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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Judy Boss, Omaha, NE + + + + + +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 + + + +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 hadbroken 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 considably 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 ninetenths 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. + +Leonardo 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 "PORVENIR" 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, +highshouldered 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 yon 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 twowheeled +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, goodhumoured +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 breakingpoint, 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 parrothouse. +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 Etext of Nostromo ,by Joseph Conrad + |