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

harbour; and there was not a sound, as if the tremendousobscurity of the Placid Gulf, spreading from the waters overthe land, had made it dumb as well as blind. Presently Decoudfelt a light tremor of the floor and a distant clank ofiron. A bright white light appeared, deep in the darkness,growing bigger with a thundering noise. The rolling stockusually kept on the sidings in Rincon was being run backto the yards for safe keeping. Like a mysterious stirring ofthe darkness behind the headlight of the engine, the trainpassed in a gust of hollow uproar, by the end of the house,which seemed to vibrate all over in response. And nothingwas clearly visible but, on the end of the last flat car, a negro,in white trousers and naked to the waist, swinging a blazingtorch basket incessantly with a circular movement of hisbare arm. Decoud did not stir.Behind him, on the back of the chair from which he hadrisen, hung his elegant Parisian overcoat, with a pearl-greysilk lining. But when he turned back to come to the table thecandlelight fell upon a face that was grimy and scratched.His rosy lips were blackened with heat, the smoke of gunpowder.Dirt and rust tarnished the lustre of his short beard.His shirt collar and cuffs were crumpled; the blue silken tiehung down his breast like a rag; a greasy smudge crossedhis white brow. He had not taken off his clothing nor usedwater, except to snatch a hasty drink greedily, for some fortyhours. An awful restlessness had made him its own, hadmarked him with all the signs of desperate strife, and put adry, sleepless stare into his eyes. He murmured to himselfin a hoarse voice, ‘I wonder if there’s any bread here,’ looked