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

otic 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 oneendeavour to keep unchecked the flow of treasure he hadstarted single-handed from the re-opened scar in the flankof the mountain. As the mine developed he had trained forhimself some native help. There were foremen, artificersand clerks, with Don Pepe for the gobernador of the miningpopulation. For the rest his shoulders alone sustainedthe whole weight of the ‘Imperium in Imperio,’ the greatGould Concession whose mere shadow had been enough tocrush the life out of his father.Mrs. Gould had no silver mine to look after. In the generallife of the Gould Concession she was represented by hertwo lieutenants, the doctor and the priest, but she fed herwoman’s love of excitement on events whose significancewas purified to her by the fire of her imaginative purpose.On that day she had brought the Avellanos, father anddaughter, down to the harbour with her.Amongst his other activities of that stirring time, DonJose had become the chairman of a Patriotic Committeewhich had armed a great proportion of troops in the Sulacocommand with an improved model of a military rifle.It had been just discarded for something still more deadlyby one of the great European powers. How much of themarket-price for second-hand weapons was covered by thevoluntary contributions of the principal families, and howmuch came from those funds Don Jose was understoodto command abroad, remained a secret which he alone