Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

tercourse was to strike as offensively independent.Charles Gould assumed that if the appearance of listeningto deplorable balderdash must form part of the price hehad to pay for being left unmolested, the obligation of utteringbalderdash personally was by no means included inthe bargain. He drew the line there. To these provincial autocrats,before whom the peaceable population of all classeshad been accustomed to tremble, the reserve of that English-lookingengineer caused an uneasiness which swungto and fro between cringing and truculence. Gradually allof them discovered that, no matter what party was in power,that man remained in most effective touch with the higherauthorities in Sta. Marta.This was a fact, and it accounted perfectly for the Gouldsbeing by no means so wealthy as the engineer-in-chief onthe new railway could legitimately suppose. Following theadvice of Don Jose Avellanos, who was a man of good counsel(though rendered timid by his horrible experiences ofGuzman Bento’s time), Charles Gould had kept clear of thecapital; but in the current gossip of the foreign residentsthere he was known (with a good deal of seriousness underlyingthe irony) by the nickname of ‘King of Sulaco.’ Anadvocate of the Costaguana Bar, a man of reputed abilityand good character, member of the distinguished Moragafamily possessing extensive estates in the Sulaco Valley, waspointed out to strangers, with a shade of mystery and respect,as the agent of the San Tome mine—‘political, youknow.’ He was tall, black-whiskered, and discreet. It wasknown that he had easy access to ministers, and that the nu-