in an +imponderable liquid; and with his ear ready to catch the first sound of +the expected diligencia the engineer-in-chief, at the door of a hut of +rough stones, had contemplated the changing hues on the enormous side +of the mountain, thinking that in this sight, as in a piece of inspired +music, there could be found together the utmost delicacy of shaded +expression and a stupendous magnificence of effect. + +Sir John arrived too late to hear the magnificent and inaudible strain +sung by the sunset amongst the high peaks of the Sierra. It had sung +itself out into the breathless pause of deep dusk before, climbing down +the fore wheel of the diligencia with stiff limbs, he shook hands with +the engineer. + +They gave him his dinner in a stone hut like a cubical boulder, with no +door or windows in its two openings; a bright fire of sticks (brought +on muleback from the first valley below) burning outside, sent in a +wavering glare; and two candles in tin candlesticks--lighted, it was +explained to him, in his honour--stood on a sort of rough camp table, at +which he sat on the right hand of the chief. He knew how to be amiable; +and the young men of the engineering staff, for whom the surveying of +the railway track had the glamour of the first steps on the path of +life, sat there, too, listening modestly, with their smooth faces tanned +by the weather, and very pleased to witness so much affability in so +great a man. + +Afterwards, late at night, pacing to and fro outside, he had a long talk +with his chief engineer. He knew him well of old. This was not the first +undertaking in which their gifts, as elementally different as fire +and water, had worked in conjunction. From the contact of these two +personalities, who had not the same vision of the world, there was +generated a power for the world's service--a subtle force that could +set in motion mighty machines, men's muscles, and awaken also in human +breasts an unbounded devotion to the task. Of the young fellows at the +table, to whom the survey of the track was like the tracing of the path +of life, more than one would be called to meet death before the work was +done. But the work would be done: the force would be almost as strong +as a faith. Not quite, however. In the silence of the sleeping camp upon +the moonlit plateau forming the top of the pass like the floor of a +vast arena surrounded by the basalt walls of precipices, two strolling +figures in thick ulsters stood still, and the voice of the engineer +pronounced distinctly the words-- + +"We can't move mountains!" + +Sir John, raising his head to follow the pointing gesture, felt the full +force of the words. The white Higuerota soared out of the shadows of +rock and earth like a frozen bubble under the moon. All was still, till +near by, behind the wall of a corral for the camp animals, built +roughly of loose stones in the form of a circle, a pack mule stamped his +forefoot and blew heavily twice. + +The engineer-in-chief had used the phrase in answer to the chairman's +tentative suggestion that the tracing of the line could, perhaps, be +altered in deference to the prejudices of the Sulaco landowners. +The chief engineer believed that the obstinacy of men was the lesser +obstacle. Moreover, to combat that they had the great influence of +Charles Gould, whereas tunnelling under Higuerota would have been a +colossal undertaking. + +"Ah, yes! Gould. What sort of a man is he?" + +Sir John had heard much of Charles Gould in Sta. Marta, and wanted to +know more. The engineer-in-chief assured him that the administrator of +the San Tome silver mine had an immense influence over all these Spanish +Dons. He had also one of the best houses in Sulaco, and the Gould +hospitality was beyond all praise. + +"They received me as if they had known me for years," he said. "The +little lady is kindness personified. I stayed with them for a month. He +helped me to organize the surveying parties. His practical ownership of +the San Tome silver mine gives him a special position. He seems to have +the ear of every provincial authority apparently, and, as I said, he can +wind all the hidalgos of the province round his little finger. If you +follow his advice the difficulties will fall away, because he wants the +railway. Of course, you must be careful in what you say. He's English, +and besides he must be immensely wealthy. The Holroyd house is in with +him in that mine, so you may imagine--" + +He interrupted himself as, from before one of the little fires burning +outside the low wall of the corral, arose the figure of a man wrapped in +a poncho up to the neck. The saddle which he had been using for a pillow +made a dark patch on the ground against the red glow of embers. + +"I shall see Holroyd himself on my way back through the States," said +Sir John. "I've ascertained that he, too, wants the railway." + +The man who, perhaps disturbed by the proximity of the voices, had +arisen from the ground, struck a match to light a cigarette. The flame +showed a bronzed, black-whiskered face, a pair of eyes gazing straight; +then, rearranging his wrappings, he sank full length and laid his head +again on the saddle. + +"That's our camp-master, whom I must send back to Sulaco now we +are going to carry our survey into the Sta. Marta Valley," said the +engineer. "A most useful fellow, lent me by Captain Mitchell of the +O.S.N. Company. It was very good of Mitchell. Charles Gould told me I +couldn't do better than take advantage of the offer. He seems to know +how to rule all these muleteers and peons. We had not the slightest +trouble with our people. He shall escort your diligencia right into +Sulaco with some of our railway peons. The road is bad. To have him at +hand may save you an upset or two. He promised me to take care of your +person all the way down as if you were his father." + +This camp-master was the Italian sailor whom all the Europeans in +Sulaco, following Captain Mitchell's mispronunciation, were in the +habit of calling Nostromo. And indeed, taciturn and ready, he did take +excellent care of his charge at the bad parts of the road, as Sir John +himself acknowledged to Mrs. Gould afterwards. + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +At that time Nostromo had been already long enough in the country +to raise to the highest pitch Captain Mitchell's opinion of the +extraordinary value of his discovery. Clearly he was one of those +invaluable subordinates whom to possess is a legitimate cause of +boasting. Captain Mitchell plumed himself upon his eye for men--but +he was not selfish--and in the innocence of his pride was already +developing that mania for "lending you my Capataz de Cargadores" which +was to bring Nostromo into personal contact, sooner or later, with +every European in Sulaco, as a sort of universal factotum--a prodigy of +efficiency in his own sphere of life. + +"The fellow is devoted to me, body and soul!" Captain Mitchell was +given to affirm; and though nobody, perhaps, could have explained why it +should be so, it was impossible on a survey of their relation to throw +doubt on that statement, unless, indeed, one were a bitter, eccentric +character like Dr. Monygham--for instance--whose short, hopeless laugh +expressed somehow an immense mistrust of mankind. Not that Dr. Monygham +was a prodigal either of laughter or of words. He was bitterly taciturn +when at his best. At his worst people feared the open scornfulness of +his tongue. Only Mrs. Gould could keep his unbelief in men's motives +within due bounds; but even to her (on an occasion not connected with +Nostromo, and in a tone which for him was gentle), even to her, he had +said once, "Really, it is most unreasonable to demand that a man +should think of other people so much better than he is able to think of +himself." + +And Mrs. Gould had hastened to drop the subject. There were strange +rumours of the English doctor. Years ago, in the time of Guzman Bento, +he had been mixed up, it was whispered, in a conspiracy which was +betrayed and, as people expressed it, drowned in blood. His hair had +turned grey, his hairless, seamed face was of a brick-dust colour; the +large check pattern of his flannel shirt and his old stained Panama hat +were an established defiance to the conventionalities of Sulaco. Had +it not been for the immaculate cleanliness of his apparel he might have +been taken for one of those shiftless Europeans that are a moral eyesore +to the respectability of a foreign colony in almost every exotic part of +the world. The young ladies of Sulaco, adorning with clusters of pretty +faces the balconies along the Street of the Constitution, when they saw +him pass, with his limping gait and bowed head, a short linen jacket +drawn on carelessly over the flannel check shirt, would remark to each +other, "Here is the Senor doctor going to call on Dona Emilia. He has +got his little coat on." The inference was true. Its deeper meaning was +hidden from their simple intelligence. Moreover, they expended no +store of thought on the doctor. He was old, ugly, learned--and a little +"loco"--mad, if not a bit of a sorcerer, as the common people suspected +him of being. The little white jacket was in reality a concession +to Mrs. Gould's humanizing influence. The doctor, with his habit of +sceptical, bitter speech, had no other means of showing his profound +respect for the character of the woman who was known in the country as +the English Senora. He presented this tribute very seriously indeed; +it was no trifle for a man of his habits. Mrs. Gould felt that, too, +perfectly. She would never have thought of imposing upon him this marked +show of deference. + +She kept her old Spanish house (one of the finest specimens in Sulaco) +open for the dispensation of the small graces of existence. She +dispensed them with simplicity and charm because she was guided by an +alert perception of values. She was highly gifted in the art of human +intercourse which consists in delicate shades of self-forgetfulness and +in the suggestion of universal comprehension. Charles Gould (the Gould +family, established in Costaguana for three generations, always went to +England for their education and for their wives) imagined that he had +fallen in love with a girl's sound common sense like any other man, +but these were not exactly the reasons why, for instance, the whole +surveying camp, from the youngest of the young men to their mature +chief, should have found occasion to allude to Mrs. Gould's house +so frequently amongst the high peaks of the Sierra. She would have +protested that she had done nothing for them, with a low laugh and +a surprised widening of her grey eyes, had anybody told her how +convincingly she was remembered on the edge of the snow-line above +Sulaco. But directly, with a little capable air of setting her wits to +work, she would have found an explanation. "Of course, it was such a +surprise for these boys to find any sort of welcome here. And I suppose +they are homesick. I suppose everybody must be always just a little +homesick." + +She was always sorry for homesick people. + +Born in the country, as his father before him, spare and tall, with +a flaming moustache, a neat chin, clear blue eyes, auburn hair, and a +thin, fresh, red face, Charles Gould looked like a new arrival from over +the sea. His grandfather had fought in the cause of independence under +Bolivar, in that famous English legion which on the battlefield of +Carabobo had been saluted by the great Liberator as Saviours of his +country. One of Charles Gould's uncles had been the elected President +of that very province of Sulaco (then called a State) in the days of +Federation, and afterwards had been put up against the wall of a church +and shot by the order of the barbarous Unionist general, Guzman Bento. +It was the same Guzman Bento who, becoming later Perpetual President, +famed for his ruthless and cruel tyranny, readied his apotheosis in the +popular legend of a sanguinary land-haunting spectre whose body had been +carried off by the devil in person from the brick mausoleum in the nave +of the Church of Assumption in Sta. Marta. Thus, at least, the priests +explained its disappearance to the barefooted multitude that streamed +in, awestruck, to gaze at the hole in the side of the ugly box of bricks +before the great altar. + +Guzman Bento of cruel memory had put to death great numbers of people +besides Charles Gould's uncle; but with a relative martyred in the cause +of aristocracy, the Sulaco Oligarchs (this was the phraseology of Guzman +Bento's time; now they were called Blancos, and had given up the federal +idea), which meant the families of pure Spanish descent, considered +Charles as one of themselves. With such a family record, no one could +be more of a Costaguanero than Don Carlos Gould; but his aspect was +so characteristic that in the talk of common people he was just the +Inglez--the Englishman of Sulaco. He looked more English than a casual +tourist, a sort of heretic pilgrim, however, quite unknown in Sulaco. +He looked more English than the last arrived batch of young railway +engineers, than anybody out of the hunting-field pictures in the numbers +of Punch reaching his wife's drawing-room two months or so after date. +It astonished you to hear him talk Spanish (Castillan, as the natives +say) or the Indian dialect of the country-people so naturally. His +accent had never been English; but there was something so indelible +in all these ancestral Goulds--liberators, explorers, coffee +planters, merchants, revolutionists--of Costaguana, that he, the only +representative of the third generation in a continent possessing its +own style of horsemanship, went on looking thoroughly English even +on horseback. This is not said of him in the mocking spirit of the +Llaneros--men of the great plains--who think that no one in the world +knows how to sit a horse but themselves. Charles Gould, to use the +suitably lofty phrase, rode like a centaur. Riding for him was not a +special form of exercise; it was a natural faculty, as walking straight +is to all men sound of mind and limb; but, all the same, when cantering +beside the rutty ox-cart track to the mine he looked in his English +clothes and with his imported saddlery as though he had come this moment +to Costaguana at his easy swift pasotrote, straight out of some green +meadow at the other side of the world. + +His way would lie along the old Spanish road--the Camino Real of popular +speech--the only remaining vestige of a fact and name left by that +royalty old Giorgio Viola hated, and whose very shadow had departed from +the land; for the big equestrian statue of Charles IV. at the entrance +of the Alameda, towering white against the trees, was only known to the +folk from the country and to the beggars of the town that slept on the +steps around the pedestal, as the Horse of Stone. The other Carlos, +turning off to the left with a rapid clatter of hoofs on the disjointed +pavement--Don Carlos Gould, in his English clothes, looked as +incongruous, but much more at home than the kingly cavalier reining in +his steed on the pedestal above the sleeping leperos, with his marble +arm raised towards the marble rim of a plumed hat. + +The weather-stained effigy of the mounted king, with its vague +suggestion of a saluting gesture, seemed to present an inscrutable +breast to the political changes which had robbed it of its very name; +but neither did the other horseman, well known to the people, keen and +alive on his well-shaped, slate-coloured beast with a white eye, wear +his heart on the sleeve of his English coat. His mind preserved its +steady poise as if sheltered in the passionless stability of private +and public decencies at home in Europe. He accepted with a like calm the +shocking manner in which the Sulaco ladies smothered their faces with +pearl powder till they looked like white plaster casts with beautiful +living eyes, the peculiar gossip of the town, and the continuous +political changes, the constant "saving of the country," which to his +wife seemed a puerile and bloodthirsty game of murder and rapine played +with terrible earnestness by depraved children. In the early days of +her Costaguana life, the little lady used to clench her hands with +exasperation at not being able to take the public affairs of the country +as seriously as the incidental atrocity of methods deserved. She saw in +them a comedy of naive pretences, but hardly anything genuine except +her own appalled indignation. Charles, very quiet and twisting his long +moustaches, would decline to discuss them at all. Once, however, he +observed to her gently-- + +"My dear, you seem to forget that I was born here." These few words made +her pause as if they had been a sudden revelation. Perhaps the mere +fact of being born in the country did make a difference. She had a great +confidence in her husband; it had always been very great. He had struck +her imagination from the first by his unsentimentalism, by that very +quietude of mind which she had erected in her thought for a sign of +perfect competency in the business of living. Don Jose Avellanos, their +neighbour across the street, a statesman, a poet, a man of culture, who +had represented his country at several European Courts (and had suffered +untold indignities as a state prisoner in the time of the tyrant Guzman +Bento), used to declare in Dona Emilia's drawing-room that Carlos had +all the English qualities of character with a truly patriotic heart. + +Mrs. Gould, raising her eyes to her husband's thin, red and tan face, +could not detect the slightest quiver of a feature at what he must have +heard said of his patriotism. Perhaps he had just dismounted on his +return from the mine; he was English enough to disregard the hottest +hours of the day. Basilio, in a livery of white linen and a red sash, +had squatted for a moment behind his heels to unstrap the heavy, blunt +spurs in the patio; and then the Senor Administrator would go up the +staircase into the gallery. Rows of plants in pots, ranged on the +balustrade between the pilasters of the arches, screened the corredor +with their leaves and flowers from the quadrangle below, whose paved +space is the true hearthstone of a South American house, where the quiet +hours of domestic life are marked by the shifting of light and shadow on +the flagstones. + +Senor Avellanos was in the habit of crossing the patio at five o'clock +almost every day. Don Jose chose to come over at tea-time because the +English rite at Dona Emilia's house reminded him of the time he lived in +London as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James. He did +not like tea; and, usually, rocking his American chair, his neat little +shiny boots crossed on the foot-rest, he would talk on and on with a +sort of complacent virtuosity wonderful in a man of his age, while he +held the cup in his hands for a long time. His close-cropped head was +perfectly white; his eyes coalblack. + +On seeing Charles Gould step into the sala he would nod provisionally +and go on to the end of the oratorial period. Only then he would say-- + +"Carlos, my friend, you have ridden from San Tome in the heat of the +day. Always the true English activity. No? What?" + +He drank up all the tea at once in one draught. This performance +was invariably followed by a slight shudder and a low, involuntary +"br-r-r-r," which was not covered by the hasty exclamation, "Excellent!" + +Then giving up the empty cup into his young friend's hand, extended with +a smile, he continued to expatiate upon the patriotic nature of the San +Tome mine for the simple pleasure of talking fluently, it seemed, while +his reclining body jerked backwards and forwards in a rocking-chair of +the sort exported from the United States. The ceiling of the largest +drawing-room of the Casa Gould extended its white level far above +his head. The loftiness dwarfed the mixture of heavy, straight-backed +Spanish chairs of brown wood with leathern seats, and European +furniture, low, and cushioned all over, like squat little monsters +gorged to bursting with steel springs and horsehair. There were +knick-knacks on little tables, mirrors let into the wall above marble +consoles, square spaces of carpet under the two groups of armchairs, +each presided over by a deep sofa; smaller rugs scattered all over the +floor of red tiles; three windows from the ceiling down to the ground, +opening on a balcony, and flanked by the perpendicular folds of the +dark hangings. The stateliness of ancient days lingered between the four +high, smooth walls, tinted a delicate primrose-colour; and Mrs. Gould, +with her little head and shining coils of hair, sitting in a cloud of +muslin and lace before a slender mahogany table, resembled a fairy posed +lightly before dainty philtres dispensed out of vessels of silver and +porcelain. + +Mrs. Gould knew the history of the San Tome mine. Worked in the early +days mostly by means of lashes on the backs of slaves, its yield had +been paid for in its own weight of human bones. Whole tribes of Indians +had perished in the exploitation; and then the mine was abandoned, since +with this primitive method it had ceased to make a profitable return, +no matter how many corpses were thrown into its maw. Then it became +forgotten. It was rediscovered after the War of Independence. An English +company obtained the right to work it, and found so rich a vein that +neither the exactions of successive governments, nor the periodical +raids of recruiting officers upon the population of paid miners they had +created, could discourage their perseverance. But in the end, during the +long turmoil of pronunciamentos that followed the death of the famous +Guzman Bento, the native miners, incited to revolt by the emissaries +sent out from the capital, had risen upon their English chiefs and +murdered them to a man. The decree of confiscation which appeared +immediately afterwards in the Diario Official, published in Sta. Marta, +began with the words: "Justly incensed at the grinding oppression of +foreigners, actuated by sordid motives of gain rather than by love for a +country where they come impoverished to seek their fortunes, the mining +population of San Tome, etc. . . ." and ended with the declaration: "The +chief of the State has resolved to exercise to the full his power +of clemency. The mine, which by every law, international, human, and +divine, reverts now to the Government as national property, shall remain +closed till the sword drawn for the sacred defence of liberal principles +has accomplished its mission of securing the happiness of our beloved +country." + +And for many years this was the last of the San Tome mine. What +advantage that Government had expected from the spoliation, it is +impossible to tell now. Costaguana was made with difficulty to pay a +beggarly money compensation to the families of the victims, and then +the matter dropped out of diplomatic despatches. But afterwards another +Government bethought itself of that valuable asset. It was an ordinary +Costaguana Government--the fourth in six years--but it judged of its +opportunities sanely. It remembered the San Tome mine with a secret +conviction of its worthlessness in their own hands, but with an +ingenious insight into the various uses a silver mine can be put to, +apart from the sordid process of extracting the metal from under the +ground. The father of Charles Gould, for a long time one of the most +wealthy merchants of Costaguana, had already lost a considerable part of +his fortune in forced loans to the successive Governments. He was a man +of calm judgment, who never dreamed of pressing his claims; and when, +suddenly, the perpetual concession of the San Tome mine was offered to +him in full settlement, his alarm became extreme. He was versed in the +ways of Governments. Indeed, the intention of this affair, though no +doubt deeply meditated in the closet, lay open on the surface of the +document presented urgently for his signature. The third and most +important clause stipulated that the concession-holder should pay at +once to the Government five years' royalties on the estimated output of +the mine. + +Mr. Gould, senior, defended himself from this fatal favour with many +arguments and entreaties, but without success. He knew nothing of +mining; he had no means to put his concession on the European market; +the mine as a working concern did not exist. The buildings had been +burnt down, the mining plant had been destroyed, the mining population +had disappeared from the neighbourhood years and years ago; the very +road had vanished under a flood of tropical vegetation as effectually +as if swallowed by the sea; and the main gallery had fallen in within a +hundred yards from the entrance. It was no longer an abandoned mine; it +was a wild, inaccessible, and rocky gorge of the Sierra, where vestiges +of charred timber, some heaps of smashed bricks, and a few shapeless +pieces of rusty iron could have been found under the matted mass of +thorny creepers covering the ground. Mr. Gould, senior, did not desire +the perpetual possession of that desolate locality; in fact, the mere +vision of it arising before his mind in the still watches of the night +had the power to exasperate him into hours of hot and agitated insomnia. + +It so happened, however, that the Finance Minister of the time was a +man to whom, in years gone by, Mr. Gould had, unfortunately, declined to +grant some small pecuniary assistance, basing his refusal on the ground +that the applicant was a notorious gambler and cheat, besides being more +than half suspected of a robbery with violence on a wealthy ranchero in +a remote country district, where he was actually exercising the function +of a judge. Now, after reaching his exalted position, that politician +had proclaimed his intention to repay evil with good to Senor +Gould--the poor man. He affirmed and reaffirmed this resolution in the +drawing-rooms of Sta. Marta, in a soft and implacable voice, and +with such malicious glances that Mr. Gould's best friends advised him +earnestly to attempt no bribery to get the matter dropped. It would have +been useless. Indeed, it would not have been a very safe proceeding. +Such was also the opinion of a stout, loud-voiced lady of French +extraction, the daughter, she said, of an officer of high rank (_officier +superieur de l'armee_), who was accommodated with lodgings within the +walls of a secularized convent next door to the Ministry of Finance. +That florid person, when approached on behalf of Mr. Gould in a proper +manner, and with a suitable present, shook her head despondently. She +was good-natured, and her despondency was genuine. She imagined she +could not take money in consideration of something she could not +accomplish. The friend of Mr. Gould, charged with the delicate mission, +used to say afterwards that she was the only honest person closely or +remotely connected with the Government he had ever met. "No go," she +had said with a cavalier, husky intonation which was natural to her, and +using turns of expression more suitable to a child of parents unknown +than to the orphaned daughter of a general officer. "No; it's no go. _Pas +moyen, mon garcon. C'est dommage, tout de meme. Ah! zut! Je ne vole +pas mon monde. Je ne suis pas ministre--moi! Vous pouvez emporter votre +petit sac_." + +For a moment, biting her carmine lip, she deplored inwardly the tyranny +of the rigid principles governing the sale of her influence in high +places. Then, significantly, and with a touch of impatience, "_Allez_," +she added, "_et dites bien a votre bonhomme--entendez-vous?--qu'il faut +avaler la pilule_." + +After such a warning there was nothing for it but to sign and pay. +Mr. Gould had swallowed the pill, and it was as though it had been +compounded of some subtle poison that acted directly on his brain. He +became at once mine-ridden, and as he was well read in light literature +it took to his mind the form of the Old Man of the Sea fastened upon his +shoulders. He also began to dream of vampires. Mr. Gould exaggerated +to himself the disadvantages of his new position, because he viewed it +emotionally. His position in Costaguana was no worse than before. But +man is a desperately conservative creature, and the extravagant novelty +of this outrage upon his purse distressed his sensibilities. Everybody +around him was being robbed by the grotesque and murderous bands that +played their game of governments and revolutions after the death of +Guzman Bento. His experience had taught him that, however short +the plunder might fall of their legitimate expectations, no gang in +possession of the Presidential Palace would be so incompetent as to +suffer itself to be baffled by the want of a pretext. The first casual +colonel of the barefooted army of scarecrows that came along was able to +expose with force and precision to any mere civilian his titles to a sum +of 10,000 dollars; the while his hope would be immutably fixed upon a +gratuity, at any rate, of no less than a thousand. Mr. Gould knew that +very well, and, armed with resignation, had waited for better times. But +to be robbed under the forms of legality and business was intolerable to +his imagination. Mr. Gould, the father, had one fault in his sagacious +and honourable character: he attached too much importance to form. It is +a failing common to mankind, whose views are tinged by prejudices. There +was for him in that affair a malignancy of perverted justice which, by +means of a moral shock, attacked his vigorous physique. "It will end +by killing me," he used to affirm many times a day. And, in fact, since +that time he began to suffer from fever, from liver pains, and mostly +from a worrying inability to think of anything else. The Finance +Minister could have formed no conception of the profound subtlety of his +revenge. Even Mr. Gould's letters to his fourteen-year-old boy Charles, +then away in England for his education, came at last to talk of +practically nothing but the mine. He groaned over the injustice, the +persecution, the outrage of that mine; he occupied whole pages in the +exposition of the fatal consequences attaching to the possession of that +mine from every point of view, with every dismal inference, with words +of horror at the apparently eternal character of that curse. For the +Concession had been granted to him and his descendants for ever. He +implored his son never to return to Costaguana, never to claim any +part of his inheritance there, because it was tainted by the infamous +Concession; never to touch it, never to approach it, to forget that +America existed, and pursue a mercantile career in Europe. And each +letter ended with bitter self-reproaches for having stayed too long in +that cavern of thieves, intriguers, and brigands. + +To be told repeatedly that one's future is blighted because of the +possession of a silver mine is not, at the age of fourteen, a matter +of prime importance as to its main statement; but in its form it is +calculated to excite a certain amount of wonder and attention. In course +of time the boy, at first only puzzled by the angry jeremiads, but +rather sorry for his dad, began to turn the matter over in his mind in +such moments as he could spare from play and study. In about a year he +had evolved from the lecture of the letters a definite conviction +that there was a silver mine in the Sulaco province of the Republic of +Costaguana, where poor Uncle Harry had been shot by soldiers a great +many years before. There was also connected closely with that mine a +thing called the "iniquitous Gould Concession," apparently written on +a paper which his father desired ardently to "tear and fling into the +faces" of presidents, members of judicature, and ministers of State. +And this desire persisted, though the names of these people, he noticed, +seldom remained the same for a whole year together. This desire (since +the thing was iniquitous) seemed quite natural to the boy, though why +the affair was iniquitous he did not know. Afterwards, with advancing +wisdom, he managed to clear the plain truth of the business from the +fantastic intrusions of the Old Man of the Sea, vampires, and ghouls, +which had lent to his father's correspondence the flavour of a gruesome +Arabian Nights tale. In the end, the growing youth attained to as +close an intimacy with the San Tome mine as the old man who wrote these +plaintive and enraged letters on the other side of the sea. He had been +made several times already to pay heavy fines for neglecting to work the +mine, he reported, besides other sums extracted from him on account +of future royalties, on the ground that a man with such a valuable +concession in his pocket could not refuse his financial assistance to +the Government of the Republic. The last of his fortune was passing away +from him against worthless receipts, he wrote, in a rage, whilst he was +being pointed out as an individual who had known how to secure enormous +advantages from the necessities of his country. And the young man in +Europe grew more and more interested in that thing which could provoke +such a tumult of words and passion. + +He thought of it every day; but he thought of it without bitterness. It +might have been an unfortunate affair for his poor dad, and the +whole story threw a queer light upon the social and political life of +Costaguana. The view he took of it was sympathetic to his father, yet +calm and reflective. His personal feelings had not been outraged, and it +is difficult to resent with proper and durable indignation the physical +or mental anguish of another organism, even if that other organism is +one's own father. By the time he was twenty Charles Gould had, in his +turn, fallen under the spell of the San Tome mine. But it was another +form of enchantment, more suitable to his youth, into whose magic +formula there entered hope, vigour, and self-confidence, instead of +weary indignation and despair. Left after he was twenty to his own +guidance (except for the severe injunction not to return to Costaguana), +he had pursued his studies in Belgium and France with the idea of +qualifying for a mining engineer. But this scientific aspect of his +labours remained vague and imperfect in his mind. Mines had acquired for +him a dramatic interest. He studied their peculiarities from a personal +point of view, too, as one would study the varied characters of men. He +visited them as one goes with curiosity to call upon remarkable persons. +He visited mines in Germany, in Spain, in Cornwall. Abandoned workings +had for him strong fascination. Their desolation appealed to him like +the sight of human misery, whose causes are varied and profound. They +might have been worthless, but also they might have been misunderstood. +His future wife was the first, and perhaps the only person to detect +this secret mood which governed the profoundly sensible, almost +voiceless attitude of this man towards the world of material things. And +at once her delight in him, lingering with half-open wings like those +birds that cannot rise easily from a flat level, found a pinnacle from +which to soar up into the skies. + +They had become acquainted in Italy, where the future Mrs. Gould was +staying with an old and pale aunt who, years before, had married a +middle-aged, impoverished Italian marquis. She now mourned that man, who +had known how to give up his life to the independence and unity of his +country, who had known how to be as enthusiastic in his generosity as +the youngest of those who fell for that very cause of which old Giorgio +Viola was a drifting relic, as a broken spar is suffered to float away +disregarded after a naval victory. The Marchesa led a still, whispering +existence, nun-like in her black robes and a white band over the +forehead, in a corner of the first floor of an ancient and ruinous +palace, whose big, empty halls downstairs sheltered under their painted +ceilings the harvests, the fowls, and even the cattle, together with the +whole family of the tenant farmer. + +The two young people had met in Lucca. After that meeting Charles Gould +visited no mines, though they went together in a carriage, once, to see +some marble quarries, where the work resembled mining in so far that +it also was the tearing of the raw material of treasure from the earth. +Charles Gould did not open his heart to her in any set speeches. He +simply went on acting and thinking in her sight. This is the true method +of sincerity. One of his frequent remarks was, "I think sometimes that +poor father takes a wrong view of that San Tome business." And they +discussed that opinion long and earnestly, as if they could influence a +mind across half the globe; but in reality they discussed it because the +sentiment of love can enter into any subject and live ardently in remote +phrases. For this natural reason these discussions were precious to Mrs. +Gould in her engaged state. Charles feared that Mr. Gould, senior, was +wasting his strength and making himself ill by his efforts to get rid +of the Concession. "I fancy that this is not the kind of handling it +requires," he mused aloud, as if to himself. And when she wondered +frankly that a man of character should devote his energies to plotting +and intrigues, Charles would remark, with a gentle concern that +understood her wonder, "You must not forget that he was born there." + +She would set her quick mind to work upon that, and then make the +inconsequent retort, which he accepted as perfectly sagacious, because, +in fact, it was so-- + +"Well, and you? You were born there, too." + +He knew his answer. + +"That's different. I've been away ten years. Dad never had such a long +spell; and it was more than thirty years ago." + +She was the first person to whom he opened his lips after receiving the +news of his father's death. + +"It has killed him!" he said. + +He had walked straight out of town with the news, straight out before +him in the noonday sun on the white road, and his feet had brought +him face to face with her in the hall of the ruined palazzo, a room +magnificent and naked, with here and there a long strip of damask, black +with damp and age, hanging down on a bare panel of the wall. It was +furnished with exactly one gilt armchair, with a broken back, and an +octagon columnar stand bearing a heavy marble vase ornamented with +sculptured masks and garlands of flowers, and cracked from top to +bottom. Charles Gould was dusty with the white dust of the road lying +on his boots, on his shoulders, on his cap with two peaks. Water dripped +from under it all over his face, and he grasped a thick oaken cudgel in +his bare right hand. + +She went very pale under the roses of her big straw hat, gloved, +swinging a clear sunshade, caught just as she was going out to meet him +at the bottom of the hill, where three poplars stand near the wall of a +vineyard. + +"It has killed him!" he repeated. "He ought to have had many years yet. +We are a long-lived family." + +She was too startled to say anything; he was contemplating with a +penetrating and motionless stare the cracked marble urn as though he +had resolved to fix its shape for ever in his memory. It was only when, +turning suddenly to her, he blurted out twice, "I've come to you--I've +come straight to you--," without being able to finish his phrase, that +the great pitifulness of that lonely and tormented death in Costaguana +came to her with the full force of its misery. He caught hold of her +hand, raised it to his lips, and at that she dropped her parasol to pat +him on the cheek, murmured "Poor boy," and began to dry her eyes under +the downward curve of her hat-brim, very small in her simple, white +frock, almost like a lost child crying in the degraded grandeur of the +noble hall, while he stood by her, again perfectly motionless in the +contemplation of the marble urn. + +Afterwards they went out for a long walk, which was silent till he +exclaimed suddenly-- + +"Yes. But if he had only grappled with it in a proper way!" + +And then they stopped. Everywhere there were long shadows lying on the +hills, on the roads, on the enclosed fields of olive trees; the shadows +of poplars, of wide chestnuts, of farm buildings, of stone walls; and +in mid-air the sound of a bell, thin and alert, was like the throbbing +pulse of the sunset glow. Her lips were slightly parted as though in +surprise that he should not be looking at her with his usual expression. +His usual expression was unconditionally approving and attentive. He was +in his talks with her the most anxious and deferential of dictators, +an attitude that pleased her immensely. It affirmed her power without +detracting from his dignity. That slight girl, with her little feet, +little hands, little face attractively overweighted by great coils of +hair; with a rather large mouth, whose mere parting seemed to breathe +upon you the fragrance of frankness and generosity, had the fastidious +soul of an experienced woman. She was, before all things and all +flatteries, careful of her pride in the object of her choice. But now he +was actually not looking at her at all; and his expression was tense and +irrational, as is natural in a man who elects to stare at nothing past a +young girl's head. + +"Well, yes. It was iniquitous. They corrupted him thoroughly, the poor +old boy. Oh! why wouldn't he let me go back to him? But now I shall know +how to grapple with this." + +After pronouncing these words with immense assurance, he glanced down at +her, and at once fell a prey to distress, incertitude, and fear. + +The only thing he wanted to know now, he said, was whether she did love +him enough--whether she would have the courage to go with him so far +away? He put these questions to her in a voice that trembled with +anxiety--for he was a determined man. + +She did. She would. And immediately the future hostess of all the +Europeans in Sulaco had the physical experience of the earth falling +away from under her. It vanished completely, even to the very sound of +the bell. When her feet touched the ground again, the bell was still +ringing in the valley; she put her hands up to her hair, breathing +quickly, and glanced up and down the stony lane. It was reassuringly +empty. Meantime, Charles, stepping with one foot into a dry and dusty +ditch, picked up the open parasol, which had bounded away from them +with a martial sound of drum taps. He handed it to her soberly, a little +crestfallen. + +They turned back, and after she had slipped her hand on his arm, the +first words he pronounced were-- + +"It's lucky that we shall be able to settle in a coast town. You've +heard its name. It is Sulaco. I am so glad poor father did get that +house. He bought a big house there years ago, in order that there should +always be a Casa Gould in the principal town of what used to be called +the Occidental Province. I lived there once, as a small boy, with my +dear mother, for a whole year, while poor father was away in the United +States on business. You shall be the new mistress of the Casa Gould." + +And later, in the inhabited corner of the Palazzo above the vineyards, +the marble hills, the pines and olives of Lucca, he also said-- + +"The name of Gould has been always highly respected in Sulaco. My uncle +Harry was chief of the State for some time, and has left a great name +amongst the first families. By this I mean the pure Creole families, who +take no part in the miserable farce of governments. Uncle Harry was no +adventurer. In Costaguana we Goulds are no adventurers. He was of the +country, and he loved it, but he remained essentially an Englishman +in his ideas. He made use of the political cry of his time. It was +Federation. But he was no politician. He simply stood up for social +order out of pure love for rational liberty and from his hate of +oppression. There was no nonsense about him. He went to work in his +own way because it seemed right, just as I feel I must lay hold of that +mine." + +In such words he talked to her because his memory was very full of the +country of his childhood, his heart of his life with that girl, and his +mind of the San Tome Concession. He added that he would have to leave +her for a few days to find an American, a man from San Francisco, who +was still somewhere in Europe. A few months before he had made his +acquaintance in an old historic German town, situated in a mining +district. The American had his womankind with him, but seemed lonely +while they were sketching all day long the old doorways and the +turreted corners of the mediaeval houses. Charles Gould had with him the +inseparable companionship of the mine. The other man was interested in +mining enterprises, knew something of Costaguana, and was no stranger to +the name of Gould. They had talked together with some intimacy which +was made possible by the difference of their ages. Charles wanted now +to find that capitalist of shrewd mind and accessible character. His +father's fortune in Costaguana, which he had supposed to be still +considerable, seemed to have melted in the rascally crucible of +revolutions. Apart from some ten thousand pounds deposited in England, +there appeared to be nothing left except the house in Sulaco, a vague +right of forest exploitation in a remote and savage district, and the +San Tome Concession, which had attended his poor father to the very +brink of the grave. + +He explained those things. It was late when they parted. She had never +before given him such a fascinating vision of herself. All the eagerness +of youth for a strange life, for great distances, for a future in which +there was an air of adventure, of combat--a subtle thought of redress +and conquest, had filled her with an intense excitement, which she +returned to the giver with a more open and exquisite display of +tenderness. + +He left her to walk down the hill, and directly he found himself alone +he became sober. That irreparable change a death makes in the course +of our daily thoughts can be felt in a vague and poignant discomfort +of mind. It hurt Charles Gould to feel that never more, by no effort of +will, would he be able to think of his father in the same way he used +to think of him when the poor man was alive. His breathing image was +no longer in his power. This consideration, closely affecting his own +identity, filled his breast with a mournful and angry desire for action. +In this his instinct was unerring. Action is consolatory. It is the +enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions. Only in the +conduct of our action can we find the sense of mastery over the Fates. +For his action, the mine was obviously the only field. It was imperative +sometimes to know how to disobey the solemn wishes of the dead. +He resolved firmly to make his disobedience as thorough (by way of +atonement) as it well could be. The mine had been the cause of an absurd +moral disaster; its working must be made a serious and moral success. +He owed it to the dead man's memory. Such were the--properly +speaking--emotions of Charles Gould. His thoughts ran upon the means +of raising a large amount of capital in San Francisco or elsewhere; and +incidentally there occurred to him also the general reflection that the +counsel of the departed must be an unsound guide. Not one of them +could be aware beforehand what enormous changes the death of any given +individual may produce in the very aspect of the world. + +The latest phase in the history of the mine Mrs. Gould knew from +personal experience. It was in essence the history of her married life. +The mantle of the Goulds' hereditary position in Sulaco had descended +amply upon her little person; but she would not allow the peculiarities +of the strange garment to weigh down the vivacity of her character, +which was the sign of no mere mechanical sprightliness, but of an +eager intelligence. It must not be supposed that Mrs. Gould's mind was +masculine. A woman with a masculine mind is not a being of +superior efficiency; she is simply a phenomenon of imperfect +differentiation--interestingly barren and without importance. Dona +Emilia's intelligence being feminine led her to achieve the conquest of +Sulaco, simply by lighting the way for her unselfishness and sympathy. +She could converse charmingly, but she was not talkative. The wisdom of +the heart having no concern with the erection or demolition of theories +any more than with the defence of prejudices, has no random words at its +command. The words it pronounces have the value of acts of integrity, +tolerance, and compassion. A woman's true tenderness, like the true +virility of man, is expressed in action of a conquering kind. The ladies +of Sulaco adored Mrs. Gould. "They still look upon me as something of a +monster," Mrs. Gould had said pleasantly to one of the three gentlemen +from San Francisco she had to entertain in her new Sulaco house just +about a year after her marriage. + +They were her first visitors from abroad, and they had come to look at +the San Tome mine. She jested most agreeably, they thought; and Charles +Gould, besides knowing thoroughly what he was about, had shown himself +a real hustler. These facts caused them to be well disposed towards his +wife. An unmistakable enthusiasm, pointed by a slight flavour of irony, +made her talk of the mine absolutely fascinating to her visitors, and +provoked them to grave and indulgent smiles in which there was a good +deal of deference. Perhaps had they known how much she was inspired by +an idealistic view of success they would have been amazed at the state +of her mind as the Spanish-American ladies had been amazed at the +tireless activity of her body. She would--in her own words--have +been for them "something of a monster." However, the Goulds were in +essentials a reticent couple, and their guests departed without the +suspicion of any other purpose but simple profit in the working of a +silver mine. Mrs. Gould had out her own carriage, with two white mules, +to drive them down to the harbour, whence the Ceres was to carry them +off into the Olympus of plutocrats. Captain Mitchell had snatched at the +occasion of leave-taking to remark to Mrs. Gould, in a low, confidential +mutter, "This marks an epoch." + +Mrs. Gould loved the patio of her Spanish house. A broad flight of stone +steps was overlooked silently from a niche in the wall by a Madonna in +blue robes with the crowned child sitting on her arm. Subdued voices +ascended in the early mornings from the paved well of the quadrangle, +with the stamping of horses and mules led out in pairs to drink at the +cistern. A tangle of slender bamboo stems drooped its narrow, blade-like +leaves over the square pool of water, and the fat coachman sat muffled +up on the edge, holding lazily the ends of halters in his hand. +Barefooted servants passed to and fro, issuing from dark, low doorways +below; two laundry girls with baskets of washed linen; the baker with +the tray of bread made for the day; Leonarda--her own camerista--bearing +high up, swung from her hand raised above her raven black head, a bunch +of starched under-skirts dazzlingly white in the slant of sunshine. Then +the old porter would hobble in, sweeping the flagstones, and the +house was ready for the day. All the lofty rooms on three sides of +the quadrangle opened into each other and into the corredor, with its +wrought-iron railings and a border of flowers, whence, like the lady of +the mediaeval castle, she could witness from above all the departures +and arrivals of the Casa, to which the sonorous arched gateway lent an +air of stately importance. + +She had watched her carriage roll away with the three guests from the +north. She smiled. Their three arms went up simultaneously to their +three hats. Captain Mitchell, the fourth, in attendance, had already +begun a pompous discourse. Then she lingered. She lingered, approaching +her face to the clusters of flowers here and there as if to give time +to her thoughts to catch up with her slow footsteps along the straight +vista of the corredor. + +A fringed Indian hammock from Aroa, gay with coloured featherwork, had +been swung judiciously in a corner that caught the early sun; for the +mornings are cool in Sulaco. The cluster of _flor de noche buena_ blazed +in great masses before the open glass doors of the reception rooms. A +big green parrot, brilliant like an emerald in a cage that flashed like +gold, screamed out ferociously, "_Viva Costaguana!_" then called twice +mellifluously, "Leonarda! Leonarda!" in imitation of Mrs. Gould's voice, +and suddenly took refuge in immobility and silence. Mrs. Gould reached +the end of the gallery and put her head through the door of her +husband's room. + +Charles Gould, with one foot on a low wooden stool, was already +strapping his spurs. He wanted to hurry back to the mine. Mrs. Gould, +without coming in, glanced about the room. One tall, broad bookcase, +with glass doors, was full of books; but in the other, without shelves, +and lined with red baize, were arranged firearms: Winchester carbines, +revolvers, a couple of shot-guns, and even two pairs of double-barrelled +holster pistols. Between them, by itself, upon a strip of scarlet +velvet, hung an old cavalry sabre, once the property of Don Enrique +Gould, the hero of the Occidental Province, presented by Don Jose +Avellanos, the hereditary friend of the family. + +Otherwise, the plastered white walls were completely bare, except for +a water-colour sketch of the San Tome mountain--the work of Dona Emilia +herself. In the middle of the red-tiled floor stood two long tables +littered with plans and papers, a few chairs, and a glass show-case +containing specimens of ore from the mine. Mrs. Gould, looking at all +these things in turn, wondered aloud why the talk of these wealthy and +enterprising men discussing the prospects, the working, and the safety +of the mine rendered her so impatient and uneasy, whereas she could talk +of the mine by the hour with her husband with unwearied interest and +satisfaction. And dropping her eyelids expressively, she added-- + +"What do you feel about it, Charley?" + +Then, surprised at her husband's silence, she raised her eyes, opened +wide, as pretty as pale flowers. He had done with the spurs, and, +twisting his moustache with both hands, horizontally, he contemplated +her from the height of his long legs with a visible appreciation of her +appearance. The consciousness of being thus contemplated pleased Mrs. +Gould. + +"They are considerable men," he said. + +"I know. But have you listened to their conversation? They don't seem to +have understood anything they have seen here." + +"They have seen the mine. They have understood that to some purpose," +Charles Gould interjected, in defence of the visitors; and then his +wife mentioned the name of the most considerable of the three. He was +considerable in finance and in industry. His name was familiar to many +millions of people. He was so considerable that he would never have +travelled so far away from the centre of his activity if the doctors had +not insisted, with veiled menaces, on his taking a long holiday. + +"Mr. Holroyd's sense of religion," Mrs. Gould pursued, "was shocked +and disgusted at the tawdriness of the dressed-up saints in the +cathedral--the worship, he called it, of wood and tinsel. But it seemed +to me that he looked upon his own God as a sort of influential partner, +who gets his share of profits in the endowment of churches. That's a +sort of idolatry. He told me he endowed churches every year, Charley." + +"No end of them," said Mr. Gould, marvelling inwardly at the mobility +of her physiognomy. "All over the country. He's famous for that sort of +munificence." "Oh, he didn't boast," Mrs. Gould declared, scrupulously. +"I believe he's really a good man, but so stupid! A poor Chulo who +offers a little silver arm or leg to thank his god for a cure is as +rational and more touching." + +"He's at the head of immense silver and iron interests," Charles Gould +observed. + +"Ah, yes! The religion of silver and iron. He's a very civil man, though +he looked awfully solemn when he first saw the Madonna on the staircase, +who's only wood and paint; but he said nothing to me. My dear Charley, +I heard those men talk among themselves. Can it be that they really wish +to become, for an immense consideration, drawers of water and hewers of +wood to all the countries and nations of the earth?" + +"A man must work to some end," Charles Gould said, vaguely. + +Mrs. Gould, frowning, surveyed him from head to foot. With his riding +breeches, leather leggings (an article of apparel never before seen in +Costaguana), a Norfolk coat of grey flannel, and those great flaming +moustaches, he suggested an officer of cavalry turned gentleman farmer. +This combination was gratifying to Mrs. Gould's tastes. "How thin the +poor boy is!" she thought. "He overworks himself." But there was no +denying that his fine-drawn, keen red face, and his whole, long-limbed, +lank person had an air of breeding and distinction. And Mrs. Gould +relented. + +"I only wondered what you felt," she murmured, gently. + +During the last few days, as it happened, Charles Gould had been kept +too busy thinking twice before he spoke to have paid much attention to +the state of his feelings. But theirs was a successful match, and he had +no difficulty in finding his answer. + +"The best of my feelings are in your keeping, my dear," he said, +lightly; and there was so much truth in that obscure phrase that he +experienced towards her at the moment a great increase of gratitude and +tenderness. + +Mrs. Gould, however, did not seem to find this answer in the least +obscure. She brightened up delicately; already he had changed his tone. + +"But there are facts. The worth of the mine--as a mine--is beyond doubt. +It shall make us very wealthy. The mere working of it is a matter of +technical knowledge, which I have--which ten thousand other men in the +world have. But its safety, its continued existence as an enterprise, +giving a return to men--to strangers, comparative strangers--who invest +money in it, is left altogether in my hands. I have inspired confidence +in a man of wealth and position. You seem to think this perfectly +natural--do you? Well, I don't know. I don't know why I have; but it is +a fact. This fact makes everything possible, because without it I would +never have thought of disregarding my father's wishes. I would never +have disposed of the Concession as a speculator disposes of a valuable +right to a company--for cash and shares, to grow rich eventually if +possible, but at any rate to put some money at once in his pocket. No. +Even if it had been feasible--which I doubt--I would not have done so. +Poor father did not understand. He was afraid I would hang on to the +ruinous thing, waiting for just some such chance, and waste my life +miserably. That was the true sense of his prohibition, which we have +deliberately set aside." + +They were walking up and down the corredor. Her head just reached to his +shoulder. His arm, extended downwards, was about her waist. His spurs +jingled slightly. + +"He had not seen me for ten years. He did not know me. He parted from me +for my sake, and he would never let me come back. He was always talking +in his letters of leaving Costaguana, of abandoning everything and +making his escape. But he was too valuable a prey. They would have +thrown him into one of their prisons at the first suspicion." + +His spurred feet clinked slowly. He was bending over his wife as they +walked. The big parrot, turning its head askew, followed their pacing +figures with a round, unblinking eye. + +"He was a lonely man. Ever since I was ten years old he used to talk to +me as if I had been grown up. When I was in Europe he wrote to me every +month. Ten, twelve pages every month of my life for ten years. And, +after all, he did not know me! Just think of it--ten whole years away; +the years I was growing up into a man. He could not know me. Do you +think he could?" + +Mrs. Gould shook her head negatively; which was just what her husband +had expected from the strength of the argument. But she shook her +head negatively only because she thought that no one could know her +Charles--really know him for what he was but herself. The thing was +obvious. It could be felt. It required no argument. And poor Mr. Gould, +senior, who had died too soon to ever hear of their engagement, remained +too shadowy a figure for her to be credited with knowledge of any sort +whatever. + +"No, he did not understand. In my view this mine could never have been +a thing to sell. Never! After all his misery I simply could not have +touched it for money alone," Charles Gould pursued: and she pressed her +head to his shoulder approvingly. + +These two young people remembered the life which had ended wretchedly +just when their own lives had come together in that splendour of hopeful +love, which to the most sensible minds appears like a triumph of good +over all the evils of the earth. A vague idea of rehabilitation had +entered the plan of their life. That it was so vague as to elude the +support of argument made it only the stronger. It had presented itself +to them at the instant when the woman's instinct of devotion and the +man's instinct of activity receive from the strongest of illusions their +most powerful impulse. The very prohibition imposed the necessity of +success. It was as if they had been morally bound to make good their +vigorous view of life against the unnatural error of weariness and +despair. If the idea of wealth was present to them it was only in so +far as it was bound with that other success. Mrs. Gould, an orphan from +early childhood and without fortune, brought up in an atmosphere of +intellectual interests, had never considered the aspects of great +wealth. They were too remote, and she had not learned that they were +desirable. On the other hand, she had not known anything of absolute +want. Even the very poverty of her aunt, the Marchesa, had nothing +intolerable to a refined mind; it seemed in accord with a great grief: +it had the austerity of a sacrifice offered to a noble ideal. Thus even +the most legitimate touch of materialism was wanting in Mrs. Gould's +character. The dead man of whom she thought with tenderness (because +he was Charley's father) and with some impatience (because he had been +weak), must be put completely in the wrong. Nothing else would do +to keep their prosperity without a stain on its only real, on its +immaterial side! + +Charles Gould, on his part, had been obliged to keep the idea of wealth +well to the fore; but he brought it forward as a means, not as an end. +Unless the mine was good business it could not be touched. He had to +insist on that aspect of the enterprise. It was his lever to move +men who had capital. And Charles Gould believed in the mine. He +knew everything that could be known of it. His faith in the mine was +contagious, though it was not served by a great eloquence; but business +men are frequently as sanguine and imaginative as lovers. They are +affected by a personality much oftener than people would suppose; and +Charles Gould, in his unshaken assurance, was absolutely convincing. +Besides, it was a matter of common knowledge to the men to whom he +addressed himself that mining in Costaguana was a game that could be +made considerably more than worth the candle. The men of affairs knew that +very well. The real difficulty in touching it was elsewhere. Against +that there was an implication of calm and implacable resolution in +Charles Gould's very voice. Men of affairs venture sometimes on acts +that the common judgment of the world would pronounce absurd; they make +their decisions on apparently impulsive and human grounds. "Very well," +had said the considerable personage to whom Charles Gould on his way +out through San Francisco had lucidly exposed his point of view. "Let us +suppose that the mining affairs of Sulaco are taken in hand. There would +then be in it: first, the house of Holroyd, which is all right; then, +Mr. Charles Gould, a citizen of Costaguana, who is also all right; and, +lastly, the Government of the Republic. So far this resembles the first +start of the Atacama nitrate fields, where there was a financing house, +a gentleman of the name of Edwards, and--a Government; or, rather, two +Governments--two South American Governments. And you know what came of +it. War came of it; devastating and prolonged war came of it, Mr. Gould. +However, here we possess the advantage of having only one South +American Government hanging around for plunder out of the deal. It is an +advantage; but then there are degrees of badness, and that Government is +the Costaguana Government." + +Thus spoke the considerable personage, the millionaire endower of +churches on a scale befitting the greatness of his native land--the same +to whom the doctors used the language of horrid and veiled menaces. He +was a big-limbed, deliberate man, whose quiet burliness lent to an ample +silk-faced frock-coat a superfine dignity. His hair was iron grey, his +eyebrows were still black, and his massive profile was the profile of +a Caesar's head on an old Roman coin. But his parentage was German and +Scotch and English, with remote strains of Danish and French blood, +giving him the temperament of a Puritan and an insatiable imagination +of conquest. He was completely unbending to his visitor, because of the +warm introduction the visitor had brought from Europe, and because of +an irrational liking for earnestness and determination wherever met, to +whatever end directed. + +"The Costaguana Government shall play its hand for all it's worth--and +don't you forget it, Mr. Gould. Now, what is Costaguana? It is the +bottomless pit of 10 per cent. loans and other fool investments. +European capital has been flung into it with both hands for years. Not +ours, though. We in this country know just about enough to keep indoors +when it rains. We can sit and watch. Of course, some day we shall step +in. We are bound to. But there's no hurry. Time itself has got to wait +on the greatest country in the whole of God's Universe. We shall be +giving the word for everything: industry, trade, law, journalism, art, +politics, and religion, from Cape Horn clear over to Smith's Sound, +and beyond, too, if anything worth taking hold of turns up at the North +Pole. And then we shall have the leisure to take in hand the outlying +islands and continents of the earth. We shall run the world's business +whether the world likes it or not. The world can't help it--and neither +can we, I guess." + +By this he meant to express his faith in destiny in words suitable to +his intelligence, which was unskilled in the presentation of general +ideas. His intelligence was nourished on facts; and Charles Gould, whose +imagination had been permanently affected by the one great fact of a +silver mine, had no objection to this theory of the world's future. +If it had seemed distasteful for a moment it was because the sudden +statement of such vast eventualities dwarfed almost to nothingness the +actual matter in hand. He and his plans and all the mineral wealth of +the Occidental Province appeared suddenly robbed of every vestige of +magnitude. The sensation was disagreeable; but Charles Gould was not +dull. Already he felt that he was producing a favourable impression; the +consciousness of that flattering fact helped him to a vague smile, which +his big interlocutor took for a smile of discreet and admiring assent. +He smiled quietly, too; and immediately Charles Gould, with that mental +agility mankind will display in defence of a cherished hope, reflected +that the very apparent insignificance of his aim would help him to +success. His personality and his mine would be taken up because it was +a matter of no great consequence, one way or another, to a man who +referred his action to such a prodigious destiny. And Charles Gould was +not humiliated by this consideration, because the thing remained as +big as ever for him. Nobody else's vast conceptions of destiny could +diminish the aspect of his desire for the redemption of the San Tome +mine. In comparison to the correctness of his aim, definite in space and +absolutely attainable within a limited time, the other man appeared for +an instant as a dreamy idealist of no importance. + +The great man, massive and benignant, had been looking at him +thoughtfully; when he broke the short silence it was to remark that +concessions flew about thick in the air of Costaguana. Any simple soul +that just yearned to be taken in could bring down a concession at the +first shot. + +"Our consuls get their mouths stopped with them," he continued, with a +twinkle of genial scorn in his eyes. But in a moment he became grave. +"A conscientious, upright man, that cares nothing for boodle, and keeps +clear of their intrigues, conspiracies, and factions, soon gets his +passports. See that, Mr. Gould? Persona non grata. That's the reason our +Government is never properly informed. On the other hand, Europe must be +kept out of this continent, and for proper interference on our part the +time is not yet ripe, I dare say. But we here--we are not this country's +Government, neither are we simple souls. Your affair is all right. The +main question for us is whether the second partner, and that's you, is +the right sort to hold his own against the third and unwelcome partner, +which is one or another of the high and mighty robber gangs that run the +Costaguana Government. What do you think, Mr. Gould, eh?" + +He bent forward to look steadily into the unflinching eyes of Charles +Gould, who, remembering the large box full of his father's letters, put +the accumulated scorn and bitterness of many years into the tone of his +answer-- + +"As far as the knowledge of these men and their methods and their +politics is concerned, I can answer for myself. I have been fed on +that sort of knowledge since I was a boy. I am not likely to fall into +mistakes from excess of optimism." + +"Not likely, eh? That's all right. Tact and a stiff upper lip is what +you'll want; and you could bluff a little on the strength of your +backing. Not too much, though. We will go with you as long as the thing +runs straight. But we won't be drawn into any large trouble. This is the +experiment which I am willing to make. There is some risk, and we will +take it; but if you can't keep up your end, we will stand our loss, of +course, and then--we'll let the thing go. This mine can wait; it has +been shut up before, as you know. You must understand that under no +circumstances will we consent to throw good money after bad." + +Thus the great personage had spoken then, in his own private office, in +a great city where other men (very considerable in the eyes of a vain +populace) waited with alacrity upon a wave of his hand. And rather more +than a year later, during his unexpected appearance in Sulaco, he had +emphasized his uncompromising attitude with a freedom of sincerity +permitted to his wealth and influence. He did this with the less +reserve, perhaps, because the inspection of what had been done, and more +still the way in which successive steps had been taken, had impressed +him with the conviction that Charles Gould was perfectly capable of +keeping up his end. + +"This young fellow," he thought to himself, "may yet become a power in +the land." + +This thought flattered him, for hitherto the only account of this young +man he could give to his intimates was-- + +"My brother-in-law met him in one of these one-horse old German towns, +near some mines, and sent him on to me with a letter. He's one of the +Costaguana Goulds, pure-bred Englishmen, but all born in the country. +His uncle went into politics, was the last Provincial President of +Sulaco, and got shot after a battle. His father was a prominent business +man in Sta. Marta, tried to keep clear of their politics, and died +ruined after a lot of revolutions. And that's your Costaguana in a +nutshell." + +Of course, he was too great a man to be questioned as to his motives, +even by his intimates. The outside world was at liberty to wonder +respectfully at the hidden meaning of his actions. He was so great a man +that his lavish patronage of the "purer forms of Christianity" (which in +its naive form of church-building amused Mrs. Gould) was looked upon by +his fellow-citizens as the manifestation of a pious and humble spirit. +But in his own circles of the financial world the taking up of such a +thing as the San Tome mine was regarded with respect, indeed, but rather +as a subject for discreet jocularity. It was a great man's caprice. In +the great Holroyd building (an enormous pile of iron, glass, and blocks +of stone at the corner of two streets, cobwebbed aloft by the radiation +of telegraph wires) the heads of principal departments exchanged +humorous glances, which meant that they were not let into the secrets +of the San Tome business. The Costaguana mail (it was never large--one +fairly heavy envelope) was taken unopened straight into the great man's +room, and no instructions dealing with it had ever been issued thence. +The office whispered that he answered personally--and not by dictation +either, but actually writing in his own hand, with pen and ink, and, it +was to be supposed, taking a copy in his own private press copy-book, +inaccessible to profane eyes. Some scornful young men, insignificant +pieces of minor machinery in that eleven-storey-high workshop of great +affairs, expressed frankly their private opinion that the great chief +had done at last something silly, and was ashamed of his folly; others, +elderly and insignificant, but full of romantic reverence for the +business that had devoured their best years, used to mutter darkly and +knowingly that this was a portentous sign; that the Holroyd connection +meant by-and-by to get hold of the whole Republic of Costaguana, lock, +stock, and barrel. But, in fact, the hobby theory was the right one. It +interested the great man to attend personally to the San Tome mine; it +interested him so much that he allowed this hobby to give a direction to +the first complete holiday he had taken for quite a startling number +of years. He was not running a great enterprise there; no mere railway +board or industrial corporation. He was running a man! A success would +have pleased him very much on refreshingly novel grounds; but, on the +other side of the same feeling, it was incumbent upon him to cast it +off utterly at the first sign of failure. A man may be thrown off. The +papers had unfortunately trumpeted all over the land his journey to +Costaguana. If he was pleased at the way Charles Gould was going on, he +infused an added grimness into his assurances of support. Even at the +very last interview, half an hour or so before he rolled out of the +patio, hat in hand, behind Mrs. Gould's white mules, he had said in +Charles's room-- + +"You go ahead in your own way, and I shall know how to help you as long +as you hold your own. But you may rest assured that in a given case we +shall know how to drop you in time." + +To this Charles Gould's only answer had been: "You may begin sending out +the machinery as soon as you like." + +And the great man had liked this imperturbable assurance. The secret +of it was that to Charles Gould's mind these uncompromising terms were +agreeable. Like this the mine preserved its identity, with which he had +endowed it as a boy; and it remained dependent on himself alone. It was +a serious affair, and he, too, took it grimly. + +"Of course," he said to his wife, alluding to this last conversation +with the departed guest, while they walked slowly up and down the +corredor, followed by the irritated eye of the parrot--"of course, a +man of that sort can take up a thing or drop it when he likes. He will +suffer from no sense of defeat. He may have to give in, or he may have +to die to-morrow, but the great silver and iron interests will survive, +and some day will get hold of Costaguana along with the rest of the +world." + +They had stopped near the cage. The parrot, catching the sound of a word +belonging to his vocabulary, was moved to interfere. Parrots are very +human. + +"Viva Costaguana!" he shrieked, with intense self-assertion, and, +instantly ruffling up his feathers, assumed an air of puffed-up +somnolence behind the glittering wires. + +"And do you believe that, Charley?" Mrs. Gould asked. "This seems to me +most awful materialism, and--" + +"My dear, it's nothing to me," interrupted her husband, in a reasonable +tone. "I make use of what I see. What's it to me whether his talk is the +voice of destiny or simply a bit of clap-trap eloquence? There's a good +deal of eloquence of one sort or another produced in both Americas. The +air of the New World seems favourable to the art of declamation. Have +you forgotten how dear Avellanos can hold forth for hours here--?" + +"Oh, but that's different," protested Mrs. Gould, almost shocked. The +allusion was not to the point. Don Jose was a dear good man, who talked +very well, and was enthusiastic about the greatness of the San Tome +mine. "How can you compare them, Charles?" she exclaimed, reproachfully. +"He has suffered--and yet he hopes." + +The working competence of men--which she never questioned--was very +surprising to Mrs. Gould, because upon so many obvious issues they +showed themselves strangely muddle-headed. + +Charles Gould, with a careworn calmness which secured for him at once +his wife's anxious sympathy, assured her that he was not comparing. He +was an American himself, after all, and perhaps he could understand both +kinds of eloquence--"if it were worth while to try," he added, grimly. +But he had breathed the air of England longer than any of his people had +done for three generations, and really he begged to be excused. His +poor father could be eloquent, too. And he asked his wife whether she +remembered a passage in one of his father's last letters where Mr. +Gould had expressed the conviction that "God looked wrathfully at these +countries, or else He would let some ray of hope fall through a rift in +the appalling darkness of intrigue, bloodshed, and crime that hung over +the Queen of Continents." + +Mrs. Gould had not forgotten. "You read it to me, Charley," she +murmured. "It was a striking pronouncement. How deeply your father must +have felt its terrible sadness!" + +"He did not like to be robbed. It exasperated him," said Charles Gould. +"But the image will serve well enough. What is wanted here is law, good +faith, order, security. Any one can declaim about these things, but I +pin my faith to material interests. Only let the material interests once +get a firm footing, and they are bound to impose the conditions on +which alone they can continue to exist. That's how your money-making is +justified here in the face of lawlessness and disorder. It is justified +because the security which it demands must be shared with an oppressed +people. A better justice will come afterwards. That's your ray of hope." +His arm pressed her slight form closer to his side for a moment. "And +who knows whether in that sense even the San Tome mine may not become +that little rift in the darkness which poor father despaired of ever +seeing?" + +She glanced up at him with admiration. He was competent; he had given a +vast shape to the vagueness of her unselfish ambitions. + +"Charley," she said, "you are splendidly disobedient." + +He left her suddenly in the corredor to go and get his hat, a soft, grey +sombrero, an article of national costume which combined unexpectedly +well with his English get-up. He came back, a riding-whip under his arm, +buttoning up a dogskin glove; his face reflected the resolute nature of +his thoughts. His wife had waited for him at the head of the stairs, and +before he gave her the parting kiss he finished the conversation-- + +"What should be perfectly clear to us," he said, "is the fact that there +is no going back. Where could we begin life afresh? We are in now for +all that there is in us." + +He bent over her upturned face very tenderly and a little remorsefully. +Charles Gould was competent because he had no illusions. The Gould +Concession had to fight for life with such weapons as could be found at +once in the mire of a corruption that was so universal as almost to lose +its significance. He was prepared to stoop for his weapons. For a moment +he felt as if the silver mine, which had killed his father, had decoyed +him further than he meant to go; and with the roundabout logic of +emotions, he felt that the worthiness of his life was bound up with +success. There was no going back. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +Mrs. Gould was too intelligently sympathetic not to share that feeling. +It made life exciting, and she was too much of a woman not to like +excitement. But it frightened her, too, a little; and when Don Jose +Avellanos, rocking in the American chair, would go so far as to say, +"Even, my dear Carlos, if you had failed; even if some untoward event +were yet to destroy your work--which God forbid!--you would have +deserved well of your country," Mrs. Gould would look up from the +tea-table profoundly at her unmoved husband stirring the spoon in the +cup as though he had not heard a word. + +Not that Don Jose anticipated anything of the sort. He could not praise +enough dear Carlos's tact and courage. His English, rock-like quality +of character was his best safeguard, Don Jose affirmed; and, turning to +Mrs. Gould, "As to you, Emilia, my soul"--he would address her with the +familiarity of his age and old friendship--"you are as true a patriot as +though you had been born in our midst." + +This might have been less or more than the truth. Mrs. Gould, +accompanying her husband all over the province in the search for labour, +had seen the land with a deeper glance than a trueborn Costaguanera +could have done. In her travel-worn riding habit, her face powdered +white like a plaster cast, with a further protection of a small silk +mask during the heat of the day, she rode on a well-shaped, light-footed +pony in the centre of a little cavalcade. Two mozos de campo, +picturesque in great hats, with spurred bare heels, in white embroidered +calzoneras, leather jackets and striped ponchos, rode ahead with +carbines across their shoulders, swaying in unison to the pace of the +horses. A tropilla of pack mules brought up the rear in charge of a thin +brown muleteer, sitting his long-eared beast very near the tail, legs +thrust far forward, the wide brim of his hat set far back, making a sort +of halo for his head. An old Costaguana officer, a retired senior major +of humble origin, but patronized by the first families on account of +his Blanco opinions, had been recommended by Don Jose for commissary and +organizer of that expedition. The points of his grey moustache hung far +below his chin, and, riding on Mrs. Gould's left hand, he looked about +with kindly eyes, pointing out the features of the country, telling the +names of the little pueblos and of the estates, of the smooth-walled +haciendas like long fortresses crowning the knolls above the level of +the Sulaco Valley. It unrolled itself, with green young crops, plains, +woodland, and gleams of water, park-like, from the blue vapour of the +distant sierra to an immense quivering horizon of grass and sky, where +big white clouds seemed to fall slowly into the darkness of their own +shadows. + +Men ploughed with wooden ploughs and yoked oxen, small on a boundless +expanse, as if attacking immensity itself. The mounted figures of +vaqueros galloped in the distance, and the great herds fed with all +their horned heads one way, in one single wavering line as far as eye +could reach across the broad potreros. A spreading cotton-wool tree +shaded a thatched ranche by the road; the trudging files of burdened +Indians taking off their hats, would lift sad, mute eyes to the +cavalcade raising the dust of the crumbling camino real made by the +hands of their enslaved forefathers. And Mrs. Gould, with each day's +journey, seemed to come nearer to the soul of the land in the tremendous +disclosure of this interior unaffected by the slight European veneer +of the coast towns, a great land of plain and mountain and people, +suffering and mute, waiting for the future in a pathetic immobility of +patience. + +She knew its sights and its hospitality, dispensed with a sort of +slumbrous dignity in those great houses presenting long, blind walls and +heavy portals to the wind-swept pastures. She was given the head of the +tables, where masters and dependants sat in a simple and patriarchal +state. The ladies of the house would talk softly in the moonlight under +the orange trees of the courtyards, impressing upon her the sweetness +of their voices and the something mysterious in the quietude of their +lives. In the morning the gentlemen, well mounted in braided sombreros +and embroidered riding suits, with much silver on the trappings of +their horses, would ride forth to escort the departing guests before +committing them, with grave good-byes, to the care of God at the +boundary pillars of their estates. In all these households she +could hear stories of political outrage; friends, relatives, ruined, +imprisoned, killed in the battles of senseless civil wars, barbarously +executed in ferocious proscriptions, as though the government of the +country had been a struggle of lust between bands of absurd devils let +loose upon the land with sabres and uniforms and grandiloquent phrases. +And on all the lips she found a weary desire for peace, the dread of +officialdom with its nightmarish parody of administration without law, +without security, and without justice. + +She bore a whole two months of wandering very well; she had that power +of resistance to fatigue which one discovers here and there in some +quite frail-looking women with surprise--like a state of possession by +a remarkably stubborn spirit. Don Pepe--the old Costaguana major--after +much display of solicitude for the delicate lady, had ended by +conferring upon her the name of the "Never-tired Senora." Mrs. Gould +was indeed becoming a Costaguanera. Having acquired in Southern Europe a +knowledge of true peasantry, she was able to appreciate the great worth +of the people. She saw the man under the silent, sad-eyed beast of +burden. She saw them on the road carrying loads, lonely figures upon +the plain, toiling under great straw hats, with their white clothing +flapping about their limbs in the wind; she remembered the villages by +some group of Indian women at the fountain impressed upon her memory, +by the face of some young Indian girl with a melancholy and sensual +profile, raising an earthenware vessel of cool water at the door of a +dark hut with a wooden porch cumbered with great brown jars. The solid +wooden wheels of an ox-cart, halted with its shafts in the dust, showed +the strokes of the axe; and a party of charcoal carriers, with each +man's load resting above his head on the top of the low mud wall, slept +stretched in a row within the strip of shade. + +The heavy stonework of bridges and churches left by the conquerors +proclaimed the disregard of human labour, the tribute-labour of vanished +nations. The power of king and church was gone, but at the sight of +some heavy ruinous pile overtopping from a knoll the low mud walls of a +village, Don Pepe would interrupt the tale of his campaigns to exclaim-- + +"Poor Costaguana! Before, it was everything for the Padres, nothing for +the people; and now it is everything for those great politicos in Sta. +Marta, for negroes and thieves." + +Charles talked with the alcaldes, with the fiscales, with the +principal people in towns, and with the caballeros on the estates. The +commandantes of the districts offered him escorts--for he could show an +authorization from the Sulaco political chief of the day. How much the +document had cost him in gold twenty-dollar pieces was a secret between +himself, a great man in the United States (who condescended to answer +the Sulaco mail with his own hand), and a great man of another sort, +with a dark olive complexion and shifty eyes, inhabiting then the Palace +of the Intendencia in Sulaco, and who piqued himself on his culture and +Europeanism generally in a rather French style because he had lived in +Europe for some years--in exile, he said. However, it was pretty well +known that just before this exile he had incautiously gambled away all +the cash in the Custom House of a small port where a friend in power had +procured for him the post of subcollector. That youthful indiscretion +had, amongst other inconveniences, obliged him to earn his living for a +time as a cafe waiter in Madrid; but his talents must have been great, +after all, since they had enabled him to retrieve his political +fortunes so splendidly. Charles Gould, exposing his business with an +imperturbable steadiness, called him Excellency. + +The provincial Excellency assumed a weary superiority, tilting his chair +far back near an open window in the true Costaguana manner. The military +band happened to be braying operatic selections on the plaza just then, +and twice he raised his hand imperatively for silence in order to listen +to a favourite passage. + +"Exquisite, delicious!" he murmured; while Charles Gould waited, +standing by with inscrutable patience. "Lucia, Lucia di Lammermoor! I am +passionate for music. It transports me. Ha! the divine--ha!--Mozart. Si! +divine . . . What is it you were saying?" + +Of course, rumours had reached him already of the newcomer's intentions. +Besides, he had received an official warning from Sta. Marta. His manner +was intended simply to conceal his curiosity and impress his visitor. +But after he had locked up something valuable in the drawer of a large +writing-desk in a distant part of the room, he became very affable, and +walked back to his chair smartly. + +"If you intend to build villages and assemble a population near the +mine, you shall require a decree of the Minister of the Interior for +that," he suggested in a business-like manner. + +"I have already sent a memorial," said Charles Gould, steadily, "and I +reckon now confidently upon your Excellency's favourable conclusions." + +The Excellency was a man of many moods. With the receipt of the money +a great mellowness had descended upon his simple soul. Unexpectedly he +fetched a deep sigh. + +"Ah, Don Carlos! What we want is advanced men like you in the province. +The lethargy--the lethargy of these aristocrats! The want of public +spirit! The absence of all enterprise! I, with my profound studies in +Europe, you understand--" + +With one hand thrust into his swelling bosom, he rose and fell on +his toes, and for ten minutes, almost without drawing breath, went on +hurling himself intellectually to the assault of Charles Gould's polite +silence; and when, stopping abruptly, he fell back into his chair, +it was as though he had been beaten off from a fortress. To save his +dignity he hastened to dismiss this silent man with a solemn +inclination of the head and the words, pronounced with moody, fatigued +condescension-- + +"You may depend upon my enlightened goodwill as long as your conduct as +a good citizen deserves it." + +He took up a paper fan and began to cool himself with a consequential +air, while Charles Gould bowed and withdrew. Then he dropped the fan +at once, and stared with an appearance of wonder and perplexity at the +closed door for quite a long time. At last he shrugged his shoulders as +if to assure himself of his disdain. Cold, dull. No intellectuality. Red +hair. A true Englishman. He despised him. + +His face darkened. What meant this unimpressed and frigid behaviour? He +was the first of the successive politicians sent out from the capital +to rule the Occidental Province whom the manner of Charles Gould in +official intercourse was to strike as offensively independent. + +Charles Gould assumed that if the appearance of listening to deplorable +balderdash must form part of the price he had to pay for being left +unmolested, the obligation of uttering balderdash personally was by +no means included in the bargain. He drew the line there. To these +provincial autocrats, before whom the peaceable population of +all classes had been accustomed to tremble, the reserve of that +English-looking engineer caused an uneasiness which swung to and fro +between cringing and truculence. Gradually all of them discovered that, +no matter what party was in power, that man remained in most effective +touch with the higher authorities in Sta. Marta. + +This was a fact, and it accounted perfectly for the Goulds being by +no means so wealthy as the engineer-in-chief on the new railway could +legitimately suppose. Following the advice of Don Jose Avellanos, +who was a man of good counsel (though rendered timid by his horrible +experiences of Guzman Bento's time), Charles Gould had kept clear of the +capital; but in the current gossip of the foreign residents there he +was known (with a good deal of seriousness underlying the irony) by the +nickname of "King of Sulaco." An advocate of the Costaguana Bar, a +man of reputed ability and good character, member of the distinguished +Moraga family possessing extensive estates in the Sulaco Valley, was +pointed out to strangers, with a shade of mystery and respect, as +the agent of the San Tome mine--"political, you know." He was tall, +black-whiskered, and discreet. It was known that he had easy access to +ministers, and that the numerous Costaguana generals were always anxious +to dine at his house. Presidents granted him audience with facility. He +corresponded actively with his maternal uncle, Don Jose Avellanos; +but his letters--unless those expressing formally his dutiful +affection--were seldom entrusted to the Costaguana Post Office. There +the envelopes are opened, indiscriminately, with the frankness of a +brazen and childish impudence characteristic of some Spanish-American +Governments. But it must be noted that at about the time of the +re-opening of the San Tome mine the muleteer who had been employed by +Charles Gould in his preliminary travels on the Campo added his small +train of animals to the thin stream of traffic carried over the mountain +passes between the Sta. Marta upland and the Valley of Sulaco. There +are no travellers by that arduous and unsafe route unless under very +exceptional circumstances, and the state of inland trade did not visibly +require additional transport facilities; but the man seemed to find his +account in it. A few packages were always found for him whenever he +took the road. Very brown and wooden, in goatskin breeches with the +hair outside, he sat near the tail of his own smart mule, his great hat +turned against the sun, an expression of blissful vacancy on his long +face, humming day after day a love-song in a plaintive key, or, without +a change of expression, letting out a yell at his small tropilla in +front. A round little guitar hung high up on his back; and there was a +place scooped out artistically in the wood of one of his pack-saddles +where a tightly rolled piece of paper could be slipped in, the wooden +plug replaced, and the coarse canvas nailed on again. When in Sulaco +it was his practice to smoke and doze all day long (as though he had +no care in the world) on a stone bench outside the doorway of the Casa +Gould and facing the windows of the Avellanos house. Years and years +ago his mother had been chief laundry-woman in that family--very +accomplished in the matter of clear-starching. He himself had been +born on one of their haciendas. His name was Bonifacio, and Don Jose, +crossing the street about five o'clock to call on Dona Emilia, always +acknowledged his humble salute by some movement of hand or head. The +porters of both houses conversed lazily with him in tones of grave +intimacy. His evenings he devoted to gambling and to calls in a spirit +of generous festivity upon the peyne d'oro girls in the more remote +side-streets of the town. But he, too, was a discreet man. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +Those of us whom business or curiosity took to Sulaco in these years +before the first advent of the railway can remember the steadying effect +of the San Tome mine upon the life of that remote province. The outward +appearances had not changed then as they have changed since, as I am +told, with cable cars running along the streets of the Constitution, and +carriage roads far into the country, to Rincon and other villages, where +the foreign merchants and the Ricos generally have their modern villas, +and a vast railway goods yard by the harbour, which has a quay-side, a +long range of warehouses, and quite serious, organized labour troubles +of its own. + +Nobody had ever heard of labour troubles then. The Cargadores of the +port formed, indeed, an unruly brotherhood of all sorts of scum, with +a patron saint of their own. They went on strike regularly (every +bull-fight day), a form of trouble that even Nostromo at the height of +his prestige could never cope with efficiently; but the morning after +each fiesta, before the Indian market-women had opened their mat +parasols on the plaza, when the snows of Higuerota gleamed pale over +the town on a yet black sky, the appearance of a phantom-like horseman +mounted on a silver-grey mare solved the problem of labour without fail. +His steed paced the lanes of the slums and the weed-grown enclosures +within the old ramparts, between the black, lightless cluster of huts, +like cow-byres, like dog-kennels. The horseman hammered with the butt of +a heavy revolver at the doors of low pulperias, of obscene lean-to sheds +sloping against the tumble-down piece of a noble wall, at the wooden +sides of dwellings so flimsy that the sound of snores and sleepy mutters +within could be heard in the pauses of the thundering clatter of his +blows. He called out men's names menacingly from the saddle, once, +twice. The drowsy answers--grumpy, conciliating, savage, jocular, or +deprecating--came out into the silent darkness in which the horseman sat +still, and presently a dark figure would flit out coughing in the still +air. Sometimes a low-toned woman cried through the window-hole softly, +"He's coming directly, senor," and the horseman waited silent on a +motionless horse. But if perchance he had to dismount, then, after a +while, from the door of that hovel or of that pulperia, with a ferocious +scuffle and stifled imprecations, a cargador would fly out head first +and hands abroad, to sprawl under the forelegs of the silver-grey mare, +who only pricked forward her sharp little ears. She was used to that +work; and the man, picking himself up, would walk away hastily from +Nostromo's revolver, reeling a little along the street and snarling low +curses. At sunrise Captain Mitchell, coming out anxiously in his night +attire on to the wooden balcony running the whole length of the O.S.N. +Company's lonely building by the shore, would see the lighters already +under way, figures moving busily about the cargo cranes, perhaps hear +the invaluable Nostromo, now dismounted and in the checked shirt and red +sash of a Mediterranean sailor, bawling orders from the end of the jetty +in a stentorian voice. A fellow in a thousand! + +The material apparatus of perfected civilization which obliterates the +individuality of old towns under the stereotyped conveniences of modern +life had not intruded as yet; but over the worn-out antiquity of Sulaco, +so characteristic with its stuccoed houses and barred windows, with +the great yellowy-white walls of abandoned convents behind the rows of +sombre green cypresses, that fact--very modern in its spirit--the San +Tome mine had already thrown its subtle influence. It had altered, too, +the outward character of the crowds on feast days on the plaza before +the open portal of the cathedral, by the number of white ponchos with a +green stripe affected as holiday wear by the San Tome miners. They had +also adopted white hats with green cord and braid--articles of good +quality, which could be obtained in the storehouse of the administration +for very little money. A peaceable Cholo wearing these colours (unusual +in Costaguana) was somehow very seldom beaten to within an inch of his +life on a charge of disrespect to the town police; neither ran he much +risk of being suddenly lassoed on the road by a recruiting party of +lanceros--a method of voluntary enlistment looked upon as almost legal +in the Republic. Whole villages were known to have volunteered for the +army in that way; but, as Don Pepe would say with a hopeless shrug to +Mrs. Gould, "What would you! Poor people! Pobrecitos! Pobrecitos! But +the State must have its soldiers." + +Thus professionally spoke Don Pepe, the fighter, with pendent +moustaches, a nut-brown, lean face, and a clean run of a cast-iron jaw, +suggesting the type of a cattle-herd horseman from the great Llanos of +the South. "If you will listen to an old officer of Paez, senores," was +the exordium of all his speeches in the Aristocratic Club of Sulaco, +where he was admitted on account of his past services to the extinct +cause of Federation. The club, dating from the days of the proclamation +of Costaguana's independence, boasted many names of liberators amongst +its first founders. Suppressed arbitrarily innumerable times by +various Governments, with memories of proscriptions and of at least one +wholesale massacre of its members, sadly assembled for a banquet by the +order of a zealous military commandante (their bodies were afterwards +stripped naked and flung into the plaza out of the windows by the +lowest scum of the populace), it was again flourishing, at that period, +peacefully. It extended to strangers the large hospitality of the cool, +big rooms of its historic quarters in the front part of a house, once +the residence of a high official of the Holy Office. The two wings, shut +up, crumbled behind the nailed doors, and what may be described as a +grove of young orange trees grown in the unpaved patio concealed the +utter ruin of the back part facing the gate. You turned in from the +street, as if entering a secluded orchard, where you came upon the foot +of a disjointed staircase, guarded by a moss-stained effigy of some +saintly bishop, mitred and staffed, and bearing the indignity of a +broken nose meekly, with his fine stone hands crossed on his breast. The +chocolate-coloured faces of servants with mops of black hair peeped +at you from above; the click of billiard balls came to your ears, and +ascending the steps, you would perhaps see in the first sala, very stiff +upon a straight-backed chair, in a good light, Don Pepe moving his long +moustaches as he spelt his way, at arm's length, through an old Sta. +Marta newspaper. His horse--a stony-hearted but persevering black brute +with a hammer head--you would have seen in the street dozing motionless +under an immense saddle, with its nose almost touching the curbstone of +the sidewalk. + +Don Pepe, when "down from the mountain," as the phrase, often heard in +Sulaco, went, could also be seen in the drawing-room of the Casa Gould. +He sat with modest assurance at some distance from the tea-table. +With his knees close together, and a kindly twinkle of drollery in his +deep-set eyes, he would throw his small and ironic pleasantries into the +current of conversation. There was in that man a sort of sane, humorous +shrewdness, and a vein of genuine humanity so often found in simple +old soldiers of proved courage who have seen much desperate service. Of +course he knew nothing whatever of mining, but his employment was of a +special kind. He was in charge of the whole population in the territory +of the mine, which extended from the head of the gorge to where the cart +track from the foot of the mountain enters the plain, crossing a stream +over a little wooden bridge painted green--green, the colour of hope, +being also the colour of the mine. + +It was reported in Sulaco that up there "at the mountain" Don Pepe +walked about precipitous paths, girt with a great sword and in a shabby +uniform with tarnished bullion epaulettes of a senior major. Most miners +being Indians, with big wild eyes, addressed him as Taita (father), as +these barefooted people of Costaguana will address anybody who wears +shoes; but it was Basilio, Mr. Gould's own mozo and the head servant +of the Casa, who, in all good faith and from a sense of propriety, +announced him once in the solemn words, "El Senor Gobernador has +arrived." + +Don Jose Avellanos, then in the drawing-room, was delighted beyond +measure at the aptness of the title, with which he greeted the old major +banteringly as soon as the latter's soldierly figure appeared in the +doorway. Don Pepe only smiled in his long moustaches, as much as to say, +"You might have found a worse name for an old soldier." + +And El Senor Gobernador he had remained, with his small jokes upon +his function and upon his domain, where he affirmed with humorous +exaggeration to Mrs. Gould-- + +"No two stones could come together anywhere without the Gobernador +hearing the click, senora." + +And he would tap his ear with the tip of his forefinger knowingly. Even +when the number of the miners alone rose to over six hundred he seemed +to know each of them individually, all the innumerable Joses, Manuels, +Ignacios, from the villages _primero--segundo--or tercero_ (there were +three mining villages) under his government. He could distinguish them +not only by their flat, joyless faces, which to Mrs. Gould looked +all alike, as if run into the same ancestral mould of suffering and +patience, but apparently also by the infinitely graduated shades of +reddish-brown, of blackish-brown, of coppery-brown backs, as the two +shifts, stripped to linen drawers and leather skull-caps, mingled +together with a confusion of naked limbs, of shouldered picks, swinging +lamps, in a great shuffle of sandalled feet on the open plateau before +the entrance of the main tunnel. It was a time of pause. The Indian +boys leaned idly against the long line of little cradle wagons standing +empty; the screeners and ore-breakers squatted on their heels smoking +long cigars; the great wooden shoots slanting over the edge of the +tunnel plateau were silent; and only the ceaseless, violent rush of +water in the open flumes could be heard, murmuring fiercely, with the +splash and rumble of revolving turbine-wheels, and the thudding march +of the stamps pounding to powder the treasure rock on the plateau below. +The heads of gangs, distinguished by brass medals hanging on their bare +breasts, marshalled their squads; and at last the mountain would swallow +one-half of the silent crowd, while the other half would move off in +long files down the zigzag paths leading to the bottom of the gorge. +It was deep; and, far below, a thread of vegetation winding between the +blazing rock faces resembled a slender green cord, in which three lumpy +knots of banana patches, palm-leaf roots, and shady trees marked the +Village One, Village Two, Village Three, housing the miners of the Gould +Concession. + +Whole families had been moving from the first towards the spot in the +Higuerota range, whence the rumour of work and safety had spread over +the pastoral Campo, forcing its way also, even as the waters of a high +flood, into the nooks and crannies of the distant blue walls of the +Sierras. Father first, in a pointed straw hat, then the mother with the +bigger children, generally also a diminutive donkey, all under burdens, +except the leader himself, or perhaps some grown girl, the pride of the +family, stepping barefooted and straight as an arrow, with braids of +raven hair, a thick, haughty profile, and no load to carry but the small +guitar of the country and a pair of soft leather sandals tied together +on her back. At the sight of such parties strung out on the cross +trails between the pastures, or camped by the side of the royal road, +travellers on horseback would remark to each other-- + +"More people going to the San Tome mine. We shall see others to-morrow." + +And spurring on in the dusk they would discuss the great news of the +province, the news of the San Tome mine. A rich Englishman was going +to work it--and perhaps not an Englishman, Quien sabe! A foreigner with +much money. Oh, yes, it had begun. A party of men who had been to Sulaco +with a herd of black bulls for the next corrida had reported that from +the porch of the posada in Rincon, only a short league from the town, +the lights on the mountain were visible, twinkling above the trees. And +there was a woman seen riding a horse sideways, not in the chair seat, +but upon a sort of saddle, and a man's hat on her head. She walked +about, too, on foot up the mountain paths. A woman engineer, it seemed +she was. + +"What an absurdity! Impossible, senor!" + +"_Si! Si! Una Americana del Norte_." + +"Ah, well! if your worship is informed. _Una Americana_; it need be +something of that sort." + +And they would laugh a little with astonishment and scorn, keeping a +wary eye on the shadows of the road, for one is liable to meet bad men +when travelling late on the Campo. + +And it was not only the men that Don Pepe knew so well, but he seemed +able, with one attentive, thoughtful glance, to classify each woman, +girl, or growing youth of his domain. It was only the small fry that +puzzled him sometimes. He and the padre could be seen frequently side by +side, meditative and gazing across the street of a village at a lot +of sedate brown children, trying to sort them out, as it were, in low, +consulting tones, or else they would together put searching questions +as to the parentage of some small, staid urchin met wandering, naked and +grave, along the road with a cigar in his baby mouth, and perhaps his +mother's rosary, purloined for purposes of ornamentation, hanging in a +loop of beads low down on his rotund little stomach. The spiritual and +temporal pastors of the mine flock were very good friends. With Dr. +Monygham, the medical pastor, who had accepted the charge from Mrs. +Gould, and lived in the hospital building, they were on not so intimate +terms. But no one could be on intimate terms with El Senor Doctor, who, +with his twisted shoulders, drooping head, sardonic mouth, and side-long +bitter glance, was mysterious and uncanny. The other two authorities +worked in harmony. Father Roman, dried-up, small, alert, wrinkled, +with big round eyes, a sharp chin, and a great snuff-taker, was an old +campaigner, too; he had shriven many simple souls on the battlefields of +the Republic, kneeling by the dying on hillsides, in the long grass, in +the gloom of the forests, to hear the last confession with the smell +of gunpowder smoke in his nostrils, the rattle of muskets, the hum +and spatter of bullets in his ears. And where was the harm if, at the +presbytery, they had a game with a pack of greasy cards in the early +evening, before Don Pepe went his last rounds to see that all the +watchmen of the mine--a body organized by himself--were at their posts? +For that last duty before he slept Don Pepe did actually gird his old +sword on the verandah of an unmistakable American white frame house, +which Father Roman called the presbytery. Near by, a long, low, dark +building, steeple-roofed, like a vast barn with a wooden cross over the +gable, was the miners' chapel. There Father Roman said Mass every day +before a sombre altar-piece representing the Resurrection, the grey +slab of the tombstone balanced on one corner, a figure soaring upwards, +long-limbed and livid, in an oval of pallid light, and a helmeted brown +legionary smitten down, right across the bituminous foreground. "This +picture, my children, _muy linda e maravillosa_," Father Roman would say +to some of his flock, "which you behold here through the munificence +of the wife of our Senor Administrador, has been painted in Europe, a +country of saints and miracles, and much greater than our Costaguana." +And he would take a pinch of snuff with unction. But when once an +inquisitive spirit desired to know in what direction this Europe was +situated, whether up or down the coast, Father Roman, to conceal his +perplexity, became very reserved and severe. "No doubt it is extremely +far away. But ignorant sinners like you of the San Tome mine should +think earnestly of everlasting punishment instead of inquiring into the +magnitude of the earth, with its countries and populations altogether +beyond your understanding." + +With a "Good-night, Padre," "Good-night, Don Pepe," the Gobernador would +go off, holding up his sabre against his side, his body bent forward, +with a long, plodding stride in the dark. The jocularity proper to an +innocent card game for a few cigars or a bundle of yerba was replaced +at once by the stern duty mood of an officer setting out to visit the +outposts of an encamped army. One loud blast of the whistle that +hung from his neck provoked instantly a great shrilling of responding +whistles, mingled with the barking of dogs, that would calm down slowly +at last, away up at the head of the gorge; and in the stillness two +serenos, on guard by the bridge, would appear walking noiselessly +towards him. On one side of the road a long frame building--the +store--would be closed and barricaded from end to end; facing it +another white frame house, still longer, and with a verandah--the +hospital--would have lights in the two windows of Dr. Monygham's +quarters. Even the delicate foliage of a clump of pepper trees did not +stir, so breathless would be the darkness warmed by the radiation of the +over-heated rocks. Don Pepe would stand still for a moment with the two +motionless serenos before him, and, abruptly, high up on the sheer face +of the mountain, dotted with single torches, like drops of fire fallen +from the two great blazing clusters of lights above, the ore shoots +would begin to rattle. The great clattering, shuffling noise, gathering +speed and weight, would be caught up by the walls of the gorge, and sent +upon the plain in a growl of thunder. The pasadero in Rincon swore that +on calm nights, by listening intently, he could catch the sound in his +doorway as of a storm in the mountains. + +To Charles Gould's fancy it seemed that the sound must reach the +uttermost limits of the province. Riding at night towards the mine, it +would meet him at the edge of a little wood just beyond Rincon. There +was no mistaking the growling mutter of the mountain pouring its stream +of treasure under the stamps; and it came to his heart with the +peculiar force of a proclamation thundered forth over the land and the +marvellousness of an accomplished fact fulfilling an audacious desire. +He had heard this very sound in his imagination on that far-off evening +when his wife and himself, after a tortuous ride through a strip of +forest, had reined in their horses near the stream, and had gazed for +the first time upon the jungle-grown solitude of the gorge. The head of +a palm rose here and there. In a high ravine round the corner of the +San Tome mountain (which is square like a blockhouse) the thread of a +slender waterfall flashed bright and glassy through the dark green of +the heavy fronds of tree-ferns. Don Pepe, in attendance, rode up, and, +stretching his arm up the gorge, had declared with mock solemnity, +"Behold the very paradise of snakes, senora." + +And then they had wheeled their horses and ridden back to sleep that +night at Rincon. The alcalde--an old, skinny Moreno, a sergeant of +Guzman Bento's time--had cleared respectfully out of his house with his +three pretty daughters, to make room for the foreign senora and their +worships the Caballeros. All he asked Charles Gould (whom he took for a +mysterious and official person) to do for him was to remind the supreme +Government--El Gobierno supreme--of a pension (amounting to about a +dollar a month) to which he believed himself entitled. It had been +promised to him, he affirmed, straightening his bent back martially, +"many years ago, for my valour in the wars with the wild Indios when a +young man, senor." + +The waterfall existed no longer. The tree-ferns that had luxuriated in +its spray had died around the dried-up pool, and the high ravine was +only a big trench half filled up with the refuse of excavations and +tailings. The torrent, dammed up above, sent its water rushing along +the open flumes of scooped tree trunks striding on trestle-legs to the +turbines working the stamps on the lower plateau--the mesa grande of the +San Tome mountain. Only the memory of the waterfall, with its amazing +fernery, like a hanging garden above the rocks of the gorge, was +preserved in Mrs. Gould's water-colour sketch; she had made it hastily +one day from a cleared patch in the bushes, sitting in the shade of +a roof of straw erected for her on three rough poles under Don Pepe's +direction. + +Mrs. Gould had seen it all from the beginning: the clearing of the +wilderness, the making of the road, the cutting of new paths up the +cliff face of San Tome. For weeks together she had lived on the spot +with her husband; and she was so little in Sulaco during that year that +the appearance of the Gould carriage on the Alameda would cause a social +excitement. From the heavy family coaches full of stately senoras and +black-eyed senoritas rolling solemnly in the shaded alley white hands +were waved towards her with animation in a flutter of greetings. Dona +Emilia was "down from the mountain." + +But not for long. Dona Emilia would be gone "up to the mountain" in a +day or two, and her sleek carriage mules would have an easy time of +it for another long spell. She had watched the erection of the first +frame-house put up on the lower mesa for an office and Don Pepe's +quarters; she heard with a thrill of thankful emotion the first wagon +load of ore rattle down the then only shoot; she had stood by her +husband's side perfectly silent, and gone cold all over with excitement +at the instant when the first battery of only fifteen stamps was put +in motion for the first time. On the occasion when the fires under the +first set of retorts in their shed had glowed far into the night she did +not retire to rest on the rough cadre set up for her in the as yet bare +frame-house till she had seen the first spongy lump of silver yielded to +the hazards of the world by the dark depths of the Gould Concession; +she had laid her unmercenary hands, with an eagerness that made them +tremble, upon the first silver ingot turned out still warm from the +mould; and by her imaginative estimate of its power she endowed that +lump of metal with a justificative conception, as though it were not +a mere fact, but something far-reaching and impalpable, like the true +expression of an emotion or the emergence of a principle. + +Don Pepe, extremely interested, too, looked over her shoulder with a +smile that, making longitudinal folds on his face, caused it to resemble +a leathern mask with a benignantly diabolic expression. + +"Would not the muchachos of Hernandez like to get hold of this +insignificant object, that looks, por Dios, very much like a piece of +tin?" he remarked, jocularly. + +Hernandez, the robber, had been an inoffensive, small ranchero, +kidnapped with circumstances of peculiar atrocity from his home during +one of the civil wars, and forced to serve in the army. There his +conduct as soldier was exemplary, till, watching his chance, he killed +his colonel, and managed to get clear away. With a band of deserters, +who chose him for their chief, he had taken refuge beyond the wild and +waterless Bolson de Tonoro. The haciendas paid him blackmail in cattle +and horses; extraordinary stories were told of his powers and of his +wonderful escapes from capture. He used to ride, single-handed, into the +villages and the little towns on the Campo, driving a pack mule before +him, with two revolvers in his belt, go straight to the shop or store, +select what he wanted, and ride away unopposed because of the terror his +exploits and his audacity inspired. Poor country people he usually left +alone; the upper class were often stopped on the roads and robbed; but +any unlucky official that fell into his hands was sure to get a severe +flogging. The army officers did not like his name to be mentioned in +their presence. His followers, mounted on stolen horses, laughed at the +pursuit of the regular cavalry sent to hunt them down, and whom they +took pleasure to ambush most scientifically in the broken ground of +their own fastness. Expeditions had been fitted out; a price had been +put upon his head; even attempts had been made, treacherously of course, +to open negotiations with him, without in the slightest way affecting +the even tenor of his career. At last, in true Costaguana fashion, the +Fiscal of Tonoro, who was ambitious of the glory of having reduced the +famous Hernandez, offered him a sum of money and a safe conduct out of +the country for the betrayal of his band. But Hernandez evidently was +not of the stuff of which the distinguished military politicians and +conspirators of Costaguana are made. This clever but common device +(which frequently works like a charm in putting down revolutions) failed +with the chief of vulgar Salteadores. It promised well for the Fiscal at +first, but ended very badly for the squadron of lanceros posted (by the +Fiscal's directions) in a fold of the ground into which Hernandez had +promised to lead his unsuspecting followers They came, indeed, at the +appointed time, but creeping on their hands and knees through the bush, +and only let their presence be known by a general discharge of firearms, +which emptied many saddles. The troopers who escaped came riding very +hard into Tonoro. It is said that their commanding officer (who, being +better mounted, rode far ahead of the rest) afterwards got into a state +of despairing intoxication and beat the ambitious Fiscal severely with +the flat of his sabre in the presence of his wife and daughters, +for bringing this disgrace upon the National Army. The highest civil +official of Tonoro, falling to the ground in a swoon, was further kicked +all over the body and rowelled with sharp spurs about the neck and +face because of the great sensitiveness of his military colleague. +This gossip of the inland Campo, so characteristic of the rulers of the +country with its story of oppression, inefficiency, fatuous methods, +treachery, and savage brutality, was perfectly known to Mrs. Gould. +That it should be accepted with no indignant comment by people of +intelligence, refinement, and character as something inherent in the +nature of things was one of the symptoms of degradation that had the +power to exasperate her almost to the verge of despair. Still looking at +the ingot of silver, she shook her head at Don Pepe's remark-- + +"If it had not been for the lawless tyranny of your Government, Don +Pepe, many an outlaw now with Hernandez would be living peaceably and +happy by the honest work of his hands." + +"Senora," cried Don Pepe, with enthusiasm, "it is true! It is as if God +had given you the power to look into the very breasts of people. You +have seen them working round you, Dona Emilia--meek as lambs, patient +like their own burros, brave like lions. I have led them to the very +muzzles of guns--I, who stand here before you, senora--in the time of +Paez, who was full of generosity, and in courage only approached by the +uncle of Don Carlos here, as far as I know. No wonder there are bandits +in the Campo when there are none but thieves, swindlers, and sanguinary +macaques to rule us in Sta. Marta. However, all the same, a bandit is a +bandit, and we shall have a dozen good straight Winchesters to ride with +the silver down to Sulaco." + +Mrs. Gould's ride with the first silver escort to Sulaco was the closing +episode of what she called "my camp life" before she had settled in her +town-house permanently, as was proper and even necessary for the wife of +the administrator of such an important institution as the San Tome mine. +For the San Tome mine was to become an institution, a rallying point +for everything in the province that needed order and stability to live. +Security seemed to flow upon this land from the mountain-gorge. The +authorities of Sulaco had learned that the San Tome mine could make it +worth their while to leave things and people alone. This was the nearest +approach to the rule of common-sense and justice Charles Gould felt it +possible to secure at first. In fact, the mine, with its organization, +its population growing fiercely attached to their position of privileged +safety, with its armoury, with its Don Pepe, with its armed body of +serenos (where, it was said, many an outlaw and deserter--and even some +members of Hernandez's band--had found a place), the mine was a power in +the land. As a certain prominent man in Sta. Marta had exclaimed with +a hollow laugh, once, when discussing the line of action taken by the +Sulaco authorities at a time of political crisis-- + +"You call these men Government officials? They? Never! They are +officials of the mine--officials of the Concession--I tell you." + +The prominent man (who was then a person in power, with a lemon-coloured +face and a very short and curly, not to say woolly, head of hair) went +so far in his temporary discontent as to shake his yellow fist under the +nose of his interlocutor, and shriek-- + +"Yes! All! Silence! All! I tell you! The political Gefe, the chief of +the police, the chief of the customs, the general, all, all, are the +officials of that Gould." + +Thereupon an intrepid but low and argumentative murmur would flow on +for a space in the ministerial cabinet, and the prominent man's passion +would end in a cynical shrug of the shoulders. After all, he seemed +to say, what did it matter as long as the minister himself was not +forgotten during his brief day of authority? But all the same, the +unofficial agent of the San Tome mine, working for a good cause, had +his moments of anxiety, which were reflected in his letters to Don Jose +Avellanos, his maternal uncle. + +"No sanguinary macaque from Sta. Marta shall set foot on that part of +Costaguana which lies beyond the San Tome bridge," Don Pepe used to +assure Mrs. Gould. "Except, of course, as an honoured guest--for our +Senor Administrador is a deep politico." But to Charles Gould, in +his own room, the old Major would remark with a grim and soldierly +cheeriness, "We are all playing our heads at this game." + +Don Jose Avellanos would mutter "Imperium in imperio, Emilia, my soul," +with an air of profound self-satisfaction which, somehow, in a curious +way, seemed to contain a queer admixture of bodily discomfort. But that, +perhaps, could only be visible to the initiated. And for the initiated +it was a wonderful place, this drawing-room of the Casa Gould, with its +momentary glimpses of the master--El Senor Administrador--older, harder, +mysteriously silent, with the lines deepened on his English, ruddy, +out-of-doors complexion; flitting on his thin cavalryman's legs across +the doorways, either just "back from the mountain" or with jingling +spurs and riding-whip under his arm, on the point of starting "for the +mountain." Then Don Pepe, modestly martial in his chair, the llanero who +seemed somehow to have found his martial jocularity, his knowledge +of the world, and his manner perfect for his station, in the midst of +savage armed contests with his kind; Avellanos, polished and familiar, +the diplomatist with his loquacity covering much caution and wisdom in +delicate advice, with his manuscript of a historical work on Costaguana, +entitled "Fifty Years of Misrule," which, at present, he thought it was +not prudent (even if it were possible) "to give to the world"; +these three, and also Dona Emilia amongst them, gracious, small, +and fairy-like, before the glittering tea-set, with one common +master-thought in their heads, with one common feeling of a tense +situation, with one ever-present aim to preserve the inviolable +character of the mine at every cost. And there was also to be seen +Captain Mitchell, a little apart, near one of the long windows, with an +air of old-fashioned neat old bachelorhood about him, slightly pompous, +in a white waistcoat, a little disregarded and unconscious of it; +utterly in the dark, and imagining himself to be in the thick of things. +The good man, having spent a clear thirty years of his life on the high +seas before getting what he called a "shore billet," was astonished at +the importance of transactions (other than relating to shipping) which +take place on dry land. Almost every event out of the usual daily +course "marked an epoch" for him or else was "history"; unless with his +pomposity struggling with a discomfited droop of his rubicund, rather +handsome face, set off by snow-white close hair and short whiskers, he +would mutter-- + +"Ah, that! That, sir, was a mistake." + +The reception of the first consignment of San Tome silver for shipment +to San Francisco in one of the O.S.N. Co.'s mail-boats had, of course, +"marked an epoch" for Captain Mitchell. The ingots packed in boxes of +stiff ox-hide with plaited handles, small enough to be carried easily by +two men, were brought down by the serenos of the mine walking in careful +couples along the half-mile or so of steep, zigzag paths to the foot of +the mountain. There they would be loaded into a string of two-wheeled +carts, resembling roomy coffers with a door at the back, and harnessed +tandem with two mules each, waiting under the guard of armed and mounted +serenos. Don Pepe padlocked each door in succession, and at the signal +of his whistle the string of carts would move off, closely surrounded by +the clank of spur and carbine, with jolts and cracking of whips, with a +sudden deep rumble over the boundary bridge ("into the land of thieves +and sanguinary macaques," Don Pepe defined that crossing); hats bobbing +in the first light of the dawn, on the heads of cloaked figures; +Winchesters on hip; bridle hands protruding lean and brown from under +the falling folds of the ponchos. The convoy skirting a little wood, +along the mine trail, between the mud huts and low walls of Rincon, +increased its pace on the camino real, mules urged to speed, escort +galloping, Don Carlos riding alone ahead of a dust storm affording a +vague vision of long ears of mules, of fluttering little green and white +flags stuck upon each cart; of raised arms in a mob of sombreros with +the white gleam of ranging eyes; and Don Pepe, hardly visible in the +rear of that rattling dust trail, with a stiff seat and impassive face, +rising and falling rhythmically on an ewe-necked silver-bitted black +brute with a hammer head. + +The sleepy people in the little clusters of huts, in the small ranches +near the road, recognized by the headlong sound the charge of the San +Tome silver escort towards the crumbling wall of the city on the Campo +side. They came to the doors to see it dash by over ruts and stones, +with a clatter and clank and cracking of whips, with the reckless rush +and precise driving of a field battery hurrying into action, and the +solitary English figure of the Senor Administrador riding far ahead in +the lead. + +In the fenced roadside paddocks loose horses galloped wildly for a +while; the heavy cattle stood up breast deep in the grass, lowing +mutteringly at the flying noise; a meek Indian villager would glance +back once and hasten to shove his loaded little donkey bodily against a +wall, out of the way of the San Tome silver escort going to the sea; a +small knot of chilly leperos under the Stone Horse of the Alameda would +mutter: "Caramba!" on seeing it take a wide curve at a gallop and dart +into the empty Street of the Constitution; for it was considered the +correct thing, the only proper style by the mule-drivers of the San Tome +mine to go through the waking town from end to end without a check in +the speed as if chased by a devil. + +The early sunshine glowed on the delicate primrose, pale pink, pale +blue fronts of the big houses with all their gates shut yet, and no face +behind the iron bars of the windows. In the whole sunlit range of empty +balconies along the street only one white figure would be visible +high up above the clear pavement--the wife of the Senor +Administrador--leaning over to see the escort go by to the harbour, a +mass of heavy, fair hair twisted up negligently on her little head, and +a lot of lace about the neck of her muslin wrapper. With a smile to her +husband's single, quick, upward glance, she would watch the whole thing +stream past below her feet with an orderly uproar, till she answered +by a friendly sign the salute of the galloping Don Pepe, the stiff, +deferential inclination with a sweep of the hat below the knee. + +The string of padlocked carts lengthened, the size of the escort grew +bigger as the years went on. Every three months an increasing stream of +treasure swept through the streets of Sulaco on its way to the strong +room in the O.S.N. Co.'s building by the harbour, there to await +shipment for the North. Increasing in volume, and of immense value also; +for, as Charles Gould told his wife once with some exultation, there had +never been seen anything in the world to approach the vein of the +Gould Concession. For them both, each passing of the escort under the +balconies of the Casa Gould was like another victory gained in the +conquest of peace for Sulaco. + +No doubt the initial action of Charles Gould had been helped at the +beginning by a period of comparative peace which occurred just about +that time; and also by the general softening of manners as compared with +the epoch of civil wars whence had emerged the iron tyranny of Guzman +Bento of fearful memory. In the contests that broke out at the end of +his rule (which had kept peace in the country for a whole fifteen years) +there was more fatuous imbecility, plenty of cruelty and suffering +still, but much less of the old-time fierce and blindly ferocious +political fanaticism. It was all more vile, more base, more +contemptible, and infinitely more manageable in the very outspoken +cynicism of motives. It was more clearly a brazen-faced scramble for a +constantly diminishing quantity of booty; since all enterprise had been +stupidly killed in the land. Thus it came to pass that the province of +Sulaco, once the field of cruel party vengeances, had become in a way +one of the considerable prizes of political career. The great of the +earth (in Sta. Marta) reserved the posts in the old Occidental State +to those nearest and dearest to them: nephews, brothers, husbands +of favourite sisters, bosom friends, trusty supporters--or prominent +supporters of whom perhaps they were afraid. It was the blessed province +of great opportunities and of largest salaries; for the San Tome mine +had its own unofficial pay list, whose items and amounts, fixed in +consultation by Charles Gould and Senor Avellanos, were known to a +prominent business man in the United States, who for twenty minutes or +so in every month gave his undivided attention to Sulaco affairs. At +the same time the material interests of all sorts, backed up by the +influence of the San Tome mine, were quietly gathering substance in that +part of the Republic. If, for instance, the Sulaco Collectorship was +generally understood, in the political world of the capital, to open the +way to the Ministry of Finance, and so on for every official post, then, +on the other hand, the despondent business circles of the Republic had +come to consider the Occidental Province as the promised land of safety, +especially if a man managed to get on good terms with the administration +of the mine. "Charles Gould; excellent fellow! Absolutely necessary to +make sure of him before taking a single step. Get an introduction to +him from Moraga if you can--the agent of the King of Sulaco, don't you +know." + +No wonder, then, that Sir John, coming from Europe to smooth the path +for his railway, had been meeting the name (and even the nickname) of +Charles Gould at every turn in Costaguana. The agent of the San Tome +Administration in Sta. Marta (a polished, well-informed gentleman, Sir +John thought him) had certainly helped so greatly in bringing about the +presidential tour that he began to think that there was something in +the faint whispers hinting at the immense occult influence of the Gould +Concession. What was currently whispered was this--that the San Tome +Administration had, in part, at least, financed the last revolution, +which had brought into a five-year dictatorship Don Vincente Ribiera, a +man of culture and of unblemished character, invested with a mandate +of reform by the best elements of the State. Serious, well-informed +men seemed to believe the fact, to hope for better things, for the +establishment of legality, of good faith and order in public life. So +much the better, then, thought Sir John. He worked always on a great +scale; there was a loan to the State, and a project for systematic +colonization of the Occidental Province, involved in one vast scheme +with the construction of the National Central Railway. Good faith, +order, honesty, peace, were badly wanted for this great development of +material interests. Anybody on the side of these things, and especially +if able to help, had an importance in Sir John's eyes. He had not been +disappointed in the "King of Sulaco." The local difficulties had fallen +away, as the engineer-in-chief had foretold they would, before Charles +Gould's mediation. Sir John had been extremely feted in Sulaco, next +to the President-Dictator, a fact which might have accounted for the +evident ill-humour General Montero displayed at lunch given on board +the Juno just before she was to sail, taking away from Sulaco the +President-Dictator and the distinguished foreign guests in his train. + +The Excellentissimo ("the hope of honest men," as Don Jose had addressed +him in a public speech delivered in the name of the Provincial Assembly +of Sulaco) sat at the head of the long table; Captain Mitchell, +positively stony-eyed and purple in the face with the solemnity of +this "historical event," occupied the foot as the representative of the +O.S.N. Company in Sulaco, the hosts of that informal function, with the +captain of the ship and some minor officials from the shore around him. +Those cheery, swarthy little gentlemen cast jovial side-glances at the +bottles of champagne beginning to pop behind the guests' backs in the +hands of the ship's stewards. The amber wine creamed up to the rims of +the glasses. + +Charles Gould had his place next to a foreign envoy, who, in a listless +undertone, had been talking to him fitfully of hunting and shooting. +The well-nourished, pale face, with an eyeglass and drooping yellow +moustache, made the Senor Administrador appear by contrast twice as +sunbaked, more flaming red, a hundred times more intensely and silently +alive. Don Jose Avellanos touched elbows with the other foreign +diplomat, a dark man with a quiet, watchful, self-confident demeanour, +and a touch of reserve. All etiquette being laid aside on the occasion, +General Montero was the only one there in full uniform, so stiff with +embroideries in front that his broad chest seemed protected by a cuirass +of gold. Sir John at the beginning had got away from high places for the +sake of sitting near Mrs. Gould. + +The great financier was trying to express to her his grateful sense +of her hospitality and of his obligation to her husband's "enormous +influence in this part of the country," when she interrupted him by a +low "Hush!" The President was going to make an informal pronouncement. + +The Excellentissimo was on his legs. He said only a few words, evidently +deeply felt, and meant perhaps mostly for Avellanos--his old friend--as +to the necessity of unremitting effort to secure the lasting welfare of +the country emerging after this last struggle, he hoped, into a period +of peace and material prosperity. + +Mrs. Gould, listening to the mellow, slightly mournful voice, looking +at this rotund, dark, spectacled face, at the short body, obese to the +point of infirmity, thought that this man of delicate and melancholy +mind, physically almost a cripple, coming out of his retirement into a +dangerous strife at the call of his fellows, had the right to speak with +the authority of his self-sacrifice. And yet she was made uneasy. He +was more pathetic than promising, this first civilian Chief of the +State Costaguana had ever known, pronouncing, glass in hand, his simple +watchwords of honesty, peace, respect for law, political good faith +abroad and at home--the safeguards of national honour. + +He sat down. During the respectful, appreciative buzz of voices that +followed the speech, General Montero raised a pair of heavy, drooping +eyelids and rolled his eyes with a sort of uneasy dullness from face +to face. The military backwoods hero of the party, though secretly +impressed by the sudden novelties and splendours of his position (he +had never been on board a ship before, and had hardly ever seen the sea +except from a distance), understood by a sort of instinct the advantage +his surly, unpolished attitude of a savage fighter gave him amongst all +these refined Blanco aristocrats. But why was it that nobody was looking +at him? he wondered to himself angrily. He was able to spell out the +print of newspapers, and knew that he had performed the "greatest +military exploit of modern times." + +"My husband wanted the railway," Mrs. Gould said to Sir John in the +general murmur of resumed conversations. "All this brings nearer the +sort of future we desire for the country, which has waited for it in +sorrow long enough, God knows. But I will confess that the other day, +during my afternoon drive when I suddenly saw an Indian boy ride out +of a wood with the red flag of a surveying party in his hand, I felt +something of a shock. The future means change--an utter change. And yet +even here there are simple and picturesque things that one would like to +preserve." + +Sir John listened, smiling. But it was his turn now to hush Mrs. Gould. + +"General Montero is going to speak," he whispered, and almost +immediately added, in comic alarm, "Heavens! he's going to propose my +own health, I believe." + +General Montero had risen with a jingle of steel scabbard and a ripple +of glitter on his gold-embroidered breast; a heavy sword-hilt appeared +at his side above the edge of the table. In this gorgeous uniform, with +his bull neck, his hooked nose flattened on the tip upon a blue-black, +dyed moustache, he looked like a disguised and sinister vaquero. +The drone of his voice had a strangely rasping, soulless ring. He +floundered, lowering, through a few vague sentences; then suddenly +raising his big head and his voice together, burst out harshly-- + +"The honour of the country is in the hands of the army. I assure you +I shall be faithful to it." He hesitated till his roaming eyes met Sir +John's face upon which he fixed a lurid, sleepy glance; and the figure +of the lately negotiated loan came into his mind. He lifted his glass. +"I drink to the health of the man who brings us a million and a half of +pounds." + +He tossed off his champagne, and sat down heavily with a half-surprised, +half-bullying look all round the faces in the profound, as if appalled, +silence which succeeded the felicitous toast. Sir John did not move. + +"I don't think I am called upon to rise," he murmured to Mrs. Gould. +"That sort of thing speaks for itself." But Don Jose Avellanos came +to the rescue with a short oration, in which he alluded pointedly to +England's goodwill towards Costaguana--"a goodwill," he continued, +significantly, "of which I, having been in my time accredited to the +Court of St. James, am able to speak with some knowledge." + +Only then Sir John thought fit to respond, which he did gracefully in +bad French, punctuated by bursts of applause and the "Hear! Hears!" +of Captain Mitchell, who was able to understand a word now and then. +Directly he had done, the financier of railways turned to Mrs. Gould-- + +"You were good enough to say that you intended to ask me for something," +he reminded her, gallantly. "What is it? Be assured that any request +from you would be considered in the light of a favour to myself." + +She thanked him by a gracious smile. Everybody was rising from the +table. + +"Let us go on deck," she proposed, "where I'll be able to point out to +you the very object of my request." + +An enormous national flag of Costaguana, diagonal red and yellow, with +two green palm trees in the middle, floated lazily at the mainmast head +of the Juno. A multitude of fireworks being let off in their thousands +at the water's edge in honour of the President kept up a mysterious +crepitating noise half round the harbour. Now and then a lot of rockets, +swishing upwards invisibly, detonated overhead with only a puff of smoke +in the bright sky. Crowds of people could be seen between the town gate +and the harbour, under the bunches of multicoloured flags fluttering on +tall poles. Faint bursts of military music would be heard suddenly, and +the remote sound of shouting. A knot of ragged negroes at the end of the +wharf kept on loading and firing a small iron cannon time after time. A +greyish haze of dust hung thin and motionless against the sun. + +Don Vincente Ribiera made a few steps under the deck-awning, leaning on +the arm of Senor Avellanos; a wide circle was formed round him, where +the mirthless smile of his dark lips and the sightless glitter of his +spectacles could be seen turning amiably from side to side. The +informal function arranged on purpose on board the Juno to give the +President-Dictator an opportunity to meet intimately some of his most +notable adherents in Sulaco was drawing to an end. On one side, General +Montero, his bald head covered now by a plumed cocked hat, remained +motionless on a skylight seat, a pair of big gauntleted hands folded +on the hilt of the sabre standing upright between his legs. The white +plume, the coppery tint of his broad face, the blue-black of the +moustaches under the curved beak, the mass of gold on sleeves and +breast, the high shining boots with enormous spurs, the working +nostrils, the imbecile and domineering stare of the glorious victor of +Rio Seco had in them something ominous and incredible; the exaggeration +of a cruel caricature, the fatuity of solemn masquerading, the atrocious +grotesqueness of some military idol of Aztec conception and European +bedecking, awaiting the homage of worshippers. Don Jose approached +diplomatically this weird and inscrutable portent, and Mrs. Gould turned +her fascinated eyes away at last. + +Charles, coming up to take leave of Sir John, heard him say, as he bent +over his wife's hand, "Certainly. Of course, my dear Mrs. Gould, for a +protege of yours! Not the slightest difficulty. Consider it done." + +Going ashore in the same boat with the Goulds, Don Jose Avellanos was +very silent. Even in the Gould carriage he did not open his lips for +a long time. The mules trotted slowly away from the wharf between the +extended hands of the beggars, who for that day seemed to have abandoned +in a body the portals of churches. Charles Gould sat on the back seat +and looked away upon the plain. A multitude of booths made of green +boughs, of rushes, of odd pieces of plank eked out with bits of canvas +had been erected all over it for the sale of cana, of dulces, of fruit, +of cigars. Over little heaps of glowing charcoal Indian women, squatting +on mats, cooked food in black earthen pots, and boiled the water for the +mate gourds, which they offered in soft, caressing voices to the country +people. A racecourse had been staked out for the vaqueros; and away to +the left, from where the crowd was massed thickly about a huge temporary +erection, like a circus tent of wood with a conical grass roof, came the +resonant twanging of harp strings, the sharp ping of guitars, with the +grave drumming throb of an Indian gombo pulsating steadily through the +shrill choruses of the dancers. + +Charles Gould said presently-- + +"All this piece of land belongs now to the Railway Company. There will +be no more popular feasts held here." + +Mrs. Gould was rather sorry to think so. She took this opportunity to +mention how she had just obtained from Sir John the promise that the +house occupied by Giorgio Viola should not be interfered with. She +declared she could never understand why the survey engineers ever talked +of demolishing that old building. It was not in the way of the projected +harbour branch of the line in the least. + +She stopped the carriage before the door to reassure at once the old +Genoese, who came out bare-headed and stood by the carriage step. +She talked to him in Italian, of course, and he thanked her with calm +dignity. An old Garibaldino was grateful to her from the bottom of his +heart for keeping the roof over the heads of his wife and children. He +was too old to wander any more. + +"And is it for ever, signora?" he asked. + +"For as long as you like." + +"Bene. Then the place must be named, It was not worth while before." + +He smiled ruggedly, with a running together of wrinkles at the corners +of his eyes. "I shall set about the painting of the name to-morrow." + +"And what is it going to be, Giorgio?" + +"Albergo d'Italia Una," said the old Garibaldino, looking away for a +moment. "More in memory of those who have died," he added, "than for the +country stolen from us soldiers of liberty by the craft of that accursed +Piedmontese race of kings and ministers." + +Mrs. Gould smiled slightly, and, bending over a little, began to inquire +about his wife and children. He had sent them into town on that day. The +padrona was better in health; many thanks to the signora for inquiring. + +People were passing in twos and threes, in whole parties of men and +women attended by trotting children. A horseman mounted on a silver-grey +mare drew rein quietly in the shade of the house after taking off his +hat to the party in the carriage, who returned smiles and familiar +nods. Old Viola, evidently very pleased with the news he had just heard, +interrupted himself for a moment to tell him rapidly that the house was +secured, by the kindness of the English signora, for as long as he liked +to keep it. The other listened attentively, but made no response. + +When the carriage moved on he took off his hat again, a grey sombrero +with a silver cord and tassels. The bright colours of a Mexican serape +twisted on the cantle, the enormous silver buttons on the embroidered +leather jacket, the row of tiny silver buttons down the seam of the +trousers, the snowy linen, a silk sash with embroidered ends, the silver +plates on headstall and saddle, proclaimed the unapproachable style of +the famous Capataz de Cargadores--a Mediterranean sailor--got up with +more finished splendour than any well-to-do young ranchero of the Campo +had ever displayed on a high holiday. + +"It is a great thing for me," murmured old Giorgio, still thinking of +the house, for now he had grown weary of change. "The signora just said +a word to the Englishman." + +"The old Englishman who has enough money to pay for a railway? He is +going off in an hour," remarked Nostromo, carelessly. "_Buon viaggio_, +then. I've guarded his bones all the way from the Entrada pass down to +the plain and into Sulaco, as though he had been my own father." + +Old Giorgio only moved his head sideways absently. Nostromo pointed +after the Goulds' carriage, nearing the grass-grown gate in the old town +wall that was like a wall of matted jungle. + +"And I have sat alone at night with my revolver in the Company's +warehouse time and again by the side of that other Englishman's heap of +silver, guarding it as though it had been my own." + +Viola seemed lost in thought. "It is a great thing for me," he repeated +again, as if to himself. + +"It is," agreed the magnificent Capataz de Cargadores, calmly. "Listen, +Vecchio--go in and bring me, out a cigar, but don't look for it in my +room. There's nothing there." + +Viola stepped into the cafe and came out directly, still absorbed in his +idea, and tendered him a cigar, mumbling thoughtfully in his moustache, +"Children growing up--and girls, too! Girls!" He sighed and fell silent. + +"What, only one?" remarked Nostromo, looking down with a sort of comic +inquisitiveness at the unconscious old man. "No matter," he added, with +lofty negligence; "one is enough till another is wanted." + +He lit it and let the match drop from his passive fingers. Giorgio Viola +looked up, and said abruptly-- + +"My son would have been just such a fine young man as you, Gian' +Battista, if he had lived." + +"What? Your son? But you are right, padrone. If he had been like me he +would have been a man." + +He turned his horse slowly, and paced on between the booths, checking +the mare almost to a standstill now and then for children, for the +groups of people from the distant Campo, who stared after him with +admiration. The Company's lightermen saluted him from afar; and the +greatly envied Capataz de Cargadores advanced, amongst murmurs of +recognition and obsequious greetings, towards the huge circus-like +erection. The throng thickened; the guitars tinkled louder; other +horsemen sat motionless, smoking calmly above the heads of the crowd; it +eddied and pushed before the doors of the high-roofed building, whence +issued a shuffle and thumping of feet in time to the dance music +vibrating and shrieking with a racking rhythm, overhung by the +tremendous, sustained, hollow roar of the gombo. The barbarous and +imposing noise of the big drum, that can madden a crowd, and that even +Europeans cannot hear without a strange emotion, seemed to draw Nostromo +on to its source, while a man, wrapped up in a faded, torn poncho, +walked by his stirrup, and, buffeted right and left, begged "his +worship" insistently for employment on the wharf. He whined, offering +the Senor Capataz half his daily pay for the privilege of being admitted +to the swaggering fraternity of Cargadores; the other half would +be enough for him, he protested. But Captain Mitchell's right-hand +man--"invaluable for our work--a perfectly incorruptible fellow"--after +looking down critically at the ragged mozo, shook his head without a +word in the uproar going on around. + +The man fell back; and a little further on Nostromo had to pull up. From +the doors of the dance hall men and women emerged tottering, streaming +with sweat, trembling in every limb, to lean, panting, with staring eyes +and parted lips, against the wall of the structure, where the harps +and guitars played on with mad speed in an incessant roll of thunder. +Hundreds of hands clapped in there; voices shrieked, and then all at +once would sink low, chanting in unison the refrain of a love song, with +a dying fall. A red flower, flung with a good aim from somewhere in the +crowd, struck the resplendent Capataz on the cheek. + +He caught it as it fell, neatly, but for some time did not turn his +head. When at last he condescended to look round, the throng near him +had parted to make way for a pretty Morenita, her hair held up by a +small golden comb, who was walking towards him in the open space. + +Her arms and neck emerged plump and bare from a snowy chemisette; the +blue woollen skirt, with all the fullness gathered in front, scanty on +the hips and tight across the back, disclosed the provoking action of +her walk. She came straight on and laid her hand on the mare's neck with +a timid, coquettish look upwards out of the corner of her eyes. + +"_Querido_," she murmured, caressingly, "why do you pretend not to see me +when I pass?" + +"Because I don't love thee any more," said Nostromo, deliberately, after +a moment of reflective silence. + +The hand on the mare's neck trembled suddenly. She dropped her head +before all the eyes in the wide circle formed round the generous, the +terrible, the inconstant Capataz de Cargadores, and his Morenita. + +Nostromo, looking down, saw tears beginning to fall down her face. + +"Has it come, then, ever beloved of my heart?" she whispered. "Is it +true?" + +"No," said Nostromo, looking away carelessly. "It was a lie. I love thee +as much as ever." + +"Is that true?" she cooed, joyously, her cheeks still wet with tears. + +"It is true." + +"True on the life?" + +"As true as that; but thou must not ask me to swear it on the Madonna +that stands in thy room." And the Capataz laughed a little in response +to the grins of the crowd. + +She pouted--very pretty--a little uneasy. + +"No, I will not ask for that. I can see love in your eyes." She laid +her hand on his knee. "Why are you trembling like this? From love?" she +continued, while the cavernous thundering of the gombo went on without a +pause. "But if you love her as much as that, you must give your Paquita +a gold-mounted rosary of beads for the neck of her Madonna." + +"No," said Nostromo, looking into her uplifted, begging eyes, which +suddenly turned stony with surprise. + +"No? Then what else will your worship give me on the day of the fiesta?" +she asked, angrily; "so as not to shame me before all these people." + +"There is no shame for thee in getting nothing from thy lover for once." + +"True! The shame is your worship's--my poor lover's," she flared up, +sarcastically. + +Laughs were heard at her anger, at her retort. What an audacious +spitfire she was! The people aware of this scene were calling out +urgently to others in the crowd. The circle round the silver-grey mare +narrowed slowly. + +The girl went off a pace or two, confronting the mocking curiosity of +the eyes, then flung back to the stirrup, tiptoeing, her enraged face +turned up to Nostromo with a pair of blazing eyes. He bent low to her in +the saddle. + +"Juan," she hissed, "I could stab thee to the heart!" + +The dreaded Capataz de Cargadores, magnificent and carelessly public +in his amours, flung his arm round her neck and kissed her spluttering +lips. A murmur went round. + +"A knife!" he demanded at large, holding her firmly by the shoulder. + +Twenty blades flashed out together in the circle. A young man in holiday +attire, bounding in, thrust one in Nostromo's hand and bounded back into +the ranks, very proud of himself. Nostromo had not even looked at him. + +"Stand on my foot," he commanded the girl, who, suddenly subdued, rose +lightly, and when he had her up, encircling her waist, her face near to +his, he pressed the knife into her little hand. + +"No, Morenita! You shall not put me to shame," he said. "You shall have +your present; and so that everyone should know who is your lover to-day, +you may cut all the silver buttons off my coat." + +There were shouts of laughter and applause at this witty freak, while +the girl passed the keen blade, and the impassive rider jingled in his +palm the increasing hoard of silver buttons. He eased her to the ground +with both her hands full. After whispering for a while with a very +strenuous face, she walked away, staring haughtily, and vanished into +the crowd. + +The circle had broken up, and the lordly Capataz de Cargadores, the +indispensable man, the tried and trusty Nostromo, the Mediterranean +sailor come ashore casually to try his luck in Costaguana, rode slowly +towards the harbour. The Juno was just then swinging round; and even +as Nostromo reined up again to look on, a flag ran up on the improvised +flagstaff erected in an ancient and dismantled little fort at the +harbour entrance. Half a battery of field guns had been hurried over +there from the Sulaco barracks for the purpose of firing the regulation +salutes for the President-Dictator and the War Minister. As the +mail-boat headed through the pass, the badly timed reports announced the +end of Don Vincente Ribiera's first official visit to Sulaco, and for +Captain Mitchell the end of another "historic occasion." Next time when +the "Hope of honest men" was to come that way, a year and a half later, +it was unofficially, over the mountain tracks, fleeing after a defeat on +a lame mule, to be only just saved by Nostromo from an ignominious death +at the hands of a mob. It was a very different event, of which Captain +Mitchell used to say-- + +"It was history--history, sir! And that fellow of mine, Nostromo, you +know, was right in it. Absolutely making history, sir." + +But this event, creditable to Nostromo, was to lead immediately to +another, which could not be classed either as "history" or as "a +mistake" in Captain Mitchell's phraseology. He had another word for it. + +"Sir" he used to say afterwards, "that was no mistake. It was a +fatality. A misfortune, pure and simple, sir. And that poor fellow of +mine was right in it--right in the middle of it! A fatality, if ever +there was one--and to my mind he has never been the same man since." + + + + + +PART SECOND THE ISABELS + + +CHAPTER ONE + +Through good and evil report in the varying fortune of that struggle +which Don Jose had characterized in the phrase, "the fate of national +honesty trembles in the balance," the Gould Concession, "Imperium in +Imperio," had gone on working; the square mountain had gone on pouring +its treasure down the wooden shoots to the unresting batteries of +stamps; the lights of San Tome had twinkled night after night upon the +great, limitless shadow of the Campo; every three months the silver +escort had gone down to the sea as if neither the war nor its +consequences could ever affect the ancient Occidental State secluded +beyond its high barrier of the Cordillera. All the fighting took place +on the other side of that mighty wall of serrated peaks lorded over by +the white dome of Higuerota and as yet unbreached by the railway, of +which only the first part, the easy Campo part from Sulaco to the Ivie +Valley at the foot of the pass, had been laid. Neither did the telegraph +line cross the mountains yet; its poles, like slender beacons on the +plain, penetrated into the forest fringe of the foot-hills cut by +the deep avenue of the track; and its wire ended abruptly in the +construction camp at a white deal table supporting a Morse apparatus, +in a long hut of planks with a corrugated iron roof overshadowed by +gigantic cedar trees--the quarters of the engineer in charge of the +advance section. + +The harbour was busy, too, with the traffic in railway material, and +with the movements of troops along the coast. The O.S.N. Company found +much occupation for its fleet. Costaguana had no navy, and, apart from a +few coastguard cutters, there were no national ships except a couple of +old merchant steamers used as transports. + +Captain Mitchell, feeling more and more in the thick of history, found +time for an hour or so during an afternoon in the drawing-room of the +Casa Gould, where, with a strange ignorance of the real forces at work +around him, he professed himself delighted to get away from the +strain of affairs. He did not know what he would have done without his +invaluable Nostromo, he declared. Those confounded Costaguana politics +gave him more work--he confided to Mrs. Gould--than he had bargained +for. + +Don Jose Avellanos had displayed in the service of the endangered +Ribiera Government an organizing activity and an eloquence of which +the echoes reached even Europe. For, after the new loan to the Ribiera +Government, Europe had become interested in Costaguana. The Sala of the +Provincial Assembly (in the Municipal Buildings of Sulaco), with its +portraits of the Liberators on the walls and an old flag of Cortez +preserved in a glass case above the President's chair, had heard all +these speeches--the early one containing the impassioned declaration +"Militarism is the enemy," the famous one of the "trembling balance" +delivered on the occasion of the vote for the raising of a second +Sulaco regiment in the defence of the reforming Government; and when the +provinces again displayed their old flags (proscribed in Guzman Bento's +time) there was another of those great orations, when Don Jose greeted +these old emblems of the war of Independence, brought out again in the +name of new Ideals. The old idea of Federalism had disappeared. For +his part he did not wish to revive old political doctrines. They were +perishable. They died. But the doctrine of political rectitude was +immortal. The second Sulaco regiment, to whom he was presenting this +flag, was going to show its valour in a contest for order, peace, +progress; for the establishment of national self-respect without +which--he declared with energy--"we are a reproach and a byword amongst +the powers of the world." + +Don Jose Avellanos loved his country. He had served it lavishly with +his fortune during his diplomatic career, and the later story of his +captivity and barbarous ill-usage under Guzman Bento was well known +to his listeners. It was a wonder that he had not been a victim of +the ferocious and summary executions which marked the course of that +tyranny; for Guzman had ruled the country with the sombre imbecility of +political fanaticism. The power of Supreme Government had become in his +dull mind an object of strange worship, as if it were some sort of +cruel deity. It was incarnated in himself, and his adversaries, the +Federalists, were the supreme sinners, objects of hate, abhorrence, and +fear, as heretics would be to a convinced Inquisitor. For years he had +carried about at the tail of the Army of Pacification, all over the +country, a captive band of such atrocious criminals, who considered +themselves most unfortunate at not having been summarily executed. It +was a diminishing company of nearly naked skeletons, loaded with irons, +covered with dirt, with vermin, with raw wounds, all men of position, +of education, of wealth, who had learned to fight amongst themselves for +scraps of rotten beef thrown to them by soldiers, or to beg a negro +cook for a drink of muddy water in pitiful accents. Don Jose Avellanos, +clanking his chains amongst the others, seemed only to exist in order to +prove how much hunger, pain, degradation, and cruel torture a human +body can stand without parting with the last spark of life. Sometimes +interrogatories, backed by some primitive method of torture, were +administered to them by a commission of officers hastily assembled in a +hut of sticks and branches, and made pitiless by the fear for their own +lives. A lucky one or two of that spectral company of prisoners would +perhaps be led tottering behind a bush to be shot by a file of soldiers. +Always an army chaplain--some unshaven, dirty man, girt with a sword and +with a tiny cross embroidered in white cotton on the left breast of +a lieutenant's uniform--would follow, cigarette in the corner of the +mouth, wooden stool in hand, to hear the confession and give absolution; +for the Citizen Saviour of the Country (Guzman Bento was called thus +officially in petitions) was not averse from the exercise of rational +clemency. The irregular report of the firing squad would be heard, +followed sometimes by a single finishing shot; a little bluish cloud +of smoke would float up above the green bushes, and the Army of +Pacification would move on over the savannas, through the forests, +crossing rivers, invading rural pueblos, devastating the haciendas of +the horrid aristocrats, occupying the inland towns in the fulfilment of +its patriotic mission, and leaving behind a united land wherein the evil +taint of Federalism could no longer be detected in the smoke of burning +houses and the smell of spilt blood. Don Jose Avellanos had survived +that time. Perhaps, when contemptuously signifying to him his release, +the Citizen Saviour of the Country might have thought this benighted +aristocrat too broken in health and spirit and fortune to be any longer +dangerous. Or, perhaps, it may have been a simple caprice. Guzman Bento, +usually full of fanciful fears and brooding suspicions, had sudden +accesses of unreasonable self-confidence when he perceived himself +elevated on a pinnacle of power and safety beyond the reach of mere +mortal plotters. At such times he would impulsively command the +celebration of a solemn Mass of thanksgiving, which would be sung in +great pomp in the cathedral of Sta. Marta by the trembling, subservient +Archbishop of his creation. He heard it sitting in a gilt armchair +placed before the high altar, surrounded by the civil and military heads +of his Government. The unofficial world of Sta. Marta would crowd into +the cathedral, for it was not quite safe for anybody of mark to stay +away from these manifestations of presidential piety. Having thus +acknowledged the only power he was at all disposed to recognize as +above himself, he would scatter acts of political grace in a sardonic +wantonness of clemency. There was no other way left now to enjoy his +power but by seeing his crushed adversaries crawl impotently into the +light of day out of the dark, noisome cells of the Collegio. Their +harmlessness fed his insatiable vanity, and they could always be got +hold of again. It was the rule for all the women of their families to +present thanks afterwards in a special audience. The incarnation of that +strange god, El Gobierno Supremo, received them standing, cocked hat on +head, and exhorted them in a menacing mutter to show their gratitude +by bringing up their children in fidelity to the democratic form of +government, "which I have established for the happiness of our country." +His front teeth having been knocked out in some accident of his former +herdsman's life, his utterance was spluttering and indistinct. He +had been working for Costaguana alone in the midst of treachery and +opposition. Let it cease now lest he should become weary of forgiving! + +Don Jose Avellanos had known this forgiveness. + +He was broken in health and fortune deplorably enough to present a truly +gratifying spectacle to the supreme chief of democratic institutions. +He retired to Sulaco. His wife had an estate in that province, and she +nursed him back to life out of the house of death and captivity. When +she died, their daughter, an only child, was old enough to devote +herself to "poor papa." + +Miss Avellanos, born in Europe and educated partly in England, was a +tall, grave girl, with a self-possessed manner, a wide, white forehead, +a wealth of rich brown hair, and blue eyes. + +The other young ladies of Sulaco stood in awe of her character and +accomplishments. She was reputed to be terribly learned and serious. As +to pride, it was well known that all the Corbelans were proud, and her +mother was a Corbelan. Don Jose Avellanos depended very much upon the +devotion of his beloved Antonia. He accepted it in the benighted way of +men, who, though made in God's image, are like stone idols without sense +before the smoke of certain burnt offerings. He was ruined in every +way, but a man possessed of passion is not a bankrupt in life. Don Jose +Avellanos desired passionately for his country: peace, prosperity, +and (as the end of the preface to "Fifty Years of Misrule" has it) +"an honourable place in the comity of civilized nations." In this last +phrase the Minister Plenipotentiary, cruelly humiliated by the bad faith +of his Government towards the foreign bondholders, stands disclosed in +the patriot. + +The fatuous turmoil of greedy factions succeeding the tyranny of Guzman +Bento seemed to bring his desire to the very door of opportunity. He +was too old to descend personally into the centre of the arena at Sta. +Marta. But the men who acted there sought his advice at every step. He +himself thought that he could be most useful at a distance, in Sulaco. +His name, his connections, his former position, his experience commanded +the respect of his class. The discovery that this man, living in +dignified poverty in the Corbelan town residence (opposite the Casa +Gould), could dispose of material means towards the support of the cause +increased his influence. It was his open letter of appeal that decided +the candidature of Don Vincente Ribiera for the Presidency. Another of +these informal State papers drawn up by Don Jose (this time in the +shape of an address from the Province) induced that scrupulous +constitutionalist to accept the extraordinary powers conferred upon him +for five years by an overwhelming vote of congress in Sta. Marta. It +was a specific mandate to establish the prosperity of the people on the +basis of firm peace at home, and to redeem the national credit by the +satisfaction of all just claims abroad. + +On the afternoon the news of that vote had reached Sulaco by the usual +roundabout postal way through Cayta, and up the coast by steamer. Don +Jose, who had been waiting for the mail in the Goulds' drawing-room, got +out of the rocking-chair, letting his hat fall off his knees. He rubbed +his silvery, short hair with both hands, speechless with the excess of +joy. + +"Emilia, my soul," he had burst out, "let me embrace you! Let me--" + +Captain Mitchell, had he been there, would no doubt have made an apt +remark about the dawn of a new era; but if Don Jose thought something +of the kind, his eloquence failed him on this occasion. The inspirer +of that revival of the Blanco party tottered where he stood. Mrs. Gould +moved forward quickly and, as she offered her cheek with a smile to her +old friend, managed very cleverly to give him the support of her arm he +really needed. + +Don Jose had recovered himself at once, but for a time he could do no +more than murmur, "Oh, you two patriots! Oh, you two patriots!"--looking +from one to the other. Vague plans of another historical work, wherein +all the devotions to the regeneration of the country he loved would be +enshrined for the reverent worship of posterity, flitted through his +mind. The historian who had enough elevation of soul to write of Guzman +Bento: "Yet this monster, imbrued in the blood of his countrymen, must +not be held unreservedly to the execration of future years. It appears +to be true that he, too, loved his country. He had given it twelve years +of peace; and, absolute master of lives and fortunes as he was, he +died poor. His worst fault, perhaps, was not his ferocity, but his +ignorance;" the man who could write thus of a cruel persecutor (the +passage occurs in his "History of Misrule") felt at the foreshadowing of +success an almost boundless affection for his two helpers, for these two +young people from over the sea. + +Just as years ago, calmly, from the conviction of practical necessity, +stronger than any abstract political doctrine, Henry Gould had drawn +the sword, so now, the times being changed, Charles Gould had flung +the silver of the San Tome into the fray. The Inglez of Sulaco, the +"Costaguana Englishman" of the third generation, was as far from being +a political intriguer as his uncle from a revolutionary swashbuckler. +Springing from the instinctive uprightness of their natures their action +was reasoned. They saw an opportunity and used the weapon to hand. + +Charles Gould's position--a commanding position in the background of +that attempt to retrieve the peace and the credit of the Republic--was +very clear. At the beginning he had had to accommodate himself to +existing circumstances of corruption so naively brazen as to disarm the +hate of a man courageous enough not to be afraid of its irresponsible +potency to ruin everything it touched. It seemed to him too contemptible +for hot anger even. He made use of it with a cold, fearless scorn, +manifested rather than concealed by the forms of stony courtesy which +did away with much of the ignominy of the situation. At bottom, perhaps, +he suffered from it, for he was not a man of cowardly illusions, but +he refused to discuss the ethical view with his wife. He trusted +that, though a little disenchanted, she would be intelligent enough to +understand that his character safeguarded the enterprise of their lives +as much or more than his policy. The extraordinary development of the +mine had put a great power into his hands. To feel that prosperity +always at the mercy of unintelligent greed had grown irksome to him. +To Mrs. Gould it was humiliating. At any rate, it was dangerous. In the +confidential communications passing between Charles Gould, the King +of Sulaco, and the head of the silver and steel interests far away in +California, the conviction was growing that any attempt made by men of +education and integrity ought to be discreetly supported. "You may tell +your friend Avellanos that I think so," Mr. Holroyd had written at the +proper moment from his inviolable sanctuary within the eleven-storey +high factory of great affairs. And shortly afterwards, with a credit +opened by the Third Southern Bank (located next door but one to the +Holroyd Building), the Ribierist party in Costaguana took a practical +shape under the eye of the administrator of the San Tome mine. And Don +Jose, the hereditary friend of the Gould family, could say: "Perhaps, my +dear Carlos, I shall not have believed in vain." + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +After another armed struggle, decided by Montero's victory of Rio Seco, +had been added to the tale of civil wars, the "honest men," as Don Jose +called them, could breathe freely for the first time in half a century. +The Five-Year-Mandate law became the basis of that regeneration, +the passionate desire and hope for which had been like the elixir of +everlasting youth for Don Jose Avellanos. + +And when it was suddenly--and not quite unexpectedly--endangered by that +"brute Montero," it was a passionate indignation that gave him a +new lease of life, as it were. Already, at the time of the +President-Dictator's visit to Sulaco, Moraga had sounded a note of +warning from Sta. Marta about the War Minister. Montero and his brother +made the subject of an earnest talk between the Dictator-President +and the Nestor-inspirer of the party. But Don Vincente, a doctor of +philosophy from the Cordova University, seemed to have an exaggerated +respect for military ability, whose mysteriousness--since it appeared +to be altogether independent of intellect--imposed upon his imagination. +The victor of Rio Seco was a popular hero. His services were so recent +that the President-Dictator quailed before the obvious charge of +political ingratitude. Great regenerating transactions were being +initiated--the fresh loan, a new railway line, a vast colonization +scheme. Anything that could unsettle the public opinion in the capital +was to be avoided. Don Jose bowed to these arguments and tried to +dismiss from his mind the gold-laced portent in boots, and with a sabre, +made meaningless now at last, he hoped, in the new order of things. + +Less than six months after the President-Dictator's visit, Sulaco +learned with stupefaction of the military revolt in the name of national +honour. The Minister of War, in a barrack-square allocution to the +officers of the artillery regiment he had been inspecting, had declared +the national honour sold to foreigners. The Dictator, by his weak +compliance with the demands of the European powers--for the settlement +of long outstanding money claims--had showed himself unfit to rule. A +letter from Moraga explained afterwards that the initiative, and even +the very text, of the incendiary allocution came, in reality, from +the other Montero, the ex-guerillero, the _Commandante de Plaza_. +The energetic treatment of Dr. Monygham, sent for in haste "to the +mountain," who came galloping three leagues in the dark, saved Don Jose +from a dangerous attack of jaundice. + +After getting over the shock, Don Jose refused to let himself be +prostrated. Indeed, better news succeeded at first. The revolt in the +capital had been suppressed after a night of fighting in the streets. +Unfortunately, both the Monteros had been able to make their escape +south, to their native province of Entre-Montes. The hero of the +forest march, the victor of Rio Seco, had been received with frenzied +acclamations in Nicoya, the provincial capital. The troops in garrison +there had gone to him in a body. The brothers were organizing an army, +gathering malcontents, sending emissaries primed with patriotic lies to +the people, and with promises of plunder to the wild llaneros. Even +a Monterist press had come into existence, speaking oracularly of the +secret promises of support given by "our great sister Republic of the +North" against the sinister land-grabbing designs of European powers, +cursing in every issue the "miserable Ribiera," who had plotted +to deliver his country, bound hand and foot, for a prey to foreign +speculators. + +Sulaco, pastoral and sleepy, with its opulent Campo and the rich silver +mine, heard the din of arms fitfully in its fortunate isolation. It was +nevertheless in the very forefront of the defence with men and money; +but the very rumours reached it circuitously--from abroad even, so +much was it cut off from the rest of the Republic, not only by natural +obstacles, but also by the vicissitudes of the war. The Monteristos were +besieging Cayta, an important postal link. The overland couriers ceased +to come across the mountains, and no muleteer would consent to risk the +journey at last; even Bonifacio on one occasion failed to return from +Sta. Marta, either not daring to start, or perhaps captured by the +parties of the enemy raiding the country between the Cordillera and +the capital. Monterist publications, however, found their way into the +province, mysteriously enough; and also Monterist emissaries preaching +death to aristocrats in the villages and towns of the Campo. Very early, +at the beginning of the trouble, Hernandez, the bandit, had proposed +(through the agency of an old priest of a village in the wilds) to +deliver two of them to the Ribierist authorities in Tonoro. They had +come to offer him a free pardon and the rank of colonel from General +Montero in consideration of joining the rebel army with his mounted +band. No notice was taken at the time of the proposal. It was joined, as +an evidence of good faith, to a petition praying the Sulaco Assembly for +permission to enlist, with all his followers, in the forces being +then raised in Sulaco for the defence of the Five-Year Mandate of +regeneration. The petition, like everything else, had found its way +into Don Jose's hands. He had showed to Mrs. Gould these pages of +dirty-greyish rough paper (perhaps looted in some village store), +covered with the crabbed, illiterate handwriting of the old padre, +carried off from his hut by the side of a mud-walled church to be the +secretary of the dreaded Salteador. They had both bent in the lamplight +of the Gould drawing-room over the document containing the fierce and +yet humble appeal of the man against the blind and stupid barbarity +turning an honest ranchero into a bandit. A postscript of the priest +stated that, but for being deprived of his liberty for ten days, he had +been treated with humanity and the respect due to his sacred calling. He +had been, it appears, confessing and absolving the chief and most of the +band, and he guaranteed the sincerity of their good disposition. He had +distributed heavy penances, no doubt in the way of litanies and fasts; +but he argued shrewdly that it would be difficult for them to make their +peace with God durably till they had made peace with men. + +Never before, perhaps, had Hernandez's head been in less jeopardy than +when he petitioned humbly for permission to buy a pardon for himself +and his gang of deserters by armed service. He could range afar from the +waste lands protecting his fastness, unchecked, because there were no +troops left in the whole province. The usual garrison of Sulaco had gone +south to the war, with its brass band playing the Bolivar march on the +bridge of one of the O.S.N. Company's steamers. The great family coaches +drawn up along the shore of the harbour were made to rock on the high +leathern springs by the enthusiasm of the senoras and the senoritas +standing up to wave their lace handkerchiefs, as lighter after lighter +packed full of troops left the end of the jetty. + +Nostromo directed the embarkation, under the superintendendence +of Captain Mitchell, red-faced in the sun, conspicuous in a white +waistcoat, representing the allied and anxious goodwill of all the +material interests of civilization. General Barrios, who commanded the +troops, assured Don Jose on parting that in three weeks he would have +Montero in a wooden cage drawn by three pair of oxen ready for a tour +through all the towns of the Republic. + +"And then, senora," he continued, baring his curly iron-grey head to +Mrs. Gould in her landau--"and then, senora, we shall convert our swords +into plough-shares and grow rich. Even I, myself, as soon as this little +business is settled, shall open a fundacion on some land I have on the +llanos and try to make a little money in peace and quietness. Senora, +you know, all Costaguana knows--what do I say?--this whole South +American continent knows, that Pablo Barrios has had his fill of +military glory." + +Charles Gould was not present at the anxious and patriotic send-off. It +was not his part to see the soldiers embark. It was neither his part, +nor his inclination, nor his policy. His part, his inclination, and +his policy were united in one endeavour to keep unchecked the flow of +treasure he had started single-handed from the re-opened scar in the +flank of the mountain. As the mine developed he had trained for himself +some native help. There were foremen, artificers and clerks, with Don +Pepe for the gobernador of the mining population. For the rest his +shoulders alone sustained the whole weight of the "Imperium in Imperio," +the great Gould Concession whose mere shadow had been enough to crush +the life out of his father. + +Mrs. Gould had no silver mine to look after. In the general life of the +Gould Concession she was represented by her two lieutenants, the doctor +and the priest, but she fed her woman's love of excitement on events +whose significance was purified to her by the fire of her imaginative +purpose. On that day she had brought the Avellanos, father and daughter, +down to the harbour with her. + +Amongst his other activities of that stirring time, Don Jose had become +the chairman of a Patriotic Committee which had armed a great proportion +of troops in the Sulaco command with an improved model of a military +rifle. It had been just discarded for something still more deadly by +one of the great European powers. How much of the market-price for +second-hand weapons was covered by the voluntary contributions of the +principal families, and how much came from those funds Don Jose was +understood to command abroad, remained a secret which he alone could +have disclosed; but the Ricos, as the populace called them, had +contributed under the pressure of their Nestor's eloquence. Some of the +more enthusiastic ladies had been moved to bring offerings of jewels +into the hands of the man who was the life and soul of the party. + +There were moments when both his life and his soul seemed overtaxed +by so many years of undiscouraged belief in regeneration. He appeared +almost inanimate, sitting rigidly by the side of Mrs. Gould in the +landau, with his fine, old, clean-shaven face of a uniform tint as if +modelled in yellow wax, shaded by a soft felt hat, the dark eyes looking +out fixedly. Antonia, the beautiful Antonia, as Miss Avellanos was +called in Sulaco, leaned back, facing them; and her full figure, the +grave oval of her face with full red lips, made her look more mature +than Mrs. Gould, with her mobile expression and small, erect person +under a slightly swaying sunshade. + +Whenever possible Antonia attended her father; her recognized devotion +weakened the shocking effect of her scorn for the rigid conventions +regulating the life of Spanish-American girlhood. And, in truth, she was +no longer girlish. It was said that she often wrote State papers from +her father's dictation, and was allowed to read all the books in +his library. At the receptions--where the situation was saved by the +presence of a very decrepit old lady (a relation of the Corbelans), +quite deaf and motionless in an armchair--Antonia could hold her own in +a discussion with two or three men at a time. Obviously she was not the +girl to be content with peeping through a barred window at a cloaked +figure of a lover ensconced in a doorway opposite--which is the correct +form of Costaguana courtship. It was generally believed that with her +foreign upbringing and foreign ideas the learned and proud Antonia would +never marry--unless, indeed, she married a foreigner from Europe or +North America, now that Sulaco seemed on the point of being invaded by +all the world. + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +When General Barrios stopped to address Mrs. Gould, Antonia raised +negligently her hand holding an open fan, as if to shade from the sun +her head, wrapped in a light lace shawl. The clear gleam of her blue +eyes gliding behind the black fringe of eyelashes paused for a moment +upon her father, then travelled further to the figure of a young man +of thirty at most, of medium height, rather thick-set, wearing a light +overcoat. Bearing down with the open palm of his hand upon the knob of +a flexible cane, he had been looking on from a distance; but directly +he saw himself noticed, he approached quietly and put his elbow over the +door of the landau. + +The shirt collar, cut low in the neck, the big bow of his cravat, +the style of his clothing, from the round hat to the varnished shoes, +suggested an idea of French elegance; but otherwise he was the very type +of a fair Spanish creole. The fluffy moustache and the short, curly, +golden beard did not conceal his lips, rosy, fresh, almost pouting in +expression. His full, round face was of that warm, healthy creole white +which is never tanned by its native sunshine. Martin Decoud was seldom +exposed to the Costaguana sun under which he was born. His people had +been long settled in Paris, where he had studied law, had dabbled in +literature, had hoped now and then in moments of exaltation to become a +poet like that other foreigner of Spanish blood, Jose Maria Heredia. In +other moments he had, to pass the time, condescended to write articles +on European affairs for the Semenario, the principal newspaper in +Sta. Marta, which printed them under the heading "From our special +correspondent," though the authorship was an open secret. Everybody in +Costaguana, where the tale of compatriots in Europe is jealously kept, +knew that it was "the son Decoud," a talented young man, supposed to be +moving in the higher spheres of Society. As a matter of fact, he was an +idle boulevardier, in touch with some smart journalists, made free of a +few newspaper offices, and welcomed in the pleasure haunts of pressmen. +This life, whose dreary superficiality is covered by the glitter +of universal blague, like the stupid clowning of a harlequin by the +spangles of a motley costume, induced in him a Frenchified--but most +un-French--cosmopolitanism, in reality a mere barren indifferentism +posing as intellectual superiority. Of his own country he used to say to +his French associates: "Imagine an atmosphere of opera-bouffe in which +all the comic business of stage statesmen, brigands, etc., etc., all +their farcical stealing, intriguing, and stabbing is done in dead +earnest. It is screamingly funny, the blood flows all the time, and the +actors believe themselves to be influencing the fate of the universe. +Of course, government in general, any government anywhere, is a thing +of exquisite comicality to a discerning mind; but really we +Spanish-Americans do overstep the bounds. No man of ordinary +intelligence can take part in the intrigues of une farce macabre. +However, these Ribierists, of whom we hear so much just now, are really +trying in their own comical way to make the country habitable, and even +to pay some of its debts. My friends, you had better write up Senor +Ribiera all you can in kindness to your own bondholders. Really, if what +I am told in my letters is true, there is some chance for them at last." + +And he would explain with railing verve what Don Vincente Ribiera stood +for--a mournful little man oppressed by his own good intentions, the +significance of battles won, who Montero was (_un grotesque vaniteux +et feroce_), and the manner of the new loan connected with railway +development, and the colonization of vast tracts of land in one great +financial scheme. + +And his French friends would remark that evidently this little fellow +_Decoud connaissait la question a fond_. An important Parisian review +asked him for an article on the situation. It was composed in a +serious tone and in a spirit of levity. Afterwards he asked one of his +intimates-- + +"Have you read my thing about the regeneration of Costaguana--_une bonne +blague, hein_?" + +He imagined himself Parisian to the tips of his fingers. But far +from being that he was in danger of remaining a sort of nondescript +dilettante all his life. He had pushed the habit of universal raillery +to a point where it blinded him to the genuine impulses of his own +nature. To be suddenly selected for the executive member of the +patriotic small-arms committee of Sulaco seemed to him the height of +the unexpected, one of those fantastic moves of which only his "dear +countrymen" were capable. + +"It's like a tile falling on my head. I--I--executive member! It's +the first I hear of it! What do I know of military rifles? _C'est +funambulesque!_" he had exclaimed to his favourite sister; for the Decoud +family--except the old father and mother--used the French language +amongst themselves. "And you should see the explanatory and confidential +letter! Eight pages of it--no less!" + +This letter, in Antonia's handwriting, was signed by Don Jose, who +appealed to the "young and gifted Costaguanero" on public grounds, and +privately opened his heart to his talented god-son, a man of wealth +and leisure, with wide relations, and by his parentage and bringing-up +worthy of all confidence. + +"Which means," Martin commented, cynically, to his sister, "that I am +not likely to misappropriate the funds, or go blabbing to our _Charge +d'Affaires_ here." + +The whole thing was being carried out behind the back of the War +Minister, Montero, a mistrusted member of the Ribiera Government, but +difficult to get rid of at once. He was not to know anything of it till +the troops under Barrios's command had the new rifle in their hands. The +President-Dictator, whose position was very difficult, was alone in the +secret. + +"How funny!" commented Martin's sister and confidante; to which the +brother, with an air of best Parisian blague, had retorted: + +"It's immense! The idea of that Chief of the State engaged, with the +help of private citizens, in digging a mine under his own indispensable +War Minister. No! We are unapproachable!" And he laughed immoderately. + +Afterwards his sister was surprised at the earnestness and ability +he displayed in carrying out his mission, which circumstances made +delicate, and his want of special knowledge rendered difficult. She had +never seen Martin take so much trouble about anything in his whole life. + +"It amuses me," he had explained, briefly. "I am beset by a lot +of swindlers trying to sell all sorts of gaspipe weapons. They are +charming; they invite me to expensive luncheons; I keep up their hopes; +it's extremely entertaining. Meanwhile, the real affair is being carried +through in quite another quarter." + +When the business was concluded he declared suddenly his intention of +seeing the precious consignment delivered safely in Sulaco. The whole +burlesque business, he thought, was worth following up to the end. He +mumbled his excuses, tugging at his golden beard, before the acute young +lady who (after the first wide stare of astonishment) looked at him with +narrowed eyes, and pronounced slowly-- + +"I believe you want to see Antonia." + +"What Antonia?" asked the Costaguana boulevardier, in a vexed and +disdainful tone. He shrugged his shoulders, and spun round on his heel. +His sister called out after him joyously-- + +"The Antonia you used to know when she wore her hair in two plaits down +her back." + +He had known her some eight years since, shortly before the Avellanos +had left Europe for good, as a tall girl of sixteen, youthfully +austere, and of a character already so formed that she ventured to treat +slightingly his pose of disabused wisdom. On one occasion, as though she +had lost all patience, she flew out at him about the aimlessness of his +life and the levity of his opinions. He was twenty then, an only son, +spoiled by his adoring family. This attack disconcerted him so greatly +that he had faltered in his affectation of amused superiority before +that insignificant chit of a school-girl. But the impression left was so +strong that ever since all the girl friends of his sisters recalled to +him Antonia Avellanos by some faint resemblance, or by the great force +of contrast. It was, he told himself, like a ridiculous fatality. And, +of course, in the news the Decouds received regularly from Costaguana, +the name of their friends, the Avellanos, cropped up frequently--the +arrest and the abominable treatment of the ex-Minister, the dangers and +hardships endured by the family, its withdrawal in poverty to Sulaco, +the death of the mother. + +The Monterist pronunciamento had taken place before Martin Decoud +reached Costaguana. He came out in a roundabout way, through Magellan's +Straits by the main line and the West Coast Service of the O.S.N. +Company. His precious consignment arrived just in time to convert the +first feelings of consternation into a mood of hope and resolution. +Publicly he was made much of by the _familias principales_. Privately Don +Jose, still shaken and weak, embraced him with tears in his eyes. + +"You have come out yourself! No less could be expected from a Decoud. +Alas! our worst fears have been realized," he moaned, affectionately. +And again he hugged his god-son. This was indeed the time for men of +intellect and conscience to rally round the endangered cause. + +It was then that Martin Decoud, the adopted child of Western Europe, +felt the absolute change of atmosphere. He submitted to being embraced +and talked to without a word. He was moved in spite of himself by that +note of passion and sorrow unknown on the more refined stage of European +politics. But when the tall Antonia, advancing with her light step in +the dimness of the big bare Sala of the Avellanos house, offered him her +hand (in her emancipated way), and murmured, "I am glad to see you here, +Don Martin," he felt how impossible it would be to tell these two people +that he had intended to go away by the next month's packet. Don Jose, +meantime, continued his praises. Every accession added to public +confidence, and, besides, what an example to the young men at home +from the brilliant defender of the country's regeneration, the worthy +expounder of the party's political faith before the world! Everybody had +read the magnificent article in the famous Parisian Review. The world +was now informed: and the author's appearance at this moment was like +a public act of faith. Young Decoud felt overcome by a feeling of +impatient confusion. His plan had been to return by way of the United +States through California, visit Yellowstone Park, see Chicago, Niagara, +have a look at Canada, perhaps make a short stay in New York, a longer +one in Newport, use his letters of introduction. The pressure of +Antonia's hand was so frank, the tone of her voice was so unexpectedly +unchanged in its approving warmth, that all he found to say after his +low bow was-- + +"I am inexpressibly grateful for your welcome; but why need a man be +thanked for returning to his native country? I am sure Dona Antonia does +not think so." + +"Certainly not, senor," she said, with that perfectly calm openness of +manner which characterized all her utterances. "But when he returns, as +you return, one may be glad--for the sake of both." + +Martin Decoud said nothing of his plans. He not only never breathed a +word of them to any one, but only a fortnight later asked the mistress +of the Casa Gould (where he had of course obtained admission at once), +leaning forward in his chair with an air of well-bred familiarity, +whether she could not detect in him that day a marked change--an air, he +explained, of more excellent gravity. At this Mrs. Gould turned her face +full towards him with the silent inquiry of slightly widened eyes and +the merest ghost of a smile, an habitual movement with her, which +was very fascinating to men by something subtly devoted, finely +self-forgetful in its lively readiness of attention. Because, Decoud +continued imperturbably, he felt no longer an idle cumberer of the +earth. She was, he assured her, actually beholding at that moment the +Journalist of Sulaco. At once Mrs. Gould glanced towards Antonia, posed +upright in the corner of a high, straight-backed Spanish sofa, a large +black fan waving slowly against the curves of her fine figure, the tips +of crossed feet peeping from under the hem of the black skirt. Decoud's +eyes also remained fixed there, while in an undertone he added that Miss +Avellanos was quite aware of his new and unexpected vocation, which in +Costaguana was generally the speciality of half-educated negroes and +wholly penniless lawyers. Then, confronting with a sort of urbane +effrontery Mrs. Gould's gaze, now turned sympathetically upon himself, +he breathed out the words, "_Pro Patria!_" + +What had happened was that he had all at once yielded to Don Jose's +pressing entreaties to take the direction of a newspaper that would +"voice the aspirations of the province." It had been Don Jose's old +and cherished idea. The necessary plant (on a modest scale) and a large +consignment of paper had been received from America some time before; +the right man alone was wanted. Even Senor Moraga in Sta. Marta had not +been able to find one, and the matter was now becoming pressing; +some organ was absolutely needed to counteract the effect of the lies +disseminated by the Monterist press: the atrocious calumnies, the +appeals to the people calling upon them to rise with their knives in +their hands and put an end once for all to the Blancos, to these Gothic +remnants, to these sinister mummies, these impotent paraliticos, who +plotted with foreigners for the surrender of the lands and the slavery +of the people. + +The clamour of this Negro Liberalism frightened Senor Avellanos. A +newspaper was the only remedy. And now that the right man had been found +in Decoud, great black letters appeared painted between the windows +above the arcaded ground floor of a house on the Plaza. It was next to +Anzani's great emporium of boots, silks, ironware, muslins, wooden toys, +tiny silver arms, legs, heads, hearts (for ex-voto offerings), rosaries, +champagne, women's hats, patent medicines, even a few dusty books in +paper covers and mostly in the French language. The big black letters +formed the words, "Offices of the Porvenir." From these offices a single +folded sheet of Martin's journalism issued three times a week; and +the sleek yellow Anzani prowling in a suit of ample black and carpet +slippers, before the many doors of his establishment, greeted by a deep, +side-long inclination of his body the Journalist of Sulaco going to and +fro on the business of his august calling. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +Perhaps it was in the exercise of his calling that he had come to see +the troops depart. The Porvenir of the day after next would no doubt +relate the event, but its editor, leaning his side against the landau, +seemed to look at nothing. The front rank of the company of infantry +drawn up three deep across the shore end of the jetty when pressed too +close would bring their bayonets to the charge ferociously, with an +awful rattle; and then the crowd of spectators swayed back bodily, +even under the noses of the big white mules. Notwithstanding the great +multitude there was only a low, muttering noise; the dust hung in a +brown haze, in which the horsemen, wedged in the throng here and there, +towered from the hips upwards, gazing all one way over the heads. Almost +every one of them had mounted a friend, who steadied himself with both +hands grasping his shoulders from behind; and the rims of their hats +touching, made like one disc sustaining the cones of two pointed crowns +with a double face underneath. A hoarse mozo would bawl out something to +an acquaintance in the ranks, or a woman would shriek suddenly the word +Adios! followed by the Christian name of a man. + +General Barrios, in a shabby blue tunic and white peg-top trousers +falling upon strange red boots, kept his head uncovered and stooped +slightly, propping himself up with a thick stick. No! He had earned +enough military glory to satiate any man, he insisted to Mrs. Gould, +trying at the same time to put an air of gallantry into his attitude. A +few jetty hairs hung sparsely from his upper lip, he had a salient nose, +a thin, long jaw, and a black silk patch over one eye. His other eye, +small and deep-set, twinkled erratically in all directions, aimlessly +affable. The few European spectators, all men, who had naturally drifted +into the neighbourhood of the Gould carriage, betrayed by the solemnity +of their faces their impression that the general must have had too much +punch (Swedish punch, imported in bottles by Anzani) at the Amarilla +Club before he had started with his Staff on a furious ride to the +harbour. But Mrs. Gould bent forward, self-possessed, and declared her +conviction that still more glory awaited the general in the near future. + +"Senora!" he remonstrated, with great feeling, "in the name of God, +reflect! How can there be any glory for a man like me in overcoming that +bald-headed embustero with the dyed moustaches?" + +Pablo Ignacio Barrios, son of a village alcalde, general of division, +commanding in chief the Occidental Military district, did not frequent +the higher society of the town. He preferred the unceremonious +gatherings of men where he could tell jaguar-hunt stories, boast of his +powers with the lasso, with which he could perform extremely difficult +feats of the sort "no married man should attempt," as the saying +goes amongst the llaneros; relate tales of extraordinary night rides, +encounters with wild bulls, struggles with crocodiles, adventures in +the great forests, crossings of swollen rivers. And it was not mere +boastfulness that prompted the general's reminiscences, but a genuine +love of that wild life which he had led in his young days before he +turned his back for ever on the thatched roof of the parental tolderia +in the woods. Wandering away as far as Mexico he had fought against the +French by the side (as he said) of Juarez, and was the only military +man of Costaguana who had ever encountered European troops in the field. +That fact shed a great lustre upon his name till it became eclipsed +by the rising star of Montero. All his life he had been an inveterate +gambler. He alluded himself quite openly to the current story how once, +during some campaign (when in command of a brigade), he had gambled away +his horses, pistols, and accoutrements, to the very epaulettes, playing +monte with his colonels the night before the battle. Finally, he had +sent under escort his sword (a presentation sword, with a gold hilt) to +the town in the rear of his position to be immediately pledged for five +hundred pesetas with a sleepy and frightened shop-keeper. By daybreak he +had lost the last of that money, too, when his only remark, as he rose +calmly, was, "Now let us go and fight to the death." From that time he +had become aware that a general could lead his troops into battle +very well with a simple stick in his hand. "It has been my custom ever +since," he would say. + +He was always overwhelmed with debts; even during the periods of +splendour in his varied fortunes of a Costaguana general, when he held +high military commands, his gold-laced uniforms were almost always +in pawn with some tradesman. And at last, to avoid the incessant +difficulties of costume caused by the anxious lenders, he had assumed +a disdain of military trappings, an eccentric fashion of shabby old +tunics, which had become like a second nature. But the faction Barrios +joined needed to fear no political betrayal. He was too much of a real +soldier for the ignoble traffic of buying and selling victories. A +member of the foreign diplomatic body in Sta. Marta had once passed a +judgment upon him: "Barrios is a man of perfect honesty and even of +some talent for war, _mais il manque de tenue_." After the triumph of the +Ribierists he had obtained the reputedly lucrative Occidental +command, mainly through the exertions of his creditors (the Sta. Marta +shopkeepers, all great politicians), who moved heaven and earth in his +interest publicly, and privately besieged Senor Moraga, the influential +agent of the San Tome mine, with the exaggerated lamentations that if +the general were passed over, "We shall all be ruined." An incidental +but favourable mention of his name in Mr. Gould senior's long +correspondence with his son had something to do with his appointment, +too; but most of all undoubtedly his established political honesty. No +one questioned the personal bravery of the Tiger-killer, as the populace +called him. He was, however, said to be unlucky in the field--but this +was to be the beginning of an era of peace. The soldiers liked him +for his humane temper, which was like a strange and precious flower +unexpectedly blooming on the hotbed of corrupt revolutions; and when +he rode slowly through the streets during some military display, the +contemptuous good humour of his solitary eye roaming over the crowds +extorted the acclamations of the populace. The women of that class +especially seemed positively fascinated by the long drooping nose, +the peaked chin, the heavy lower lip, the black silk eyepatch and band +slanting rakishly over the forehead. His high rank always procured an +audience of Caballeros for his sporting stories, which he detailed very +well with a simple, grave enjoyment. As to the society of ladies, it was +irksome by the restraints it imposed without any equivalent, as far as +he could see. He had not, perhaps, spoken three times on the whole to +Mrs. Gould since he had taken up his high command; but he had observed +her frequently riding with the Senor Administrador, and had pronounced +that there was more sense in her little bridle-hand than in all the +female heads in Sulaco. His impulse had been to be very civil on parting +to a woman who did not wobble in the saddle, and happened to be the wife +of a personality very important to a man always short of money. He even +pushed his attentions so far as to desire the aide-de-camp at his side +(a thick-set, short captain with a Tartar physiognomy) to bring along a +corporal with a file of men in front of the carriage, lest the crowd in +its backward surges should "incommode the mules of the senora." Then, +turning to the small knot of silent Europeans looking on within earshot, +he raised his voice protectingly-- + +"Senores, have no apprehension. Go on quietly making your Ferro +Carril--your railways, your telegraphs. Your--There's enough wealth in +Costaguana to pay for everything--or else you would not be here. Ha! ha! +Don't mind this little picardia of my friend Montero. In a little while +you shall behold his dyed moustaches through the bars of a strong wooden +cage. Si, senores! Fear nothing, develop the country, work, work!" + +The little group of engineers received this exhortation without a word, +and after waving his hand at them loftily, he addressed himself again to +Mrs. Gould-- + +"That is what Don Jose says we must do. Be enterprising! Work! Grow +rich! To put Montero in a cage is my work; and when that insignificant +piece of business is done, then, as Don Jose wishes us, we shall grow +rich, one and all, like so many Englishmen, because it is money that +saves a country, and--" + +But a young officer in a very new uniform, hurrying up from the +direction of the jetty, interrupted his interpretation of Senor +Avellanos's ideals. The general made a movement of impatience; the other +went on talking to him insistently, with an air of respect. The horses +of the Staff had been embarked, the steamer's gig was awaiting the +general at the boat steps; and Barrios, after a fierce stare of his one +eye, began to take leave. Don Jose roused himself for an appropriate +phrase pronounced mechanically. The terrible strain of hope and fear was +telling on him, and he seemed to husband the last sparks of his fire for +those oratorical efforts of which even the distant Europe was to hear. +Antonia, her red lips firmly closed, averted her head behind the raised +fan; and young Decoud, though he felt the girl's eyes upon him, gazed +away persistently, hooked on his elbow, with a scornful and complete +detachment. Mrs. Gould heroically concealed her dismay at the appearance +of men and events so remote from her racial conventions, dismay too deep +to be uttered in words even to her husband. She understood his voiceless +reserve better now. Their confidential intercourse fell, not in moments +of privacy, but precisely in public, when the quick meeting of their +glances would comment upon some fresh turn of events. She had gone to +his school of uncompromising silence, the only one possible, since so +much that seemed shocking, weird, and grotesque in the working out of +their purposes had to be accepted as normal in this country. Decidedly, +the stately Antonia looked more mature and infinitely calm; but she +would never have known how to reconcile the sudden sinkings of her heart +with an amiable mobility of expression. + +Mrs. Gould smiled a good-bye at Barrios, nodded round to the Europeans +(who raised their hats simultaneously) with an engaging invitation, "I +hope to see you all presently, at home"; then said nervously to Decoud, +"Get in, Don Martin," and heard him mutter to himself in French, as he +opened the carriage door, "_Le sort en est jete_." She heard him with a +sort of exasperation. Nobody ought to have known better than himself +that the first cast of dice had been already thrown long ago in a most +desperate game. Distant acclamations, words of command yelled out, and a +roll of drums on the jetty greeted the departing general. Something like +a slight faintness came over her, and she looked blankly at Antonia's +still face, wondering what would happen to Charley if that absurd man +failed. "A la casa, Ignacio," she cried at the motionless broad back of +the coachman, who gathered the reins without haste, mumbling to himself +under his breath, "Si, la casa. Si, si nina." + +The carriage rolled noiselessly on the soft track, the shadows fell +long on the dusty little plain interspersed with dark bushes, mounds +of turned-up earth, low wooden buildings with iron roofs of the Railway +Company; the sparse row of telegraph poles strode obliquely clear of +the town, bearing a single, almost invisible wire far into the great +campo--like a slender, vibrating feeler of that progress waiting outside +for a moment of peace to enter and twine itself about the weary heart of +the land. + +The cafe window of the Albergo d'ltalia Una was full of sunburnt, +whiskered faces of railway men. But at the other end of the house, the +end of the Signori Inglesi, old Giorgio, at the door with one of his +girls on each side, bared his bushy head, as white as the snows of +Higuerota. Mrs. Gould stopped the carriage. She seldom failed to speak +to her protege; moreover, the excitement, the heat, and the dust had +made her thirsty. She asked for a glass of water. Giorgio sent the +children indoors for it, and approached with pleasure expressed in his +whole rugged countenance. It was not often that he had occasion to see +his benefactress, who was also an Englishwoman--another title to his +regard. He offered some excuses for his wife. It was a bad day with her; +her oppressions--he tapped his own broad chest. She could not move from +her chair that day. + +Decoud, ensconced in the corner of his seat, observed gloomily Mrs. +Gould's old revolutionist, then, offhand-- + +"Well, and what do you think of it all, Garibaldino?" + +Old Giorgio, looking at him with some curiosity, said civilly that the +troops had marched very well. One-eyed Barrios and his officers had done +wonders with the recruits in a short time. Those Indios, only caught +the other day, had gone swinging past in double quick time, like +bersaglieri; they looked well fed, too, and had whole uniforms. +"Uniforms!" he repeated with a half-smile of pity. A look of grim +retrospect stole over his piercing, steady eyes. It had been otherwise +in his time when men fought against tyranny, in the forests of Brazil, +or on the plains of Uruguay, starving on half-raw beef without salt, +half naked, with often only a knife tied to a stick for a weapon. "And +yet we used to prevail against the oppressor," he concluded, proudly. + +His animation fell; the slight gesture of his hand expressed +discouragement; but he added that he had asked one of the sergeants to +show him the new rifle. There was no such weapon in his fighting days; +and if Barrios could not-- + +"Yes, yes," broke in Don Jose, almost trembling with eagerness. "We are +safe. The good Senor Viola is a man of experience. Extremely deadly--is +it not so? You have accomplished your mission admirably, my dear +Martin." + +Decoud, lolling back moodily, contemplated old Viola. + +"Ah! Yes. A man of experience. But who are you for, really, in your +heart?" + +Mrs. Gould leaned over to the children. Linda had brought out a glass of +water on a tray, with extreme care; Giselle presented her with a bunch +of flowers gathered hastily. + +"For the people," declared old Viola, sternly. + +"We are all for the people--in the end." + +"Yes," muttered old Viola, savagely. "And meantime they fight for you. +Blind. Esclavos!" + +At that moment young Scarfe of the railway staff emerged from the +door of the part reserved for the Signori Inglesi. He had come down to +headquarters from somewhere up the line on a light engine, and had had +just time to get a bath and change his clothes. He was a nice boy, and +Mrs. Gould welcomed him. + +"It's a delightful surprise to see you, Mrs. Gould. I've just come down. +Usual luck. Missed everything, of course. This show is just over, and I +hear there has been a great dance at Don Juste Lopez's last night. Is it +true?" + +"The young patricians," Decoud began suddenly in his precise English, +"have indeed been dancing before they started off to the war with the +Great Pompey." + +Young Scarfe stared, astounded. "You haven't met before," Mrs. Gould +intervened. "Mr. Decoud--Mr. Scarfe." + +"Ah! But we are not going to Pharsalia," protested Don Jose, with +nervous haste, also in English. "You should not jest like this, Martin." + +Antonia's breast rose and fell with a deeper breath. The young engineer +was utterly in the dark. "Great what?" he muttered, vaguely. + +"Luckily, Montero is not a Caesar," Decoud continued. "Not the two +Monteros put together would make a decent parody of a Caesar." He +crossed his arms on his breast, looking at Senor Avellanos, who had +returned to his immobility. "It is only you, Don Jose, who are a genuine +old Roman--vir Romanus--eloquent and inflexible." + +Since he had heard the name of Montero pronounced, young Scarfe had been +eager to express his simple feelings. In a loud and youthful tone he +hoped that this Montero was going to be licked once for all and done +with. There was no saying what would happen to the railway if the +revolution got the upper hand. Perhaps it would have to be abandoned. +It would not be the first railway gone to pot in Costaguana. "You know, +it's one of their so-called national things," he ran on, wrinkling +up his nose as if the word had a suspicious flavour to his profound +experience of South American affairs. And, of course, he chatted with +animation, it had been such an immense piece of luck for him at his +age to get appointed on the staff "of a big thing like that--don't you +know." It would give him the pull over a lot of chaps all through life, +he asserted. "Therefore--down with Montero! Mrs. Gould." His artless +grin disappeared slowly before the unanimous gravity of the faces turned +upon him from the carriage; only that "old chap," Don Jose, presenting a +motionless, waxy profile, stared straight on as if deaf. Scarfe did not +know the Avellanos very well. They did not give balls, and Antonia never +appeared at a ground-floor window, as some other young ladies used to do +attended by elder women, to chat with the caballeros on horseback in +the Calle. The stares of these creoles did not matter much; but what on +earth had come to Mrs. Gould? She said, "Go on, Ignacio," and gave him +a slow inclination of the head. He heard a short laugh from that +round-faced, Frenchified fellow. He coloured up to the eyes, and stared +at Giorgio Viola, who had fallen back with the children, hat in hand. + +"I shall want a horse presently," he said with some asperity to the old +man. + +"Si, senor. There are plenty of horses," murmured the Garibaldino, +smoothing absently, with his brown hands, the two heads, one dark with +bronze glints, the other fair with a coppery ripple, of the two girls by +his side. The returning stream of sightseers raised a great dust on the +road. Horsemen noticed the group. "Go to your mother," he said. "They +are growing up as I am growing older, and there is nobody--" + +He looked at the young engineer and stopped, as if awakened from a +dream; then, folding his arms on his breast, took up his usual position, +leaning back in the doorway with an upward glance fastened on the white +shoulder of Higuerota far away. + +In the carriage Martin Decoud, shifting his position as though he could +not make himself comfortable, muttered as he swayed towards Antonia, "I +suppose you hate me." Then in a loud voice he began to congratulate Don +Jose upon all the engineers being convinced Ribierists. The interest of +all those foreigners was gratifying. "You have heard this one. He is an +enlightened well-wisher. It is pleasant to think that the prosperity of +Costaguana is of some use to the world." + +"He is very young," Mrs. Gould remarked, quietly. + +"And so very wise for his age," retorted Decoud. "But here we have the +naked truth from the mouth of that child. You are right, Don Jose. The +natural treasures of Costaguana are of importance to the progressive +Europe represented by this youth, just as three hundred years ago +the wealth of our Spanish fathers was a serious object to the rest +of Europe--as represented by the bold buccaneers. There is a curse of +futility upon our character: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, chivalry and +materialism, high-sounding sentiments and a supine morality, violent +efforts for an idea and a sullen acquiescence in every form of +corruption. We convulsed a continent for our independence only to +become the passive prey of a democratic parody, the helpless victims +of scoundrels and cut-throats, our institutions a mockery, our laws a +farce--a Guzman Bento our master! And we have sunk so low that when +a man like you has awakened our conscience, a stupid barbarian of a +Montero--Great Heavens! a Montero!--becomes a deadly danger, and an +ignorant, boastful Indio, like Barrios, is our defender." + +But Don Jose, disregarding the general indictment as though he had +not heard a word of it, took up the defence of Barrios. The man was +competent enough for his special task in the plan of campaign. It +consisted in an offensive movement, with Cayta as base, upon the flank +of the Revolutionist forces advancing from the south against Sta. Marta, +which was covered by another army with the President-Dictator in its +midst. Don Jose became quite animated with a great flow of speech, +bending forward anxiously under the steady eyes of his daughter. Decoud, +as if silenced by so much ardour, did not make a sound. The bells of the +city were striking the hour of Oracion when the carriage rolled under +the old gateway facing the harbour like a shapeless monument of leaves +and stones. The rumble of wheels under the sonorous arch was traversed +by a strange, piercing shriek, and Decoud, from his back seat, had a +view of the people behind the carriage trudging along the road outside, +all turning their heads, in sombreros and rebozos, to look at a +locomotive which rolled quickly out of sight behind Giorgio Viola's +house, under a white trail of steam that seemed to vanish in the +breathless, hysterically prolonged scream of warlike triumph. And it +was all like a fleeting vision, the shrieking ghost of a railway engine +fleeing across the frame of the archway, behind the startled movement +of the people streaming back from a military spectacle with silent +footsteps on the dust of the road. It was a material train returning +from the Campo to the palisaded yards. The empty cars rolled lightly +on the single track; there was no rumble of wheels, no tremor of the +ground. The engine-driver, running past the Casa Viola with the salute +of an uplifted arm, checked his speed smartly before entering the yard; +and when the ear-splitting screech of the steam-whistle for the brakes +had stopped, a series of hard, battering shocks, mingled with the +clanking of chain-couplings, made a tumult of blows and shaken fetters +under the vault of the gate. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +The Gould carriage was the first to return from the harbour to the empty +town. On the ancient pavement, laid out in patterns, sunk into ruts and +holes, the portly Ignacio, mindful of the springs of the Parisian-built +landau, had pulled up to a walk, and Decoud in his corner contemplated +moodily the inner aspect of the gate. The squat turreted sides held up +between them a mass of masonry with bunches of grass growing at the top, +and a grey, heavily scrolled, armorial shield of stone above the apex of +the arch with the arms of Spain nearly smoothed out as if in readiness +for some new device typical of the impending progress. + +The explosive noise of the railway trucks seemed to augment Decoud's +irritation. He muttered something to himself, then began to talk aloud +in curt, angry phrases thrown at the silence of the two women. They did +not look at him at all; while Don Jose, with his semi-translucent, waxy +complexion, overshadowed by the soft grey hat, swayed a little to the +jolts of the carriage by the side of Mrs. Gould. + +"This sound puts a new edge on a very old truth." + +Decoud spoke in French, perhaps because of Ignacio on the box above him; +the old coachman, with his broad back filling a short, silver-braided +jacket, had a big pair of ears, whose thick rims stood well away from +his cropped head. + +"Yes, the noise outside the city wall is new, but the principle is old." + +He ruminated his discontent for a while, then began afresh with a +sidelong glance at Antonia-- + +"No, but just imagine our forefathers in morions and corselets drawn +up outside this gate, and a band of adventurers just landed from their +ships in the harbour there. Thieves, of course. Speculators, too. Their +expeditions, each one, were the speculations of grave and reverend +persons in England. That is history, as that absurd sailor Mitchell is +always saying." + +"Mitchell's arrangements for the embarkation of the troops were +excellent!" exclaimed Don Jose. + +"That!--that! oh, that's really the work of that Genoese seaman! But +to return to my noises; there used to be in the old days the sound of +trumpets outside that gate. War trumpets! I'm sure they were trumpets. I +have read somewhere that Drake, who was the greatest of these men, used +to dine alone in his cabin on board ship to the sound of trumpets. In +those days this town was full of wealth. Those men came to take it. +Now the whole land is like a treasure-house, and all these people are +breaking into it, whilst we are cutting each other's throats. The only +thing that keeps them out is mutual jealousy. But they'll come to an +agreement some day--and by the time we've settled our quarrels and +become decent and honourable, there'll be nothing left for us. It has +always been the same. We are a wonderful people, but it has always +been our fate to be"--he did not say "robbed," but added, after a +pause--"exploited!" + +Mrs. Gould said, "Oh, this is unjust!" And Antonia interjected, "Don't +answer him, Emilia. He is attacking me." + +"You surely do not think I was attacking Don Carlos!" Decoud answered. + +And then the carriage stopped before the door of the Casa Gould. The +young man offered his hand to the ladies. They went in first together; +Don Jose walked by the side of Decoud, and the gouty old porter tottered +after them with some light wraps on his arm. + +Don Jose slipped his hand under the arm of the journalist of Sulaco. + +"The Porvenir must have a long and confident article upon Barrios and +the irresistibleness of his army of Cayta! The moral effect should be +kept up in the country. We must cable encouraging extracts to Europe and +the United States to maintain a favourable impression abroad." + +Decoud muttered, "Oh, yes, we must comfort our friends, the +speculators." + +The long open gallery was in shadow, with its screen of plants in vases +along the balustrade, holding out motionless blossoms, and all the glass +doors of the reception-rooms thrown open. A jingle of spurs died out at +the further end. + +Basilio, standing aside against the wall, said in a soft tone to +the passing ladies, "The Senor Administrador is just back from the +mountain." + +In the great sala, with its groups of ancient Spanish and modern +European furniture making as if different centres under the high white +spread of the ceiling, the silver and porcelain of the tea-service +gleamed among a cluster of dwarf chairs, like a bit of a lady's boudoir, +putting in a note of feminine and intimate delicacy. + +Don Jose in his rocking-chair placed his hat on his lap, and Decoud +walked up and down the whole length of the room, passing between tables +loaded with knick-knacks and almost disappearing behind the high backs +of leathern sofas. He was thinking of the angry face of Antonia; he was +confident that he would make his peace with her. He had not stayed in +Sulaco to quarrel with Antonia. + +Martin Decoud was angry with himself. All he saw and heard going +on around him exasperated the preconceived views of his European +civilization. To contemplate revolutions from the distance of the +Parisian Boulevards was quite another matter. Here on the spot it was +not possible to dismiss their tragic comedy with the expression, "_Quelle +farce!_" + +The reality of the political action, such as it was, seemed closer, and +acquired poignancy by Antonia's belief in the cause. Its crudeness hurt +his feelings. He was surprised at his own sensitiveness. + +"I suppose I am more of a Costaguanero than I would have believed +possible," he thought to himself. + +His disdain grew like a reaction of his scepticism against the action +into which he was forced by his infatuation for Antonia. He soothed +himself by saying he was not a patriot, but a lover. + +The ladies came in bareheaded, and Mrs. Gould sank low before the little +tea-table. Antonia took up her usual place at the reception hour--the +corner of a leathern couch, with a rigid grace in her pose and a fan in +her hand. Decoud, swerving from the straight line of his march, came to +lean over the high back of her seat. + +For a long time he talked into her ear from behind, softly, with a half +smile and an air of apologetic familiarity. Her fan lay half grasped on +her knees. She never looked at him. His rapid utterance grew more and +more insistent and caressing. At last he ventured a slight laugh. + +"No, really. You must forgive me. One must be serious sometimes." +He paused. She turned her head a little; her blue eyes glided slowly +towards him, slightly upwards, mollified and questioning. + +"You can't think I am serious when I call Montero a gran' bestia +every second day in the Porvenir? That is not a serious occupation. No +occupation is serious, not even when a bullet through the heart is the +penalty of failure!" + +Her hand closed firmly on her fan. + +"Some reason, you understand, I mean some sense, may creep into +thinking; some glimpse of truth. I mean some effective truth, for which +there is no room in politics or journalism. I happen to have said what I +thought. And you are angry! If you do me the kindness to think a little +you will see that I spoke like a patriot." + +She opened her red lips for the first time, not unkindly. + +"Yes, but you never see the aim. Men must be used as they are. I suppose +nobody is really disinterested, unless, perhaps, you, Don Martin." + +"God forbid! It's the last thing I should like you to believe of me." He +spoke lightly, and paused. + +She began to fan herself with a slow movement without raising her hand. +After a time he whispered passionately-- + +"Antonia!" + +She smiled, and extended her hand after the English manner towards +Charles Gould, who was bowing before her; while Decoud, with his +elbows spread on the back of the sofa, dropped his eyes and murmured, +"Bonjour." + +The Senor Administrador of the San Tome mine bent over his wife for +a moment. They exchanged a few words, of which only the phrase, "The +greatest enthusiasm," pronounced by Mrs. Gould, could be heard. + +"Yes," Decoud began in a murmur. "Even he!" + +"This is sheer calumny," said Antonia, not very severely. + +"You just ask him to throw his mine into the melting-pot for the great +cause," Decoud whispered. + +Don Jose had raised his voice. He rubbed his hands cheerily. The +excellent aspect of the troops and the great quantity of new deadly +rifles on the shoulders of those brave men seemed to fill him with an +ecstatic confidence. + +Charles Gould, very tall and thin before his chair, listened, but +nothing could be discovered in his face except a kind and deferential +attention. + +Meantime, Antonia had risen, and, crossing the room, stood looking out +of one of the three long windows giving on the street. Decoud followed +her. The window was thrown open, and he leaned against the thickness of +the wall. The long folds of the damask curtain, falling straight from +the broad brass cornice, hid him partly from the room. He folded his +arms on his breast, and looked steadily at Antonia's profile. + +The people returning from the harbour filled the pavements; the shuffle +of sandals and a low murmur of voices ascended to the window. Now and +then a coach rolled slowly along the disjointed roadway of the Calle de +la Constitucion. There were not many private carriages in Sulaco; at the +most crowded hour on the Alameda they could be counted with one glance +of the eye. The great family arks swayed on high leathern springs, full +of pretty powdered faces in which the eyes looked intensely alive +and black. And first Don Juste Lopez, the President of the Provincial +Assembly, passed with his three lovely daughters, solemn in a black +frock-coat and stiff white tie, as when directing a debate from a high +tribune. Though they all raised their eyes, Antonia did not make the +usual greeting gesture of a fluttered hand, and they affected not to +see the two young people, Costaguaneros with European manners, whose +eccentricities were discussed behind the barred windows of the first +families in Sulaco. And then the widowed Senora Gavilaso de Valdes +rolled by, handsome and dignified, in a great machine in which she used +to travel to and from her country house, surrounded by an armed retinue +in leather suits and big sombreros, with carbines at the bows of their +saddles. She was a woman of most distinguished family, proud, rich, and +kind-hearted. Her second son, Jaime, had just gone off on the Staff of +Barrios. The eldest, a worthless fellow of a moody disposition, filled +Sulaco with the noise of his dissipations, and gambled heavily at the +club. The two youngest boys, with yellow Ribierist cockades in their +caps, sat on the front seat. She, too, affected not to see the Senor +Decoud talking publicly with Antonia in defiance of every convention. +And he not even her novio as far as the world knew! Though, even in that +case, it would have been scandal enough. But the dignified old lady, +respected and admired by the first families, would have been still more +shocked if she could have heard the words they were exchanging. + +"Did you say I lost sight of the aim? I have only one aim in the world." + +She made an almost imperceptible negative movement of her head, still +staring across the street at the Avellanos's house, grey, marked with +decay, and with iron bars like a prison. + +"And it would be so easy of attainment," he continued, "this aim which, +whether knowingly or not, I have always had in my heart--ever since the +day when you snubbed me so horribly once in Paris, you remember." + +A slight smile seemed to move the corner of the lip that was on his +side. + +"You know you were a very terrible person, a sort of Charlotte Corday +in a schoolgirl's dress; a ferocious patriot. I suppose you would have +stuck a knife into Guzman Bento?" + +She interrupted him. "You do me too much honour." + +"At any rate," he said, changing suddenly to a tone of bitter levity, +"you would have sent me to stab him without compunction." + +"_Ah, par exemple!_" she murmured in a shocked tone. + +"Well," he argued, mockingly, "you do keep me here writing deadly +nonsense. Deadly to me! It has already killed my self-respect. And you +may imagine," he continued, his tone passing into light banter, "that +Montero, should he be successful, would get even with me in the only way +such a brute can get even with a man of intelligence who condescends to +call him a gran' bestia three times a week. It's a sort of intellectual +death; but there is the other one in the background for a journalist of +my ability." + +"If he is successful!" said Antonia, thoughtfully. + +"You seem satisfied to see my life hang on a thread," Decoud replied, +with a broad smile. "And the other Montero, the 'my trusted brother' of +the proclamations, the guerrillero--haven't I written that he was taking +the guests' overcoats and changing plates in Paris at our Legation in +the intervals of spying on our refugees there, in the time of Rojas? He +will wash out that sacred truth in blood. In my blood! Why do you look +annoyed? This is simply a bit of the biography of one of our great men. +What do you think he will do to me? There is a certain convent wall +round the corner of the Plaza, opposite the door of the Bull Ring. You +know? Opposite the door with the inscription, _Intrada de la Sombra_.' +Appropriate, perhaps! That's where the uncle of our host gave up his +Anglo-South-American soul. And, note, he might have run away. A man +who has fought with weapons may run away. You might have let me go +with Barrios if you had cared for me. I would have carried one of those +rifles, in which Don Jose believes, with the greatest satisfaction, in +the ranks of poor peons and Indios, that know nothing either of reason +or politics. The most forlorn hope in the most forlorn army on earth +would have been safer than that for which you made me stay here. When +you make war you may retreat, but not when you spend your time in +inciting poor ignorant fools to kill and to die." + +His tone remained light, and as if unaware of his presence she stood +motionless, her hands clasped lightly, the fan hanging down from her +interlaced fingers. He waited for a while, and then-- + +"I shall go to the wall," he said, with a sort of jocular desperation. + +Even that declaration did not make her look at him. Her head remained +still, her eyes fixed upon the house of the Avellanos, whose chipped +pilasters, broken cornices, the whole degradation of dignity was hidden +now by the gathering dusk of the street. In her whole figure her lips +alone moved, forming the words-- + +"Martin, you will make me cry." + +He remained silent for a minute, startled, as if overwhelmed by a sort +of awed happiness, with the lines of the mocking smile still stiffened +about his mouth, and incredulous surprise in his eyes. The value of a +sentence is in the personality which utters it, for nothing new can be +said by man or woman; and those were the last words, it seemed to him, +that could ever have been spoken by Antonia. He had never made it up +with her so completely in all their intercourse of small encounters; but +even before she had time to turn towards him, which she did slowly with +a rigid grace, he had begun to plead-- + +"My sister is only waiting to embrace you. My father is transported with +joy. I won't say anything of my mother! Our mothers were like sisters. +There is the mail-boat for the south next week--let us go. That Moraga +is a fool! A man like Montero is bribed. It's the practice of the +country. It's tradition--it's politics. Read 'Fifty Years of Misrule.'" + +"Leave poor papa alone, Don Martin. He believes--" + +"I have the greatest tenderness for your father," he began, hurriedly. +"But I love you, Antonia! And Moraga has miserably mismanaged this +business. Perhaps your father did, too; I don't know. Montero was +bribeable. Why, I suppose he only wanted his share of this famous loan +for national development. Why didn't the stupid Sta. Marta people give +him a mission to Europe, or something? He would have taken five years' +salary in advance, and gone on loafing in Paris, this stupid, ferocious +Indio!" + +"The man," she said, thoughtfully, and very calm before this outburst, +"was intoxicated with vanity. We had all the information, not from +Moraga only; from others, too. There was his brother intriguing, too." + +"Oh, yes!" he said. "Of course you know. You know everything. You read +all the correspondence, you write all the papers--all those State papers +that are inspired here, in this room, in blind deference to a theory +of political purity. Hadn't you Charles Gould before your eyes? Rey de +Sulaco! He and his mine are the practical demonstration of what could +have been done. Do you think he succeeded by his fidelity to a theory of +virtue? And all those railway people, with their honest work! Of course, +their work is honest! But what if you cannot work honestly till the +thieves are satisfied? Could he not, a gentleman, have told this Sir +John what's-his-name that Montero had to be bought off--he and all his +Negro Liberals hanging on to his gold-laced sleeve? He ought to have +been bought off with his own stupid weight of gold--his weight of gold, +I tell you, boots, sabre, spurs, cocked hat, and all." + +She shook her head slightly. "It was impossible," she murmured. + +"He wanted the whole lot? What?" + +She was facing him now in the deep recess of the window, very close and +motionless. Her lips moved rapidly. Decoud, leaning his back against the +wall, listened with crossed arms and lowered eyelids. He drank the tones +of her even voice, and watched the agitated life of her throat, as if +waves of emotion had run from her heart to pass out into the air in her +reasonable words. He also had his aspirations, he aspired to carry her +away out of these deadly futilities of pronunciamientos and reforms. All +this was wrong--utterly wrong; but she fascinated him, and sometimes +the sheer sagacity of a phrase would break the charm, replace the +fascination by a sudden unwilling thrill of interest. Some women +hovered, as it were, on the threshold of genius, he reflected. They did +not want to know, or think, or understand. Passion stood for all that, +and he was ready to believe that some startlingly profound remark, some +appreciation of character, or a judgment upon an event, bordered on the +miraculous. In the mature Antonia he could see with an extraordinary +vividness the austere schoolgirl of the earlier days. She seduced his +attention; sometimes he could not restrain a murmur of assent; now and +then he advanced an objection quite seriously. Gradually they began to +argue; the curtain half hid them from the people in the sala. + +Outside it had grown dark. From the deep trench of shadow between the +houses, lit up vaguely by the glimmer of street lamps, ascended the +evening silence of Sulaco; the silence of a town with few carriages, +of unshod horses, and a softly sandalled population. The windows of +the Casa Gould flung their shining parallelograms upon the house of +the Avellanos. Now and then a shuffle of feet passed below with the +pulsating red glow of a cigarette at the foot of the walls; and the +night air, as if cooled by the snows of Higuerota, refreshed their +faces. + +"We Occidentals," said Martin Decoud, using the usual term the +provincials of Sulaco applied to themselves, "have been always distinct +and separated. As long as we hold Cayta nothing can reach us. In all our +troubles no army has marched over those mountains. A revolution in the +central provinces isolates us at once. Look how complete it is now! The +news of Barrios' movement will be cabled to the United States, and +only in that way will it reach Sta. Marta by the cable from the other +seaboard. We have the greatest riches, the greatest fertility, the +purest blood in our great families, the most laborious population. The +Occidental Province should stand alone. The early Federalism was not +bad for us. Then came this union which Don Henrique Gould resisted. +It opened the road to tyranny; and, ever since, the rest of Costaguana +hangs like a millstone round our necks. The Occidental territory is +large enough to make any man's country. Look at the mountains! Nature +itself seems to cry to us, 'Separate!'" + +She made an energetic gesture of negation. A silence fell. + +"Oh, yes, I know it's contrary to the doctrine laid down in the 'History +of Fifty Years' Misrule.' I am only trying to be sensible. But my sense +seems always to give you cause for offence. Have I startled you very +much with this perfectly reasonable aspiration?" + +She shook her head. No, she was not startled, but the idea shocked her +early convictions. Her patriotism was larger. She had never considered +that possibility. + +"It may yet be the means of saving some of your convictions," he said, +prophetically. + +She did not answer. She seemed tired. They leaned side by side on the +rail of the little balcony, very friendly, having exhausted politics, +giving themselves up to the silent feeling of their nearness, in one of +those profound pauses that fall upon the rhythm of passion. Towards the +plaza end of the street the glowing coals in the brazeros of the market +women cooking their evening meal gleamed red along the edge of the +pavement. A man appeared without a sound in the light of a street lamp, +showing the coloured inverted triangle of his bordered poncho, square on +his shoulders, hanging to a point below his knees. From the harbour +end of the Calle a horseman walked his soft-stepping mount, gleaming +silver-grey abreast each lamp under the dark shape of the rider. + +"Behold the illustrious Capataz de Cargadores," said Decoud, gently, +"coming in all his splendour after his work is done. The next great man +of Sulaco after Don Carlos Gould. But he is good-natured, and let me +make friends with him." + +"Ah, indeed!" said Antonia. "How did you make friends?" + +"A journalist ought to have his finger on the popular pulse, and this +man is one of the leaders of the populace. A journalist ought to know +remarkable men--and this man is remarkable in his way." + +"Ah, yes!" said Antonia, thoughtfully. "It is known that this Italian +has a great influence." + +The horseman had passed below them, with a gleam of dim light on the +shining broad quarters of the grey mare, on a bright heavy stirrup, on a +long silver spur; but the short flick of yellowish flame in the dusk was +powerless against the muffled-up mysteriousness of the dark figure with +an invisible face concealed by a great sombrero. + +Decoud and Antonia remained leaning over the balcony, side by side, +touching elbows, with their heads overhanging the darkness of the +street, and the brilliantly lighted sala at their backs. This was a +tete-a-tete of extreme impropriety; something of which in the whole +extent of the Republic only the extraordinary Antonia could be +capable--the poor, motherless girl, never accompanied, with a careless +father, who had thought only of making her learned. Even Decoud himself +seemed to feel that this was as much as he could expect of having her to +himself till--till the revolution was over and he could carry her off +to Europe, away from the endlessness of civil strife, whose folly seemed +even harder to bear than its ignominy. After one Montero there would +be another, the lawlessness of a populace of all colours and races, +barbarism, irremediable tyranny. As the great Liberator Bolivar had said +in the bitterness of his spirit, "America is ungovernable. Those who +worked for her independence have ploughed the sea." He did not care, he +declared boldly; he seized every opportunity to tell her that though she +had managed to make a Blanco journalist of him, he was no patriot. First +of all, the word had no sense for cultured minds, to whom the narrowness +of every belief is odious; and secondly, in connection with the +everlasting troubles of this unhappy country it was hopelessly +besmirched; it had been the cry of dark barbarism, the cloak of +lawlessness, of crimes, of rapacity, of simple thieving. + +He was surprised at the warmth of his own utterance. He had no need +to drop his voice; it had been low all the time, a mere murmur in the +silence of dark houses with their shutters closed early against the +night air, as is the custom of Sulaco. Only the sala of the Casa Gould +flung out defiantly the blaze of its four windows, the bright appeal of +light in the whole dumb obscurity of the street. And the murmur on the +little balcony went on after a short pause. + +"But we are labouring to change all that," Antonia protested. "It is +exactly what we desire. It is our object. It is the great cause. And +the word you despise has stood also for sacrifice, for courage, for +constancy, for suffering. Papa, who--" + +"Ploughing the sea," interrupted Decoud, looking down. + +There was below the sound of hasty and ponderous footsteps. + +"Your uncle, the grand-vicar of the cathedral, has just turned under the +gate," observed Decoud. "He said Mass for the troops in the Plaza this +morning. They had built for him an altar of drums, you know. And they +brought outside all the painted blocks to take the air. All the wooden +saints stood militarily in a row at the top of the great flight of +steps. They looked like a gorgeous escort attending the Vicar-General. I +saw the great function from the windows of the Porvenir. He is amazing, +your uncle, the last of the Corbelans. He glittered exceedingly in his +vestments with a great crimson velvet cross down his back. And all the +time our saviour Barrios sat in the Amarilla Club drinking punch at +an open window. Esprit fort--our Barrios. I expected every moment your +uncle to launch an excommunication there and then at the black eye-patch +in the window across the Plaza. But not at all. Ultimately the troops +marched off. Later Barrios came down with some of the officers, and +stood with his uniform all unbuttoned, discoursing at the edge of the +pavement. Suddenly your uncle appeared, no longer glittering, but all +black, at the cathedral door with that threatening aspect he has--you +know, like a sort of avenging spirit. He gives one look, strides over +straight at the group of uniforms, and leads away the general by the +elbow. He walked him for a quarter of an hour in the shade of a +wall. Never let go his elbow for a moment, talking all the time with +exaltation, and gesticulating with a long black arm. It was a curious +scene. The officers seemed struck with astonishment. Remarkable man, +your missionary uncle. He hates an infidel much less than a heretic, and +prefers a heathen many times to an infidel. He condescends graciously to +call me a heathen, sometimes, you know." + +Antonia listened with her hands over the balustrade, opening and +shutting the fan gently; and Decoud talked a little nervously, as if +afraid that she would leave him at the first pause. Their comparative +isolation, the precious sense of intimacy, the slight contact of their +arms, affected him softly; for now and then a tender inflection crept +into the flow of his ironic murmurs. + +"Any slight sign of favour from a relative of yours is welcome, Antonia. +And perhaps he understands me, after all! But I know him, too, our Padre +Corbelan. The idea of political honour, justice, and honesty for him +consists in the restitution of the confiscated Church property. Nothing +else could have drawn that fierce converter of savage Indians out of the +wilds to work for the Ribierist cause! Nothing else but that wild hope! +He would make a pronunciamiento himself for such an object against any +Government if he could only get followers! What does Don Carlos Gould +think of that? But, of course, with his English impenetrability, nobody +can tell what he thinks. Probably he thinks of nothing apart from his +mine; of his 'Imperium in Imperio.' As to Mrs. Gould, she thinks of +her schools, of her hospitals, of the mothers with the young babies, of +every sick old man in the three villages. If you were to turn your head +now you would see her extracting a report from that sinister doctor in a +check shirt--what's his name? Monygham--or else catechising Don Pepe or +perhaps listening to Padre Roman. They are all down here to-day--all +her ministers of state. Well, she is a sensible woman, and perhaps Don +Carlos is a sensible man. It's a part of solid English sense not to +think too much; to see only what may be of practical use at the moment. +These people are not like ourselves. We have no political reason; we +have political passions--sometimes. What is a conviction? A particular +view of our personal advantage either practical or emotional. No one is +a patriot for nothing. The word serves us well. But I am clear-sighted, +and I shall not use that word to you, Antonia! I have no patriotic +illusions. I have only the supreme illusion of a lover." + +He paused, then muttered almost inaudibly, "That can lead one very far, +though." + +Behind their backs the political tide that once in every twenty-four +hours set with a strong flood through the Gould drawing-room could +be heard, rising higher in a hum of voices. Men had been dropping in +singly, or in twos and threes: the higher officials of the province, +engineers of the railway, sunburnt and in tweeds, with the frosted head +of their chief smiling with slow, humorous indulgence amongst the young +eager faces. Scarfe, the lover of fandangos, had already slipped out in +search of some dance, no matter where, on the outskirts of the town. Don +Juste Lopez, after taking his daughters home, had entered solemnly, in a +black creased coat buttoned up under his spreading brown beard. The +few members of the Provincial Assembly present clustered at once around +their President to discuss the news of the war and the last proclamation +of the rebel Montero, the miserable Montero, calling in the name of "a +justly incensed democracy" upon all the Provincial Assemblies of the +Republic to suspend their sittings till his sword had made peace and the +will of the people could be consulted. It was practically an invitation +to dissolve: an unheard-of audacity of that evil madman. + +The indignation ran high in the knot of deputies behind Jose Avellanos. +Don Jose, lifting up his voice, cried out to them over the high back +of his chair, "Sulaco has answered by sending to-day an army upon his +flank. If all the other provinces show only half as much patriotism as +we Occidentals--" + +A great outburst of acclamations covered the vibrating treble of the +life and soul of the party. Yes! Yes! This was true! A great truth! +Sulaco was in the forefront, as ever! It was a boastful tumult, the +hopefulness inspired by the event of the day breaking out amongst those +caballeros of the Campo thinking of their herds, of their lands, of +the safety of their families. Everything was at stake. . . . No! It was +impossible that Montero should succeed! This criminal, this shameless +Indio! The clamour continued for some time, everybody else in the +room looking towards the group where Don Juste had put on his air of +impartial solemnity as if presiding at a sitting of the Provincial +Assembly. Decoud had turned round at the noise, and, leaning his back +on the balustrade, shouted into the room with all the strength of his +lungs, "Gran' bestia!" + +This unexpected cry had the effect of stilling the noise. All the eyes +were directed to the window with an approving expectation; but Decoud +had already turned his back upon the room, and was again leaning out +over the quiet street. + +"This is the quintessence of my journalism; that is the supreme +argument," he said to Antonia. "I have invented this definition, this +last word on a great question. But I am no patriot. I am no more of a +patriot than the Capataz of the Sulaco Cargadores, this Genoese who has +done such great things for this harbour--this active usher-in of the +material implements for our progress. You have heard Captain Mitchell +confess over and over again that till he got this man he could never +tell how long it would take to unload a ship. That is bad for progress. +You have seen him pass by after his labours on his famous horse to +dazzle the girls in some ballroom with an earthen floor. He is a +fortunate fellow! His work is an exercise of personal powers; his +leisure is spent in receiving the marks of extraordinary adulation. +And he likes it, too. Can anybody be more fortunate? To be feared and +admired is--" + +"And are these your highest aspirations, Don Martin?" interrupted +Antonia. + +"I was speaking of a man of that sort," said Decoud, curtly. "The heroes +of the world have been feared and admired. What more could he want?" + +Decoud had often felt his familiar habit of ironic thought fall +shattered against Antonia's gravity. She irritated him as if she, too, +had suffered from that inexplicable feminine obtuseness which stands +so often between a man and a woman of the more ordinary sort. But he +overcame his vexation at once. He was very far from thinking Antonia +ordinary, whatever verdict his scepticism might have pronounced upon +himself. With a touch of penetrating tenderness in his voice he assured +her that his only aspiration was to a felicity so high that it seemed +almost unrealizable on this earth. + +She coloured invisibly, with a warmth against which the breeze from the +sierra seemed to have lost its cooling power in the sudden melting of +the snows. His whisper could not have carried so far, though there was +enough ardour in his tone to melt a heart of ice. Antonia turned away +abruptly, as if to carry his whispered assurance into the room behind, +full of light, noisy with voices. + +The tide of political speculation was beating high within the four walls +of the great sala, as if driven beyond the marks by a great gust of +hope. Don Juste's fan-shaped beard was still the centre of loud and +animated discussions. There was a self-confident ring in all the +voices. Even the few Europeans around Charles Gould--a Dane, a couple +of Frenchmen, a discreet fat German, smiling, with down-cast eyes, the +representatives of those material interests that had got a footing in +Sulaco under the protecting might of the San Tome mine--had infused a +lot of good humour into their deference. Charles Gould, to whom they +were paying their court, was the visible sign of the stability that +could be achieved on the shifting ground of revolutions. They felt +hopeful about their various undertakings. One of the two Frenchmen, +small, black, with glittering eyes lost in an immense growth of bushy +beard, waved his tiny brown hands and delicate wrists. He had been +travelling in the interior of the province for a syndicate of European +capitalists. His forcible "_Monsieur l'Administrateur_" returning every +minute shrilled above the steady hum of conversations. He was relating +his discoveries. He was ecstatic. Charles Gould glanced down at him +courteously. + +At a given moment of these necessary receptions it was Mrs. Gould's +habit to withdraw quietly into a little drawing-room, especially her +own, next to the great sala. She had risen, and, waiting for Antonia, +listened with a slightly worried graciousness to the engineer-in-chief +of the railway, who stooped over her, relating slowly, without the +slightest gesture, something apparently amusing, for his eyes had a +humorous twinkle. Antonia, before she advanced into the room to join +Mrs. Gould, turned her head over her shoulder towards Decoud, only for a +moment. + +"Why should any one of us think his aspirations unrealizable?" she said, +rapidly. + +"I am going to cling to mine to the end, Antonia," he answered, through +clenched teeth, then bowed very low, a little distantly. + +The engineer-in-chief had not finished telling his amusing story. +The humours of railway building in South America appealed to his keen +appreciation of the absurd, and he told his instances of ignorant +prejudice and as ignorant cunning very well. Now, Mrs. Gould gave him +all her attention as he walked by her side escorting the ladies out of +the room. Finally all three passed unnoticed through the glass doors in +the gallery. Only a tall priest stalking silently in the noise of the +sala checked himself to look after them. Father Corbelan, whom Decoud +had seen from the balcony turning into the gateway of the Casa +Gould, had addressed no one since coming in. The long, skimpy soutane +accentuated the tallness of his stature; he carried his powerful torso +thrown forward; and the straight, black bar of his joined eyebrows, the +pugnacious outline of the bony face, the white spot of a scar on the +bluish shaven cheeks (a testimonial to his apostolic zeal from a +party of unconverted Indians), suggested something unlawful behind his +priesthood, the idea of a chaplain of bandits. + +He separated his bony, knotted hands clasped behind his back, to shake +his finger at Martin. + +Decoud had stepped into the room after Antonia. But he did not go far. +He had remained just within, against the curtain, with an expression of +not quite genuine gravity, like a grown-up person taking part in a game +of children. He gazed quietly at the threatening finger. + +"I have watched your reverence converting General Barrios by a special +sermon on the Plaza," he said, without making the slightest movement. + +"What miserable nonsense!" Father Corbelan's deep voice resounded all +over the room, making all the heads turn on the shoulders. "The man is a +drunkard. Senores, the God of your General is a bottle!" + +His contemptuous, arbitrary voice caused an uneasy suspension of every +sound, as if the self-confidence of the gathering had been staggered by +a blow. But nobody took up Father Corbelan's declaration. + +It was known that Father Corbelan had come out of the wilds to advocate +the sacred rights of the Church with the same fanatical fearlessness +with which he had gone preaching to bloodthirsty savages, devoid +of human compassion or worship of any kind. Rumours of legendary +proportions told of his successes as a missionary beyond the eye of +Christian men. He had baptized whole nations of Indians, living with +them like a savage himself. It was related that the padre used to ride +with his Indians for days, half naked, carrying a bullock-hide shield, +and, no doubt, a long lance, too--who knows? That he had wandered +clothed in skins, seeking for proselytes somewhere near the snow line of +the Cordillera. Of these exploits Padre Corbelan himself was never known +to talk. But he made no secret of his opinion that the politicians of +Sta. Marta had harder hearts and more corrupt minds than the heathen +to whom he had carried the word of God. His injudicious zeal for the +temporal welfare of the Church was damaging the Ribierist cause. It was +common knowledge that he had refused to be made titular bishop of the +Occidental diocese till justice was done to a despoiled Church. The +political Gefe of Sulaco (the same dignitary whom Captain Mitchell saved +from the mob afterwards) hinted with naive cynicism that doubtless their +Excellencies the Ministers sent the padre over the mountains to Sulaco +in the worst season of the year in the hope that he would be frozen +to death by the icy blasts of the high paramos. Every year a few hardy +muleteers--men inured to exposure--were known to perish in that way. But +what would you have? Their Excellencies possibly had not realized what +a tough priest he was. Meantime, the ignorant were beginning to murmur +that the Ribierist reforms meant simply the taking away of the land +from the people. Some of it was to be given to foreigners who made the +railway; the greater part was to go to the padres. + +These were the results of the Grand Vicar's zeal. Even from the short +allocution to the troops on the Plaza (which only the first ranks +could have heard) he had not been able to keep out his fixed idea of +an outraged Church waiting for reparation from a penitent country. The +political Gefe had been exasperated. But he could not very well throw +the brother-in-law of Don Jose into the prison of the Cabildo. The chief +magistrate, an easy-going and popular official, visited the Casa +Gould, walking over after sunset from the Intendencia, unattended, +acknowledging with dignified courtesy the salutations of high and low +alike. That evening he had walked up straight to Charles Gould and had +hissed out to him that he would have liked to deport the Grand Vicar +out of Sulaco, anywhere, to some desert island, to the Isabels, for +instance. "The one without water preferably--eh, Don Carlos?" he had +added in a tone between jest and earnest. This uncontrollable priest, +who had rejected his offer of the episcopal palace for a residence and +preferred to hang his shabby hammock amongst the rubble and spiders of +the sequestrated Dominican Convent, had taken into his head to advocate +an unconditional pardon for Hernandez the Robber! And this was not +enough; he seemed to have entered into communication with the most +audacious criminal the country had known for years. The Sulaco police +knew, of course, what was going on. Padre Corbelan had got hold of that +reckless Italian, the Capataz de Cargadores, the only man fit for such +an errand, and had sent a message through him. Father Corbelan had +studied in Rome, and could speak Italian. The Capataz was known to visit +the old Dominican Convent at night. An old woman who served the Grand +Vicar had heard the name of Hernandez pronounced; and only last Saturday +afternoon the Capataz had been observed galloping out of town. He did +not return for two days. The police would have laid the Italian by the +heels if it had not been for fear of the Cargadores, a turbulent body of +men, quite apt to raise a tumult. Nowadays it was not so easy to govern +Sulaco. Bad characters flocked into it, attracted by the money in the +pockets of the railway workmen. The populace was made restless by Father +Corbelan's discourses. And the first magistrate explained to Charles +Gould that now the province was stripped of troops any outbreak of +lawlessness would find the authorities with their boots off, as it were. + +Then he went away moodily to sit in an armchair, smoking a long, thin +cigar, not very far from Don Jose, with whom, bending over sideways, he +exchanged a few words from time to time. He ignored the entrance of the +priest, and whenever Father Corbelan's voice was raised behind him, he +shrugged his shoulders impatiently. + +Father Corbelan had remained quite motionless for a time with that +something vengeful in his immobility which seemed to characterize all +his attitudes. A lurid glow of strong convictions gave its peculiar +aspect to the black figure. But its fierceness became softened as the +padre, fixing his eyes upon Decoud, raised his long, black arm slowly, +impressively-- + +"And you--you are a perfect heathen," he said, in a subdued, deep voice. + +He made a step nearer, pointing a forefinger at the young man's breast. +Decoud, very calm, felt the wall behind the curtain with the back of his +head. Then, with his chin tilted well up, he smiled. + +"Very well," he agreed with the slightly weary nonchalance of a man well +used to these passages. "But is it perhaps that you have not discovered +yet what is the God of my worship? It was an easier task with our +Barrios." + +The priest suppressed a gesture of discouragement. "You believe neither +in stick nor stone," he said. + +"Nor bottle," added Decoud without stirring. "Neither does the other of +your reverence's confidants. I mean the Capataz of the Cargadores. +He does not drink. Your reading of my character does honour to your +perspicacity. But why call me a heathen?" + +"True," retorted the priest. "You are ten times worse. A miracle could +not convert you." + +"I certainly do not believe in miracles," said Decoud, quietly. Father +Corbelan shrugged his high, broad shoulders doubtfully. + +"A sort of Frenchman--godless--a materialist," he pronounced slowly, as +if weighing the terms of a careful analysis. "Neither the son of his own +country nor of any other," he continued, thoughtfully. + +"Scarcely human, in fact," Decoud commented under his breath, his head +at rest against the wall, his eyes gazing up at the ceiling. + +"The victim of this faithless age," Father Corbelan resumed in a deep +but subdued voice. + +"But of some use as a journalist." Decoud changed his pose and spoke +in a more animated tone. "Has your worship neglected to read the last +number of the Porvenir? I assure you it is just like the others. On +the general policy it continues to call Montero a gran' bestia, and +stigmatize his brother, the guerrillero, for a combination of lackey +and spy. What could be more effective? In local affairs it urges the +Provincial Government to enlist bodily into the national army the band +of Hernandez the Robber--who is apparently the protege of the Church--or +at least of the Grand Vicar. Nothing could be more sound." + +The priest nodded and turned on the heels of his square-toed shoes with +big steel buckles. Again, with his hands clasped behind his back, he +paced to and fro, planting his feet firmly. When he swung about, the +skirt of his soutane was inflated slightly by the brusqueness of his +movements. + +The great sala had been emptying itself slowly. When the Gefe Politico +rose to go, most of those still remaining stood up suddenly in sign of +respect, and Don Jose Avellanos stopped the rocking of his chair. But +the good-natured First Official made a deprecatory gesture, waved his +hand to Charles Gould, and went out discreetly. + +In the comparative peace of the room the screaming "Monsieur +l'Administrateur" of the frail, hairy Frenchman seemed to acquire a +preternatural shrillness. The explorer of the Capitalist syndicate was +still enthusiastic. "Ten million dollars' worth of copper practically in +sight, Monsieur l'Administrateur. Ten millions in sight! And a railway +coming--a railway! They will never believe my report. C'est trop beau." +He fell a prey to a screaming ecstasy, in the midst of sagely nodding +heads, before Charles Gould's imperturbable calm. + +And only the priest continued his pacing, flinging round the skirt of +his soutane at each end of his beat. Decoud murmured to him ironically: +"Those gentlemen talk about their gods." + +Father Corbelan stopped short, looked at the journalist of Sulaco +fixedly for a moment, shrugged his shoulders slightly, and resumed his +plodding walk of an obstinate traveller. + +And now the Europeans were dropping off from the group around Charles +Gould till the Administrador of the Great Silver Mine could be seen in +his whole lank length, from head to foot, left stranded by the +ebbing tide of his guests on the great square of carpet, as it were a +multi-coloured shoal of flowers and arabesques under his brown boots. +Father Corbelan approached the rocking-chair of Don Jose Avellanos. + +"Come, brother," he said, with kindly brusqueness and a touch of +relieved impatience a man may feel at the end of a perfectly useless +ceremony. "A la Casa! A la Casa! This has been all talk. Let us now go +and think and pray for guidance from Heaven." + +He rolled his black eyes upwards. By the side of the frail +diplomatist--the life and soul of the party--he seemed gigantic, with +a gleam of fanaticism in the glance. But the voice of the party, or, +rather, its mouthpiece, the "son Decoud" from Paris, turned journalist +for the sake of Antonia's eyes, knew very well that it was not so, that +he was only a strenuous priest with one idea, feared by the women and +execrated by the men of the people. Martin Decoud, the dilettante in +life, imagined himself to derive an artistic pleasure from watching +the picturesque extreme of wrongheadedness into which an honest, +almost sacred, conviction may drive a man. "It is like madness. It must +be--because it's self-destructive," Decoud had said to himself often. +It seemed to him that every conviction, as soon as it became effective, +turned into that form of dementia the gods send upon those they wish to +destroy. But he enjoyed the bitter flavour of that example with the zest +of a connoisseur in the art of his choice. Those two men got on well +together, as if each had felt respectively that a masterful conviction, +as well as utter scepticism, may lead a man very far on the by-paths of +political action. + +Don Jose obeyed the touch of the big hairy hand. Decoud followed out the +brothers-in-law. And there remained only one visitor in the vast empty +sala, bluishly hazy with tobacco smoke, a heavy-eyed, round-cheeked man, +with a drooping moustache, a hide merchant from Esmeralda, who had come +overland to Sulaco, riding with a few peons across the coast range. +He was very full of his journey, undertaken mostly for the purpose +of seeing the Senor Administrador of San Tome in relation to some +assistance he required in his hide-exporting business. He hoped to +enlarge it greatly now that the country was going to be settled. It was +going to be settled, he repeated several times, degrading by a strange, +anxious whine the sonority of the Spanish language, which he pattered +rapidly, like some sort of cringing jargon. A plain man could carry +on his little business now in the country, and even think of enlarging +it--with safety. Was it not so? He seemed to beg Charles Gould for a +confirmatory word, a grunt of assent, a simple nod even. + +He could get nothing. His alarm increased, and in the pauses he would +dart his eyes here and there; then, loth to give up, he would branch +off into feeling allusion to the dangers of his journey. The audacious +Hernandez, leaving his usual haunts, had crossed the Campo of Sulaco, +and was known to be lurking in the ravines of the coast range. +Yesterday, when distant only a few hours from Sulaco, the hide merchant +and his servants had seen three men on the road arrested suspiciously, +with their horses' heads together. Two of these rode off at once and +disappeared in a shallow quebrada to the left. "We stopped," continued +the man from Esmeralda, "and I tried to hide behind a small bush. But +none of my mozos would go forward to find out what it meant, and the +third horseman seemed to be waiting for us to come up. It was no use. We +had been seen. So we rode slowly on, trembling. He let us pass--a man on +a grey horse with his hat down on his eyes--without a word of greeting; +but by-and-by we heard him galloping after us. We faced about, but that +did not seem to intimidate him. He rode up at speed, and touching +my foot with the toe of his boot, asked me for a cigar, with a +blood-curdling laugh. He did not seem armed, but when he put his hand +back to reach for the matches I saw an enormous revolver strapped to his +waist. I shuddered. He had very fierce whiskers, Don Carlos, and as he +did not offer to go on we dared not move. At last, blowing the smoke of +my cigar into the air through his nostrils, he said, 'Senor, it would be +perhaps better for you if I rode behind your party. You are not very far +from Sulaco now. Go you with God.' What would you? We went on. There +was no resisting him. He might have been Hernandez himself; though my +servant, who has been many times to Sulaco by sea, assured me that he +had recognized him very well for the Capataz of the Steamship Company's +Cargadores. Later, that same evening, I saw that very man at the corner +of the Plaza talking to a girl, a Morenita, who stood by the stirrup +with her hand on the grey horse's mane." + +"I assure you, Senor Hirsch," murmured Charles Gould, "that you ran no +risk on this occasion." + +"That may be, senor, though I tremble yet. A most fierce man--to look +at. And what does it mean? A person employed by the Steamship Company +talking with salteadores--no less, senor; the other horsemen were +salteadores--in a lonely place, and behaving like a robber himself! A +cigar is nothing, but what was there to prevent him asking me for my +purse?" + +"No, no, Senor Hirsch," Charles Gould murmured, letting his glance +stray away a little vacantly from the round face, with its hooked beak +upturned towards him in an almost childlike appeal. "If it was the +Capataz de Cargadores you met--and there is no doubt, is there?--you +were perfectly safe." + +"Thank you. You are very good. A very fierce-looking man, Don Carlos. He +asked me for a cigar in a most familiar manner. What would have happened +if I had not had a cigar? I shudder yet. What business had he to be +talking with robbers in a lonely place?" + +But Charles Gould, openly preoccupied now, gave not a sign, made no +sound. The impenetrability of the embodied Gould Concession had its +surface shades. To be dumb is merely a fatal affliction; but the King +of Sulaco had words enough to give him all the mysterious weight of a +taciturn force. His silences, backed by the power of speech, had as many +shades of significance as uttered words in the way of assent, of doubt, +of negation--even of simple comment. Some seemed to say plainly, "Think +it over"; others meant clearly, "Go ahead"; a simple, low "I see," with +an affirmative nod, at the end of a patient listening half-hour was +the equivalent of a verbal contract, which men had learned to trust +implicitly, since behind it all there was the great San Tome mine, the +head and front of the material interests, so strong that it depended +on no man's goodwill in the whole length and breadth of the Occidental +Province--that is, on no goodwill which it could not buy ten times +over. But to the little hook-nosed man from Esmeralda, anxious about +the export of hides, the silence of Charles Gould portended a failure. +Evidently this was no time for extending a modest man's business. He +enveloped in a swift mental malediction the whole country, with all +its inhabitants, partisans of Ribiera and Montero alike; and there were +incipient tears in his mute anger at the thought of the innumerable +ox-hides going to waste upon the dreamy expanse of the Campo, with its +single palms rising like ships at sea within the perfect circle of the +horizon, its clumps of heavy timber motionless like solid islands +of leaves above the running waves of grass. There were hides there, +rotting, with no profit to anybody--rotting where they had been dropped +by men called away to attend the urgent necessities of political +revolutions. The practical, mercantile soul of Senor Hirsch rebelled +against all that foolishness, while he was taking a respectful but +disconcerted leave of the might and majesty of the San Tome mine in the +person of Charles Gould. He could not restrain a heart-broken murmur, +wrung out of his very aching heart, as it were. + +"It is a great, great foolishness, Don Carlos, all this. The price of +hides in Hamburg is gone up--up. Of course the Ribierist Government will +do away with all that--when it gets established firmly. Meantime--" + +He sighed. + +"Yes, meantime," repeated Charles Gould, inscrutably. + +The other shrugged his shoulders. But he was not ready to go yet. There +was a little matter he would like to mention very much if permitted. It +appeared he had some good friends in Hamburg (he murmured the name +of the firm) who were very anxious to do business, in dynamite, he +explained. A contract for dynamite with the San Tome mine, and then, +perhaps, later on, other mines, which were sure to--The little man from +Esmeralda was ready to enlarge, but Charles interrupted him. It seemed +as though the patience of the Senor Administrador was giving way at +last. + +"Senor Hirsch," he said, "I have enough dynamite stored up at the +mountain to send it down crashing into the valley"--his voice rose a +little--"to send half Sulaco into the air if I liked." + +Charles Gould smiled at the round, startled eyes of the dealer in hides, +who was murmuring hastily, "Just so. Just so." And now he was going. +It was impossible to do business in explosives with an Administrador so +well provided and so discouraging. He had suffered agonies in the saddle +and had exposed himself to the atrocities of the bandit Hernandez for +nothing at all. Neither hides nor dynamite--and the very shoulders of +the enterprising Israelite expressed dejection. At the door he bowed low +to the engineer-in-chief. But at the bottom of the stairs in the patio +he stopped short, with his podgy hand over his lips in an attitude of +meditative astonishment. + +"What does he want to keep so much dynamite for?" he muttered. "And why +does he talk like this to me?" + +The engineer-in-chief, looking in at the door of the empty sala, whence +the political tide had ebbed out to the last insignificant drop, nodded +familiarly to the master of the house, standing motionless like a tall +beacon amongst the deserted shoals of furniture. + +"Good-night, I am going. Got my bike downstairs. The railway will know +where to go for dynamite should we get short at any time. We have done +cutting and chopping for a while now. We shall begin soon to blast our +way through." + +"Don't come to me," said Charles Gould, with perfect serenity. "I +shan't have an ounce to spare for anybody. Not an ounce. Not for my own +brother, if I had a brother, and he were the engineer-in-chief of the +most promising railway in the world." + +"What's that?" asked the engineer-in-chief, with equanimity. +"Unkindness?" + +"No," said Charles Gould, stolidly. "Policy." + +"Radical, I should think," the engineer-in-chief observed from the +doorway. + +"Is that the right name?" Charles Gould said, from the middle of the +room. + +"I mean, going to the roots, you know," the engineer explained, with an +air of enjoyment. + +"Why, yes," Charles pronounced, slowly. "The Gould Concession has struck +such deep roots in this country, in this province, in that gorge of the +mountains, that nothing but dynamite shall be allowed to dislodge it +from there. It's my choice. It's my last card to play." + +The engineer-in-chief whistled low. "A pretty game," he said, with a +shade of discretion. "And have you told Holroyd of that extraordinary +trump card you hold in your hand?" + +"Card only when it's played; when it falls at the end of the game. Till +then you may call it a--a--" + +"Weapon," suggested the railway man. + +"No. You may call it rather an argument," corrected Charles Gould, +gently. "And that's how I've presented it to Mr. Holroyd." + +"And what did he say to it?" asked the engineer, with undisguised +interest. + +"He"--Charles Gould spoke after a slight pause--"he said something +about holding on like grim death and putting our trust in God. I should +imagine he must have been rather startled. But then"--pursued the +Administrador of the San Tome mine--"but then, he is very far away, you +know, and, as they say in this country, God is very high above." + +The engineer's appreciative laugh died away down the stairs, where the +Madonna with the Child on her arm seemed to look after his shaking broad +back from her shallow niche. + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +A profound stillness reigned in the Casa Gould. The master of the house, +walking along the corredor, opened the door of his room, and saw his +wife sitting in a big armchair--his own smoking armchair--thoughtful, +contemplating her little shoes. And she did not raise her eyes when he +walked in. + +"Tired?" asked Charles Gould. + +"A little," said Mrs. Gould. Still without looking up, she added with +feeling, "There is an awful sense of unreality about all this." + +Charles Gould, before the long table strewn with papers, on which lay a +hunting crop and a pair of spurs, stood looking at his wife: "The heat +and dust must have been awful this afternoon by the waterside," he +murmured, sympathetically. "The glare on the water must have been simply +terrible." + +"One could close one's eyes to the glare," said Mrs. Gould. "But, my +dear Charley, it is impossible for me to close my eyes to our position; +to this awful . . ." + +She raised her eyes and looked at her husband's face, from which all +sign of sympathy or any other feeling had disappeared. "Why don't you +tell me something?" she almost wailed. + +"I thought you had understood me perfectly from the first," Charles +Gould said, slowly. "I thought we had said all there was to say a long +time ago. There is nothing to say now. There were things to be done. We +have done them; we have gone on doing them. There is no going back now. +I don't suppose that, even from the first, there was really any possible +way back. And, what's more, we can't even afford to stand still." + +"Ah, if one only knew how far you mean to go," said his wife inwardly +trembling, but in an almost playful tone. + +"Any distance, any length, of course," was the answer, in a +matter-of-fact tone, which caused Mrs. Gould to make another effort to +repress a shudder. + +She stood up, smiling graciously, and her little figure seemed to be +diminished still more by the heavy mass of her hair and the long train +of her gown. + +"But always to success," she said, persuasively. + +Charles Gould, enveloping her in the steely blue glance of his attentive +eyes, answered without hesitation-- + +"Oh, there is no alternative." + +He put an immense assurance into his tone. As to the words, this was all +that his conscience would allow him to say. + +Mrs. Gould's smile remained a shade too long upon her lips. She +murmured-- + +"I will leave you; I've a slight headache. The heat, the dust, were +indeed--I suppose you are going back to the mine before the morning?" + +"At midnight," said Charles Gould. "We are bringing down the silver +to-morrow. Then I shall take three whole days off in town with you." + +"Ah, you are going to meet the escort. I shall be on the balcony at five +o'clock to see you pass. Till then, good-bye." + +Charles Gould walked rapidly round the table, and, seizing her hands, +bent down, pressing them both to his lips. Before he straightened +himself up again to his full height she had disengaged one to smooth his +cheek with a light touch, as if he were a little boy. + +"Try to get some rest for a couple of hours," she murmured, with a +glance at a hammock stretched in a distant part of the room. Her long +train swished softly after her on the red tiles. At the door she looked +back. + +Two big lamps with unpolished glass globes bathed in a soft and abundant +light the four white walls of the room, with a glass case of arms, the +brass hilt of Henry Gould's cavalry sabre on its square of velvet, and +the water-colour sketch of the San Tome gorge. And Mrs. Gould, gazing at +the last in its black wooden frame, sighed out-- + +"Ah, if we had left it alone, Charley!" + +"No," Charles Gould said, moodily; "it was impossible to leave it +alone." + +"Perhaps it was impossible," Mrs. Gould admitted, slowly. Her lips +quivered a little, but she smiled with an air of dainty bravado. "We +have disturbed a good many snakes in that Paradise, Charley, haven't +we?" + +"Yes, I remember," said Charles Gould, "it was Don Pepe who called the +gorge the Paradise of snakes. No doubt we have disturbed a great many. +But remember, my dear, that it is not now as it was when you made that +sketch." He waved his hand towards the small water-colour hanging alone +upon the great bare wall. "It is no longer a Paradise of snakes. We have +brought mankind into it, and we cannot turn our backs upon them to go +and begin a new life elsewhere." + +He confronted his wife with a firm, concentrated gaze, which Mrs. Gould +returned with a brave assumption of fearlessness before she went out, +closing the door gently after her. + +In contrast with the white glaring room the dimly lit corredor had a +restful mysteriousness of a forest glade, suggested by the stems and the +leaves of the plants ranged along the balustrade of the open side. +In the streaks of light falling through the open doors of the +reception-rooms, the blossoms, white and red and pale lilac, came out +vivid with the brilliance of flowers in a stream of sunshine; and Mrs. +Gould, passing on, had the vividness of a figure seen in the clear +patches of sun that chequer the gloom of open glades in the woods. The +stones in the rings upon her hand pressed to her forehead glittered in +the lamplight abreast of the door of the sala. + +"Who's there?" she asked, in a startled voice. "Is that you, Basilio?" +She looked in, and saw Martin Decoud walking about, with an air of +having lost something, amongst the chairs and tables. + +"Antonia has forgotten her fan in here," said Decoud, with a strange air +of distraction; "so I entered to see." + +But, even as he said this, he had obviously given up his search, and +walked straight towards Mrs. Gould, who looked at him with doubtful +surprise. + +"Senora," he began, in a low voice. + +"What is it, Don Martin?" asked Mrs. Gould. And then she added, with a +slight laugh, "I am so nervous to-day," as if to explain the eagerness +of the question. + +"Nothing immediately dangerous," said Decoud, who now could not conceal +his agitation. "Pray don't distress yourself. No, really, you must not +distress yourself." + +Mrs. Gould, with her candid eyes very wide open, her lips composed into +a smile, was steadying herself with a little bejewelled hand against the +side of the door. + +"Perhaps you don't know how alarming you are, appearing like this +unexpectedly--" + +"I! Alarming!" he protested, sincerely vexed and surprised. "I assure +you that I am not in the least alarmed myself. A fan is lost; well, +it will be found again. But I don't think it is here. It is a fan I am +looking for. I cannot understand how Antonia could--Well! Have you found +it, amigo?" + +"No, senor," said behind Mrs. Gould the soft voice of Basilio, the head +servant of the Casa. "I don't think the senorita could have left it in +this house at all." + +"Go and look for it in the patio again. Go now, my friend; look for it +on the steps, under the gate; examine every flagstone; search for it +till I come down again. . . . That fellow"--he addressed himself in +English to Mrs. Gould--"is always stealing up behind one's back on his +bare feet. I set him to look for that fan directly I came in to justify +my reappearance, my sudden return." + +He paused and Mrs. Gould said, amiably, "You are always welcome." She +paused for a second, too. "But I am waiting to learn the cause of your +return." + +Decoud affected suddenly the utmost nonchalance. + +"I can't bear to be spied upon. Oh, the cause? Yes, there is a cause; +there is something else that is lost besides Antonia's favourite fan. As +I was walking home after seeing Don Jose and Antonia to their house, the +Capataz de Cargadores, riding down the street, spoke to me." + +"Has anything happened to the Violas?" inquired Mrs. Gould. + +"The Violas? You mean the old Garibaldino who keeps the hotel where +the engineers live? Nothing happened there. The Capataz said nothing +of them; he only told me that the telegraphist of the Cable Company was +walking on the Plaza, bareheaded, looking out for me. There is news from +the interior, Mrs. Gould. I should rather say rumours of news." + +"Good news?" said Mrs. Gould in a low voice. + +"Worthless, I should think. But if I must define them, I would say bad. +They are to the effect that a two days' battle had been fought near Sta. +Marta, and that the Ribierists are defeated. It must have happened a few +days ago--perhaps a week. The rumour has just reached Cayta, and the +man in charge of the cable station there has telegraphed the news to his +colleague here. We might just as well have kept Barrios in Sulaco." + +"What's to be done now?" murmured Mrs. Gould. + +"Nothing. He's at sea with the troops. He will get to Cayta in a couple +of days' time and learn the news there. What he will do then, who can +say? Hold Cayta? Offer his submission to Montero? Disband his army--this +last most likely, and go himself in one of the O.S.N. Company's +steamers, north or south--to Valparaiso or to San Francisco, no matter +where. Our Barrios has a great practice in exiles and repatriations, +which mark the points in the political game." + +Decoud, exchanging a steady stare with Mrs. Gould, added, tentatively, +as it were, "And yet, if we had could have been done." + +"Montero victorious, completely victorious!" Mrs. Gould breathed out in +a tone of unbelief. + +"A canard, probably. That sort of bird is hatched in great numbers in +such times as these. And even if it were true? Well, let us put things +at their worst, let us say it is true." + +"Then everything is lost," said Mrs. Gould, with the calmness of +despair. + +Suddenly she seemed to divine, she seemed to see Decoud's tremendous +excitement under its cloak of studied carelessness. It was, indeed, +becoming visible in his audacious and watchful stare, in the curve, +half-reckless, half-contemptuous, of his lips. And a French phrase came +upon them as if, for this Costaguanero of the Boulevard, that had been +the only forcible language-- + +"_Non, Madame. Rien n'est perdu_." + +It electrified Mrs. Gould out of her benumbed attitude, and she said, +vivaciously-- + +"What would you think of doing?" + +But already there was something of mockery in Decoud's suppressed +excitement. + +"What would you expect a true Costaguanero to do? Another revolution, of +course. On my word of honour, Mrs. Gould, I believe I am a true _hijo del +pays_, a true son of the country, whatever Father Corbelan may say. And +I'm not so much of an unbeliever as not to have faith in my own ideas, +in my own remedies, in my own desires." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Gould, doubtfully. + +"You don't seem convinced," Decoud went on again in French. "Say, then, +in my passions." + +Mrs. Gould received this addition unflinchingly. To understand it +thoroughly she did not require to hear his muttered assurance-- + +"There is nothing I would not do for the sake of Antonia. There is +nothing I am not prepared to undertake. There is no risk I am not ready +to run." + +Decoud seemed to find a fresh audacity in this voicing of his thoughts. +"You would not believe me if I were to say that it is the love of the +country which--" + +She made a sort of discouraged protest with her arm, as if to express +that she had given up expecting that motive from any one. + +"A Sulaco revolution," Decoud pursued in a forcible undertone. "The +Great Cause may be served here, on the very spot of its inception, in +the place of its birth, Mrs. Gould." + +Frowning, and biting her lower lip thoughtfully, she made a step away +from the door. + +"You are not going to speak to your husband?" Decoud arrested her +anxiously. + +"But you will need his help?" + +"No doubt," Decoud admitted without hesitation. "Everything turns upon +the San Tome mine, but I would rather he didn't know anything as yet of +my--my hopes." + +A puzzled look came upon Mrs. Gould's face, and Decoud, approaching, +explained confidentially-- + +"Don't you see, he's such an idealist." + +Mrs. Gould flushed pink, and her eyes grew darker at the same time. + +"Charley an idealist!" she said, as if to herself, wonderingly. "What on +earth do you mean?" + +"Yes," conceded Decoud, "it's a wonderful thing to say with the sight +of the San Tome mine, the greatest fact in the whole of South America, +perhaps, before our very eyes. But look even at that, he has idealized +this fact to a point--" He paused. "Mrs. Gould, are you aware to what +point he has idealized the existence, the worth, the meaning of the San +Tome mine? Are you aware of it?" + +He must have known what he was talking about. + +The effect he expected was produced. Mrs. Gould, ready to take fire, +gave it up suddenly with a low little sound that resembled a moan. + +"What do you know?" she asked in a feeble voice. + +"Nothing," answered Decoud, firmly. "But, then, don't you see, he's an +Englishman?" + +"Well, what of that?" asked Mrs. Gould. + +"Simply that he cannot act or exist without idealizing every simple +feeling, desire, or achievement. He could not believe his own motives if +he did not make them first a part of some fairy tale. The earth is not +quite good enough for him, I fear. Do you excuse my frankness? Besides, +whether you excuse it or not, it is part of the truth of things which +hurts the--what do you call them?--the Anglo-Saxon's susceptibilities, +and at the present moment I don't feel as if I could treat seriously +either his conception of things or--if you allow me to say so--or yet +yours." + +Mrs. Gould gave no sign of being offended. "I suppose Antonia +understands you thoroughly?" + +"Understands? Well, yes. But I am not sure that she approves. That, +however, makes no difference. I am honest enough to tell you that, Mrs. +Gould." + +"Your idea, of course, is separation," she said. + +"Separation, of course," declared Martin. "Yes; separation of the whole +Occidental Province from the rest of the unquiet body. But my true idea, +the only one I care for, is not to be separated from Antonia." + +"And that is all?" asked Mrs. Gould, without severity. + +"Absolutely. I am not deceiving myself about my motives. She won't leave +Sulaco for my sake, therefore Sulaco must leave the rest of the Republic +to its fate. Nothing could be clearer than that. I like a clearly +defined situation. I cannot part with Antonia, therefore the one and +indivisible Republic of Costaguana must be made to part with its western +province. Fortunately it happens to be also a sound policy. The +richest, the most fertile part of this land may be saved from anarchy. +Personally, I care little, very little; but it's a fact that the +establishment of Montero in power would mean death to me. In all the +proclamations of general pardon which I have seen, my name, with a few +others, is specially excepted. The brothers hate me, as you know very +well, Mrs. Gould; and behold, here is the rumour of them having won a +battle. You say that supposing it is true, I have plenty of time to run +away." + +The slight, protesting murmur on the part of Mrs. Gould made him pause +for a moment, while he looked at her with a sombre and resolute glance. + +"Ah, but I would, Mrs. Gould. I would run away if it served that which +at present is my only desire. I am courageous enough to say that, and to +do it, too. But women, even our women, are idealists. It is Antonia that +won't run away. A novel sort of vanity." + +"You call it vanity," said Mrs. Gould, in a shocked voice. + +"Say pride, then, which Father Corbelan would tell you, is a mortal +sin. But I am not proud. I am simply too much in love to run away. At +the same time I want to live. There is no love for a dead man. Therefore +it is necessary that Sulaco should not recognize the victorious +Montero." + +"And you think my husband will give you his support?" + +"I think he can be drawn into it, like all idealists, when he once sees +a sentimental basis for his action. But I wouldn't talk to him. Mere +clear facts won't appeal to his sentiment. It is much better for him +to convince himself in his own way. And, frankly, I could not, perhaps, +just now pay sufficient respect to either his motives or even, perhaps, +to yours, Mrs. Gould." + +It was evident that Mrs. Gould was very determined not to be offended. +She smiled vaguely, while she seemed to think the matter over. As far +as she could judge from the girl's half-confidences, Antonia understood +that young man. Obviously there was promise of safety in his plan, or +rather in his idea. Moreover, right or wrong, the idea could do no harm. +And it was quite possible, also, that the rumour was false. + +"You have some sort of a plan," she said. + +"Simplicity itself. Barrios has started, let him go on then; he will +hold Cayta, which is the door of the sea route to Sulaco. They cannot +send a sufficient force over the mountains. No; not even to cope with +the band of Hernandez. Meantime we shall organize our resistance here. +And for that, this very Hernandez will be useful. He has defeated troops +as a bandit; he will no doubt accomplish the same thing if he is made +a colonel or even a general. You know the country well enough not to +be shocked by what I say, Mrs. Gould. I have heard you assert that this +poor bandit was the living, breathing example of cruelty, injustice, +stupidity, and oppression, that ruin men's souls as well as their +fortunes in this country. Well, there would be some poetical retribution +in that man arising to crush the evils which had driven an honest +ranchero into a life of crime. A fine idea of retribution in that, isn't +there?" + +Decoud had dropped easily into English, which he spoke with precision, +very correctly, but with too many z sounds. + +"Think also of your hospitals, of your schools, of your ailing mothers +and feeble old men, of all that population which you and your husband +have brought into the rocky gorge of San Tome. Are you not responsible +to your conscience for all these people? Is it not worth while to make +another effort, which is not at all so desperate as it looks, rather +than--" + +Decoud finished his thought with an upward toss of the arm, suggesting +annihilation; and Mrs. Gould turned away her head with a look of horror. + +"Why don't you say all this to my husband?" she asked, without looking +at Decoud, who stood watching the effect of his words. + +"Ah! But Don Carlos is so English," he began. Mrs. Gould interrupted-- + +"Leave that alone, Don Martin. He's as much a Costaguanero--No! He's +more of a Costaguanero than yourself." + +"Sentimentalist, sentimentalist," Decoud almost cooed, in a tone of +gentle and soothing deference. "Sentimentalist, after the amazing manner +of your people. I have been watching El Rey de Sulaco since I came here +on a fool's errand, and perhaps impelled by some treason of fate lurking +behind the unaccountable turns of a man's life. But I don't matter, I am +not a sentimentalist, I cannot endow my personal desires with a shining +robe of silk and jewels. Life is not for me a moral romance derived from +the tradition of a pretty fairy tale. No, Mrs. Gould; I am practical. I +am not afraid of my motives. But, pardon me, I have been rather carried +away. What I wish to say is that I have been observing. I won't tell you +what I have discovered--" + +"No. That is unnecessary," whispered Mrs. Gould, once more averting her +head. + +"It is. Except one little fact, that your husband does not like me. +It's a small matter, which, in the circumstances, seems to acquire a +perfectly ridiculous importance. Ridiculous and immense; for, clearly, +money is required for my plan," he reflected; then added, meaningly, +"and we have two sentimentalists to deal with." + +"I don't know that I understand you, Don Martin," said Mrs. Gould, +coldly, preserving the low key of their conversation. "But, speaking as +if I did, who is the other?" + +"The great Holroyd in San Francisco, of course," Decoud whispered, +lightly. "I think you understand me very well. Women are idealists; but +then they are so perspicacious." + +But whatever was the reason of that remark, disparaging and +complimentary at the same time, Mrs. Gould seemed not to pay attention +to it. The name of Holroyd had given a new tone to her anxiety. + +"The silver escort is coming down to the harbour tomorrow; a whole six +months' working, Don Martin!" she cried in dismay. + +"Let it come down, then," breathed out Decoud, earnestly, almost into +her ear. + +"But if the rumour should get about, and especially if it turned out +true, troubles might break out in the town," objected Mrs. Gould. + +Decoud admitted that it was possible. He knew well the town children +of the Sulaco Campo: sullen, thievish, vindictive, and bloodthirsty, +whatever great qualities their brothers of the plain might have had. +But then there was that other sentimentalist, who attached a strangely +idealistic meaning to concrete facts. This stream of silver must be kept +flowing north to return in the form of financial backing from the great +house of Holroyd. Up at the mountain in the strong room of the mine +the silver bars were worth less for his purpose than so much lead, from +which at least bullets may be run. Let it come down to the harbour, +ready for shipment. + +The next north-going steamer would carry it off for the very salvation +of the San Tome mine, which had produced so much treasure. And, +moreover, the rumour was probably false, he remarked, with much +conviction in his hurried tone. + +"Besides, senora," concluded Decoud, "we may suppress it for many days. +I have been talking with the telegraphist in the middle of the Plaza +Mayor; thus I am certain that we could not have been overheard. There +was not even a bird in the air near us. And also let me tell you +something more. I have been making friends with this man called +Nostromo, the Capataz. We had a conversation this very evening, I +walking by the side of his horse as he rode slowly out of the town just +now. He promised me that if a riot took place for any reason--even +for the most political of reasons, you understand--his Cargadores, an +important part of the populace, you will admit, should be found on the +side of the Europeans." + +"He has promised you that?" Mrs. Gould inquired, with interest. "What +made him make that promise to you?" + +"Upon my word, I don't know," declared Decoud, in a slightly surprised +tone. "He certainly promised me that, but now you ask me why, I could +not tell you his reasons. He talked with his usual carelessness, which, +if he had been anything else but a common sailor, I would call a pose or +an affectation." + +Decoud, interrupting himself, looked at Mrs. Gould curiously. + +"Upon the whole," he continued, "I suppose he expects something to his +advantage from it. You mustn't forget that he does not exercise his +extraordinary power over the lower classes without a certain amount of +personal risk and without a great profusion in spending his money. +One must pay in some way or other for such a solid thing as individual +prestige. He told me after we made friends at a dance, in a Posada kept +by a Mexican just outside the walls, that he had come here to make his +fortune. I suppose he looks upon his prestige as a sort of investment." + +"Perhaps he prizes it for its own sake," Mrs. Gould said in a tone as +if she were repelling an undeserved aspersion. "Viola, the Garibaldino, +with whom he has lived for some years, calls him the Incorruptible." + +"Ah! he belongs to the group of your proteges out there towards the +harbour, Mrs. Gould. Muy bien. And Captain Mitchell calls him wonderful. +I have heard no end of tales of his strength, his audacity, his +fidelity. No end of fine things. H'm! incorruptible! It is indeed a name +of honour for the Capataz of the Cargadores of Sulaco. Incorruptible! +Fine, but vague. However, I suppose he's sensible, too. And I talked to +him upon that sane and practical assumption." + +"I prefer to think him disinterested, and therefore trustworthy," Mrs. +Gould said, with the nearest approach to curtness it was in her nature +to assume. + +"Well, if so, then the silver will be still more safe. Let it come down, +senora. Let it come down, so that it may go north and return to us in +the shape of credit." + +Mrs. Gould glanced along the corredor towards the door of her husband's +room. Decoud, watching her as if she had his fate in her hands, detected +an almost imperceptible nod of assent. He bowed with a smile, and, +putting his hand into the breast pocket of his coat, pulled out a fan of +light feathers set upon painted leaves of sandal-wood. "I had it in my +pocket," he murmured, triumphantly, "for a plausible pretext." He bowed +again. "Good-night, senora." + +Mrs. Gould continued along the corredor away from her husband's room. +The fate of the San Tome mine was lying heavy upon her heart. It was a +long time now since she had begun to fear it. It had been an idea. She +had watched it with misgivings turning into a fetish, and now the +fetish had grown into a monstrous and crushing weight. It was as if the +inspiration of their early years had left her heart to turn into a wall +of silver-bricks, erected by the silent work of evil spirits, between +her and her husband. He seemed to dwell alone within a circumvallation +of precious metal, leaving her outside with her school, her hospital, +the sick mothers and the feeble old men, mere insignificant vestiges of +the initial inspiration. "Those poor people!" she murmured to herself. + +Below she heard the voice of Martin Decoud in the patio speaking loudly: + +"I have found Dona Antonia's fan, Basilio. Look, here it is!" + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +It was part of what Decoud would have called his sane materialism that +he did not believe in the possibility of friendship between man and +woman. + +The one exception he allowed confirmed, he maintained, that absolute +rule. Friendship was possible between brother and sister, meaning +by friendship the frank unreserve, as before another human being, of +thoughts and sensations; all the objectless and necessary sincerity of +one's innermost life trying to re-act upon the profound sympathies of +another existence. + +His favourite sister, the handsome, slightly arbitrary and resolute +angel, ruling the father and mother Decoud in the first-floor apartments +of a very fine Parisian house, was the recipient of Martin Decoud's +confidences as to his thoughts, actions, purposes, doubts, and even +failures. . . . + +"Prepare our little circle in Paris for the birth of another South +American Republic. One more or less, what does it matter? They may come +into the world like evil flowers on a hotbed of rotten institutions; but +the seed of this one has germinated in your brother's brain, and that +will be enough for your devoted assent. I am writing this to you by the +light of a single candle, in a sort of inn, near the harbour, kept by +an Italian called Viola, a protege of Mrs. Gould. The whole building, +which, for all I know, may have been contrived by a Conquistador farmer +of the pearl fishery three hundred years ago, is perfectly silent. So is +the plain between the town and the harbour; silent, but not so dark as +the house, because the pickets of Italian workmen guarding the railway +have lighted little fires all along the line. It was not so quiet around +here yesterday. We had an awful riot--a sudden outbreak of the populace, +which was not suppressed till late today. Its object, no doubt, was +loot, and that was defeated, as you may have learned already from the +cablegram sent via San Francisco and New York last night, when the +cables were still open. You have read already there that the energetic +action of the Europeans of the railway has saved the town from +destruction, and you may believe that. I wrote out the cable myself. We +have no Reuter's agency man here. I have also fired at the mob from the +windows of the club, in company with some other young men of position. +Our object was to keep the Calle de la Constitucion clear for the exodus +of the ladies and children, who have taken refuge on board a couple of +cargo ships now in the harbour here. That was yesterday. You should also +have learned from the cable that the missing President, Ribiera, who had +disappeared after the battle of Sta. Marta, has turned up here in Sulaco +by one of those strange coincidences that are almost incredible, riding +on a lame mule into the very midst of the street fighting. It appears +that he had fled, in company of a muleteer called Bonifacio, across the +mountains from the threats of Montero into the arms of an enraged mob. + +"The Capataz of Cargadores, that Italian sailor of whom I have written +to you before, has saved him from an ignoble death. That man seems +to have a particular talent for being on the spot whenever there is +something picturesque to be done. + +"He was with me at four o'clock in the morning at the offices of the +Porvenir, where he had turned up so early in order to warn me of the +coming trouble, and also to assure me that he would keep his Cargadores +on the side of order. When the full daylight came we were looking +together at the crowd on foot and on horseback, demonstrating on the +Plaza and shying stones at the windows of the Intendencia. Nostromo +(that is the name they call him by here) was pointing out to me his +Cargadores interspersed in the mob. + +"The sun shines late upon Sulaco, for it has first to climb above the +mountains. In that clear morning light, brighter than twilight, Nostromo +saw right across the vast Plaza, at the end of the street beyond the +cathedral, a mounted man apparently in difficulties with a yelling knot +of leperos. At once he said to me, 'That's a stranger. What is it they +are doing to him?' Then he took out the silver whistle he is in the +habit of using on the wharf (this man seems to disdain the use of any +metal less precious than silver) and blew into it twice, evidently a +preconcerted signal for his Cargadores. He ran out immediately, and they +rallied round him. I ran out, too, but was too late to follow them and +help in the rescue of the stranger, whose animal had fallen. I was set +upon at once as a hated aristocrat, and was only too glad to get into +the club, where Don Jaime Berges (you may remember him visiting at +our house in Paris some three years ago) thrust a sporting gun into +my hands. They were already firing from the windows. There were little +heaps of cartridges lying about on the open card-tables. I remember a +couple of overturned chairs, some bottles rolling on the floor amongst +the packs of cards scattered suddenly as the caballeros rose from their +game to open fire upon the mob. Most of the young men had spent the +night at the club in the expectation of some such disturbance. In two of +the candelabra, on the consoles, the candles were burning down in their +sockets. A large iron nut, probably stolen from the railway workshops, +flew in from the street as I entered, and broke one of the large mirrors +set in the wall. I noticed also one of the club servants tied up hand +and foot with the cords of the curtain and flung in a corner. I have a +vague recollection of Don Jaime assuring me hastily that the fellow had +been detected putting poison into the dishes at supper. But I remember +distinctly he was shrieking for mercy, without stopping at all, +continuously, and so absolutely disregarded that nobody even took the +trouble to gag him. The noise he made was so disagreeable that I had +half a mind to do it myself. But there was no time to waste on such +trifles. I took my place at one of the windows and began firing. + +"I didn't learn till later in the afternoon whom it was that Nostromo, +with his Cargadores and some Italian workmen as well, had managed to +save from those drunken rascals. That man has a peculiar talent when +anything striking to the imagination has to be done. I made that remark +to him afterwards when we met after some sort of order had been restored +in the town, and the answer he made rather surprised me. He said quite +moodily, 'And how much do I get for that, senor?' Then it dawned upon me +that perhaps this man's vanity has been satiated by the adulation of the +common people and the confidence of his superiors!" + +Decoud paused to light a cigarette, then, with his head still over his +writing, he blew a cloud of smoke, which seemed to rebound from the +paper. He took up the pencil again. + +"That was yesterday evening on the Plaza, while he sat on the steps of +the cathedral, his hands between his knees, holding the bridle of his +famous silver-grey mare. He had led his body of Cargadores splendidly +all day long. He looked fatigued. I don't know how I looked. Very +dirty, I suppose. But I suppose I also looked pleased. From the time the +fugitive President had been got off to the S. S. Minerva, the tide +of success had turned against the mob. They had been driven off the +harbour, and out of the better streets of the town, into their own +maze of ruins and tolderias. You must understand that this riot, whose +primary object was undoubtedly the getting hold of the San Tome silver +stored in the lower rooms of the Custom House (besides the general +looting of the Ricos), had acquired a political colouring from the fact +of two Deputies to the Provincial Assembly, Senores Gamacho and Fuentes, +both from Bolson, putting themselves at the head of it--late in the +afternoon, it is true, when the mob, disappointed in their hopes of +loot, made a stand in the narrow streets to the cries of 'Viva la +Libertad! Down with Feudalism!' (I wonder what they imagine feudalism to +be?) 'Down with the Goths and Paralytics.' I suppose the Senores Gamacho +and Fuentes knew what they were doing. They are prudent gentlemen. +In the Assembly they called themselves Moderates, and opposed every +energetic measure with philanthropic pensiveness. At the first rumours +of Montero's victory, they showed a subtle change of the pensive temper, +and began to defy poor Don Juste Lopez in his Presidential tribune +with an effrontery to which the poor man could only respond by a dazed +smoothing of his beard and the ringing of the presidential bell. Then, +when the downfall of the Ribierist cause became confirmed beyond the +shadow of a doubt, they have blossomed into convinced Liberals, acting +together as if they were Siamese twins, and ultimately taking charge, as +it were, of the riot in the name of Monterist principles. + +"Their last move of eight o'clock last night was to organize themselves +into a Monterist Committee which sits, as far as I know, in a posada +kept by a retired Mexican bull-fighter, a great politician, too, whose +name I have forgotten. Thence they have issued a communication to +us, the Goths and Paralytics of the Amarilla Club (who have our own +committee), inviting us to come to some provisional understanding for a +truce, in order, they have the impudence to say, that the noble cause of +Liberty 'should not be stained by the criminal excesses of Conservative +selfishness!' As I came out to sit with Nostromo on the cathedral steps +the club was busy considering a proper reply in the principal room, +littered with exploded cartridges, with a lot of broken glass, blood +smears, candlesticks, and all sorts of wreckage on the floor. But all +this is nonsense. Nobody in the town has any real power except the +railway engineers, whose men occupy the dismantled houses acquired +by the Company for their town station on one side of the Plaza, and +Nostromo, whose Cargadores were sleeping under the arcades along +the front of Anzani's shops. A fire of broken furniture out of the +Intendencia saloons, mostly gilt, was burning on the Plaza, in a high +flame swaying right upon the statue of Charles IV. The dead body of a +man was lying on the steps of the pedestal, his arms thrown wide open, +and his sombrero covering his face--the attention of some friend, +perhaps. The light of the flames touched the foliage of the first trees +on the Alameda, and played on the end of a side street near by, blocked +up by a jumble of ox-carts and dead bullocks. Sitting on one of the +carcasses, a lepero, muffled up, smoked a cigarette. It was a truce, you +understand. The only other living being on the Plaza besides ourselves +was a Cargador walking to and fro, with a long, bare knife in his hand, +like a sentry before the Arcades, where his friends were sleeping. And +the only other spot of light in the dark town were the lighted windows +of the club, at the corner of the Calle." + +After having written so far, Don Martin Decoud, the exotic dandy of the +Parisian boulevard, got up and walked across the sanded floor of the +cafe at one end of the Albergo of United Italy, kept by Giorgio Viola, +the old companion of Garibaldi. The highly coloured lithograph of the +Faithful Hero seemed to look dimly, in the light of one candle, at the +man with no faith in anything except the truth of his own sensations. +Looking out of the window, Decoud was met by a darkness so impenetrable +that he could see neither the mountains nor the town, nor yet the +buildings near the harbour; and there was not a sound, as if the +tremendous obscurity of the Placid Gulf, spreading from the waters over +the land, had made it dumb as well as blind. Presently Decoud felt a +light tremor of the floor and a distant clank of iron. A bright white +light appeared, deep in the darkness, growing bigger with a thundering +noise. The rolling stock usually kept on the sidings in Rincon was being +run back to the yards for safe keeping. Like a mysterious stirring of +the darkness behind the headlight of the engine, the train passed in a +gust of hollow uproar, by the end of the house, which seemed to vibrate +all over in response. And nothing was clearly visible but, on the end +of the last flat car, a negro, in white trousers and naked to the waist, +swinging a blazing torch basket incessantly with a circular movement of +his bare arm. Decoud did not stir. + +Behind him, on the back of the chair from which he had risen, hung his +elegant Parisian overcoat, with a pearl-grey silk lining. But when he +turned back to come to the table the candlelight fell upon a face that +was grimy and scratched. His rosy lips were blackened with heat, the +smoke of gun-powder. Dirt and rust tarnished the lustre of his short +beard. His shirt collar and cuffs were crumpled; the blue silken tie +hung down his breast like a rag; a greasy smudge crossed his white brow. +He had not taken off his clothing nor used water, except to snatch a +hasty drink greedily, for some forty hours. An awful restlessness had +made him its own, had marked him with all the signs of desperate strife, +and put a dry, sleepless stare into his eyes. He murmured to himself +in a hoarse voice, "I wonder if there's any bread here," looked vaguely +about him, then dropped into the chair and took the pencil up again. He +became aware he had not eaten anything for many hours. + +It occurred to him that no one could understand him so well as his +sister. In the most sceptical heart there lurks at such moments, when +the chances of existence are involved, a desire to leave a correct +impression of the feelings, like a light by which the action may be seen +when personality is gone, gone where no light of investigation can ever +reach the truth which every death takes out of the world. Therefore, +instead of looking for something to eat, or trying to snatch an hour or +so of sleep, Decoud was filling the pages of a large pocket-book with a +letter to his sister. + +In the intimacy of that intercourse he could not keep out his weariness, +his great fatigue, the close touch of his bodily sensations. He began +again as if he were talking to her. With almost an illusion of her +presence, he wrote the phrase, "I am very hungry." + +"I have the feeling of a great solitude around me," he continued. "Is +it, perhaps, because I am the only man with a definite idea in his head, +in the complete collapse of every resolve, intention, and hope about me? +But the solitude is also very real. All the engineers are out, and have +been for two days, looking after the property of the National Central +Railway, of that great Costaguana undertaking which is to put money into +the pockets of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Americans, Germans, and God knows +who else. The silence about me is ominous. There is above the middle +part of this house a sort of first floor, with narrow openings like +loopholes for windows, probably used in old times for the better +defence against the savages, when the persistent barbarism of our native +continent did not wear the black coats of politicians, but went about +yelling, half-naked, with bows and arrows in its hands. The woman of +the house is dying up there, I believe, all alone with her old husband. +There is a narrow staircase, the sort of staircase one man could easily +defend against a mob, leading up there, and I have just heard, through +the thickness of the wall, the old fellow going down into their kitchen +for something or other. It was a sort of noise a mouse might make behind +the plaster of a wall. All the servants they had ran away yesterday and +have not returned yet, if ever they do. For the rest, there are only two +children here, two girls. The father has sent them downstairs, and +they have crept into this cafe, perhaps because I am here. They huddle +together in a corner, in each other's arms; I just noticed them a few +minutes ago, and I feel more lonely than ever." + +Decoud turned half round in his chair, and asked, "Is there any bread +here?" + +Linda's dark head was shaken negatively in response, above the fair head +of her sister nestling on her breast. + +"You couldn't get me some bread?" insisted Decoud. The child did not +move; he saw her large eyes stare at him very dark from the corner. +"You're not afraid of me?" he said. + +"No," said Linda, "we are not afraid of you. You came here with Gian' +Battista." + +"You mean Nostromo?" said Decoud. + +"The English call him so, but that is no name either for man or beast," +said the girl, passing her hand gently over her sister's hair. + +"But he lets people call him so," remarked Decoud. + +"Not in this house," retorted the child. + +"Ah! well, I shall call him the Capataz then." + +Decoud gave up the point, and after writing steadily for a while turned +round again. + +"When do you expect him back?" he asked. + +"After he brought you here he rode off to fetch the Senor Doctor from +the town for mother. He will be back soon." + +"He stands a good chance of getting shot somewhere on the road," Decoud +murmured to himself audibly; and Linda declared in her high-pitched +voice-- + +"Nobody would dare to fire a shot at Gian' Battista." + +"You believe that," asked Decoud, "do you?" + +"I know it," said the child, with conviction. "There is no one in this +place brave enough to attack Gian' Battista." + +"It doesn't require much bravery to pull a trigger behind a bush," +muttered Decoud to himself. "Fortunately, the night is dark, or there +would be but little chance of saving the silver of the mine." + +He turned again to his pocket-book, glanced back through the pages, and +again started his pencil. + +"That was the position yesterday, after the Minerva with the fugitive +President had gone out of harbour, and the rioters had been driven back +into the side lanes of the town. I sat on the steps of the cathedral +with Nostromo, after sending out the cable message for the information +of a more or less attentive world. Strangely enough, though the offices +of the Cable Company are in the same building as the Porvenir, the mob, +which has thrown my presses out of the window and scattered the type all +over the Plaza, has been kept from interfering with the instruments +on the other side of the courtyard. As I sat talking with Nostromo, +Bernhardt, the telegraphist, came out from under the Arcades with a +piece of paper in his hand. The little man had tied himself up to an +enormous sword and was hung all over with revolvers. He is ridiculous, +but the bravest German of his size that ever tapped the key of a Morse +transmitter. He had received the message from Cayta reporting the +transports with Barrios's army just entering the port, and ending with +the words, 'The greatest enthusiasm prevails.' I walked off to drink +some water at the fountain, and I was shot at from the Alameda by +somebody hiding behind a tree. But I drank, and didn't care; with +Barrios in Cayta and the great Cordillera between us and Montero's +victorious army I seemed, notwithstanding Messrs. Gamacho and Fuentes, +to hold my new State in the hollow of my hand. I was ready to sleep, but +when I got as far as the Casa Gould I found the patio full of wounded +laid out on straw. Lights were burning, and in that enclosed courtyard +on that hot night a faint odour of chloroform and blood hung about. +At one end Doctor Monygham, the doctor of the mine, was dressing the +wounds; at the other, near the stairs, Father Corbelan, kneeling, +listened to the confession of a dying Cargador. Mrs. Gould was walking +about through these shambles with a large bottle in one hand and a +lot of cotton wool in the other. She just looked at me and never even +winked. Her camerista was following her, also holding a bottle, and +sobbing gently to herself. + +"I busied myself for some time in fetching water from the cistern for +the wounded. Afterwards I wandered upstairs, meeting some of the first +ladies of Sulaco, paler than I had ever seen them before, with bandages +over their arms. Not all of them had fled to the ships. A good many had +taken refuge for the day in the Casa Gould. On the landing a girl, with +her hair half down, was kneeling against the wall under the niche where +stands a Madonna in blue robes and a gilt crown on her head. I think +it was the eldest Miss Lopez; I couldn't see her face, but I remember +looking at the high French heel of her little shoe. She did not make +a sound, she did not stir, she was not sobbing; she remained there, +perfectly still, all black against the white wall, a silent figure of +passionate piety. I am sure she was no more frightened than the other +white-faced ladies I met carrying bandages. One was sitting on the top +step tearing a piece of linen hastily into strips--the young wife of an +elderly man of fortune here. She interrupted herself to wave her hand to +my bow, as though she were in her carriage on the Alameda. The women +of our country are worth looking at during a revolution. The rouge and +pearl powder fall off, together with that passive attitude towards the +outer world which education, tradition, custom impose upon them from the +earliest infancy. I thought of your face, which from your infancy had +the stamp of intelligence instead of that patient and resigned cast +which appears when some political commotion tears down the veil of +cosmetics and usage. + +"In the great sala upstairs a sort of Junta of Notables was sitting, +the remnant of the vanished Provincial Assembly. Don Juste Lopez had had +half his beard singed off at the muzzle of a trabuco loaded with slugs, +of which every one missed him, providentially. And as he turned his head +from side to side it was exactly as if there had been two men inside his +frock-coat, one nobly whiskered and solemn, the other untidy and scared. + +"They raised a cry of 'Decoud! Don Martin!' at my entrance. I asked +them, 'What are you deliberating upon, gentlemen?' There did not seem +to be any president, though Don Jose Avellanos sat at the head of the +table. They all answered together, 'On the preservation of life and +property.' 'Till the new officials arrive,' Don Juste explained to me, +with the solemn side of his face offered to my view. It was as if a +stream of water had been poured upon my glowing idea of a new State. +There was a hissing sound in my ears, and the room grew dim, as if +suddenly filled with vapour. + +"I walked up to the table blindly, as though I had been drunk. 'You are +deliberating upon surrender,' I said. They all sat still, with their +noses over the sheet of paper each had before him, God only knows why. +Only Don Jose hid his face in his hands, muttering, 'Never, never!' But +as I looked at him, it seemed to me that I could have blown him away +with my breath, he looked so frail, so weak, so worn out. Whatever +happens, he will not survive. The deception is too great for a man of +his age; and hasn't he seen the sheets of 'Fifty Years of Misrule,' +which we have begun printing on the presses of the Porvenir, littering +the Plaza, floating in the gutters, fired out as wads for trabucos +loaded with handfuls of type, blown in the wind, trampled in the mud? I +have seen pages floating upon the very waters of the harbour. It would +be unreasonable to expect him to survive. It would be cruel. + +"'Do you know,' I cried, 'what surrender means to you, to your women, to +your children, to your property?' + +"I declaimed for five minutes without drawing breath, it seems to me, +harping on our best chances, on the ferocity of Montero, whom I made out +to be as great a beast as I have no doubt he would like to be if he had +intelligence enough to conceive a systematic reign of terror. And then +for another five minutes or more I poured out an impassioned appeal +to their courage and manliness, with all the passion of my love for +Antonia. For if ever man spoke well, it would be from a personal +feeling, denouncing an enemy, defending himself, or pleading for what +really may be dearer than life. My dear girl, I absolutely thundered at +them. It seemed as if my voice would burst the walls asunder, and when +I stopped I saw all their scared eyes looking at me dubiously. And that +was all the effect I had produced! Only Don Jose's head had sunk lower +and lower on his breast. I bent my ear to his withered lips, and made +out his whisper, something like, 'In God's name, then, Martin, my son!' +I don't know exactly. There was the name of God in it, I am certain. It +seems to me I have caught his last breath--the breath of his departing +soul on his lips. + +"He lives yet, it is true. I have seen him since; but it was only a +senile body, lying on its back, covered to the chin, with open eyes, and +so still that you might have said it was breathing no longer. I left him +thus, with Antonia kneeling by the side of the bed, just before I came +to this Italian's posada, where the ubiquitous death is also waiting. +But I know that Don Jose has really died there, in the Casa Gould, with +that whisper urging me to attempt what no doubt his soul, wrapped up in +the sanctity of diplomatic treaties and solemn declarations, must +have abhorred. I had exclaimed very loud, 'There is never any God in a +country where men will not help themselves.' + +"Meanwhile, Don Juste had begun a pondered oration whose solemn effect +was spoiled by the ridiculous disaster to his beard. I did not wait +to make it out. He seemed to argue that Montero's (he called him The +General) intentions were probably not evil, though, he went on, 'that +distinguished man' (only a week ago we used to call him a gran' bestia) +'was perhaps mistaken as to the true means.' As you may imagine, +I didn't stay to hear the rest. I know the intentions of Montero's +brother, Pedrito, the guerrillero, whom I exposed in Paris, some years +ago, in a cafe frequented by South American students, where he tried +to pass himself off for a Secretary of Legation. He used to come in +and talk for hours, twisting his felt hat in his hairy paws, and his +ambition seemed to become a sort of Duc de Morny to a sort of Napoleon. +Already, then, he used to talk of his brother in inflated terms. He +seemed fairly safe from being found out, because the students, all of +the Blanco families, did not, as you may imagine, frequent the Legation. +It was only Decoud, a man without faith and principles, as they used to +say, that went in there sometimes for the sake of the fun, as it were to +an assembly of trained monkeys. I know his intentions. I have seen him +change the plates at table. Whoever is allowed to live on in terror, I +must die the death. + +"No, I didn't stay to the end to hear Don Juste Lopez trying to persuade +himself in a grave oration of the clemency and justice, and honesty, and +purity of the brothers Montero. I went out abruptly to seek Antonia. +I saw her in the gallery. As I opened the door, she extended to me her +clasped hands. + +"'What are they doing in there?' she asked. + +"'Talking,' I said, with my eyes looking into hers. + +"'Yes, yes, but--' + +"'Empty speeches,' I interrupted her. 'Hiding their fears behind +imbecile hopes. They are all great Parliamentarians there--on the +English model, as you know.' I was so furious that I could hardly speak. +She made a gesture of despair. + +"Through the door I held a little ajar behind me, we heard Dun Juste's +measured mouthing monotone go on from phrase to phrase, like a sort of +awful and solemn madness. + +"'After all, the Democratic aspirations have, perhaps, their legitimacy. +The ways of human progress are inscrutable, and if the fate of the +country is in the hand of Montero, we ought--' + +"I crashed the door to on that; it was enough; it was too much. There +was never a beautiful face expressing more horror and despair than the +face of Antonia. I couldn't bear it; I seized her wrists. + +"'Have they killed my father in there?' she asked. + +"Her eyes blazed with indignation, but as I looked on, fascinated, the +light in them went out. + +"'It is a surrender,' I said. And I remember I was shaking her wrists I +held apart in my hands. 'But it's more than talk. Your father told me to +go on in God's name.' + +"My dear girl, there is that in Antonia which would make me believe in +the feasibility of anything. One look at her face is enough to set +my brain on fire. And yet I love her as any other man would--with the +heart, and with that alone. She is more to me than his Church to Father +Corbelan (the Grand Vicar disappeared last night from the town; perhaps +gone to join the band of Hernandez). She is more to me than his precious +mine to that sentimental Englishman. I won't speak of his wife. She may +have been sentimental once. The San Tome mine stands now between those +two people. 'Your father himself, Antonia,' I repeated; 'your father, do +you understand? has told me to go on.' + +"She averted her face, and in a pained voice-- + +"'He has?' she cried. 'Then, indeed, I fear he will never speak again.' + +"She freed her wrists from my clutch and began to cry in her +handkerchief. I disregarded her sorrow; I would rather see her miserable +than not see her at all, never any more; for whether I escaped or stayed +to die, there was for us no coming together, no future. And that being +so, I had no pity to waste upon the passing moments of her sorrow. I +sent her off in tears to fetch Dona Emilia and Don Carlos, too. Their +sentiment was necessary to the very life of my plan; the sentimentalism +of the people that will never do anything for the sake of their +passionate desire, unless it comes to them clothed in the fair robes of +an idea. + +"Late at night we formed a small junta of four--the two women, Don +Carlos, and myself--in Mrs. Gould's blue-and-white boudoir. + +"El Rey de Sulaco thinks himself, no doubt, a very honest man. And so +he is, if one could look behind his taciturnity. Perhaps he thinks +that this alone makes his honesty unstained. Those Englishmen live on +illusions which somehow or other help them to get a firm hold of the +substance. When he speaks it is by a rare 'yes' or 'no' that seems as +impersonal as the words of an oracle. But he could not impose on me by +his dumb reserve. I knew what he had in his head; he has his mine in +his head; and his wife had nothing in her head but his precious person, +which he has bound up with the Gould Concession and tied up to that +little woman's neck. No matter. The thing was to make him present the +affair to Holroyd (the Steel and Silver King) in such a manner as to +secure his financial support. At that time last night, just twenty-four +hours ago, we thought the silver of the mine safe in the Custom House +vaults till the north-bound steamer came to take it away. And as long as +the treasure flowed north, without a break, that utter sentimentalist, +Holroyd, would not drop his idea of introducing, not only justice, +industry, peace, to the benighted continents, but also that pet dream +of his of a purer form of Christianity. Later on, the principal European +really in Sulaco, the engineer-in-chief of the railway, came riding up +the Calle, from the harbour, and was admitted to our conclave. Meantime, +the Junta of the Notables in the great sala was still deliberating; +only, one of them had run out in the corredor to ask the servant +whether something to eat couldn't be sent in. The first words the +engineer-in-chief said as he came into the boudoir were, 'What is +your house, dear Mrs. Gould? A war hospital below, and apparently a +restaurant above. I saw them carrying trays full of good things into the +sala.' + +"'And here, in this boudoir,' I said, 'you behold the inner cabinet of +the Occidental Republic that is to be.' + +"He was so preoccupied that he didn't smile at that, he didn't even look +surprised. + +"He told us that he was attending to the general dispositions for the +defence of the railway property at the railway yards when he was +sent for to go into the railway telegraph office. The engineer of the +railhead, at the foot of the mountains, wanted to talk to him from his +end of the wire. There was nobody in the office but himself and the +operator of the railway telegraph, who read off the clicks aloud as the +tape coiled its length upon the floor. And the purport of that talk, +clicked nervously from a wooden shed in the depths of the forests, +had informed the chief that President Ribiera had been, or was being, +pursued. This was news, indeed, to all of us in Sulaco. Ribiera himself, +when rescued, revived, and soothed by us, had been inclined to think +that he had not been pursued. + +"Ribiera had yielded to the urgent solicitations of his friends, and had +left the headquarters of his discomfited army alone, under the +guidance of Bonifacio, the muleteer, who had been willing to take the +responsibility with the risk. He had departed at daybreak of the third +day. His remaining forces had melted away during the night. Bonifacio +and he rode hard on horses towards the Cordillera; then they obtained +mules, entered the passes, and crossed the Paramo of Ivie just before a +freezing blast swept over that stony plateau, burying in a drift of +snow the little shelter-hut of stones in which they had spent the night. +Afterwards poor Ribiera had many adventures, got separated from his +guide, lost his mount, struggled down to the Campo on foot, and if he +had not thrown himself on the mercy of a ranchero would have perished a +long way from Sulaco. That man, who, as a matter of fact, recognized +him at once, let him have a fresh mule, which the fugitive, heavy and +unskilful, had ridden to death. And it was true he had been pursued by +a party commanded by no less a person than Pedro Montero, the brother of +the general. The cold wind of the Paramo luckily caught the pursuers on +the top of the pass. Some few men, and all the animals, perished in the +icy blast. The stragglers died, but the main body kept on. They +found poor Bonifacio lying half-dead at the foot of a snow slope, and +bayoneted him promptly in the true Civil War style. They would have had +Ribiera, too, if they had not, for some reason or other, turned off the +track of the old Camino Real, only to lose their way in the forests +at the foot of the lower slopes. And there they were at last, having +stumbled in unexpectedly upon the construction camp. The engineer at +the railhead told his chief by wire that he had Pedro Montero absolutely +there, in the very office, listening to the clicks. He was going to +take possession of Sulaco in the name of the Democracy. He was very +overbearing. His men slaughtered some of the Railway Company's cattle +without asking leave, and went to work broiling the meat on the embers. +Pedrito made many pointed inquiries as to the silver mine, and what +had become of the product of the last six months' working. He had said +peremptorily, 'Ask your chief up there by wire, he ought to know; tell +him that Don Pedro Montero, Chief of the Campo and Minister of the +Interior of the new Government, desires to be correctly informed.' + +"He had his feet wrapped up in blood-stained rags, a lean, haggard face, +ragged beard and hair, and had walked in limping, with a crooked branch +of a tree for a staff. His followers were perhaps in a worse plight, but +apparently they had not thrown away their arms, and, at any rate, not +all their ammunition. Their lean faces filled the door and the windows +of the telegraph hut. As it was at the same time the bedroom of the +engineer-in-charge there, Montero had thrown himself on his clean +blankets and lay there shivering and dictating requisitions to be +transmitted by wire to Sulaco. He demanded a train of cars to be sent +down at once to transport his men up. + +"'To this I answered from my end,' the engineer-in-chief related to us, +'that I dared not risk the rolling-stock in the interior, as there had +been attempts to wreck trains all along the line several times. I did +that for your sake, Gould,' said the chief engineer. 'The answer to this +was, in the words of my subordinate, "The filthy brute on my bed said, +'Suppose I were to have you shot?'" To which my subordinate, who, it +appears, was himself operating, remarked that it would not bring the +cars up. Upon that, the other, yawning, said, "Never mind, there is +no lack of horses on the Campo." And, turning over, went to sleep on +Harris's bed.' + +"This is why, my dear girl, I am a fugitive to-night. The last wire from +railhead says that Pedro Montero and his men left at daybreak, after +feeding on asado beef all night. They took all the horses; they will +find more on the road; they'll be here in less than thirty hours, and +thus Sulaco is no place either for me or the great store of silver +belonging to the Gould Concession. + +"But that is not the worst. The garrison of Esmeralda has gone over to +the victorious party. We have heard this by means of the telegraphist of +the Cable Company, who came to the Casa Gould in the early morning with +the news. In fact, it was so early that the day had not yet quite broken +over Sulaco. His colleague in Esmeralda had called him up to say +that the garrison, after shooting some of their officers, had taken +possession of a Government steamer laid up in the harbour. It is really +a heavy blow for me. I thought I could depend on every man in this +province. It was a mistake. It was a Monterist Revolution in Esmeralda, +just such as was attempted in Sulaco, only that that one came off. The +telegraphist was signalling to Bernhardt all the time, and his last +transmitted words were, 'They are bursting in the door, and taking +possession of the cable office. You are cut off. Can do no more.' + +"But, as a matter of fact, he managed somehow to escape the vigilance +of his captors, who had tried to stop the communication with the outer +world. He did manage it. How it was done I don't know, but a few +hours afterwards he called up Sulaco again, and what he said was, 'The +insurgent army has taken possession of the Government transport in the +bay and are filling her with troops, with the intention of going round +the coast to Sulaco. Therefore look out for yourselves. They will be +ready to start in a few hours, and may be upon you before daybreak.' + +"This is all he could say. They drove him away from his instrument this +time for good, because Bernhardt has been calling up Esmeralda ever +since without getting an answer." + +After setting these words down in the pocket-book which he was filling +up for the benefit of his sister, Decoud lifted his head to listen. But +there were no sounds, neither in the room nor in the house, except the +drip of the water from the filter into the vast earthenware jar under +the wooden stand. And outside the house there was a great silence. +Decoud lowered his head again over the pocket-book. + +"I am not running away, you understand," he wrote on. "I am simply +going away with that great treasure of silver which must be saved at +all costs. Pedro Montero from the Campo and the revolted garrison of +Esmeralda from the sea are converging upon it. That it is there lying +ready for them is only an accident. The real objective is the San Tome +mine itself, as you may well imagine; otherwise the Occidental Province +would have been, no doubt, left alone for many weeks, to be gathered +at leisure into the arms of the victorious party. Don Carlos Gould +will have enough to do to save his mine, with its organization and its +people; this 'Imperium in Imperio,' this wealth-producing thing, to +which his sentimentalism attaches a strange idea of justice. He holds +to it as some men hold to the idea of love or revenge. Unless I am much +mistaken in the man, it must remain inviolate or perish by an act of +his will alone. A passion has crept into his cold and idealistic life. +A passion which I can only comprehend intellectually. A passion that +is not like the passions we know, we men of another blood. But it is as +dangerous as any of ours. + +"His wife has understood it, too. That is why she is such a good ally +of mine. She seizes upon all my suggestions with a sure instinct that in +the end they make for the safety of the Gould Concession. And he defers +to her because he trusts her perhaps, but I fancy rather as if he wished +to make up for some subtle wrong, for that sentimental unfaithfulness +which surrenders her happiness, her life, to the seduction of an idea. +The little woman has discovered that he lives for the mine rather +than for her. But let them be. To each his fate, shaped by passion or +sentiment. The principal thing is that she has backed up my advice to +get the silver out of the town, out of the country, at once, at any +cost, at any risk. Don Carlos' mission is to preserve unstained the fair +fame of his mine; Mrs. Gould's mission is to save him from the effects +of that cold and overmastering passion, which she dreads more than if it +were an infatuation for another woman. Nostromo's mission is to save +the silver. The plan is to load it into the largest of the Company's +lighters, and send it across the gulf to a small port out of Costaguana +territory just on the other side the Azuera, where the first northbound +steamer will get orders to pick it up. The waters here are calm. We +shall slip away into the darkness of the gulf before the Esmeralda +rebels arrive; and by the time the day breaks over the ocean we shall be +out of sight, invisible, hidden by Azuera, which itself looks from the +Sulaco shore like a faint blue cloud on the horizon. + +"The incorruptible Capataz de Cargadores is the man for that work; +and I, the man with a passion, but without a mission, I go with him to +return--to play my part in the farce to the end, and, if successful, to +receive my reward, which no one but Antonia can give me. + +"I shall not see her again now before I depart. I left her, as I have +said, by Don Jose's bedside. The street was dark, the houses shut up, +and I walked out of the town in the night. Not a single street-lamp had +been lit for two days, and the archway of the gate was only a mass of +darkness in the vague form of a tower, in which I heard low, dismal +groans, that seemed to answer the murmurs of a man's voice. + +"I recognized something impassive and careless in its tone, +characteristic of that Genoese sailor who, like me, has come casually +here to be drawn into the events for which his scepticism as well as +mine seems to entertain a sort of passive contempt. The only thing he +seems to care for, as far as I have been able to discover, is to be well +spoken of. An ambition fit for noble souls, but also a profitable one +for an exceptionally intelligent scoundrel. Yes. His very words, 'To +be well spoken of. Si, senor.' He does not seem to make any difference +between speaking and thinking. Is it sheer naiveness or the practical +point of view, I wonder? Exceptional individualities always interest me, +because they are true to the general formula expressing the moral state +of humanity. + +"He joined me on the harbour road after I had passed them under the dark +archway without stopping. It was a woman in trouble he had been talking +to. Through discretion I kept silent while he walked by my side. After +a time he began to talk himself. It was not what I expected. It was +only an old woman, an old lace-maker, in search of her son, one of the +street-sweepers employed by the municipality. Friends had come the day +before at daybreak to the door of their hovel calling him out. He had +gone with them, and she had not seen him since; so she had left the food +she had been preparing half-cooked on the extinct embers and had crawled +out as far as the harbour, where she had heard that some town mozos had +been killed on the morning of the riot. One of the Cargadores guarding +the Custom House had brought out a lantern, and had helped her to look +at the few dead left lying about there. Now she was creeping back, +having failed in her search. So she sat down on the stone seat under the +arch, moaning, because she was very tired. The Capataz had questioned +her, and after hearing her broken and groaning tale had advised her to +go and look amongst the wounded in the patio of the Casa Gould. He had +also given her a quarter dollar, he mentioned carelessly." + +"'Why did you do that?' I asked. 'Do you know her?' + +"'No, senor. I don't suppose I have ever seen her before. How should I? +She has not probably been out in the streets for years. She is one +of those old women that you find in this country at the back of huts, +crouching over fireplaces, with a stick on the ground by their side, and +almost too feeble to drive away the stray dogs from their cooking-pots. +Caramba! I could tell by her voice that death had forgotten her. But, +old or young, they like money, and will speak well of the man who gives +it to them.' He laughed a little. 'Senor, you should have felt the +clutch of her paw as I put the piece in her palm.' He paused. 'My last, +too,' he added. + +"I made no comment. He's known for his liberality and his bad luck at +the game of monte, which keeps him as poor as when he first came here. + +"'I suppose, Don Martin,' he began, in a thoughtful, speculative tone, +'that the Senor Administrador of San Tome will reward me some day if I +save his silver?' + +"I said that it could not be otherwise, surely. He walked on, muttering +to himself. 'Si, si, without doubt, without doubt; and, look you, Senor +Martin, what it is to be well spoken of! There is not another man that +could have been even thought of for such a thing. I shall get something +great for it some day. And let it come soon,' he mumbled. 'Time passes +in this country as quick as anywhere else.' + +"This, _soeur cherie_, is my companion in the great escape for the sake +of the great cause. He is more naive than shrewd, more masterful than +crafty, more generous with his personality than the people who make use +of him are with their money. At least, that is what he thinks himself +with more pride than sentiment. I am glad I have made friends with him. +As a companion he acquires more importance than he ever had as a sort of +minor genius in his way--as an original Italian sailor whom I allowed +to come in in the small hours and talk familiarly to the editor of the +Porvenir while the paper was going through the press. And it is curious +to have met a man for whom the value of life seems to consist in +personal prestige. + +"I am waiting for him here now. On arriving at the posada kept by Viola +we found the children alone down below, and the old Genoese shouted to +his countryman to go and fetch the doctor. Otherwise we would have gone +on to the wharf, where it appears Captain Mitchell with some volunteer +Europeans and a few picked Cargadores are loading the lighter with the +silver that must be saved from Montero's clutches in order to be used +for Montero's defeat. Nostromo galloped furiously back towards the town. +He has been long gone already. This delay gives me time to talk to you. +By the time this pocket-book reaches your hands much will have happened. +But now it is a pause under the hovering wing of death in this silent +house buried in the black night, with this dying woman, the two children +crouching without a sound, and that old man whom I can hear through the +thickness of the wall passing up and down with a light rubbing noise no +louder than a mouse. And I, the only other with them, don't really know +whether to count myself with the living or with the dead. 'Quien sabe?' +as the people here are prone to say in answer to every question. But no! +feeling for you is certainly not dead, and the whole thing, the house, +the dark night, the silent children in this dim room, my very presence +here--all this is life, must be life, since it is so much like a dream." + +With the writing of the last line there came upon Decoud a moment of +sudden and complete oblivion. He swayed over the table as if struck by +a bullet. The next moment he sat up, confused, with the idea that he had +heard his pencil roll on the floor. The low door of the cafe, wide open, +was filled with the glare of a torch in which was visible half of a +horse, switching its tail against the leg of a rider with a long iron +spur strapped to the naked heel. The two girls were gone, and Nostromo, +standing in the middle of the room, looked at him from under the round +brim of the sombrero low down over his brow. + +"I have brought that sour-faced English doctor in Senora Gould's +carriage," said Nostromo. "I doubt if, with all his wisdom, he can +save the Padrona this time. They have sent for the children. A bad sign +that." + +He sat down on the end of a bench. "She wants to give them her blessing, +I suppose." + +Dazedly Decoud observed that he must have fallen sound asleep, and +Nostromo said, with a vague smile, that he had looked in at the window +and had seen him lying still across the table with his head on his arms. +The English senora had also come in the carriage, and went upstairs at +once with the doctor. She had told him not to wake up Don Martin yet; +but when they sent for the children he had come into the cafe. + +The half of the horse with its half of the rider swung round outside the +door; the torch of tow and resin in the iron basket which was carried on +a stick at the saddle-bow flared right into the room for a moment, and +Mrs. Gould entered hastily with a very white, tired face. The hood of +her dark, blue cloak had fallen back. Both men rose. + +"Teresa wants to see you, Nostromo," she said. The Capataz did not move. +Decoud, with his back to the table, began to button up his coat. + +"The silver, Mrs. Gould, the silver," he murmured in English. "Don't +forget that the Esmeralda garrison have got a steamer. They may appear +at any moment at the harbour entrance." + +"The doctor says there is no hope," Mrs. Gould spoke rapidly, also in +English. "I shall take you down to the wharf in my carriage and then +come back to fetch away the girls." She changed swiftly into Spanish to +address Nostromo. "Why are you wasting time? Old Giorgio's wife wishes +to see you." + +"I am going to her, senora," muttered the Capataz. Dr. Monygham now +showed himself, bringing back the children. To Mrs. Gould's inquiring +glance he only shook his head and went outside at once, followed by +Nostromo. + +The horse of the torch-bearer, motionless, hung his head low, and the +rider had dropped the reins to light a cigarette. The glare of the torch +played on the front of the house crossed by the big black letters of its +inscription in which only the word _Italia_ was lighted fully. The patch +of wavering glare reached as far as Mrs. Gould's carriage waiting on +the road, with the yellow-faced, portly Ignacio apparently dozing on the +box. By his side Basilio, dark and skinny, held a Winchester carbine in +front of him, with both hands, and peered fearfully into the darkness. +Nostromo touched lightly the doctor's shoulder. + +"Is she really dying, senor doctor?" + +"Yes," said the doctor, with a strange twitch of his scarred cheek. "And +why she wants to see you I cannot imagine." + +"She has been like that before," suggested Nostromo, looking away. + +"Well, Capataz, I can assure you she will never be like that again," +snarled Dr. Monygham. "You may go to her or stay away. There is very +little to be got from talking to the dying. But she told Dona Emilia in +my hearing that she has been like a mother to you ever since you first +set foot ashore here." + +"Si! And she never had a good word to say for me to anybody. It is more +as if she could not forgive me for being alive, and such a man, too, as +she would have liked her son to be." + +"Maybe!" exclaimed a mournful deep voice near them. "Women have their +own ways of tormenting themselves." Giorgio Viola had come out of the +house. He threw a heavy black shadow in the torchlight, and the glare +fell on his big face, on the great bushy head of white hair. He motioned +the Capataz indoors with his extended arm. + +Dr. Monygham, after busying himself with a little medicament box of +polished wood on the seat of the landau, turned to old Giorgio and +thrust into his big, trembling hand one of the glass-stoppered bottles +out of the case. + +"Give her a spoonful of this now and then, in water," he said. "It will +make her easier." + +"And there is nothing more for her?" asked the old man, patiently. + +"No. Not on earth," said the doctor, with his back to him, clicking the +lock of the medicine case. + +Nostromo slowly crossed the large kitchen, all dark but for the glow of +a heap of charcoal under the heavy mantel of the cooking-range, where +water was boiling in an iron pot with a loud bubbling sound. Between +the two walls of a narrow staircase a bright light streamed from the +sick-room above; and the magnificent Capataz de Cargadores stepping +noiselessly in soft leather sandals, bushy whiskered, his muscular +neck and bronzed chest bare in the open check shirt, resembled a +Mediterranean sailor just come ashore from some wine or fruit-laden +felucca. At the top he paused, broad shouldered, narrow hipped and +supple, looking at the large bed, like a white couch of state, with a +profusion of snowy linen, amongst which the Padrona sat unpropped and +bowed, her handsome, black-browed face bent over her chest. A mass of +raven hair with only a few white threads in it covered her shoulders; +one thick strand fallen forward half veiled her cheek. Perfectly +motionless in that pose, expressing physical anxiety and unrest, she +turned her eyes alone towards Nostromo. + +The Capataz had a red sash wound many times round his waist, and a heavy +silver ring on the forefinger of the hand he raised to give a twist to +his moustache. + +"Their revolutions, their revolutions," gasped Senora Teresa. "Look, +Gian' Battista, it has killed me at last!" + +Nostromo said nothing, and the sick woman with an upward glance +insisted. "Look, this one has killed me, while you were away fighting +for what did not concern you, foolish man." + +"Why talk like this?" mumbled the Capataz between his teeth. "Will you +never believe in my good sense? It concerns me to keep on being what I +am: every day alike." + +"You never change, indeed," she said, bitterly. "Always thinking of +yourself and taking your pay out in fine words from those who care +nothing for you." + +There was between them an intimacy of antagonism as close in its way as +the intimacy of accord and affection. He had not walked along the way +of Teresa's expectations. It was she who had encouraged him to leave his +ship, in the hope of securing a friend and defender for the girls. The +wife of old Giorgio was aware of her precarious health, and was haunted +by the fear of her aged husband's loneliness and the unprotected state +of the children. She had wanted to annex that apparently quiet and +steady young man, affectionate and pliable, an orphan from his tenderest +age, as he had told her, with no ties in Italy except an uncle, owner +and master of a felucca, from whose ill-usage he had run away before he +was fourteen. He had seemed to her courageous, a hard worker, determined +to make his way in the world. From gratitude and the ties of habit he +would become like a son to herself and Giorgio; and then, who knows, +when Linda had grown up. . . . Ten years' difference between husband and +wife was not so much. Her own great man was nearly twenty years older +than herself. Gian' Battista was an attractive young fellow, besides; +attractive to men, women, and children, just by that profound quietness +of personality which, like a serene twilight, rendered more seductive +the promise of his vigorous form and the resolution of his conduct. + +Old Giorgio, in profound ignorance of his wife's views and hopes, had a +great regard for his young countryman. "A man ought not to be tame," he +used to tell her, quoting the Spanish proverb in defence of the splendid +Capataz. She was growing jealous of his success. He was escaping from +her, she feared. She was practical, and he seemed to her to be an absurd +spendthrift of these qualities which made him so valuable. He got too +little for them. He scattered them with both hands amongst too many +people, she thought. He laid no money by. She railed at his poverty, his +exploits, his adventures, his loves and his reputation; but in her heart +she had never given him up, as though, indeed, he had been her son. + +Even now, ill as she was, ill enough to feel the chill, black breath of +the approaching end, she had wished to see him. It was like putting out +her benumbed hand to regain her hold. But she had presumed too much on +her strength. She could not command her thoughts; they had become dim, +like her vision. The words faltered on her lips, and only the paramount +anxiety and desire of her life seemed to be too strong for death. + +The Capataz said, "I have heard these things many times. You are unjust, +but it does not hurt me. Only now you do not seem to have much strength +to talk, and I have but little time to listen. I am engaged in a work of +very great moment." + +She made an effort to ask him whether it was true that he had found time +to go and fetch a doctor for her. Nostromo nodded affirmatively. + +She was pleased: it relieved her sufferings to know that the man had +condescended to do so much for those who really wanted his help. It was +a proof of his friendship. Her voice become stronger. + +"I want a priest more than a doctor," she said, pathetically. She did +not move her head; only her eyes ran into the corners to watch the +Capataz standing by the side of her bed. "Would you go to fetch a priest +for me now? Think! A dying woman asks you!" + +Nostromo shook his head resolutely. He did not believe in priests in +their sacerdotal character. A doctor was an efficacious person; but a +priest, as priest, was nothing, incapable of doing either good or harm. +Nostromo did not even dislike the sight of them as old Giorgio did. The +utter uselessness of the errand was what struck him most. + +"Padrona," he said, "you have been like this before, and got better +after a few days. I have given you already the very last moments I can +spare. Ask Senora Gould to send you one." + +He was feeling uneasy at the impiety of this refusal. The Padrona +believed in priests, and confessed herself to them. But all women +did that. It could not be of much consequence. And yet his heart felt +oppressed for a moment--at the thought what absolution would mean to her +if she believed in it only ever so little. No matter. It was quite true +that he had given her already the very last moment he could spare. + +"You refuse to go?" she gasped. "Ah! you are always yourself, indeed." + +"Listen to reason, Padrona," he said. "I am needed to save the silver of +the mine. Do you hear? A greater treasure than the one which they say +is guarded by ghosts and devils on Azuera. It is true. I am resolved to +make this the most desperate affair I was ever engaged on in my whole +life." + +She felt a despairing indignation. The supreme test had failed. Standing +above her, Nostromo did not see the distorted features of her face, +distorted by a paroxysm of pain and anger. Only she began to tremble all +over. Her bowed head shook. The broad shoulders quivered. + +"Then God, perhaps, will have mercy upon me! But do you look to it, man, +that you get something for yourself out of it, besides the remorse that +shall overtake you some day." + +She laughed feebly. "Get riches at least for once, you indispensable, +admired Gian' Battista, to whom the peace of a dying woman is less +than the praise of people who have given you a silly name--and nothing +besides--in exchange for your soul and body." + +The Capataz de Cargadores swore to himself under his breath. + +"Leave my soul alone, Padrona, and I shall know how to take care of +my body. Where is the harm of people having need of me? What are you +envying me that I have robbed you and the children of? Those very people +you are throwing in my teeth have done more for old Giorgio than they +ever thought of doing for me." + +He struck his breast with his open palm; his voice had remained low +though he had spoken in a forcible tone. He twisted his moustaches one +after another, and his eyes wandered a little about the room. + +"Is it my fault that I am the only man for their purposes? What angry +nonsense are you talking, mother? Would you rather have me timid and +foolish, selling water-melons on the market-place or rowing a boat for +passengers along the harbour, like a soft Neapolitan without courage +or reputation? Would you have a young man live like a monk? I do not +believe it. Would you want a monk for your eldest girl? Let her grow. +What are you afraid of? You have been angry with me for everything I did +for years; ever since you first spoke to me, in secret from old Giorgio, +about your Linda. Husband to one and brother to the other, did you say? +Well, why not! I like the little ones, and a man must marry some time. +But ever since that time you have been making little of me to everyone. +Why? Did you think you could put a collar and chain on me as if I were +one of the watch-dogs they keep over there in the railway yards? Look +here, Padrona, I am the same man who came ashore one evening and sat +down in the thatched ranche you lived in at that time on the other side +of the town and told you all about himself. You were not unjust to me +then. What has happened since? I am no longer an insignificant youth. A +good name, Giorgio says, is a treasure, Padrona." + +"They have turned your head with their praises," gasped the sick woman. +"They have been paying you with words. Your folly shall betray you into +poverty, misery, starvation. The very leperos shall laugh at you--the +great Capataz." + +Nostromo stood for a time as if struck dumb. She never looked at him. A +self-confident, mirthless smile passed quickly from his lips, and then +he backed away. His disregarded figure sank down beyond the doorway. +He descended the stairs backwards, with the usual sense of having been +somehow baffled by this woman's disparagement of this reputation he had +obtained and desired to keep. + +Downstairs in the big kitchen a candle was burning, surrounded by the +shadows of the walls, of the ceiling, but no ruddy glare filled the open +square of the outer door. The carriage with Mrs. Gould and Don Martin, +preceded by the horseman bearing the torch, had gone on to the jetty. +Dr. Monygham, who had remained, sat on the corner of a hard wood table +near the candlestick, his seamed, shaven face inclined sideways, his +arms crossed on his breast, his lips pursed up, and his prominent eyes +glaring stonily upon the floor of black earth. Near the overhanging +mantel of the fireplace, where the pot of water was still boiling +violently, old Giorgio held his chin in his hand, one foot advanced, as +if arrested by a sudden thought. + +"Adios, viejo," said Nostromo, feeling the handle of his revolver in the +belt and loosening his knife in its sheath. He picked up a blue poncho +lined with red from the table, and put it over his head. "Adios, look +after the things in my sleeping-room, and if you hear from me no more, +give up the box to Paquita. There is not much of value there, except my +new serape from Mexico, and a few silver buttons on my best jacket. No +matter! The things will look well enough on the next lover she gets, and +the man need not be afraid I shall linger on earth after I am dead, like +those Gringos that haunt the Azuera." + +Dr. Monygham twisted his lips into a bitter smile. After old Giorgio, +with an almost imperceptible nod and without a word, had gone up the +narrow stairs, he said-- + +"Why, Capataz! I thought you could never fail in anything." + +Nostromo, glancing contemptuously at the doctor, lingered in the doorway +rolling a cigarette, then struck a match, and, after lighting it, held +the burning piece of wood above his head till the flame nearly touched +his fingers. + +"No wind!" he muttered to himself. "Look here, senor--do you know the +nature of my undertaking?" + +Dr. Monygham nodded sourly. + +"It is as if I were taking up a curse upon me, senor doctor. A man with +a treasure on this coast will have every knife raised against him in +every place upon the shore. You see that, senor doctor? I shall float +along with a spell upon my life till I meet somewhere the north-bound +steamer of the Company, and then indeed they will talk about the Capataz +of the Sulaco Cargadores from one end of America to another." + +Dr. Monygham laughed his short, throaty laugh. Nostromo turned round in +the doorway. + +"But if your worship can find any other man ready and fit for such +business I will stand back. I am not exactly tired of my life, though I +am so poor that I can carry all I have with myself on my horse's back." + +"You gamble too much, and never say 'no' to a pretty face, Capataz," +said Dr. Monygham, with sly simplicity. "That's not the way to make a +fortune. But nobody that I know ever suspected you of being poor. I +hope you have made a good bargain in case you come back safe from this +adventure." + +"What bargain would your worship have made?" asked Nostromo, blowing the +smoke out of his lips through the doorway. + +Dr. Monygham listened up the staircase for a moment before he answered, +with another of his short, abrupt laughs-- + +"Illustrious Capataz, for taking the curse of death upon my back, as you +call it, nothing else but the whole treasure would do." + +Nostromo vanished out of the doorway with a grunt of discontent at +this jeering answer. Dr. Monygham heard him gallop away. Nostromo rode +furiously in the dark. There were lights in the buildings of the +O.S.N. Company near the wharf, but before he got there he met the Gould +carriage. The horseman preceded it with the torch, whose light showed +the white mules trotting, the portly Ignacio driving, and Basilio with +the carbine on the box. From the dark body of the landau Mrs. Gould's +voice cried, "They are waiting for you, Capataz!" She was returning, +chilly and excited, with Decoud's pocket-book still held in her hand. He +had confided it to her to send to his sister. "Perhaps my last words to +her," he had said, pressing Mrs. Gould's hand. + +The Capataz never checked his speed. At the head of the wharf vague +figures with rifles leapt to the head of his horse; others closed upon +him--cargadores of the company posted by Captain Mitchell on the watch. +At a word from him they fell back with subservient murmurs, recognizing +his voice. At the other end of the jetty, near a cargo crane, in a dark +group with glowing cigars, his name was pronounced in a tone of relief. +Most of the Europeans in Sulaco were there, rallied round Charles Gould, +as if the silver of the mine had been the emblem of a common cause, the +symbol of the supreme importance of material interests. They had loaded +it into the lighter with their own hands. Nostromo recognized Don Carlos +Gould, a thin, tall shape standing a little apart and silent, to whom +another tall shape, the engineer-in-chief, said aloud, "If it must be +lost, it is a million times better that it should go to the bottom of +the sea." + +Martin Decoud called out from the lighter, "_Au revoir_, messieurs, till +we clasp hands again over the new-born Occidental Republic." Only a +subdued murmur responded to his clear, ringing tones; and then it seemed +to him that the wharf was floating away into the night; but it was +Nostromo, who was already pushing against a pile with one of the heavy +sweeps. Decoud did not move; the effect was that of being launched +into space. After a splash or two there was not a sound but the thud +of Nostromo's feet leaping about the boat. He hoisted the big sail; a +breath of wind fanned Decoud's cheek. Everything had vanished but the +light of the lantern Captain Mitchell had hoisted upon the post at the +end of the jetty to guide Nostromo out of the harbour. + +The two men, unable to see each other, kept silent till the lighter, +slipping before the fitful breeze, passed out between almost invisible +headlands into the still deeper darkness of the gulf. For a time the +lantern on the jetty shone after them. The wind failed, then fanned up +again, but so faintly that the big, half-decked boat slipped along with +no more noise than if she had been suspended in the air. + +"We are out in the gulf now," said the calm voice of Nostromo. A moment +after he added, "Senor Mitchell has lowered the light." + +"Yes," said Decoud; "nobody can find us now." + +A great recrudescence of obscurity embraced the boat. The sea in the +gulf was as black as the clouds above. Nostromo, after striking a couple +of matches to get a glimpse of the boat-compass he had with him in the +lighter, steered by the feel of the wind on his cheek. + +It was a new experience for Decoud, this mysteriousness of the great +waters spread out strangely smooth, as if their restlessness had been +crushed by the weight of that dense night. The Placido was sleeping +profoundly under its black poncho. + +The main thing now for success was to get away from the coast and gain +the middle of the gulf before day broke. The Isabels were somewhere +at hand. "On your left as you look forward, senor," said Nostromo, +suddenly. When his voice ceased, the enormous stillness, without light +or sound, seemed to affect Decoud's senses like a powerful drug. He +didn't even know at times whether he were asleep or awake. Like a man +lost in slumber, he heard nothing, he saw nothing. Even his hand +held before his face did not exist for his eyes. The change from the +agitation, the passions and the dangers, from the sights and sounds of +the shore, was so complete that it would have resembled death had it +not been for the survival of his thoughts. In this foretaste of eternal +peace they floated vivid and light, like unearthly clear dreams of +earthly things that may haunt the souls freed by death from the misty +atmosphere of regrets and hopes. Decoud shook himself, shuddered a bit, +though the air that drifted past him was warm. He had the strangest +sensation of his soul having just returned into his body from the +circumambient darkness in which land, sea, sky, the mountains, and the +rocks were as if they had not been. + +Nostromo's voice was speaking, though he, at the tiller, was also as +if he were not. "Have you been asleep, Don Martin? Caramba! If it were +possible I would think that I, too, have dozed off. I have a strange +notion somehow of having dreamt that there was a sound of blubbering, +a sound a sorrowing man could make, somewhere near this boat. Something +between a sigh and a sob." + +"Strange!" muttered Decoud, stretched upon the pile of treasure boxes +covered by many tarpaulins. "Could it be that there is another boat near +us in the gulf? We could not see it, you know." + +Nostromo laughed a little at the absurdity of the idea. They dismissed +it from their minds. The solitude could almost be felt. And when the +breeze ceased, the blackness seemed to weigh upon Decoud like a stone. + +"This is overpowering," he muttered. "Do we move at all, Capataz?" + +"Not so fast as a crawling beetle tangled in the grass," answered +Nostromo, and his voice seemed deadened by the thick veil of obscurity +that felt warm and hopeless all about them. There were long periods +when he made no sound, invisible and inaudible as if he had mysteriously +stepped out of the lighter. + +In the featureless night Nostromo was not even certain which way the +lighter headed after the wind had completely died out. He peered for the +islands. There was not a hint of them to be seen, as if they had sunk to +the bottom of the gulf. He threw himself down by the side of Decoud at +last, and whispered into his ear that if daylight caught them near the +Sulaco shore through want of wind, it would be possible to sweep the +lighter behind the cliff at the high end of the Great Isabel, where +she would lie concealed. Decoud was surprised at the grimness of his +anxiety. To him the removal of the treasure was a political move. It was +necessary for several reasons that it should not fall into the hands of +Montero, but here was a man who took another view of this enterprise. +The Caballeros over there did not seem to have the slightest idea of +what they had given him to do. Nostromo, as if affected by the gloom +around, seemed nervously resentful. Decoud was surprised. The Capataz, +indifferent to those dangers that seemed obvious to his companion, +allowed himself to become scornfully exasperated by the deadly nature +of the trust put, as a matter of course, into his hands. It was more +dangerous, Nostromo said, with a laugh and a curse, than sending a man +to get the treasure that people said was guarded by devils and ghosts in +the deep ravines of Azuera. "Senor," he said, "we must catch the steamer +at sea. We must keep out in the open looking for her till we have eaten +and drunk all that has been put on board here. And if we miss her by +some mischance, we must keep away from the land till we grow weak, +and perhaps mad, and die, and drift dead, until one or another of the +steamers of the Compania comes upon the boat with the two dead men who +have saved the treasure. That, senor, is the only way to save it; for, +don't you see? for us to come to the land anywhere in a hundred miles +along this coast with this silver in our possession is to run the naked +breast against the point of a knife. This thing has been given to me +like a deadly disease. If men discover it I am dead, and you, too, +senor, since you would come with me. There is enough silver to make a +whole province rich, let alone a seaboard pueblo inhabited by thieves +and vagabonds. Senor, they would think that heaven itself sent these +riches into their hands, and would cut our throats without hesitation. +I would trust no fair words from the best man around the shores of this +wild gulf. Reflect that, even by giving up the treasure at the first +demand, we would not be able to save our lives. Do you understand this, +or must I explain?" + +"No, you needn't explain," said Decoud, a little listlessly. "I can see +it well enough myself, that the possession of this treasure is very +much like a deadly disease for men situated as we are. But it had to be +removed from Sulaco, and you were the man for the task." + +"I was; but I cannot believe," said Nostromo, "that its loss would have +impoverished Don Carlos Gould very much. There is more wealth in the +mountain. I have heard it rolling down the shoots on quiet nights when +I used to ride to Rincon to see a certain girl, after my work at the +harbour was done. For years the rich rocks have been pouring down with a +noise like thunder, and the miners say that there is enough at the heart +of the mountain to thunder on for years and years to come. And yet, the +day before yesterday, we have been fighting to save it from the mob, +and to-night I am sent out with it into this darkness, where there is no +wind to get away with; as if it were the last lot of silver on earth to +get bread for the hungry with. Ha! ha! Well, I am going to make it the +most famous and desperate affair of my life--wind or no wind. It shall +be talked about when the little children are grown up and the grown +men are old. Aha! the Monterists must not get hold of it, I am told, +whatever happens to Nostromo the Capataz; and they shall not have it, I +tell you, since it has been tied for safety round Nostromo's neck." + +"I see it," murmured Decoud. He saw, indeed, that his companion had his +own peculiar view of this enterprise. + +Nostromo interrupted his reflections upon the way men's qualities are +made use of, without any fundamental knowledge of their nature, by the +proposal they should slip the long oars out and sweep the lighter in +the direction of the Isabels. It wouldn't do for daylight to reveal +the treasure floating within a mile or so of the harbour entrance. The +denser the darkness generally, the smarter were the puffs of wind on +which he had reckoned to make his way; but tonight the gulf, under its +poncho of clouds, remained breathless, as if dead rather than asleep. + +Don Martin's soft hands suffered cruelly, tugging at the thick handle of +the enormous oar. He stuck to it manfully, setting his teeth. He, too, +was in the toils of an imaginative existence, and that strange work of +pulling a lighter seemed to belong naturally to the inception of a new +state, acquired an ideal meaning from his love for Antonia. For all +their efforts, the heavily laden lighter hardly moved. Nostromo could +be heard swearing to himself between the regular splashes of the sweeps. +"We are making a crooked path," he muttered to himself. "I wish I could +see the islands." + +In his unskilfulness Don Martin over-exerted himself. Now and then a +sort of muscular faintness would run from the tips of his aching fingers +through every fibre of his body, and pass off in a flush of heat. He had +fought, talked, suffered mentally and physically, exerting his mind and +body for the last forty-eight hours without intermission. He had had no +rest, very little food, no pause in the stress of his thoughts and his +feelings. Even his love for Antonia, whence he drew his strength and +his inspiration, had reached the point of tragic tension during their +hurried interview by Don Jose's bedside. And now, suddenly, he was +thrown out of all this into a dark gulf, whose very gloom, silence, and +breathless peace added a torment to the necessity for physical exertion. +He imagined the lighter sinking to the bottom with an extraordinary +shudder of delight. "I am on the verge of delirium," he thought. He +mastered the trembling of all his limbs, of his breast, the inward +trembling of all his body exhausted of its nervous force. + +"Shall we rest, Capataz?" he proposed in a careless tone. "There are +many hours of night yet before us." + +"True. It is but a mile or so, I suppose. Rest your arms, senor, if that +is what you mean. You will find no other sort of rest, I can promise +you, since you let yourself be bound to this treasure whose loss would +make no poor man poorer. No, senor; there is no rest till we find a +north-bound steamer, or else some ship finds us drifting about stretched +out dead upon the Englishman's silver. Or rather--no; por Dios! I shall +cut down the gunwale with the axe right to the water's edge before +thirst and hunger rob me of my strength. By all the saints and devils +I shall let the sea have the treasure rather than give it up to any +stranger. Since it was the good pleasure of the Caballeros to send me +off on such an errand, they shall learn I am just the man they take me +for." + +Decoud lay on the silver boxes panting. All his active sensations and +feelings from as far back as he could remember seemed to him the maddest +of dreams. Even his passionate devotion to Antonia into which he had +worked himself up out of the depths of his scepticism had lost all +appearance of reality. For a moment he was the prey of an extremely +languid but not unpleasant indifference. + +"I am sure they didn't mean you to take such a desperate view of this +affair," he said. + +"What was it, then? A joke?" snarled the man, who on the pay-sheets of +the O.S.N. Company's establishment in Sulaco was described as "Foreman +of the wharf" against the figure of his wages. "Was it for a joke they +woke me up from my sleep after two days of street fighting to make me +stake my life upon a bad card? Everybody knows, too, that I am not a +lucky gambler." + +"Yes, everybody knows of your good luck with women, Capataz," Decoud +propitiated his companion in a weary drawl. + +"Look here, senor," Nostromo went on. "I never even remonstrated about +this affair. Directly I heard what was wanted I saw what a desperate +affair it must be, and I made up my mind to see it out. Every minute was +of importance. I had to wait for you first. Then, when we arrived at +the Italia Una, old Giorgio shouted to me to go for the English doctor. +Later on, that poor dying woman wanted to see me, as you know. Senor, +I was reluctant to go. I felt already this cursed silver growing heavy +upon my back, and I was afraid that, knowing herself to be dying, she +would ask me to ride off again for a priest. Father Corbelan, who is +fearless, would have come at a word; but Father Corbelan is far away, +safe with the band of Hernandez, and the populace, that would have liked +to tear him to pieces, are much incensed against the priests. Not +a single fat padre would have consented to put his head out of his +hiding-place to-night to save a Christian soul, except, perhaps, under +my protection. That was in her mind. I pretended I did not believe she +was going to die. Senor, I refused to fetch a priest for a dying +woman. . . ." + +Decoud was heard to stir. + +"You did, Capataz!" he exclaimed. His tone changed. "Well, you know--it +was rather fine." + +"You do not believe in priests, Don Martin? Neither do I. What was the +use of wasting time? But she--she believes in them. The thing sticks in +my throat. She may be dead already, and here we are floating helpless +with no wind at all. Curse on all superstition. She died thinking I +deprived her of Paradise, I suppose. It shall be the most desperate +affair of my life." + +Decoud remained lost in reflection. He tried to analyze the sensations +awaked by what he had been told. The voice of the Capataz was heard +again: + +"Now, Don Martin, let us take up the sweeps and try to find the Isabels. +It is either that or sinking the lighter if the day overtakes us. We +must not forget that the steamer from Esmeralda with the soldiers may be +coming along. We will pull straight on now. I have discovered a bit of a +candle here, and we must take the risk of a small light to make a course +by the boat compass. There is not enough wind to blow it out--may the +curse of Heaven fall upon this blind gulf!" + +A small flame appeared burning quite straight. It showed fragmentarily +the stout ribs and planking in the hollow, empty part of the lighter. +Decoud could see Nostromo standing up to pull. He saw him as high as the +red sash on his waist, with a gleam of a white-handled revolver and the +wooden haft of a long knife protruding on his left side. Decoud nerved +himself for the effort of rowing. Certainly there was not enough wind to +blow the candle out, but its flame swayed a little to the slow movement +of the heavy boat. It was so big that with their utmost efforts +they could not move it quicker than about a mile an hour. This was +sufficient, however, to sweep them amongst the Isabels long before +daylight came. There was a good six hours of darkness before them, and +the distance from the harbour to the Great Isabel did not exceed two +miles. Decoud put this heavy toil to the account of the Capataz's +impatience. Sometimes they paused, and then strained their ears to hear +the boat from Esmeralda. In this perfect quietness a steamer moving +would have been heard from far off. As to seeing anything it was out of +the question. They could not see each other. Even the lighter's sail, +which remained set, was invisible. Very often they rested. + +"Caramba!" said Nostromo, suddenly, during one of those intervals when +they lolled idly against the heavy handles of the sweeps. "What is it? +Are you distressed, Don Martin?" + +Decoud assured him that he was not distressed in the least. Nostromo +for a time kept perfectly still, and then in a whisper invited Martin to +come aft. + +With his lips touching Decoud's ear he declared his belief that there +was somebody else besides themselves upon the lighter. Twice now he had +heard the sound of stifled sobbing. + +"Senor," he whispered with awed wonder, "I am certain that there is +somebody weeping in this lighter." + +Decoud had heard nothing. He expressed his incredulity. However, it was +easy to ascertain the truth of the matter. + +"It is most amazing," muttered Nostromo. "Could anybody have concealed +himself on board while the lighter was lying alongside the wharf?" + +"And you say it was like sobbing?" asked Decoud, lowering his voice, +too. "If he is weeping, whoever he is he cannot be very dangerous." + +Clambering over the precious pile in the middle, they crouched low on +the foreside of the mast and groped under the half-deck. Right forward, +in the narrowest part, their hands came upon the limbs of a man, who +remained as silent as death. Too startled themselves to make a sound, +they dragged him aft by one arm and the collar of his coat. He was +limp--lifeless. + +The light of the bit of candle fell upon a round, hook-nosed face with +black moustaches and little side-whiskers. He was extremely dirty. A +greasy growth of beard was sprouting on the shaven parts of the cheeks. +The thick lips were slightly parted, but the eyes remained closed. +Decoud, to his immense astonishment, recognized Senor Hirsch, the hide +merchant from Esmeralda. Nostromo, too, had recognized him. And they +gazed at each other across the body, lying with its naked feet higher +than its head, in an absurd pretence of sleep, faintness, or death. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +For a moment, before this extraordinary find, they forgot their own +concerns and sensations. Senor Hirsch's sensations as he lay there must +have been those of extreme terror. For a long time he refused to give +a sign of life, till at last Decoud's objurgations, and, perhaps more, +Nostromo's impatient suggestion that he should be thrown overboard, as +he seemed to be dead, induced him to raise one eyelid first, and then +the other. + +It appeared that he had never found a safe opportunity to leave Sulaco. +He lodged with Anzani, the universal storekeeper, on the Plaza Mayor. +But when the riot broke out he had made his escape from his host's house +before daylight, and in such a hurry that he had forgotten to put on his +shoes. He had run out impulsively in his socks, and with his hat in his +hand, into the garden of Anzani's house. Fear gave him the necessary +agility to climb over several low walls, and afterwards he blundered +into the overgrown cloisters of the ruined Franciscan convent in one of +the by-streets. He forced himself into the midst of matted bushes with +the recklessness of desperation, and this accounted for his scratched +body and his torn clothing. He lay hidden there all day, his tongue +cleaving to the roof of his mouth with all the intensity of thirst +engendered by heat and fear. Three times different bands of men invaded +the place with shouts and imprecations, looking for Father Corbelan; but +towards the evening, still lying on his face in the bushes, he thought +he would die from the fear of silence. He was not very clear as to what +had induced him to leave the place, but evidently he had got out +and slunk successfully out of town along the deserted back lanes. He +wandered in the darkness near the railway, so maddened by apprehension +that he dared not even approach the fires of the pickets of Italian +workmen guarding the line. He had a vague idea evidently of finding +refuge in the railway yards, but the dogs rushed upon him, barking; men +began to shout; a shot was fired at random. He fled away from the gates. +By the merest accident, as it happened, he took the direction of the +O.S.N. Company's offices. Twice he stumbled upon the bodies of men +killed during the day. But everything living frightened him much more. +He crouched, crept, crawled, made dashes, guided by a sort of animal +instinct, keeping away from every light and from every sound of voices. +His idea was to throw himself at the feet of Captain Mitchell and +beg for shelter in the Company's offices. It was all dark there as +he approached on his hands and knees, but suddenly someone on guard +challenged loudly, "Quien vive?" There were more dead men lying about, +and he flattened himself down at once by the side of a cold corpse. He +heard a voice saying, "Here is one of those wounded rascals crawling +about. Shall I go and finish him?" And another voice objected that it +was not safe to go out without a lantern upon such an errand; perhaps it +was only some negro Liberal looking for a chance to stick a knife into +the stomach of an honest man. Hirsch didn't stay to hear any more, but +crawling away to the end of the wharf, hid himself amongst a lot of +empty casks. After a while some people came along, talking, and with +glowing cigarettes. He did not stop to ask himself whether they would be +likely to do him any harm, but bolted incontinently along the jetty, +saw a lighter lying moored at the end, and threw himself into it. In his +desire to find cover he crept right forward under the half-deck, and he +had remained there more dead than alive, suffering agonies of hunger +and thirst, and almost fainting with terror, when he heard numerous +footsteps and the voices of the Europeans who came in a body escorting +the wagonload of treasure, pushed along the rails by a squad of +Cargadores. He understood perfectly what was being done from the talk, +but did not disclose his presence from the fear that he would not +be allowed to remain. His only idea at the time, overpowering and +masterful, was to get away from this terrible Sulaco. And now he +regretted it very much. He had heard Nostromo talk to Decoud, and wished +himself back on shore. He did not desire to be involved in any desperate +affair--in a situation where one could not run away. The involuntary +groans of his anguished spirit had betrayed him to the sharp ears of the +Capataz. + +They had propped him up in a sitting posture against the side of the +lighter, and he went on with the moaning account of his adventures till +his voice broke, his head fell forward. "Water," he whispered, with +difficulty. Decoud held one of the cans to his lips. He revived after +an extraordinarily short time, and scrambled up to his feet wildly. +Nostromo, in an angry and threatening voice, ordered him forward. Hirsch +was one of those men whom fear lashes like a whip, and he must have +had an appalling idea of the Capataz's ferocity. He displayed an +extraordinary agility in disappearing forward into the darkness. They +heard him getting over the tarpaulin; then there was the sound of a +heavy fall, followed by a weary sigh. Afterwards all was still in +the fore-part of the lighter, as though he had killed himself in his +headlong tumble. Nostromo shouted in a menacing voice-- + +"Lie still there! Do not move a limb. If I hear as much as a loud breath +from you I shall come over there and put a bullet through your head." + +The mere presence of a coward, however passive, brings an element of +treachery into a dangerous situation. Nostromo's nervous impatience +passed into gloomy thoughtfulness. Decoud, in an undertone, as if +speaking to himself, remarked that, after all, this bizarre event made +no great difference. He could not conceive what harm the man could +do. At most he would be in the way, like an inanimate and useless +object--like a block of wood, for instance. + +"I would think twice before getting rid of a piece of wood," said +Nostromo, calmly. "Something may happen unexpectedly where you could +make use of it. But in an affair like ours a man like this ought to be +thrown overboard. Even if he were as brave as a lion we would not want +him here. We are not running away for our lives. Senor, there is no harm +in a brave man trying to save himself with ingenuity and courage; but +you have heard his tale, Don Martin. His being here is a miracle of +fear--" Nostromo paused. "There is no room for fear in this lighter," he +added through his teeth. + +Decoud had no answer to make. It was not a position for argument, for a +display of scruples or feelings. There were a thousand ways in which +a panic-stricken man could make himself dangerous. It was evident +that Hirsch could not be spoken to, reasoned with, or persuaded into a +rational line of conduct. The story of his own escape demonstrated that +clearly enough. Decoud thought that it was a thousand pities the wretch +had not died of fright. Nature, who had made him what he was, seemed to +have calculated cruelly how much he could bear in the way of atrocious +anguish without actually expiring. Some compassion was due to so much +terror. Decoud, though imaginative enough for sympathy, resolved not +to interfere with any action that Nostromo would take. But Nostromo did +nothing. And the fate of Senor Hirsch remained suspended in the darkness +of the gulf at the mercy of events which could not be foreseen. + +The Capataz, extending his hand, put out the candle suddenly. It was to +Decoud as if his companion had destroyed, by a single touch, the world +of affairs, of loves, of revolution, where his complacent superiority +analyzed fearlessly all motives and all passions, including his own. + +He gasped a little. Decoud was affected by the novelty of his position. +Intellectually self-confident, he suffered from being deprived of the +only weapon he could use with effect. No intelligence could penetrate +the darkness of the Placid Gulf. There remained only one thing he was +certain of, and that was the overweening vanity of his companion. It was +direct, uncomplicated, naive, and effectual. Decoud, who had been +making use of him, had tried to understand his man thoroughly. He +had discovered a complete singleness of motive behind the varied +manifestations of a consistent character. This was why the man remained +so astonishingly simple in the jealous greatness of his conceit. And now +there was a complication. It was evident that he resented having been +given a task in which there were so many chances of failure. "I wonder," +thought Decoud, "how he would behave if I were not here." + +He heard Nostromo mutter again, "No! there is no room for fear on this +lighter. Courage itself does not seem good enough. I have a good eye and +a steady hand; no man can say he ever saw me tired or uncertain what to +do; but por Dios, Don Martin, I have been sent out into this black calm +on a business where neither a good eye, nor a steady hand, nor judgment +are any use. . . ." He swore a string of oaths in Spanish and Italian +under his breath. "Nothing but sheer desperation will do for this +affair." + +These words were in strange contrast to the prevailing peace--to +this almost solid stillness of the gulf. A shower fell with an abrupt +whispering sound all round the boat, and Decoud took off his hat, and, +letting his head get wet, felt greatly refreshed. Presently a steady +little draught of air caressed his cheek. The lighter began to move, +but the shower distanced it. The drops ceased to fall upon his head and +hands, the whispering died out in the distance. Nostromo emitted a grunt +of satisfaction, and grasping the tiller, chirruped softly, as sailors +do, to encourage the wind. Never for the last three days had Decoud felt +less the need for what the Capataz would call desperation. + +"I fancy I hear another shower on the water," he observed in a tone of +quiet content. "I hope it will catch us up." + +Nostromo ceased chirruping at once. "You hear another shower?" he said, +doubtfully. A sort of thinning of the darkness seemed to have taken +place, and Decoud could see now the outline of his companion's figure, +and even the sail came out of the night like a square block of dense +snow. + +The sound which Decoud had detected came along the water harshly. +Nostromo recognized that noise partaking of a hiss and a rustle which +spreads out on all sides of a steamer making her way through a smooth +water on a quiet night. It could be nothing else but the captured +transport with troops from Esmeralda. She carried no lights. The noise +of her steaming, growing louder every minute, would stop at times +altogether, and then begin again abruptly, and sound startlingly nearer; +as if that invisible vessel, whose position could not be precisely +guessed, were making straight for the lighter. Meantime, that last kept +on sailing slowly and noiselessly before a breeze so faint that it was +only by leaning over the side and feeling the water slip through his +fingers that Decoud convinced himself they were moving at all. His +drowsy feeling had departed. He was glad to know that the lighter +was moving. After so much stillness the noise of the steamer seemed +uproarious and distracting. There was a weirdness in not being able to +see her. Suddenly all was still. She had stopped, but so close to them +that the steam, blowing off, sent its rumbling vibration right over +their heads. + +"They are trying to make out where they are," said Decoud in a whisper. +Again he leaned over and put his fingers into the water. "We are moving +quite smartly," he informed Nostromo. + +"We seem to be crossing her bows," said the Capataz in a cautious tone. +"But this is a blind game with death. Moving on is of no use. We mustn't +be seen or heard." + +His whisper was hoarse with excitement. Of all his face there was +nothing visible but a gleam of white eyeballs. His fingers gripped +Decoud's shoulder. "That is the only way to save this treasure from this +steamer full of soldiers. Any other would have carried lights. But you +observe there is not a gleam to show us where she is." + +Decoud stood as if paralyzed; only his thoughts were wildly active. In +the space of a second he remembered the desolate glance of Antonia as he +left her at the bedside of her father in the gloomy house of Avellanos, +with shuttered windows, but all the doors standing open, and deserted by +all the servants except an old negro at the gate. He remembered the +Casa Gould on his last visit, the arguments, the tones of his voice, +the impenetrable attitude of Charles, Mrs. Gould's face so blanched +with anxiety and fatigue that her eyes seemed to have changed colour, +appearing nearly black by contrast. Even whole sentences of the +proclamation which he meant to make Barrios issue from his headquarters +at Cayta as soon as he got there passed through his mind; the very germ +of the new State, the Separationist proclamation which he had tried +before he left to read hurriedly to Don Jose, stretched out on his +bed under the fixed gaze of his daughter. God knows whether the +old statesman had understood it; he was unable to speak, but he had +certainly lifted his arm off the coverlet; his hand had moved as if +to make the sign of the cross in the air, a gesture of blessing, of +consent. Decoud had that very draft in his pocket, written in pencil +on several loose sheets of paper, with the heavily-printed heading, +"Administration of the San Tome Silver Mine. Sulaco. Republic of +Costaguana." He had written it furiously, snatching page after page +on Charles Gould's table. Mrs. Gould had looked several times over +his shoulder as he wrote; but the Senor Administrador, standing +straddle-legged, would not even glance at it when it was finished. He +had waved it away firmly. It must have been scorn, and not caution, +since he never made a remark about the use of the Administration's paper +for such a compromising document. And that showed his disdain, the true +English disdain of common prudence, as if everything outside the range +of their own thoughts and feelings were unworthy of serious recognition. +Decoud had the time in a second or two to become furiously angry with +Charles Gould, and even resentful against Mrs. Gould, in whose care, +tacitly it is true, he had left the safety of Antonia. Better perish a +thousand times than owe your preservation to such people, he exclaimed +mentally. The grip of Nostromo's fingers never removed from his +shoulder, tightening fiercely, recalled him to himself. + +"The darkness is our friend," the Capataz murmured into his ear. "I am +going to lower the sail, and trust our escape to this black gulf. No +eyes could make us out lying silent with a naked mast. I will do it +now, before this steamer closes still more upon us. The faint creak of a +block would betray us and the San Tome treasure into the hands of those +thieves." + +He moved about as warily as a cat. Decoud heard no sound; and it was +only by the disappearance of the square blotch of darkness that he knew +the yard had come down, lowered as carefully as if it had been made of +glass. Next moment he heard Nostromo's quiet breathing by his side. + +"You had better not move at all from where you are, Don Martin," advised +the Capataz, earnestly. "You might stumble or displace something which +would make a noise. The sweeps and the punting poles are lying about. +Move not for your life. Por Dios, Don Martin," he went on in a keen but +friendly whisper, "I am so desperate that if I didn't know your worship +to be a man of courage, capable of standing stock still whatever +happens, I would drive my knife into your heart." + +A deathlike stillness surrounded the lighter. It was difficult to +believe that there was near a steamer full of men with many pairs of +eyes peering from her bridge for some hint of land in the night. Her +steam had ceased blowing off, and she remained stopped too far off +apparently for any other sound to reach the lighter. + +"Perhaps you would, Capataz," Decoud began in a whisper. "However, you +need not trouble. There are other things than the fear of your knife +to keep my heart steady. It shall not betray you. Only, have you +forgotten--" + +"I spoke to you openly as to a man as desperate as myself," explained +the Capataz. "The silver must be saved from the Monterists. I told +Captain Mitchell three times that I preferred to go alone. I told Don +Carlos Gould, too. It was in the Casa Gould. They had sent for me. The +ladies were there; and when I tried to explain why I did not wish to +have you with me, they promised me, both of them, great rewards for your +safety. A strange way to talk to a man you are sending out to an almost +certain death. Those gentlefolk do not seem to have sense enough to +understand what they are giving one to do. I told them I could do +nothing for you. You would have been safer with the bandit Hernandez. +It would have been possible to ride out of the town with no greater risk +than a chance shot sent after you in the dark. But it was as if they had +been deaf. I had to promise I would wait for you under the harbour gate. +I did wait. And now because you are a brave man you are as safe as the +silver. Neither more nor less." + +At that moment, as if by way of comment upon Nostromo's words, the +invisible steamer went ahead at half speed only, as could be judged +by the leisurely beat of her propeller. The sound shifted its place +markedly, but without coming nearer. It even grew a little more distant +right abeam of the lighter, and then ceased again. + +"They are trying for a sight of the Isabels," muttered Nostromo, "in +order to make for the harbour in a straight line and seize the Custom +House with the treasure in it. Have you ever seen the Commandant of +Esmeralda, Sotillo? A handsome fellow, with a soft voice. When I first +came here I used to see him in the Calle talking to the senoritas at the +windows of the houses, and showing his white teeth all the time. But +one of my Cargadores, who had been a soldier, told me that he had once +ordered a man to be flayed alive in the remote Campo, where he was sent +recruiting amongst the people of the Estancias. It has never entered his +head that the Compania had a man capable of baffling his game." + +The murmuring loquacity of the Capataz disturbed Decoud like a hint +of weakness. And yet, talkative resolution may be as genuine as grim +silence. + +"Sotillo is not baffled so far," he said. "Have you forgotten that crazy +man forward?" + +Nostromo had not forgotten Senor Hirsch. He reproached himself bitterly +for not having visited the lighter carefully before leaving the wharf. +He reproached himself for not having stabbed and flung Hirsch overboard +at the very moment of discovery without even looking at his face. That +would have been consistent with the desperate character of the affair. +Whatever happened, Sotillo was already baffled. Even if that wretch, now +as silent as death, did anything to betray the nearness of the lighter, +Sotillo--if Sotillo it was in command of the troops on board--would be +still baffled of his plunder. + +"I have an axe in my hand," Nostromo whispered, wrathfully, "that in +three strokes would cut through the side down to the water's edge. +Moreover, each lighter has a plug in the stern, and I know exactly where +it is. I feel it under the sole of my foot." + +Decoud recognized the ring of genuine determination in the nervous +murmurs, the vindictive excitement of the famous Capataz. Before the +steamer, guided by a shriek or two (for there could be no more than +that, Nostromo said, gnashing his teeth audibly), could find the lighter +there would be plenty of time to sink this treasure tied up round his +neck. + +The last words he hissed into Decoud's ear. Decoud said nothing. He was +perfectly convinced. The usual characteristic quietness of the man was +gone. It was not equal to the situation as he conceived it. Something +deeper, something unsuspected by everyone, had come to the surface. +Decoud, with careful movements, slipped off his overcoat and divested +himself of his boots; he did not consider himself bound in honour to +sink with the treasure. His object was to get down to Barrios, in Cayta, +as the Capataz knew very well; and he, too, meant, in his own way, +to put into that attempt all the desperation of which he was capable. +Nostromo muttered, "True, true! You are a politician, senor. Rejoin the +army, and start another revolution." He pointed out, however, that there +was a little boat belonging to every lighter fit to carry two men, if +not more. Theirs was towing behind. + +Of that Decoud had not been aware. Of course, it was too dark to see, +and it was only when Nostromo put his hand upon its painter fastened to +a cleat in the stern that he experienced a full measure of relief. The +prospect of finding himself in the water and swimming, overwhelmed +by ignorance and darkness, probably in a circle, till he sank from +exhaustion, was revolting. The barren and cruel futility of such an end +intimidated his affectation of careless pessimism. In comparison to it, +the chance of being left floating in a boat, exposed to thirst, hunger, +discovery, imprisonment, execution, presented itself with an aspect of +amenity worth securing even at the cost of some self-contempt. He did +not accept Nostromo's proposal that he should get into the boat at +once. "Something sudden may overwhelm us, senor," the Capataz remarked +promising faithfully, at the same time, to let go the painter at the +moment when the necessity became manifest. + +But Decoud assured him lightly that he did not mean to take to the boat +till the very last moment, and that then he meant the Capataz to come +along, too. The darkness of the gulf was no longer for him the end of +all things. It was part of a living world since, pervading it, failure +and death could be felt at your elbow. And at the same time it was a +shelter. He exulted in its impenetrable obscurity. "Like a wall, like a +wall," he muttered to himself. + +The only thing which checked his confidence was the thought of Senor +Hirsch. Not to have bound and gagged him seemed to Decoud now the height +of improvident folly. As long as the miserable creature had the power to +raise a yell he was a constant danger. His abject terror was mute now, +but there was no saying from what cause it might suddenly find vent in +shrieks. + +This very madness of fear which both Decoud and Nostromo had seen in +the wild and irrational glances, and in the continuous twitchings of +his mouth, protected Senor Hirsch from the cruel necessities of this +desperate affair. The moment of silencing him for ever had passed. As +Nostromo remarked, in answer to Decoud's regrets, it was too late! It +could not be done without noise, especially in the ignorance of the +man's exact position. Wherever he had elected to crouch and tremble, it +was too hazardous to go near him. He would begin probably to yell for +mercy. It was much better to leave him quite alone since he was keeping +so still. But to trust to his silence became every moment a greater +strain upon Decoud's composure. + +"I wish, Capataz, you had not let the right moment pass," he murmured. + +"What! To silence him for ever? I thought it good to hear first how he +came to be here. It was too strange. Who could imagine that it was +all an accident? Afterwards, senor, when I saw you giving him water to +drink, I could not do it. Not after I had seen you holding up the can to +his lips as though he were your brother. Senor, that sort of necessity +must not be thought of too long. And yet it would have been no cruelty +to take away from him his wretched life. It is nothing but fear. Your +compassion saved him then, Don Martin, and now it is too late. It +couldn't be done without noise." + +In the steamer they were keeping a perfect silence, and the stillness +was so profound that Decoud felt as if the slightest sound conceivable +must travel unchecked and audible to the end of the world. What if +Hirsch coughed or sneezed? To feel himself at the mercy of such an +idiotic contingency was too exasperating to be looked upon with irony. +Nostromo, too, seemed to be getting restless. Was it possible, he +asked himself, that the steamer, finding the night too dark altogether, +intended to remain stopped where she was till daylight? He began to +think that this, after all, was the real danger. He was afraid that +the darkness, which was his protection, would, in the end, cause his +undoing. + +Sotillo, as Nostromo had surmised, was in command on board the +transport. The events of the last forty-eight hours in Sulaco were not +known to him; neither was he aware that the telegraphist in Esmeralda +had managed to warn his colleague in Sulaco. Like a good many officers +of the troops garrisoning the province, Sotillo had been influenced +in his adoption of the Ribierist cause by the belief that it had the +enormous wealth of the Gould Concession on its side. He had been one +of the frequenters of the Casa Gould, where he had aired his Blanco +convictions and his ardour for reform before Don Jose Avellanos, casting +frank, honest glances towards Mrs. Gould and Antonia the while. He was +known to belong to a good family persecuted and impoverished during the +tyranny of Guzman Bento. The opinions he expressed appeared eminently +natural and proper in a man of his parentage and antecedents. And he +was not a deceiver; it was perfectly natural for him to express elevated +sentiments while his whole faculties were taken up with what seemed then +a solid and practical notion--the notion that the husband of Antonia +Avellanos would be, naturally, the intimate friend of the Gould +Concession. He even pointed this out to Anzani once, when negotiating +the sixth or seventh small loan in the gloomy, damp apartment with +enormous iron bars, behind the principal shop in the whole row under the +Arcades. He hinted to the universal shopkeeper at the excellent terms +he was on with the emancipated senorita, who was like a sister to the +Englishwoman. He would advance one leg and put his arms akimbo, posing +for Anzani's inspection, and fixing him with a haughty stare. + +"Look, miserable shopkeeper! How can a man like me fail with any woman, +let alone an emancipated girl living in scandalous freedom?" he seemed +to say. + +His manner in the Casa Gould was, of course, very different--devoid of +all truculence, and even slightly mournful. Like most of his countrymen, +he was carried away by the sound of fine words, especially if uttered +by himself. He had no convictions of any sort upon anything except as to +the irresistible power of his personal advantages. But that was so +firm that even Decoud's appearance in Sulaco, and his intimacy with +the Goulds and the Avellanos, did not disquiet him. On the contrary, +he tried to make friends with that rich Costaguanero from Europe in the +hope of borrowing a large sum by-and-by. The only guiding motive of +his life was to get money for the satisfaction of his expensive tastes, +which he indulged recklessly, having no self-control. He imagined +himself a master of intrigue, but his corruption was as simple as an +animal instinct. At times, in solitude, he had his moments of ferocity, +and also on such occasions as, for instance, when alone in a room with +Anzani trying to get a loan. + +He had talked himself into the command of the Esmeralda garrison. That +small seaport had its importance as the station of the main submarine +cable connecting the Occidental Provinces with the outer world, and the +junction with it of the Sulaco branch. Don Jose Avellanos proposed him, +and Barrios, with a rude and jeering guffaw, had said, "Oh, let Sotillo +go. He is a very good man to keep guard over the cable, and the ladies +of Esmeralda ought to have their turn." Barrios, an indubitably brave +man, had no great opinion of Sotillo. + +It was through the Esmeralda cable alone that the San Tome mine could +be kept in constant touch with the great financier, whose tacit approval +made the strength of the Ribierist movement. This movement had its +adversaries even there. Sotillo governed Esmeralda with repressive +severity till the adverse course of events upon the distant theatre +of civil war forced upon him the reflection that, after all, the great +silver mine was fated to become the spoil of the victors. But caution +was necessary. He began by assuming a dark and mysterious attitude +towards the faithful Ribierist municipality of Esmeralda. Later on, the +information that the commandant was holding assemblies of officers in +the dead of night (which had leaked out somehow) caused those gentlemen +to neglect their civil duties altogether, and remain shut up in their +houses. Suddenly one day all the letters from Sulaco by the overland +courier were carried off by a file of soldiers from the post office to +the Commandancia, without disguise, concealment, or apology. Sotillo had +heard through Cayta of the final defeat of Ribiera. + +This was the first open sign of the change in his convictions. Presently +notorious democrats, who had been living till then in constant fear of +arrest, leg irons, and even floggings, could be observed going in and +out at the great door of the Commandancia, where the horses of the +orderlies doze under their heavy saddles, while the men, in ragged +uniforms and pointed straw hats, lounge on a bench, with their naked +feet stuck out beyond the strip of shade; and a sentry, in a red baize +coat with holes at the elbows, stands at the top of the steps glaring +haughtily at the common people, who uncover their heads to him as they +pass. + +Sotillo's ideas did not soar above the care for his personal safety and +the chance of plundering the town in his charge, but he feared that such +a late adhesion would earn but scant gratitude from the victors. He had +believed just a little too long in the power of the San Tome mine. The +seized correspondence had confirmed his previous information of a +large amount of silver ingots lying in the Sulaco Custom House. To gain +possession of it would be a clear Monterist move; a sort of service that +would have to be rewarded. With the silver in his hands he could make +terms for himself and his soldiers. He was aware neither of the riots, +nor of the President's escape to Sulaco and the close pursuit led by +Montero's brother, the guerrillero. The game seemed in his own hands. +The initial moves were the seizure of the cable telegraph office and the +securing of the Government steamer lying in the narrow creek which is +the harbour of Esmeralda. The last was effected without difficulty by +a company of soldiers swarming with a rush over the gangways as she +lay alongside the quay; but the lieutenant charged with the duty of +arresting the telegraphist halted on the way before the only cafe in +Esmeralda, where he distributed some brandy to his men, and refreshed +himself at the expense of the owner, a known Ribierist. The whole party +became intoxicated, and proceeded on their mission up the street yelling +and firing random shots at the windows. This little festivity, which +might have turned out dangerous to the telegraphist's life, enabled him +in the end to send his warning to Sulaco. The lieutenant, staggering +upstairs with a drawn sabre, was before long kissing him on both +cheeks in one of those swift changes of mood peculiar to a state of +drunkenness. He clasped the telegraphist close round the neck, assuring +him that all the officers of the Esmeralda garrison were going to be +made colonels, while tears of happiness streamed down his sodden face. +Thus it came about that the town major, coming along later, found the +whole party sleeping on the stairs and in passages, and the telegraphist +(who scorned this chance of escape) very busy clicking the key of the +transmitter. The major led him away bareheaded, with his hands tied +behind his back, but concealed the truth from Sotillo, who remained in +ignorance of the warning despatched to Sulaco. + +The colonel was not the man to let any sort of darkness stand in the way +of the planned surprise. It appeared to him a dead certainty; his heart +was set upon his object with an ungovernable, childlike impatience. Ever +since the steamer had rounded Punta Mala, to enter the deeper shadow +of the gulf, he had remained on the bridge in a group of officers as +excited as himself. Distracted between the coaxings and menaces of +Sotillo and his Staff, the miserable commander of the steamer kept her +moving with as much prudence as they would let him exercise. Some of +them had been drinking heavily, no doubt; but the prospect of laying +hands on so much wealth made them absurdly foolhardy, and, at the same +time, extremely anxious. The old major of the battalion, a stupid, +suspicious man, who had never been afloat in his life, distinguished +himself by putting out suddenly the binnacle light, the only one allowed +on board for the necessities of navigation. He could not understand of +what use it could be for finding the way. To the vehement protestations +of the ship's captain, he stamped his foot and tapped the handle of +his sword. "Aha! I have unmasked you," he cried, triumphantly. "You are +tearing your hair from despair at my acuteness. Am I a child to believe +that a light in that brass box can show you where the harbour is? I am +an old soldier, I am. I can smell a traitor a league off. You wanted +that gleam to betray our approach to your friend the Englishman. A thing +like that show you the way! What a miserable lie! Que picardia! You +Sulaco people are all in the pay of those foreigners. You deserve to +be run through the body with my sword." Other officers, crowding round, +tried to calm his indignation, repeating persuasively, "No, no! This is +an appliance of the mariners, major. This is no treachery." The captain +of the transport flung himself face downwards on the bridge, and refused +to rise. "Put an end to me at once," he repeated in a stifled voice. +Sotillo had to interfere. + +The uproar and confusion on the bridge became so great that the helmsman +fled from the wheel. He took refuge in the engine-room, and alarmed the +engineers, who, disregarding the threats of the soldiers set on guard +over them, stopped the engines, protesting that they would rather be +shot than run the risk of being drowned down below. + +This was the first time Nostromo and Decoud heard the steamer stop. +After order had been restored, and the binnacle lamp relighted, she went +ahead again, passing wide of the lighter in her search for the Isabels. +The group could not be made out, and, at the pitiful entreaties of the +captain, Sotillo allowed the engines to be stopped again to wait for one +of those periodical lightenings of darkness caused by the shifting of +the cloud canopy spread above the waters of the gulf. + +Sotillo, on the bridge, muttered from time to time angrily to the +captain. The other, in an apologetic and cringing tone, begged su merced +the colonel to take into consideration the limitations put upon human +faculties by the darkness of the night. Sotillo swelled with rage and +impatience. It was the chance of a lifetime. + +"If your eyes are of no more use to you than this, I shall have them put +out," he yelled. + +The captain of the steamer made no answer, for just then the mass of the +Great Isabel loomed up darkly after a passing shower, then vanished, as +if swept away by a wave of greater obscurity preceding another downpour. +This was enough for him. In the voice of a man come back to life again, +he informed Sotillo that in an hour he would be alongside the Sulaco +wharf. The ship was put then full speed on the course, and a great +bustle of preparation for landing arose among the soldiers on her deck. + +It was heard distinctly by Decoud and Nostromo. The Capataz understood +its meaning. They had made out the Isabels, and were going on now in +a straight line for Sulaco. He judged that they would pass close; but +believed that lying still like this, with the sail lowered, the lighter +could not be seen. "No, not even if they rubbed sides with us," he +muttered. + +The rain began to fall again; first like a wet mist, then with a heavier +touch, thickening into a smart, perpendicular downpour; and the hiss and +thump of the approaching steamer was coming extremely near. Decoud, +with his eyes full of water, and lowered head, asked himself how long +it would be before she drew past, when unexpectedly he felt a lurch. +An inrush of foam broke swishing over the stern, simultaneously with +a crack of timbers and a staggering shock. He had the impression of +an angry hand laying hold of the lighter and dragging it along to +destruction. The shock, of course, had knocked him down, and he found +himself rolling in a lot of water at the bottom of the lighter. A +violent churning went on alongside; a strange and amazed voice cried out +something above him in the night. He heard a piercing shriek for help +from Senor Hirsch. He kept his teeth hard set all the time. It was a +collision! + +The steamer had struck the lighter obliquely, heeling her over till she +was half swamped, starting some of her timbers, and swinging her head +parallel to her own course with the force of the blow. The shock of +it on board of her was hardly perceptible. All the violence of that +collision was, as usual, felt only on board the smaller craft. Even +Nostromo himself thought that this was perhaps the end of his desperate +adventure. He, too, had been flung away from the long tiller, which +took charge in the lurch. Next moment the steamer would have passed on, +leaving the lighter to sink or swim after having shouldered her thus out +of her way, and without even getting a glimpse of her form, had it not +been that, being deeply laden with stores and the great number of people +on board, her anchor was low enough to hook itself into one of the wire +shrouds of the lighter's mast. For the space of two or three gasping +breaths that new rope held against the sudden strain. It was this that +gave Decoud the sensation of the snatching pull, dragging the lighter +away to destruction. The cause of it, of course, was inexplicable to +him. The whole thing was so sudden that he had no time to think. But all +his sensations were perfectly clear; he had kept complete possession of +himself; in fact, he was even pleasantly aware of that calmness at the +very moment of being pitched head first over the transom, to struggle +on his back in a lot of water. Senor Hirsch's shriek he had heard and +recognized while he was regaining his feet, always with that mysterious +sensation of being dragged headlong through the darkness. Not a word, +not a cry escaped him; he had no time to see anything; and following +upon the despairing screams for help, the dragging motion ceased so +suddenly that he staggered forward with open arms and fell against the +pile of the treasure boxes. He clung to them instinctively, in the +vague apprehension of being flung about again; and immediately he heard +another lot of shrieks for help, prolonged and despairing, not near +him at all, but unaccountably in the distance, away from the lighter +altogether, as if some spirit in the night were mocking at Senor +Hirsch's terror and despair. + +Then all was still--as still as when you wake up in your bed in a dark +room from a bizarre and agitated dream. The lighter rocked slightly; the +rain was still falling. Two groping hands took hold of his bruised sides +from behind, and the Capataz's voice whispered, in his ear, "Silence, +for your life! Silence! The steamer has stopped." + +Decoud listened. The gulf was dumb. He felt the water nearly up to his +knees. "Are we sinking?" he asked in a faint breath. + +"I don't know," Nostromo breathed back to him. "Senor, make not the +slightest sound." + +Hirsch, when ordered forward by Nostromo, had not returned into his +first hiding-place. He had fallen near the mast, and had no strength to +rise; moreover, he feared to move. He had given himself up for dead, +but not on any rational grounds. It was simply a cruel and terrifying +feeling. Whenever he tried to think what would become of him his teeth +would start chattering violently. He was too absorbed in the utter +misery of his fear to take notice of anything. + +Though he was stifling under the lighter's sail which Nostromo had +unwittingly lowered on top of him, he did not even dare to put out his +head till the very moment of the steamer striking. Then, indeed, he +leaped right out, spurred on to new miracles of bodily vigour by this +new shape of danger. The inrush of water when the lighter heeled over +unsealed his lips. His shriek, "Save me!" was the first distinct warning +of the collision for the people on board the steamer. Next moment the +wire shroud parted, and the released anchor swept over the lighter's +forecastle. It came against the breast of Senor Hirsch, who simply +seized hold of it, without in the least knowing what it was, but curling +his arms and legs upon the part above the fluke with an invincible, +unreasonable tenacity. The lighter yawed off wide, and the steamer, +moving on, carried him away, clinging hard, and shouting for help. It +was some time, however, after the steamer had stopped that his position +was discovered. His sustained yelping for help seemed to come from +somebody swimming in the water. At last a couple of men went over the +bows and hauled him on board. He was carried straight off to Sotillo on +the bridge. His examination confirmed the impression that some craft had +been run over and sunk, but it was impracticable on such a dark night +to look for the positive proof of floating wreckage. Sotillo was more +anxious than ever now to enter the harbour without loss of time; the +idea that he had destroyed the principal object of his expedition was +too intolerable to be accepted. This feeling made the story he had heard +appear the more incredible. Senor Hirsch, after being beaten a little +for telling lies, was thrust into the chartroom. But he was beaten only +a little. His tale had taken the heart out of Sotillo's Staff, though +they all repeated round their chief, "Impossible! impossible!" with the +exception of the old major, who triumphed gloomily. + +"I told you; I told you," he mumbled. "I could smell some treachery, +some diableria a league off." + +Meantime, the steamer had kept on her way towards Sulaco, where only the +truth of that matter could be ascertained. Decoud and Nostromo heard the +loud churning of her propeller diminish and die out; and then, with no +useless words, busied themselves in making for the Isabels. The last +shower had brought with it a gentle but steady breeze. The danger was +not over yet, and there was no time for talk. The lighter was leaking +like a sieve. They splashed in the water at every step. The Capataz put +into Decoud's hands the handle of the pump which was fitted at the side +aft, and at once, without question or remark, Decoud began to pump in +utter forgetfulness of every desire but that of keeping the treasure +afloat. Nostromo hoisted the sail, flew back to the tiller, pulled at +the sheet like mad. The short flare of a match (they had been kept +dry in a tight tin box, though the man himself was completely wet), +disclosed to the toiling Decoud the eagerness of his face, bent low over +the box of the compass, and the attentive stare of his eyes. He knew +now where he was, and he hoped to run the sinking lighter ashore in +the shallow cove where the high, cliff-like end of the Great Isabel is +divided in two equal parts by a deep and overgrown ravine. + +Decoud pumped without intermission. Nostromo steered without relaxing +for a second the intense, peering effort of his stare. Each of them was +as if utterly alone with his task. It did not occur to them to speak. +There was nothing in common between them but the knowledge that the +damaged lighter must be slowly but surely sinking. In that knowledge, +which was like the crucial test of their desires, they seemed to have +become completely estranged, as if they had discovered in the very shock +of the collision that the loss of the lighter would not mean the same +thing to them both. This common danger brought their differences in aim, +in view, in character, and in position, into absolute prominence in the +private vision of each. There was no bond of conviction, of common +idea; they were merely two adventurers pursuing each his own adventure, +involved in the same imminence of deadly peril. Therefore they had +nothing to say to each other. But this peril, this only incontrovertible +truth in which they shared, seemed to act as an inspiration to their +mental and bodily powers. + +There was certainly something almost miraculous in the way the Capataz +made the cove with nothing but the shadowy hint of the island's shape +and the vague gleam of a small sandy strip for a guide. Where the ravine +opens between the cliffs, and a slender, shallow rivulet meanders out +of the bushes to lose itself in the sea, the lighter was run ashore; and +the two men, with a taciturn, undaunted energy, began to discharge her +precious freight, carrying each ox-hide box up the bed of the rivulet +beyond the bushes to a hollow place which the caving in of the soil had +made below the roots of a large tree. Its big smooth trunk leaned like +a falling column far over the trickle of water running amongst the loose +stones. + +A couple of years before Nostromo had spent a whole Sunday, all alone, +exploring the island. He explained this to Decoud after their task was +done, and they sat, weary in every limb, with their legs hanging down +the low bank, and their backs against the tree, like a pair of blind +men aware of each other and their surroundings by some indefinable sixth +sense. + +"Yes," Nostromo repeated, "I never forget a place I have carefully +looked at once." He spoke slowly, almost lazily, as if there had been a +whole leisurely life before him, instead of the scanty two hours before +daylight. The existence of the treasure, barely concealed in this +improbable spot, laid a burden of secrecy upon every contemplated step, +upon every intention and plan of future conduct. He felt the partial +failure of this desperate affair entrusted to the great reputation +he had known how to make for himself. However, it was also a partial +success. His vanity was half appeased. His nervous irritation had +subsided. + +"You never know what may be of use," he pursued with his usual quietness +of tone and manner. "I spent a whole miserable Sunday in exploring this +crumb of land." + +"A misanthropic sort of occupation," muttered Decoud, viciously. "You +had no money, I suppose, to gamble with, and to fling about amongst the +girls in your usual haunts, Capataz." + +"_E vero!_" exclaimed the Capataz, surprised into the use of his native +tongue by so much perspicacity. "I had not! Therefore I did not want +to go amongst those beggarly people accustomed to my generosity. It is +looked for from the Capataz of the Cargadores, who are the rich men, +and, as it were, the Caballeros amongst the common people. I don't care +for cards but as a pastime; and as to those girls that boast of having +opened their doors to my knock, you know I wouldn't look at any one of +them twice except for what the people would say. They are queer, the +good people of Sulaco, and I have got much useful information simply by +listening patiently to the talk of the women that everybody believed +I was in love with. Poor Teresa could never understand that. On that +particular Sunday, senor, she scolded so that I went out of the house +swearing that I would never darken their door again unless to fetch +away my hammock and my chest of clothes. Senor, there is nothing more +exasperating than to hear a woman you respect rail against your good +reputation when you have not a single brass coin in your pocket. I +untied one of the small boats and pulled myself out of the harbour with +nothing but three cigars in my pocket to help me spend the day on this +island. But the water of this rivulet you hear under your feet is cool +and sweet and good, senor, both before and after a smoke." He was silent +for a while, then added reflectively, "That was the first Sunday after +I brought down the white-whiskered English rico all the way down the +mountains from the Paramo on the top of the Entrada Pass--and in the +coach, too! No coach had gone up or down that mountain road within the +memory of man, senor, till I brought this one down in charge of fifty +peons working like one man with ropes, pickaxes, and poles under my +direction. That was the rich Englishman who, as people say, pays for the +making of this railway. He was very pleased with me. But my wages were +not due till the end of the month." + +He slid down the bank suddenly. Decoud heard the splash of his feet in +the brook and followed his footsteps down the ravine. His form was lost +among the bushes till he had reached the strip of sand under the cliff. +As often happens in the gulf when the showers during the first part +of the night had been frequent and heavy, the darkness had thinned +considerably towards the morning though there were no signs of daylight +as yet. + +The cargo-lighter, relieved of its precious burden, rocked feebly, +half-afloat, with her fore-foot on the sand. A long rope stretched +away like a black cotton thread across the strip of white beach to +the grapnel Nostromo had carried ashore and hooked to the stem of a +tree-like shrub in the very opening of the ravine. + +There was nothing for Decoud but to remain on the island. He received +from Nostromo's hands whatever food the foresight of Captain Mitchell +had put on board the lighter and deposited it temporarily in the little +dinghy which on their arrival they had hauled up out of sight amongst +the bushes. It was to be left with him. The island was to be a +hiding-place, not a prison; he could pull out to a passing ship. The +O.S.N. Company's mail boats passed close to the islands when going into +Sulaco from the north. But the Minerva, carrying off the ex-president, +had taken the news up north of the disturbances in Sulaco. It was +possible that the next steamer down would get instructions to miss the +port altogether since the town, as far as the Minerva's officers knew, +was for the time being in the hands of the rabble. This would mean that +there would be no steamer for a month, as far as the mail service went; +but Decoud had to take his chance of that. The island was his only +shelter from the proscription hanging over his head. The Capataz was, +of course, going back. The unloaded lighter leaked much less, and he +thought that she would keep afloat as far as the harbour. + +He passed to Decoud, standing knee-deep alongside, one of the two spades +which belonged to the equipment of each lighter for use when ballasting +ships. By working with it carefully as soon as there was daylight enough +to see, Decoud could loosen a mass of earth and stones overhanging the +cavity in which they had deposited the treasure, so that it would look +as if it had fallen naturally. It would cover up not only the cavity, +but even all traces of their work, the footsteps, the displaced stones, +and even the broken bushes. + +"Besides, who would think of looking either for you or the treasure +here?" Nostromo continued, as if he could not tear himself away from the +spot. "Nobody is ever likely to come here. What could any man want +with this piece of earth as long as there is room for his feet on the +mainland! The people in this country are not curious. There are even +no fishermen here to intrude upon your worship. All the fishing that +is done in the gulf goes on near Zapiga, over there. Senor, if you are +forced to leave this island before anything can be arranged for you, do +not try to make for Zapiga. It is a settlement of thieves and matreros, +where they would cut your throat promptly for the sake of your gold +watch and chain. And, senor, think twice before confiding in any one +whatever; even in the officers of the Company's steamers, if you ever +get on board one. Honesty alone is not enough for security. You must +look to discretion and prudence in a man. And always remember, senor, +before you open your lips for a confidence, that this treasure may be +left safely here for hundreds of years. Time is on its side, senor. And +silver is an incorruptible metal that can be trusted to keep its value +for ever. . . . An incorruptible metal," he repeated, as if the idea had +given him a profound pleasure. + +"As some men are said to be," Decoud pronounced, inscrutably, while +the Capataz, who busied himself in baling out the lighter with a wooden +bucket, went on throwing the water over the side with a regular splash. +Decoud, incorrigible in his scepticism, reflected, not cynically, but +with general satisfaction, that this man was made incorruptible by his +enormous vanity, that finest form of egoism which can take on the aspect +of every virtue. + +Nostromo ceased baling, and, as if struck with a sudden thought, dropped +the bucket with a clatter into the lighter. + +"Have you any message?" he asked in a lowered voice. "Remember, I shall +be asked questions." + +"You must find the hopeful words that ought to be spoken to the people +in town. I trust for that your intelligence and your experience, +Capataz. You understand?" + +"Si, senor. . . . For the ladies." + +"Yes, yes," said Decoud, hastily. "Your wonderful reputation will make +them attach great value to your words; therefore be careful what you +say. I am looking forward," he continued, feeling the fatal touch of +contempt for himself to which his complex nature was subject, "I am +looking forward to a glorious and successful ending to my mission. Do +you hear, Capataz? Use the words glorious and successful when you +speak to the senorita. Your own mission is accomplished gloriously and +successfully. You have indubitably saved the silver of the mine. Not +only this silver, but probably all the silver that shall ever come out +of it." + +Nostromo detected the ironic tone. "I dare say, Senor Don Martin," he +said, moodily. "There are very few things that I am not equal to. +Ask the foreign signori. I, a man of the people, who cannot always +understand what you mean. But as to this lot which I must leave here, +let me tell you that I would believe it in greater safety if you had not +been with me at all." + +An exclamation escaped Decoud, and a short pause followed. "Shall I go +back with you to Sulaco?" he asked in an angry tone. + +"Shall I strike you dead with my knife where you stand?" retorted +Nostromo, contemptuously. "It would be the same thing as taking you to +Sulaco. Come, senor. Your reputation is in your politics, and mine is +bound up with the fate of this silver. Do you wonder I wish there +had been no other man to share my knowledge? I wanted no one with me, +senor." + +"You could not have kept the lighter afloat without me," Decoud almost +shouted. "You would have gone to the bottom with her." + +"Yes," uttered Nostromo, slowly; "alone." + +Here was a man, Decoud reflected, that seemed as though he would have +preferred to die rather than deface the perfect form of his egoism. Such +a man was safe. In silence he helped the Capataz to get the grapnel on +board. Nostromo cleared the shelving shore with one push of the heavy +oar, and Decoud found himself solitary on the beach like a man in a +dream. A sudden desire to hear a human voice once more seized upon his +heart. The lighter was hardly distinguishable from the black water upon +which she floated. + +"What do you think has become of Hirsch?" he shouted. + +"Knocked overboard and drowned," cried Nostromo's voice confidently out +of the black wastes of sky and sea around the islet. "Keep close in the +ravine, senor. I shall try to come out to you in a night or two." + +A slight swishing rustle showed that Nostromo was setting the sail. It +filled all at once with a sound as of a single loud drum-tap. Decoud +went back to the ravine. Nostromo, at the tiller, looked back from time +to time at the vanishing mass of the Great Isabel, which, little by +little, merged into the uniform texture of the night. At last, when +he turned his head again, he saw nothing but a smooth darkness, like a +solid wall. + +Then he, too, experienced that feeling of solitude which had weighed +heavily on Decoud after the lighter had slipped off the shore. But while +the man on the island was oppressed by a bizarre sense of unreality +affecting the very ground upon which he walked, the mind of the Capataz +of the Cargadores turned alertly to the problem of future conduct. +Nostromo's faculties, working on parallel lines, enabled him to steer +straight, to keep a look-out for Hermosa, near which he had to pass, and +to try to imagine what would happen tomorrow in Sulaco. To-morrow, or, +as a matter of fact, to-day, since the dawn was not very far, Sotillo +would find out in what way the treasure had gone. A gang of Cargadores +had been employed in loading it into a railway truck from the Custom +House store-rooms, and running the truck on to the wharf. There would +be arrests made, and certainly before noon Sotillo would know in what +manner the silver had left Sulaco, and who it was that took it out. + +Nostromo's intention had been to sail right into the harbour; but at +this thought by a sudden touch of the tiller he threw the lighter into +the wind and checked her rapid way. His re-appearance with the very +boat would raise suspicions, would cause surmises, would absolutely +put Sotillo on the track. He himself would be arrested; and once in +the Calabozo there was no saying what they would do to him to make +him speak. He trusted himself, but he stood up to look round. Near by, +Hermosa showed low its white surface as flat as a table, with the slight +run of the sea raised by the breeze washing over its edges noisily. The +lighter must be sunk at once. + +He allowed her to drift with her sail aback. There was already a good +deal of water in her. He allowed her to drift towards the harbour +entrance, and, letting the tiller swing about, squatted down and +busied himself in loosening the plug. With that out she would fill very +quickly, and every lighter carried a little iron ballast--enough to make +her go down when full of water. When he stood up again the noisy wash +about the Hermosa sounded far away, almost inaudible; and already he +could make out the shape of land about the harbour entrance. This was a +desperate affair, and he was a good swimmer. A mile was nothing to him, +and he knew of an easy place for landing just below the earthworks of +the old abandoned fort. It occurred to him with a peculiar fascination +that this fort was a good place in which to sleep the day through after +so many sleepless nights. + +With one blow of the tiller he unshipped for the purpose, he knocked the +plug out, but did not take the trouble to lower the sail. He felt the +water welling up heavily about his legs before he leaped on to the +taffrail. There, upright and motionless, in his shirt and trousers only, +he stood waiting. When he had felt her settle he sprang far away with a +mighty splash. + +At once he turned his head. The gloomy, clouded dawn from behind the +mountains showed him on the smooth waters the upper corner of the sail, +a dark wet triangle of canvas waving slightly to and fro. He saw it +vanish, as if jerked under, and then struck out for the shore. + + + + + +PART THIRD THE LIGHTHOUSE + + +CHAPTER ONE + +Directly the cargo boat had slipped away from the wharf and got lost +in the darkness of the harbour the Europeans of Sulaco separated, to +prepare for the coming of the Monterist regime, which was approaching +Sulaco from the mountains, as well as from the sea. + +This bit of manual work in loading the silver was their last concerted +action. It ended the three days of danger, during which, according to +the newspaper press of Europe, their energy had preserved the town +from the calamities of popular disorder. At the shore end of the jetty, +Captain Mitchell said good-night and turned back. His intention was to +walk the planks of the wharf till the steamer from Esmeralda turned up. +The engineers of the railway staff, collecting their Basque and Italian +workmen, marched them away to the railway yards, leaving the Custom +House, so well defended on the first day of the riot, standing open to +the four winds of heaven. Their men had conducted themselves bravely +and faithfully during the famous "three days" of Sulaco. In a great part +this faithfulness and that courage had been exercised in self-defence +rather than in the cause of those material interests to which Charles +Gould had pinned his faith. Amongst the cries of the mob not the least +loud had been the cry of death to foreigners. It was, indeed, a lucky +circumstance for Sulaco that the relations of those imported workmen +with the people of the country had been uniformly bad from the first. + +Doctor Monygham, going to the door of Viola's kitchen, observed this +retreat marking the end of the foreign interference, this withdrawal of +the army of material progress from the field of Costaguana revolutions. + +Algarrobe torches carried on the outskirts of the moving body sent their +penetrating aroma into his nostrils. Their light, sweeping along the +front of the house, made the letters of the inscription, "Albergo +d'ltalia Una," leap out black from end to end of the long wall. His eyes +blinked in the clear blaze. Several young men, mostly fair and tall, +shepherding this mob of dark bronzed heads, surmounted by the glint of +slanting rifle barrels, nodded to him familiarly as they went by. The +doctor was a well-known character. Some of them wondered what he was +doing there. Then, on the flank of their workmen they tramped on, +following the line of rails. + +"Withdrawing your people from the harbour?" said the doctor, addressing +himself to the chief engineer of the railway, who had accompanied +Charles Gould so far on his way to the town, walking by the side of the +horse, with his hand on the saddle-bow. They had stopped just outside +the open door to let the workmen cross the road. + +"As quick as I can. We are not a political faction," answered the +engineer, meaningly. "And we are not going to give our new rulers a +handle against the railway. You approve me, Gould?" + +"Absolutely," said Charles Gould's impassive voice, high up and outside +the dim parallelogram of light falling on the road through the open +door. + +With Sotillo expected from one side, and Pedro Montero from the other, +the engineer-in-chief's only anxiety now was to avoid a collision with +either. Sulaco, for him, was a railway station, a terminus, workshops, +a great accumulation of stores. As against the mob the railway defended +its property, but politically the railway was neutral. He was a brave +man; and in that spirit of neutrality he had carried proposals of truce +to the self-appointed chiefs of the popular party, the deputies Fuentes +and Gamacho. Bullets were still flying about when he had crossed the +Plaza on that mission, waving above his head a white napkin belonging to +the table linen of the Amarilla Club. + +He was rather proud of this exploit; and reflecting that the doctor, +busy all day with the wounded in the patio of the Casa Gould, had +not had time to hear the news, he began a succinct narrative. He had +communicated to them the intelligence from the Construction Camp as to +Pedro Montero. The brother of the victorious general, he had assured +them, could be expected at Sulaco at any time now. This news (as he +anticipated), when shouted out of the window by Senor Gamacho, induced +a rush of the mob along the Campo Road towards Rincon. The two deputies +also, after shaking hands with him effusively, mounted and galloped off +to meet the great man. "I have misled them a little as to the time," the +chief engineer confessed. "However hard he rides, he can scarcely get +here before the morning. But my object is attained. I've secured several +hours' peace for the losing party. But I did not tell them anything +about Sotillo, for fear they would take it into their heads to try +to get hold of the harbour again, either to oppose him or welcome +him--there's no saying which. There was Gould's silver, on which rests +the remnant of our hopes. Decoud's retreat had to be thought of, too. +I think the railway has done pretty well by its friends without +compromising itself hopelessly. Now the parties must be left to +themselves." + +"Costaguana for the Costaguaneros," interjected the doctor, +sardonically. "It is a fine country, and they have raised a fine crop of +hates, vengeance, murder, and rapine--those sons of the country." + +"Well, I am one of them," Charles Gould's voice sounded, calmly, "and +I must be going on to see to my own crop of trouble. My wife has driven +straight on, doctor?" + +"Yes. All was quiet on this side. Mrs. Gould has taken the two girls +with her." + +Charles Gould rode on, and the engineer-in-chief followed the doctor +indoors. + +"That man is calmness personified," he said, appreciatively, dropping on +a bench, and stretching his well-shaped legs in cycling stockings nearly +across the doorway. "He must be extremely sure of himself." + +"If that's all he is sure of, then he is sure of nothing," said the +doctor. He had perched himself again on the end of the table. He nursed +his cheek in the palm of one hand, while the other sustained the +elbow. "It is the last thing a man ought to be sure of." The candle, +half-consumed and burning dimly with a long wick, lighted up from below +his inclined face, whose expression affected by the drawn-in cicatrices +in the cheeks, had something vaguely unnatural, an exaggerated +remorseful bitterness. As he sat there he had the air of meditating upon +sinister things. The engineer-in-chief gazed at him for a time before he +protested. + +"I really don't see that. For me there seems to be nothing else. +However----" + +He was a wise man, but he could not quite conceal his contempt for that +sort of paradox; in fact. Dr. Monygham was not liked by the Europeans +of Sulaco. His outward aspect of an outcast, which he preserved even in +Mrs. Gould's drawing-room, provoked unfavourable criticism. There could +be no doubt of his intelligence; and as he had lived for over twenty +years in the country, the pessimism of his outlook could not be +altogether ignored. But instinctively, in self-defence of their +activities and hopes, his hearers put it to the account of some hidden +imperfection in the man's character. It was known that many years +before, when quite young, he had been made by Guzman Bento chief medical +officer of the army. Not one of the Europeans then in the service +of Costaguana had been so much liked and trusted by the fierce old +Dictator. + +Afterwards his story was not so clear. It lost itself amongst the +innumerable tales of conspiracies and plots against the tyrant as a +stream is lost in an arid belt of sandy country before it emerges, +diminished and troubled, perhaps, on the other side. The doctor made +no secret of it that he had lived for years in the wildest parts of +the Republic, wandering with almost unknown Indian tribes in the great +forests of the far interior where the great rivers have their sources. +But it was mere aimless wandering; he had written nothing, collected +nothing, brought nothing for science out of the twilight of the forests, +which seemed to cling to his battered personality limping about Sulaco, +where it had drifted in casually, only to get stranded on the shores of +the sea. + +It was also known that he had lived in a state of destitution till the +arrival of the Goulds from Europe. Don Carlos and Dona Emilia had taken +up the mad English doctor, when it became apparent that for all his +savage independence he could be tamed by kindness. Perhaps it was +only hunger that had tamed him. In years gone by he had certainly been +acquainted with Charles Gould's father in Sta. Marta; and now, no matter +what were the dark passages of his history, as the medical officer of +the San Tome mine he became a recognized personality. He was recognized, +but not unreservedly accepted. So much defiant eccentricity and such +an outspoken scorn for mankind seemed to point to mere recklessness of +judgment, the bravado of guilt. Besides, since he had become again of +some account, vague whispers had been heard that years ago, when fallen +into disgrace and thrown into prison by Guzman Bento at the time of the +so-called Great Conspiracy, he had betrayed some of his best friends +amongst the conspirators. Nobody pretended to believe that whisper; the +whole story of the Great Conspiracy was hopelessly involved and obscure; +it is admitted in Costaguana that there never had been a conspiracy +except in the diseased imagination of the Tyrant; and, therefore, +nothing and no one to betray; though the most distinguished +Costaguaneros had been imprisoned and executed upon that accusation. The +procedure had dragged on for years, decimating the better class like +a pestilence. The mere expression of sorrow for the fate of executed +kinsmen had been punished with death. Don Jose Avellanos was perhaps the +only one living who knew the whole story of those unspeakable cruelties. +He had suffered from them himself, and he, with a shrug of the shoulders +and a nervous, jerky gesture of the arm, was wont to put away from him, +as it were, every allusion to it. But whatever the reason, Dr. Monygham, +a personage in the administration of the Gould Concession, treated with +reverent awe by the miners, and indulged in his peculiarities by Mrs. +Gould, remained somehow outside the pale. + +It was not from any liking for the doctor that the engineer-in-chief had +lingered in the inn upon the plain. He liked old Viola much better. He +had come to look upon the Albergo d'ltalia Una as a dependence of the +railway. Many of his subordinates had their quarters there. Mrs. Gould's +interest in the family conferred upon it a sort of distinction. The +engineer-in-chief, with an army of workers under his orders, appreciated +the moral influence of the old Garibaldino upon his countrymen. His +austere, old-world Republicanism had a severe, soldier-like standard of +faithfulness and duty, as if the world were a battlefield where men had +to fight for the sake of universal love and brotherhood, instead of a +more or less large share of booty. + +"Poor old chap!" he said, after he had heard the doctor's account of +Teresa. "He'll never be able to keep the place going by himself. I shall +be sorry." + +"He's quite alone up there," grunted Doctor Monygham, with a toss of his +heavy head towards the narrow staircase. "Every living soul has cleared +out, and Mrs. Gould took the girls away just now. It might not be +over-safe for them out here before very long. Of course, as a doctor I +can do nothing more here; but she has asked me to stay with old Viola, +and as I have no horse to get back to the mine, where I ought to be, I +made no difficulty to stay. They can do without me in the town." + +"I have a good mind to remain with you, doctor, till we see +whether anything happens to-night at the harbour," declared the +engineer-in-chief. "He must not be molested by Sotillo's soldiery, who +may push on as far as this at once. Sotillo used to be very cordial to +me at the Goulds' and at the club. How that man'll ever dare to look any +of his friends here in the face I can't imagine." + +"He'll no doubt begin by shooting some of them to get over the first +awkwardness," said the doctor. "Nothing in this country serves better +your military man who has changed sides than a few summary executions." +He spoke with a gloomy positiveness that left no room for protest. The +engineer-in-chief did not attempt any. He simply nodded several times +regretfully, then said-- + +"I think we shall be able to mount you in the morning, doctor. Our peons +have recovered some of our stampeded horses. By riding hard and taking +a wide circuit by Los Hatos and along the edge of the forest, clear of +Rincon altogether, you may hope to reach the San Tome bridge without +being interfered with. The mine is just now, to my mind, the safest +place for anybody at all compromised. I only wish the railway was as +difficult to touch." + +"Am I compromised?" Doctor Monygham brought out slowly after a short +silence. + +"The whole Gould Concession is compromised. It could not have remained +for ever outside the political life of the country--if those convulsions +may be called life. The thing is--can it be touched? The moment was +bound to come when neutrality would become impossible, and Charles Gould +understood this well. I believe he is prepared for every extremity. A +man of his sort has never contemplated remaining indefinitely at the +mercy of ignorance and corruption. It was like being a prisoner in a +cavern of banditti with the price of your ransom in your pocket, and +buying your life from day to day. Your mere safety, not your liberty, +mind, doctor. I know what I am talking about. The image at which you +shrug your shoulders is perfectly correct, especially if you conceive +such a prisoner endowed with the power of replenishing his pocket by +means as remote from the faculties of his captors as if they were magic. +You must have understood that as well as I do, doctor. He was in the +position of the goose with the golden eggs. I broached this matter to +him as far back as Sir John's visit here. The prisoner of stupid and +greedy banditti is always at the mercy of the first imbecile ruffian, +who may blow out his brains in a fit of temper or for some prospect of +an immediate big haul. The tale of killing the goose with the golden +eggs has not been evolved for nothing out of the wisdom of mankind. It +is a story that will never grow old. That is why Charles Gould in his +deep, dumb way has countenanced the Ribierist Mandate, the first public +act that promised him safety on other than venal grounds. Ribierism has +failed, as everything merely rational fails in this country. But Gould +remains logical in wishing to save this big lot of silver. Decoud's plan +of a counter-revolution may be practicable or not, it may have a +chance, or it may not have a chance. With all my experience of this +revolutionary continent, I can hardly yet look at their methods +seriously. Decoud has been reading to us his draft of a proclamation, +and talking very well for two hours about his plan of action. He had +arguments which should have appeared solid enough if we, members of old, +stable political and national organizations, were not startled by the +mere idea of a new State evolved like this out of the head of a scoffing +young man fleeing for his life, with a proclamation in his pocket, to a +rough, jeering, half-bred swashbuckler, who in this part of the world is +called a general. It sounds like a comic fairy tale--and behold, it may +come off; because it is true to the very spirit of the country." + +"Is the silver gone off, then?" asked the doctor, moodily. + +The chief engineer pulled out his watch. "By Captain Mitchell's +reckoning--and he ought to know--it has been gone long enough now to +be some three or four miles outside the harbour; and, as Mitchell says, +Nostromo is the sort of seaman to make the best of his opportunities." +Here the doctor grunted so heavily that the other changed his tone. + +"You have a poor opinion of that move, doctor? But why? Charles Gould +has got to play his game out, though he is not the man to formulate his +conduct even to himself, perhaps, let alone to others. It may be that +the game has been partly suggested to him by Holroyd; but it accords +with his character, too; and that is why it has been so successful. +Haven't they come to calling him 'El Rey de Sulaco' in Sta. Marta? A +nickname may be the best record of a success. That's what I call putting +the face of a joke upon the body of a truth. My dear sir, when I first +arrived in Sta. Marta I was struck by the way all those journalists, +demagogues, members of Congress, and all those generals and judges +cringed before a sleepy-eyed advocate without practice simply because he +was the plenipotentiary of the Gould Concession. Sir John when he came +out was impressed, too." + +"A new State, with that plump dandy, Decoud, for the first President," +mused Dr. Monygham, nursing his cheek and swinging his legs all the +time. + +"Upon my word, and why not?" the chief engineer retorted in an +unexpectedly earnest and confidential voice. It was as if something +subtle in the air of Costaguana had inoculated him with the local faith +in "pronunciamientos." All at once he began to talk, like an expert +revolutionist, of the instrument ready to hand in the intact army at +Cayta, which could be brought back in a few days to Sulaco if only +Decoud managed to make his way at once down the coast. For the military +chief there was Barrios, who had nothing but a bullet to expect from +Montero, his former professional rival and bitter enemy. Barrios's +concurrence was assured. As to his army, it had nothing to expect from +Montero either; not even a month's pay. From that point of view the +existence of the treasure was of enormous importance. The mere knowledge +that it had been saved from the Monterists would be a strong inducement +for the Cayta troops to embrace the cause of the new State. + +The doctor turned round and contemplated his companion for some time. + +"This Decoud, I see, is a persuasive young beggar," he remarked at last. +"And pray is it for this, then, that Charles Gould has let the whole lot +of ingots go out to sea in charge of that Nostromo?" + +"Charles Gould," said the engineer-in-chief, "has said no more about his +motive than usual. You know, he doesn't talk. But we all here know his +motive, and he has only one--the safety of the San Tome mine with the +preservation of the Gould Concession in the spirit of his compact with +Holroyd. Holroyd is another uncommon man. They understand each other's +imaginative side. One is thirty, the other nearly sixty, and they have +been made for each other. To be a millionaire, and such a millionaire +as Holroyd, is like being eternally young. The audacity of youth +reckons upon what it fancies an unlimited time at its disposal; but a +millionaire has unlimited means in his hand--which is better. One's time +on earth is an uncertain quantity, but about the long reach of millions +there is no doubt. The introduction of a pure form of Christianity into +this continent is a dream for a youthful enthusiast, and I have been +trying to explain to you why Holroyd at fifty-eight is like a man on the +threshold of life, and better, too. He's not a missionary, but the San +Tome mine holds just that for him. I assure you, in sober truth, that he +could not manage to keep this out of a strictly business conference upon +the finances of Costaguana he had with Sir John a couple of years ago. +Sir John mentioned it with amazement in a letter he wrote to me here, +from San Francisco, when on his way home. Upon my word, doctor, things +seem to be worth nothing by what they are in themselves. I begin to +believe that the only solid thing about them is the spiritual value +which everyone discovers in his own form of activity----" + +"Bah!" interrupted the doctor, without stopping for an instant the idle +swinging movement of his legs. "Self-flattery. Food for that vanity +which makes the world go round. Meantime, what do you think is going to +happen to the treasure floating about the gulf with the great Capataz +and the great politician?" + +"Why are you uneasy about it, doctor?" + +"I uneasy! And what the devil is it to me? I put no spiritual value into +my desires, or my opinions, or my actions. They have not enough +vastness to give me room for self-flattery. Look, for instance, I should +certainly have liked to ease the last moments of that poor woman. And +I can't. It's impossible. Have you met the impossible face to face--or +have you, the Napoleon of railways, no such word in your dictionary?" + +"Is she bound to have a very bad time of it?" asked the chief engineer, +with humane concern. + +Slow, heavy footsteps moved across the planks above the heavy hard wood +beams of the kitchen. Then down the narrow opening of the staircase made +in the thickness of the wall, and narrow enough to be defended by one +man against twenty enemies, came the murmur of two voices, one faint and +broken, the other deep and gentle answering it, and in its graver tone +covering the weaker sound. + +The two men remained still and silent till the murmurs ceased, then the +doctor shrugged his shoulders and muttered-- + +"Yes, she's bound to. And I could do nothing if I went up now." + +A long period of silence above and below ensued. + +"I fancy," began the engineer, in a subdued voice, "that you mistrust +Captain Mitchell's Capataz." + +"Mistrust him!" muttered the doctor through his teeth. "I believe him +capable of anything--even of the most absurd fidelity. I am the last +person he spoke to before he left the wharf, you know. The poor woman up +there wanted to see him, and I let him go up to her. The dying must not +be contradicted, you know. She seemed then fairly calm and resigned, +but the scoundrel in those ten minutes or so has done or said something +which seems to have driven her into despair. You know," went on +the doctor, hesitatingly, "women are so very unaccountable in every +position, and at all times of life, that I thought sometimes she was in +a way, don't you see? in love with him--the Capataz. The rascal has his +own charm indubitably, or he would not have made the conquest of all the +populace of the town. No, no, I am not absurd. I may have given a wrong +name to some strong sentiment for him on her part, to an unreasonable +and simple attitude a woman is apt to take up emotionally towards a +man. She used to abuse him to me frequently, which, of course, is not +inconsistent with my idea. Not at all. It looked to me as if she were +always thinking of him. He was something important in her life. You +know, I have seen a lot of those people. Whenever I came down from +the mine Mrs. Gould used to ask me to keep my eye on them. She likes +Italians; she has lived a long time in Italy, I believe, and she took +a special fancy to that old Garibaldino. A remarkable chap enough. A +rugged and dreamy character, living in the republicanism of his +young days as if in a cloud. He has encouraged much of the Capataz's +confounded nonsense--the high-strung, exalted old beggar!" + +"What sort of nonsense?" wondered the chief engineer. "I found the +Capataz always a very shrewd and sensible fellow, absolutely fearless, +and remarkably useful. A perfect handy man. Sir John was greatly +impressed by his resourcefulness and attention when he made that +overland journey from Sta. Marta. Later on, as you might have heard, +he rendered us a service by disclosing to the then chief of police +the presence in the town of some professional thieves, who came from +a distance to wreck and rob our monthly pay train. He has certainly +organized the lighterage service of the harbour for the O.S.N. Company +with great ability. He knows how to make himself obeyed, foreigner +though he is. It is true that the Cargadores are strangers here, too, +for the most part--immigrants, Islenos." + +"His prestige is his fortune," muttered the doctor, sourly. + +"The man has proved his trustworthiness up to the hilt on innumerable +occasions and in all sorts of ways," argued the engineer. "When this +question of the silver arose, Captain Mitchell naturally was very warmly +of the opinion that his Capataz was the only man fit for the trust. As +a sailor, of course, I suppose so. But as a man, don't you know, Gould, +Decoud, and myself judged that it didn't matter in the least who went. +Any boatman would have done just as well. Pray, what could a thief do +with such a lot of ingots? If he ran off with them he would have in +the end to land somewhere, and how could he conceal his cargo from the +knowledge of the people ashore? We dismissed that consideration from our +minds. Moreover, Decoud was going. There have been occasions when the +Capataz has been more implicitly trusted." + +"He took a slightly different view," the doctor said. "I heard him +declare in this very room that it would be the most desperate affair of +his life. He made a sort of verbal will here in my hearing, appointing +old Viola his executor; and, by Jove! do you know, he--he's not grown +rich by his fidelity to you good people of the railway and the harbour. +I suppose he obtains some--how do you say that?--some spiritual value +for his labours, or else I don't know why the devil he should be +faithful to you, Gould, Mitchell, or anybody else. He knows this country +well. He knows, for instance, that Gamacho, the Deputy from Javira, has +been nothing else but a 'tramposo' of the commonest sort, a petty pedlar +of the Campo, till he managed to get enough goods on credit from Anzani +to open a little store in the wilds, and got himself elected by the +drunken mozos that hang about the Estancias and the poorest sort of +rancheros who were in his debt. And Gamacho, who to-morrow will be +probably one of our high officials, is a stranger, too--an Isleno. +He might have been a Cargador on the O. S. N. wharf had he not (the +posadero of Rincon is ready to swear it) murdered a pedlar in the woods +and stolen his pack to begin life on. And do you think that Gamacho, +then, would have ever become a hero with the democracy of this place, +like our Capataz? Of course not. He isn't half the man. No; decidedly, I +think that Nostromo is a fool." + +The doctor's talk was distasteful to the builder of railways. "It is +impossible to argue that point," he said, philosophically. "Each man has +his gifts. You should have heard Gamacho haranguing his friends in the +street. He has a howling voice, and he shouted like mad, lifting his +clenched fist right above his head, and throwing his body half out +of the window. At every pause the rabble below yelled, 'Down with the +Oligarchs! Viva la Libertad!' Fuentes inside looked extremely miserable. +You know, he is the brother of Jorge Fuentes, who has been Minister of +the Interior for six months or so, some few years back. Of course, he +has no conscience; but he is a man of birth and education--at one time +the director of the Customs of Cayta. That idiot-brute Gamacho fastened +himself upon him with his following of the lowest rabble. His sickly +fear of that ruffian was the most rejoicing sight imaginable." + +He got up and went to the door to look out towards the harbour. "All +quiet," he said; "I wonder if Sotillo really means to turn up here?" + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +Captain Mitchell, pacing the wharf, was asking himself the same +question. There was always the doubt whether the warning of the +Esmeralda telegraphist--a fragmentary and interrupted message--had been +properly understood. However, the good man had made up his mind not +to go to bed till daylight, if even then. He imagined himself to have +rendered an enormous service to Charles Gould. When he thought of the +saved silver he rubbed his hands together with satisfaction. In his +simple way he was proud at being a party to this extremely clever +expedient. It was he who had given it a practical shape by suggesting +the possibility of intercepting at sea the north-bound steamer. And it +was advantageous to his Company, too, which would have lost a valuable +freight if the treasure had been left ashore to be confiscated. +The pleasure of disappointing the Monterists was also very great. +Authoritative by temperament and the long habit of command, Captain +Mitchell was no democrat. He even went so far as to profess a contempt +for parliamentarism itself. "His Excellency Don Vincente Ribiera," he +used to say, "whom I and that fellow of mine, Nostromo, had the honour, +sir, and the pleasure of saving from a cruel death, deferred too much to +his Congress. It was a mistake--a distinct mistake, sir." + +The guileless old seaman superintending the O.S.N. service imagined that +the last three days had exhausted every startling surprise the political +life of Costaguana could offer. He used to confess afterwards that the +events which followed surpassed his imagination. To begin with, Sulaco +(because of the seizure of the cables and the disorganization of the +steam service) remained for a whole fortnight cut off from the rest of +the world like a besieged city. + +"One would not have believed it possible; but so it was, sir. A full +fortnight." + +The account of the extraordinary things that happened during that +time, and the powerful emotions he experienced, acquired a comic +impressiveness from the pompous manner of his personal narrative. He +opened it always by assuring his hearer that he was "in the thick +of things from first to last." Then he would begin by describing the +getting away of the silver, and his natural anxiety lest "his fellow" in +charge of the lighter should make some mistake. Apart from the loss of +so much precious metal, the life of Senor Martin Decoud, an agreeable, +wealthy, and well-informed young gentleman, would have been jeopardized +through his falling into the hands of his political enemies. Captain +Mitchell also admitted that in his solitary vigil on the wharf he had +felt a certain measure of concern for the future of the whole country. + +"A feeling, sir," he explained, "perfectly comprehensible in a man +properly grateful for the many kindnesses received from the best +families of merchants and other native gentlemen of independent means, +who, barely saved by us from the excesses of the mob, seemed, to my +mind's eye, destined to become the prey in person and fortune of the +native soldiery, which, as is well known, behave with regrettable +barbarity to the inhabitants during their civil commotions. And then, +sir, there were the Goulds, for both of whom, man and wife, I could not +but entertain the warmest feelings deserved by their hospitality and +kindness. I felt, too, the dangers of the gentlemen of the Amarilla +Club, who had made me honorary member, and had treated me with uniform +regard and civility, both in my capacity of Consular Agent and as +Superintendent of an important Steam Service. Miss Antonia Avellanos, +the most beautiful and accomplished young lady whom it had ever been my +privilege to speak to, was not a little in my mind, I confess. How the +interests of my Company would be affected by the impending change of +officials claimed a large share of my attention, too. In short, sir, +I was extremely anxious and very tired, as you may suppose, by the +exciting and memorable events in which I had taken my little part. The +Company's building containing my residence was within five minutes' +walk, with the attraction of some supper and of my hammock (I always +take my nightly rest in a hammock, as the most suitable to the climate); +but somehow, sir, though evidently I could do nothing for any one by +remaining about, I could not tear myself away from that wharf, where the +fatigue made me stumble painfully at times. The night was excessively +dark--the darkest I remember in my life; so that I began to think that +the arrival of the transport from Esmeralda could not possibly take +place before daylight, owing to the difficulty of navigating the gulf. +The mosquitoes bit like fury. We have been infested here with mosquitoes +before the late improvements; a peculiar harbour brand, sir, renowned +for its ferocity. They were like a cloud about my head, and I shouldn't +wonder that but for their attacks I would have dozed off as I walked +up and down, and got a heavy fall. I kept on smoking cigar after cigar, +more to protect myself from being eaten up alive than from any real +relish for the weed. Then, sir, when perhaps for the twentieth time I +was approaching my watch to the lighted end in order to see the time, +and observing with surprise that it wanted yet ten minutes to midnight, +I heard the splash of a ship's propeller--an unmistakable sound to a +sailor's ear on such a calm night. It was faint indeed, because they +were advancing with precaution and dead slow, both on account of the +darkness and from their desire of not revealing too soon their presence: +a very unnecessary care, because, I verily believe, in all the enormous +extent of this harbour I was the only living soul about. Even the +usual staff of watchmen and others had been absent from their posts for +several nights owing to the disturbances. I stood stock still, after +dropping and stamping out my cigar--a circumstance highly agreeable, +I should think, to the mosquitoes, if I may judge from the state of my +face next morning. But that was a trifling inconvenience in comparison +with the brutal proceedings I became victim of on the part of Sotillo. +Something utterly inconceivable, sir; more like the proceedings of +a maniac than the action of a sane man, however lost to all sense +of honour and decency. But Sotillo was furious at the failure of his +thievish scheme." + +In this Captain Mitchell was right. Sotillo was indeed infuriated. +Captain Mitchell, however, had not been arrested at once; a vivid +curiosity induced him to remain on the wharf (which is nearly four +hundred feet long) to see, or rather hear, the whole process of +disembarkation. Concealed by the railway truck used for the silver, +which had been run back afterwards to the shore end of the jetty, +Captain Mitchell saw the small detachment thrown forward, pass by, +taking different directions upon the plain. Meantime, the troops were +being landed and formed into a column, whose head crept up gradually so +close to him that he made it out, barring nearly the whole width of +the wharf, only a very few yards from him. Then the low, shuffling, +murmuring, clinking sounds ceased, and the whole mass remained for about +an hour motionless and silent, awaiting the return of the scouts. On +land nothing was to be heard except the deep baying of the mastiffs at +the railway yards, answered by the faint barking of the curs infesting +the outer limits of the town. A detached knot of dark shapes stood in +front of the head of the column. + +Presently the picket at the end of the wharf began to challenge in +undertones single figures approaching from the plain. Those messengers +sent back from the scouting parties flung to their comrades brief +sentences and passed on rapidly, becoming lost in the great motionless +mass, to make their report to the Staff. It occurred to Captain Mitchell +that his position could become disagreeable and perhaps dangerous, when +suddenly, at the head of the jetty, there was a shout of command, a +bugle call, followed by a stir and a rattling of arms, and a murmuring +noise that ran right up the column. Near by a loud voice directed +hurriedly, "Push that railway car out of the way!" At the rush of bare +feet to execute the order Captain Mitchell skipped back a pace or two; +the car, suddenly impelled by many hands, flew away from him along the +rails, and before he knew what had happened he found himself surrounded +and seized by his arms and the collar of his coat. + +"We have caught a man hiding here, mi teniente!" cried one of his +captors. + +"Hold him on one side till the rearguard comes along," answered the +voice. The whole column streamed past Captain Mitchell at a run, the +thundering noise of their feet dying away suddenly on the shore. His +captors held him tightly, disregarding his declaration that he was +an Englishman and his loud demands to be taken at once before their +commanding officer. Finally he lapsed into dignified silence. With a +hollow rumble of wheels on the planks a couple of field guns, dragged +by hand, rolled by. Then, after a small body of men had marched past +escorting four or five figures which walked in advance, with a jingle +of steel scabbards, he felt a tug at his arms, and was ordered to come +along. During the passage from the wharf to the Custom House it is to be +feared that Captain Mitchell was subjected to certain indignities at +the hands of the soldiers--such as jerks, thumps on the neck, forcible +application of the butt of a rifle to the small of his back. Their ideas +of speed were not in accord with his notion of his dignity. He became +flustered, flushed, and helpless. It was as if the world were coming to +an end. + +The long building was surrounded by troops, which were already piling +arms by companies and preparing to pass the night lying on the ground in +their ponchos with their sacks under their heads. Corporals moved with +swinging lanterns posting sentries all round the walls wherever there +was a door or an opening. Sotillo was taking his measures to protect his +conquest as if it had indeed contained the treasure. His desire to +make his fortune at one audacious stroke of genius had overmastered his +reasoning faculties. He would not believe in the possibility of failure; +the mere hint of such a thing made his brain reel with rage. Every +circumstance pointing to it appeared incredible. The statement of +Hirsch, which was so absolutely fatal to his hopes, could by no means +be admitted. It is true, too, that Hirsch's story had been told so +incoherently, with such excessive signs of distraction, that it really +looked improbable. It was extremely difficult, as the saying is, to make +head or tail of it. On the bridge of the steamer, directly after his +rescue, Sotillo and his officers, in their impatience and excitement, +would not give the wretched man time to collect such few wits as +remained to him. He ought to have been quieted, soothed, and reassured, +whereas he had been roughly handled, cuffed, shaken, and addressed in +menacing tones. His struggles, his wriggles, his attempts to get down on +his knees, followed by the most violent efforts to break away, as if he +meant incontinently to jump overboard, his shrieks and shrinkings and +cowering wild glances had filled them first with amazement, then with +a doubt of his genuineness, as men are wont to suspect the sincerity of +every great passion. His Spanish, too, became so mixed up with German +that the better half of his statements remained incomprehensible. He +tried to propitiate them by calling them hochwohlgeboren herren, which +in itself sounded suspicious. When admonished sternly not to trifle he +repeated his entreaties and protestations of loyalty and innocence again +in German, obstinately, because he was not aware in what language he was +speaking. His identity, of course, was perfectly known as an inhabitant +of Esmeralda, but this made the matter no clearer. As he kept on +forgetting Decoud's name, mixing him up with several other people he had +seen in the Casa Gould, it looked as if they all had been in the lighter +together; and for a moment Sotillo thought that he had drowned every +prominent Ribierist of Sulaco. The improbability of such a thing threw +a doubt upon the whole statement. Hirsch was either mad or playing a +part--pretending fear and distraction on the spur of the moment to +cover the truth. Sotillo's rapacity, excited to the highest pitch by the +prospect of an immense booty, could believe in nothing adverse. This Jew +might have been very much frightened by the accident, but he knew where +the silver was concealed, and had invented this story, with his Jewish +cunning, to put him entirely off the track as to what had been done. + +Sotillo had taken up his quarters on the upper floor in a vast apartment +with heavy black beams. But there was no ceiling, and the eye lost +itself in the darkness under the high pitch of the roof. The thick +shutters stood open. On a long table could be seen a large inkstand, +some stumpy, inky quill pens, and two square wooden boxes, each holding +half a hundred-weight of sand. Sheets of grey coarse official paper +bestrewed the floor. It must have been a room occupied by some higher +official of the Customs, because a large leathern armchair stood behind +the table, with other high-backed chairs scattered about. A net hammock +was swung under one of the beams--for the official's afternoon siesta, +no doubt. A couple of candles stuck into tall iron candlesticks gave a +dim reddish light. The colonel's hat, sword, and revolver lay between +them, and a couple of his more trusty officers lounged gloomily against +the table. The colonel threw himself into the armchair, and a big negro +with a sergeant's stripes on his ragged sleeve, kneeling down, pulled +off his boots. Sotillo's ebony moustache contrasted violently with the +livid colouring of his cheeks. His eyes were sombre and as if sunk very +far into his head. He seemed exhausted by his perplexities, languid with +disappointment; but when the sentry on the landing thrust his head in to +announce the arrival of a prisoner, he revived at once. + +"Let him be brought in," he shouted, fiercely. + +The door flew open, and Captain Mitchell, bareheaded, his waistcoat +open, the bow of his tie under his ear, was hustled into the room. + +Sotillo recognized him at once. He could not have hoped for a more +precious capture; here was a man who could tell him, if he chose, +everything he wished to know--and directly the problem of how best to +make him talk to the point presented itself to his mind. The resentment +of a foreign nation had no terrors for Sotillo. The might of the whole +armed Europe would not have protected Captain Mitchell from insults and +ill-usage, so well as the quick reflection of Sotillo that this was an +Englishman who would most likely turn obstinate under bad treatment, and +become quite unmanageable. At all events, the colonel smoothed the scowl +on his brow. + +"What! The excellent Senor Mitchell!" he cried, in affected dismay. +The pretended anger of his swift advance and of his shout, "Release +the caballero at once," was so effective that the astounded soldiers +positively sprang away from their prisoner. Thus suddenly deprived +of forcible support, Captain Mitchell reeled as though about to fall. +Sotillo took him familiarly under the arm, led him to a chair, waved his +hand at the room. "Go out, all of you," he commanded. + +When they had been left alone he stood looking down, irresolute and +silent, watching till Captain Mitchell had recovered his power of +speech. + +Here in his very grasp was one of the men concerned in the removal of +the silver. Sotillo's temperament was of that sort that he experienced +an ardent desire to beat him; just as formerly when negotiating with +difficulty a loan from the cautious Anzani, his fingers always itched +to take the shopkeeper by the throat. As to Captain Mitchell, the +suddenness, unexpectedness, and general inconceivableness of this +experience had confused his thoughts. Moreover, he was physically out of +breath. + +"I've been knocked down three times between this and the wharf," he +gasped out at last. "Somebody shall be made to pay for this." He had +certainly stumbled more than once, and had been dragged along for some +distance before he could regain his stride. With his recovered breath +his indignation seemed to madden him. He jumped up, crimson, all his +white hair bristling, his eyes glaring vengefully, and shook violently +the flaps of his ruined waistcoat before the disconcerted Sotillo. +"Look! Those uniformed thieves of yours downstairs have robbed me of my +watch." + +The old sailor's aspect was very threatening. Sotillo saw himself cut +off from the table on which his sabre and revolver were lying. + +"I demand restitution and apologies," Mitchell thundered at him, quite +beside himself. "From you! Yes, from you!" + +For the space of a second or so the colonel stood with a perfectly stony +expression of face; then, as Captain Mitchell flung out an arm towards +the table as if to snatch up the revolver, Sotillo, with a yell of +alarm, bounded to the door and was gone in a flash, slamming it after +him. Surprise calmed Captain Mitchell's fury. Behind the closed door +Sotillo shouted on the landing, and there was a great tumult of feet on +the wooden staircase. + +"Disarm him! Bind him!" the colonel could be heard vociferating. + +Captain Mitchell had just the time to glance once at the windows, with +three perpendicular bars of iron each and some twenty feet from the +ground, as he well knew, before the door flew open and the rush upon him +took place. In an incredibly short time he found himself bound with +many turns of a hide rope to a high-backed chair, so that his head alone +remained free. Not till then did Sotillo, who had been leaning in the +doorway trembling visibly, venture again within. The soldiers, picking +up from the floor the rifles they had dropped to grapple with the +prisoner, filed out of the room. The officers remained leaning on their +swords and looking on. + +"The watch! the watch!" raved the colonel, pacing to and fro like a +tiger in a cage. "Give me that man's watch." + +It was true, that when searched for arms in the hall downstairs, before +being taken into Sotillo's presence, Captain Mitchell had been relieved +of his watch and chain; but at the colonel's clamour it was produced +quickly enough, a corporal bringing it up, carried carefully in the +palms of his joined hands. Sotillo snatched it, and pushed the clenched +fist from which it dangled close to Captain Mitchell's face. + +"Now then! You arrogant Englishman! You dare to call the soldiers of the +army thieves! Behold your watch." + +He flourished his fist as if aiming blows at the prisoner's nose. +Captain Mitchell, helpless as a swathed infant, looked anxiously at +the sixty-guinea gold half-chronometer, presented to him years ago by +a Committee of Underwriters for saving a ship from total loss by fire. +Sotillo, too, seemed to perceive its valuable appearance. He became +silent suddenly, stepped aside to the table, and began a careful +examination in the light of the candles. He had never seen anything so +fine. His officers closed in and craned their necks behind his back. + +He became so interested that for an instant he forgot his precious +prisoner. There is always something childish in the rapacity of the +passionate, clear-minded, Southern races, wanting in the misty idealism +of the Northerners, who at the smallest encouragement dream of nothing +less than the conquest of the earth. Sotillo was fond of jewels, gold +trinkets, of personal adornment. After a moment he turned about, and +with a commanding gesture made all his officers fall back. He laid down +the watch on the table, then, negligently, pushed his hat over it. + +"Ha!" he began, going up very close to the chair. "You dare call my +valiant soldiers of the Esmeralda regiment, thieves. You dare! What +impudence! You foreigners come here to rob our country of its wealth. +You never have enough! Your audacity knows no bounds." + +He looked towards the officers, amongst whom there was an approving +murmur. The older major was moved to declare-- + +"Si, mi colonel. They are all traitors." + +"I shall say nothing," continued Sotillo, fixing the motionless and +powerless Mitchell with an angry but uneasy stare. "I shall say nothing +of your treacherous attempt to get possession of my revolver to shoot me +while I was trying to treat you with consideration you did not deserve. +You have forfeited your life. Your only hope is in my clemency." + +He watched for the effect of his words, but there was no obvious sign of +fear on Captain Mitchell's face. His white hair was full of dust, +which covered also the rest of his helpless person. As if he had heard +nothing, he twitched an eyebrow to get rid of a bit of straw which hung +amongst the hairs. + +Sotillo advanced one leg and put his arms akimbo. "It is you, Mitchell," +he said, emphatically, "who are the thief, not my soldiers!" He pointed +at his prisoner a forefinger with a long, almond-shaped nail. "Where +is the silver of the San Tome mine? I ask you, Mitchell, where is the +silver that was deposited in this Custom House? Answer me that! You +stole it. You were a party to stealing it. It was stolen from the +Government. Aha! you think I do not know what I say; but I am up to your +foreign tricks. It is gone, the silver! No? Gone in one of your lanchas, +you miserable man! How dared you?" + +This time he produced his effect. "How on earth could Sotillo know +that?" thought Mitchell. His head, the only part of his body that could +move, betrayed his surprise by a sudden jerk. + +"Ha! you tremble," Sotillo shouted, suddenly. "It is a conspiracy. It is +a crime against the State. Did you not know that the silver belongs +to the Republic till the Government claims are satisfied? Where is it? +Where have you hidden it, you miserable thief?" + +At this question Captain Mitchell's sinking spirits revived. In whatever +incomprehensible manner Sotillo had already got his information about +the lighter, he had not captured it. That was clear. In his outraged +heart, Captain Mitchell had resolved that nothing would induce him to +say a word while he remained so disgracefully bound, but his desire to +help the escape of the silver made him depart from this resolution. His +wits were very much at work. He detected in Sotillo a certain air of +doubt, of irresolution. + +"That man," he said to himself, "is not certain of what he advances." +For all his pomposity in social intercourse, Captain Mitchell could meet +the realities of life in a resolute and ready spirit. Now he had +got over the first shock of the abominable treatment he was cool and +collected enough. The immense contempt he felt for Sotillo steadied him, +and he said oracularly, "No doubt it is well concealed by this time." + +Sotillo, too, had time to cool down. "Muy bien, Mitchell," he said in a +cold and threatening manner. "But can you produce the Government receipt +for the royalty and the Custom House permit of embarkation, hey? Can +you? No. Then the silver has been removed illegally, and the guilty +shall be made to suffer, unless it is produced within five days from +this." He gave orders for the prisoner to be unbound and locked up in +one of the smaller rooms downstairs. He walked about the room, moody and +silent, till Captain Mitchell, with each of his arms held by a couple of +men, stood up, shook himself, and stamped his feet. + +"How did you like to be tied up, Mitchell?" he asked, derisively. + +"It is the most incredible, abominable use of power!" Captain Mitchell +declared in a loud voice. "And whatever your purpose, you shall gain +nothing from it, I can promise you." + +The tall colonel, livid, with his coal-black ringlets and moustache, +crouched, as it were, to look into the eyes of the short, thick-set, +red-faced prisoner with rumpled white hair. + +"That we shall see. You shall know my power a little better when I tie +you up to a potalon outside in the sun for a whole day." He drew himself +up haughtily, and made a sign for Captain Mitchell to be led away. + +"What about my watch?" cried Captain Mitchell, hanging back from the +efforts of the men pulling him towards the door. + +Sotillo turned to his officers. "No! But only listen to this picaro, +caballeros," he pronounced with affected scorn, and was answered by a +chorus of derisive laughter. "He demands his watch!" . . . He ran up +again to Captain Mitchell, for the desire to relieve his feelings by +inflicting blows and pain upon this Englishman was very strong within +him. "Your watch! You are a prisoner in war time, Mitchell! In war time! +You have no rights and no property! Caramba! The very breath in your +body belongs to me. Remember that." + +"Bosh!" said Captain Mitchell, concealing a disagreeable impression. + +Down below, in a great hall, with the earthen floor and with a tall +mound thrown up by white ants in a corner, the soldiers had kindled +a small fire with broken chairs and tables near the arched gateway, +through which the faint murmur of the harbour waters on the beach could +be heard. While Captain Mitchell was being led down the staircase, an +officer passed him, running up to report to Sotillo the capture of more +prisoners. A lot of smoke hung about in the vast gloomy place, the +fire crackled, and, as if through a haze, Captain Mitchell made out, +surrounded by short soldiers with fixed bayonets, the heads of three +tall prisoners--the doctor, the engineer-in-chief, and the white leonine +mane of old Viola, who stood half-turned away from the others with his +chin on his breast and his arms crossed. Mitchell's astonishment knew no +bounds. He cried out; the other two exclaimed also. But he hurried on, +diagonally, across the big cavern-like hall. Lots of thoughts, surmises, +hints of caution, and so on, crowded his head to distraction. + +"Is he actually keeping you?" shouted the chief engineer, whose single +eyeglass glittered in the firelight. + +An officer from the top of the stairs was shouting urgently, "Bring them +all up--all three." + +In the clamour of voices and the rattle of arms, Captain Mitchell made +himself heard imperfectly: "By heavens! the fellow has stolen my watch." + +The engineer-in-chief on the staircase resisted the pressure long enough +to shout, "What? What did you say?" + +"My chronometer!" Captain Mitchell yelled violently at the very moment +of being thrust head foremost through a small door into a sort of cell, +perfectly black, and so narrow that he fetched up against the opposite +wall. The door had been instantly slammed. He knew where they had put +him. This was the strong room of the Custom House, whence the silver +had been removed only a few hours earlier. It was almost as narrow as +a corridor, with a small square aperture, barred by a heavy grating, at +the distant end. Captain Mitchell staggered for a few steps, then sat +down on the earthen floor with his back to the wall. Nothing, not even +a gleam of light from anywhere, interfered with Captain Mitchell's +meditation. He did some hard but not very extensive thinking. It was +not of a gloomy cast. The old sailor, with all his small weaknesses +and absurdities, was constitutionally incapable of entertaining for +any length of time a fear of his personal safety. It was not so much +firmness of soul as the lack of a certain kind of imagination--the kind +whose undue development caused intense suffering to Senor Hirsch; that +sort of imagination which adds the blind terror of bodily suffering and +of death, envisaged as an accident to the body alone, strictly--to all +the other apprehensions on which the sense of one's existence is based. +Unfortunately, Captain Mitchell had not much penetration of any kind; +characteristic, illuminating trifles of expression, action, or movement, +escaped him completely. He was too pompously and innocently aware of +his own existence to observe that of others. For instance, he could +not believe that Sotillo had been really afraid of him, and this simply +because it would never have entered into his head to shoot any one +except in the most pressing case of self-defence. Anybody could see he +was not a murdering kind of man, he reflected quite gravely. Then +why this preposterous and insulting charge? he asked himself. But his +thoughts mainly clung around the astounding and unanswerable question: +How the devil the fellow got to know that the silver had gone off in the +lighter? It was obvious that he had not captured it. And, obviously, he +could not have captured it! In this last conclusion Captain Mitchell +was misled by the assumption drawn from his observation of the weather +during his long vigil on the wharf. He thought that there had been much +more wind than usual that night in the gulf; whereas, as a matter of +fact, the reverse was the case. + +"How in the name of all that's marvellous did that confounded fellow get +wind of the affair?" was the first question he asked directly after the +bang, clatter, and flash of the open door (which was closed again +almost before he could lift his dropped head) informed him that he had a +companion of captivity. Dr. Monygham's voice stopped muttering curses in +English and Spanish. + +"Is that you, Mitchell?" he made answer, surlily. "I struck my forehead +against this confounded wall with enough force to fell an ox. Where are +you?" + +Captain Mitchell, accustomed to the darkness, could make out the doctor +stretching out his hands blindly. + +"I am sitting here on the floor. Don't fall over my legs," Captain +Mitchell's voice announced with great dignity of tone. The doctor, +entreated not to walk about in the dark, sank down to the ground, too. +The two prisoners of Sotillo, with their heads nearly touching, began to +exchange confidences. + +"Yes," the doctor related in a low tone to Captain Mitchell's vehement +curiosity, "we have been nabbed in old Viola's place. It seems that one +of their pickets, commanded by an officer, pushed as far as the town +gate. They had orders not to enter, but to bring along every soul they +could find on the plain. We had been talking in there with the door +open, and no doubt they saw the glimmer of our light. They must have +been making their approaches for some time. The engineer laid himself +on a bench in a recess by the fire-place, and I went upstairs to have a +look. I hadn't heard any sound from there for a long time. Old Viola, +as soon as he saw me come up, lifted his arm for silence. I stole in +on tiptoe. By Jove, his wife was lying down and had gone to sleep. The +woman had actually dropped off to sleep! 'Senor Doctor,' Viola whispers +to me, 'it looks as if her oppression was going to get better.' 'Yes,' +I said, very much surprised; 'your wife is a wonderful woman, Giorgio.' +Just then a shot was fired in the kitchen, which made us jump and cower +as if at a thunder-clap. It seems that the party of soldiers had stolen +quite close up, and one of them had crept up to the door. He looked in, +thought there was no one there, and, holding his rifle ready, entered +quietly. The chief told me that he had just closed his eyes for a +moment. When he opened them, he saw the man already in the middle of +the room peering into the dark corners. The chief was so startled that, +without thinking, he made one leap from the recess right out in front +of the fireplace. The soldier, no less startled, up with his rifle +and pulls the trigger, deafening and singeing the engineer, but in his +flurry missing him completely. But, look what happens! At the noise of +the report the sleeping woman sat up, as if moved by a spring, with a +shriek, 'The children, Gian' Battista! Save the children!' I have it in +my ears now. It was the truest cry of distress I ever heard. I stood as +if paralyzed, but the old husband ran across to the bedside, stretching +out his hands. She clung to them! I could see her eyes go glazed; the +old fellow lowered her down on the pillows and then looked round at me. +She was dead! All this took less than five minutes, and then I ran down +to see what was the matter. It was no use thinking of any resistance. +Nothing we two could say availed with the officer, so I volunteered to +go up with a couple of soldiers and fetch down old Viola. He was sitting +at the foot of the bed, looking at his wife's face, and did not seem to +hear what I said; but after I had pulled the sheet over her head, he got +up and followed us downstairs quietly, in a sort of thoughtful way. +They marched us off along the road, leaving the door open and the candle +burning. The chief engineer strode on without a word, but I looked back +once or twice at the feeble gleam. After we had gone some considerable +distance, the Garibaldino, who was walking by my side, suddenly said, 'I +have buried many men on battlefields on this continent. The priests talk +of consecrated ground! Bah! All the earth made by God is holy; but +the sea, which knows nothing of kings and priests and tyrants, is +the holiest of all. Doctor! I should like to bury her in the sea. No +mummeries, candles, incense, no holy water mumbled over by priests. The +spirit of liberty is upon the waters.' . . . Amazing old man. He was +saying all this in an undertone as if talking to himself." + +"Yes, yes," interrupted Captain Mitchell, impatiently. "Poor old chap! +But have you any idea how that ruffian Sotillo obtained his information? +He did not get hold of any of our Cargadores who helped with the truck, +did he? But no, it is impossible! These were picked men we've had in +our boats for these five years, and I paid them myself specially for the +job, with instructions to keep out of the way for twenty-four hours at +least. I saw them with my own eyes march on with the Italians to the +railway yards. The chief promised to give them rations as long as they +wanted to remain there." + +"Well," said the doctor, slowly, "I can tell you that you may +say good-bye for ever to your best lighter, and to the Capataz of +Cargadores." + +At this, Captain Mitchell scrambled up to his feet in the excess of +his excitement. The doctor, without giving him time to exclaim, stated +briefly the part played by Hirsch during the night. + +Captain Mitchell was overcome. "Drowned!" he muttered, in a bewildered +and appalled whisper. "Drowned!" Afterwards he kept still, apparently +listening, but too absorbed in the news of the catastrophe to follow the +doctor's narrative with attention. + +The doctor had taken up an attitude of perfect ignorance, till at last +Sotillo was induced to have Hirsch brought in to repeat the whole story, +which was got out of him again with the greatest difficulty, because +every moment he would break out into lamentations. At last, Hirsch +was led away, looking more dead than alive, and shut up in one of the +upstairs rooms to be close at hand. Then the doctor, keeping up his +character of a man not admitted to the inner councils of the San Tome +Administration, remarked that the story sounded incredible. Of course, +he said, he couldn't tell what had been the action of the Europeans, as +he had been exclusively occupied with his own work in looking after the +wounded, and also in attending Don Jose Avellanos. He had succeeded in +assuming so well a tone of impartial indifference, that Sotillo seemed +to be completely deceived. Till then a show of regular inquiry had +been kept up; one of the officers sitting at the table wrote down the +questions and the answers, the others, lounging about the room, listened +attentively, puffing at their long cigars and keeping their eyes on the +doctor. But at that point Sotillo ordered everybody out. + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +Directly they were alone, the colonel's severe official manner changed. +He rose and approached the doctor. His eyes shone with rapacity and +hope; he became confidential. "The silver might have been indeed put on +board the lighter, but it was not conceivable that it should have been +taken out to sea." The doctor, watching every word, nodded slightly, +smoking with apparent relish the cigar which Sotillo had offered him +as a sign of his friendly intentions. The doctor's manner of cold +detachment from the rest of the Europeans led Sotillo on, till, from +conjecture to conjecture, he arrived at hinting that in his opinion this +was a putup job on the part of Charles Gould, in order to get hold +of that immense treasure all to himself. The doctor, observant and +self-possessed, muttered, "He is very capable of that." + +Here Captain Mitchell exclaimed with amazement, amusement, and +indignation, "You said that of Charles Gould!" Disgust, and even some +suspicion, crept into his tone, for to him, too, as to other Europeans, +there appeared to be something dubious about the doctor's personality. + +"What on earth made you say that to this watch-stealing scoundrel?" +he asked. "What's the object of an infernal lie of that sort? That +confounded pick-pocket was quite capable of believing you." + +He snorted. For a time the doctor remained silent in the dark. + +"Yes, that is exactly what I did say," he uttered at last, in a tone +which would have made it clear enough to a third party that the pause +was not of a reluctant but of a reflective character. Captain Mitchell +thought that he had never heard anything so brazenly impudent in his +life. + +"Well, well!" he muttered to himself, but he had not the heart to voice +his thoughts. They were swept away by others full of astonishment and +regret. A heavy sense of discomfiture crushed him: the loss of the +silver, the death of Nostromo, which was really quite a blow to his +sensibilities, because he had become attached to his Capataz as people +get attached to their inferiors from love of ease and almost unconscious +gratitude. And when he thought of Decoud being drowned, too, his +sensibility was almost overcome by this miserable end. What a heavy +blow for that poor young woman! Captain Mitchell did not belong to the +species of crabbed old bachelors; on the contrary, he liked to see young +men paying attentions to young women. It seemed to him a natural and +proper thing. Proper especially. As to sailors, it was different; it was +not their place to marry, he maintained, but it was on moral grounds as +a matter of self-denial, for, he explained, life on board ship is not +fit for a woman even at best, and if you leave her on shore, first of +all it is not fair, and next she either suffers from it or doesn't care +a bit, which, in both cases, is bad. He couldn't have told what upset +him most--Charles Gould's immense material loss, the death of Nostromo, +which was a heavy loss to himself, or the idea of that beautiful and +accomplished young woman being plunged into mourning. + +"Yes," the doctor, who had been apparently reflecting, began again, "he +believed me right enough. I thought he would have hugged me. 'Si, si,' +he said, 'he will write to that partner of his, the rich Americano in +San Francisco, that it is all lost. Why not? There is enough to share +with many people.'" + +"But this is perfectly imbecile!" cried Captain Mitchell. + +The doctor remarked that Sotillo was imbecile, and that his imbecility +was ingenious enough to lead him completely astray. He had helped him +only but a little way. + +"I mentioned," the doctor said, "in a sort of casual way, that treasure +is generally buried in the earth rather than set afloat upon the sea. +At this my Sotillo slapped his forehead. 'Por Dios, yes,' he said; 'they +must have buried it on the shores of this harbour somewhere before they +sailed out.'" + +"Heavens and earth!" muttered Captain Mitchell, "I should not have +believed that anybody could be ass enough--" He paused, then went on +mournfully: "But what's the good of all this? It would have been a +clever enough lie if the lighter had been still afloat. It would have +kept that inconceivable idiot perhaps from sending out the steamer to +cruise in the gulf. That was the danger that worried me no end." Captain +Mitchell sighed profoundly. + +"I had an object," the doctor pronounced, slowly. + +"Had you?" muttered Captain Mitchell. "Well, that's lucky, or else +I would have thought that you went on fooling him for the fun of the +thing. And perhaps that was your object. Well, I must say I personally +wouldn't condescend to that sort of thing. It is not to my taste. No, +no. Blackening a friend's character is not my idea of fun, if it were to +fool the greatest blackguard on earth." + +Had it not been for Captain Mitchell's depression, caused by the fatal +news, his disgust of Dr. Monygham would have taken a more outspoken +shape; but he thought to himself that now it really did not matter what +that man, whom he had never liked, would say and do. + +"I wonder," he grumbled, "why they have shut us up together, or why +Sotillo should have shut you up at all, since it seems to me you have +been fairly chummy up there?" + +"Yes, I wonder," said the doctor grimly. + +Captain Mitchell's heart was so heavy that he would have preferred +for the time being a complete solitude to the best of company. But +any company would have been preferable to the doctor's, at whom he had +always looked askance as a sort of beachcomber of superior intelligence +partly reclaimed from his abased state. That feeling led him to ask-- + +"What has that ruffian done with the other two?" + +"The chief engineer he would have let go in any case," said the doctor. +"He wouldn't like to have a quarrel with the railway upon his hands. +Not just yet, at any rate. I don't think, Captain Mitchell, that you +understand exactly what Sotillo's position is--" + +"I don't see why I should bother my head about it," snarled Captain +Mitchell. + +"No," assented the doctor, with the same grim composure. "I don't see +why you should. It wouldn't help a single human being in the world if +you thought ever so hard upon any subject whatever." + +"No," said Captain Mitchell, simply, and with evident depression. "A man +locked up in a confounded dark hole is not much use to anybody." + +"As to old Viola," the doctor continued, as though he had not heard, +"Sotillo released him for the same reason he is presently going to +release you." + +"Eh? What?" exclaimed Captain Mitchell, staring like an owl in the +darkness. "What is there in common between me and old Viola? More likely +because the old chap has no watch and chain for the pickpocket to steal. +And I tell you what, Dr. Monygham," he went on with rising choler, "he +will find it more difficult than he thinks to get rid of me. He will +burn his fingers over that job yet, I can tell you. To begin with, I +won't go without my watch, and as to the rest--we shall see. I dare say +it is no great matter for you to be locked up. But Joe Mitchell is a +different kind of man, sir. I don't mean to submit tamely to insult and +robbery. I am a public character, sir." + +And then Captain Mitchell became aware that the bars of the opening had +become visible, a black grating upon a square of grey. The coming of the +day silenced Captain Mitchell as if by the reflection that now in all +the future days he would be deprived of the invaluable services of his +Capataz. He leaned against the wall with his arms folded on his breast, +and the doctor walked up and down the whole length of the place with his +peculiar hobbling gait, as if slinking about on damaged feet. At the end +furthest from the grating he would be lost altogether in the darkness. +Only the slight limping shuffle could be heard. There was an air of +moody detachment in that painful prowl kept up without a pause. When the +door of the prison was suddenly flung open and his name shouted out he +showed no surprise. He swerved sharply in his walk, and passed out +at once, as though much depended upon his speed; but Captain Mitchell +remained for some time with his shoulders against the wall, quite +undecided in the bitterness of his spirit whether it wouldn't be better +to refuse to stir a limb in the way of protest. He had half a mind to +get himself carried out, but after the officer at the door had +shouted three or four times in tones of remonstrance and surprise he +condescended to walk out. + +Sotillo's manner had changed. The colonel's off-hand civility was +slightly irresolute, as though he were in doubt if civility were the +proper course in this case. He observed Captain Mitchell attentively +before he spoke from the big armchair behind the table in a +condescending voice-- + +"I have concluded not to detain you, Senor Mitchell. I am of a forgiving +disposition. I make allowances. Let this be a lesson to you, however." + +The peculiar dawn of Sulaco, which seems to break far away to the +westward and creep back into the shade of the mountains, mingled with +the reddish light of the candles. Captain Mitchell, in sign of contempt +and indifference, let his eyes roam all over the room, and he gave a +hard stare to the doctor, perched already on the casement of one of the +windows, with his eyelids lowered, careless and thoughtful--or perhaps +ashamed. + +Sotillo, ensconced in the vast armchair, remarked, "I should have +thought that the feelings of a caballero would have dictated to you an +appropriate reply." + +He waited for it, but Captain Mitchell remaining mute, more from extreme +resentment than from reasoned intention, Sotillo hesitated, glanced +towards the doctor, who looked up and nodded, then went on with a slight +effort-- + +"Here, Senor Mitchell, is your watch. Learn how hasty and unjust has +been your judgment of my patriotic soldiers." + +Lying back in his seat, he extended his arm over the table and pushed +the watch away slightly. Captain Mitchell walked up with undisguised +eagerness, put it to his ear, then slipped it into his pocket coolly. + +Sotillo seemed to overcome an immense reluctance. Again he looked aside +at the doctor, who stared at him unwinkingly. + +But as Captain Mitchell was turning away, without as much as a nod or a +glance, he hastened to say-- + +"You may go and wait downstairs for the senor doctor, whom I am going to +liberate, too. You foreigners are insignificant, to my mind." + +He forced a slight, discordant laugh out of himself, while Captain +Mitchell, for the first time, looked at him with some interest. + +"The law shall take note later on of your transgressions," Sotillo +hurried on. "But as for me, you can live free, unguarded, unobserved. +Do you hear, Senor Mitchell? You may depart to your affairs. You are +beneath my notice. My attention is claimed by matters of the very +highest importance." + +Captain Mitchell was very nearly provoked to an answer. It displeased +him to be liberated insultingly; but want of sleep, prolonged anxieties, +a profound disappointment with the fatal ending of the silver-saving +business weighed upon his spirits. It was as much as he could do to +conceal his uneasiness, not about himself perhaps, but about things +in general. It occurred to him distinctly that something underhand was +going on. As he went out he ignored the doctor pointedly. + +"A brute!" said Sotillo, as the door shut. + +Dr. Monygham slipped off the window-sill, and, thrusting his hands into +the pockets of the long, grey dust coat he was wearing, made a few steps +into the room. + +Sotillo got up, too, and, putting himself in the way, examined him from +head to foot. + +"So your countrymen do not confide in you very much, senor doctor. They +do not love you, eh? Why is that, I wonder?" + +The doctor, lifting his head, answered by a long, lifeless stare and the +words, "Perhaps because I have lived too long in Costaguana." + +Sotillo had a gleam of white teeth under the black moustache. + +"Aha! But you love yourself," he said, encouragingly. + +"If you leave them alone," the doctor said, looking with the same +lifeless stare at Sotillo's handsome face, "they will betray themselves +very soon. Meantime, I may try to make Don Carlos speak?" + +"Ah! senor doctor," said Sotillo, wagging his head, "you are a man of +quick intelligence. We were made to understand each other." He turned +away. He could bear no longer that expressionless and motionless stare, +which seemed to have a sort of impenetrable emptiness like the black +depth of an abyss. + +Even in a man utterly devoid of moral sense there remains an +appreciation of rascality which, being conventional, is perfectly clear. +Sotillo thought that Dr. Monygham, so different from all Europeans, was +ready to sell his countrymen and Charles Gould, his employer, for some +share of the San Tome silver. Sotillo did not despise him for that. The +colonel's want of moral sense was of a profound and innocent character. +It bordered upon stupidity, moral stupidity. Nothing that served his +ends could appear to him really reprehensible. Nevertheless, he despised +Dr. Monygham. He had for him an immense and satisfactory contempt. +He despised him with all his heart because he did not mean to let the +doctor have any reward at all. He despised him, not as a man without +faith and honour, but as a fool. Dr. Monygham's insight into his +character had deceived Sotillo completely. Therefore he thought the +doctor a fool. + +Since his arrival in Sulaco the colonel's ideas had undergone some +modification. + +He no longer wished for a political career in Montero's administration. +He had always doubted the safety of that course. Since he had learned +from the chief engineer that at daylight most likely he would +be confronted by Pedro Montero his misgivings on that point had +considerably increased. The guerrillero brother of the general--the +Pedrito of popular speech--had a reputation of his own. He wasn't safe +to deal with. Sotillo had vaguely planned seizing not only the treasure +but the town itself, and then negotiating at leisure. But in the face of +facts learned from the chief engineer (who had frankly disclosed to him +the whole situation) his audacity, never of a very dashing kind, had +been replaced by a most cautious hesitation. + +"An army--an army crossed the mountains under Pedrito already," he had +repeated, unable to hide his consternation. "If it had not been that I +am given the news by a man of your position I would never have believed +it. Astonishing!" + +"An armed force," corrected the engineer, suavely. His aim was attained. +It was to keep Sulaco clear of any armed occupation for a few hours +longer, to let those whom fear impelled leave the town. In the general +dismay there were families hopeful enough to fly upon the road towards +Los Hatos, which was left open by the withdrawal of the armed rabble +under Senores Fuentes and Gamacho, to Rincon, with their enthusiastic +welcome for Pedro Montero. It was a hasty and risky exodus, and it was +said that Hernandez, occupying with his band the woods about Los Hatos, +was receiving the fugitives. That a good many people he knew were +contemplating such a flight had been well known to the chief engineer. + +Father Corbelan's efforts in the cause of that most pious robber had not +been altogether fruitless. The political chief of Sulaco had yielded +at the last moment to the urgent entreaties of the priest, had signed a +provisional nomination appointing Hernandez a general, and calling upon +him officially in this new capacity to preserve order in the town. The +fact is that the political chief, seeing the situation desperate, did +not care what he signed. It was the last official document he signed +before he left the palace of the Intendencia for the refuge of the +O.S.N. Company's office. But even had he meant his act to be effective +it was already too late. The riot which he feared and expected broke out +in less than an hour after Father Corbelan had left him. Indeed, Father +Corbelan, who had appointed a meeting with Nostromo in the Dominican +Convent, where he had his residence in one of the cells, never managed +to reach the place. From the Intendencia he had gone straight on to the +Avellanos's house to tell his brother-in-law, and though he stayed there +no more than half an hour he had found himself cut off from his ascetic +abode. Nostromo, after waiting there for some time, watching uneasily +the increasing uproar in the street, had made his way to the offices of +the Porvenir, and stayed there till daylight, as Decoud had mentioned +in the letter to his sister. Thus the Capataz, instead of riding towards +the Los Hatos woods as bearer of Hernandez's nomination, had remained in +town to save the life of the President Dictator, to assist in repressing +the outbreak of the mob, and at last to sail out with the silver of the +mine. + +But Father Corbelan, escaping to Hernandez, had the document in his +pocket, a piece of official writing turning a bandit into a general in +a memorable last official act of the Ribierist party, whose watchwords +were honesty, peace, and progress. Probably neither the priest nor the +bandit saw the irony of it. Father Corbelan must have found messengers +to send into the town, for early on the second day of the disturbances +there were rumours of Hernandez being on the road to Los Hatos ready +to receive those who would put themselves under his protection. A +strange-looking horseman, elderly and audacious, had appeared in the +town, riding slowly while his eyes examined the fronts of the houses, +as though he had never seen such high buildings before. Before the +cathedral he had dismounted, and, kneeling in the middle of the Plaza, +his bridle over his arm and his hat lying in front of him on the ground, +had bowed his head, crossing himself and beating his breast for some +little time. Remounting his horse, with a fearless but not unfriendly +look round the little gathering formed about his public devotions, he +had asked for the Casa Avellanos. A score of hands were extended in +answer, with fingers pointing up the Calle de la Constitucion. + +The horseman had gone on with only a glance of casual curiosity upwards +to the windows of the Amarilla Club at the corner. His stentorian voice +shouted periodically in the empty street, "Which is the Casa Avellanos?" +till an answer came from the scared porter, and he disappeared under +the gate. The letter he was bringing, written by Father Corbelan with +a pencil by the camp-fire of Hernandez, was addressed to Don Jose, of +whose critical state the priest was not aware. Antonia read it, and, +after consulting Charles Gould, sent it on for the information of the +gentlemen garrisoning the Amarilla Club. For herself, her mind was made +up; she would rejoin her uncle; she would entrust the last day--the last +hours perhaps--of her father's life to the keeping of the bandit, whose +existence was a protest against the irresponsible tyranny of all parties +alike, against the moral darkness of the land. The gloom of Los Hatos +woods was preferable; a life of hardships in the train of a robber band +less debasing. Antonia embraced with all her soul her uncle's obstinate +defiance of misfortune. It was grounded in the belief in the man whom +she loved. + +In his message the Vicar-General answered upon his head for Hernandez's +fidelity. As to his power, he pointed out that he had remained unsubdued +for so many years. In that letter Decoud's idea of the new Occidental +State (whose flourishing and stable condition is a matter of common +knowledge now) was for the first time made public and used as an +argument. Hernandez, ex-bandit and the last general of Ribierist +creation, was confident of being able to hold the tract of country +between the woods of Los Hatos and the coast range till that devoted +patriot, Don Martin Decoud, could bring General Barrios back to Sulaco +for the reconquest of the town. + +"Heaven itself wills it. Providence is on our side," wrote Father +Corbelan; there was no time to reflect upon or to controvert his +statement; and if the discussion started upon the reading of that letter +in the Amarilla Club was violent, it was also shortlived. In the +general bewilderment of the collapse some jumped at the idea with joyful +astonishment as upon the amazing discovery of a new hope. Others became +fascinated by the prospect of immediate personal safety for their women +and children. The majority caught at it as a drowning man catches at +a straw. Father Corbelan was unexpectedly offering them a refuge from +Pedrito Montero with his llaneros allied to Senores Fuentes and Gamacho +with their armed rabble. + +All the latter part of the afternoon an animated discussion went on in +the big rooms of the Amarilla Club. Even those members posted at the +windows with rifles and carbines to guard the end of the street in +case of an offensive return of the populace shouted their opinions and +arguments over their shoulders. As dusk fell Don Juste Lopez, inviting +those caballeros who were of his way of thinking to follow him, withdrew +into the corredor, where at a little table in the light of two +candles he busied himself in composing an address, or rather a solemn +declaration to be presented to Pedrito Montero by a deputation of such +members of Assembly as had elected to remain in town. His idea was +to propitiate him in order to save the form at least of parliamentary +institutions. Seated before a blank sheet of paper, a goose-quill pen in +his hand and surged upon from all sides, he turned to the right and to +the left, repeating with solemn insistence-- + +"Caballeros, a moment of silence! A moment of silence! We ought to make +it clear that we bow in all good faith to the accomplished facts." + +The utterance of that phrase seemed to give him a melancholy +satisfaction. The hubbub of voices round him was growing strained and +hoarse. In the sudden pauses the excited grimacing of the faces would +sink all at once into the stillness of profound dejection. + +Meantime, the exodus had begun. Carretas full of ladies and children +rolled swaying across the Plaza, with men walking or riding by their +side; mounted parties followed on mules and horses; the poorest were +setting out on foot, men and women carrying bundles, clasping babies in +their arms, leading old people, dragging along the bigger children. When +Charles Gould, after leaving the doctor and the engineer at the Casa +Viola, entered the town by the harbour gate, all those that had meant to +go were gone, and the others had barricaded themselves in their houses. +In the whole dark street there was only one spot of flickering lights +and moving figures, where the Senor Administrador recognized his wife's +carriage waiting at the door of the Avellanos's house. He rode up, +almost unnoticed, and looked on without a word while some of his own +servants came out of the gate carrying Don Jose Avellanos, who, with +closed eyes and motionless features, appeared perfectly lifeless. His +wife and Antonia walked on each side of the improvised stretcher, which +was put at once into the carriage. The two women embraced; while from +the other side of the landau Father Corbelan's emissary, with his ragged +beard all streaked with grey, and high, bronzed cheek-bones, stared, +sitting upright in the saddle. Then Antonia, dry-eyed, got in by the +side of the stretcher, and, after making the sign of the cross rapidly, +lowered a thick veil upon her face. The servants and the three or four +neighbours who had come to assist, stood back, uncovering their heads. +On the box, Ignacio, resigned now to driving all night (and to having +perhaps his throat cut before daylight) looked back surlily over his +shoulder. + +"Drive carefully," cried Mrs. Gould in a tremulous voice. + +"Si, carefully; si nina," he mumbled, chewing his lips, his round +leathery cheeks quivering. And the landau rolled slowly out of the +light. + +"I will see them as far as the ford," said Charles Gould to his wife. +She stood on the edge of the sidewalk with her hands clasped lightly, +and nodded to him as he followed after the carriage. And now the windows +of the Amarilla Club were dark. The last spark of resistance had died +out. Turning his head at the corner, Charles Gould saw his wife crossing +over to their own gate in the lighted patch of the street. One of +their neighbours, a well-known merchant and landowner of the province, +followed at her elbow, talking with great gestures. As she passed in all +the lights went out in the street, which remained dark and empty from +end to end. + +The houses of the vast Plaza were lost in the night. High up, like a +star, there was a small gleam in one of the towers of the cathedral; +and the equestrian statue gleamed pale against the black trees of the +Alameda, like a ghost of royalty haunting the scenes of revolution. The +rare prowlers they met ranged themselves against the wall. Beyond the +last houses the carriage rolled noiselessly on the soft cushion of dust, +and with a greater obscurity a feeling of freshness seemed to fall from +the foliage of the trees bordering the country road. The emissary from +Hernandez's camp pushed his horse close to Charles Gould. + +"Caballero," he said in an interested voice, "you are he whom they call +the King of Sulaco, the master of the mine? Is it not so?" + +"Yes, I am the master of the mine," answered Charles Gould. + +The man cantered for a time in silence, then said, "I have a brother, a +sereno in your service in the San Tome valley. You have proved yourself +a just man. There has been no wrong done to any one since you called +upon the people to work in the mountains. My brother says that no +official of the Government, no oppressor of the Campo, has been seen on +your side of the stream. Your own officials do not oppress the people +in the gorge. Doubtless they are afraid of your severity. You are a just +man and a powerful one," he added. + +He spoke in an abrupt, independent tone, but evidently he was +communicative with a purpose. He told Charles Gould that he had been +a ranchero in one of the lower valleys, far south, a neighbour of +Hernandez in the old days, and godfather to his eldest boy; one of those +who joined him in his resistance to the recruiting raid which was the +beginning of all their misfortunes. It was he that, when his compadre +had been carried off, had buried his wife and children, murdered by the +soldiers. + +"Si, senor," he muttered, hoarsely, "I and two or three others, the +lucky ones left at liberty, buried them all in one grave near the ashes +of their ranch, under the tree that had shaded its roof." + +It was to him, too, that Hernandez came after he had deserted, three +years afterwards. He had still his uniform on with the sergeant's +stripes on the sleeve, and the blood of his colonel upon his hands and +breast. Three troopers followed him, of those who had started in pursuit +but had ridden on for liberty. And he told Charles Gould how he and +a few friends, seeing those soldiers, lay in ambush behind some rocks +ready to pull the trigger on them, when he recognized his compadre and +jumped up from cover, shouting his name, because he knew that +Hernandez could not have been coming back on an errand of injustice and +oppression. Those three soldiers, together with the party who lay +behind the rocks, had formed the nucleus of the famous band, and he, the +narrator, had been the favourite lieutenant of Hernandez for many, many +years. He mentioned proudly that the officials had put a price upon his +head, too; but it did not prevent it getting sprinkled with grey upon +his shoulders. And now he had lived long enough to see his compadre made +a general. + +He had a burst of muffled laughter. "And now from robbers we have become +soldiers. But look, Caballero, at those who made us soldiers and him a +general! Look at these people!" + +Ignacio shouted. The light of the carriage lamps, running along the +nopal hedges that crowned the bank on each side, flashed upon the scared +faces of people standing aside in the road, sunk deep, like an English +country lane, into the soft soil of the Campo. They cowered; their eyes +glistened very big for a second; and then the light, running on, fell +upon the half-denuded roots of a big tree, on another stretch of nopal +hedge, caught up another bunch of faces glaring back apprehensively. +Three women--of whom one was carrying a child--and a couple of men in +civilian dress--one armed with a sabre and another with a gun--were +grouped about a donkey carrying two bundles tied up in blankets. Further +on Ignacio shouted again to pass a carreta, a long wooden box on two +high wheels, with the door at the back swinging open. Some ladies in it +must have recognized the white mules, because they screamed out, "Is it +you, Dona Emilia?" + +At the turn of the road the glare of a big fire filled the short stretch +vaulted over by the branches meeting overhead. Near the ford of a +shallow stream a roadside rancho of woven rushes and a roof of grass had +been set on fire by accident, and the flames, roaring viciously, lit +up an open space blocked with horses, mules, and a distracted, shouting +crowd of people. When Ignacio pulled up, several ladies on foot assailed +the carriage, begging Antonia for a seat. To their clamour she answered +by pointing silently to her father. + +"I must leave you here," said Charles Gould, in the uproar. The flames +leaped up sky-high, and in the recoil from the scorching heat across the +road the stream of fugitives pressed against the carriage. A middle-aged +lady dressed in black silk, but with a coarse manta over her head and a +rough branch for a stick in her hand, staggered against the front wheel. +Two young girls, frightened and silent, were clinging to her arms. +Charles Gould knew her very well. + +"Misericordia! We are getting terribly bruised in this crowd!" she +exclaimed, smiling up courageously to him. "We have started on foot. All +our servants ran away yesterday to join the democrats. We are going to +put ourselves under the protection of Father Corbelan, of your sainted +uncle, Antonia. He has wrought a miracle in the heart of a most +merciless robber. A miracle!" + +She raised her voice gradually up to a scream as she was borne along by +the pressure of people getting out of the way of some carts coming up +out of the ford at a gallop, with loud yells and cracking of whips. +Great masses of sparks mingled with black smoke flew over the road; +the bamboos of the walls detonated in the fire with the sound of an +irregular fusillade. And then the bright blaze sank suddenly, leaving +only a red dusk crowded with aimless dark shadows drifting in contrary +directions; the noise of voices seemed to die away with the flame; +and the tumult of heads, arms, quarrelling, and imprecations passed on +fleeing into the darkness. + +"I must leave you now," repeated Charles Gould to Antonia. She turned +her head slowly and uncovered her face. The emissary and compadre of +Hernandez spurred his horse close up. + +"Has not the master of the mine any message to send to Hernandez, the +master of the Campo?" + +The truth of the comparison struck Charles Gould heavily. In his +determined purpose he held the mine, and the indomitable bandit held +the Campo by the same precarious tenure. They were equals before the +lawlessness of the land. It was impossible to disentangle one's activity +from its debasing contacts. A close-meshed net of crime and corruption +lay upon the whole country. An immense and weary discouragement sealed +his lips for a time. + +"You are a just man," urged the emissary of Hernandez. "Look at those +people who made my compadre a general and have turned us all into +soldiers. Look at those oligarchs fleeing for life, with only the +clothes on their backs. My compadre does not think of that, but our +followers may be wondering greatly, and I would speak for them to you. +Listen, senor! For many months now the Campo has been our own. We +need ask no man for anything; but soldiers must have their pay to live +honestly when the wars are over. It is believed that your soul is so +just that a prayer from you would cure the sickness of every beast, like +the orison of the upright judge. Let me have some words from your lips +that would act like a charm upon the doubts of our partida, where all +are men." + +"Do you hear what he says?" Charles Gould said in English to Antonia. + +"Forgive us our misery!" she exclaimed, hurriedly. "It is your character +that is the inexhaustible treasure which may save us all yet; your +character, Carlos, not your wealth. I entreat you to give this man your +word that you will accept any arrangement my uncle may make with their +chief. One word. He will want no more." + +On the site of the roadside hut there remained nothing but an enormous +heap of embers, throwing afar a darkening red glow, in which Antonia's +face appeared deeply flushed with excitement. Charles Gould, with only a +short hesitation, pronounced the required pledge. He was like a man who +had ventured on a precipitous path with no room to turn, where the only +chance of safety is to press forward. At that moment he understood +it thoroughly as he looked down at Don Jose stretched out, hardly +breathing, by the side of the erect Antonia, vanquished in a lifelong +struggle with the powers of moral darkness, whose stagnant depths breed +monstrous crimes and monstrous illusions. In a few words the emissary +from Hernandez expressed his complete satisfaction. Stoically Antonia +lowered her veil, resisting the longing to inquire about Decoud's +escape. But Ignacio leered morosely over his shoulder. + +"Take a good look at the mules, mi amo," he grumbled. "You shall never +see them again!" + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +Charles Gould turned towards the town. Before him the jagged peaks +of the Sierra came out all black in the clear dawn. Here and there a +muffled lepero whisked round the corner of a grass-grown street before +the ringing hoofs of his horse. Dogs barked behind the walls of the +gardens; and with the colourless light the chill of the snows seemed to +fall from the mountains upon the disjointed pavements and the shuttered +houses with broken cornices and the plaster peeling in patches between +the flat pilasters of the fronts. The daybreak struggled with the +gloom under the arcades on the Plaza, with no signs of country people +disposing their goods for the day's market, piles of fruit, bundles of +vegetables ornamented with flowers, on low benches under enormous mat +umbrellas; with no cheery early morning bustle of villagers, +women, children, and loaded donkeys. Only a few scattered knots of +revolutionists stood in the vast space, all looking one way from under +their slouched hats for some sign of news from Rincon. The largest of +those groups turned about like one man as Charles Gould passed, and +shouted, "Viva la libertad!" after him in a menacing tone. + +Charles Gould rode on, and turned into the archway of his house. In the +patio littered with straw, a practicante, one of Dr. Monygham's native +assistants, sat on the ground with his back against the rim of the +fountain, fingering a guitar discreetly, while two girls of the lower +class, standing up before him, shuffled their feet a little and waved +their arms, humming a popular dance tune. + +Most of the wounded during the two days of rioting had been taken away +already by their friends and relations, but several figures could be +seen sitting up balancing their bandaged heads in time to the music. +Charles Gould dismounted. A sleepy mozo coming out of the bakery door +took hold of the horse's bridle; the practicante endeavoured to conceal +his guitar hastily; the girls, unabashed, stepped back smiling; and +Charles Gould, on his way to the staircase, glanced into a dark corner +of the patio at another group, a mortally wounded Cargador with a woman +kneeling by his side; she mumbled prayers rapidly, trying at the same +time to force a piece of orange between the stiffening lips of the dying +man. + +The cruel futility of things stood unveiled in the levity and sufferings +of that incorrigible people; the cruel futility of lives and of deaths +thrown away in the vain endeavour to attain an enduring solution of the +problem. Unlike Decoud, Charles Gould could not play lightly a part in +a tragic farce. It was tragic enough for him in all conscience, but he +could see no farcical element. He suffered too much under a conviction +of irremediable folly. He was too severely practical and too idealistic +to look upon its terrible humours with amusement, as Martin Decoud, +the imaginative materialist, was able to do in the dry light of his +scepticism. To him, as to all of us, the compromises with his conscience +appeared uglier than ever in the light of failure. His taciturnity, +assumed with a purpose, had prevented him from tampering openly with +his thoughts; but the Gould Concession had insidiously corrupted his +judgment. He might have known, he said to himself, leaning over the +balustrade of the corredor, that Ribierism could never come to anything. +The mine had corrupted his judgment by making him sick of bribing and +intriguing merely to have his work left alone from day to day. Like +his father, he did not like to be robbed. It exasperated him. He had +persuaded himself that, apart from higher considerations, the backing up +of Don Jose's hopes of reform was good business. He had gone forth into +the senseless fray as his poor uncle, whose sword hung on the wall of +his study, had gone forth--in the defence of the commonest decencies +of organized society. Only his weapon was the wealth of the mine, more +far-reaching and subtle than an honest blade of steel fitted into a +simple brass guard. + +More dangerous to the wielder, too, this weapon of wealth, double-edged +with the cupidity and misery of mankind, steeped in all the vices of +self-indulgence as in a concoction of poisonous roots, tainting the very +cause for which it is drawn, always ready to turn awkwardly in the hand. +There was nothing for it now but to go on using it. But he promised +himself to see it shattered into small bits before he let it be wrenched +from his grasp. + +After all, with his English parentage and English upbringing, he +perceived that he was an adventurer in Costaguana, the descendant of +adventurers enlisted in a foreign legion, of men who had sought fortune +in a revolutionary war, who had planned revolutions, who had believed in +revolutions. For all the uprightness of his character, he had something +of an adventurer's easy morality which takes count of personal risk in +the ethical appraising of his action. He was prepared, if need be, to +blow up the whole San Tome mountain sky high out of the territory of the +Republic. This resolution expressed the tenacity of his character, the +remorse of that subtle conjugal infidelity through which his wife was +no longer the sole mistress of his thoughts, something of his father's +imaginative weakness, and something, too, of the spirit of a buccaneer +throwing a lighted match into the magazine rather than surrender his +ship. + +Down below in the patio the wounded Cargador had breathed his last. The +woman cried out once, and her cry, unexpected and shrill, made all the +wounded sit up. The practicante scrambled to his feet, and, guitar in +hand, gazed steadily in her direction with elevated eyebrows. The two +girls--sitting now one on each side of their wounded relative, with +their knees drawn up and long cigars between their lips--nodded at each +other significantly. + +Charles Gould, looking down over the balustrade, saw three men dressed +ceremoniously in black frock-coats with white shirts, and wearing +European round hats, enter the patio from the street. One of them, head +and shoulders taller than the two others, advanced with marked gravity, +leading the way. This was Don Juste Lopez, accompanied by two of his +friends, members of Assembly, coming to call upon the Administrador of +the San Tome mine at this early hour. They saw him, too, waved their +hands to him urgently, walking up the stairs as if in procession. + +Don Juste, astonishingly changed by having shaved off altogether his +damaged beard, had lost with it nine-tenths of his outward dignity. Even +at that time of serious pre-occupation Charles Gould could not help +noting the revealed ineptitude in the aspect of the man. His companions +looked crestfallen and sleepy. One kept on passing the tip of his tongue +over his parched lips; the other's eyes strayed dully over the tiled +floor of the corredor, while Don Juste, standing a little in advance, +harangued the Senor Administrador of the San Tome mine. It was his firm +opinion that forms had to be observed. A new governor is always visited +by deputations from the Cabildo, which is the Municipal Council, +from the Consulado, the commercial Board, and it was proper that the +Provincial Assembly should send a deputation, too, if only to assert +the existence of parliamentary institutions. Don Juste proposed that Don +Carlos Gould, as the most prominent citizen of the province, should join +the Assembly's deputation. His position was exceptional, his personality +known through the length and breadth of the whole Republic. Official +courtesies must not be neglected, if they are gone through with a +bleeding heart. The acceptance of accomplished facts may save yet the +precious vestiges of parliamentary institutions. Don Juste's eyes glowed +dully; he believed in parliamentary institutions--and the convinced +drone of his voice lost itself in the stillness of the house like the +deep buzzing of some ponderous insect. + +Charles Gould had turned round to listen patiently, leaning his elbow on +the balustrade. He shook his head a little, refusing, almost touched by +the anxious gaze of the President of the Provincial Assembly. It was not +Charles Gould's policy to make the San Tome mine a party to any formal +proceedings. + +"My advice, senores, is that you should wait for your fate in your +houses. There is no necessity for you to give yourselves up formally +into Montero's hands. Submission to the inevitable, as Don Juste calls +it, is all very well, but when the inevitable is called Pedrito +Montero there is no need to exhibit pointedly the whole extent of your +surrender. The fault of this country is the want of measure in +political life. Flat acquiescence in illegality, followed by sanguinary +reaction--that, senores, is not the way to a stable and prosperous +future." + +Charles Gould stopped before the sad bewilderment of the faces, the +wondering, anxious glances of the eyes. The feeling of pity for those +men, putting all their trust into words of some sort, while murder and +rapine stalked over the land, had betrayed him into what seemed empty +loquacity. Don Juste murmured-- + +"You are abandoning us, Don Carlos. . . . And yet, parliamentary +institutions--" + +He could not finish from grief. For a moment he put his hand over his +eyes. Charles Gould, in his fear of empty loquacity, made no answer +to the charge. He returned in silence their ceremonious bows. His +taciturnity was his refuge. He understood that what they sought was to +get the influence of the San Tome mine on their side. They wanted to +go on a conciliating errand to the victor under the wing of the Gould +Concession. Other public bodies--the Cabildo, the Consulado--would be +coming, too, presently, seeking the support of the most stable, the most +effective force they had ever known to exist in their province. + +The doctor, arriving with his sharp, jerky walk, found that the master +had retired into his own room with orders not to be disturbed on any +account. But Dr. Monygham was not anxious to see Charles Gould at once. +He spent some time in a rapid examination of his wounded. He gazed down +upon each in turn, rubbing his chin between his thumb and forefinger; +his steady stare met without expression their silently inquisitive look. +All these cases were doing well; but when he came to the dead Cargador +he stopped a little longer, surveying not the man who had ceased to +suffer, but the woman kneeling in silent contemplation of the rigid +face, with its pinched nostrils and a white gleam in the imperfectly +closed eyes. She lifted her head slowly, and said in a dull voice-- + +"It is not long since he had become a Cargador--only a few weeks. His +worship the Capataz had accepted him after many entreaties." + +"I am not responsible for the great Capataz," muttered the doctor, +moving off. + +Directing his course upstairs towards the door of Charles Gould's room, +the doctor at the last moment hesitated; then, turning away from the +handle with a shrug of his uneven shoulders, slunk off hastily along the +corredor in search of Mrs. Gould's camerista. + +Leonarda told him that the senora had not risen yet. The senora had +given into her charge the girls belonging to that Italian posadero. She, +Leonarda, had put them to bed in her own room. The fair girl had cried +herself to sleep, but the dark one--the bigger--had not closed her eyes +yet. She sat up in bed clutching the sheets right up under her chin and +staring before her like a little witch. Leonarda did not approve of the +Viola children being admitted to the house. She made this feeling clear +by the indifferent tone in which she inquired whether their mother was +dead yet. As to the senora, she must be asleep. Ever since she had gone +into her room after seeing the departure of Dona Antonia with her dying +father, there had been no sound behind her door. + +The doctor, rousing himself out of profound reflection, told her +abruptly to call her mistress at once. He hobbled off to wait for Mrs. +Gould in the sala. He was very tired, but too excited to sit down. In +this great drawing-room, now empty, in which his withered soul had been +refreshed after many arid years and his outcast spirit had accepted +silently the toleration of many side-glances, he wandered haphazard +amongst the chairs and tables till Mrs. Gould, enveloped in a morning +wrapper, came in rapidly. + +"You know that I never approved of the silver being sent away," the +doctor began at once, as a preliminary to the narrative of his night's +adventures in association with Captain Mitchell, the engineer-in-chief, +and old Viola, at Sotillo's headquarters. To the doctor, with his +special conception of this political crisis, the removal of the silver +had seemed an irrational and ill-omened measure. It was as if a general +were sending the best part of his troops away on the eve of battle +upon some recondite pretext. The whole lot of ingots might have been +concealed somewhere where they could have been got at for the purpose +of staving off the dangers which were menacing the security of the Gould +Concession. The Administrador had acted as if the immense and powerful +prosperity of the mine had been founded on methods of probity, on the +sense of usefulness. And it was nothing of the kind. The method followed +had been the only one possible. The Gould Concession had ransomed +its way through all those years. It was a nauseous process. He quite +understood that Charles Gould had got sick of it and had left the old +path to back up that hopeless attempt at reform. The doctor did not +believe in the reform of Costaguana. And now the mine was back again in +its old path, with the disadvantage that henceforth it had to deal not +only with the greed provoked by its wealth, but with the resentment +awakened by the attempt to free itself from its bondage to moral +corruption. That was the penalty of failure. What made him uneasy was +that Charles Gould seemed to him to have weakened at the decisive moment +when a frank return to the old methods was the only chance. Listening to +Decoud's wild scheme had been a weakness. + +The doctor flung up his arms, exclaiming, "Decoud! Decoud!" He hobbled +about the room with slight, angry laughs. Many years ago both his ankles +had been seriously damaged in the course of a certain investigation +conducted in the castle of Sta. Marta by a commission composed of +military men. Their nomination had been signified to them unexpectedly +at the dead of night, with scowling brow, flashing eyes, and in a +tempestuous voice, by Guzman Bento. The old tyrant, maddened by one of +his sudden accesses of suspicion, mingled spluttering appeals to their +fidelity with imprecations and horrible menaces. The cells and casements +of the castle on the hill had been already filled with prisoners. The +commission was charged now with the task of discovering the iniquitous +conspiracy against the Citizen-Saviour of his country. + +Their dread of the raving tyrant translated itself into a hasty +ferocity of procedure. The Citizen-Saviour was not accustomed to wait. A +conspiracy had to be discovered. The courtyards of the castle resounded +with the clanking of leg-irons, sounds of blows, yells of pain; and +the commission of high officers laboured feverishly, concealing their +distress and apprehensions from each other, and especially from their +secretary, Father Beron, an army chaplain, at that time very much in +the confidence of the Citizen-Saviour. That priest was a big +round-shouldered man, with an unclean-looking, overgrown tonsure on the +top of his flat head, of a dingy, yellow complexion, softly fat, with +greasy stains all down the front of his lieutenant's uniform, and a +small cross embroidered in white cotton on his left breast. He had a +heavy nose and a pendant lip. Dr. Monygham remembered him still. He +remembered him against all the force of his will striving its utmost to +forget. Father Beron had been adjoined to the commission by Guzman Bento +expressly for the purpose that his enlightened zeal should assist them +in their labours. Dr. Monygham could by no manner of means forget the +zeal of Father Beron, or his face, or the pitiless, monotonous voice in +which he pronounced the words, "Will you confess now?" + +This memory did not make him shudder, but it had made of him what he was +in the eyes of respectable people, a man careless of common decencies, +something between a clever vagabond and a disreputable doctor. But +not all respectable people would have had the necessary delicacy of +sentiment to understand with what trouble of mind and accuracy of vision +Dr. Monygham, medical officer of the San Tome mine, remembered Father +Beron, army chaplain, and once a secretary of a military commission. +After all these years Dr. Monygham, in his rooms at the end of the +hospital building in the San Tome gorge, remembered Father Beron as +distinctly as ever. He remembered that priest at night, sometimes, in +his sleep. On such nights the doctor waited for daylight with a candle +lighted, and walking the whole length of his rooms to and fro, staring +down at his bare feet, his arms hugging his sides tightly. He would +dream of Father Beron sitting at the end of a long black table, behind +which, in a row, appeared the heads, shoulders, and epaulettes of the +military members, nibbling the feather of a quill pen, and listening +with weary and impatient scorn to the protestations of some prisoner +calling heaven to witness of his innocence, till he burst out, "What's +the use of wasting time over that miserable nonsense! Let me take +him outside for a while." And Father Beron would go outside after +the clanking prisoner, led away between two soldiers. Such interludes +happened on many days, many times, with many prisoners. When the +prisoner returned he was ready to make a full confession, Father Beron +would declare, leaning forward with that dull, surfeited look which can +be seen in the eyes of gluttonous persons after a heavy meal. + +The priest's inquisitorial instincts suffered but little from the want +of classical apparatus of the Inquisition. At no time of the world's +history have men been at a loss how to inflict mental and bodily anguish +upon their fellow-creatures. This aptitude came to them in the +growing complexity of their passions and the early refinement of their +ingenuity. But it may safely be said that primeval man did not go to +the trouble of inventing tortures. He was indolent and pure of heart. +He brained his neighbour ferociously with a stone axe from necessity and +without malice. The stupidest mind may invent a rankling phrase or brand +the innocent with a cruel aspersion. A piece of string and a ramrod; a +few muskets in combination with a length of hide rope; or even a simple +mallet of heavy, hard wood applied with a swing to human fingers or +to the joints of a human body is enough for the infliction of the most +exquisite torture. The doctor had been a very stubborn prisoner, and, as +a natural consequence of that "bad disposition" (so Father Beron called +it), his subjugation had been very crushing and very complete. That is +why the limp in his walk, the twist of his shoulders, the scars on his +cheeks were so pronounced. His confessions, when they came at last, were +very complete, too. Sometimes on the nights when he walked the floor, +he wondered, grinding his teeth with shame and rage, at the fertility +of his imagination when stimulated by a sort of pain which makes truth, +honour, selfrespect, and life itself matters of little moment. + +And he could not forget Father Beron with his monotonous phrase, "Will +you confess now?" reaching him in an awful iteration and lucidity of +meaning through the delirious incoherence of unbearable pain. He could +not forget. But that was not the worst. Had he met Father Beron in the +street after all these years Dr. Monygham was sure he would have quailed +before him. This contingency was not to be feared now. Father Beron was +dead; but the sickening certitude prevented Dr. Monygham from looking +anybody in the face. + +Dr. Monygham had become, in a manner, the slave of a ghost. It was +obviously impossible to take his knowledge of Father Beron home to +Europe. When making his extorted confessions to the Military Board, +Dr. Monygham was not seeking to avoid death. He longed for it. Sitting +half-naked for hours on the wet earth of his prison, and so motionless +that the spiders, his companions, attached their webs to his matted +hair, he consoled the misery of his soul with acute reasonings that he +had confessed to crimes enough for a sentence of death--that they had +gone too far with him to let him live to tell the tale. + +But, as if by a refinement of cruelty, Dr. Monygham was left for months +to decay slowly in the darkness of his grave-like prison. It was no +doubt hoped that it would finish him off without the trouble of an +execution; but Dr. Monygham had an iron constitution. It was Guzman +Bento who died, not by the knife thrust of a conspirator, but from a +stroke of apoplexy, and Dr. Monygham was liberated hastily. His fetters +were struck off by the light of a candle, which, after months of gloom, +hurt his eyes so much that he had to cover his face with his hands. He +was raised up. His heart was beating violently with the fear of this +liberty. When he tried to walk the extraordinary lightness of his feet +made him giddy, and he fell down. Two sticks were thrust into his hands, +and he was pushed out of the passage. It was dusk; candles glimmered +already in the windows of the officers' quarters round the courtyard; +but the twilight sky dazed him by its enormous and overwhelming +brilliance. A thin poncho hung over his naked, bony shoulders; the rags +of his trousers came down no lower than his knees; an eighteen months' +growth of hair fell in dirty grey locks on each side of his sharp +cheek-bones. As he dragged himself past the guard-room door, one of the +soldiers, lolling outside, moved by some obscure impulse, leaped forward +with a strange laugh and rammed a broken old straw hat on his head. And +Dr. Monygham, after having tottered, continued on his way. He advanced +one stick, then one maimed foot, then the other stick; the other foot +followed only a very short distance along the ground, toilfully, as +though it were almost too heavy to be moved at all; and yet his legs +under the hanging angles of the poncho appeared no thicker than the two +sticks in his hands. A ceaseless trembling agitated his bent body, +all his wasted limbs, his bony head, the conical, ragged crown of the +sombrero, whose ample flat rim rested on his shoulders. + +In such conditions of manner and attire did Dr. Monygham go forth to +take possession of his liberty. And these conditions seemed to bind +him indissolubly to the land of Costaguana like an awful procedure of +naturalization, involving him deep in the national life, far deeper than +any amount of success and honour could have done. They did away with his +Europeanism; for Dr. Monygham had made himself an ideal conception +of his disgrace. It was a conception eminently fit and proper for an +officer and a gentleman. Dr. Monygham, before he went out to Costaguana, +had been surgeon in one of Her Majesty's regiments of foot. It was a +conception which took no account of physiological facts or reasonable +arguments; but it was not stupid for all that. It was simple. A rule of +conduct resting mainly on severe rejections is necessarily simple. Dr. +Monygham's view of what it behoved him to do was severe; it was an ideal +view, in so much that it was the imaginative exaggeration of a correct +feeling. It was also, in its force, influence, and persistency, the view +of an eminently loyal nature. + +There was a great fund of loyalty in Dr. Monygham's nature. He had +settled it all on Mrs. Gould's head. He believed her worthy of every +devotion. At the bottom of his heart he felt an angry uneasiness before +the prosperity of the San Tome mine, because its growth was robbing her +of all peace of mind. Costaguana was no place for a woman of that kind. +What could Charles Gould have been thinking of when he brought her +out there! It was outrageous! And the doctor had watched the course +of events with a grim and distant reserve which, he imagined, his +lamentable history imposed upon him. + +Loyalty to Mrs. Gould could not, however, leave out of account the +safety of her husband. The doctor had contrived to be in town at the +critical time because he mistrusted Charles Gould. He considered him +hopelessly infected with the madness of revolutions. That is why he +hobbled in distress in the drawing-room of the Casa Gould on that +morning, exclaiming, "Decoud, Decoud!" in a tone of mournful irritation. + +Mrs. Gould, her colour heightened, and with glistening eyes, looked +straight before her at the sudden enormity of that disaster. The +finger-tips on one hand rested lightly on a low little table by her +side, and the arm trembled right up to the shoulder. The sun, which +looks late upon Sulaco, issuing in all the fulness of its power high +up on the sky from behind the dazzling snow-edge of Higuerota, had +precipitated the delicate, smooth, pearly greyness of light, in which +the town lies steeped during the early hours, into sharp-cut masses of +black shade and spaces of hot, blinding glare. Three long rectangles +of sunshine fell through the windows of the sala; while just across the +street the front of the Avellanos's house appeared very sombre in its +own shadow seen through the flood of light. + +A voice said at the door, "What of Decoud?" + +It was Charles Gould. They had not heard him coming along the corredor. +His glance just glided over his wife and struck full at the doctor. + +"You have brought some news, doctor?" + +Dr. Monygham blurted it all out at once, in the rough. For some time +after he had done, the Administrador of the San Tome mine remained +looking at him without a word. Mrs. Gould sank into a low chair with her +hands lying on her lap. A silence reigned between those three motionless +persons. Then Charles Gould spoke-- + +"You must want some breakfast." + +He stood aside to let his wife pass first. She caught up her husband's +hand and pressed it as she went out, raising her handkerchief to her +eyes. The sight of her husband had brought Antonia's position to her +mind, and she could not contain her tears at the thought of the poor +girl. When she rejoined the two men in the diningroom after having +bathed her face, Charles Gould was saying to the doctor across the +table-- + +"No, there does not seem any room for doubt." + +And the doctor assented. + +"No, I don't see myself how we could question that wretched Hirsch's +tale. It's only too true, I fear." + +She sat down desolately at the head of the table and looked from one +to the other. The two men, without absolutely turning their heads away, +tried to avoid her glance. The doctor even made a show of being hungry; +he seized his knife and fork, and began to eat with emphasis, as if on +the stage. Charles Gould made no pretence of the sort; with his elbows +raised squarely, he twisted both ends of his flaming moustaches--they +were so long that his hands were quite away from his face. + +"I am not surprised," he muttered, abandoning his moustaches and +throwing one arm over the back of his chair. His face was calm with +that immobility of expression which betrays the intensity of a mental +struggle. He felt that this accident had brought to a point all the +consequences involved in his line of conduct, with its conscious +and subconscious intentions. There must be an end now of this silent +reserve, of that air of impenetrability behind which he had been +safeguarding his dignity. It was the least ignoble form of dissembling +forced upon him by that parody of civilized institutions which offended +his intelligence, his uprightness, and his sense of right. He was like +his father. He had no ironic eye. He was not amused at the absurdities +that prevail in this world. They hurt him in his innate gravity. He +felt that the miserable death of that poor Decoud took from him his +inaccessible position of a force in the background. It committed him +openly unless he wished to throw up the game--and that was impossible. +The material interests required from him the sacrifice of his +aloofness--perhaps his own safety too. And he reflected that Decoud's +separationist plan had not gone to the bottom with the lost silver. + +The only thing that was not changed was his position towards Mr. +Holroyd. The head of silver and steel interests had entered into +Costaguana affairs with a sort of passion. Costaguana had become +necessary to his existence; in the San Tome mine he had found the +imaginative satisfaction which other minds would get from drama, from +art, or from a risky and fascinating sport. It was a special form of the +great man's extravagance, sanctioned by a moral intention, big enough to +flatter his vanity. Even in this aberration of his genius he served the +progress of the world. Charles Gould felt sure of being understood +with precision and judged with the indulgence of their common passion. +Nothing now could surprise or startle this great man. And Charles Gould +imagined himself writing a letter to San Francisco in some such words: +". . . . The men at the head of the movement are dead or have fled; the +civil organization of the province is at an end for the present; +the Blanco party in Sulaco has collapsed inexcusably, but in the +characteristic manner of this country. But Barrios, untouched in Cayta, +remains still available. I am forced to take up openly the plan of a +provincial revolution as the only way of placing the enormous material +interests involved in the prosperity and peace of Sulaco in a position +of permanent safety. . . ." That was clear. He saw these words as +if written in letters of fire upon the wall at which he was gazing +abstractedly. + +Mrs Gould watched his abstraction with dread. It was a domestic and +frightful phenomenon that darkened and chilled the house for her like a +thundercloud passing over the sun. Charles Gould's fits of abstraction +depicted the energetic concentration of a will haunted by a fixed idea. +A man haunted by a fixed idea is insane. He is dangerous even if +that idea is an idea of justice; for may he not bring the heaven down +pitilessly upon a loved head? The eyes of Mrs. Gould, watching her +husband's profile, filled with tears again. And again she seemed to see +the despair of the unfortunate Antonia. + +"What would I have done if Charley had been drowned while we were +engaged?" she exclaimed, mentally, with horror. Her heart turned to ice, +while her cheeks flamed up as if scorched by the blaze of a funeral pyre +consuming all her earthly affections. The tears burst out of her eyes. + +"Antonia will kill herself!" she cried out. + +This cry fell into the silence of the room with strangely little effect. +Only the doctor, crumbling up a piece of bread, with his head inclined +on one side, raised his face, and the few long hairs sticking out of his +shaggy eyebrows stirred in a slight frown. Dr. Monygham thought quite +sincerely that Decoud was a singularly unworthy object for any woman's +affection. Then he lowered his head again, with a curl of his lip, and +his heart full of tender admiration for Mrs. Gould. + +"She thinks of that girl," he said to himself; "she thinks of the Viola +children; she thinks of me; of the wounded; of the miners; she always +thinks of everybody who is poor and miserable! But what will she do if +Charles gets the worst of it in this infernal scrimmage those confounded +Avellanos have drawn him into? No one seems to be thinking of her." + +Charles Gould, staring at the wall, pursued his reflections subtly. + +"I shall write to Holroyd that the San Tome mine is big enough to take +in hand the making of a new State. It'll please him. It'll reconcile him +to the risk." + +But was Barrios really available? Perhaps. But he was inaccessible. +To send off a boat to Cayta was no longer possible, since Sotillo was +master of the harbour, and had a steamer at his disposal. And now, with +all the democrats in the province up, and every Campo township in a +state of disturbance, where could he find a man who would make his +way successfully overland to Cayta with a message, a ten days' ride +at least; a man of courage and resolution, who would avoid arrest or +murder, and if arrested would faithfully eat the paper? The Capataz +de Cargadores would have been just such a man. But the Capataz of the +Cargadores was no more. + +And Charles Gould, withdrawing his eyes from the wall, said gently, +"That Hirsch! What an extraordinary thing! Saved himself by clinging to +the anchor, did he? I had no idea that he was still in Sulaco. I thought +he had gone back overland to Esmeralda more than a week ago. He came +here once to talk to me about his hide business and some other things. I +made it clear to him that nothing could be done." + +"He was afraid to start back on account of Hernandez being about," +remarked the doctor. + +"And but for him we might not have known anything of what has happened," +marvelled Charles Gould. + +Mrs. Gould cried out-- + +"Antonia must not know! She must not be told. Not now." + +"Nobody's likely to carry the news," remarked the doctor. "It's no one's +interest. Moreover, the people here are afraid of Hernandez as if he +were the devil." He turned to Charles Gould. "It's even awkward, +because if you wanted to communicate with the refugees you could find no +messenger. When Hernandez was ranging hundreds of miles away from here +the Sulaco populace used to shudder at the tales of him roasting his +prisoners alive." + +"Yes," murmured Charles Gould; "Captain Mitchell's Capataz was the +only man in the town who had seen Hernandez eye to eye. Father Corbelan +employed him. He opened the communications first. It is a pity that--" + +His voice was covered by the booming of the great bell of the cathedral. +Three single strokes, one after another, burst out explosively, dying +away in deep and mellow vibrations. And then all the bells in the +tower of every church, convent, or chapel in town, even those that had +remained shut up for years, pealed out together with a crash. In this +furious flood of metallic uproar there was a power of suggesting images +of strife and violence which blanched Mrs. Gould's cheek. Basilio, +who had been waiting at table, shrinking within himself, clung to the +sideboard with chattering teeth. It was impossible to hear yourself +speak. + +"Shut these windows!" Charles Gould yelled at him, angrily. All the +other servants, terrified at what they took for the signal of a general +massacre, had rushed upstairs, tumbling over each other, men and women, +the obscure and generally invisible population of the ground floor on +the four sides of the patio. The women, screaming "Misericordia!" ran +right into the room, and, falling on their knees against the walls, +began to cross themselves convulsively. The staring heads of men blocked +the doorway in an instant--mozos from the stable, gardeners, nondescript +helpers living on the crumbs of the munificent house--and Charles +Gould beheld all the extent of his domestic establishment, even to the +gatekeeper. This was a half-paralyzed old man, whose long white locks +fell down to his shoulders: an heirloom taken up by Charles Gould's +familial piety. He could remember Henry Gould, an Englishman and a +Costaguanero of the second generation, chief of the Sulaco province; +he had been his personal mozo years and years ago in peace and war; had +been allowed to attend his master in prison; had, on the fatal morning, +followed the firing squad; and, peeping from behind one of the cypresses +growing along the wall of the Franciscan Convent, had seen, with his +eyes starting out of his head, Don Enrique throw up his hands and fall +with his face in the dust. Charles Gould noted particularly the big +patriarchal head of that witness in the rear of the other servants. But +he was surprised to see a shrivelled old hag or two, of whose existence +within the walls of his house he had not been aware. They must have been +the mothers, or even the grandmothers of some of his people. There were +a few children, too, more or less naked, crying and clinging to the legs +of their elders. He had never before noticed any sign of a child in his +patio. Even Leonarda, the camerista, came in a fright, pushing through, +with her spoiled, pouting face of a favourite maid, leading the Viola +girls by the hand. The crockery rattled on table and sideboard, and the +whole house seemed to sway in the deafening wave of sound. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +During the night the expectant populace had taken possession of all the +belfries in the town in order to welcome Pedrito Montero, who was +making his entry after having slept the night in Rincon. And first +came straggling in through the land gate the armed mob of all colours, +complexions, types, and states of raggedness, calling themselves the +Sulaco National Guard, and commanded by Senor Gamacho. Through the +middle of the street streamed, like a torrent of rubbish, a mass of +straw hats, ponchos, gun-barrels, with an enormous green and yellow flag +flapping in their midst, in a cloud of dust, to the furious beating of +drums. The spectators recoiled against the walls of the houses shouting +their Vivas! Behind the rabble could be seen the lances of the cavalry, +the "army" of Pedro Montero. He advanced between Senores Fuentes and +Gamacho at the head of his llaneros, who had accomplished the feat of +crossing the Paramos of the Higuerota in a snow-storm. They rode four +abreast, mounted on confiscated Campo horses, clad in the heterogeneous +stock of roadside stores they had looted hurriedly in their rapid ride +through the northern part of the province; for Pedro Montero had been in +a great hurry to occupy Sulaco. The handkerchiefs knotted loosely around +their bare throats were glaringly new, and all the right sleeves of +their cotton shirts had been cut off close to the shoulder for greater +freedom in throwing the lazo. Emaciated greybeards rode by the side +of lean dark youths, marked by all the hardships of campaigning, with +strips of raw beef twined round the crowns of their hats, and huge iron +spurs fastened to their naked heels. Those that in the passes of the +mountain had lost their lances had provided themselves with the goads +used by the Campo cattlemen: slender shafts of palm fully ten feet long, +with a lot of loose rings jingling under the ironshod point. They were +armed with knives and revolvers. A haggard fearlessness characterized +the expression of all these sun-blacked countenances; they glared down +haughtily with their scorched eyes at the crowd, or, blinking upwards +insolently, pointed out to each other some particular head amongst the +women at the windows. When they had ridden into the Plaza and caught +sight of the equestrian statue of the King dazzlingly white in the +sunshine, towering enormous and motionless above the surges of the +crowd, with its eternal gesture of saluting, a murmur of surprise ran +through their ranks. "What is that saint in the big hat?" they asked +each other. + +They were a good sample of the cavalry of the plains with which Pedro +Montero had helped so much the victorious career of his brother the +general. The influence which that man, brought up in coast towns, +acquired in a short time over the plainsmen of the Republic can be +ascribed only to a genius for treachery of so effective a kind that it +must have appeared to those violent men but little removed from a state +of utter savagery, as the perfection of sagacity and virtue. The popular +lore of all nations testifies that duplicity and cunning, together with +bodily strength, were looked upon, even more than courage, as heroic +virtues by primitive mankind. To overcome your adversary was the +great affair of life. Courage was taken for granted. But the use of +intelligence awakened wonder and respect. Stratagems, providing they did +not fail, were honourable; the easy massacre of an unsuspecting enemy +evoked no feelings but those of gladness, pride, and admiration. Not +perhaps that primitive men were more faithless than their descendants +of to-day, but that they went straighter to their aim, and were +more artless in their recognition of success as the only standard of +morality. + +We have changed since. The use of intelligence awakens little wonder and +less respect. But the ignorant and barbarous plainsmen engaging in civil +strife followed willingly a leader who often managed to deliver their +enemies bound, as it were, into their hands. Pedro Montero had a talent +for lulling his adversaries into a sense of security. And as men learn +wisdom with extreme slowness, and are always ready to believe promises +that flatter their secret hopes, Pedro Montero was successful time after +time. Whether only a servant or some inferior official in the Costaguana +Legation in Paris, he had rushed back to his country directly he +heard that his brother had emerged from the obscurity of his frontier +commandancia. He had managed to deceive by his gift of plausibility +the chiefs of the Ribierist movement in the capital, and even the acute +agent of the San Tome mine had failed to understand him thoroughly. At +once he had obtained an enormous influence over his brother. They were +very much alike in appearance, both bald, with bunches of crisp hair +above their ears, arguing the presence of some negro blood. Only Pedro +was smaller than the general, more delicate altogether, with an +ape-like faculty for imitating all the outward signs of refinement and +distinction, and with a parrot-like talent for languages. Both brothers +had received some elementary instruction by the munificence of a great +European traveller, to whom their father had been a body-servant during +his journeys in the interior of the country. In General Montero's +case it enabled him to rise from the ranks. Pedrito, the younger, +incorrigibly lazy and slovenly, had drifted aimlessly from one coast +town to another, hanging about counting-houses, attaching himself +to strangers as a sort of valet-de-place, picking up an easy and +disreputable living. His ability to read did nothing for him but fill +his head with absurd visions. His actions were usually determined by +motives so improbable in themselves as to escape the penetration of a +rational person. + +Thus at first sight the agent of the Gould Concession in Sta. Marta +had credited him with the possession of sane views, and even with a +restraining power over the general's everlastingly discontented vanity. +It could never have entered his head that Pedrito Montero, lackey or +inferior scribe, lodged in the garrets of the various Parisian hotels +where the Costaguana Legation used to shelter its diplomatic dignity, +had been devouring the lighter sort of historical works in the French +language, such, for instance as the books of Imbert de Saint Amand upon +the Second Empire. But Pedrito had been struck by the splendour of a +brilliant court, and had conceived the idea of an existence for himself +where, like the Duc de Morny, he would associate the command of every +pleasure with the conduct of political affairs and enjoy power supremely +in every way. Nobody could have guessed that. And yet this was one of +the immediate causes of the Monterist Revolution. This will appear less +incredible by the reflection that the fundamental causes were the +same as ever, rooted in the political immaturity of the people, in the +indolence of the upper classes and the mental darkness of the lower. + +Pedrito Montero saw in the elevation of his brother the road wide +open to his wildest imaginings. This was what made the Monterist +pronunciamiento so unpreventable. The general himself probably could +have been bought off, pacified with flatteries, despatched on a +diplomatic mission to Europe. It was his brother who had egged him on +from first to last. He wanted to become the most brilliant statesman +of South America. He did not desire supreme power. He would have been +afraid of its labour and risk, in fact. Before all, Pedrito Montero, +taught by his European experience, meant to acquire a serious fortune +for himself. With this object in view he obtained from his brother, on +the very morrow of the successful battle, the permission to push on +over the mountains and take possession of Sulaco. Sulaco was the land +of future prosperity, the chosen land of material progress, the only +province in the Republic of interest to European capitalists. Pedrito +Montero, following the example of the Duc de Morny, meant to have his +share of this prosperity. This is what he meant literally. Now his +brother was master of the country, whether as President, Dictator, or +even as Emperor--why not as an Emperor?--he meant to demand a share in +every enterprise--in railways, in mines, in sugar estates, in cotton +mills, in land companies, in each and every undertaking--as the price of +his protection. The desire to be on the spot early was the real cause of +the celebrated ride over the mountains with some two hundred llaneros, +an enterprise of which the dangers had not appeared at first clearly to +his impatience. Coming from a series of victories, it seemed to him +that a Montero had only to appear to be master of the situation. This +illusion had betrayed him into a rashness of which he was becoming +aware. As he rode at the head of his llaneros he regretted that there +were so few of them. The enthusiasm of the populace reassured him. They +yelled "Viva Montero! Viva Pedrito!" In order to make them still more +enthusiastic, and from the natural pleasure he had in dissembling, he +dropped the reins on his horse's neck, and with a tremendous effect of +familiarity and confidence slipped his hands under the arms of Senores +Fuentes and Gamacho. In that posture, with a ragged town mozo holding +his horse by the bridle, he rode triumphantly across the Plaza to the +door of the Intendencia. Its old gloomy walls seemed to shake in the +acclamations that rent the air and covered the crashing peals of the +cathedral bells. + +Pedro Montero, the brother of the general, dismounted into a shouting +and perspiring throng of enthusiasts whom the ragged Nationals were +pushing back fiercely. Ascending a few steps he surveyed the large crowd +gaping at him and the bullet-speckled walls of the houses opposite +lightly veiled by a sunny haze of dust. The word "_Pourvenir_" in +immense black capitals, alternating with broken windows, stared at +him across the vast space; and he thought with delight of the hour of +vengeance, because he was very sure of laying his hands upon Decoud. +On his left hand, Gamacho, big and hot, wiping his hairy wet face, +uncovered a set of yellow fangs in a grin of stupid hilarity. On his +right, Senor Fuentes, small and lean, looked on with compressed lips. +The crowd stared literally open-mouthed, lost in eager stillness, as +though they had expected the great guerrillero, the famous Pedrito, to +begin scattering at once some sort of visible largesse. What he began +was a speech. He began it with the shouted word "Citizens!" which +reached even those in the middle of the Plaza. Afterwards the greater +part of the citizens remained fascinated by the orator's action alone, +his tip-toeing, the arms flung above his head with the fists clenched, +a hand laid flat upon the heart, the silver gleam of rolling eyes, +the sweeping, pointing, embracing gestures, a hand laid familiarly +on Gamacho's shoulder; a hand waved formally towards the little +black-coated person of Senor Fuentes, advocate and politician and a true +friend of the people. The vivas of those nearest to the orator bursting +out suddenly propagated themselves irregularly to the confines of the +crowd, like flames running over dry grass, and expired in the opening of +the streets. In the intervals, over the swarming Plaza brooded a heavy +silence, in which the mouth of the orator went on opening and shutting, +and detached phrases--"The happiness of the people," "Sons of the +country," "The entire world, el mundo entiero"--reached even the packed +steps of the cathedral with a feeble clear ring, thin as the buzzing +of a mosquito. But the orator struck his breast; he seemed to prance +between his two supporters. It was the supreme effort of his peroration. +Then the two smaller figures disappeared from the public gaze and the +enormous Gamacho, left alone, advanced, raising his hat high above his +head. Then he covered himself proudly and yelled out, "Ciudadanos!" A +dull roar greeted Senor Gamacho, ex-pedlar of the Campo, Commandante of +the National Guards. + +Upstairs Pedrito Montero walked about rapidly from one wrecked room of +the Intendencia to another, snarling incessantly-- + +"What stupidity! What destruction!" + +Senor Fuentes, following, would relax his taciturn disposition to +murmur-- + +"It is all the work of Gamacho and his Nationals;" and then, inclining +his head on his left shoulder, would press together his lips so firmly +that a little hollow would appear at each corner. He had his nomination +for Political Chief of the town in his pocket, and was all impatience to +enter upon his functions. + +In the long audience room, with its tall mirrors all starred by stones, +the hangings torn down and the canopy over the platform at the upper end +pulled to pieces, the vast, deep muttering of the crowd and the howling +voice of Gamacho speaking just below reached them through the shutters +as they stood idly in dimness and desolation. + +"The brute!" observed his Excellency Don Pedro Montero through clenched +teeth. "We must contrive as quickly as possible to send him and his +Nationals out there to fight Hernandez." + +The new Gefe Politico only jerked his head sideways, and took a puff at +his cigarette in sign of his agreement with this method for ridding the +town of Gamacho and his inconvenient rabble. + +Pedrito Montero looked with disgust at the absolutely bare floor, and +at the belt of heavy gilt picture-frames running round the room, out +of which the remnants of torn and slashed canvases fluttered like dingy +rags. + +"We are not barbarians," he said. + +This was what said his Excellency, the popular Pedrito, the guerrillero +skilled in the art of laying ambushes, charged by his brother at his +own demand with the organization of Sulaco on democratic principles. The +night before, during the consultation with his partisans, who had +come out to meet him in Rincon, he had opened his intentions to Senor +Fuentes-- + +"We shall organize a popular vote, by yes or no, confiding the destinies +of our beloved country to the wisdom and valiance of my heroic brother, +the invincible general. A plebiscite. Do you understand?" + +And Senor Fuentes, puffing out his leathery cheeks, had inclined his +head slightly to the left, letting a thin, bluish jet of smoke escape +through his pursed lips. He had understood. + +His Excellency was exasperated at the devastation. Not a single chair, +table, sofa, etagere or console had been left in the state rooms of the +Intendencia. His Excellency, though twitching all over with rage, was +restrained from bursting into violence by a sense of his remoteness and +isolation. His heroic brother was very far away. Meantime, how was he +going to take his siesta? He had expected to find comfort and luxury +in the Intendencia after a year of hard camp life, ending with the +hardships and privations of the daring dash upon Sulaco--upon the +province which was worth more in wealth and influence than all the rest +of the Republic's territory. He would get even with Gamacho by-and-by. +And Senor Gamacho's oration, delectable to popular ears, went on in the +heat and glare of the Plaza like the uncouth howlings of an inferior +sort of devil cast into a white-hot furnace. Every moment he had to wipe +his streaming face with his bare fore-arm; he had flung off his coat, +and had turned up the sleeves of his shirt high above the elbows; but +he kept on his head the large cocked hat with white plumes. His +ingenuousness cherished this sign of his rank as Commandante of the +National Guards. Approving and grave murmurs greeted his periods. His +opinion was that war should be declared at once against France, England, +Germany, and the United States, who, by introducing railways, mining +enterprises, colonization, and under such other shallow pretences, aimed +at robbing poor people of their lands, and with the help of these Goths +and paralytics, the aristocrats would convert them into toiling and +miserable slaves. And the leperos, flinging about the corners of their +dirty white mantas, yelled their approbation. General Montero, Gamacho +howled with conviction, was the only man equal to the patriotic task. +They assented to that, too. + +The morning was wearing on; there were already signs of disruption, +currents and eddies in the crowd. Some were seeking the shade of the +walls and under the trees of the Alameda. Horsemen spurred through, +shouting; groups of sombreros set level on heads against the vertical +sun were drifting away into the streets, where the open doors of +pulperias revealed an enticing gloom resounding with the gentle tinkling +of guitars. The National Guards were thinking of siesta, and the +eloquence of Gamacho, their chief, was exhausted. Later on, when, in the +cooler hours of the afternoon, they tried to assemble again for further +consideration of public affairs, detachments of Montero's cavalry camped +on the Alameda charged them without parley, at speed, with long lances +levelled at their flying backs as far as the ends of the streets. The +National Guards of Sulaco were surprised by this proceeding. But they +were not indignant. No Costaguanero had ever learned to question the +eccentricities of a military force. They were part of the natural order +of things. This must be, they concluded, some kind of administrative +measure, no doubt. But the motive of it escaped their unaided +intelligence, and their chief and orator, Gamacho, Commandante of the +National Guard, was lying drunk and asleep in the bosom of his family. +His bare feet were upturned in the shadows repulsively, in the manner +of a corpse. His eloquent mouth had dropped open. His youngest daughter, +scratching her head with one hand, with the other waved a green bough +over his scorched and peeling face. + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +The declining sun had shifted the shadows from west to east amongst the +houses of the town. It had shifted them upon the whole extent of the +immense Campo, with the white walls of its haciendas on the knolls +dominating the green distances; with its grass-thatched ranches +crouching in the folds of ground by the banks of streams; with the dark +islands of clustered trees on a clear sea of grass, and the precipitous +range of the Cordillera, immense and motionless, emerging from the +billows of the lower forests like the barren coast of a land of giants. +The sunset rays striking the snow-slope of Higuerota from afar gave it +an air of rosy youth, while the serrated mass of distant peaks remained +black, as if calcined in the fiery radiance. The undulating surface of +the forests seemed powdered with pale gold dust; and away there, beyond +Rincon, hidden from the town by two wooded spurs, the rocks of the +San Tome gorge, with the flat wall of the mountain itself crowned by +gigantic ferns, took on warm tones of brown and yellow, with red rusty +streaks, and the dark green clumps of bushes rooted in crevices. From +the plain the stamp sheds and the houses of the mine appeared dark and +small, high up, like the nests of birds clustered on the ledges of a +cliff. The zigzag paths resembled faint tracings scratched on the wall +of a cyclopean blockhouse. To the two serenos of the mine on patrol +duty, strolling, carbine in hand, and watchful eyes, in the shade of the +trees lining the stream near the bridge, Don Pepe, descending the path +from the upper plateau, appeared no bigger than a large beetle. + +With his air of aimless, insect-like going to and fro upon the face of +the rock, Don Pepe's figure kept on descending steadily, and, when near +the bottom, sank at last behind the roofs of store-houses, forges, and +workshops. For a time the pair of serenos strolled back and forth before +the bridge, on which they had stopped a horseman holding a large white +envelope in his hand. Then Don Pepe, emerging in the village street +from amongst the houses, not a stone's throw from the frontier bridge, +approached, striding in wide dark trousers tucked into boots, a white +linen jacket, sabre at his side, and revolver at his belt. In this +disturbed time nothing could find the Senor Gobernador with his boots +off, as the saying is. + +At a slight nod from one of the serenos, the man, a messenger from +the town, dismounted, and crossed the bridge, leading his horse by the +bridle. + +Don Pepe received the letter from his other hand, slapped his left +side and his hips in succession, feeling for his spectacle case. After +settling the heavy silvermounted affair astride his nose, and adjusting +it carefully behind his ears, he opened the envelope, holding it up at +about a foot in front of his eyes. The paper he pulled out contained +some three lines of writing. He looked at them for a long time. His grey +moustache moved slightly up and down, and the wrinkles, radiating at the +corners of his eyes, ran together. He nodded serenely. "Bueno," he said. +"There is no answer." + +Then, in his quiet, kindly way, he engaged in a cautious conversation +with the man, who was willing to talk cheerily, as if something lucky +had happened to him recently. He had seen from a distance Sotillo's +infantry camped along the shore of the harbour on each side of the +Custom House. They had done no damage to the buildings. The foreigners +of the railway remained shut up within the yards. They were no longer +anxious to shoot poor people. He cursed the foreigners; then he reported +Montero's entry and the rumours of the town. The poor were going to be +made rich now. That was very good. More he did not know, and, breaking +into propitiatory smiles, he intimated that he was hungry and thirsty. +The old major directed him to go to the alcalde of the first village. +The man rode off, and Don Pepe, striding slowly in the direction of a +little wooden belfry, looked over a hedge into a little garden, and saw +Father Roman sitting in a white hammock slung between two orange trees +in front of the presbytery. + +An enormous tamarind shaded with its dark foliage the whole white +framehouse. A young Indian girl with long hair, big eyes, and small +hands and feet, carried out a wooden chair, while a thin old woman, +crabbed and vigilant, watched her all the time from the verandah. + +Don Pepe sat down in the chair and lighted a cigar; the priest drew +in an immense quantity of snuff out of the hollow of his palm. On his +reddish-brown face, worn, hollowed as if crumbled, the eyes, fresh and +candid, sparkled like two black diamonds. + +Don Pepe, in a mild and humorous voice, informed Father Roman that +Pedrito Montero, by the hand of Senor Fuentes, had asked him on what +terms he would surrender the mine in proper working order to a legally +constituted commission of patriotic citizens, escorted by a small +military force. The priest cast his eyes up to heaven. However, Don Pepe +continued, the mozo who brought the letter said that Don Carlos Gould +was alive, and so far unmolested. + +Father Roman expressed in a few words his thankfulness at hearing of the +Senor Administrador's safety. + +The hour of oration had gone by in the silvery ringing of a bell in the +little belfry. The belt of forest closing the entrance of the valley +stood like a screen between the low sun and the street of the village. +At the other end of the rocky gorge, between the walls of basalt and +granite, a forest-clad mountain, hiding all the range from the San Tome +dwellers, rose steeply, lighted up and leafy to the very top. Three +small rosy clouds hung motionless overhead in the great depth of blue. +Knots of people sat in the street between the wattled huts. Before the +casa of the alcalde, the foremen of the night-shift, already assembled +to lead their men, squatted on the ground in a circle of leather +skull-caps, and, bowing their bronze backs, were passing round the gourd +of mate. The mozo from the town, having fastened his horse to a wooden +post before the door, was telling them the news of Sulaco as the +blackened gourd of the decoction passed from hand to hand. The grave +alcalde himself, in a white waistcloth and a flowered chintz gown with +sleeves, open wide upon his naked stout person with an effect of a gaudy +bathing robe, stood by, wearing a rough beaver hat at the back of his +head, and grasping a tall staff with a silver knob in his hand. +These insignia of his dignity had been conferred upon him by the +Administration of the mine, the fountain of honour, of prosperity, and +peace. He had been one of the first immigrants into this valley; his +sons and sons-in-law worked within the mountain which seemed with its +treasures to pour down the thundering ore shoots of the upper mesa, the +gifts of well-being, security, and justice upon the toilers. He listened +to the news from the town with curiosity and indifference, as if +concerning another world than his own. And it was true that they +appeared to him so. In a very few years the sense of belonging to a +powerful organization had been developed in these harassed, half-wild +Indians. They were proud of, and attached to, the mine. It had secured +their confidence and belief. They invested it with a protecting and +invincible virtue as though it were a fetish made by their own hands, +for they were ignorant, and in other respects did not differ appreciably +from the rest of mankind which puts infinite trust in its own creations. +It never entered the alcalde's head that the mine could fail in its +protection and force. Politics were good enough for the people of the +town and the Campo. His yellow, round face, with wide nostrils, and +motionless in expression, resembled a fierce full moon. He listened to +the excited vapourings of the mozo without misgivings, without surprise, +without any active sentiment whatever. + +Padre Roman sat dejectedly balancing himself, his feet just touching +the ground, his hands gripping the edge of the hammock. With less +confidence, but as ignorant as his flock, he asked the major what did he +think was going to happen now. + +Don Pepe, bolt upright in the chair, folded his hands peacefully on +the hilt of his sword, standing perpendicular between his thighs, and +answered that he did not know. The mine could be defended against any +force likely to be sent to take possession. On the other hand, from the +arid character of the valley, when the regular supplies from the Campo +had been cut off, the population of the three villages could be starved +into submission. Don Pepe exposed these contingencies with serenity +to Father Roman, who, as an old campaigner, was able to understand the +reasoning of a military man. They talked with simplicity and directness. +Father Roman was saddened at the idea of his flock being scattered +or else enslaved. He had no illusions as to their fate, not from +penetration, but from long experience of political atrocities, which +seemed to him fatal and unavoidable in the life of a State. The working +of the usual public institutions presented itself to him most distinctly +as a series of calamities overtaking private individuals and flowing +logically from each other through hate, revenge, folly, and rapacity, +as though they had been part of a divine dispensation. Father Roman's +clear-sightedness was served by an uninformed intelligence; but his +heart, preserving its tenderness amongst scenes of carnage, spoliation, +and violence, abhorred these calamities the more as his association with +the victims was closer. He entertained towards the Indians of the valley +feelings of paternal scorn. He had been marrying, baptizing, confessing, +absolving, and burying the workers of the San Tome mine with dignity +and unction for five years or more; and he believed in the sacredness of +these ministrations, which made them his own in a spiritual sense. They +were dear to his sacerdotal supremacy. Mrs. Gould's earnest interest in +the concerns of these people enhanced their importance in the priest's +eyes, because it really augmented his own. When talking over with her +the innumerable Marias and Brigidas of the villages, he felt his own +humanity expand. Padre Roman was incapable of fanaticism to an almost +reprehensible degree. The English senora was evidently a heretic; but +at the same time she seemed to him wonderful and angelic. Whenever that +confused state of his feelings occurred to him, while strolling, for +instance, his breviary under his arm, in the wide shade of the tamarind, +he would stop short to inhale with a strong snuffling noise a large +quantity of snuff, and shake his head profoundly. At the thought of +what might befall the illustrious senora presently, he became gradually +overcome with dismay. He voiced it in an agitated murmur. Even Don Pepe +lost his serenity for a moment. He leaned forward stiffly. + +"Listen, Padre. The very fact that those thieving macaques in Sulaco are +trying to find out the price of my honour proves that Senor Don Carlos +and all in the Casa Gould are safe. As to my honour, that also is safe, +as every man, woman, and child knows. But the negro Liberals who have +snatched the town by surprise do not know that. Bueno. Let them sit and +wait. While they wait they can do no harm." + +And he regained his composure. He regained it easily, because whatever +happened his honour of an old officer of Paez was safe. He had promised +Charles Gould that at the approach of an armed force he would defend the +gorge just long enough to give himself time to destroy scientifically +the whole plant, buildings, and workshops of the mine with heavy charges +of dynamite; block with ruins the main tunnel, break down the pathways, +blow up the dam of the water-power, shatter the famous Gould Concession +into fragments, flying sky high out of a horrified world. The mine had +got hold of Charles Gould with a grip as deadly as ever it had laid upon +his father. But this extreme resolution had seemed to Don Pepe the most +natural thing in the world. His measures had been taken with judgment. +Everything was prepared with a careful completeness. And Don Pepe folded +his hands pacifically on his sword hilt, and nodded at the priest. In +his excitement, Father Roman had flung snuff in handfuls at his face, +and, all besmeared with tobacco, round-eyed, and beside himself, had got +out of the hammock to walk about, uttering exclamations. + +Don Pepe stroked his grey and pendant moustache, whose fine ends hung +far below the clean-cut line of his jaw, and spoke with a conscious +pride in his reputation. + +"So, Padre, I don't know what will happen. But I know that as long as +I am here Don Carlos can speak to that macaque, Pedrito Montero, and +threaten the destruction of the mine with perfect assurance that he will +be taken seriously. For people know me." + +He began to turn the cigar in his lips a little nervously, and went on-- + +"But that is talk--good for the politicos. I am a military man. I do not +know what may happen. But I know what ought to be done--the mine should +march upon the town with guns, axes, knives tied up to sticks--por Dios. +That is what should be done. Only--" + +His folded hands twitched on the hilt. The cigar turned faster in the +corner of his lips. + +"And who should lead but I? Unfortunately--observe--I have given my word +of honour to Don Carlos not to let the mine fall into the hands of these +thieves. In war--you know this, Padre--the fate of battles is uncertain, +and whom could I leave here to act for me in case of defeat? The +explosives are ready. But it would require a man of high honour, +of intelligence, of judgment, of courage, to carry out the prepared +destruction. Somebody I can trust with my honour as I can trust myself. +Another old officer of Paez, for instance. Or--or--perhaps one of Paez's +old chaplains would do." + +He got up, long, lank, upright, hard, with his martial moustache and +the bony structure of his face, from which the glance of the sunken +eyes seemed to transfix the priest, who stood still, an empty wooden +snuff-box held upside down in his hand, and glared back, speechless, at +the governor of the mine. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +At about that time, in the Intendencia of Sulaco, Charles Gould was +assuring Pedrito Montero, who had sent a request for his presence there, +that he would never let the mine pass out of his hands for the profit of +a Government who had robbed him of it. The Gould Concession could not +be resumed. His father had not desired it. The son would never surrender +it. He would never surrender it alive. And once dead, where was the +power capable of resuscitating such an enterprise in all its vigour and +wealth out of the ashes and ruin of destruction? There was no such power +in the country. And where was the skill and capital abroad that would +condescend to touch such an ill-omened corpse? Charles Gould talked in +the impassive tone which had for many years served to conceal his anger +and contempt. He suffered. He was disgusted with what he had to say. It +was too much like heroics. In him the strictly practical instinct was in +profound discord with the almost mystic view he took of his right. The +Gould Concession was symbolic of abstract justice. Let the heavens +fall. But since the San Tome mine had developed into world-wide fame +his threat had enough force and effectiveness to reach the rudimentary +intelligence of Pedro Montero, wrapped up as it was in the futilities +of historical anecdotes. The Gould Concession was a serious asset in the +country's finance, and, what was more, in the private budgets of many +officials as well. It was traditional. It was known. It was said. It +was credible. Every Minister of Interior drew a salary from the San +Tome mine. It was natural. And Pedrito intended to be Minister of the +Interior and President of the Council in his brother's Government. The +Duc de Morny had occupied those high posts during the Second French +Empire with conspicuous advantage to himself. + +A table, a chair, a wooden bedstead had been procured for His +Excellency, who, after a short siesta, rendered absolutely necessary +by the labours and the pomps of his entry into Sulaco, had been getting +hold of the administrative machine by making appointments, giving +orders, and signing proclamations. Alone with Charles Gould in the +audience room, His Excellency managed with his well-known skill to +conceal his annoyance and consternation. He had begun at first to talk +loftily of confiscation, but the want of all proper feeling and mobility +in the Senor Administrador's features ended by affecting adversely +his power of masterful expression. Charles Gould had repeated: "The +Government can certainly bring about the destruction of the San Tome +mine if it likes; but without me it can do nothing else." It was an +alarming pronouncement, and well calculated to hurt the sensibilities of +a politician whose mind is bent upon the spoils of victory. And Charles +Gould said also that the destruction of the San Tome mine would cause +the ruin of other undertakings, the withdrawal of European capital, the +withholding, most probably, of the last instalment of the foreign loan. +That stony fiend of a man said all these things (which were accessible +to His Excellency's intelligence) in a coldblooded manner which made one +shudder. + +A long course of reading historical works, light and gossipy in tone, +carried out in garrets of Parisian hotels, sprawling on an untidy bed, +to the neglect of his duties, menial or otherwise, had affected the +manners of Pedro Montero. Had he seen around him the splendour of the +old Intendencia, the magnificent hangings, the gilt furniture ranged +along the walls; had he stood upon a dais on a noble square of red +carpet, he would have probably been very dangerous from a sense of +success and elevation. But in this sacked and devastated residence, with +the three pieces of common furniture huddled up in the middle of the +vast apartment, Pedrito's imagination was subdued by a feeling of +insecurity and impermanence. That feeling and the firm attitude +of Charles Gould who had not once, so far, pronounced the word +"Excellency," diminished him in his own eyes. He assumed the tone of an +enlightened man of the world, and begged Charles Gould to dismiss from +his mind every cause for alarm. He was now conversing, he reminded +him, with the brother of the master of the country, charged with a +reorganizing mission. The trusted brother of the master of the country, +he repeated. Nothing was further from the thoughts of that wise and +patriotic hero than ideas of destruction. "I entreat you, Don Carlos, +not to give way to your anti-democratic prejudices," he cried, in a +burst of condescending effusion. + +Pedrito Montero surprised one at first sight by the vast development of +his bald forehead, a shiny yellow expanse between the crinkly coal-black +tufts of hair without any lustre, the engaging form of his mouth, and +an unexpectedly cultivated voice. But his eyes, very glistening as if +freshly painted on each side of his hooked nose, had a round, hopeless, +birdlike stare when opened fully. Now, however, he narrowed them +agreeably, throwing his square chin up and speaking with closed teeth +slightly through the nose, with what he imagined to be the manner of a +grand seigneur. + +In that attitude, he declared suddenly that the highest expression of +democracy was Caesarism: the imperial rule based upon the direct popular +vote. Caesarism was conservative. It was strong. It recognized the +legitimate needs of democracy which requires orders, titles, and +distinctions. They would be showered upon deserving men. Caesarism +was peace. It was progressive. It secured the prosperity of a country. +Pedrito Montero was carried away. Look at what the Second Empire had +done for France. It was a regime which delighted to honour men of Don +Carlos's stamp. The Second Empire fell, but that was because its chief +was devoid of that military genius which had raised General Montero to +the pinnacle of fame and glory. Pedrito elevated his hand jerkily to +help the idea of pinnacle, of fame. "We shall have many talks yet. We +shall understand each other thoroughly, Don Carlos!" he cried in a tone +of fellowship. Republicanism had done its work. Imperial democracy was +the power of the future. Pedrito, the guerrillero, showing his hand, +lowered his voice forcibly. A man singled out by his fellow-citizens for +the honourable nickname of El Rey de Sulaco could not but receive a full +recognition from an imperial democracy as a great captain of industry +and a person of weighty counsel, whose popular designation would be soon +replaced by a more solid title. "Eh, Don Carlos? No! What do you say? +Conde de Sulaco--Eh?--or marquis . . ." + +He ceased. The air was cool on the Plaza, where a patrol of cavalry rode +round and round without penetrating into the streets, which resounded +with shouts and the strumming of guitars issuing from the open doors of +pulperias. The orders were not to interfere with the enjoyments of the +people. And above the roofs, next to the perpendicular lines of the +cathedral towers the snowy curve of Higuerota blocked a large space of +darkening blue sky before the windows of the Intendencia. After a time +Pedrito Montero, thrusting his hand in the bosom of his coat, bowed his +head with slow dignity. The audience was over. + +Charles Gould on going out passed his hand over his forehead as if to +disperse the mists of an oppressive dream, whose grotesque extravagance +leaves behind a subtle sense of bodily danger and intellectual decay. In +the passages and on the staircases of the old palace Montero's troopers +lounged about insolently, smoking and making way for no one; the +clanking of sabres and spurs resounded all over the building. Three +silent groups of civilians in severe black waited in the main gallery, +formal and helpless, a little huddled up, each keeping apart from the +others, as if in the exercise of a public duty they had been overcome +by a desire to shun the notice of every eye. These were the deputations +waiting for their audience. The one from the Provincial Assembly, more +restless and uneasy in its corporate expression, was overtopped by the +big face of Don Juste Lopez, soft and white, with prominent eyelids and +wreathed in impenetrable solemnity as if in a dense cloud. The President +of the Provincial Assembly, coming bravely to save the last shred of +parliamentary institutions (on the English model), averted his eyes +from the Administrador of the San Tome mine as a dignified rebuke of his +little faith in that only saving principle. + +The mournful severity of that reproof did not affect Charles Gould, but +he was sensible to the glances of the others directed upon him without +reproach, as if only to read their own fate upon his face. All of them +had talked, shouted, and declaimed in the great sala of the Casa Gould. +The feeling of compassion for those men, struck with a strange impotence +in the toils of moral degradation, did not induce him to make a sign. He +suffered from his fellowship in evil with them too much. He crossed the +Plaza unmolested. The Amarilla Club was full of festive ragamuffins. +Their frowsy heads protruded from every window, and from within came +drunken shouts, the thumping of feet, and the twanging of harps. Broken +bottles strewed the pavement below. Charles Gould found the doctor still +in his house. + +Dr. Monygham came away from the crack in the shutter through which he +had been watching the street. + +"Ah! You are back at last!" he said in a tone of relief. "I have been +telling Mrs. Gould that you were perfectly safe, but I was not by any +means certain that the fellow would have let you go." + +"Neither was I," confessed Charles Gould, laying his hat on the table. + +"You will have to take action." + +The silence of Charles Gould seemed to admit that this was the only +course. This was as far as Charles Gould was accustomed to go towards +expressing his intentions. + +"I hope you did not warn Montero of what you mean to do," the doctor +said, anxiously. + +"I tried to make him see that the existence of the mine was bound up +with my personal safety," continued Charles Gould, looking away from the +doctor, and fixing his eyes upon the water-colour sketch upon the wall. + +"He believed you?" the doctor asked, eagerly. + +"God knows!" said Charles Gould. "I owed it to my wife to say that much. +He is well enough informed. He knows that I have Don Pepe there. Fuentes +must have told him. They know that the old major is perfectly capable of +blowing up the San Tome mine without hesitation or compunction. Had it +not been for that I don't think I'd have left the Intendencia a free +man. He would blow everything up from loyalty and from hate--from hate +of these Liberals, as they call themselves. Liberals! The words one +knows so well have a nightmarish meaning in this country. Liberty, +democracy, patriotism, government--all of them have a flavour of folly +and murder. Haven't they, doctor? . . . I alone can restrain Don Pepe. +If they were to--to do away with me, nothing could prevent him." + +"They will try to tamper with him," the doctor suggested, thoughtfully. + +"It is very possible," Charles Gould said very low, as if speaking to +himself, and still gazing at the sketch of the San Tome gorge upon the +wall. "Yes, I expect they will try that." Charles Gould looked for the +first time at the doctor. "It would give me time," he added. + +"Exactly," said Dr. Monygham, suppressing his excitement. "Especially if +Don Pepe behaves diplomatically. Why shouldn't he give them some hope +of success? Eh? Otherwise you wouldn't gain so much time. Couldn't he be +instructed to--" + +Charles Gould, looking at the doctor steadily, shook his head, but the +doctor continued with a certain amount of fire-- + +"Yes, to enter into negotiations for the surrender of the mine. It is a +good notion. You would mature your plan. Of course, I don't ask what it +is. I don't want to know. I would refuse to listen to you if you tried +to tell me. I am not fit for confidences." + +"What nonsense!" muttered Charles Gould, with displeasure. + +He disapproved of the doctor's sensitiveness about that far-off +episode of his life. So much memory shocked Charles Gould. It was like +morbidness. And again he shook his head. He refused to tamper with the +open rectitude of Don Pepe's conduct, both from taste and from policy. +Instructions would have to be either verbal or in writing. In either +case they ran the risk of being intercepted. It was by no means certain +that a messenger could reach the mine; and, besides, there was no one +to send. It was on the tip of Charles's tongue to say that only the +late Capataz de Cargadores could have been employed with some chance +of success and the certitude of discretion. But he did not say that. He +pointed out to the doctor that it would have been bad policy. +Directly Don Pepe let it be supposed that he could be bought over, the +Administrador's personal safety and the safety of his friends would +become endangered. For there would be then no reason for moderation. The +incorruptibility of Don Pepe was the essential and restraining fact. The +doctor hung his head and admitted that in a way it was so. + +He couldn't deny to himself that the reasoning was sound enough. Don +Pepe's usefulness consisted in his unstained character. As to his own +usefulness, he reflected bitterly it was also his own character. He +declared to Charles Gould that he had the means of keeping Sotillo from +joining his forces with Montero, at least for the present. + +"If you had had all this silver here," the doctor said, "or even if it +had been known to be at the mine, you could have bribed Sotillo to throw +off his recent Monterism. You could have induced him either to go away +in his steamer or even to join you." + +"Certainly not that last," Charles Gould declared, firmly. "What could +one do with a man like that, afterwards--tell me, doctor? The silver is +gone, and I am glad of it. It would have been an immediate and +strong temptation. The scramble for that visible plunder would have +precipitated a disastrous ending. I would have had to defend it, too. +I am glad we've removed it--even if it is lost. It would have been a +danger and a curse." + +"Perhaps he is right," the doctor, an hour later, said hurriedly to Mrs. +Gould, whom he met in the corridor. "The thing is done, and the shadow +of the treasure may do just as well as the substance. Let me try to +serve you to the whole extent of my evil reputation. I am off now to +play my game of betrayal with Sotillo, and keep him off the town." + +She put out both her hands impulsively. "Dr. Monygham, you are running a +terrible risk," she whispered, averting from his face her eyes, full of +tears, for a short glance at the door of her husband's room. She pressed +both his hands, and the doctor stood as if rooted to the spot, looking +down at her, and trying to twist his lips into a smile. + +"Oh, I know you will defend my memory," he uttered at last, and ran +tottering down the stairs across the patio, and out of the house. In the +street he kept up a great pace with his smart hobbling walk, a case +of instruments under his arm. He was known for being loco. Nobody +interfered with him. From under the seaward gate, across the dusty, arid +plain, interspersed with low bushes, he saw, more than a mile away, the +ugly enormity of the Custom House, and the two or three other buildings +which at that time constituted the seaport of Sulaco. Far away to the +south groves of palm trees edged the curve of the harbour shore. The +distant peaks of the Cordillera had lost their identity of clearcut +shapes in the steadily deepening blue of the eastern sky. The doctor +walked briskly. A darkling shadow seemed to fall upon him from the +zenith. The sun had set. For a time the snows of Higuerota continued +to glow with the reflected glory of the west. The doctor, holding a +straight course for the Custom House, appeared lonely, hopping amongst +the dark bushes like a tall bird with a broken wing. + +Tints of purple, gold, and crimson were mirrored in the clear water +of the harbour. A long tongue of land, straight as a wall, with the +grass-grown ruins of the fort making a sort of rounded green mound, +plainly visible from the inner shore, closed its circuit; while beyond +the Placid Gulf repeated those splendours of colouring on a greater +scale and with a more sombre magnificence. The great mass of cloud +filling the head of the gulf had long red smears amongst its convoluted +folds of grey and black, as of a floating mantle stained with blood. +The three Isabels, overshadowed and clear cut in a great smoothness +confounding the sea and sky, appeared suspended, purple-black, in the +air. The little wavelets seemed to be tossing tiny red sparks upon the +sandy beaches. The glassy bands of water along the horizon gave out a +fiery red glow, as if fire and water had been mingled together in the +vast bed of the ocean. + +At last the conflagration of sea and sky, lying embraced and still in a +flaming contact upon the edge of the world, went out. The red sparks in +the water vanished together with the stains of blood in the black mantle +draping the sombre head of the Placid Gulf; a sudden breeze sprang up +and died out after rustling heavily the growth of bushes on the ruined +earthwork of the fort. Nostromo woke up from a fourteen hours' sleep, +and arose full length from his lair in the long grass. He stood knee +deep amongst the whispering undulations of the green blades with the +lost air of a man just born into the world. Handsome, robust, and +supple, he threw back his head, flung his arms open, and stretched +himself with a slow twist of the waist and a leisurely growling yawn of +white teeth, as natural and free from evil in the moment of waking as a +magnificent and unconscious wild beast. Then, in the suddenly steadied +glance fixed upon nothing from under a thoughtful frown, appeared the +man. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +After landing from his swim Nostromo had scrambled up, all dripping, +into the main quadrangle of the old fort; and there, amongst ruined bits +of walls and rotting remnants of roofs and sheds, he had slept the day +through. He had slept in the shadow of the mountains, in the white blaze +of noon, in the stillness and solitude of that overgrown piece of land +between the oval of the harbour and the spacious semi-circle of the +gulf. He lay as if dead. A rey-zamuro, appearing like a tiny black speck +in the blue, stooped, circling prudently with a stealthiness of flight +startling in a bird of that great size. The shadow of his pearly-white +body, of his black-tipped wings, fell on the grass no more silently than +he alighted himself on a hillock of rubbish within three yards of that +man, lying as still as a corpse. The bird stretched his bare neck, +craned his bald head, loathsome in the brilliance of varied colouring, +with an air of voracious anxiety towards the promising stillness of that +prostrate body. Then, sinking his head deeply into his soft plumage, he +settled himself to wait. The first thing upon which Nostromo's eyes +fell on waking was this patient watcher for the signs of death and +corruption. When the man got up the vulture hopped away in great, +side-long, fluttering jumps. He lingered for a while, morose and +reluctant, before he rose, circling noiselessly with a sinister droop of +beak and claws. + +Long after he had vanished, Nostromo, lifting his eyes up to the sky, +muttered, "I am not dead yet." + +The Capataz of the Sulaco Cargadores had lived in splendour and +publicity up to the very moment, as it were, when he took charge of the +lighter containing the treasure of silver ingots. + +The last act he had performed in Sulaco was in complete harmony with his +vanity, and as such perfectly genuine. He had given his last dollar to +an old woman moaning with the grief and fatigue of a dismal search +under the arch of the ancient gate. Performed in obscurity and without +witnesses, it had still the characteristics of splendour and publicity, +and was in strict keeping with his reputation. But this awakening in +solitude, except for the watchful vulture, amongst the ruins of the +fort, had no such characteristics. His first confused feeling was +exactly this--that it was not in keeping. It was more like the end of +things. The necessity of living concealed somehow, for God knows how +long, which assailed him on his return to consciousness, made everything +that had gone before for years appear vain and foolish, like a +flattering dream come suddenly to an end. + +He climbed the crumbling slope of the rampart, and, putting aside the +bushes, looked upon the harbour. He saw a couple of ships at anchor upon +the sheet of water reflecting the last gleams of light, and Sotillo's +steamer moored to the jetty. And behind the pale long front of the +Custom House, there appeared the extent of the town like a grove of +thick timber on the plain with a gateway in front, and the cupolas, +towers, and miradors rising above the trees, all dark, as if surrendered +already to the night. The thought that it was no longer open to him to +ride through the streets, recognized by everyone, great and little, as +he used to do every evening on his way to play monte in the posada of +the Mexican Domingo; or to sit in the place of honour, listening to +songs and looking at dances, made it appear to him as a town that had no +existence. + +For a long time he gazed on, then let the parted bushes spring back, +and, crossing over to the other side of the fort, surveyed the vaster +emptiness of the great gulf. The Isabels stood out heavily upon the +narrowing long band of red in the west, which gleamed low between their +black shapes, and the Capataz thought of Decoud alone there with the +treasure. That man was the only one who cared whether he fell into the +hands of the Monterists or not, the Capataz reflected bitterly. And +that merely would be an anxiety for his own sake. As to the rest, they +neither knew nor cared. What he had heard Giorgio Viola say once was +very true. Kings, ministers, aristocrats, the rich in general, kept the +people in poverty and subjection; they kept them as they kept dogs, to +fight and hunt for their service. + +The darkness of the sky had descended to the line of the horizon, +enveloping the whole gulf, the islets, and the lover of Antonia alone +with the treasure on the Great Isabel. The Capataz, turning his back on +these things invisible and existing, sat down and took his face between +his fists. He felt the pinch of poverty for the first time in his life. +To find himself without money after a run of bad luck at monte in the +low, smoky room of Domingo's posada, where the fraternity of Cargadores +gambled, sang, and danced of an evening; to remain with empty pockets +after a burst of public generosity to some peyne d'oro girl or other +(for whom he did not care), had none of the humiliation of destitution. +He remained rich in glory and reputation. But since it was no longer +possible for him to parade the streets of the town, and be hailed with +respect in the usual haunts of his leisure, this sailor felt himself +destitute indeed. + +His mouth was dry. It was dry with heavy sleep and extremely anxious +thinking, as it had never been dry before. It may be said that Nostromo +tasted the dust and ashes of the fruit of life into which he had bitten +deeply in his hunger for praise. Without removing his head from between +his fists, he tried to spit before him--"Tfui"--and muttered a curse +upon the selfishness of all the rich people. + +Since everything seemed lost in Sulaco (and that was the feeling of his +waking), the idea of leaving the country altogether had presented itself +to Nostromo. At that thought he had seen, like the beginning of another +dream, a vision of steep and tideless shores, with dark pines on the +heights and white houses low down near a very blue sea. He saw the quays +of a big port, where the coasting feluccas, with their lateen sails +outspread like motionless wings, enter gliding silently between the +end of long moles of squared blocks that project angularly towards +each other, hugging a cluster of shipping to the superb bosom of a hill +covered with palaces. He remembered these sights not without some filial +emotion, though he had been habitually and severely beaten as a boy +on one of these feluccas by a short-necked, shaven Genoese, with a +deliberate and distrustful manner, who (he firmly believed) had cheated +him out of his orphan's inheritance. But it is mercifully decreed that +the evils of the past should appear but faintly in retrospect. Under +the sense of loneliness, abandonment, and failure, the idea of return to +these things appeared tolerable. But, what? Return? With bare feet +and head, with one check shirt and a pair of cotton calzoneros for all +worldly possessions? + +The renowned Capataz, his elbows on his knees and a fist dug into each +cheek, laughed with self-derision, as he had spat with disgust, straight +out before him into the night. The confused and intimate impressions +of universal dissolution which beset a subjective nature at any strong +check to its ruling passion had a bitterness approaching that of death +itself. He was simple. He was as ready to become the prey of any belief, +superstition, or desire as a child. + +The facts of his situation he could appreciate like a man with a +distinct experience of the country. He saw them clearly. He was as if +sobered after a long bout of intoxication. His fidelity had been taken +advantage of. He had persuaded the body of Cargadores to side with the +Blancos against the rest of the people; he had had interviews with Don +Jose; he had been made use of by Father Corbelan for negotiating with +Hernandez; it was known that Don Martin Decoud had admitted him to +a sort of intimacy, so that he had been free of the offices of the +Porvenir. All these things had flattered him in the usual way. What +did he care about their politics? Nothing at all. And at the end of it +all--Nostromo here and Nostromo there--where is Nostromo? Nostromo can +do this and that--work all day and ride all night--behold! he found +himself a marked Ribierist for any sort of vengeance Gamacho, for +instance, would choose to take, now the Montero party, had, after all, +mastered the town. The Europeans had given up; the Caballeros had given +up. Don Martin had indeed explained it was only temporary--that he +was going to bring Barrios to the rescue. Where was that now--with Don +Martin (whose ironic manner of talk had always made the Capataz feel +vaguely uneasy) stranded on the Great Isabel? Everybody had given up. +Even Don Carlos had given up. The hurried removal of the treasure out +to sea meant nothing else than that. The Capataz de Cargadores, on a +revulsion of subjectiveness, exasperated almost to insanity, beheld all +his world without faith and courage. He had been betrayed! + +With the boundless shadows of the sea behind him, out of his silence and +immobility, facing the lofty shapes of the lower peaks crowded around +the white, misty sheen of Higuerota, Nostromo laughed aloud again, +sprang abruptly to his feet, and stood still. He must go. But where? + +"There is no mistake. They keep us and encourage us as if we were dogs +born to fight and hunt for them. The vecchio is right," he said, slowly +and scathingly. He remembered old Giorgio taking his pipe out of his +mouth to throw these words over his shoulder at the cafe, full of +engine-drivers and fitters from the railway workshops. This image fixed +his wavering purpose. He would try to find old Giorgio if he could. God +knows what might have happened to him! He made a few steps, then stopped +again and shook his head. To the left and right, in front and behind +him, the scrubby bush rustled mysteriously in the darkness. + +"Teresa was right, too," he added in a low tone touched with awe. He +wondered whether she was dead in her anger with him or still alive. As +if in answer to this thought, half of remorse and half of hope, with +a soft flutter and oblique flight, a big owl, whose appalling cry: +"Ya-acabo! Ya-acabo!--it is finished; it is finished"--announces +calamity and death in the popular belief, drifted vaguely like a large +dark ball across his path. In the downfall of all the realities that +made his force, he was affected by the superstition, and shuddered +slightly. Signora Teresa must have died, then. It could mean nothing +else. The cry of the ill-omened bird, the first sound he was to hear on +his return, was a fitting welcome for his betrayed individuality. The +unseen powers which he had offended by refusing to bring a priest to a +dying woman were lifting up their voice against him. She was dead. With +admirable and human consistency he referred everything to himself. She +had been a woman of good counsel always. And the bereaved old Giorgio +remained stunned by his loss just as he was likely to require the advice +of his sagacity. The blow would render the dreamy old man quite stupid +for a time. + +As to Captain Mitchell, Nostromo, after the manner of trusted +subordinates, considered him as a person fitted by education perhaps +to sign papers in an office and to give orders, but otherwise of no use +whatever, and something of a fool. The necessity of winding round his +little finger, almost daily, the pompous and testy self-importance of +the old seaman had grown irksome with use to Nostromo. At first it had +given him an inward satisfaction. But the necessity of overcoming small +obstacles becomes wearisome to a self-confident personality as much by +the certitude of success as by the monotony of effort. He mistrusted +his superior's proneness to fussy action. That old Englishman had no +judgment, he said to himself. It was useless to suppose that, acquainted +with the true state of the case, he would keep it to himself. He would +talk of doing impracticable things. Nostromo feared him as one +would fear saddling one's self with some persistent worry. He had no +discretion. He would betray the treasure. And Nostromo had made up his +mind that the treasure should not be betrayed. + +The word had fixed itself tenaciously in his intelligence. His +imagination had seized upon the clear and simple notion of betrayal to +account for the dazed feeling of enlightenment as to being done for, of +having inadvertently gone out of his existence on an issue in which his +personality had not been taken into account. A man betrayed is a man +destroyed. Signora Teresa (may God have her soul!) had been right. He +had never been taken into account. Destroyed! Her white form sitting +up bowed in bed, the falling black hair, the wide-browed suffering +face raised to him, the anger of her denunciations appeared to him now +majestic with the awfulness of inspiration and of death. For it was not +for nothing that the evil bird had uttered its lamentable shriek over +his head. She was dead--may God have her soul! + +Sharing in the anti-priestly freethought of the masses, his mind used +the pious formula from the superficial force of habit, but with a +deep-seated sincerity. The popular mind is incapable of scepticism; +and that incapacity delivers their helpless strength to the wiles of +swindlers and to the pitiless enthusiasms of leaders inspired by visions +of a high destiny. She was dead. But would God consent to receive her +soul? She had died without confession or absolution, because he had +not been willing to spare her another moment of his time. His scorn of +priests as priests remained; but after all, it was impossible to know +whether what they affirmed was not true. Power, punishment, pardon, +are simple and credible notions. The magnificent Capataz de Cargadores, +deprived of certain simple realities, such as the admiration of women, +the adulation of men, the admired publicity of his life, was ready to +feel the burden of sacrilegious guilt descend upon his shoulders. + +Bareheaded, in a thin shirt and drawers, he felt the lingering warmth of +the fine sand under the soles of his feet. The narrow strand gleamed +far ahead in a long curve, defining the outline of this wild side of the +harbour. He flitted along the shore like a pursued shadow between the +sombre palm-groves and the sheet of water lying as still as death on his +right hand. He strode with headlong haste in the silence and solitude +as though he had forgotten all prudence and caution. But he knew that on +this side of the water he ran no risk of discovery. The only inhabitant +was a lonely, silent, apathetic Indian in charge of the palmarias, who +brought sometimes a load of cocoanuts to the town for sale. He lived +without a woman in an open shed, with a perpetual fire of dry sticks +smouldering near an old canoe lying bottom up on the beach. He could be +easily avoided. + +The barking of the dogs about that man's ranche was the first thing that +checked his speed. He had forgotten the dogs. He swerved sharply, and +plunged into the palm-grove, as into a wilderness of columns in an +immense hall, whose dense obscurity seemed to whisper and rustle faintly +high above his head. He traversed it, entered a ravine, and climbed to +the top of a steep ridge free of trees and bushes. + +From there, open and vague in the starlight, he saw the plain between +the town and the harbour. In the woods above some night-bird made a +strange drumming noise. Below beyond the palmaria on the beach, the +Indian's dogs continued to bark uproariously. He wondered what had upset +them so much, and, peering down from his elevation, was surprised to +detect unaccountable movements of the ground below, as if several oblong +pieces of the plain had been in motion. Those dark, shifting patches, +alternately catching and eluding the eye, altered their place always +away from the harbour, with a suggestion of consecutive order and +purpose. A light dawned upon him. It was a column of infantry on a night +march towards the higher broken country at the foot of the hills. But he +was too much in the dark about everything for wonder and speculation. + +The plain had resumed its shadowy immobility. He descended the ridge and +found himself in the open solitude, between the harbour and the town. +Its spaciousness, extended indefinitely by an effect of obscurity, +rendered more sensible his profound isolation. His pace became slower. +No one waited for him; no one thought of him; no one expected or wished +his return. "Betrayed! Betrayed!" he muttered to himself. No one +cared. He might have been drowned by this time. No one would have +cared--unless, perhaps, the children, he thought to himself. But they +were with the English signora, and not thinking of him at all. + +He wavered in his purpose of making straight for the Casa Viola. To what +end? What could he expect there? His life seemed to fail him in all +its details, even to the scornful reproaches of Teresa. He was +aware painfully of his reluctance. Was it that remorse which she had +prophesied with, what he saw now, was her last breath? + +Meantime, he had deviated from the straight course, inclining by a sort +of instinct to the right, towards the jetty and the harbour, the scene +of his daily labours. The great length of the Custom House loomed up all +at once like the wall of a factory. Not a soul challenged his approach, +and his curiosity became excited as he passed cautiously towards the +front by the unexpected sight of two lighted windows. + +They had the fascination of a lonely vigil kept by some mysterious +watcher up there, those two windows shining dimly upon the harbour in +the whole vast extent of the abandoned building. The solitude could +almost be felt. A strong smell of wood smoke hung about in a thin haze, +which was faintly perceptible to his raised eyes against the glitter +of the stars. As he advanced in the profound silence, the shrilling of +innumerable cicalas in the dry grass seemed positively deafening to his +strained ears. Slowly, step by step, he found himself in the great hall, +sombre and full of acrid smoke. + +A fire built against the staircase had burnt down impotently to a low +heap of embers. The hard wood had failed to catch; only a few steps at +the bottom smouldered, with a creeping glow of sparks defining their +charred edges. At the top he saw a streak of light from an open door. It +fell upon the vast landing, all foggy with a slow drift of smoke. That +was the room. He climbed the stairs, then checked himself, because he +had seen within the shadow of a man cast upon one of the walls. It was +a shapeless, high-shouldered shadow of somebody standing still, with +lowered head, out of his line of sight. The Capataz, remembering that he +was totally unarmed, stepped aside, and, effacing himself upright in a +dark corner, waited with his eyes fixed on the door. + +The whole enormous ruined barrack of a place, unfinished, without +ceilings under its lofty roof, was pervaded by the smoke swaying to and +fro in the faint cross draughts playing in the obscurity of many lofty +rooms and barnlike passages. Once one of the swinging shutters came +against the wall with a single sharp crack, as if pushed by an impatient +hand. A piece of paper scurried out from somewhere, rustling along the +landing. The man, whoever he was, did not darken the lighted doorway. +Twice the Capataz, advancing a couple of steps out of his corner, +craned his neck in the hope of catching sight of what he could be at, +so quietly, in there. But every time he saw only the distorted shadow +of broad shoulders and bowed head. He was doing apparently nothing, and +stirred not from the spot, as though he were meditating--or, perhaps, +reading a paper. And not a sound issued from the room. + +Once more the Capataz stepped back. He wondered who it was--some +Monterist? But he dreaded to show himself. To discover his presence +on shore, unless after many days, would, he believed, endanger the +treasure. With his own knowledge possessing his whole soul, it seemed +impossible that anybody in Sulaco should fail to jump at the right +surmise. After a couple of weeks or so it would be different. Who could +tell he had not returned overland from some port beyond the limits of +the Republic? The existence of the treasure confused his thoughts with +a peculiar sort of anxiety, as though his life had become bound up with +it. It rendered him timorous for a moment before that enigmatic, lighted +door. Devil take the fellow! He did not want to see him. There would be +nothing to learn from his face, known or unknown. He was a fool to waste +his time there in waiting. + +Less than five minutes after entering the place the Capataz began his +retreat. He got away down the stairs with perfect success, gave one +upward look over his shoulder at the light on the landing, and ran +stealthily across the hall. But at the very moment he was turning out of +the great door, with his mind fixed upon escaping the notice of the man +upstairs, somebody he had not heard coming briskly along the front ran +full into him. Both muttered a stifled exclamation of surprise, and +leaped back and stood still, each indistinct to the other. Nostromo was +silent. The other man spoke first, in an amazed and deadened tone. + +"Who are you?" + +Already Nostromo had seemed to recognize Dr. Monygham. He had no doubt +now. He hesitated the space of a second. The idea of bolting without a +word presented itself to his mind. No use! An inexplicable repugnance +to pronounce the name by which he was known kept him silent a little +longer. At last he said in a low voice-- + +"A Cargador." + +He walked up to the other. Dr. Monygham had received a shock. He flung +his arms up and cried out his wonder aloud, forgetting himself before +the marvel of this meeting. Nostromo angrily warned him to moderate +his voice. The Custom House was not so deserted as it looked. There was +somebody in the lighted room above. + +There is no more evanescent quality in an accomplished fact than its +wonderfulness. Solicited incessantly by the considerations affecting +its fears and desires, the human mind turns naturally away from the +marvellous side of events. And it was in the most natural way possible +that the doctor asked this man whom only two minutes before he believed +to have been drowned in the gulf-- + +"You have seen somebody up there? Have you?" + +"No, I have not seen him." + +"Then how do you know?" + +"I was running away from his shadow when we met." + +"His shadow?" + +"Yes. His shadow in the lighted room," said Nostromo, in a contemptuous +tone. Leaning back with folded arms at the foot of the immense building, +he dropped his head, biting his lips slightly, and not looking at the +doctor. "Now," he thought to himself, "he will begin asking me about the +treasure." + +But the doctor's thoughts were concerned with an event not as marvellous +as Nostromo's appearance, but in itself much less clear. Why had Sotillo +taken himself off with his whole command with this suddenness and +secrecy? What did this move portend? However, it dawned upon the +doctor that the man upstairs was one of the officers left behind by the +disappointed colonel to communicate with him. + +"I believe he is waiting for me," he said. + +"It is possible." + +"I must see. Do not go away yet, Capataz." + +"Go away where?" muttered Nostromo. + +Already the doctor had left him. He remained leaning against the wall, +staring at the dark water of the harbour; the shrilling of cicalas +filled his ears. An invincible vagueness coming over his thoughts took +from them all power to determine his will. + +"Capataz! Capataz!" the doctor's voice called urgently from above. + +The sense of betrayal and ruin floated upon his sombre indifference as +upon a sluggish sea of pitch. But he stepped out from under the wall, +and, looking up, saw Dr. Monygham leaning out of a lighted window. + +"Come up and see what Sotillo has done. You need not fear the man up +here." + +He answered by a slight, bitter laugh. Fear a man! The Capataz of the +Sulaco Cargadores fear a man! It angered him that anybody should suggest +such a thing. It angered him to be disarmed and skulking and in danger +because of the accursed treasure, which was of so little account to the +people who had tied it round his neck. He could not shake off the worry +of it. To Nostromo the doctor represented all these people. . . . And +he had never even asked after it. Not a word of inquiry about the most +desperate undertaking of his life. + +Thinking these thoughts, Nostromo passed again through the cavernous +hall, where the smoke was considerably thinned, and went up the stairs, +not so warm to his feet now, towards the streak of light at the top. The +doctor appeared in it for a moment, agitated and impatient. + +"Come up! Come up!" + +At the moment of crossing the doorway the Capataz experienced a shock of +surprise. The man had not moved. He saw his shadow in the same place. +He started, then stepped in with a feeling of being about to solve a +mystery. + +It was very simple. For an infinitesimal fraction of a second, against +the light of two flaring and guttering candles, through a blue, pungent, +thin haze which made his eyes smart, he saw the man standing, as he +had imagined him, with his back to the door, casting an enormous and +distorted shadow upon the wall. Swifter than a flash of lightning +followed the impression of his constrained, toppling attitude--the +shoulders projecting forward, the head sunk low upon the breast. Then +he distinguished the arms behind his back, and wrenched so terribly that +the two clenched fists, lashed together, had been forced up higher than +the shoulder-blades. From there his eyes traced in one instantaneous +glance the hide rope going upwards from the tied wrists over a heavy +beam and down to a staple in the wall. He did not want to look at the +rigid legs, at the feet hanging down nervelessly, with their bare toes +some six inches above the floor, to know that the man had been given the +estrapade till he had swooned. His first impulse was to dash forward and +sever the rope at one blow. He felt for his knife. He had no knife--not +even a knife. He stood quivering, and the doctor, perched on the edge of +the table, facing thoughtfully the cruel and lamentable sight, his chin +in his hand, uttered, without stirring-- + +"Tortured--and shot dead through the breast--getting cold." + +This information calmed the Capataz. One of the candles flickering in +the socket went out. "Who did this?" he asked. + +"Sotillo, I tell you. Who else? Tortured--of course. But why shot?" The +doctor looked fixedly at Nostromo, who shrugged his shoulders slightly. +"And mark, shot suddenly, on impulse. It is evident. I wish I had his +secret." + +Nostromo had advanced, and stooped slightly to look. "I seem to have +seen that face somewhere," he muttered. "Who is he?" + +The doctor turned his eyes upon him again. "I may yet come to envying +his fate. What do you think of that, Capataz, eh?" + +But Nostromo did not even hear these words. Seizing the remaining light, +he thrust it under the drooping head. The doctor sat oblivious, with +a lost gaze. Then the heavy iron candlestick, as if struck out of +Nostromo's hand, clattered on the floor. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed the doctor, looking up with a start. He could hear +the Capataz stagger against the table and gasp. In the sudden extinction +of the light within, the dead blackness sealing the window-frames became +alive with stars to his sight. + +"Of course, of course," the doctor muttered to himself in English. +"Enough to make him jump out of his skin." + +Nostromo's heart seemed to force itself into his throat. His head swam. +Hirsch! The man was Hirsch! He held on tight to the edge of the table. + +"But he was hiding in the lighter," he almost shouted His voice fell. +"In the lighter, and--and--" + +"And Sotillo brought him in," said the doctor. "He is no more startling +to you than you were to me. What I want to know is how he induced some +compassionate soul to shoot him." + +"So Sotillo knows--" began Nostromo, in a more equable voice. + +"Everything!" interrupted the doctor. + +The Capataz was heard striking the table with his fist. "Everything? +What are you saying, there? Everything? Know everything? It is +impossible! Everything?" + +"Of course. What do you mean by impossible? I tell you I have heard +this Hirsch questioned last night, here, in this very room. He knew your +name, Decoud's name, and all about the loading of the silver. . . . +The lighter was cut in two. He was grovelling in abject terror before +Sotillo, but he remembered that much. What do you want more? He knew +least about himself. They found him clinging to their anchor. He must +have caught at it just as the lighter went to the bottom." + +"Went to the bottom?" repeated Nostromo, slowly. "Sotillo believes that? +Bueno!" + +The doctor, a little impatiently, was unable to imagine what else could +anybody believe. Yes, Sotillo believed that the lighter was sunk, and +the Capataz de Cargadores, together with Martin Decoud and perhaps one +or two other political fugitives, had been drowned. + +"I told you well, senor doctor," remarked Nostromo at that point, "that +Sotillo did not know everything." + +"Eh? What do you mean?" + +"He did not know I was not dead." + +"Neither did we." + +"And you did not care--none of you caballeros on the wharf--once you got +off a man of flesh and blood like yourselves on a fool's business that +could not end well." + +"You forget, Capataz, I was not on the wharf. And I did not think well +of the business. So you need not taunt me. I tell you what, man, we had +but little leisure to think of the dead. Death stands near behind us +all. You were gone." + +"I went, indeed!" broke in Nostromo. "And for the sake of what--tell +me?" + +"Ah! that is your own affair," the doctor said, roughly. "Do not ask +me." + +Their flowing murmurs paused in the dark. Perched on the edge of the +table with slightly averted faces, they felt their shoulders touch, and +their eyes remained directed towards an upright shape nearly lost in the +obscurity of the inner part of the room, that with projecting head and +shoulders, in ghastly immobility, seemed intent on catching every word. + +"Muy bien!" Nostromo muttered at last. "So be it. Teresa was right. It +is my own affair." + +"Teresa is dead," remarked the doctor, absently, while his mind +followed a new line of thought suggested by what might have been called +Nostromo's return to life. "She died, the poor woman." + +"Without a priest?" the Capataz asked, anxiously. + +"What a question! Who could have got a priest for her last night?" + +"May God keep her soul!" ejaculated Nostromo, with a gloomy and hopeless +fervour which had no time to surprise Dr. Monygham, before, reverting to +their previous conversation, he continued in a sinister tone, "Si, +senor doctor. As you were saying, it is my own affair. A very desperate +affair." + +"There are no two men in this part of the world that could have saved +themselves by swimming as you have done," the doctor said, admiringly. + +And again there was silence between those two men. They were both +reflecting, and the diversity of their natures made their thoughts born +from their meeting swing afar from each other. The doctor, impelled to +risky action by his loyalty to the Goulds, wondered with thankfulness at +the chain of accident which had brought that man back where he would be +of the greatest use in the work of saving the San Tome mine. The doctor +was loyal to the mine. It presented itself to his fifty-years' old eyes +in the shape of a little woman in a soft dress with a long train, with +a head attractively overweighted by a great mass of fair hair and the +delicate preciousness of her inner worth, partaking of a gem and +a flower, revealed in every attitude of her person. As the dangers +thickened round the San Tome mine this illusion acquired force, +permanency, and authority. It claimed him at last! This claim, exalted +by a spiritual detachment from the usual sanctions of hope and reward, +made Dr. Monygham's thinking, acting, individuality extremely dangerous +to himself and to others, all his scruples vanishing in the proud +feeling that his devotion was the only thing that stood between an +admirable woman and a frightful disaster. + +It was a sort of intoxication which made him utterly indifferent to +Decoud's fate, but left his wits perfectly clear for the appreciation +of Decoud's political idea. It was a good idea--and Barrios was the only +instrument of its realization. The doctor's soul, withered and shrunk by +the shame of a moral disgrace, became implacable in the expansion of its +tenderness. Nostromo's return was providential. He did not think of him +humanely, as of a fellow-creature just escaped from the jaws of death. +The Capataz for him was the only possible messenger to Cayta. The very +man. The doctor's misanthropic mistrust of mankind (the bitterer because +based on personal failure) did not lift him sufficiently above common +weaknesses. He was under the spell of an established reputation. +Trumpeted by Captain Mitchell, grown in repetition, and fixed in +general assent, Nostromo's faithfulness had never been questioned by Dr. +Monygham as a fact. It was not likely to be questioned now he stood in +desperate need of it himself. Dr. Monygham was human; he accepted the +popular conception of the Capataz's incorruptibility simply because no +word or fact had ever contradicted a mere affirmation. It seemed to be +a part of the man, like his whiskers or his teeth. It was impossible to +conceive him otherwise. The question was whether he would consent to +go on such a dangerous and desperate errand. The doctor was observant +enough to have become aware from the first of something peculiar in the +man's temper. He was no doubt sore about the loss of the silver. + +"It will be necessary to take him into my fullest confidence," he said +to himself, with a certain acuteness of insight into the nature he had +to deal with. + +On Nostromo's side the silence had been full of black irresolution, +anger, and mistrust. He was the first to break it, however. + +"The swimming was no great matter," he said. "It is what went +before--and what comes after that--" + +He did not quite finish what he meant to say, breaking off short, as +though his thought had butted against a solid obstacle. The doctor's +mind pursued its own schemes with Machiavellian subtlety. He said as +sympathetically as he was able-- + +"It is unfortunate, Capataz. But no one would think of blaming you. Very +unfortunate. To begin with, the treasure ought never to have left the +mountain. But it was Decoud who--however, he is dead. There is no need +to talk of him." + +"No," assented Nostromo, as the doctor paused, "there is no need to talk +of dead men. But I am not dead yet." + +"You are all right. Only a man of your intrepidity could have saved +himself." + +In this Dr. Monygham was sincere. He esteemed highly the intrepidity of +that man, whom he valued but little, being disillusioned as to mankind +in general, because of the particular instance in which his own manhood +had failed. Having had to encounter singlehanded during his period of +eclipse many physical dangers, he was well aware of the most dangerous +element common to them all: of the crushing, paralyzing sense of human +littleness, which is what really defeats a man struggling with natural +forces, alone, far from the eyes of his fellows. He was eminently fit +to appreciate the mental image he made for himself of the Capataz, after +hours of tension and anxiety, precipitated suddenly into an abyss of +waters and darkness, without earth or sky, and confronting it not only +with an undismayed mind, but with sensible success. Of course, the man +was an incomparable swimmer, that was known, but the doctor judged that +this instance testified to a still greater intrepidity of spirit. It was +pleasing to him; he augured well from it for the success of the arduous +mission with which he meant to entrust the Capataz so marvellously +restored to usefulness. And in a tone vaguely gratified, he observed-- + +"It must have been terribly dark!" + +"It was the worst darkness of the Golfo," the Capataz assented, briefly. +He was mollified by what seemed a sign of some faint interest in such +things as had befallen him, and dropped a few descriptive phrases with +an affected and curt nonchalance. At that moment he felt communicative. +He expected the continuance of that interest which, whether accepted +or rejected, would have restored to him his personality--the only thing +lost in that desperate affair. But the doctor, engrossed by a desperate +adventure of his own, was terrible in the pursuit of his idea. He let an +exclamation of regret escape him. + +"I could almost wish you had shouted and shown a light." + +This unexpected utterance astounded the Capataz by its character of +cold-blooded atrocity. It was as much as to say, "I wish you had shown +yourself a coward; I wish you had had your throat cut for your pains." +Naturally he referred it to himself, whereas it related only to the +silver, being uttered simply and with many mental reservations. Surprise +and rage rendered him speechless, and the doctor pursued, practically +unheard by Nostromo, whose stirred blood was beating violently in his +ears. + +"For I am convinced Sotillo in possession of the silver would have +turned short round and made for some small port abroad. Economically it +would have been wasteful, but still less wasteful than having it sunk. +It was the next best thing to having it at hand in some safe place, and +using part of it to buy up Sotillo. But I doubt whether Don Carlos would +have ever made up his mind to it. He is not fit for Costaguana, and that +is a fact, Capataz." + +The Capataz had mastered the fury that was like a tempest in his ears in +time to hear the name of Don Carlos. He seemed to have come out of it a +changed man--a man who spoke thoughtfully in a soft and even voice. + +"And would Don Carlos have been content if I had surrendered this +treasure?" + +"I should not wonder if they were all of that way of thinking now," the +doctor said, grimly. "I was never consulted. Decoud had it his own way. +Their eyes are opened by this time, I should think. I for one know that +if that silver turned up this moment miraculously ashore I would give it +to Sotillo. And, as things stand, I would be approved." + +"Turned up miraculously," repeated the Capataz very low; then raised +his voice. "That, senor, would be a greater miracle than any saint could +perform." + +"I believe you, Capataz," said the doctor, drily. + +He went on to develop his view of Sotillo's dangerous influence upon the +situation. And the Capataz, listening as if in a dream, felt himself of +as little account as the indistinct, motionless shape of the dead man +whom he saw upright under the beam, with his air of listening also, +disregarded, forgotten, like a terrible example of neglect. + +"Was it for an unconsidered and foolish whim that they came to me, +then?" he interrupted suddenly. "Had I not done enough for them to be +of some account, por Dios? Is it that the hombres finos--the +gentlemen--need not think as long as there is a man of the people ready +to risk his body and soul? Or, perhaps, we have no souls--like dogs?" + +"There was Decoud, too, with his plan," the doctor reminded him again. + +"Si! And the rich man in San Francisco who had something to do with +that treasure, too--what do I know? No! I have heard too many things. It +seems to me that everything is permitted to the rich." + +"I understand, Capataz," the doctor began. + +"What Capataz?" broke in Nostromo, in a forcible but even voice. "The +Capataz is undone, destroyed. There is no Capataz. Oh, no! You will find +the Capataz no more." + +"Come, this is childish!" remonstrated the doctor; and the other calmed +down suddenly. + +"I have been indeed like a little child," he muttered. + +And as his eyes met again the shape of the murdered man suspended in +his awful immobility, which seemed the uncomplaining immobility of +attention, he asked, wondering gently-- + +"Why did Sotillo give the estrapade to this pitiful wretch? Do you +know? No torture could have been worse than his fear. Killing I can +understand. His anguish was intolerable to behold. But why should he +torment him like this? He could tell no more." + +"No; he could tell nothing more. Any sane man would have seen that. He +had told him everything. But I tell you what it is, Capataz. Sotillo +would not believe what he was told. Not everything." + +"What is it he would not believe? I cannot understand." + +"I can, because I have seen the man. He refuses to believe that the +treasure is lost." + +"What?" the Capataz cried out in a discomposed tone. + +"That startles you--eh?" + +"Am I to understand, senor," Nostromo went on in a deliberate and, as it +were, watchful tone, "that Sotillo thinks the treasure has been saved by +some means?" + +"No! no! That would be impossible," said the doctor, with conviction; +and Nostromo emitted a grunt in the dark. "That would be impossible. He +thinks that the silver was no longer in the lighter when she was sunk. +He has convinced himself that the whole show of getting it away to sea +is a mere sham got up to deceive Gamacho and his Nationals, Pedrito +Montero, Senor Fuentes, our new Gefe Politico, and himself, too. Only, +he says, he is no such fool." + +"But he is devoid of sense. He is the greatest imbecile that ever called +himself a colonel in this country of evil," growled Nostromo. + +"He is no more unreasonable than many sensible men," said the doctor. +"He has convinced himself that the treasure can be found because he +desires passionately to possess himself of it. And he is also afraid of +his officers turning upon him and going over to Pedrito, whom he has not +the courage either to fight or trust. Do you see that, Capataz? He need +fear no desertion as long as some hope remains of that enormous plunder +turning up. I have made it my business to keep this very hope up." + +"You have?" the Capataz de Cargadores repeated cautiously. "Well, that +is wonderful. And how long do you think you are going to keep it up?" + +"As long as I can." + +"What does that mean?" + +"I can tell you exactly. As long as I live," the doctor retorted in +a stubborn voice. Then, in a few words, he described the story of his +arrest and the circumstances of his release. "I was going back to that +silly scoundrel when we met," he concluded. + +Nostromo had listened with profound attention. "You have made up your +mind, then, to a speedy death," he muttered through his clenched teeth. + +"Perhaps, my illustrious Capataz," the doctor said, testily. "You are +not the only one here who can look an ugly death in the face." + +"No doubt," mumbled Nostromo, loud enough to be overheard. "There may be +even more than two fools in this place. Who knows?" + +"And that is my affair," said the doctor, curtly. + +"As taking out the accursed silver to sea was my affair," retorted +Nostromo. "I see. Bueno! Each of us has his reasons. But you were the +last man I conversed with before I started, and you talked to me as if I +were a fool." + +Nostromo had a great distaste for the doctor's sardonic treatment of his +great reputation. Decoud's faintly ironic recognition used to make him +uneasy; but the familiarity of a man like Don Martin was flattering, +whereas the doctor was a nobody. He could remember him a penniless +outcast, slinking about the streets of Sulaco, without a single friend +or acquaintance, till Don Carlos Gould took him into the service of the +mine. + +"You may be very wise," he went on, thoughtfully, staring into the +obscurity of the room, pervaded by the gruesome enigma of the tortured +and murdered Hirsch. "But I am not such a fool as when I started. I have +learned one thing since, and that is that you are a dangerous man." + +Dr. Monygham was too startled to do more than exclaim-- + +"What is it you say?" + +"If he could speak he would say the same thing," pursued Nostromo, with +a nod of his shadowy head silhouetted against the starlit window. + +"I do not understand you," said Dr. Monygham, faintly. + +"No? Perhaps, if you had not confirmed Sotillo in his madness, he would +have been in no haste to give the estrapade to that miserable Hirsch." + +The doctor started at the suggestion. But his devotion, absorbing all +his sensibilities, had left his heart steeled against remorse and pity. +Still, for complete relief, he felt the necessity of repelling it loudly +and contemptuously. + +"Bah! You dare to tell me that, with a man like Sotillo. I confess I +did not give a thought to Hirsch. If I had it would have been useless. +Anybody can see that the luckless wretch was doomed from the moment he +caught hold of the anchor. He was doomed, I tell you! Just as I myself +am doomed--most probably." + +This is what Dr. Monygham said in answer to Nostromo's remark, which was +plausible enough to prick his conscience. He was not a callous man. But +the necessity, the magnitude, the importance of the task he had taken +upon himself dwarfed all merely humane considerations. He had undertaken +it in a fanatical spirit. He did not like it. To lie, to deceive, to +circumvent even the basest of mankind was odious to him. It was odious +to him by training, instinct, and tradition. To do these things in the +character of a traitor was abhorrent to his nature and terrible to his +feelings. He had made that sacrifice in a spirit of abasement. He had +said to himself bitterly, "I am the only one fit for that dirty work." +And he believed this. He was not subtle. His simplicity was such that, +though he had no sort of heroic idea of seeking death, the risk, deadly +enough, to which he exposed himself, had a sustaining and comforting +effect. To that spiritual state the fate of Hirsch presented itself +as part of the general atrocity of things. He considered that episode +practically. What did it mean? Was it a sign of some dangerous change in +Sotillo's delusion? That the man should have been killed like this was +what the doctor could not understand. + +"Yes. But why shot?" he murmured to himself. + +Nostromo kept very still. + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +Distracted between doubts and hopes, dismayed by the sound of bells +pealing out the arrival of Pedrito Montero, Sotillo had spent the +morning in battling with his thoughts; a contest to which he was +unequal, from the vacuity of his mind and the violence of his passions. +Disappointment, greed, anger, and fear made a tumult, in the colonel's +breast louder than the din of bells in the town. Nothing he had planned +had come to pass. Neither Sulaco nor the silver of the mine had fallen +into his hands. He had performed no military exploit to secure his +position, and had obtained no enormous booty to make off with. Pedrito +Montero, either as friend or foe, filled him with dread. The sound of +bells maddened him. + +Imagining at first that he might be attacked at once, he had made his +battalion stand to arms on the shore. He walked to and fro all the +length of the room, stopping sometimes to gnaw the finger-tips of his +right hand with a lurid sideways glare fixed on the floor; then, with +a sullen, repelling glance all round, he would resume his tramping in +savage aloofness. His hat, horsewhip, sword, and revolver were lying on +the table. His officers, crowding the window giving the view of the town +gate, disputed amongst themselves the use of his field-glass bought last +year on long credit from Anzani. It passed from hand to hand, and the +possessor for the time being was besieged by anxious inquiries. + +"There is nothing; there is nothing to see!" he would repeat +impatiently. + +There was nothing. And when the picket in the bushes near the Casa +Viola had been ordered to fall back upon the main body, no stir of life +appeared on the stretch of dusty and arid land between the town and the +waters of the port. But late in the afternoon a horseman issuing from +the gate was made out riding up fearlessly. It was an emissary from +Senor Fuentes. Being all alone he was allowed to come on. Dismounting at +the great door he greeted the silent bystanders with cheery impudence, +and begged to be taken up at once to the "muy valliente" colonel. + +Senor Fuentes, on entering upon his functions of Gefe Politico, had +turned his diplomatic abilities to getting hold of the harbour as well +as of the mine. The man he pitched upon to negotiate with Sotillo was a +Notary Public, whom the revolution had found languishing in the common +jail on a charge of forging documents. Liberated by the mob along with +the other "victims of Blanco tyranny," he had hastened to offer his +services to the new Government. + +He set out determined to display much zeal and eloquence in trying to +induce Sotillo to come into town alone for a conference with Pedrito +Montero. Nothing was further from the colonel's intentions. The mere +fleeting idea of trusting himself into the famous Pedrito's hands had +made him feel unwell several times. It was out of the question--it was +madness. And to put himself in open hostility was madness, too. It would +render impossible a systematic search for that treasure, for that wealth +of silver which he seemed to feel somewhere about, to scent somewhere +near. + +But where? Where? Heavens! Where? Oh! why had he allowed that doctor +to go! Imbecile that he was. But no! It was the only right course, he +reflected distractedly, while the messenger waited downstairs chatting +agreeably to the officers. It was in that scoundrelly doctor's true +interest to return with positive information. But what if anything +stopped him? A general prohibition to leave the town, for instance! +There would be patrols! + +The colonel, seizing his head in his hands, turned in his tracks as if +struck with vertigo. A flash of craven inspiration suggested to him an +expedient not unknown to European statesmen when they wish to delay a +difficult negotiation. Booted and spurred, he scrambled into the hammock +with undignified haste. His handsome face had turned yellow with the +strain of weighty cares. The ridge of his shapely nose had grown sharp; +the audacious nostrils appeared mean and pinched. The velvety, caressing +glance of his fine eyes seemed dead, and even decomposed; for these +almond-shaped, languishing orbs had become inappropriately bloodshot +with much sinister sleeplessness. He addressed the surprised envoy +of Senor Fuentes in a deadened, exhausted voice. It came pathetically +feeble from under a pile of ponchos, which buried his elegant person +right up to the black moustaches, uncurled, pendant, in sign of bodily +prostration and mental incapacity. Fever, fever--a heavy fever +had overtaken the "muy valliente" colonel. A wavering wildness of +expression, caused by the passing spasms of a slight colic which had +declared itself suddenly, and the rattling teeth of repressed panic, had +a genuineness which impressed the envoy. It was a cold fit. The colonel +explained that he was unable to think, to listen, to speak. With an +appearance of superhuman effort the colonel gasped out that he was +not in a state to return a suitable reply or to execute any of his +Excellency's orders. But to-morrow! To-morrow! Ah! to-morrow! Let his +Excellency Don Pedro be without uneasiness. The brave Esmeralda Regiment +held the harbour, held--And closing his eyes, he rolled his aching head +like a half-delirious invalid under the inquisitive stare of the envoy, +who was obliged to bend down over the hammock in order to catch the +painful and broken accents. Meantime, Colonel Sotillo trusted that his +Excellency's humanity would permit the doctor, the English doctor, to +come out of town with his case of foreign remedies to attend upon him. +He begged anxiously his worship the caballero now present for the grace +of looking in as he passed the Casa Gould, and informing the English +doctor, who was probably there, that his services were immediately +required by Colonel Sotillo, lying ill of fever in the Custom House. +Immediately. Most urgently required. Awaited with extreme impatience. +A thousand thanks. He closed his eyes wearily and would not open +them again, lying perfectly still, deaf, dumb, insensible, overcome, +vanquished, crushed, annihilated by the fell disease. + +But as soon as the other had shut after him the door of the landing, the +colonel leaped out with a fling of both feet in an avalanche of woollen +coverings. His spurs having become entangled in a perfect welter of +ponchos he nearly pitched on his head, and did not recover his balance +till the middle of the room. Concealed behind the half-closed jalousies +he listened to what went on below. + +The envoy had already mounted, and turning to the morose officers +occupying the great doorway, took off his hat formally. + +"Caballeros," he said, in a very loud tone, "allow me to recommend +you to take great care of your colonel. It has done me much honour and +gratification to have seen you all, a fine body of men exercising the +soldierly virtue of patience in this exposed situation, where there +is much sun, and no water to speak of, while a town full of wine and +feminine charms is ready to embrace you for the brave men you are. +Caballeros, I have the honour to salute you. There will be much dancing +to-night in Sulaco. Good-bye!" + +But he reined in his horse and inclined his head sideways on seeing +the old major step out, very tall and meagre, in a straight narrow +coat coming down to his ankles as it were the casing of the regimental +colours rolled round their staff. + +The intelligent old warrior, after enunciating in a dogmatic tone the +general proposition that the "world was full of traitors," went on +pronouncing deliberately a panegyric upon Sotillo. He ascribed to him +with leisurely emphasis every virtue under heaven, summing it all up in +an absurd colloquialism current amongst the lower class of Occidentals +(especially about Esmeralda). "And," he concluded, with a sudden rise in +the voice, "a man of many teeth--'hombre de muchos dientes.' Si, senor. +As to us," he pursued, portentous and impressive, "your worship is +beholding the finest body of officers in the Republic, men unequalled +for valour and sagacity, 'y hombres de muchos dientes.'" + +"What? All of them?" inquired the disreputable envoy of Senor Fuentes, +with a faint, derisive smile. + +"Todos. Si, senor," the major affirmed, gravely, with conviction. "Men +of many teeth." + +The other wheeled his horse to face the portal resembling the high gate +of a dismal barn. He raised himself in his stirrups, extended one arm. +He was a facetious scoundrel, entertaining for these stupid Occidentals +a feeling of great scorn natural in a native from the central provinces. +The folly of Esmeraldians especially aroused his amused contempt. He +began an oration upon Pedro Montero, keeping a solemn countenance. He +flourished his hand as if introducing him to their notice. And when he +saw every face set, all the eyes fixed upon his lips, he began to +shout a sort of catalogue of perfections: "Generous, valorous, affable, +profound"--(he snatched off his hat enthusiastically)--"a statesman, an +invincible chief of partisans--" He dropped his voice startlingly to a +deep, hollow note--"and a dentist." + +He was off instantly at a smart walk; the rigid straddle of his legs, +the turned-out feet, the stiff back, the rakish slant of the sombrero +above the square, motionless set of the shoulders expressing an +infinite, awe-inspiring impudence. + +Upstairs, behind the jalousies, Sotillo did not move for a long time. +The audacity of the fellow appalled him. What were his officers saying +below? They were saying nothing. Complete silence. He quaked. It was not +thus that he had imagined himself at that stage of the expedition. He +had seen himself triumphant, unquestioned, appeased, the idol of the +soldiers, weighing in secret complacency the agreeable alternatives of +power and wealth open to his choice. Alas! How different! Distracted, +restless, supine, burning with fury, or frozen with terror, he felt +a dread as fathomless as the sea creep upon him from every side. That +rogue of a doctor had to come out with his information. That was clear. +It would be of no use to him--alone. He could do nothing with it. +Malediction! The doctor would never come out. He was probably under +arrest already, shut up together with Don Carlos. He laughed aloud +insanely. Ha! ha! ha! ha! It was Pedrito Montero who would get the +information. Ha! ha! ha! ha!--and the silver. Ha! + +All at once, in the midst of the laugh, he became motionless and silent +as if turned into stone. He too, had a prisoner. A prisoner who must, +must know the real truth. He would have to be made to speak. And +Sotillo, who all that time had not quite forgotten Hirsch, felt an +inexplicable reluctance at the notion of proceeding to extremities. + +He felt a reluctance--part of that unfathomable dread that crept on all +sides upon him. He remembered reluctantly, too, the dilated eyes of the +hide merchant, his contortions, his loud sobs and protestations. It +was not compassion or even mere nervous sensibility. The fact was that +though Sotillo did never for a moment believe his story--he could not +believe it; nobody could believe such nonsense--yet those accents of +despairing truth impressed him disagreeably. They made him feel sick. +And he suspected also that the man might have gone mad with fear. A +lunatic is a hopeless subject. Bah! A pretence. Nothing but a pretence. +He would know how to deal with that. + +He was working himself up to the right pitch of ferocity. His fine eyes +squinted slightly; he clapped his hands; a bare-footed orderly appeared +noiselessly, a corporal, with his bayonet hanging on his thigh and a +stick in his hand. + +The colonel gave his orders, and presently the miserable Hirsch, pushed +in by several soldiers, found him frowning awfully in a broad armchair, +hat on head, knees wide apart, arms akimbo, masterful, imposing, +irresistible, haughty, sublime, terrible. + +Hirsch, with his arms tied behind his back, had been bundled violently +into one of the smaller rooms. For many hours he remained apparently +forgotten, stretched lifelessly on the floor. From that solitude, full +of despair and terror, he was torn out brutally, with kicks and blows, +passive, sunk in hebetude. He listened to threats and admonitions, and +afterwards made his usual answers to questions, with his chin sunk on +his breast, his hands tied behind his back, swaying a little in front of +Sotillo, and never looking up. When he was forced to hold up his head, +by means of a bayonet-point prodding him under the chin, his eyes had a +vacant, trance-like stare, and drops of perspiration as big as peas were +seen hailing down the dirt, bruises, and scratches of his white face. +Then they stopped suddenly. + +Sotillo looked at him in silence. "Will you depart from your obstinacy, +you rogue?" he asked. Already a rope, whose one end was fastened to +Senor Hirsch's wrists, had been thrown over a beam, and three soldiers +held the other end, waiting. He made no answer. His heavy lower lip hung +stupidly. Sotillo made a sign. Hirsch was jerked up off his feet, and a +yell of despair and agony burst out in the room, filled the passage of +the great buildings, rent the air outside, caused every soldier of the +camp along the shore to look up at the windows, started some of the +officers in the hall babbling excitedly, with shining eyes; others, +setting their lips, looked gloomily at the floor. + +Sotillo, followed by the soldiers, had left the room. The sentry on the +landing presented arms. Hirsch went on screaming all alone behind the +half-closed jalousies while the sunshine, reflected from the water of +the harbour, made an ever-running ripple of light high up on the wall. +He screamed with uplifted eyebrows and a wide-open mouth--incredibly +wide, black, enormous, full of teeth--comical. + +In the still burning air of the windless afternoon he made the waves +of his agony travel as far as the O. S. N. Company's offices. Captain +Mitchell on the balcony, trying to make out what went on generally, had +heard him faintly but distinctly, and the feeble and appalling sound +lingered in his ears after he had retreated indoors with blanched +cheeks. He had been driven off the balcony several times during that +afternoon. + +Sotillo, irritable, moody, walked restlessly about, held consultations +with his officers, gave contradictory orders in this shrill clamour +pervading the whole empty edifice. Sometimes there would be long and +awful silences. Several times he had entered the torture-chamber where +his sword, horsewhip, revolver, and field-glass were lying on the table, +to ask with forced calmness, "Will you speak the truth now? No? I can +wait." But he could not afford to wait much longer. That was just it. +Every time he went in and came out with a slam of the door, the sentry +on the landing presented arms, and got in return a black, venomous, +unsteady glance, which, in reality, saw nothing at all, being merely the +reflection of the soul within--a soul of gloomy hatred, irresolution, +avarice, and fury. + +The sun had set when he went in once more. A soldier carried in two +lighted candles and slunk out, shutting the door without noise. + +"Speak, thou Jewish child of the devil! The silver! The silver, I say! +Where is it? Where have you foreign rogues hidden it? Confess or--" + +A slight quiver passed up the taut rope from the racked limbs, but the +body of Senor Hirsch, enterprising business man from Esmeralda, hung +under the heavy beam perpendicular and silent, facing the colonel +awfully. The inflow of the night air, cooled by the snows of the Sierra, +spread gradually a delicious freshness through the close heat of the +room. + +"Speak--thief--scoundrel--picaro--or--" + +Sotillo had seized the riding-whip, and stood with his arm lifted up. +For a word, for one little word, he felt he would have knelt, cringed, +grovelled on the floor before the drowsy, conscious stare of those fixed +eyeballs starting out of the grimy, dishevelled head that drooped very +still with its mouth closed askew. The colonel ground his teeth with +rage and struck. The rope vibrated leisurely to the blow, like the long +string of a pendulum starting from a rest. But no swinging motion was +imparted to the body of Senor Hirsch, the well-known hide merchant on +the coast. With a convulsive effort of the twisted arms it leaped up a +few inches, curling upon itself like a fish on the end of a line. Senor +Hirsch's head was flung back on his straining throat; his chin trembled. +For a moment the rattle of his chattering teeth pervaded the vast, +shadowy room, where the candles made a patch of light round the two +flames burning side by side. And as Sotillo, staying his raised hand, +waited for him to speak, with the sudden flash of a grin and a straining +forward of the wrenched shoulders, he spat violently into his face. + +The uplifted whip fell, and the colonel sprang back with a low cry of +dismay, as if aspersed by a jet of deadly venom. Quick as thought he +snatched up his revolver, and fired twice. The report and the concussion +of the shots seemed to throw him at once from ungovernable rage into +idiotic stupor. He stood with drooping jaw and stony eyes. What had he +done, Sangre de Dios! What had he done? He was basely appalled at his +impulsive act, sealing for ever these lips from which so much was to +be extorted. What could he say? How could he explain? Ideas of headlong +flight somewhere, anywhere, passed through his mind; even the craven and +absurd notion of hiding under the table occurred to his cowardice. +It was too late; his officers had rushed in tumultuously, in a great +clatter of scabbards, clamouring, with astonishment and wonder. But +since they did not immediately proceed to plunge their swords into his +breast, the brazen side of his character asserted itself. Passing the +sleeve of his uniform over his face he pulled himself together, His +truculent glance turned slowly here and there, checked the noise where +it fell; and the stiff body of the late Senor Hirsch, merchant, after +swaying imperceptibly, made a half turn, and came to a rest in the midst +of awed murmurs and uneasy shuffling. + +A voice remarked loudly, "Behold a man who will never speak again." And +another, from the back row of faces, timid and pressing, cried out-- + +"Why did you kill him, mi colonel?" + +"Because he has confessed everything," answered Sotillo, with the +hardihood of desperation. He felt himself cornered. He brazened it out +on the strength of his reputation with very fair success. His hearers +thought him very capable of such an act. They were disposed to believe +his flattering tale. There is no credulity so eager and blind as the +credulity of covetousness, which, in its universal extent, measures the +moral misery and the intellectual destitution of mankind. Ah! he had +confessed everything, this fractious Jew, this bribon. Good! Then he +was no longer wanted. A sudden dense guffaw was heard from the senior +captain--a big-headed man, with little round eyes and monstrously fat +cheeks which never moved. The old major, tall and fantastically ragged +like a scarecrow, walked round the body of the late Senor Hirsch, +muttering to himself with ineffable complacency that like this there was +no need to guard against any future treacheries of that scoundrel. The +others stared, shifting from foot to foot, and whispering short remarks +to each other. + +Sotillo buckled on his sword and gave curt, peremptory orders to hasten +the retirement decided upon in the afternoon. Sinister, impressive, his +sombrero pulled right down upon his eyebrows, he marched first through +the door in such disorder of mind that he forgot utterly to provide for +Dr. Monygham's possible return. As the officers trooped out after him, +one or two looked back hastily at the late Senor Hirsch, merchant from +Esmeralda, left swinging rigidly at rest, alone with the two burning +candles. In the emptiness of the room the burly shadow of head and +shoulders on the wall had an air of life. + +Below, the troops fell in silently and moved off by companies without +drum or trumpet. The old scarecrow major commanded the rearguard; but +the party he left behind with orders to fire the Custom House (and "burn +the carcass of the treacherous Jew where it hung") failed somehow in +their haste to set the staircase properly alight. The body of the +late Senor Hirsch dwelt alone for a time in the dismal solitude of the +unfinished building, resounding weirdly with sudden slams and clicks +of doors and latches, with rustling scurries of torn papers, and the +tremulous sighs that at each gust of wind passed under the high roof. +The light of the two candles burning before the perpendicular and +breathless immobility of the late Senor Hirsch threw a gleam afar over +land and water, like a signal in the night. He remained to startle +Nostromo by his presence, and to puzzle Dr. Monygham by the mystery of +his atrocious end. + +"But why shot?" the doctor again asked himself, audibly. This time he +was answered by a dry laugh from Nostromo. + +"You seem much concerned at a very natural thing, senor doctor. I wonder +why? It is very likely that before long we shall all get shot one after +another, if not by Sotillo, then by Pedrito, or Fuentes, or Gamacho. +And we may even get the estrapade, too, or worse--quien sabe?--with your +pretty tale of the silver you put into Sotillo's head." + +"It was in his head already," the doctor protested. "I only--" + +"Yes. And you only nailed it there so that the devil himself--" + +"That is precisely what I meant to do," caught up the doctor. + +"That is what you meant to do. Bueno. It is as I say. You are a +dangerous man." + +Their voices, which without rising had been growing quarrelsome, ceased +suddenly. The late Senor Hirsch, erect and shadowy against the stars, +seemed to be waiting attentive, in impartial silence. + +But Dr. Monygham had no mind to quarrel with Nostromo. At this supremely +critical point of Sulaco's fortunes it was borne upon him at last that +this man was really indispensable, more indispensable than ever the +infatuation of Captain Mitchell, his proud discoverer, could conceive; +far beyond what Decoud's best dry raillery about "my illustrious friend, +the unique Capataz de Cargadores," had ever intended. The fellow was +unique. He was not "one in a thousand." He was absolutely the only +one. The doctor surrendered. There was something in the genius of that +Genoese seaman which dominated the destinies of great enterprises and +of many people, the fortunes of Charles Gould, the fate of an admirable +woman. At this last thought the doctor had to clear his throat before he +could speak. + +In a completely changed tone he pointed out to the Capataz that, to +begin with, he personally ran no great risk. As far as everybody knew he +was dead. It was an enormous advantage. He had only to keep out of sight +in the Casa Viola, where the old Garibaldino was known to be alone--with +his dead wife. The servants had all run away. No one would think of +searching for him there, or anywhere else on earth, for that matter. + +"That would be very true," Nostromo spoke up, bitterly, "if I had not +met you." + +For a time the doctor kept silent. "Do you mean to say that you think I +may give you away?" he asked in an unsteady voice. "Why? Why should I do +that?" + +"What do I know? Why not? To gain a day perhaps. It would take Sotillo a +day to give me the estrapade, and try some other things perhaps, before +he puts a bullet through my heart--as he did to that poor wretch here. +Why not?" + +The doctor swallowed with difficulty. His throat had gone dry in a +moment. It was not from indignation. The doctor, pathetically enough, +believed that he had forfeited the right to be indignant with any +one--for anything. It was simple dread. Had the fellow heard his story +by some chance? If so, there was an end of his usefulness in that +direction. The indispensable man escaped his influence, because of +that indelible blot which made him fit for dirty work. A feeling as of +sickness came upon the doctor. He would have given anything to know, but +he dared not clear up the point. The fanaticism of his devotion, fed on +the sense of his abasement, hardened his heart in sadness and scorn. + +"Why not, indeed?" he reechoed, sardonically. "Then the safe thing for +you is to kill me on the spot. I would defend myself. But you may just +as well know I am going about unarmed." + +"Por Dios!" said the Capataz, passionately. "You fine people are all +alike. All dangerous. All betrayers of the poor who are your dogs." + +"You do not understand," began the doctor, slowly. + +"I understand you all!" cried the other with a violent movement, as +shadowy to the doctor's eyes as the persistent immobility of the late +Senor Hirsch. "A poor man amongst you has got to look after himself. I +say that you do not care for those that serve you. Look at me! After all +these years, suddenly, here I find myself like one of these curs that +bark outside the walls--without a kennel or a dry bone for my teeth. +_Caramba!_" But he relented with a contemptuous fairness. "Of course," he +went on, quietly, "I do not suppose that you would hasten to give me +up to Sotillo, for example. It is not that. It is that I am nothing! +Suddenly--" He swung his arm downwards. "Nothing to any one," he +repeated. + +The doctor breathed freely. "Listen, Capataz," he said, stretching out +his arm almost affectionately towards Nostromo's shoulder. "I am going +to tell you a very simple thing. You are safe because you are needed. I +would not give you away for any conceivable reason, because I want you." + +In the dark Nostromo bit his lip. He had heard enough of that. He knew +what that meant. No more of that for him. But he had to look after +himself now, he thought. And he thought, too, that it would not be +prudent to part in anger from his companion. The doctor, admitted to be +a great healer, had, amongst the populace of Sulaco, the reputation +of being an evil sort of man. It was based solidly on his personal +appearance, which was strange, and on his rough ironic manner--proofs +visible, sensible, and incontrovertible of the doctor's malevolent +disposition. And Nostromo was of the people. So he only grunted +incredulously. + +"You, to speak plainly, are the only man," the doctor pursued. "It is +in your power to save this town and . . . everybody from the destructive +rapacity of men who--" + +"No, senor," said Nostromo, sullenly. "It is not in my power to get the +treasure back for you to give up to Sotillo, or Pedrito, or Gamacho. +What do I know?" + +"Nobody expects the impossible," was the answer. + +"You have said it yourself--nobody," muttered Nostromo, in a gloomy, +threatening tone. + +But Dr. Monygham, full of hope, disregarded the enigmatic words and the +threatening tone. To their eyes, accustomed to obscurity, the late +Senor Hirsch, growing more distinct, seemed to have come nearer. And +the doctor lowered his voice in exposing his scheme as though afraid of +being overheard. + +He was taking the indispensable man into his fullest confidence. Its +implied flattery and suggestion of great risks came with a familiar +sound to the Capataz. His mind, floating in irresolution and discontent, +recognized it with bitterness. He understood well that the doctor was +anxious to save the San Tome mine from annihilation. He would be nothing +without it. It was his interest. Just as it had been the interest of +Senor Decoud, of the Blancos, and of the Europeans to get his Cargadores +on their side. His thought became arrested upon Decoud. What would +happen to him? + +Nostromo's prolonged silence made the doctor uneasy. He pointed out, +quite unnecessarily, that though for the present he was safe, he could +not live concealed for ever. The choice was between accepting the +mission to Barrios, with all its dangers and difficulties, and leaving +Sulaco by stealth, ingloriously, in poverty. + +"None of your friends could reward you and protect you just now, +Capataz. Not even Don Carlos himself." + +"I would have none of your protection and none of your rewards. I +only wish I could trust your courage and your sense. When I return in +triumph, as you say, with Barrios, I may find you all destroyed. You +have the knife at your throat now." + +It was the doctor's turn to remain silent in the contemplation of +horrible contingencies. + +"Well, we would trust your courage and your sense. And you, too, have a +knife at your throat." + +"Ah! And whom am I to thank for that? What are your politics and your +mines to me--your silver and your constitutions--your Don Carlos this, +and Don Jose that--" + +"I don't know," burst out the exasperated doctor. "There are innocent +people in danger whose little finger is worth more than you or I and all +the Ribierists together. I don't know. You should have asked yourself +before you allowed Decoud to lead you into all this. It was your place +to think like a man; but if you did not think then, try to act like a +man now. Did you imagine Decoud cared very much for what would happen to +you?" + +"No more than you care for what will happen to me," muttered the other. + +"No; I care for what will happen to you as little as I care for what +will happen to myself." + +"And all this because you are such a devoted Ribierist?" Nostromo said +in an incredulous tone. + +"All this because I am such a devoted Ribierist," repeated Dr. Monygham, +grimly. + +Again Nostromo, gazing abstractedly at the body of the late Senor +Hirsch, remained silent, thinking that the doctor was a dangerous person +in more than one sense. It was impossible to trust him. + +"Do you speak in the name of Don Carlos?" he asked at last. + +"Yes. I do," the doctor said, loudly, without hesitation. "He must come +forward now. He must," he added in a mutter, which Nostromo did not +catch. + +"What did you say, senor?" + +The doctor started. "I say that you must be true to yourself, Capataz. +It would be worse than folly to fail now." + +"True to myself," repeated Nostromo. "How do you know that I would +not be true to myself if I told you to go to the devil with your +propositions?" + +"I do not know. Maybe you would," the doctor said, with a roughness of +tone intended to hide the sinking of his heart and the faltering of his +voice. "All I know is, that you had better get away from here. Some of +Sotillo's men may turn up here looking for me." + +He slipped off the table, listening intently. The Capataz, too, stood +up. + +"Suppose I went to Cayta, what would you do meantime?" he asked. + +"I would go to Sotillo directly you had left--in the way I am thinking +of." + +"A very good way--if only that engineer-in-chief consents. Remind him, +senor, that I looked after the old rich Englishman who pays for the +railway, and that I saved the lives of some of his people that time when +a gang of thieves came from the south to wreck one of his pay-trains. +It was I who discovered it all at the risk of my life, by pretending to +enter into their plans. Just as you are doing with Sotillo." + +"Yes. Yes, of course. But I can offer him better arguments," the doctor +said, hastily. "Leave it to me." + +"Ah, yes! True. I am nothing." + +"Not at all. You are everything." + +They moved a few paces towards the door. Behind them the late Senor +Hirsch preserved the immobility of a disregarded man. + +"That will be all right. I know what to say to the engineer," pursued +the doctor, in a low tone. "My difficulty will be with Sotillo." + +And Dr. Monygham stopped short in the doorway as if intimidated by the +difficulty. He had made the sacrifice of his life. He considered this +a fitting opportunity. But he did not want to throw his life away too +soon. In his quality of betrayer of Don Carlos' confidence, he would +have ultimately to indicate the hiding-place of the treasure. That would +be the end of his deception, and the end of himself as well, at the +hands of the infuriated colonel. He wanted to delay him to the very +last moment; and he had been racking his brains to invent some place of +concealment at once plausible and difficult of access. + +He imparted his trouble to Nostromo, and concluded-- + +"Do you know what, Capataz? I think that when the time comes and some +information must be given, I shall indicate the Great Isabel. That is +the best place I can think of. What is the matter?" + +A low exclamation had escaped Nostromo. The doctor waited, surprised, +and after a moment of profound silence, heard a thick voice stammer out, +"Utter folly," and stop with a gasp. + +"Why folly?" + +"Ah! You do not see it," began Nostromo, scathingly, gathering scorn as +he went on. "Three men in half an hour would see that no ground had been +disturbed anywhere on that island. Do you think that such a treasure can +be buried without leaving traces of the work--eh! senor doctor? Why! you +would not gain half a day more before having your throat cut by Sotillo. +The Isabel! What stupidity! What miserable invention! Ah! you are all +alike, you fine men of intelligence. All you are fit for is to betray +men of the people into undertaking deadly risks for objects that you are +not even sure about. If it comes off you get the benefit. If not, then +it does not matter. He is only a dog. Ah! Madre de Dios, I would--" He +shook his fists above his head. + +The doctor was overwhelmed at first by this fierce, hissing vehemence. + +"Well! It seems to me on your own showing that the men of the people +are no mean fools, too," he said, sullenly. "No, but come. You are so +clever. Have you a better place?" + +Nostromo had calmed down as quickly as he had flared up. + +"I am clever enough for that," he said, quietly, almost with +indifference. "You want to tell him of a hiding-place big enough to take +days in ransacking--a place where a treasure of silver ingots can be +buried without leaving a sign on the surface." + +"And close at hand," the doctor put in. + +"Just so, senor. Tell him it is sunk." + +"This has the merit of being the truth," the doctor said, +contemptuously. "He will not believe it." + +"You tell him that it is sunk where he may hope to lay his hands on it, +and he will believe you quick enough. Tell him it has been sunk in the +harbour in order to be recovered afterwards by divers. Tell him you +found out that I had orders from Don Carlos Gould to lower the cases +quietly overboard somewhere in a line between the end of the jetty and +the entrance. The depth is not too great there. He has no divers, but he +has a ship, boats, ropes, chains, sailors--of a sort. Let him fish for +the silver. Let him set his fools to drag backwards and forwards and +crossways while he sits and watches till his eyes drop out of his head." + +"Really, this is an admirable idea," muttered the doctor. + +"Si. You tell him that, and see whether he will not believe you! He will +spend days in rage and torment--and still he will believe. He will have +no thought for anything else. He will not give up till he is driven +off--why, he may even forget to kill you. He will neither eat nor sleep. +He--" + +"The very thing! The very thing!" the doctor repeated in an excited +whisper. "Capataz, I begin to believe that you are a great genius in +your way." + +Nostromo had paused; then began again in a changed tone, sombre, +speaking to himself as though he had forgotten the doctor's existence. + +"There is something in a treasure that fastens upon a man's mind. He +will pray and blaspheme and still persevere, and will curse the day he +ever heard of it, and will let his last hour come upon him unawares, +still believing that he missed it only by a foot. He will see it every +time he closes his eyes. He will never forget it till he is dead--and +even then----Doctor, did you ever hear of the miserable gringos on +Azuera, that cannot die? Ha! ha! Sailors like myself. There is no +getting away from a treasure that once fastens upon your mind." + +"You are a devil of a man, Capataz. It is the most plausible thing." + +Nostromo pressed his arm. + +"It will be worse for him than thirst at sea or hunger in a town full of +people. Do you know what that is? He shall suffer greater torments than +he inflicted upon that terrified wretch who had no invention. None! +none! Not like me. I could have told Sotillo a deadly tale for very +little pain." + +He laughed wildly and turned in the doorway towards the body of the late +Senor Hirsch, an opaque long blotch in the semi-transparent obscurity +of the room between the two tall parallelograms of the windows full of +stars. + +"You man of fear!" he cried. "You shall be avenged by me--Nostromo. Out +of my way, doctor! Stand aside--or, by the suffering soul of a woman +dead without confession, I will strangle you with my two hands." + +He bounded downwards into the black, smoky hall. With a grunt of +astonishment, Dr. Monygham threw himself recklessly into the pursuit. At +the bottom of the charred stairs he had a fall, pitching forward on his +face with a force that would have stunned a spirit less intent upon a +task of love and devotion. He was up in a moment, jarred, shaken, with a +queer impression of the terrestrial globe having been flung at his head +in the dark. But it wanted more than that to stop Dr. Monygham's body, +possessed by the exaltation of self-sacrifice; a reasonable exaltation, +determined not to lose whatever advantage chance put into its way. He +ran with headlong, tottering swiftness, his arms going like a windmill +in his effort to keep his balance on his crippled feet. He lost his hat; +the tails of his open gaberdine flew behind him. He had no mind to lose +sight of the indispensable man. But it was a long time, and a long way +from the Custom House, before he managed to seize his arm from behind, +roughly, out of breath. + +"Stop! Are you mad?" + +Already Nostromo was walking slowly, his head dropping, as if checked in +his pace by the weariness of irresolution. + +"What is that to you? Ah! I forgot you want me for something. Always. +Siempre Nostromo." + +"What do you mean by talking of strangling me?" panted the doctor. + +"What do I mean? I mean that the king of the devils himself has sent you +out of this town of cowards and talkers to meet me to-night of all the +nights of my life." + +Under the starry sky the Albergo d'ltalia Una emerged, black and low, +breaking the dark level of the plain. Nostromo stopped altogether. + +"The priests say he is a tempter, do they not?" he added, through his +clenched teeth. + +"My good man, you drivel. The devil has nothing to do with this. Neither +has the town, which you may call by what name you please. But Don Carlos +Gould is neither a coward nor an empty talker. You will admit that?" He +waited. "Well?" + +"Could I see Don Carlos?" + +"Great heavens! No! Why? What for?" exclaimed the doctor in agitation. +"I tell you it is madness. I will not let you go into the town for +anything." + +"I must." + +"You must not!" hissed the doctor, fiercely, almost beside himself with +the fear of the man doing away with his usefulness for an imbecile whim +of some sort. "I tell you you shall not. I would rather----" + +He stopped at loss for words, feeling fagged out, powerless, holding on +to Nostromo's sleeve, absolutely for support after his run. + +"I am betrayed!" muttered the Capataz to himself; and the doctor, who +overheard the last word, made an effort to speak calmly. + +"That is exactly what would happen to you. You would be betrayed." + +He thought with a sickening dread that the man was so well known that he +could not escape recognition. The house of the Senor Administrador was +beset by spies, no doubt. And even the very servants of the casa were +not to be trusted. "Reflect, Capataz," he said, impressively. . . . +"What are you laughing at?" + +"I am laughing to think that if somebody that did not approve of +my presence in town, for instance--you understand, senor doctor--if +somebody were to give me up to Pedrito, it would not be beyond my power +to make friends even with him. It is true. What do you think of that?" + +"You are a man of infinite resource, Capataz," said Dr. Monygham, +dismally. "I recognize that. But the town is full of talk about you; and +those few Cargadores that are not in hiding with the railway people have +been shouting 'Viva Montero' on the Plaza all day." + +"My poor Cargadores!" muttered Nostromo. "Betrayed! Betrayed!" + +"I understand that on the wharf you were pretty free in laying about you +with a stick amongst your poor Cargadores," the doctor said in a grim +tone, which showed that he was recovering from his exertions. "Make no +mistake. Pedrito is furious at Senor Ribiera's rescue, and at having +lost the pleasure of shooting Decoud. Already there are rumours in the +town of the treasure having been spirited away. To have missed that does +not please Pedrito either; but let me tell you that if you had all that +silver in your hand for ransom it would not save you." + +Turning swiftly, and catching the doctor by the shoulders, Nostromo +thrust his face close to his. + +"Maladetta! You follow me speaking of the treasure. You have sworn my +ruin. You were the last man who looked upon me before I went out with +it. And Sidoni the engine-driver says you have an evil eye." + +"He ought to know. I saved his broken leg for him last year," the doctor +said, stoically. He felt on his shoulders the weight of these hands +famed amongst the populace for snapping thick ropes and bending +horseshoes. "And to you I offer the best means of saving yourself--let +me go--and of retrieving your great reputation. You boasted of making +the Capataz de Cargadores famous from one end of America to the other +about this wretched silver. But I bring you a better opportunity--let me +go, hombre!" + +Nostromo released him abruptly, and the doctor feared that the +indispensable man would run off again. But he did not. He walked on +slowly. The doctor hobbled by his side till, within a stone's throw from +the Casa Viola, Nostromo stopped again. + +Silent in inhospitable darkness, the Casa Viola seemed to have changed +its nature; his home appeared to repel him with an air of hopeless and +inimical mystery. The doctor said-- + +"You will be safe there. Go in, Capataz." + +"How can I go in?" Nostromo seemed to ask himself in a low, inward tone. +"She cannot unsay what she said, and I cannot undo what I have done." + +"I tell you it is all right. Viola is all alone in there. I looked in +as I came out of the town. You will be perfectly safe in that house till +you leave it to make your name famous on the Campo. I am going now to +arrange for your departure with the engineer-in-chief, and I shall bring +you news here long before daybreak." + +Dr. Monygham, disregarding, or perhaps fearing to penetrate the meaning +of Nostromo's silence, clapped him lightly on the shoulder, and starting +off with his smart, lame walk, vanished utterly at the third or fourth +hop in the direction of the railway track. Arrested between the two +wooden posts for people to fasten their horses to, Nostromo did not +move, as if he, too, had been planted solidly in the ground. At the end +of half an hour he lifted his head to the deep baying of the dogs at the +railway yards, which had burst out suddenly, tumultuous and deadened as +if coming from under the plain. That lame doctor with the evil eye had +got there pretty fast. + +Step by step Nostromo approached the Albergo d'Italia Una, which he had +never known so lightless, so silent, before. The door, all black in the +pale wall, stood open as he had left it twenty-four hours before, +when he had nothing to hide from the world. He remained before it, +irresolute, like a fugitive, like a man betrayed. Poverty, misery, +starvation! Where had he heard these words? The anger of a dying woman +had prophesied that fate for his folly. It looked as if it would come +true very quickly. And the leperos would laugh--she had said. Yes, they +would laugh if they knew that the Capataz de Cargadores was at the mercy +of the mad doctor whom they could remember, only a few years ago, buying +cooked food from a stall on the Plaza for a copper coin--like one of +themselves. + +At that moment the notion of seeking Captain Mitchell passed through his +mind. He glanced in the direction of the jetty and saw a small gleam of +light in the O.S.N. Company's building. The thought of lighted windows +was not attractive. Two lighted windows had decoyed him into the empty +Custom House, only to fall into the clutches of that doctor. No! He +would not go near lighted windows again on that night. Captain Mitchell +was there. And what could he be told? That doctor would worm it all out +of him as if he were a child. + +On the threshold he called out "Giorgio!" in an undertone. Nobody +answered. He stepped in. "Ola! viejo! Are you there? . . ." In the +impenetrable darkness his head swam with the illusion that the obscurity +of the kitchen was as vast as the Placid Gulf, and that the floor dipped +forward like a sinking lighter. "Ola! viejo!" he repeated, falteringly, +swaying where he stood. His hand, extended to steady himself, fell +upon the table. Moving a step forward, he shifted it, and felt a box +of matches under his fingers. He fancied he had heard a quiet sigh. He +listened for a moment, holding his breath; then, with trembling hands, +tried to strike a light. + +The tiny piece of wood flamed up quite blindingly at the end of his +fingers, raised above his blinking eyes. A concentrated glare fell +upon the leonine white head of old Giorgio against the black +fire-place--showed him leaning forward in a chair in staring immobility, +surrounded, overhung, by great masses of shadow, his legs crossed, his +cheek in his hand, an empty pipe in the corner of his mouth. It seemed +hours before he attempted to turn his face; at the very moment the match +went out, and he disappeared, overwhelmed by the shadows, as if the +walls and roof of the desolate house had collapsed upon his white head +in ghostly silence. + +Nostromo heard him stir and utter dispassionately the words-- + +"It may have been a vision." + +"No," he said, softly. "It is no vision, old man." + +A strong chest voice asked in the dark-- + +"Is that you I hear, Giovann' Battista?" + +"Si, viejo. Steady. Not so loud." + +After his release by Sotillo, Giorgio Viola, attended to the very door +by the good-natured engineer-in-chief, had reentered his house, which +he had been made to leave almost at the very moment of his wife's death. +All was still. The lamp above was burning. He nearly called out to her +by name; and the thought that no call from him would ever again evoke +the answer of her voice, made him drop heavily into the chair with +a loud groan, wrung out by the pain as of a keen blade piercing his +breast. + +The rest of the night he made no sound. The darkness turned to grey, and +on the colourless, clear, glassy dawn the jagged sierra stood out flat +and opaque, as if cut out of paper. + +The enthusiastic and severe soul of Giorgio Viola, sailor, champion of +oppressed humanity, enemy of kings, and, by the grace of Mrs. Gould, +hotel-keeper of the Sulaco harbour, had descended into the open abyss of +desolation amongst the shattered vestiges of his past. He remembered +his wooing between two campaigns, a single short week in the season of +gathering olives. Nothing approached the grave passion of that time but +the deep, passionate sense of his bereavement. He discovered all the +extent of his dependence upon the silenced voice of that woman. It +was her voice that he missed. Abstracted, busy, lost in inward +contemplation, he seldom looked at his wife in those later years. The +thought of his girls was a matter of concern, not of consolation. It +was her voice that he would miss. And he remembered the other child--the +little boy who died at sea. Ah! a man would have been something to lean +upon. And, alas! even Gian' Battista--he of whom, and of Linda, his +wife had spoken to him so anxiously before she dropped off into her last +sleep on earth, he on whom she had called aloud to save the children, +just before she died--even he was dead! + +And the old man, bent forward, his head in his hand, sat through the day +in immobility and solitude. He never heard the brazen roar of the bells +in town. When it ceased the earthenware filter in the corner of the +kitchen kept on its swift musical drip, drip into the great porous jar +below. + +Towards sunset he got up, and with slow movements disappeared up the +narrow staircase. His bulk filled it; and the rubbing of his shoulders +made a small noise as of a mouse running behind the plaster of a wall. +While he remained up there the house was as dumb as a grave. Then, +with the same faint rubbing noise, he descended. He had to catch at the +chairs and tables to regain his seat. He seized his pipe off the +high mantel of the fire-place--but made no attempt to reach the +tobacco--thrust it empty into the corner of his mouth, and sat down +again in the same staring pose. The sun of Pedrito's entry into Sulaco, +the last sun of Senor Hirsch's life, the first of Decoud's solitude on +the Great Isabel, passed over the Albergo d'ltalia Una on its way to +the west. The tinkling drip, drip of the filter had ceased, the lamp +upstairs had burnt itself out, and the night beset Giorgio Viola and his +dead wife with its obscurity and silence that seemed invincible till the +Capataz de Cargadores, returning from the dead, put them to flight with +the splutter and flare of a match. + +"Si, viejo. It is me. Wait." + +Nostromo, after barricading the door and closing the shutters carefully, +groped upon a shelf for a candle, and lit it. + +Old Viola had risen. He followed with his eyes in the dark the sounds +made by Nostromo. The light disclosed him standing without support, as +if the mere presence of that man who was loyal, brave, incorruptible, +who was all his son would have been, were enough for the support of his +decaying strength. + +He extended his hand grasping the briar-wood pipe, whose bowl was +charred on the edge, and knitted his bushy eyebrows heavily at the +light. + +"You have returned," he said, with shaky dignity. "Ah! Very well! I----" + +He broke off. Nostromo, leaning back against the table, his arms folded +on his breast, nodded at him slightly. + +"You thought I was drowned! No! The best dog of the rich, of the +aristocrats, of these fine men who can only talk and betray the people, +is not dead yet." + +The Garibaldino, motionless, seemed to drink in the sound of the +well-known voice. His head moved slightly once as if in sign of +approval; but Nostromo saw clearly that the old man understood nothing +of the words. There was no one to understand; no one he could take into +the confidence of Decoud's fate, of his own, into the secret of the +silver. That doctor was an enemy of the people--a tempter. . . . + +Old Giorgio's heavy frame shook from head to foot with the effort +to overcome his emotion at the sight of that man, who had shared the +intimacies of his domestic life as though he had been a grown-up son. + +"She believed you would return," he said, solemnly. + +Nostromo raised his head. + +"She was a wise woman. How could I fail to come back----?" + +He finished the thought mentally: "Since she has prophesied for me an +end of poverty, misery, and starvation." These words of Teresa's anger, +from the circumstances in which they had been uttered, like the cry of +a soul prevented from making its peace with God, stirred the obscure +superstition of personal fortune from which even the greatest genius +amongst men of adventure and action is seldom free. They reigned over +Nostromo's mind with the force of a potent malediction. And what a curse +it was that which her words had laid upon him! He had been orphaned +so young that he could remember no other woman whom he called mother. +Henceforth there would be no enterprise in which he would not fail. The +spell was working already. Death itself would elude him now. . . . He +said violently-- + +"Come, viejo! Get me something to eat. I am hungry! Sangre de Dios! The +emptiness of my belly makes me lightheaded." + +With his chin dropped again upon his bare breast above his folded arms, +barefooted, watching from under a gloomy brow the movements of old Viola +foraging amongst the cupboards, he seemed as if indeed fallen under a +curse--a ruined and sinister Capataz. + +Old Viola walked out of a dark corner, and, without a word, emptied upon +the table out of his hollowed palms a few dry crusts of bread and half a +raw onion. + +While the Capataz began to devour this beggar's fare, taking up with +stony-eyed voracity piece after piece lying by his side, the Garibaldino +went off, and squatting down in another corner filled an earthenware mug +with red wine out of a wicker-covered demijohn. With a familiar gesture, +as when serving customers in the cafe, he had thrust his pipe between +his teeth to have his hands free. + +The Capataz drank greedily. A slight flush deepened the bronze of his +cheek. Before him, Viola, with a turn of his white and massive head +towards the staircase, took his empty pipe out of his mouth, and +pronounced slowly-- + +"After the shot was fired down here, which killed her as surely as if +the bullet had struck her oppressed heart, she called upon you to save +the children. Upon you, Gian' Battista." + +The Capataz looked up. + +"Did she do that, Padrone? To save the children! They are with the +English senora, their rich benefactress. Hey! old man of the people. Thy +benefactress. . . ." + +"I am old," muttered Giorgio Viola. "An Englishwoman was allowed to give +a bed to Garibaldi lying wounded in prison. The greatest man that ever +lived. A man of the people, too--a sailor. I may let another keep a +roof over my head. Si . . . I am old. I may let her. Life lasts too long +sometimes." + +"And she herself may not have a roof over her head before many days are +out, unless I . . . What do you say? Am I to keep a roof over her head? +Am I to try--and save all the Blancos together with her?" + +"You shall do it," said old Viola in a strong voice. "You shall do it as +my son would have. . . ." + +"Thy son, viejo! .. .. There never has been a man like thy son. Ha, I +must try. . . . But what if it were only a part of the curse to lure me +on? . . . And so she called upon me to save--and then----?" + +"She spoke no more." The heroic follower of Garibaldi, at the thought +of the eternal stillness and silence fallen upon the shrouded form +stretched out on the bed upstairs, averted his face and raised his hand +to his furrowed brow. "She was dead before I could seize her hands," he +stammered out, pitifully. + +Before the wide eyes of the Capataz, staring at the doorway of the dark +staircase, floated the shape of the Great Isabel, like a strange ship in +distress, freighted with enormous wealth and the solitary life of a man. +It was impossible for him to do anything. He could only hold his +tongue, since there was no one to trust. The treasure would be lost, +probably--unless Decoud. . . . And his thought came abruptly to an end. +He perceived that he could not imagine in the least what Decoud was +likely to do. + +Old Viola had not stirred. And the motionless Capataz dropped his +long, soft eyelashes, which gave to the upper part of his fierce, +black-whiskered face a touch of feminine ingenuousness. The silence had +lasted for a long time. + +"God rest her soul!" he murmured, gloomily. + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +The next day was quiet in the morning, except for the faint sound of +firing to the northward, in the direction of Los Hatos. Captain Mitchell +had listened to it from his balcony anxiously. The phrase, "In +my delicate position as the only consular agent then in the port, +everything, sir, everything was a just cause for anxiety," had its place +in the more or less stereotyped relation of the "historical events" +which for the next few years was at the service of distinguished +strangers visiting Sulaco. The mention of the dignity and neutrality of +the flag, so difficult to preserve in his position, "right in the +thick of these events between the lawlessness of that piratical villain +Sotillo and the more regularly established but scarcely less atrocious +tyranny of his Excellency Don Pedro Montero," came next in order. +Captain Mitchell was not the man to enlarge upon mere dangers much. But +he insisted that it was a memorable day. On that day, towards dusk, +he had seen "that poor fellow of mine--Nostromo. The sailor whom I +discovered, and, I may say, made, sir. The man of the famous ride to +Cayta, sir. An historical event, sir!" + +Regarded by the O. S. N. Company as an old and faithful servant, Captain +Mitchell was allowed to attain the term of his usefulness in ease and +dignity at the head of the enormously extended service. The augmentation +of the establishment, with its crowds of clerks, an office in town, the +old office in the harbour, the division into departments--passenger, +cargo, lighterage, and so on--secured a greater leisure for his last +years in the regenerated Sulaco, the capital of the Occidental Republic. +Liked by the natives for his good nature and the formality of his +manner, self-important and simple, known for years as a "friend of our +country," he felt himself a personality of mark in the town. Getting +up early for a turn in the market-place while the gigantic shadow of +Higuerota was still lying upon the fruit and flower stalls piled up +with masses of gorgeous colouring, attending easily to current affairs, +welcomed in houses, greeted by ladies on the Alameda, with his +entry into all the clubs and a footing in the Casa Gould, he led his +privileged old bachelor, man-about-town existence with great comfort and +solemnity. But on mail-boat days he was down at the Harbour Office at an +early hour, with his own gig, manned by a smart crew in white and +blue, ready to dash off and board the ship directly she showed her bows +between the harbour heads. + +It would be into the Harbour Office that he would lead some privileged +passenger he had brought off in his own boat, and invite him to take a +seat for a moment while he signed a few papers. And Captain Mitchell, +seating himself at his desk, would keep on talking hospitably-- + +"There isn't much time if you are to see everything in a day. We shall +be off in a moment. We'll have lunch at the Amarilla Club--though I +belong also to the Anglo-American--mining engineers and business men, +don't you know--and to the Mirliflores as well, a new club--English, +French, Italians, all sorts--lively young fellows mostly, who wanted +to pay a compliment to an old resident, sir. But we'll lunch at the +Amarilla. Interest you, I fancy. Real thing of the country. Men of the +first families. The President of the Occidental Republic himself belongs +to it, sir. Fine old bishop with a broken nose in the patio. Remarkable +piece of statuary, I believe. Cavaliere Parrochetti--you know +Parrochetti, the famous Italian sculptor--was working here for two +years--thought very highly of our old bishop. . . . There! I am very +much at your service now." + +Proud of his experience, penetrated by the sense of historical +importance of men, events, and buildings, he talked pompously in jerky +periods, with slight sweeps of his short, thick arm, letting nothing +"escape the attention" of his privileged captive. + +"Lot of building going on, as you observe. Before the Separation it +was a plain of burnt grass smothered in clouds of dust, with an ox-cart +track to our Jetty. Nothing more. This is the Harbour Gate. Picturesque, +is it not? Formerly the town stopped short there. We enter now the Calle +de la Constitucion. Observe the old Spanish houses. Great dignity. Eh? I +suppose it's just as it was in the time of the Viceroys, except for the +pavement. Wood blocks now. Sulaco National Bank there, with the sentry +boxes each side of the gate. Casa Avellanos this side, with all the +ground-floor windows shuttered. A wonderful woman lives there--Miss +Avellanos--the beautiful Antonia. A character, sir! A historical woman! +Opposite--Casa Gould. Noble gateway. Yes, the Goulds of the original +Gould Concession, that all the world knows of now. I hold seventeen of +the thousand-dollar shares in the Consolidated San Tome mines. All the +poor savings of my lifetime, sir, and it will be enough to keep me in +comfort to the end of my days at home when I retire. I got in on the +ground-floor, you see. Don Carlos, great friend of mine. Seventeen +shares--quite a little fortune to leave behind one, too. I have a +niece--married a parson--most worthy man, incumbent of a small parish in +Sussex; no end of children. I was never married myself. A sailor should +exercise self-denial. Standing under that very gateway, sir, with some +young engineer-fellows, ready to defend that house where we had received +so much kindness and hospitality, I saw the first and last charge of +Pedrito's horsemen upon Barrios's troops, who had just taken the Harbour +Gate. They could not stand the new rifles brought out by that poor +Decoud. It was a murderous fire. In a moment the street became blocked +with a mass of dead men and horses. They never came on again." + +And all day Captain Mitchell would talk like this to his more or less +willing victim-- + +"The Plaza. I call it magnificent. Twice the area of Trafalgar Square." + +From the very centre, in the blazing sunshine, he pointed out the +buildings-- + +"The Intendencia, now President's Palace--Cabildo, where the Lower +Chamber of Parliament sits. You notice the new houses on that side +of the Plaza? Compania Anzani, a great general store, like those +cooperative things at home. Old Anzani was murdered by the National +Guards in front of his safe. It was even for that specific crime that +the deputy Gamacho, commanding the Nationals, a bloodthirsty and +savage brute, was executed publicly by garrotte upon the sentence of +a court-martial ordered by Barrios. Anzani's nephews converted the +business into a company. All that side of the Plaza had been burnt; used +to be colonnaded before. A terrible fire, by the light of which I saw +the last of the fighting, the llaneros flying, the Nationals throwing +their arms down, and the miners of San Tome, all Indians from the +Sierra, rolling by like a torrent to the sound of pipes and cymbals, +green flags flying, a wild mass of men in white ponchos and green hats, +on foot, on mules, on donkeys. Such a sight, sir, will never be seen +again. The miners, sir, had marched upon the town, Don Pepe leading on +his black horse, and their very wives in the rear on burros, screaming +encouragement, sir, and beating tambourines. I remember one of these +women had a green parrot seated on her shoulder, as calm as a bird +of stone. They had just saved their Senor Administrador; for Barrios, +though he ordered the assault at once, at night, too, would have been +too late. Pedrito Montero had Don Carlos led out to be shot--like his +uncle many years ago--and then, as Barrios said afterwards, 'Sulaco +would not have been worth fighting for.' Sulaco without the Concession +was nothing; and there were tons and tons of dynamite distributed all +over the mountain with detonators arranged, and an old priest, Father +Roman, standing by to annihilate the San Tome mine at the first news of +failure. Don Carlos had made up his mind not to leave it behind, and he +had the right men to see to it, too." + +Thus Captain Mitchell would talk in the middle of the Plaza, holding +over his head a white umbrella with a green lining; but inside the +cathedral, in the dim light, with a faint scent of incense floating in +the cool atmosphere, and here and there a kneeling female figure, black +or all white, with a veiled head, his lowered voice became solemn and +impressive. + +"Here," he would say, pointing to a niche in the wall of the dusky +aisle, "you see the bust of Don Jose Avellanos, 'Patriot and Statesman,' +as the inscription says, 'Minister to Courts of England and Spain, etc., +etc., died in the woods of Los Hatos worn out with his lifelong struggle +for Right and Justice at the dawn of the New Era.' A fair likeness. +Parrochetti's work from some old photographs and a pencil sketch by Mrs. +Gould. I was well acquainted with that distinguished Spanish-American of +the old school, a true Hidalgo, beloved by everybody who knew him. +The marble medallion in the wall, in the antique style, representing +a veiled woman seated with her hands clasped loosely over her knees, +commemorates that unfortunate young gentleman who sailed out with +Nostromo on that fatal night, sir. See, 'To the memory of Martin Decoud, +his betrothed Antonia Avellanos.' Frank, simple, noble. There you have +that lady, sir, as she is. An exceptional woman. Those who thought she +would give way to despair were mistaken, sir. She has been blamed in +many quarters for not having taken the veil. It was expected of her. But +Dona Antonia is not the stuff they make nuns of. Bishop Corbelan, her +uncle, lives with her in the Corbelan town house. He is a fierce sort of +priest, everlastingly worrying the Government about the old Church lands +and convents. I believe they think a lot of him in Rome. Now let us go +to the Amarilla Club, just across the Plaza, to get some lunch." + +Directly outside the cathedral on the very top of the noble flight +of steps, his voice rose pompously, his arm found again its sweeping +gesture. + +"Porvenir, over there on that first floor, above those French +plate-glass shop-fronts; our biggest daily. Conservative, or, rather, I +should say, Parliamentary. We have the Parliamentary party here of which +the actual Chief of the State, Don Juste Lopez, is the head; a very +sagacious man, I think. A first-rate intellect, sir. The Democratic +party in opposition rests mostly, I am sorry to say, on these +socialistic Italians, sir, with their secret societies, camorras, and +such-like. There are lots of Italians settled here on the railway lands, +dismissed navvies, mechanics, and so on, all along the trunk line. There +are whole villages of Italians on the Campo. And the natives, too, are +being drawn into these ways . . . American bar? Yes. And over there you +can see another. New Yorkers mostly frequent that one----Here we are at +the Amarilla. Observe the bishop at the foot of the stairs to the right +as we go in." + +And the lunch would begin and terminate its lavish and leisurely course +at a little table in the gallery, Captain Mitchell nodding, bowing, +getting up to speak for a moment to different officials in black +clothes, merchants in jackets, officers in uniform, middle-aged +caballeros from the Campo--sallow, little, nervous men, and fat, placid, +swarthy men, and Europeans or North Americans of superior standing, +whose faces looked very white amongst the majority of dark complexions +and black, glistening eyes. + +Captain Mitchell would lie back in the chair, casting around looks of +satisfaction, and tender over the table a case full of thick cigars. + +"Try a weed with your coffee. Local tobacco. The black coffee you get at +the Amarilla, sir, you don't meet anywhere in the world. We get the bean +from a famous cafeteria in the foot-hills, whose owner sends three sacks +every year as a present to his fellow members in remembrance of the +fight against Gamacho's Nationals, carried on from these very windows by +the caballeros. He was in town at the time, and took part, sir, to the +bitter end. It arrives on three mules--not in the common way, by rail; +no fear!--right into the patio, escorted by mounted peons, in charge of +the Mayoral of his estate, who walks upstairs, booted and spurred, and +delivers it to our committee formally with the words, 'For the sake of +those fallen on the third of May.' We call it Tres de Mayo coffee. Taste +it." + +Captain Mitchell, with an expression as though making ready to hear a +sermon in a church, would lift the tiny cup to his lips. And the nectar +would be sipped to the bottom during a restful silence in a cloud of +cigar smoke. + +"Look at this man in black just going out," he would begin, leaning +forward hastily. "This is the famous Hernandez, Minister of War. The +Times' special correspondent, who wrote that striking series of letters +calling the Occidental Republic the 'Treasure House of the World,' gave +a whole article to him and the force he has organized--the renowned +Carabineers of the Campo." + +Captain Mitchell's guest, staring curiously, would see a figure in a +long-tailed black coat walking gravely, with downcast eyelids in a long, +composed face, a brow furrowed horizontally, a pointed head, whose grey +hair, thin at the top, combed down carefully on all sides and rolled at +the ends, fell low on the neck and shoulders. This, then, was the famous +bandit of whom Europe had heard with interest. He put on a high-crowned +sombrero with a wide flat brim; a rosary of wooden beads was twisted +about his right wrist. And Captain Mitchell would proceed-- + +"The protector of the Sulaco refugees from the rage of Pedrito. As +general of cavalry with Barrios he distinguished himself at the storming +of Tonoro, where Senor Fuentes was killed with the last remnant of the +Monterists. He is the friend and humble servant of Bishop Corbelan. +Hears three Masses every day. I bet you he will step into the cathedral +to say a prayer or two on his way home to his siesta." + +He took several puffs at his cigar in silence; then, in his most +important manner, pronounced: + +"The Spanish race, sir, is prolific of remarkable characters in every +rank of life. . . . I propose we go now into the billiard-room, which is +cool, for a quiet chat. There's never anybody there till after five. +I could tell you episodes of the Separationist revolution that would +astonish you. When the great heat's over, we'll take a turn on the +Alameda." + +The programme went on relentless, like a law of Nature. The turn on the +Alameda was taken with slow steps and stately remarks. + +"All the great world of Sulaco here, sir." Captain Mitchell bowed right +and left with no end of formality; then with animation, "Dona Emilia, +Mrs. Gould's carriage. Look. Always white mules. The kindest, most +gracious woman the sun ever shone upon. A great position, sir. A great +position. First lady in Sulaco--far before the President's wife. And +worthy of it." He took off his hat; then, with a studied change of tone, +added, negligently, that the man in black by her side, with a high white +collar and a scarred, snarly face, was Dr. Monygham, Inspector of State +Hospitals, chief medical officer of the Consolidated San Tome mines. "A +familiar of the house. Everlastingly there. No wonder. The Goulds made +him. Very clever man and all that, but I never liked him. Nobody does. I +can recollect him limping about the streets in a check shirt and native +sandals with a watermelon under his arm--all he would get to eat for the +day. A big-wig now, sir, and as nasty as ever. However . . . There's no +doubt he played his part fairly well at the time. He saved us all from +the deadly incubus of Sotillo, where a more particular man might have +failed----" + +His arm went up. + +"The equestrian statue that used to stand on the pedestal over there +has been removed. It was an anachronism," Captain Mitchell commented, +obscurely. "There is some talk of replacing it by a marble shaft +commemorative of Separation, with angels of peace at the four corners, +and bronze Justice holding an even balance, all gilt, on the top. +Cavaliere Parrochetti was asked to make a design, which you can see +framed under glass in the Municipal Sala. Names are to be engraved all +round the base. Well! They could do no better than begin with the name +of Nostromo. He has done for Separation as much as anybody else, and," +added Captain Mitchell, "has got less than many others by it--when it +comes to that." He dropped on to a stone seat under a tree, and tapped +invitingly at the place by his side. "He carried to Barrios the letters +from Sulaco which decided the General to abandon Cayta for a time, and +come back to our help here by sea. The transports were still in harbour +fortunately. Sir, I did not even know that my Capataz de Cargadores was +alive. I had no idea. It was Dr. Monygham who came upon him, by chance, +in the Custom House, evacuated an hour or two before by the wretched +Sotillo. I was never told; never given a hint, nothing--as if I were +unworthy of confidence. Monygham arranged it all. He went to the railway +yards, and got admission to the engineer-in-chief, who, for the sake of +the Goulds as much as for anything else, consented to let an engine +make a dash down the line, one hundred and eighty miles, with Nostromo +aboard. It was the only way to get him off. In the Construction Camp +at the railhead, he obtained a horse, arms, some clothing, and started +alone on that marvellous ride--four hundred miles in six days, through +a disturbed country, ending by the feat of passing through the Monterist +lines outside Cayta. The history of that ride, sir, would make a +most exciting book. He carried all our lives in his pocket. Devotion, +courage, fidelity, intelligence were not enough. Of course, he was +perfectly fearless and incorruptible. But a man was wanted that would +know how to succeed. He was that man, sir. On the fifth of May, being +practically a prisoner in the Harbour Office of my Company, I suddenly +heard the whistle of an engine in the railway yards, a quarter of a mile +away. I could not believe my ears. I made one jump on to the balcony, +and beheld a locomotive under a great head of steam run out of the yard +gates, screeching like mad, enveloped in a white cloud, and then, just +abreast of old Viola's inn, check almost to a standstill. I made out, +sir, a man--I couldn't tell who--dash out of the Albergo d'ltalia Una, +climb into the cab, and then, sir, that engine seemed positively to leap +clear of the house, and was gone in the twinkling of an eye. As you blow +a candle out, sir! There was a first-rate driver on the foot-plate, sir, +I can tell you. They were fired heavily upon by the National Guards in +Rincon and one other place. Fortunately the line had not been torn +up. In four hours they reached the Construction Camp. Nostromo had his +start. . . . The rest you know. You've got only to look round you. There +are people on this Alameda that ride in their carriages, or even are +alive at all to-day, because years ago I engaged a runaway Italian +sailor for a foreman of our wharf simply on the strength of his looks. +And that's a fact. You can't get over it, sir. On the seventeenth of +May, just twelve days after I saw the man from the Casa Viola get on the +engine, and wondered what it meant, Barrios's transports were entering +this harbour, and the 'Treasure House of the World,' as The Times man +calls Sulaco in his book, was saved intact for civilization--for a +great future, sir. Pedrito, with Hernandez on the west, and the San Tome +miners pressing on the land gate, was not able to oppose the landing. He +had been sending messages to Sotillo for a week to join him. Had Sotillo +done so there would have been massacres and proscription that would have +left no man or woman of position alive. But that's where Dr. Monygham +comes in. Sotillo, blind and deaf to everything, stuck on board his +steamer watching the dragging for silver, which he believed to be sunk +at the bottom of the harbour. They say that for the last three days he +was out of his mind raving and foaming with disappointment at getting +nothing, flying about the deck, and yelling curses at the boats with the +drags, ordering them in, and then suddenly stamping his foot and crying +out, 'And yet it is there! I see it! I feel it!' + +"He was preparing to hang Dr. Monygham (whom he had on board) at the end +of the after-derrick, when the first of Barrios's transports, one of our +own ships at that, steamed right in, and ranging close alongside opened +a small-arm fire without as much preliminaries as a hail. It was the +completest surprise in the world, sir. They were too astounded at first +to bolt below. Men were falling right and left like ninepins. It's a +miracle that Monygham, standing on the after-hatch with the rope already +round his neck, escaped being riddled through and through like a sieve. +He told me since that he had given himself up for lost, and kept on +yelling with all the strength of his lungs: 'Hoist a white flag! Hoist +a white flag!' Suddenly an old major of the Esmeralda regiment, standing +by, unsheathed his sword with a shriek: 'Die, perjured traitor!' and ran +Sotillo clean through the body, just before he fell himself shot through +the head." + +Captain Mitchell stopped for a while. + +"Begad, sir! I could spin you a yarn for hours. But it's time we started +off to Rincon. It would not do for you to pass through Sulaco and not +see the lights of the San Tome mine, a whole mountain ablaze like a +lighted palace above the dark Campo. It's a fashionable drive. . . . But +let me tell you one little anecdote, sir; just to show you. A fortnight +or more later, when Barrios, declared Generalissimo, was gone in pursuit +of Pedrito away south, when the Provisional Junta, with Don Juste Lopez +at its head, had promulgated the new Constitution, and our Don Carlos +Gould was packing up his trunks bound on a mission to San Francisco +and Washington (the United States, sir, were the first great power to +recognize the Occidental Republic)--a fortnight later, I say, when we +were beginning to feel that our heads were safe on our shoulders, if +I may express myself so, a prominent man, a large shipper by our line, +came to see me on business, and, says he, the first thing: 'I say, +Captain Mitchell, is that fellow' (meaning Nostromo) 'still the Capataz +of your Cargadores or not?' 'What's the matter?' says I. 'Because, if +he is, then I don't mind; I send and receive a good lot of cargo by your +ships; but I have observed him several days loafing about the wharf, +and just now he stopped me as cool as you please, with a request for a +cigar. Now, you know, my cigars are rather special, and I can't get them +so easily as all that.' 'I hope you stretched a point,' I said, +very gently. 'Why, yes. But it's a confounded nuisance. The fellow's +everlastingly cadging for smokes.' Sir, I turned my eyes away, and then +asked, 'Weren't you one of the prisoners in the Cabildo?' 'You know very +well I was, and in chains, too,' says he. 'And under a fine of fifteen +thousand dollars?' He coloured, sir, because it got about that he +fainted from fright when they came to arrest him, and then behaved +before Fuentes in a manner to make the very policianos, who had dragged +him there by the hair of his head, smile at his cringing. 'Yes,' he +says, in a sort of shy way. 'Why?' 'Oh, nothing. You stood to lose a +tidy bit,' says I, 'even if you saved your life. . . . But what can I do +for you?' He never even saw the point. Not he. And that's how the world +wags, sir." + +He rose a little stiffly, and the drive to Rincon would be taken with +only one philosophical remark, uttered by the merciless cicerone, with +his eyes fixed upon the lights of San Tome, that seemed suspended in the +dark night between earth and heaven. + +"A great power, this, for good and evil, sir. A great power." + +And the dinner of the Mirliflores would be eaten, excellent as to +cooking, and leaving upon the traveller's mind an impression that there +were in Sulaco many pleasant, able young men with salaries apparently +too large for their discretion, and amongst them a few, mostly +Anglo-Saxon, skilled in the art of, as the saying is, "taking a rise" +out of his kind host. + +With a rapid, jingling drive to the harbour in a two-wheeled machine +(which Captain Mitchell called a curricle) behind a fleet and scraggy +mule beaten all the time by an obviously Neapolitan driver, the cycle +would be nearly closed before the lighted-up offices of the O. S. N. +Company, remaining open so late because of the steamer. Nearly--but not +quite. + +"Ten o'clock. Your ship won't be ready to leave till half-past twelve, +if by then. Come in for a brandy-and-soda and one more cigar." + +And in the superintendent's private room the privileged passenger by the +Ceres, or Juno, or Pallas, stunned and as it were annihilated mentally +by a sudden surfeit of sights, sounds, names, facts, and complicated +information imperfectly apprehended, would listen like a tired child +to a fairy tale; would hear a voice, familiar and surprising in its +pompousness, tell him, as if from another world, how there was "in this +very harbour" an international naval demonstration, which put an end to +the Costaguana-Sulaco War. How the United States cruiser, Powhattan, was +the first to salute the Occidental flag--white, with a wreath of green +laurel in the middle encircling a yellow amarilla flower. Would hear how +General Montero, in less than a month after proclaiming himself Emperor +of Costaguana, was shot dead (during a solemn and public distribution +of orders and crosses) by a young artillery officer, the brother of his +then mistress. + +"The abominable Pedrito, sir, fled the country," the voice would say. +And it would continue: "A captain of one of our ships told me lately +that he recognized Pedrito the Guerrillero, arrayed in purple slippers +and a velvet smoking-cap with a gold tassel, keeping a disorderly house +in one of the southern ports." + +"Abominable Pedrito! Who the devil was he?" would wonder the +distinguished bird of passage hovering on the confines of waking and +sleep with resolutely open eyes and a faint but amiable curl upon his +lips, from between which stuck out the eighteenth or twentieth cigar of +that memorable day. + +"He appeared to me in this very room like a haunting ghost, +sir"--Captain Mitchell was talking of his Nostromo with true warmth of +feeling and a touch of wistful pride. "You may imagine, sir, what an +effect it produced on me. He had come round by sea with Barrios, of +course. And the first thing he told me after I became fit to hear him +was that he had picked up the lighter's boat floating in the gulf! +He seemed quite overcome by the circumstance. And a remarkable enough +circumstance it was, when you remember that it was then sixteen days +since the sinking of the silver. At once I could see he was another man. +He stared at the wall, sir, as if there had been a spider or something +running about there. The loss of the silver preyed on his mind. The +first thing he asked me about was whether Dona Antonia had heard yet of +Decoud's death. His voice trembled. I had to tell him that Dona Antonia, +as a matter of fact, was not back in town yet. Poor girl! And just as I +was making ready to ask him a thousand questions, with a sudden, 'Pardon +me, senor,' he cleared out of the office altogether. I did not see him +again for three days. I was terribly busy, you know. It seems that he +wandered about in and out of the town, and on two nights turned up +to sleep in the baracoons of the railway people. He seemed absolutely +indifferent to what went on. I asked him on the wharf, 'When are you +going to take hold again, Nostromo? There will be plenty of work for the +Cargadores presently.' + +"'Senor,' says he, looking at me in a slow, inquisitive manner, 'would +it surprise you to hear that I am too tired to work just yet? And what +work could I do now? How can I look my Cargadores in the face after +losing a lighter?' + +"I begged him not to think any more about the silver, and he smiled. A +smile that went to my heart, sir. 'It was no mistake,' I told him. 'It +was a fatality. A thing that could not be helped.' 'Si, si!" he said, +and turned away. I thought it best to leave him alone for a bit to get +over it. Sir, it took him years really, to get over it. I was present +at his interview with Don Carlos. I must say that Gould is rather a cold +man. He had to keep a tight hand on his feelings, dealing with thieves +and rascals, in constant danger of ruin for himself and wife for so many +years, that it had become a second nature. They looked at each other for +a long time. Don Carlos asked what he could do for him, in his quiet, +reserved way. + +"'My name is known from one end of Sulaco to the other,' he said, as +quiet as the other. 'What more can you do for me?' That was all that +passed on that occasion. Later, however, there was a very fine coasting +schooner for sale, and Mrs. Gould and I put our heads together to get +her bought and presented to him. It was done, but he paid all the price +back within the next three years. Business was booming all along this +seaboard, sir. Moreover, that man always succeeded in everything +except in saving the silver. Poor Dona Antonia, fresh from her terrible +experiences in the woods of Los Hatos, had an interview with him, too. +Wanted to hear about Decoud: what they said, what they did, what they +thought up to the last on that fatal night. Mrs. Gould told me his +manner was perfect for quietness and sympathy. Miss Avellanos burst into +tears only when he told her how Decoud had happened to say that his plan +would be a glorious success. . . . And there's no doubt, sir, that it +is. It is a success." + +The cycle was about to close at last. And while the privileged +passenger, shivering with the pleasant anticipations of his berth, +forgot to ask himself, "What on earth Decoud's plan could be?" Captain +Mitchell was saying, "Sorry we must part so soon. Your intelligent +interest made this a pleasant day to me. I shall see you now on board. +You had a glimpse of the 'Treasure House of the World.' A very good name +that." And the coxswain's voice at the door, announcing that the gig was +ready, closed the cycle. + +Nostromo had, indeed, found the lighter's boat, which he had left on +the Great Isabel with Decoud, floating empty far out in the gulf. He was +then on the bridge of the first of Barrios's transports, and within an +hour's steaming from Sulaco. Barrios, always delighted with a feat of +daring and a good judge of courage, had taken a great liking to the +Capataz. During the passage round the coast the General kept Nostromo +near his person, addressing him frequently in that abrupt and boisterous +manner which was the sign of his high favour. + +Nostromo's eyes were the first to catch, broad on the bow, the tiny, +elusive dark speck, which, alone with the forms of the Three Isabels +right ahead, appeared on the flat, shimmering emptiness of the gulf. +There are times when no fact should be neglected as insignificant; +a small boat so far from the land might have had some meaning worth +finding out. At a nod of consent from Barrios the transport swept out +of her course, passing near enough to ascertain that no one manned the +little cockle-shell. It was merely a common small boat gone adrift with +her oars in her. But Nostromo, to whose mind Decoud had been insistently +present for days, had long before recognized with excitement the dinghy +of the lighter. + +There could be no question of stopping to pick up that thing. Every +minute of time was momentous with the lives and futures of a whole town. +The head of the leading ship, with the General on board, fell off to her +course. Behind her, the fleet of transports, scattered haphazard over a +mile or so in the offing, like the finish of an ocean race, pressed on, +all black and smoking on the western sky. + +"Mi General," Nostromo's voice rang out loud, but quiet, from behind a +group of officers, "I should like to save that little boat. Por Dios, I +know her. She belongs to my Company." + +"And, por Dios," guffawed Barrios, in a noisy, good-humoured voice, "you +belong to me. I am going to make you a captain of cavalry directly we +get within sight of a horse again." + +"I can swim far better than I can ride, mi General," cried Nostromo, +pushing through to the rail with a set stare in his eyes. "Let me----" + +"Let you? What a conceited fellow that is," bantered the General, +jovially, without even looking at him. "Let him go! Ha! ha! ha! He wants +me to admit that we cannot take Sulaco without him! Ha! ha! ha! Would +you like to swim off to her, my son?" + +A tremendous shout from one end of the ship to the other stopped his +guffaw. Nostromo had leaped overboard; and his black head bobbed up far +away already from the ship. The General muttered an appalled "Cielo! +Sinner that I am!" in a thunderstruck tone. One anxious glance was +enough to show him that Nostromo was swimming with perfect ease; and +then he thundered terribly, "No! no! We shall not stop to pick up this +impertinent fellow. Let him drown--that mad Capataz." + +Nothing short of main force would have kept Nostromo from leaping +overboard. That empty boat, coming out to meet him mysteriously, as if +rowed by an invisible spectre, exercised the fascination of some sign, +of some warning, seemed to answer in a startling and enigmatic way the +persistent thought of a treasure and of a man's fate. He would have +leaped if there had been death in that half-mile of water. It was as +smooth as a pond, and for some reason sharks are unknown in the Placid +Gulf, though on the other side of the Punta Mala the coastline swarms +with them. + +The Capataz seized hold of the stern and blew with force. A queer, faint +feeling had come over him while he swam. He had got rid of his boots and +coat in the water. He hung on for a time, regaining his breath. In +the distance the transports, more in a bunch now, held on straight for +Sulaco, with their air of friendly contest, of nautical sport, of +a regatta; and the united smoke of their funnels drove like a thin, +sulphurous fogbank right over his head. It was his daring, his courage, +his act that had set these ships in motion upon the sea, hurrying on +to save the lives and fortunes of the Blancos, the taskmasters of the +people; to save the San Tome mine; to save the children. + +With a vigorous and skilful effort he clambered over the stern. The +very boat! No doubt of it; no doubt whatever. It was the dinghy of the +lighter No. 3--the dinghy left with Martin Decoud on the Great Isabel so +that he should have some means to help himself if nothing could be done +for him from the shore. And here she had come out to meet him empty +and inexplicable. What had become of Decoud? The Capataz made a minute +examination. He looked for some scratch, for some mark, for some sign. +All he discovered was a brown stain on the gunwale abreast of the +thwart. He bent his face over it and rubbed hard with his finger. Then +he sat down in the stern sheets, passive, with his knees close together +and legs aslant. + +Streaming from head to foot, with his hair and whiskers hanging lank +and dripping and a lustreless stare fixed upon the bottom boards, the +Capataz of the Sulaco Cargadores resembled a drowned corpse come up from +the bottom to idle away the sunset hour in a small boat. The excitement +of his adventurous ride, the excitement of the return in time, +of achievement, of success, all this excitement centred round the +associated ideas of the great treasure and of the only other man who +knew of its existence, had departed from him. To the very last moment +he had been cudgelling his brains as to how he could manage to visit +the Great Isabel without loss of time and undetected. For the idea of +secrecy had come to be connected with the treasure so closely that even +to Barrios himself he had refrained from mentioning the existence of +Decoud and of the silver on the island. The letters he carried to the +General, however, made brief mention of the loss of the lighter, as +having its bearing upon the situation in Sulaco. In the circumstances, +the one-eyed tiger-slayer, scenting battle from afar, had not wasted his +time in making inquiries from the messenger. In fact, Barrios, talking +with Nostromo, assumed that both Don Martin Decoud and the ingots of San +Tome were lost together, and Nostromo, not questioned directly, had kept +silent, under the influence of some indefinable form of resentment and +distrust. Let Don Martin speak of everything with his own lips--was what +he told himself mentally. + +And now, with the means of gaining the Great Isabel thrown thus in his +way at the earliest possible moment, his excitement had departed, as +when the soul takes flight leaving the body inert upon an earth it knows +no more. Nostromo did not seem to know the gulf. For a long time even +his eyelids did not flutter once upon the glazed emptiness of his stare. +Then slowly, without a limb having stirred, without a twitch of muscle +or quiver of an eyelash, an expression, a living expression came upon +the still features, deep thought crept into the empty stare--as if an +outcast soul, a quiet, brooding soul, finding that untenanted body in +its way, had come in stealthily to take possession. + +The Capataz frowned: and in the immense stillness of sea, islands, and +coast, of cloud forms on the sky and trails of light upon the water, the +knitting of that brow had the emphasis of a powerful gesture. Nothing +else budged for a long time; then the Capataz shook his head and again +surrendered himself to the universal repose of all visible things. +Suddenly he seized the oars, and with one movement made the dinghy spin +round, head-on to the Great Isabel. But before he began to pull he bent +once more over the brown stain on the gunwale. + +"I know that thing," he muttered to himself, with a sagacious jerk of +the head. "That's blood." + +His stroke was long, vigorous, and steady. Now and then he looked +over his shoulder at the Great Isabel, presenting its low cliff to his +anxious gaze like an impenetrable face. At last the stem touched the +strand. He flung rather than dragged the boat up the little beach. At +once, turning his back upon the sunset, he plunged with long strides +into the ravine, making the water of the stream spurt and fly upwards at +every step, as if spurning its shallow, clear, murmuring spirit with his +feet. He wanted to save every moment of daylight. + +A mass of earth, grass, and smashed bushes had fallen down very +naturally from above upon the cavity under the leaning tree. Decoud had +attended to the concealment of the silver as instructed, using the spade +with some intelligence. But Nostromo's half-smile of approval changed +into a scornful curl of the lip by the sight of the spade itself flung +there in full view, as if in utter carelessness or sudden panic, giving +away the whole thing. Ah! They were all alike in their folly, these +hombres finos that invented laws and governments and barren tasks for +the people. + +The Capataz picked up the spade, and with the feel of the handle in his +palm the desire of having a look at the horse-hide boxes of treasure +came upon him suddenly. In a very few strokes he uncovered the edges and +corners of several; then, clearing away more earth, became aware that +one of them had been slashed with a knife. + +He exclaimed at that discovery in a stifled voice, and dropped on his +knees with a look of irrational apprehension over one shoulder, then +over the other. The stiff hide had closed, and he hesitated before he +pushed his hand through the long slit and felt the ingots inside. There +they were. One, two, three. Yes, four gone. Taken away. Four ingots. +But who? Decoud? Nobody else. And why? For what purpose? For what cursed +fancy? Let him explain. Four ingots carried off in a boat, and--blood! + +In the face of the open gulf, the sun, clear, unclouded, unaltered, +plunged into the waters in a grave and untroubled mystery of +self-immolation consummated far from all mortal eyes, with an infinite +majesty of silence and peace. Four ingots short!--and blood! + +The Capataz got up slowly. + +"He might simply have cut his hand," he muttered. "But, then----" + +He sat down on the soft earth, unresisting, as if he had been chained +to the treasure, his drawn-up legs clasped in his hands with an air of +hopeless submission, like a slave set on guard. Once only he lifted his +head smartly: the rattle of hot musketry fire had reached his ears, like +pouring from on high a stream of dry peas upon a drum. After listening +for a while, he said, half aloud-- + +"He will never come back to explain." + +And he lowered his head again. + +"Impossible!" he muttered, gloomily. + +The sounds of firing died out. The loom of a great conflagration in +Sulaco flashed up red above the coast, played on the clouds at the head +of the gulf, seemed to touch with a ruddy and sinister reflection the +forms of the Three Isabels. He never saw it, though he raised his head. + +"But, then, I cannot know," he pronounced, distinctly, and remained +silent and staring for hours. + +He could not know. Nobody was to know. As might have been supposed, the +end of Don Martin Decoud never became a subject of speculation for any +one except Nostromo. Had the truth of the facts been known, there would +always have remained the question. Why? Whereas the version of his death +at the sinking of the lighter had no uncertainty of motive. The young +apostle of Separation had died striving for his idea by an ever-lamented +accident. But the truth was that he died from solitude, the enemy known +but to few on this earth, and whom only the simplest of us are fit to +withstand. The brilliant Costaguanero of the boulevards had died from +solitude and want of faith in himself and others. + +For some good and valid reasons beyond mere human comprehension, the +sea-birds of the gulf shun the Isabels. The rocky head of Azuera is +their haunt, whose stony levels and chasms resound with their wild +and tumultuous clamour as if they were for ever quarrelling over the +legendary treasure. + +At the end of his first day on the Great Isabel, Decoud, turning in his +lair of coarse grass, under the shade of a tree, said to himself-- + +"I have not seen as much as one single bird all day." + +And he had not heard a sound, either, all day but that one now of his +own muttering voice. It had been a day of absolute silence--the first +he had known in his life. And he had not slept a wink. Not for all these +wakeful nights and the days of fighting, planning, talking; not for all +that last night of danger and hard physical toil upon the gulf, had he +been able to close his eyes for a moment. And yet from sunrise to sunset +he had been lying prone on the ground, either on his back or on his +face. + +He stretched himself, and with slow steps descended into the gully to +spend the night by the side of the silver. If Nostromo returned--as he +might have done at any moment--it was there that he would look first; +and night would, of course, be the proper time for an attempt to +communicate. He remembered with profound indifference that he had not +eaten anything yet since he had been left alone on the island. + +He spent the night open-eyed, and when the day broke he ate something +with the same indifference. The brilliant "Son Decoud," the spoiled +darling of the family, the lover of Antonia and journalist of Sulaco, +was not fit to grapple with himself single-handed. Solitude from mere +outward condition of existence becomes very swiftly a state of soul in +which the affectations of irony and scepticism have no place. It takes +possession of the mind, and drives forth the thought into the exile of +utter unbelief. After three days of waiting for the sight of some +human face, Decoud caught himself entertaining a doubt of his own +individuality. It had merged into the world of cloud and water, of +natural forces and forms of nature. In our activity alone do we find +the sustaining illusion of an independent existence as against the +whole scheme of things of which we form a helpless part. Decoud lost all +belief in the reality of his action past and to come. On the fifth day +an immense melancholy descended upon him palpably. He resolved not to +give himself up to these people in Sulaco, who had beset him, unreal and +terrible, like jibbering and obscene spectres. He saw himself struggling +feebly in their midst, and Antonia, gigantic and lovely like an +allegorical statue, looking on with scornful eyes at his weakness. + +Not a living being, not a speck of distant sail, appeared within +the range of his vision; and, as if to escape from this solitude, +he absorbed himself in his melancholy. The vague consciousness of a +misdirected life given up to impulses whose memory left a bitter taste +in his mouth was the first moral sentiment of his manhood. But at the +same time he felt no remorse. What should he regret? He had recognized +no other virtue than intelligence, and had erected passions into duties. +Both his intelligence and his passion were swallowed up easily in this +great unbroken solitude of waiting without faith. Sleeplessness had +robbed his will of all energy, for he had not slept seven hours in the +seven days. His sadness was the sadness of a sceptical mind. He beheld +the universe as a succession of incomprehensible images. Nostromo was +dead. Everything had failed ignominiously. He no longer dared to think +of Antonia. She had not survived. But if she survived he could not face +her. And all exertion seemed senseless. + +On the tenth day, after a night spent without even dozing off once (it +had occurred to him that Antonia could not possibly have ever loved +a being so impalpable as himself), the solitude appeared like a great +void, and the silence of the gulf like a tense, thin cord to which he +hung suspended by both hands, without fear, without surprise, without +any sort of emotion whatever. Only towards the evening, in the +comparative relief of coolness, he began to wish that this cord would +snap. He imagined it snapping with a report as of a pistol--a sharp, +full crack. And that would be the end of him. He contemplated that +eventuality with pleasure, because he dreaded the sleepless nights in +which the silence, remaining unbroken in the shape of a cord to which he +hung with both hands, vibrated with senseless phrases, always the same +but utterly incomprehensible, about Nostromo, Antonia, Barrios, and +proclamations mingled into an ironical and senseless buzzing. In the +daytime he could look at the silence like a still cord stretched to +breaking-point, with his life, his vain life, suspended to it like a +weight. + +"I wonder whether I would hear it snap before I fell," he asked himself. + +The sun was two hours above the horizon when he got up, gaunt, dirty, +white-faced, and looked at it with his red-rimmed eyes. His limbs obeyed +him slowly, as if full of lead, yet without tremor; and the effect +of that physical condition gave to his movements an unhesitating, +deliberate dignity. He acted as if accomplishing some sort of rite. He +descended into the gully; for the fascination of all that silver, with +its potential power, survived alone outside of himself. He picked up the +belt with the revolver, that was lying there, and buckled it round his +waist. The cord of silence could never snap on the island. It must let +him fall and sink into the sea, he thought. And sink! He was looking at +the loose earth covering the treasure. In the sea! His aspect was that +of a somnambulist. He lowered himself down on his knees slowly and went +on grubbing with his fingers with industrious patience till he uncovered +one of the boxes. Without a pause, as if doing some work done many +times before, he slit it open and took four ingots, which he put in his +pockets. He covered up the exposed box again and step by step came out +of the gully. The bushes closed after him with a swish. + +It was on the third day of his solitude that he had dragged the dinghy +near the water with an idea of rowing away somewhere, but had desisted +partly at the whisper of lingering hope that Nostromo would return, +partly from conviction of utter uselessness of all effort. Now she +wanted only a slight shove to be set afloat. He had eaten a little every +day after the first, and had some muscular strength left yet. Taking up +the oars slowly, he pulled away from the cliff of the Great Isabel, that +stood behind him warm with sunshine, as if with the heat of life, bathed +in a rich light from head to foot as if in a radiance of hope and joy. +He pulled straight towards the setting sun. When the gulf had grown +dark, he ceased rowing and flung the sculls in. The hollow clatter they +made in falling was the loudest noise he had ever heard in his life. It +was a revelation. It seemed to recall him from far away, Actually the +thought, "Perhaps I may sleep to-night," passed through his mind. But he +did not believe it. He believed in nothing; and he remained sitting on +the thwart. + +The dawn from behind the mountains put a gleam into his unwinking eyes. +After a clear daybreak the sun appeared splendidly above the peaks of +the range. The great gulf burst into a glitter all around the boat; and +in this glory of merciless solitude the silence appeared again before +him, stretched taut like a dark, thin string. + +His eyes looked at it while, without haste, he shifted his seat from +the thwart to the gunwale. They looked at it fixedly, while his hand, +feeling about his waist, unbuttoned the flap of the leather case, drew +the revolver, cocked it, brought it forward pointing at his breast, +pulled the trigger, and, with convulsive force, sent the still-smoking +weapon hurtling through the air. His eyes looked at it while he fell +forward and hung with his breast on the gunwale and the fingers of his +right hand hooked under the thwart. They looked---- + +"It is done," he stammered out, in a sudden flow of blood. His last +thought was: "I wonder how that Capataz died." The stiffness of the +fingers relaxed, and the lover of Antonia Avellanos rolled overboard +without having heard the cord of silence snap in the solitude of the +Placid Gulf, whose glittering surface remained untroubled by the fall of +his body. + +A victim of the disillusioned weariness which is the retribution meted +out to intellectual audacity, the brilliant Don Martin Decoud, weighted +by the bars of San Tome silver, disappeared without a trace, swallowed +up in the immense indifference of things. His sleepless, crouching +figure was gone from the side of the San Tome silver; and for a time the +spirits of good and evil that hover near every concealed treasure of +the earth might have thought that this one had been forgotten by all +mankind. Then, after a few days, another form appeared striding away +from the setting sun to sit motionless and awake in the narrow black +gully all through the night, in nearly the same pose, in the same place +in which had sat that other sleepless man who had gone away for ever so +quietly in a small boat, about the time of sunset. And the spirits of +good and evil that hover about a forbidden treasure understood well that +the silver of San Tome was provided now with a faithful and lifelong +slave. + +The magnificent Capataz de Cargadores, victim of the disenchanted vanity +which is the reward of audacious action, sat in the weary pose of a +hunted outcast through a night of sleeplessness as tormenting as any +known to Decoud, his companion in the most desperate affair of his life. +And he wondered how Decoud had died. But he knew the part he had +played himself. First a woman, then a man, abandoned both in their last +extremity, for the sake of this accursed treasure. It was paid for by +a soul lost and by a vanished life. The blank stillness of awe was +succeeded by a gust of immense pride. There was no one in the world but +Gian' Battista Fidanza, Capataz de Cargadores, the incorruptible and +faithful Nostromo, to pay such a price. + +He had made up his mind that nothing should be allowed now to rob him of +his bargain. Nothing. Decoud had died. But how? That he was dead he had +not a shadow of a doubt. But four ingots? . . . What for? Did he mean to +come for more--some other time? + +The treasure was putting forth its latent power. It troubled the clear +mind of the man who had paid the price. He was sure that Decoud was +dead. The island seemed full of that whisper. Dead! Gone! And he +caught himself listening for the swish of bushes and the splash of the +footfalls in the bed of the brook. Dead! The talker, the novio of Dona +Antonia! + +"Ha!" he murmured, with his head on his knees, under the livid clouded +dawn breaking over the liberated Sulaco and upon the gulf as gray as +ashes. "It is to her that he will fly. To her that he will fly!" + +And four ingots! Did he take them in revenge, to cast a spell, like the +angry woman who had prophesied remorse and failure, and yet had laid +upon him the task of saving the children? Well, he had saved the +children. He had defeated the spell of poverty and starvation. He had +done it all alone--or perhaps helped by the devil. Who cared? He had +done it, betrayed as he was, and saving by the same stroke the San Tome +mine, which appeared to him hateful and immense, lording it by its vast +wealth over the valour, the toil, the fidelity of the poor, over war and +peace, over the labours of the town, the sea, and the Campo. + +The sun lit up the sky behind the peaks of the Cordillera. The Capataz +looked down for a time upon the fall of loose earth, stones, and smashed +bushes, concealing the hiding-place of the silver. + +"I must grow rich very slowly," he meditated, aloud. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +Sulaco outstripped Nostromo's prudence, growing rich swiftly on the +hidden treasures of the earth, hovered over by the anxious spirits of +good and evil, torn out by the labouring hands of the people. It was +like a second youth, like a new life, full of promise, of unrest, of +toil, scattering lavishly its wealth to the four corners of an excited +world. Material changes swept along in the train of material interests. +And other changes more subtle, outwardly unmarked, affected the minds +and hearts of the workers. Captain Mitchell had gone home to live on his +savings invested in the San Tome mine; and Dr. Monygham had grown older, +with his head steel-grey and the unchanged expression of his face, +living on the inexhaustible treasure of his devotion drawn upon in the +secret of his heart like a store of unlawful wealth. + +The Inspector-General of State Hospitals (whose maintenance is a charge +upon the Gould Concession), Official Adviser on Sanitation to the +Municipality, Chief Medical Officer of the San Tome Consolidated Mines +(whose territory, containing gold, silver, copper, lead, cobalt, +extends for miles along the foot-hills of the Cordillera), had felt +poverty-stricken, miserable, and starved during the prolonged, second +visit the Goulds paid to Europe and the United States of America. +Intimate of the casa, proved friend, a bachelor without ties and without +establishment (except of the professional sort), he had been asked to +take up his quarters in the Gould house. In the eleven months of their +absence the familiar rooms, recalling at every glance the woman to +whom he had given all his loyalty, had grown intolerable. As the day +approached for the arrival of the mail boat Hermes (the latest addition +to the O. S. N. Co.'s splendid fleet), the doctor hobbled about more +vivaciously, snapped more sardonically at simple and gentle out of sheer +nervousness. + +He packed up his modest trunk with speed, with fury, with enthusiasm, +and saw it carried out past the old porter at the gate of the Casa Gould +with delight, with intoxication; then, as the hour approached, sitting +alone in the great landau behind the white mules, a little sideways, his +drawn-in face positively venomous with the effort of self-control, and +holding a pair of new gloves in his left hand, he drove to the harbour. + +His heart dilated within him so, when he saw the Goulds on the deck of +the Hermes, that his greetings were reduced to a casual mutter. Driving +back to town, all three were silent. And in the patio the doctor, in a +more natural manner, said-- + +"I'll leave you now to yourselves. I'll call to-morrow if I may?" + +"Come to lunch, dear Dr. Monygham, and come early," said Mrs. Gould, in +her travelling dress and her veil down, turning to look at him at the +foot of the stairs; while at the top of the flight the Madonna, in blue +robes and the Child on her arm, seemed to welcome her with an aspect of +pitying tenderness. + +"Don't expect to find me at home," Charles Gould warned him. "I'll be +off early to the mine." + +After lunch, Dona Emilia and the senor doctor came slowly through +the inner gateway of the patio. The large gardens of the Casa Gould, +surrounded by high walls, and the red-tile slopes of neighbouring roofs, +lay open before them, with masses of shade under the trees and level +surfaces of sunlight upon the lawns. A triple row of old orange trees +surrounded the whole. Barefooted, brown gardeners, in snowy white shirts +and wide calzoneras, dotted the grounds, squatting over flowerbeds, +passing between the trees, dragging slender India-rubber tubes across +the gravel of the paths; and the fine jets of water crossed each other +in graceful curves, sparkling in the sunshine with a slight pattering +noise upon the bushes, and an effect of showered diamonds upon the +grass. + +Dona Emilia, holding up the train of a clear dress, walked by the side +of Dr. Monygham, in a longish black coat and severe black bow on +an immaculate shirtfront. Under a shady clump of trees, where stood +scattered little tables and wicker easy-chairs, Mrs. Gould sat down in a +low and ample seat. + +"Don't go yet," she said to Dr. Monygham, who was unable to tear himself +away from the spot. His chin nestling within the points of his collar, +he devoured her stealthily with his eyes, which, luckily, were round and +hard like clouded marbles, and incapable of disclosing his sentiments. +His pitying emotion at the marks of time upon the face of that woman, +the air of frailty and weary fatigue that had settled upon the eyes and +temples of the "Never-tired Senora" (as Don Pepe years ago used to call +her with admiration), touched him almost to tears. "Don't go yet. +To-day is all my own," Mrs. Gould urged, gently. "We are not back yet +officially. No one will come. It's only to-morrow that the windows of +the Casa Gould are to be lit up for a reception." + +The doctor dropped into a chair. + +"Giving a tertulia?" he said, with a detached air. + +"A simple greeting for all the kind friends who care to come." + +"And only to-morrow?" + +"Yes. Charles would be tired out after a day at the mine, and so I----It +would be good to have him to myself for one evening on our return to +this house I love. It has seen all my life." + +"Ah, yes!" snarled the doctor, suddenly. "Women count time from the +marriage feast. Didn't you live a little before?" + +"Yes; but what is there to remember? There were no cares." + +Mrs. Gould sighed. And as two friends, after a long separation, will +revert to the most agitated period of their lives, they began to talk of +the Sulaco Revolution. It seemed strange to Mrs. Gould that people who +had taken part in it seemed to forget its memory and its lesson. + +"And yet," struck in the doctor, "we who played our part in it had our +reward. Don Pepe, though superannuated, still can sit a horse. Barrios +is drinking himself to death in jovial company away somewhere on his +fundacion beyond the Bolson de Tonoro. And the heroic Father Roman--I +imagine the old padre blowing up systematically the San Tome mine, +uttering a pious exclamation at every bang, and taking handfuls of +snuff between the explosions--the heroic Padre Roman says that he is not +afraid of the harm Holroyd's missionaries can do to his flock, as long +as he is alive." + +Mrs. Gould shuddered a little at the allusion to the destruction that +had come so near to the San Tome mine. + +"Ah, but you, dear friend?" + +"I did the work I was fit for." + +"You faced the most cruel dangers of all. Something more than death." + +"No, Mrs. Gould! Only death--by hanging. And I am rewarded beyond my +deserts." + +Noticing Mrs. Gould's gaze fixed upon him, he dropped his eyes. + +"I've made my career--as you see," said the Inspector-General of State +Hospitals, taking up lightly the lapels of his superfine black coat. +The doctor's self-respect marked inwardly by the almost complete +disappearance from his dreams of Father Beron appeared visibly in what, +by contrast with former carelessness, seemed an immoderate cult of +personal appearance. Carried out within severe limits of form and +colour, and in perpetual freshness, this change of apparel gave to Dr. +Monygham an air at the same time professional and festive; while his +gait and the unchanged crabbed character of his face acquired from it a +startling force of incongruity. + +"Yes," he went on. "We all had our rewards--the engineer-in-chief, +Captain Mitchell----" + +"We saw him," interrupted Mrs. Gould, in her charming voice. "The poor +dear man came up from the country on purpose to call on us in our hotel +in London. He comported himself with great dignity, but I fancy he +regrets Sulaco. He rambled feebly about 'historical events' till I felt +I could have a cry." + +"H'm," grunted the doctor; "getting old, I suppose. Even Nostromo is +getting older--though he is not changed. And, speaking of that fellow, I +wanted to tell you something----" + +For some time the house had been full of murmurs, of agitation. Suddenly +the two gardeners, busy with rose trees at the side of the garden +arch, fell upon their knees with bowed heads on the passage of Antonia +Avellanos, who appeared walking beside her uncle. + +Invested with the red hat after a short visit to Rome, where he had +been invited by the Propaganda, Father Corbelan, missionary to the +wild Indians, conspirator, friend and patron of Hernandez the robber, +advanced with big, slow strides, gaunt and leaning forward, with his +powerful hands clasped behind his back. The first Cardinal-Archbishop +of Sulaco had preserved his fanatical and morose air; the aspect of a +chaplain of bandits. It was believed that his unexpected elevation +to the purple was a counter-move to the Protestant invasion of Sulaco +organized by the Holroyd Missionary Fund. Antonia, the beauty of her +face as if a little blurred, her figure slightly fuller, advanced with +her light walk and her high serenity, smiling from a distance at Mrs. +Gould. She had brought her uncle over to see dear Emilia, without +ceremony, just for a moment before the siesta. + +When all were seated again, Dr. Monygham, who had come to dislike +heartily everybody who approached Mrs. Gould with any intimacy, kept +aside, pretending to be lost in profound meditation. A louder phrase of +Antonia made him lift his head. + +"How can we abandon, groaning under oppression, those who have been +our countrymen only a few years ago, who are our countrymen now?" Miss +Avellanos was saying. "How can we remain blind, and deaf without pity to +the cruel wrongs suffered by our brothers? There is a remedy." + +"Annex the rest of Costaguana to the order and prosperity of Sulaco," +snapped the doctor. "There is no other remedy." + +"I am convinced, senor doctor," Antonia said, with the earnest calm +of invincible resolution, "that this was from the first poor Martin's +intention." + +"Yes, but the material interests will not let you jeopardize their +development for a mere idea of pity and justice," the doctor muttered +grumpily. "And it is just as well perhaps." + +The Cardinal-Archbishop straightened up his gaunt, bony frame. + +"We have worked for them; we have made them, these material interests +of the foreigners," the last of the Corbelans uttered in a deep, +denunciatory tone. + +"And without them you are nothing," cried the doctor from the distance. +"They will not let you." + +"Let them beware, then, lest the people, prevented from their +aspirations, should rise and claim their share of the wealth and their +share of the power," the popular Cardinal-Archbishop of Sulaco declared, +significantly, menacingly. + +A silence ensued, during which his Eminence stared, frowning at the +ground, and Antonia, graceful and rigid in her chair, breathed calmly +in the strength of her convictions. Then the conversation took a +social turn, touching on the visit of the Goulds to Europe. The +Cardinal-Archbishop, when in Rome, had suffered from neuralgia in the +head all the time. It was the climate--the bad air. + +When uncle and niece had gone away, with the servants again falling +on their knees, and the old porter, who had known Henry Gould, almost +totally blind and impotent now, creeping up to kiss his Eminence's +extended hand, Dr. Monygham, looking after them, pronounced the one +word-- + +"Incorrigible!" + +Mrs. Gould, with a look upwards, dropped wearily on her lap her white +hands flashing with the gold and stones of many rings. + +"Conspiring. Yes!" said the doctor. "The last of the Avellanos and the +last of the Corbelans are conspiring with the refugees from Sta. Marta +that flock here after every revolution. The Cafe Lambroso at the corner +of the Plaza is full of them; you can hear their chatter across the +street like the noise of a parrot-house. They are conspiring for the +invasion of Costaguana. And do you know where they go for strength, +for the necessary force? To the secret societies amongst immigrants and +natives, where Nostromo--I should say Captain Fidanza--is the great man. +What gives him that position? Who can say? Genius? He has genius. He is +greater with the populace than ever he was before. It is as if he had +some secret power; some mysterious means to keep up his influence. He +holds conferences with the Archbishop, as in those old days which you +and I remember. Barrios is useless. But for a military head they have +the pious Hernandez. And they may raise the country with the new cry of +the wealth for the people." + +"Will there be never any peace? Will there be no rest?" Mrs. Gould +whispered. "I thought that we----" + +"No!" interrupted the doctor. "There is no peace and no rest in the +development of material interests. They have their law, and their +justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without +rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only +in a moral principle. Mrs. Gould, the time approaches when all that the +Gould Concession stands for shall weigh as heavily upon the people as +the barbarism, cruelty, and misrule of a few years back." + +"How can you say that, Dr. Monygham?" she cried out, as if hurt in the +most sensitive place of her soul. + +"I can say what is true," the doctor insisted, obstinately. "It'll weigh +as heavily, and provoke resentment, bloodshed, and vengeance, because +the men have grown different. Do you think that now the mine would march +upon the town to save their Senor Administrador? Do you think that?" + +She pressed the backs of her entwined hands on her eyes and murmured +hopelessly-- + +"Is it this we have worked for, then?" + +The doctor lowered his head. He could follow her silent thought. Was it +for this that her life had been robbed of all the intimate felicities of +daily affection which her tenderness needed as the human body needs air +to breathe? And the doctor, indignant with Charles Gould's blindness, +hastened to change the conversation. + +"It is about Nostromo that I wanted to talk to you. Ah! that fellow has +some continuity and force. Nothing will put an end to him. But never +mind that. There's something inexplicable going on--or perhaps only too +easy to explain. You know, Linda is practically the lighthouse keeper of +the Great Isabel light. The Garibaldino is too old now. His part is to +clean the lamps and to cook in the house; but he can't get up the stairs +any longer. The black-eyed Linda sleeps all day and watches the light +all night. Not all day, though. She is up towards five in the afternoon, +when our Nostromo, whenever he is in harbour with his schooner, comes +out on his courting visit, pulling in a small boat." + +"Aren't they married yet?" Mrs. Gould asked. "The mother wished it, as +far as I can understand, while Linda was yet quite a child. When I had +the girls with me for a year or so during the War of Separation, that +extraordinary Linda used to declare quite simply that she was going to +be Gian' Battista's wife." + +"They are not married yet," said the doctor, curtly. "I have looked +after them a little." + +"Thank you, dear Dr. Monygham," said Mrs. Gould; and under the shade +of the big trees her little, even teeth gleamed in a youthful smile of +gentle malice. "People don't know how really good you are. You will not +let them know, as if on purpose to annoy me, who have put my faith in +your good heart long ago." + +The doctor, with a lifting up of his upper lip, as though he were +longing to bite, bowed stiffly in his chair. With the utter absorption +of a man to whom love comes late, not as the most splendid of illusions, +but like an enlightening and priceless misfortune, the sight of that +woman (of whom he had been deprived for nearly a year) suggested ideas +of adoration, of kissing the hem of her robe. And this excess of feeling +translated itself naturally into an augmented grimness of speech. + +"I am afraid of being overwhelmed by too much gratitude. However, these +people interest me. I went out several times to the Great Isabel light +to look after old Giorgio." + +He did not tell Mrs. Gould that it was because he found there, in her +absence, the relief of an atmosphere of congenial sentiment in +old Giorgio's austere admiration for the "English signora--the +benefactress"; in black-eyed Linda's voluble, torrential, passionate +affection for "our Dona Emilia--that angel"; in the white-throated, fair +Giselle's adoring upward turn of the eyes, which then glided towards him +with a sidelong, half-arch, half-candid glance, which made the doctor +exclaim to himself mentally, "If I weren't what I am, old and ugly, I +would think the minx is making eyes at me. And perhaps she is. I dare +say she would make eyes at anybody." Dr. Monygham said nothing of this +to Mrs. Gould, the providence of the Viola family, but reverted to what +he called "our great Nostromo." + +"What I wanted to tell you is this: Our great Nostromo did not take much +notice of the old man and the children for some years. It's true, too, +that he was away on his coasting voyages certainly ten months out of the +twelve. He was making his fortune, as he told Captain Mitchell once. He +seems to have done uncommonly well. It was only to be expected. He is +a man full of resource, full of confidence in himself, ready to take +chances and risks of every sort. I remember being in Mitchell's office +one day, when he came in with that calm, grave air he always carries +everywhere. He had been away trading in the Gulf of California, he said, +looking straight past us at the wall, as his manner is, and was glad to +see on his return that a lighthouse was being built on the cliff of the +Great Isabel. Very glad, he repeated. Mitchell explained that it was +the O. S. N. Co. who was building it, for the convenience of the mail +service, on his own advice. Captain Fidanza was good enough to say that +it was excellent advice. I remember him twisting up his moustaches and +looking all round the cornice of the room before he proposed that old +Giorgio should be made the keeper of that light." + +"I heard of this. I was consulted at the time," Mrs. Gould said. "I +doubted whether it would be good for these girls to be shut up on that +island as if in a prison." + +"The proposal fell in with the old Garibaldino's humour. As to Linda, +any place was lovely and delightful enough for her as long as it was +Nostromo's suggestion. She could wait for her Gian' Battista's good +pleasure there as well as anywhere else. My opinion is that she was +always in love with that incorruptible Capataz. Moreover, both father +and sister were anxious to get Giselle away from the attentions of a +certain Ramirez." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Gould, interested. "Ramirez? What sort of man is that?" + +"Just a mozo of the town. His father was a Cargador. As a lanky boy he +ran about the wharf in rags, till Nostromo took him up and made a man of +him. When he got a little older, he put him into a lighter and very soon +gave him charge of the No. 3 boat--the boat which took the silver away, +Mrs. Gould. Nostromo selected that lighter for the work because she +was the best sailing and the strongest boat of all the Company's fleet. +Young Ramirez was one of the five Cargadores entrusted with the removal +of the treasure from the Custom House on that famous night. As the boat +he had charge of was sunk, Nostromo, on leaving the Company's service, +recommended him to Captain Mitchell for his successor. He had trained +him in the routine of work perfectly, and thus Mr. Ramirez, from a +starving waif, becomes a man and the Capataz of the Sulaco Cargadores." + +"Thanks to Nostromo," said Mrs. Gould, with warm approval. + +"Thanks to Nostromo," repeated Dr. Monygham. "Upon my word, the fellow's +power frightens me when I think of it. That our poor old Mitchell was +only too glad to appoint somebody trained to the work, who saved him +trouble, is not surprising. What is wonderful is the fact that the +Sulaco Cargadores accepted Ramirez for their chief, simply because such +was Nostromo's good pleasure. Of course, he is not a second Nostromo, +as he fondly imagined he would be; but still, the position was brilliant +enough. It emboldened him to make up to Giselle Viola, who, you know, is +the recognized beauty of the town. The old Garibaldino, however, took a +violent dislike to him. I don't know why. Perhaps because he was not +a model of perfection like his Gian' Battista, the incarnation of the +courage, the fidelity, the honour of 'the people.' Signor Viola does +not think much of Sulaco natives. Both of them, the old Spartan and that +white-faced Linda, with her red mouth and coal-black eyes, were looking +rather fiercely after the fair one. Ramirez was warned off. Father +Viola, I am told, threatened him with his gun once." + +"But what of Giselle herself?" asked Mrs. Gould. + +"She's a bit of a flirt, I believe," said the doctor. "I don't think +she cared much one way or another. Of course she likes men's attentions. +Ramirez was not the only one, let me tell you, Mrs. Gould. There was one +engineer, at least, on the railway staff who got warned off with a gun, +too. Old Viola does not allow any trifling with his honour. He has grown +uneasy and suspicious since his wife died. He was very pleased to remove +his youngest girl away from the town. But look what happens, Mrs. Gould. +Ramirez, the honest, lovelorn swain, is forbidden the island. Very well. +He respects the prohibition, but naturally turns his eyes frequently +towards the Great Isabel. It seems as though he had been in the habit of +gazing late at night upon the light. And during these sentimental vigils +he discovers that Nostromo, Captain Fidanza that is, returns very late +from his visits to the Violas. As late as midnight at times." + +The doctor paused and stared meaningly at Mrs. Gould. + +"Yes. But I don't understand," she began, looking puzzled. + +"Now comes the strange part," went on Dr. Monygham. "Viola, who is king +on his island, will allow no visitor on it after dark. Even Captain +Fidanza has got to leave after sunset, when Linda has gone up to +tend the light. And Nostromo goes away obediently. But what happens +afterwards? What does he do in the gulf between half-past six and +midnight? He has been seen more than once at that late hour pulling +quietly into the harbour. Ramirez is devoured by jealousy. He dared not +approach old Viola; but he plucked up courage to rail at Linda about it +on Sunday morning as she came on the mainland to hear mass and visit her +mother's grave. There was a scene on the wharf, which, as a matter of +fact, I witnessed. It was early morning. He must have been waiting for +her on purpose. I was there by the merest chance, having been called +to an urgent consultation by the doctor of the German gunboat in the +harbour. She poured wrath, scorn, and flame upon Ramirez, who seemed out +of his mind. It was a strange sight, Mrs. Gould: the long jetty, with +this raving Cargador in his crimson sash and the girl all in black, at +the end; the early Sunday morning quiet of the harbour in the shade of +the mountains; nothing but a canoe or two moving between the ships at +anchor, and the German gunboat's gig coming to take me off. Linda passed +me within a foot. I noticed her wild eyes. I called out to her. She +never heard me. She never saw me. But I looked at her face. It was awful +in its anger and wretchedness." + +Mrs. Gould sat up, opening her eyes very wide. + +"What do you mean, Dr. Monygham? Do you mean to say that you suspect the +younger sister?" + +"Quien sabe! Who can tell?" said the doctor, shrugging his shoulders +like a born Costaguanero. "Ramirez came up to me on the wharf. He +reeled--he looked insane. He took his head into his hands. He had to +talk to someone--simply had to. Of course for all his mad state he +recognized me. People know me well here. I have lived too long amongst +them to be anything else but the evil-eyed doctor, who can cure all the +ills of the flesh, and bring bad luck by a glance. He came up to me. He +tried to be calm. He tried to make it out that he wanted merely to +warn me against Nostromo. It seems that Captain Fidanza at some secret +meeting or other had mentioned me as the worst despiser of all the +poor--of the people. It's very possible. He honours me with his undying +dislike. And a word from the great Fidanza may be quite enough to send +some fool's knife into my back. The Sanitary Commission I preside +over is not in favour with the populace. 'Beware of him, senor doctor. +Destroy him, senor doctor,' Ramirez hissed right into my face. And then +he broke out. 'That man,' he spluttered, 'has cast a spell upon both +these girls.' As to himself, he had said too much. He must run away +now--run away and hide somewhere. He moaned tenderly about Giselle, and +then called her names that cannot be repeated. If he thought she could +be made to love him by any means, he would carry her off from the +island. Off into the woods. But it was no good. . . . He strode away, +flourishing his arms above his head. Then I noticed an old negro, who +had been sitting behind a pile of cases, fishing from the wharf. He +wound up his lines and slunk away at once. But he must have heard +something, and must have talked, too, because some of the old +Garibaldino's railway friends, I suppose, warned him against Ramirez. At +any rate, the father has been warned. But Ramirez has disappeared from +the town." + +"I feel I have a duty towards these girls," said Mrs. Gould, uneasily. +"Is Nostromo in Sulaco now?" + +"He is, since last Sunday." + +"He ought to be spoken to--at once." + +"Who will dare speak to him? Even the love-mad Ramirez runs away from +the mere shadow of Captain Fidanza." + +"I can. I will," Mrs. Gould declared. "A word will be enough for a man +like Nostromo." + +The doctor smiled sourly. + +"He must end this situation which lends itself to----I can't believe it +of that child," pursued Mrs. Gould. + +"He's very attractive," muttered the doctor, gloomily. + +"He'll see it, I am sure. He must put an end to all this by marrying +Linda at once," pronounced the first lady of Sulaco with immense +decision. + +Through the garden gate emerged Basilio, grown fat and sleek, with an +elderly hairless face, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his +jet-black, coarse hair plastered down smoothly. Stooping carefully +behind an ornamental clump of bushes, he put down with precaution a +small child he had been carrying on his shoulder--his own and Leonarda's +last born. The pouting, spoiled Camerista and the head mozo of the Casa +Gould had been married for some years now. + +He remained squatting on his heels for a time, gazing fondly at his +offspring, which returned his stare with imperturbable gravity; then, +solemn and respectable, walked down the path. + +"What is it, Basilio?" asked Mrs. Gould. + +"A telephone came through from the office of the mine. The master +remains to sleep at the mountain to-night." + +Dr. Monygham had got up and stood looking away. A profound silence +reigned for a time under the shade of the biggest trees in the lovely +gardens of the Casa Gould. + +"Very well, Basilio," said Mrs. Gould. She watched him walk away along +the path, step aside behind the flowering bush, and reappear with the +child seated on his shoulder. He passed through the gateway between the +garden and the patio with measured steps, careful of his light burden. + +The doctor, with his back to Mrs. Gould, contemplated a flower-bed away +in the sunshine. People believed him scornful and soured. The truth +of his nature consisted in his capacity for passion and in the +sensitiveness of his temperament. What he lacked was the polished +callousness of men of the world, the callousness from which springs +an easy tolerance for oneself and others; the tolerance wide as +poles asunder from true sympathy and human compassion. This want of +callousness accounted for his sardonic turn of mind and his biting +speeches. + +In profound silence, and glaring viciously at the brilliant flower-bed, +Dr. Monygham poured mental imprecations on Charles Gould's head. Behind +him the immobility of Mrs. Gould added to the grace of her seated +figure the charm of art, of an attitude caught and interpreted for ever. +Turning abruptly, the doctor took his leave. + +Mrs. Gould leaned back in the shade of the big trees planted in a +circle. She leaned back with her eyes closed and her white hands lying +idle on the arms of her seat. The half-light under the thick mass of +leaves brought out the youthful prettiness of her face; made the clear, +light fabrics and white lace of her dress appear luminous. Small and +dainty, as if radiating a light of her own in the deep shade of the +interlaced boughs, she resembled a good fairy, weary with a long career +of well-doing, touched by the withering suspicion of the uselessness of +her labours, the powerlessness of her magic. + +Had anybody asked her of what she was thinking, alone in the garden +of the Casa, with her husband at the mine and the house closed to the +street like an empty dwelling, her frankness would have had to evade the +question. It had come into her mind that for life to be large and full, +it must contain the care of the past and of the future in every passing +moment of the present. Our daily work must be done to the glory of the +dead, and for the good of those who come after. She thought that, and +sighed without opening her eyes--without moving at all. Mrs. Gould's +face became set and rigid for a second, as if to receive, without +flinching, a great wave of loneliness that swept over her head. And it +came into her mind, too, that no one would ever ask her with solicitude +what she was thinking of. No one. No one, but perhaps the man who had +just gone away. No; no one who could be answered with careless sincerity +in the ideal perfection of confidence. + +The word "incorrigible"--a word lately pronounced by Dr. +Monygham--floated into her still and sad immobility. Incorrigible in +his devotion to the great silver mine was the Senor Administrador! +Incorrigible in his hard, determined service of the material interests +to which he had pinned his faith in the triumph of order and justice. +Poor boy! She had a clear vision of the grey hairs on his temples. +He was perfect--perfect. What more could she have expected? It was +a colossal and lasting success; and love was only a short moment of +forgetfulness, a short intoxication, whose delight one remembered with +a sense of sadness, as if it had been a deep grief lived through. There +was something inherent in the necessities of successful action which +carried with it the moral degradation of the idea. She saw the San Tome +mountain hanging over the Campo, over the whole land, feared, hated, +wealthy; more soulless than any tyrant, more pitiless and autocratic +than the worst Government; ready to crush innumerable lives in the +expansion of its greatness. He did not see it. He could not see it. It +was not his fault. He was perfect, perfect; but she would never have him +to herself. Never; not for one short hour altogether to herself in +this old Spanish house she loved so well! Incorrigible, the last of the +Corbelans, the last of the Avellanos, the doctor had said; but she saw +clearly the San Tome mine possessing, consuming, burning up the life of +the last of the Costaguana Goulds; mastering the energetic spirit of the +son as it had mastered the lamentable weakness of the father. A terrible +success for the last of the Goulds. The last! She had hoped for a long, +long time, that perhaps----But no! There were to be no more. An immense +desolation, the dread of her own continued life, descended upon the +first lady of Sulaco. With a prophetic vision she saw herself surviving +alone the degradation of her young ideal of life, of love, of work--all +alone in the Treasure House of the World. The profound, blind, suffering +expression of a painful dream settled on her face with its closed eyes. +In the indistinct voice of an unlucky sleeper lying passive in the grip +of a merciless nightmare, she stammered out aimlessly the words-- + +"Material interest." + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +Nostromo had been growing rich very slowly. It was an effect of his +prudence. He could command himself even when thrown off his balance. +And to become the slave of a treasure with full self-knowledge is an +occurrence rare and mentally disturbing. But it was also in a great part +because of the difficulty of converting it into a form in which it +could become available. The mere act of getting it away from the island +piecemeal, little by little, was surrounded by difficulties, by the +dangers of imminent detection. He had to visit the Great Isabel in +secret, between his voyages along the coast, which were the ostensible +source of his fortune. The crew of his own schooner were to be feared as +if they had been spies upon their dreaded captain. He did not dare stay +too long in port. When his coaster was unloaded, he hurried away on +another trip, for he feared arousing suspicion even by a day's delay. +Sometimes during a week's stay, or more, he could only manage one visit +to the treasure. And that was all. A couple of ingots. He suffered +through his fears as much as through his prudence. To do things by +stealth humiliated him. And he suffered most from the concentration of +his thought upon the treasure. + +A transgression, a crime, entering a man's existence, eats it up like a +malignant growth, consumes it like a fever. Nostromo had lost his peace; +the genuineness of all his qualities was destroyed. He felt it himself, +and often cursed the silver of San Tome. His courage, his magnificence, +his leisure, his work, everything was as before, only everything was a +sham. But the treasure was real. He clung to it with a more tenacious, +mental grip. But he hated the feel of the ingots. Sometimes, after +putting away a couple of them in his cabin--the fruit of a secret night +expedition to the Great Isabel--he would look fixedly at his fingers, as +if surprised they had left no stain on his skin. + +He had found means of disposing of the silver bars in distant ports. The +necessity to go far afield made his coasting voyages long, and caused +his visits to the Viola household to be rare and far between. He was +fated to have his wife from there. He had said so once to Giorgio +himself. But the Garibaldino had put the subject aside with a majestic +wave of his hand, clutching a smouldering black briar-root pipe. There +was plenty of time; he was not the man to force his girls upon anybody. + +As time went on, Nostromo discovered his preference for the younger of +the two. They had some profound similarities of nature, which must +exist for complete confidence and understanding, no matter what +outward differences of temperament there may be to exercise their own +fascination of contrast. His wife would have to know his secret or else +life would be impossible. He was attracted by Giselle, with her candid +gaze and white throat, pliable, silent, fond of excitement under her +quiet indolence; whereas Linda, with her intense, passionately pale +face, energetic, all fire and words, touched with gloom and scorn, a +chip of the old block, true daughter of the austere republican, but with +Teresa's voice, inspired him with a deep-seated mistrust. Moreover, the +poor girl could not conceal her love for Gian' Battista. He could see it +would be violent, exacting, suspicious, uncompromising--like her soul. +Giselle, by her fair but warm beauty, by the surface placidity of her +nature holding a promise of submissiveness, by the charm of her girlish +mysteriousness, excited his passion and allayed his fears as to the +future. + +His absences from Sulaco were long. On returning from the longest of +them, he made out lighters loaded with blocks of stone lying under +the cliff of the Great Isabel; cranes and scaffolding above; workmen's +figures moving about, and a small lighthouse already rising from its +foundations on the edge of the cliff. + +At this unexpected, undreamt-of, startling sight, he thought himself +lost irretrievably. What could save him from detection now? Nothing! He +was struck with amazed dread at this turn of chance, that would kindle +a far-reaching light upon the only secret spot of his life; that life +whose very essence, value, reality, consisted in its reflection from the +admiring eyes of men. All of it but that thing which was beyond common +comprehension; which stood between him and the power that hears and +gives effect to the evil intention of curses. It was dark. Not every man +had such a darkness. And they were going to put a light there. A light! +He saw it shining upon disgrace, poverty, contempt. Somebody was sure +to. . . . Perhaps somebody had already. . . . + +The incomparable Nostromo, the Capataz, the respected and feared Captain +Fidanza, the unquestioned patron of secret societies, a republican like +old Giorgio, and a revolutionist at heart (but in another manner), was +on the point of jumping overboard from the deck of his own schooner. +That man, subjective almost to insanity, looked suicide deliberately in +the face. But he never lost his head. He was checked by the thought +that this was no escape. He imagined himself dead, and the disgrace, +the shame going on. Or, rather, properly speaking, he could not imagine +himself dead. He was possessed too strongly by the sense of his own +existence, a thing of infinite duration in its changes, to grasp the +notion of finality. The earth goes on for ever. + +And he was courageous. It was a corrupt courage, but it was as good +for his purposes as the other kind. He sailed close to the cliff of the +Great Isabel, throwing a penetrating glance from the deck at the mouth +of the ravine, tangled in an undisturbed growth of bushes. He sailed +close enough to exchange hails with the workmen, shading their eyes on +the edge of the sheer drop of the cliff overhung by the jib-head of a +powerful crane. He perceived that none of them had any occasion even to +approach the ravine where the silver lay hidden; let alone to enter it. +In the harbour he learned that no one slept on the island. The labouring +gangs returned to port every evening, singing chorus songs in the empty +lighters towed by a harbour tug. For the moment he had nothing to fear. + +But afterwards? he asked himself. Later, when a keeper came to live in +the cottage that was being built some hundred and fifty yards back from +the low lighttower, and four hundred or so from the dark, shaded, jungly +ravine, containing the secret of his safety, of his influence, of his +magnificence, of his power over the future, of his defiance of ill-luck, +of every possible betrayal from rich and poor alike--what then? He could +never shake off the treasure. His audacity, greater than that of other +men, had welded that vein of silver into his life. And the feeling +of fearful and ardent subjection, the feeling of his slavery--so +irremediable and profound that often, in his thoughts, he compared +himself to the legendary Gringos, neither dead nor alive, bound down +to their conquest of unlawful wealth on Azuera--weighed heavily on the +independent Captain Fidanza, owner and master of a coasting schooner, +whose smart appearance (and fabulous good-luck in trading) were so well +known along the western seaboard of a vast continent. + +Fiercely whiskered and grave, a shade less supple in his walk, the +vigour and symmetry of his powerful limbs lost in the vulgarity of a +brown tweed suit, made by Jews in the slums of London, and sold by the +clothing department of the Compania Anzani, Captain Fidanza was seen in +the streets of Sulaco attending to his business, as usual, that trip. +And, as usual, he allowed it to get about that he had made a great +profit on his cargo. It was a cargo of salt fish, and Lent was +approaching. He was seen in tramcars going to and fro between the town +and the harbour; he talked with people in a cafe or two in his measured, +steady voice. Captain Fidanza was seen. The generation that would know +nothing of the famous ride to Cayta was not born yet. + +Nostromo, the miscalled Capataz de Cargadores, had made for himself, +under his rightful name, another public existence, but modified by +the new conditions, less picturesque, more difficult to keep up in the +increased size and varied population of Sulaco, the progressive capital +of the Occidental Republic. + +Captain Fidanza, unpicturesque, but always a little mysterious, was +recognized quite sufficiently under the lofty glass and iron roof of the +Sulaco railway station. He took a local train, and got out in Rincon, +where he visited the widow of the Cargador who had died of his wounds +(at the dawn of the New Era, like Don Jose Avellanos) in the patio +of the Casa Gould. He consented to sit down and drink a glass of cool +lemonade in the hut, while the woman, standing up, poured a perfect +torrent of words to which he did not listen. He left some money with +her, as usual. The orphaned children, growing up and well schooled, +calling him uncle, clamoured for his blessing. He gave that, too; and in +the doorway paused for a moment to look at the flat face of the San Tome +mountain with a faint frown. This slight contraction of his bronzed brow +casting a marked tinge of severity upon his usual unbending expression, +was observed at the Lodge which he attended--but went away before the +banquet. He wore it at the meeting of some good comrades, Italians +and Occidentals, assembled in his honour under the presidency of an +indigent, sickly, somewhat hunchbacked little photographer, with a white +face and a magnanimous soul dyed crimson by a bloodthirsty hate of +all capitalists, oppressors of the two hemispheres. The heroic Giorgio +Viola, old revolutionist, would have understood nothing of his opening +speech; and Captain Fidanza, lavishly generous as usual to some poor +comrades, made no speech at all. He had listened, frowning, with his +mind far away, and walked off unapproachable, silent, like a man full of +cares. + +His frown deepened as, in the early morning, he watched the stone-masons +go off to the Great Isabel, in lighters loaded with squared blocks of +stone, enough to add another course to the squat light-tower. That was +the rate of the work. One course per day. + +And Captain Fidanza meditated. The presence of strangers on the island +would cut him completely off the treasure. It had been difficult and +dangerous enough before. He was afraid, and he was angry. He thought +with the resolution of a master and the cunning of a cowed slave. Then +he went ashore. + +He was a man of resource and ingenuity; and, as usual, the expedient he +found at a critical moment was effective enough to alter the situation +radically. He had the gift of evolving safety out of the very danger, +this incomparable Nostromo, this "fellow in a thousand." With Giorgio +established on the Great Isabel, there would be no need for concealment. +He would be able to go openly, in daylight, to see his daughters--one of +his daughters--and stay late talking to the old Garibaldino. Then in the +dark . . . Night after night . . . He would dare to grow rich quicker +now. He yearned to clasp, embrace, absorb, subjugate in unquestioned +possession this treasure, whose tyranny had weighed upon his mind, his +actions, his very sleep. + +He went to see his friend Captain Mitchell--and the thing was done as +Dr. Monygham had related to Mrs. Gould. When the project was mooted to +the Garibaldino, something like the faint reflection, the dim ghost of a +very ancient smile, stole under the white and enormous moustaches of the +old hater of kings and ministers. His daughters were the object of his +anxious care. The younger, especially. Linda, with her mother's voice, +had taken more her mother's place. Her deep, vibrating "Eh, Padre?" +seemed, but for the change of the word, the very echo of the +impassioned, remonstrating "Eh, Giorgio?" of poor Signora Teresa. It was +his fixed opinion that the town was no proper place for his girls. +The infatuated but guileless Ramirez was the object of his profound +aversion, as resuming the sins of the country whose people were blind, +vile esclavos. + +On his return from his next voyage, Captain Fidanza found the Violas +settled in the light-keeper's cottage. His knowledge of Giorgio's +idiosyncrasies had not played him false. The Garibaldino had refused +to entertain the idea of any companion whatever, except his girls. +And Captain Mitchell, anxious to please his poor Nostromo, with that +felicity of inspiration which only true affection can give, had formally +appointed Linda Viola as under-keeper of the Isabel's Light. + +"The light is private property," he used to explain. "It belongs to my +Company. I've the power to nominate whom I like, and Viola it shall be. +It's about the only thing Nostromo--a man worth his weight in gold, mind +you--has ever asked me to do for him." + +Directly his schooner was anchored opposite the New Custom House, with +its sham air of a Greek temple, flatroofed, with a colonnade, Captain +Fidanza went pulling his small boat out of the harbour, bound for the +Great Isabel, openly in the light of a declining day, before all men's +eyes, with a sense of having mastered the fates. He must establish a +regular position. He would ask him for his daughter now. He thought of +Giselle as he pulled. Linda loved him, perhaps, but the old man would be +glad to keep the elder, who had his wife's voice. + +He did not pull for the narrow strand where he had landed with Decoud, +and afterwards alone on his first visit to the treasure. He made for the +beach at the other end, and walked up the regular and gentle slope of +the wedge-shaped island. Giorgio Viola, whom he saw from afar, sitting +on a bench under the front wall of the cottage, lifted his arm slightly +to his loud hail. He walked up. Neither of the girls appeared. + +"It is good here," said the old man, in his austere, far-away manner. + +Nostromo nodded; then, after a short silence-- + +"You saw my schooner pass in not two hours ago? Do you know why I am +here before, so to speak, my anchor has fairly bitten into the ground of +this port of Sulaco?" + +"You are welcome like a son," the old man declared, quietly, staring +away upon the sea. + +"Ah! thy son. I know. I am what thy son would have been. It is well, +viejo. It is a very good welcome. Listen, I have come to ask you +for----" + +A sudden dread came upon the fearless and incorruptible Nostromo. He +dared not utter the name in his mind. The slight pause only imparted a +marked weight and solemnity to the changed end of the phrase. + +"For my wife!" . . . His heart was beating fast. "It is time you----" + +The Garibaldino arrested him with an extended arm. "That was left for +you to judge." + +He got up slowly. His beard, unclipped since Teresa's death, thick, +snow-white, covered his powerful chest. He turned his head to the door, +and called out in his strong voice-- + +"Linda." + +Her answer came sharp and faint from within; and the appalled Nostromo +stood up, too, but remained mute, gazing at the door. He was afraid. He +was not afraid of being refused the girl he loved--no mere refusal could +stand between him and a woman he desired--but the shining spectre of +the treasure rose before him, claiming his allegiance in a silence that +could not be gainsaid. He was afraid, because, neither dead nor +alive, like the Gringos on Azuera, he belonged body and soul to the +unlawfulness of his audacity. He was afraid of being forbidden the +island. He was afraid, and said nothing. + +Seeing the two men standing up side by side to await her, Linda stopped +in the doorway. Nothing could alter the passionate dead whiteness of her +face; but her black eyes seemed to catch and concentrate all the light +of the low sun in a flaming spark within the black depths, covered at +once by the slow descent of heavy eyelids. + +"Behold thy husband, master, and benefactor." Old Viola's voice +resounded with a force that seemed to fill the whole gulf. + +She stepped forward with her eyes nearly closed, like a sleep-walker in +a beatific dream. + +Nostromo made a superhuman effort. "It is time, Linda, we two were +betrothed," he said, steadily, in his level, careless, unbending tone. + +She put her hand into his offered palm, lowering her head, dark with +bronze glints, upon which her father's hand rested for a moment. + +"And so the soul of the dead is satisfied." + +This came from Giorgio Viola, who went on talking for a while of his +dead wife; while the two, sitting side by side, never looked at each +other. Then the old man ceased; and Linda, motionless, began to speak. + +"Ever since I felt I lived in the world, I have lived for you alone, +Gian' Battista. And that you knew! You knew it . . . Battistino." + +She pronounced the name exactly with her mother's intonation. A gloom as +of the grave covered Nostromo's heart. + +"Yes. I knew," he said. + +The heroic Garibaldino sat on the same bench bowing his hoary head, his +old soul dwelling alone with its memories, tender and violent, terrible +and dreary--solitary on the earth full of men. + +And Linda, his best-loved daughter, was saying, "I was yours ever since +I can remember. I had only to think of you for the earth to become empty +to my eyes. When you were there, I could see no one else. I was yours. +Nothing is changed. The world belongs to you, and you let me live in +it." . . . She dropped her low, vibrating voice to a still lower note, +and found other things to say--torturing for the man at her side. Her +murmur ran on ardent and voluble. She did not seem to see her sister, +who came out with an altar-cloth she was embroidering in her hands, and +passed in front of them, silent, fresh, fair, with a quick glance and a +faint smile, to sit a little away on the other side of Nostromo. + +The evening was still. The sun sank almost to the edge of a purple +ocean; and the white lighthouse, livid against the background of clouds +filling the head of the gulf, bore the lantern red and glowing, like a +live ember kindled by the fire of the sky. Giselle, indolent and demure, +raised the altar-cloth from time to time to hide nervous yawns, as of a +young panther. + +Suddenly Linda rushed at her sister, and seizing her head, covered her +face with kisses. Nostromo's brain reeled. When she left her, as if +stunned by the violent caresses, with her hands lying in her lap, the +slave of the treasure felt as if he could shoot that woman. Old Giorgio +lifted his leonine head. + +"Where are you going, Linda?" + +"To the light, padre mio." + +"Si, si--to your duty." + +He got up, too, looked after his eldest daughter; then, in a tone whose +festive note seemed the echo of a mood lost in the night of ages-- + +"I am going in to cook something. Aha! Son! The old man knows where to +find a bottle of wine, too." + +He turned to Giselle, with a change to austere tenderness. + +"And you, little one, pray not to the God of priests and slaves, but to +the God of orphans, of the oppressed, of the poor, of little children, +to give thee a man like this one for a husband." + +His hand rested heavily for a moment on Nostromo's shoulder; then he +went in. The hopeless slave of the San Tome silver felt at these words +the venomous fangs of jealousy biting deep into his heart. He was +appalled by the novelty of the experience, by its force, by its physical +intimacy. A husband! A husband for her! And yet it was natural that +Giselle should have a husband at some time or other. He had never +realized that before. In discovering that her beauty could belong +to another he felt as though he could kill this one of old Giorgio's +daughters also. He muttered moodily-- + +"They say you love Ramirez." + +She shook her head without looking at him. Coppery glints rippled to and +fro on the wealth of her gold hair. Her smooth forehead had the soft, +pure sheen of a priceless pearl in the splendour of the sunset, mingling +the gloom of starry spaces, the purple of the sea, and the crimson of +the sky in a magnificent stillness. + +"No," she said, slowly. "I never loved him. I think I never . . . He +loves me--perhaps." + +The seduction of her slow voice died out of the air, and her raised eyes +remained fixed on nothing, as if indifferent and without thought. + +"Ramirez told you he loved you?" asked Nostromo, restraining himself. + +"Ah! once--one evening . . ." + +"The miserable . . . Ha!" + +He had jumped up as if stung by a gad-fly, and stood before her mute +with anger. + +"Misericordia Divina! You, too, Gian' Battista! Poor wretch that I am!" +she lamented in ingenuous tones. "I told Linda, and she scolded--she +scolded. Am I to live blind, dumb, and deaf in this world? And she told +father, who took down his gun and cleaned it. Poor Ramirez! Then you +came, and she told you." + +He looked at her. He fastened his eyes upon the hollow of her white +throat, which had the invincible charm of things young, palpitating, +delicate, and alive. Was this the child he had known? Was it possible? +It dawned upon him that in these last years he had really seen very +little--nothing--of her. Nothing. She had come into the world like +a thing unknown. She had come upon him unawares. She was a danger. A +frightful danger. The instinctive mood of fierce determination that had +never failed him before the perils of this life added its steady force +to the violence of his passion. She, in a voice that recalled to him the +song of running water, the tinkling of a silver bell, continued-- + +"And between you three you have brought me here into this captivity to +the sky and water. Nothing else. Sky and water. Oh, Sanctissima Madre. +My hair shall turn grey on this tedious island. I could hate you, Gian' +Battista!" + +He laughed loudly. Her voice enveloped him like a caress. She bemoaned +her fate, spreading unconsciously, like a flower its perfume in the +coolness of the evening, the indefinable seduction of her person. Was +it her fault that nobody ever had admired Linda? Even when they were +little, going out with their mother to Mass, she remembered that people +took no notice of Linda, who was fearless, and chose instead to frighten +her, who was timid, with their attention. It was her hair like gold, she +supposed. + +He broke out-- + +"Your hair like gold, and your eyes like violets, and your lips like the +rose; your round arms, your white throat." . . . + +Imperturbable in the indolence of her pose, she blushed deeply all +over to the roots of her hair. She was not conceited. She was no more +self-conscious than a flower. But she was pleased. And perhaps even +a flower loves to hear itself praised. He glanced down, and added, +impetuously-- + +"Your little feet!" + +Leaning back against the rough stone wall of the cottage, she seemed to +bask languidly in the warmth of the rosy flush. Only her lowered eyes +glanced at her little feet. + +"And so you are going at last to marry our Linda. She is terrible. Ah! +now she will understand better since you have told her you love her. She +will not be so fierce." + +"Chica!" said Nostromo, "I have not told her anything." + +"Then make haste. Come to-morrow. Come and tell her, so that I may have +some peace from her scolding and--perhaps--who knows . . ." + +"Be allowed to listen to your Ramirez, eh? Is that it? You . . ." + +"Mercy of God! How violent you are, Giovanni," she said, unmoved. "Who +is Ramirez . . . Ramirez . . . Who is he?" she repeated, dreamily, in +the dusk and gloom of the clouded gulf, with a low red streak in the +west like a hot bar of glowing iron laid across the entrance of a world +sombre as a cavern, where the magnificent Capataz de Cargadores had +hidden his conquests of love and wealth. + +"Listen, Giselle," he said, in measured tones; "I will tell no word of +love to your sister. Do you want to know why?" + +"Alas! I could not understand perhaps, Giovanni. Father says you are not +like other men; that no one had ever understood you properly; that the +rich will be surprised yet. . . . Oh! saints in heaven! I am weary." + +She raised her embroidery to conceal the lower part of her face, then +let it fall on her lap. The lantern was shaded on the land side, but +slanting away from the dark column of the lighthouse they could see the +long shaft of light, kindled by Linda, go out to strike the expiring +glow in a horizon of purple and red. + +Giselle Viola, with her head resting against the wall of the house, +her eyes half closed, and her little feet, in white stockings and black +slippers, crossed over each other, seemed to surrender herself, tranquil +and fatal, to the gathering dusk. The charm of her body, the promising +mysteriousness of her indolence, went out into the night of the Placid +Gulf like a fresh and intoxicating fragrance spreading out in the +shadows, impregnating the air. The incorruptible Nostromo breathed +her ambient seduction in the tumultuous heaving of his breast. Before +leaving the harbour he had thrown off the store clothing of Captain +Fidanza, for greater ease in the long pull out to the islands. He stood +before her in the red sash and check shirt as he used to appear on the +Company's wharf--a Mediterranean sailor come ashore to try his luck in +Costaguana. The dusk of purple and red enveloped him, too--close, soft, +profound, as no more than fifty yards from that spot it had gathered +evening after evening about the self-destructive passion of Don Martin +Decoud's utter scepticism, flaming up to death in solitude. + +"You have got to hear," he began at last, with perfect self-control. "I +shall say no word of love to your sister, to whom I am betrothed from +this evening, because it is you that I love. It is you!" . . . + +The dusk let him see yet the tender and voluptuous smile that came +instinctively upon her lips shaped for love and kisses, freeze hard in +the drawn, haggard lines of terror. He could not restrain himself any +longer. While she shrank from his approach, her arms went out to him, +abandoned and regal in the dignity of her languid surrender. He held her +head in his two hands, and showered rapid kisses upon the upturned face +that gleamed in the purple dusk. Masterful and tender, he was entering +slowly upon the fulness of his possession. And he perceived that she was +crying. Then the incomparable Capataz, the man of careless loves, became +gentle and caressing, like a woman to the grief of a child. He murmured +to her fondly. He sat down by her and nursed her fair head on his +breast. He called her his star and his little flower. + +It had grown dark. From the living-room of the light-keeper's cottage, +where Giorgio, one of the Immortal Thousand, was bending his leonine and +heroic head over a charcoal fire, there came the sound of sizzling and +the aroma of an artistic frittura. + +In the obscure disarray of that thing, happening like a cataclysm, it +was in her feminine head that some gleam of reason survived. He was lost +to the world in their embraced stillness. But she said, whispering into +his ear-- + +"God of mercy! What will become of me--here--now--between this sky and +this water I hate? Linda, Linda--I see her!" . . . She tried to get out +of his arms, suddenly relaxed at the sound of that name. But there was +no one approaching their black shapes, enlaced and struggling on the +white background of the wall. "Linda! Poor Linda! I tremble! I shall die +of fear before my poor sister Linda, betrothed to-day to Giovanni--my +lover! Giovanni, you must have been mad! I cannot understand you! You +are not like other men! I will not give you up--never--only to God +himself! But why have you done this blind, mad, cruel, frightful thing?" + +Released, she hung her head, let fall her hands. The altar-cloth, as if +tossed by a great wind, lay far away from them, gleaming white on the +black ground. + +"From fear of losing my hope of you," said Nostromo. + +"You knew that you had my soul! You know everything! It was made for +you! But what could stand between you and me? What? Tell me!" she +repeated, without impatience, in superb assurance. + +"Your dead mother," he said, very low. + +"Ah! . . . Poor mother! She has always . . . She is a saint in heaven +now, and I cannot give you up to her. No, Giovanni. Only to God alone. +You were mad--but it is done. Oh! what have you done? Giovanni, my +beloved, my life, my master, do not leave me here in this grave of +clouds. You cannot leave me now. You must take me away--at once--this +instant--in the little boat. Giovanni, carry me off to-night, from my +fear of Linda's eyes, before I have to look at her again." + +She nestled close to him. The slave of the San Tome silver felt the +weight as of chains upon his limbs, a pressure as of a cold hand upon +his lips. He struggled against the spell. + +"I cannot," he said. "Not yet. There is something that stands between us +two and the freedom of the world." + +She pressed her form closer to his side with a subtle and naive instinct +of seduction. + +"You rave, Giovanni--my lover!" she whispered, engagingly. "What can +there be? Carry me off--in thy very hands--to Dona Emilia--away from +here. I am not very heavy." + +It seemed as though she expected him to lift her up at once in his two +palms. She had lost the notion of all impossibility. Anything could +happen on this night of wonder. As he made no movement, she almost cried +aloud-- + +"I tell you I am afraid of Linda!" And still he did not move. She became +quiet and wily. "What can there be?" she asked, coaxingly. + +He felt her warm, breathing, alive, quivering in the hollow of his +arm. In the exulting consciousness of his strength, and the triumphant +excitement of his mind, he struck out for his freedom. + +"A treasure," he said. All was still. She did not understand. "A +treasure. A treasure of silver to buy a gold crown for thy brow." + +"A treasure?" she repeated in a faint voice, as if from the depths of a +dream. "What is it you say?" + +She disengaged herself gently. He got up and looked down at her, aware +of her face, of her hair, her lips, the dimples on her cheeks--seeing +the fascination of her person in the night of the gulf as if in the +blaze of noonday. Her nonchalant and seductive voice trembled with the +excitement of admiring awe and ungovernable curiosity. + +"A treasure of silver!" she stammered out. Then pressed on faster: +"What? Where? How did you get it, Giovanni?" + +He wrestled with the spell of captivity. It was as if striking a heroic +blow that he burst out-- + +"Like a thief!" + +The densest blackness of the Placid Gulf seemed to fall upon his head. +He could not see her now. She had vanished into a long, obscure abysmal +silence, whence her voice came back to him after a time with a faint +glimmer, which was her face. + +"I love you! I love you!" + +These words gave him an unwonted sense of freedom; they cast a spell +stronger than the accursed spell of the treasure; they changed his weary +subjection to that dead thing into an exulting conviction of his power. +He would cherish her, he said, in a splendour as great as Dona Emilia's. +The rich lived on wealth stolen from the people, but he had taken from +the rich nothing--nothing that was not lost to them already by their +folly and their betrayal. For he had been betrayed--he said--deceived, +tempted. She believed him. . . . He had kept the treasure for purposes +of revenge; but now he cared nothing for it. He cared only for her. He +would put her beauty in a palace on a hill crowned with olive trees--a +white palace above a blue sea. He would keep her there like a jewel in +a casket. He would get land for her--her own land fertile with vines and +corn--to set her little feet upon. He kissed them. . . . He had already +paid for it all with the soul of a woman and the life of a man. . . . +The Capataz de Cargadores tasted the supreme intoxication of his +generosity. He flung the mastered treasure superbly at her feet in +the impenetrable darkness of the gulf, in the darkness defying--as men +said--the knowledge of God and the wit of the devil. But she must let +him grow rich first--he warned her. + +She listened as if in a trance. Her fingers stirred in his hair. He got +up from his knees reeling, weak, empty, as though he had flung his soul +away. + +"Make haste, then," she said. "Make haste, Giovanni, my lover, my +master, for I will give thee up to no one but God. And I am afraid of +Linda." + +He guessed at her shudder, and swore to do his best. He trusted the +courage of her love. She promised to be brave in order to be loved +always--far away in a white palace upon a hill above a blue sea. Then +with a timid, tentative eagerness she murmured-- + +"Where is it? Where? Tell me that, Giovanni." + +He opened his mouth and remained silent--thunderstruck. + +"Not that! Not that!" he gasped out, appalled at the spell of secrecy +that had kept him dumb before so many people falling upon his lips again +with unimpaired force. Not even to her. Not even to her. It was too +dangerous. "I forbid thee to ask," he cried at her, deadening cautiously +the anger of his voice. + +He had not regained his freedom. The spectre of the unlawful treasure +arose, standing by her side like a figure of silver, pitiless and +secret, with a finger on its pale lips. His soul died within him at the +vision of himself creeping in presently along the ravine, with the smell +of earth, of damp foliage in his nostrils--creeping in, determined in +a purpose that numbed his breast, and creeping out again loaded with +silver, with his ears alert to every sound. It must be done on this very +night--that work of a craven slave! + +He stooped low, pressed the hem of her skirt to his lips, with a +muttered command-- + +"Tell him I would not stay," and was gone suddenly from her, silent, +without as much as a footfall in the dark night. + +She sat still, her head resting indolently against the wall, and her +little feet in white stockings and black slippers crossed over each +other. Old Giorgio, coming out, did not seem to be surprised at the +intelligence as much as she had vaguely feared. For she was full of +inexplicable fear now--fear of everything and everybody except of her +Giovanni and his treasure. But that was incredible. + +The heroic Garibaldino accepted Nostromo's abrupt departure with a +sagacious indulgence. He remembered his own feelings, and exhibited a +masculine penetration of the true state of the case. + +"Va bene. Let him go. Ha! ha! No matter how fair the woman, it galls a +little. Liberty, liberty. There's more than one kind! He has said +the great word, and son Gian' Battista is not tame." He seemed to be +instructing the motionless and scared Giselle. . . . "A man should not +be tame," he added, dogmatically out of the doorway. Her stillness and +silence seemed to displease him. "Do not give way to the enviousness of +your sister's lot," he admonished her, very grave, in his deep voice. + +Presently he had to come to the door again to call in his younger +daughter. It was late. He shouted her name three times before she +even moved her head. Left alone, she had become the helpless prey of +astonishment. She walked into the bedroom she shared with Linda like +a person profoundly asleep. That aspect was so marked that even old +Giorgio, spectacled, raising his eyes from the Bible, shook his head as +she shut the door behind her. + +She walked right across the room without looking at anything, and sat +down at once by the open window. Linda, stealing down from the tower in +the exuberance of her happiness, found her with a lighted candle at her +back, facing the black night full of sighing gusts of wind and the sound +of distant showers--a true night of the gulf, too dense for the eye of +God and the wiles of the devil. She did not turn her head at the opening +of the door. + +There was something in that immobility which reached Linda in the depths +of her paradise. The elder sister guessed angrily: the child is +thinking of that wretched Ramirez. Linda longed to talk. She said in +her arbitrary voice, "Giselle!" and was not answered by the slightest +movement. + +The girl that was going to live in a palace and walk on ground of her +own was ready to die with terror. Not for anything in the world would +she have turned her head to face her sister. Her heart was beating +madly. She said with subdued haste-- + +"Do not speak to me. I am praying." + +Linda, disappointed, went out quietly; and Giselle sat on unbelieving, +lost, dazed, patient, as if waiting for the confirmation of the +incredible. The hopeless blackness of the clouds seemed part of a dream, +too. She waited. + +She did not wait in vain. The man whose soul was dead within him, +creeping out of the ravine, weighted with silver, had seen the gleam +of the lighted window, and could not help retracing his steps from the +beach. + +On that impenetrable background, obliterating the lofty mountains by +the seaboard, she saw the slave of the San Tome silver, as if by +an extraordinary power of a miracle. She accepted his return as if +henceforth the world could hold no surprise for all eternity. + +She rose, compelled and rigid, and began to speak long before the light +from within fell upon the face of the approaching man. + +"You have come back to carry me off. It is well! Open thy arms, +Giovanni, my lover. I am coming." + +His prudent footsteps stopped, and with his eyes glistening wildly, he +spoke in a harsh voice: + +"Not yet. I must grow rich slowly." . . . A threatening note came into +his tone. "Do not forget that you have a thief for your lover." + +"Yes! Yes!" she whispered, hastily. "Come nearer! Listen! Do not give me +up, Giovanni! Never, never! . . . I will be patient! . . ." + +Her form drooped consolingly over the low casement towards the slave of +the unlawful treasure. The light in the room went out, and weighted with +silver, the magnificent Capataz clasped her round her white neck in the +darkness of the gulf as a drowning man clutches at a straw. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +On the day Mrs. Gould was going, in Dr. Monygham's words, to "give a +tertulia," Captain Fidanza went down the side of his schooner lying in +Sulaco harbour, calm, unbending, deliberate in the way he sat down +in his dinghy and took up his sculls. He was later than usual. The +afternoon was well advanced before he landed on the beach of the Great +Isabel, and with a steady pace climbed the slope of the island. + +From a distance he made out Giselle sitting in a chair tilted back +against the end of the house, under the window of the girl's room. She +had her embroidery in her hands, and held it well up to her eyes. The +tranquillity of that girlish figure exasperated the feeling of perpetual +struggle and strife he carried in his breast. He became angry. It seemed +to him that she ought to hear the clanking of his fetters--his silver +fetters, from afar. And while ashore that day, he had met the doctor +with the evil eye, who had looked at him very hard. + +The raising of her eyes mollified him. They smiled in their flower-like +freshness straight upon his heart. Then she frowned. It was a warning to +be cautious. He stopped some distance away, and in a loud, indifferent +tone, said-- + +"Good day, Giselle. Is Linda up yet?" + +"Yes. She is in the big room with father." + +He approached then, and, looking through the window into the bedroom +for fear of being detected by Linda returning there for some reason, he +said, moving only his lips-- + +"You love me?" + +"More than my life." She went on with her embroidery under his +contemplating gaze and continued to speak, looking at her work, "Or I +could not live. I could not, Giovanni. For this life is like death. Oh, +Giovanni, I shall perish if you do not take me away." + +He smiled carelessly. "I will come to the window when it's dark," he +said. + +"No, don't, Giovanni. Not-to-night. Linda and father have been talking +together for a long time today." + +"What about?" + +"Ramirez, I fancy I heard. I do not know. I am afraid. I am always +afraid. It is like dying a thousand times a day. Your love is to me like +your treasure to you. It is there, but I can never get enough of it." + +He looked at her very still. She was beautiful. His desire had grown +within him. He had two masters now. But she was incapable of sustained +emotion. She was sincere in what she said, but she slept placidly at +night. When she saw him she flamed up always. Then only an increased +taciturnity marked the change in her. She was afraid of betraying +herself. She was afraid of pain, of bodily harm, of sharp words, of +facing anger, and witnessing violence. For her soul was light and tender +with a pagan sincerity in its impulses. She murmured-- + +"Give up the palazzo, Giovanni, and the vineyard on the hills, for which +we are starving our love." + +She ceased, seeing Linda standing silent at the corner of the house. + +Nostromo turned to his affianced wife with a greeting, and was amazed at +her sunken eyes, at her hollow cheeks, at the air of illness and anguish +in her face. + +"Have you been ill?" he asked, trying to put some concern into this +question. + +Her black eyes blazed at him. "Am I thinner?" she asked. + +"Yes--perhaps--a little." + +"And older?" + +"Every day counts--for all of us." + +"I shall go grey, I fear, before the ring is on my finger," she said, +slowly, keeping her gaze fastened upon him. + +She waited for what he would say, rolling down her turned-up sleeves. + +"No fear of that," he said, absently. + +She turned away as if it had been something final, and busied herself +with household cares while Nostromo talked with her father. Conversation +with the old Garibaldino was not easy. Age had left his faculties +unimpaired, only they seemed to have withdrawn somewhere deep within +him. His answers were slow in coming, with an effect of august gravity. +But that day he was more animated, quicker; there seemed to be more +life in the old lion. He was uneasy for the integrity of his honour. +He believed Sidoni's warning as to Ramirez's designs upon his younger +daughter. And he did not trust her. She was flighty. He said nothing of +his cares to "Son Gian' Battista." It was a touch of senile vanity. He +wanted to show that he was equal yet to the task of guarding alone the +honour of his house. + +Nostromo went away early. As soon as he had disappeared, walking towards +the beach, Linda stepped over the threshold and, with a haggard smile, +sat down by the side of her father. + +Ever since that Sunday, when the infatuated and desperate Ramirez had +waited for her on the wharf, she had no doubts whatever. The jealous +ravings of that man were no revelation. They had only fixed with +precision, as with a nail driven into her heart, that sense of unreality +and deception which, instead of bliss and security, she had found in +her intercourse with her promised husband. She had passed on, pouring +indignation and scorn upon Ramirez; but, that Sunday, she nearly died +of wretchedness and shame, lying on the carved and lettered stone of +Teresa's grave, subscribed for by the engine-drivers and the fitters of +the railway workshops, in sign of their respect for the hero of Italian +Unity. Old Viola had not been able to carry out his desire of burying +his wife in the sea; and Linda wept upon the stone. + +The gratuitous outrage appalled her. If he wished to break her +heart--well and good. Everything was permitted to Gian' Battista. But +why trample upon the pieces; why seek to humiliate her spirit? Aha! He +could not break that. She dried her tears. And Giselle! Giselle! The +little one that, ever since she could toddle, had always clung to +her skirt for protection. What duplicity! But she could not help it +probably. When there was a man in the case the poor featherheaded wretch +could not help herself. + +Linda had a good share of the Viola stoicism. She resolved to say +nothing. But woman-like she put passion into her stoicism. Giselle's +short answers, prompted by fearful caution, drove her beside herself by +their curtness that resembled disdain. One day she flung herself upon +the chair in which her indolent sister was lying and impressed the mark +of her teeth at the base of the whitest neck in Sulaco. Giselle cried +out. But she had her share of the Viola heroism. Ready to faint with +terror, she only said, in a lazy voice, "Madre de Dios! Are you going to +eat me alive, Linda?" And this outburst passed off leaving no trace upon +the situation. "She knows nothing. She cannot know any thing," reflected +Giselle. "Perhaps it is not true. It cannot be true," Linda tried to +persuade herself. + +But when she saw Captain Fidanza for the first time after her meeting +with the distracted Ramirez, the certitude of her misfortune returned. +She watched him from the doorway go away to his boat, asking herself +stoically, "Will they meet to-night?" She made up her mind not to leave +the tower for a second. When he had disappeared she came out and sat +down by her father. + +The venerable Garibaldino felt, in his own words, "a young man yet." In +one way or another a good deal of talk about Ramirez had reached him +of late; and his contempt and dislike of that man who obviously was +not what his son would have been, had made him restless. He slept very +little now; but for several nights past instead of reading--or only +sitting, with Mrs. Gould's silver spectacles on his nose, before the +open Bible, he had been prowling actively all about the island with his +old gun, on watch over his honour. + +Linda, laying her thin brown hand on his knee, tried to soothe his +excitement. Ramirez was not in Sulaco. Nobody knew where he was. He was +gone. His talk of what he would do meant nothing. + +"No," the old man interrupted. "But son Gian' Battista told me--quite +of himself--that the cowardly esclavo was drinking and gambling with the +rascals of Zapiga, over there on the north side of the gulf. He may get +some of the worst scoundrels of that scoundrelly town of negroes to help +him in his attempt upon the little one. . . . But I am not so old. No!" + +She argued earnestly against the probability of any attempt being made; +and at last the old man fell silent, chewing his white moustache. Women +had their obstinate notions which must be humoured--his poor wife was +like that, and Linda resembled her mother. It was not seemly for a man +to argue. "May be. May be," he mumbled. + +She was by no means easy in her mind. She loved Nostromo. She turned +her eyes upon Giselle, sitting at a distance, with something of maternal +tenderness, and the jealous anguish of a rival outraged in her defeat. +Then she rose and walked over to her. + +"Listen--you," she said, roughly. + +The invincible candour of the gaze, raised up all violet and dew, +excited her rage and admiration. She had beautiful eyes--the Chica--this +vile thing of white flesh and black deception. She did not know whether +she wanted to tear them out with shouts of vengeance or cover up their +mysterious and shameless innocence with kisses of pity and love. And +suddenly they became empty, gazing blankly at her, except for a little +fear not quite buried deep enough with all the other emotions in +Giselle's heart. + +Linda said, "Ramirez is boasting in town that he will carry you off from +the island." + +"What folly!" answered the other, and in a perversity born of long +restraint, she added: "He is not the man," in a jesting tone with a +trembling audacity. + +"No?" said Linda, through her clenched teeth. "Is he not? Well, then, +look to it; because father has been walking about with a loaded gun at +night." + +"It is not good for him. You must tell him not to, Linda. He will not +listen to me." + +"I shall say nothing--never any more--to anybody," cried Linda, +passionately. + +This could not last, thought Giselle. Giovanni must take her away +soon--the very next time he came. She would not suffer these terrors for +ever so much silver. To speak with her sister made her ill. But she was +not uneasy at her father's watchfulness. She had begged Nostromo not +to come to the window that night. He had promised to keep away for this +once. And she did not know, could not guess or imagine, that he had +another reason for coming on the island. + +Linda had gone straight to the tower. It was time to light up. She +unlocked the little door, and went heavily up the spiral staircase, +carrying her love for the magnificent Capataz de Cargadores like an +ever-increasing load of shameful fetters. No; she could not throw it +off. No; let Heaven dispose of these two. And moving about the lantern, +filled with twilight and the sheen of the moon, with careful movements +she lighted the lamp. Then her arms fell along her body. + +"And with our mother looking on," she murmured. "My own sister--the +Chica!" + +The whole refracting apparatus, with its brass fittings and rings of +prisms, glittered and sparkled like a domeshaped shrine of diamonds, +containing not a lamp, but some sacred flame, dominating the sea. And +Linda, the keeper, in black, with a pale face, drooped low in a wooden +chair, alone with her jealousy, far above the shames and passions of the +earth. A strange, dragging pain as if somebody were pulling her about +brutally by her dark hair with bronze glints, made her put her hands up +to her temples. They would meet. They would meet. And she knew where, +too. At the window. The sweat of torture fell in drops on her cheeks, +while the moonlight in the offing closed as if with a colossal bar of +silver the entrance of the Placid Gulf--the sombre cavern of clouds and +stillness in the surf-fretted seaboard. + +Linda Viola stood up suddenly with a finger on her lip. He loved neither +her nor her sister. The whole thing seemed so objectless as to frighten +her, and also give her some hope. Why did he not carry her off? What +prevented him? He was incomprehensible. What were they waiting for? For +what end were these two lying and deceiving? Not for the ends of their +love. There was no such thing. The hope of regaining him for herself +made her break her vow of not leaving the tower that night. She must +talk at once to her father, who was wise, and would understand. She ran +down the spiral stairs. At the moment of opening the door at the bottom +she heard the sound of the first shot ever fired on the Great Isabel. + +She felt a shock, as though the bullet had struck her breast. She ran on +without pausing. The cottage was dark. She cried at the door, "Giselle! +Giselle!" then dashed round the corner and screamed her sister's name +at the open window, without getting an answer; but as she was rushing, +distracted, round the house, Giselle came out of the door, and darted +past her, running silently, her hair loose, and her eyes staring +straight ahead. She seemed to skim along the grass as if on tiptoe, and +vanished. + +Linda walked on slowly, with her arms stretched out before her. All +was still on the island; she did not know where she was going. The tree +under which Martin Decoud spent his last days, beholding life like a +succession of senseless images, threw a large blotch of black shade upon +the grass. Suddenly she saw her father, standing quietly all alone in +the moonlight. + +The Garibaldino--big, erect, with his snow-white hair and beard--had a +monumental repose in his immobility, leaning upon a rifle. She put her +hand upon his arm lightly. He never stirred. + +"What have you done?" she asked, in her ordinary voice. + +"I have shot Ramirez--infame!" he answered, with his eyes directed to +where the shade was blackest. "Like a thief he came, and like a thief he +fell. The child had to be protected." + +He did not offer to move an inch, to advance a single step. He stood +there, rugged and unstirring, like a statue of an old man guarding the +honour of his house. Linda removed her trembling hand from his arm, +firm and steady like an arm of stone, and, without a word, entered the +blackness of the shade. She saw a stir of formless shapes on the ground, +and stopped short. A murmur of despair and tears grew louder to her +strained hearing. + +"I entreated you not to come to-night. Oh, my Giovanni! And you +promised. Oh! Why--why did you come, Giovanni?" + +It was her sister's voice. It broke on a heartrending sob. And the voice +of the resourceful Capataz de Cargadores, master and slave of the +San Tome treasure, who had been caught unawares by old Giorgio while +stealing across the open towards the ravine to get some more silver, +answered careless and cool, but sounding startlingly weak from the +ground. + +"It seemed as though I could not live through the night without seeing +thee once more--my star, my little flower." + +* * * * * + +The brilliant tertulia was just over, the last guests had departed, and +the Senor Administrador had gone to his room already, when Dr. Monygham, +who had been expected in the evening but had not turned up, arrived +driving along the wood-block pavement under the electric-lamps of the +deserted Calle de la Constitucion, and found the great gateway of the +Casa still open. + +He limped in, stumped up the stairs, and found the fat and sleek Basilio +on the point of turning off the lights in the sala. The prosperous +majordomo remained open-mouthed at this late invasion. + +"Don't put out the lights," commanded the doctor. "I want to see the +senora." + +"The senora is in the Senor Adminstrador's cancillaria," said Basilio, +in an unctuous voice. "The Senor Administrador starts for the mountain +in an hour. There is some trouble with the workmen to be feared, it +appears. A shameless people without reason and decency. And idle, senor. +Idle." + +"You are shamelessly lazy and imbecile yourself," said the doctor, +with that faculty for exasperation which made him so generally beloved. +"Don't put the lights out." + +Basilio retired with dignity. Dr. Monygham, waiting in the brilliantly +lighted sala, heard presently a door close at the further end of the +house. A jingle of spurs died out. The Senor Administrador was off to +the mountain. + +With a measured swish of her long train, flashing with jewels and the +shimmer of silk, her delicate head bowed as if under the weight of a +mass of fair hair, in which the silver threads were lost, the "first +lady of Sulaco," as Captain Mitchell used to describe her, moved along +the lighted corredor, wealthy beyond great dreams of wealth, considered, +loved, respected, honoured, and as solitary as any human being had ever +been, perhaps, on this earth. + +The doctor's "Mrs. Gould! One minute!" stopped her with a start at the +door of the lighted and empty sala. From the similarity of mood and +circumstance, the sight of the doctor, standing there all alone amongst +the groups of furniture, recalled to her emotional memory her unexpected +meeting with Martin Decoud; she seemed to hear in the silence the voice +of that man, dead miserably so many years ago, pronounce the words, +"Antonia left her fan here." But it was the doctor's voice that spoke, a +little altered by his excitement. She remarked his shining eyes. + +"Mrs. Gould, you are wanted. Do you know what has happened? You remember +what I told you yesterday about Nostromo. Well, it seems that a lancha, +a decked boat, coming from Zapiga, with four negroes in her, passing +close to the Great Isabel, was hailed from the cliff by a woman's +voice--Linda's, as a matter of fact--commanding them (it's a moonlight +night) to go round to the beach and take up a wounded man to the town. +The patron (from whom I've heard all this), of course, did so at once. +He told me that when they got round to the low side of the Great Isabel, +they found Linda Viola waiting for them. They followed her: she led them +under a tree not far from the cottage. There they found Nostromo lying +on the ground with his head in the younger girl's lap, and father Viola +standing some distance off leaning on his gun. Under Linda's direction +they got a table out of the cottage for a stretcher, after breaking off +the legs. They are here, Mrs. Gould. I mean Nostromo and--and Giselle. +The negroes brought him in to the first-aid hospital near the harbour. +He made the attendant send for me. But it was not me he wanted to +see--it was you, Mrs. Gould! It was you." + +"Me?" whispered Mrs. Gould, shrinking a little. + +"Yes, you!" the doctor burst out. "He begged me--his enemy, as he +thinks--to bring you to him at once. It seems he has something to say to +you alone." + +"Impossible!" murmured Mrs. Gould. + +"He said to me, 'Remind her that I have done something to keep a roof +over her head.' . . . Mrs. Gould," the doctor pursued, in the greatest +excitement. "Do you remember the silver? The silver in the lighter--that +was lost?" + +Mrs. Gould remembered. But she did not say she hated the mere mention of +that silver. Frankness personified, she remembered with an exaggerated +horror that for the first and last time of her life she had concealed +the truth from her husband about that very silver. She had been +corrupted by her fears at that time, and she had never forgiven herself. +Moreover, that silver, which would never have come down if her husband +had been made acquainted with the news brought by Decoud, had been in +a roundabout way nearly the cause of Dr. Monygham's death. And these +things appeared to her very dreadful. + +"Was it lost, though?" the doctor exclaimed. "I've always felt that +there was a mystery about our Nostromo ever since. I do believe he wants +now, at the point of death----" + +"The point of death?" repeated Mrs. Gould. + +"Yes. Yes. . . . He wants perhaps to tell you something concerning that +silver which----" + +"Oh, no! No!" exclaimed Mrs. Gould, in a low voice. "Isn't it lost and +done with? Isn't there enough treasure without it to make everybody in +the world miserable?" + +The doctor remained still, in a submissive, disappointed silence. At +last he ventured, very low-- + +"And there is that Viola girl, Giselle. What are we to do? It looks as +though father and sister had----" + +Mrs. Gould admitted that she felt in duty bound to do her best for these +girls. + +"I have a volante here," the doctor said. "If you don't mind getting +into that----" + +He waited, all impatience, till Mrs. Gould reappeared, having thrown +over her dress a grey cloak with a deep hood. + +It was thus that, cloaked and monastically hooded over her evening +costume, this woman, full of endurance and compassion, stood by the side +of the bed on which the splendid Capataz de Cargadores lay stretched +out motionless on his back. The whiteness of sheets and pillows gave a +sombre and energetic relief to his bronzed face, to the dark, nervous +hands, so good on a tiller, upon a bridle and on a trigger, lying open +and idle upon a white coverlet. + +"She is innocent," the Capataz was saying in a deep and level voice, as +though afraid that a louder word would break the slender hold his +spirit still kept upon his body. "She is innocent. It is I alone. But no +matter. For these things I would answer to no man or woman alive." + +He paused. Mrs. Gould's face, very white within the shadow of the hood, +bent over him with an invincible and dreary sadness. And the low sobs +of Giselle Viola, kneeling at the end of the bed, her gold hair with +coppery gleams loose and scattered over the Capataz's feet, hardly +troubled the silence of the room. + +"Ha! Old Giorgio--the guardian of thine honour! Fancy the Vecchio coming +upon me so light of foot, so steady of aim. I myself could have done no +better. But the price of a charge of powder might have been saved. The +honour was safe. . . . Senora, she would have followed to the end of +the world Nostromo the thief. . . . I have said the word. The spell is +broken!" + +A low moan from the girl made him cast his eyes down. + +"I cannot see her. . . . No matter," he went on, with the shadow of the +old magnificent carelessness in his voice. "One kiss is enough, if +there is no time for more. An airy soul, senora! Bright and warm, like +sunshine--soon clouded, and soon serene. They would crush it there +between them. Senora, cast on her the eye of your compassion, as famed +from one end of the land to the other as the courage and daring of +the man who speaks to you. She will console herself in time. And even +Ramirez is not a bad fellow. I am not angry. No! It is not Ramirez +who overcame the Capataz of the Sulaco Cargadores." He paused, made an +effort, and in louder voice, a little wildly, declared-- + +"I die betrayed--betrayed by----" + +But he did not say by whom or by what he was dying betrayed. + +"She would not have betrayed me," he began again, opening his eyes very +wide. "She was faithful. We were going very far--very soon. I could have +torn myself away from that accursed treasure for her. For that child I +would have left boxes and boxes of it--full. And Decoud took four. Four +ingots. Why? Picardia! To betray me? How could I give back the treasure +with four ingots missing? They would have said I had purloined them. The +doctor would have said that. Alas! it holds me yet!" + +Mrs. Gould bent low, fascinated--cold with apprehension. + +"What became of Don Martin on that night, Nostromo?" + +"Who knows? I wondered what would become of me. Now I know. Death was +to come upon me unawares. He went away! He betrayed me. And you think +I have killed him! You are all alike, you fine people. The silver has +killed me. It has held me. It holds me yet. Nobody knows where it is. +But you are the wife of Don Carlos, who put it into my hands and said, +'Save it on your life.' And when I returned, and you all thought it +was lost, what do I hear? 'It was nothing of importance. Let it go. Up, +Nostromo, the faithful, and ride away to save us, for dear life!'" + +"Nostromo!" Mrs. Gould whispered, bending very low. "I, too, have hated +the idea of that silver from the bottom of my heart." + +"Marvellous!--that one of you should hate the wealth that you know so +well how to take from the hands of the poor. The world rests upon the +poor, as old Giorgio says. You have been always good to the poor. But +there is something accursed in wealth. Senora, shall I tell you where +the treasure is? To you alone. . . . Shining! Incorruptible!" + +A pained, involuntary reluctance lingered in his tone, in his eyes, +plain to the woman with the genius of sympathetic intuition. She averted +her glance from the miserable subjection of the dying man, appalled, +wishing to hear no more of the silver. + +"No, Capataz," she said. "No one misses it now. Let it be lost for +ever." + +After hearing these words, Nostromo closed his eyes, uttered no word, +made no movement. Outside the door of the sick-room Dr. Monygham, +excited to the highest pitch, his eyes shining with eagerness, came up +to the two women. + +"Now, Mrs. Gould," he said, almost brutally in his impatience, "tell me, +was I right? There is a mystery. You have got the word of it, have you +not? He told you----" + +"He told me nothing," said Mrs. Gould, steadily. + +The light of his temperamental enmity to Nostromo went out of Dr. +Monygham's eyes. He stepped back submissively. He did not believe Mrs. +Gould. But her word was law. He accepted her denial like an inexplicable +fatality affirming the victory of Nostromo's genius over his own. Even +before that woman, whom he loved with secret devotion, he had been +defeated by the magnificent Capataz de Cargadores, the man who had lived +his own life on the assumption of unbroken fidelity, rectitude, and +courage! + +"Pray send at once somebody for my carriage," spoke Mrs. Gould from +within her hood. Then, turning to Giselle Viola, "Come nearer me, child; +come closer. We will wait here." + +Giselle Viola, heartbroken and childlike, her face veiled in her falling +hair, crept up to her side. Mrs. Gould slipped her hand through the arm +of the unworthy daughter of old Viola, the immaculate republican, the +hero without a stain. Slowly, gradually, as a withered flower droops, +the head of the girl, who would have followed a thief to the end of the +world, rested on the shoulder of Dona Emilia, the first lady of Sulaco, +the wife of the Senor Administrador of the San Tome mine. And Mrs. +Gould, feeling her suppressed sobbing, nervous and excited, had the +first and only moment of bitterness in her life. It was worthy of Dr. +Monygham himself. + +"Console yourself, child. Very soon he would have forgotten you for his +treasure." + +"Senora, he loved me. He loved me," Giselle whispered, despairingly. "He +loved me as no one had ever been loved before." + +"I have been loved, too," Mrs. Gould said in a severe tone. + +Giselle clung to her convulsively. "Oh, senora, but you shall live +adored to the end of your life," she sobbed out. + +Mrs. Gould kept an unbroken silence till the carriage arrived. She +helped in the half-fainting girl. After the doctor had shut the door of +the landau, she leaned over to him. + +"You can do nothing?" she whispered. + +"No, Mrs. Gould. Moreover, he won't let us touch him. It does not +matter. I just had one look. . . . Useless." + +But he promised to see old Viola and the other girl that very night. He +could get the police-boat to take him off to the island. He remained +in the street, looking after the landau rolling away slowly behind the +white mules. + +The rumour of some accident--an accident to Captain Fidanza--had been +spreading along the new quays with their rows of lamps and the dark +shapes of towering cranes. A knot of night prowlers--the poorest of the +poor--hung about the door of the first-aid hospital, whispering in the +moonlight of the empty street. + +There was no one with the wounded man but the pale photographer, small, +frail, bloodthirsty, the hater of capitalists, perched on a high stool +near the head of the bed with his knees up and his chin in his hands. He +had been fetched by a comrade who, working late on the wharf, had +heard from a negro belonging to a lancha, that Captain Fidanza had been +brought ashore mortally wounded. + +"Have you any dispositions to make, comrade?" he asked, anxiously. "Do +not forget that we want money for our work. The rich must be fought with +their own weapons." + +Nostromo made no answer. The other did not insist, remaining huddled +up on the stool, shock-headed, wildly hairy, like a hunchbacked monkey. +Then, after a long silence-- + +"Comrade Fidanza," he began, solemnly, "you have refused all aid from +that doctor. Is he really a dangerous enemy of the people?" + +In the dimly lit room Nostromo rolled his head slowly on the pillow and +opened his eyes, directing at the weird figure perched by his bedside a +glance of enigmatic and profound inquiry. Then his head rolled back, his +eyelids fell, and the Capataz de Cargadores died without a word or moan +after an hour of immobility, broken by short shudders testifying to the +most atrocious sufferings. + +Dr. Monygham, going out in the police-galley to the islands, beheld the +glitter of the moon upon the gulf and the high black shape of the Great +Isabel sending a shaft of light afar, from under the canopy of clouds. + +"Pull easy," he said, wondering what he would find there. He tried to +imagine Linda and her father, and discovered a strange reluctance within +himself. "Pull easy," he repeated. + +* * * * * * + +From the moment he fired at the thief of his honour, Giorgio Viola had +not stirred from the spot. He stood, his old gun grounded, his hand +grasping the barrel near the muzzle. After the lancha carrying off +Nostromo for ever from her had left the shore, Linda, coming up, stopped +before him. He did not seem to be aware of her presence, but when, +losing her forced calmness, she cried out-- + +"Do you know whom you have killed?" he answered-- + +"Ramirez the vagabond." + +White, and staring insanely at her father, Linda laughed in his face. +After a time he joined her faintly in a deep-toned and distant echo of +her peals. Then she stopped, and the old man spoke as if startled-- + +"He cried out in son Gian' Battista's voice." + +The gun fell from his opened hand, but the arm remained extended for a +moment as if still supported. Linda seized it roughly. + +"You are too old to understand. Come into the house." + +He let her lead him. On the threshold he stumbled heavily, nearly coming +to the ground together with his daughter. His excitement, his activity +of the last few days, had been like the flare of a dying lamp. He caught +at the back of his chair. + +"In son Gian' Battista's voice," he repeated in a severe tone. "I heard +him--Ramirez--the miserable----" + +Linda helped him into the chair, and, bending low, hissed into his ear-- + +"You have killed Gian' Battista." + +The old man smiled under his thick moustache. Women had strange fancies. + +"Where is the child?" he asked, surprised at the penetrating chilliness +of the air and the unwonted dimness of the lamp by which he used to sit +up half the night with the open Bible before him. + +Linda hesitated a moment, then averted her eyes. + +"She is asleep," she said. "We shall talk of her tomorrow." + +She could not bear to look at him. He filled her with terror and with an +almost unbearable feeling of pity. She had observed the change that came +over him. He would never understand what he had done; and even to her +the whole thing remained incomprehensible. He said with difficulty-- + +"Give me the book." + +Linda laid on the table the closed volume in its worn leather cover, the +Bible given him ages ago by an Englishman in Palermo. + +"The child had to be protected," he said, in a strange, mournful voice. + +Behind his chair Linda wrung her hands, crying without noise. Suddenly +she started for the door. He heard her move. + +"Where are you going?" he asked. + +"To the light," she answered, turning round to look at him balefully. + +"The light! Si--duty." + +Very upright, white-haired, leonine, heroic in his absorbed quietness, +he felt in the pocket of his red shirt for the spectacles given him by +Dona Emilia. He put them on. After a long period of immobility he opened +the book, and from on high looked through the glasses at the small print +in double columns. A rigid, stern expression settled upon his features +with a slight frown, as if in response to some gloomy thought or +unpleasant sensation. But he never detached his eyes from the book while +he swayed forward, gently, gradually, till his snow-white head +rested upon the open pages. A wooden clock ticked methodically on the +white-washed wall, and growing slowly cold the Garibaldino lay alone, +rugged, undecayed, like an old oak uprooted by a treacherous gust of +wind. + +The light of the Great Isabel burned unfailing above the lost treasure +of the San Tome mine. Into the bluish sheen of a night without stars +the lantern sent out a yellow beam towards the far horizon. Like a black +speck upon the shining panes, Linda, crouching in the outer gallery, +rested her head on the rail. The moon, drooping in the western board, +looked at her radiantly. + +Below, at the foot of the cliff, the regular splash of oars from a +passing boat ceased, and Dr. Monygham stood up in the stern sheets. + +"Linda!" he shouted, throwing back his head. "Linda!" + +Linda stood up. She had recognized the voice. + +"Is he dead?" she cried, bending over. + +"Yes, my poor girl. I am coming round," the doctor answered from below. +"Pull to the beach," he said to the rowers. + +Linda's black figure detached itself upright on the light of the lantern +with her arms raised above her head as though she were going to throw +herself over. + +"It is I who loved you," she whispered, with a face as set and white +as marble in the moonlight. "I! Only I! She will forget thee, killed +miserably for her pretty face. I cannot understand. I cannot understand. +But I shall never forget thee. Never!" + +She stood silent and still, collecting her strength to throw all her +fidelity, her pain, bewilderment, and despair into one great cry. + +"Never! Gian' Battista!" + +Dr. Monygham, pulling round in the police-galley, heard the name pass +over his head. It was another of Nostromo's triumphs, the greatest, the +most enviable, the most sinister of all. In that true cry of undying +passion that seemed to ring aloud from Punta Mala to Azuera and away to +the bright line of the horizon, overhung by a big white cloud shining +like a mass of solid silver, the genius of the magnificent Capataz de +Cargadores dominated the dark gulf containing his conquests of treasure +and love. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOSTROMO: A TALE OF THE SEABOARD *** + +***** This file should be named 2021.txt or 2021.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/2/2021/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |