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

them from the people in the sala.Outside it had grown dark. From the deep trench ofshadow between the houses, lit up vaguely by the glimmerof street lamps, ascended the evening silence of Sulaco; thesilence of a town with few carriages, of unshod horses, anda softly sandalled population. The windows of the CasaGould flung their shining parallelograms upon the houseof the Avellanos. Now and then a shuffle of feet passed belowwith the pulsating red glow of a cigarette at the footof the walls; and the night air, as if cooled by the snows ofHiguerota, refreshed their faces.‘We Occidentals,’ said Martin Decoud, using the usualterm the provincials of Sulaco applied to themselves, ‘havebeen always distinct and separated. As long as we hold Caytanothing can reach us. In all our troubles no army hasmarched over those mountains. A revolution in the centralprovinces isolates us at once. Look how complete it is now!The news of Barrios’ movement will be cabled to the UnitedStates, and only in that way will it reach Sta. Marta by thecable 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 Provinceshould stand alone. The early Federalism was not bad forus. Then came this union which Don Henrique Gould resisted.It opened the road to tyranny; and, ever since, therest of Costaguana hangs like a millstone round our necks.The Occidental territory is large enough to make any man’scountry. Look at the mountains! Nature itself seems to cryto us, ‘Separate!’’