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

Decoud affected suddenly the utmost nonchalance.‘I can’t bear to be spied upon. Oh, the cause? Yes, there isa cause; there is something else that is lost besides Antonia’sfavourite fan. As I was walking home after seeing Don Joseand Antonia to their house, the Capataz de Cargadores, ridingdown the street, spoke to me.’‘Has anything happened to the Violas?’ inquired Mrs.Gould.‘The Violas? You mean the old Garibaldino who keepsthe hotel where the engineers live? Nothing happened there.The Capataz said nothing of them; he only told me that thetelegraphist of the Cable Company was walking on the Plaza,bareheaded, looking out for me. There is news from theinterior, Mrs. Gould. I should rather say rumours of news.’‘Good news?’ said Mrs. Gould in a low voice.‘Worthless, I should think. But if I must define them, Iwould say bad. They are to the effect that a two days’ battlehad been fought near Sta. Marta, and that the Ribierists aredefeated. It must have happened a few days ago—perhaps aweek. The rumour has just reached Cayta, and the man incharge of the cable station there has telegraphed the newsto his colleague here. We might just as well have kept Barriosin Sulaco.’‘What’s to be done now?’ murmured Mrs. Gould.‘Nothing. He’s at sea with the troops. He will get to Caytain a couple of days’ time and learn the news there. What hewill do then, who can say? Hold Cayta? Offer his submissionto Montero? Disband his army—this last most likely, and gohimself in one of the O.S.N. Company’s steamers, north or