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

were badly wanted for this great development of materialinterests. Anybody on the side of these things, and especiallyif able to help, had an importance in Sir John’s eyes.He had not been disappointed in the ‘King of Sulaco.’ Thelocal difficulties had fallen away, as the engineer-in-chiefhad foretold they would, before Charles Gould’s mediation.Sir John had been extremely feted in Sulaco, next to thePresident-Dictator, a fact which might have accounted forthe evident ill-humour General Montero displayed at lunchgiven on board the Juno just before she was to sail, takingaway from Sulaco the President-Dictator and the distinguishedforeign guests in his train.The Excellentissimo (“the hope of honest men,’ as DonJose had addressed him in a public speech delivered in thename of the Provincial Assembly of Sulaco) sat at the headof the long table; Captain Mitchell, positively stony-eyedand purple in the face with the solemnity of this ‘historicalevent,’ 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 fromthe shore around him. Those cheery, swarthy little gentlemencast jovial side-glances at the bottles of champagnebeginning to pop behind the guests’ backs in the hands ofthe ship’s stewards. The amber wine creamed up to the rimsof the glasses.Charles Gould had his place next to a foreign envoy, who,in a listless undertone, had been talking to him fitfully ofhunting and shooting. The well-nourished, pale face, withan eyeglass and drooping yellow moustache, made the Se-