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

‘And I have sat alone at night with my revolver in theCompany’s warehouse time and again by the side of thatother Englishman’s heap of silver, guarding it as though ithad 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, stillabsorbed in his idea, and tendered him a cigar, mumblingthoughtfully in his moustache, ‘Children growing up—andgirls, too! Girls!’ He sighed and fell silent.‘What, only one?’ remarked Nostromo, looking downwith a sort of comic inquisitiveness at the unconscious oldman. ‘No matter,’ he added, with lofty negligence; ‘one isenough 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 asyou, Gian’ Battista, if he had lived.’‘What? Your son? But you are right, padrone. If he hadbeen like me he would have been a man.’He turned his horse slowly, and paced on between thebooths, checking the mare almost to a standstill now andthen for children, for the groups of people from the distantCampo, who stared after him with admiration. The Company’slightermen saluted him from afar; and the greatlyenvied Capataz de Cargadores advanced, amongst mur-