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sitting, the remnant of the vanished Provincial Assembly.Don Juste Lopez had had half his beard singed off at themuzzle of a trabuco loaded with slugs, of which every onemissed him, providentially. And as he turned his head fromside to side it was exactly as if there had been two men insidehis frock-coat, one nobly whiskered and solemn, theother untidy and scared.‘They raised a cry of ‘Decoud! Don Martin!’ at my entrance.I asked them, ‘What are you deliberating upon,gentlemen?’ There did not seem to be any president, thoughDon Jose Avellanos sat at the head of the table. They all answeredtogether, ‘On the preservation of life and property.’‘Till the new officials arrive,’ Don Juste explained to me,with the solemn side of his face offered to my view. It was asif a stream of water had been poured upon my glowing ideaof a new State. There was a hissing sound in my ears, andthe room grew dim, as if suddenly filled with vapour.‘I walked up to the table blindly, as though I had beendrunk. ‘You are deliberating upon surrender,’ I said. Theyall sat still, with their noses over the sheet of paper each hadbefore him, God only knows why. Only Don Jose hid hisface in his hands, muttering, ‘Never, never!’ But as I lookedat him, it seemed to me that I could have blown him awaywith my breath, he looked so frail, so weak, so worn out.Whatever happens, he will not survive. The deception istoo great for a man of his age; and hasn’t he seen the sheetsof ‘Fifty Years of Misrule,’ which we have begun printingon the presses of the Porvenir, littering the Plaza, floatingin the gutters, fired out as wads for trabucos loaded with
handfuls of type, blown in the wind, trampled in the mud?I have seen pages floating upon the very waters of the harbour.It would be unreasonable to expect him to survive. Itwould be cruel.‘Do you know,’ I cried, ‘what surrender means to you, toyour women, to your children, to your property?’‘I declaimed for five minutes without drawing breath, itseems to me, harping on our best chances, on the ferocity ofMontero, whom I made out to be as great a beast as I haveno doubt he would like to be if he had intelligence enoughto conceive a systematic reign of terror. And then for anotherfive minutes or more I poured out an impassionedappeal to their courage and manliness, with all the passionof my love for Antonia. For if ever man spoke well, it wouldbe from a personal feeling, denouncing an enemy, defendinghimself, or pleading for what really may be dearer thanlife. My dear girl, I absolutely thundered at them. It seemedas if my voice would burst the walls asunder, and when Istopped I saw all their scared eyes looking at me dubiously.And that was all the effect I had produced! Only Don Jose’shead had sunk lower and lower on his breast. I bent my earto his withered lips, and made out his whisper, somethinglike, ‘In God’s name, then, Martin, my son!’ I don’t knowexactly. There was the name of God in it, I am certain. Itseems to me I have caught his last breath—the breath of hisdeparting soul on his lips.‘He lives yet, it is true. I have seen him since; but it wasonly a senile body, lying on its back, covered to the chin,with open eyes, and so still that you might have said it was
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Nostromo: A Taleof the SeaboardBy J
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AUTHOR’S NOTE‘NOSTROMO’ is th
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him: ‘What’s to prevent me repo
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Misrule.’ That work was never pub
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ter the usual exordium of his remor
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invective. She did not quite unders
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CHAPTER ONEIN THE time of Spanish r
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the sky above a razor-backed ridge
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At night the body of clouds advanci
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CHAPTER TWOTHE only sign of commerc
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ject with studied negligence.‘Smi
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against the rushes of the rabble, t
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Mitchell, after directing the comma
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CHAPTER THREEIT MIGHT have been sai
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ing fowls, pounding corn in wooden
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It was trying to the nerves. Old Vi
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The children kneeling on the floor
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Linda raised her eyes to her face f
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fumes floated upwards in sunshine,
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while the negro brakesmen sat carel
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ters of her hair, and the eyelashes
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Italian—the publication of the Br
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Giorgio’s old age. It cast a gloo
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CHAPTER FIVEIN THIS way only was th
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out-of-the-way place Sulaco is!—a
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aristocratic old Spanish families,
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showed some talent as guerilla chie
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could set in motion mighty machines
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face, a pair of eyes gazing straigh
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not connected with Nostromo, and in
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here. And I suppose they are homesi
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swift pasotrote, straight out of so
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Perhaps he had just dismounted on h
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Worked in the early days mostly by
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with many arguments and entreaties,
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a votre bonhomme—entendez-vous?
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teen, a matter of prime importance
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a personal point of view, too, as o
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‘That’s different. I’ve been
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and generosity, had the fastidious
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with that girl, and his mind of the
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aspect of the world.The latest phas
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fat coachman sat muffled up on the
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mine by the hour with her husband w
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face, and his whole, long-limbed, l
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thought that no one could know her
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there was an implication of calm an
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on facts; and Charles Gould, whose
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lip is what you’ll want; and you
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inaccessible to profane eyes. Some
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me whether his talk is the voice of
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stairs, and before he gave her the
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the heat of the day, she rode on a
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of lust between bands of absurd dev
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ents must have been great, after al
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tercourse was to strike as offensiv
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When in Sulaco it was his practice
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enclosures within the old ramparts,
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Thus professionally spoke Don Pepe,
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sword and in a shabby uniform with
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first, in a pointed straw hat, then
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dying on hillsides, in the long gra
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and weight, would be caught up by t
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ment. From the heavy family coaches
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had been fitted out; a price had be
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fore she had settled in her town-ho
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gling spurs and riding-whip under h
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the white gleam of ranging eyes; an
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at the end of his rule (which had k
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were badly wanted for this great de
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Chief of the State Costaguana had e
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which I, having been in my time acc
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Going ashore in the same boat with
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carriage, who returned smiles and f
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murs of recognition and obsequious
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‘Is that true?’ she cooed, joyo
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Nostromo, the Mediterranean sailor
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PART SECONDThe Isabels
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The harbour was busy, too, with the
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ing company of nearly naked skeleto
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It was the rule for all the women o
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cific mandate to establish the pros
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much of the ignominy of the situati
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could unsettle the public opinion i
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in Tonoro. They had come to offer h
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otic send-off. It was not his part
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of a lover ensconced in a doorway o
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tion to become a poet like that oth
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‘It’s like a tile falling on my
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formed that she ventured to treat s
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‘I am inexpressibly grateful for
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French language. The big black lett
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thick stick. No! He had earned enou
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costume caused by the anxious lende
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ars of a strong wooden cage. Si, se
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The carriage rolled noiselessly on
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‘Yes,’ muttered old Viola, sava
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‘I shall want a horse presently,
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shriek, and Decoud, from his back s
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ciple is old.’He ruminated his di
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of feminine and intimate delicacy.D
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aising her hand. After a time he wh
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Decoud talking publicly with Antoni
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make war you may retreat, but not w
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and all his Negro Liberals hanging
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She made an energetic gesture of ne
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have ploughed the sea.’ He did no
Page 215 and 216: first pause. Their comparative isol
Page 217 and 218: Jose Avellanos. Don Jose, lifting u
Page 219 and 220: have carried so far, though there w
Page 221 and 222: something unlawful behind his pries
Page 223 and 224: for reparation from a penitent coun
Page 225 and 226: ‘Very well,’ he agreed with the
Page 227 and 228: the skirt of his soutane at each en
Page 229 and 230: confirmatory word, a grunt of assen
Page 231 and 232: sign, made no sound. The impenetrab
Page 233 and 234: so.’ And now he was going. It was
Page 235 and 236: stairs, where the Madonna with the
Page 237 and 238: there was to say a long time ago. T
Page 239 and 240: upon the great bare wall. ‘It is
Page 241 and 242: Decoud affected suddenly the utmost
Page 243 and 244: country, whatever Father Corbelan m
Page 245 and 246: ceptibilities, and at the present m
Page 247 and 248: do no harm. And it was quite possib
Page 249 and 250: sentimentalists to deal with.’‘
Page 251 and 252: iously.‘Upon the whole,’ he con
Page 253 and 254: CHAPTER SEVENIT WAS part of what De
Page 255 and 256: death. That man seems to have a par
Page 257 and 258: for that, senor?’ Then it dawned
Page 259 and 260: dismantled houses acquired by the C
Page 261 and 262: vaguely about him, then dropped int
Page 263 and 264: man or beast,’ said the girl, pas
Page 265: holding a bottle, and sobbing gentl
Page 269 and 270: it were to an assembly of trained m
Page 271 and 272: clothed in the fair robes of an ide
Page 273 and 274: emaining forces had melted away dur
Page 275 and 276: ‘Never mind, there is no lack of
Page 277 and 278: holds to it as some men hold to the
Page 279 and 280: humanity.‘He joined me on the har
Page 281 and 282: the paper was going through the pre
Page 283 and 284: ‘Teresa wants to see you, Nostrom
Page 285 and 286: for the glow of a heap of charcoal
Page 287 and 288: and hopes, had a great regard for h
Page 289 and 290: the one which they say is guarded b
Page 291 and 292: the stairs backwards, with the usua
Page 293 and 294: ‘What bargain would your worship
Page 295 and 296: ‘We are out in the gulf now,’ s
Page 297 and 298: In the featureless night Nostromo w
Page 299 and 300: and years to come. And yet, the day
Page 301 and 302: er. No, senor; there is no rest til
Page 303 and 304: the sensations awaked by what he ha
Page 305 and 306: was limp—lifeless.The light of th
Page 307 and 308: shouts and imprecations, looking fo
Page 309 and 310: angry and threatening voice, ordere
Page 311 and 312: had been making use of him, had tri
Page 313 and 314: ‘They are trying to make out wher
Page 315 and 316: a naked mast. I will do it now, bef
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windows of the houses, and showing
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mism. In comparison to it, the chan
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daylight? He began to think that th
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him, and Barrios, with a rude and j
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intoxicated, and proceeded on their
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This was the first time Nostromo an
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would have passed on, leaving the l
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the breast of Senor Hirsch, who sim
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in aim, in view, in character, and
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I was in love with. Poor Teresa cou
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one of the two spades which belonge
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Nostromo detected the ironic tone.
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certainly before noon Sotillo would
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PART THIRDTHE LIGHTHOUSE
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of those imported workmen with the
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losing party. But I did not tell th
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of the far interior where the great
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ing by himself. I shall be sorry.
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story that will never grow old. Tha
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the treasure was of enormous import
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the wall, and narrow enough to be d
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the engineer. ‘When this question
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CHAPTER TWOCAPTAIN MITCHELL, pacing
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ecome the prey in person and fortun
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infuriated. Captain Mitchell, howev
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The long building was surrounded by
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ing half a hundred-weight of sand.
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and had been dragged along for some
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es, wanting in the misty idealism o
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tain Mitchell could meet the realit
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with his chin on his breast and his
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founded fellow get wind of the affa
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was sitting at the foot of the bed,
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their eyes on the doctor. But at th
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dark.‘Yes, that is exactly what I
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friend’s character is not my idea
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Only the slight limping shuffle cou
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tance.’Captain Mitchell was very
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creased. The guerrillero brother of
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saw the irony of it. Father Corbela
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drowning man catches at a straw. Fa
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over his shoulder.‘Drive carefull
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with the sergeant’s stripes on th
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day to join the democrats. We are g
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to turn, where the only chance of s
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his back against the rim of the fou
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had planned revolutions, who had be
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efusing, almost touched by the anxi
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senora had given into her charge th
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eyes, and in a tempestuous voice, b
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make a full confession, Father Bero
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fetters were struck off by the ligh
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of account the safety of her husban
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cident had brought to a point all t
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‘Antonia will kill herself!’ sh
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the cathedral. Three single strokes
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CHAPTER FIVEDURING the night the ex
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duplicity and cunning, together wit
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court, and had conceived the idea o
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and the bullet-speckled walls of th
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‘The brute!’ observed his Excel
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cho howled with conviction, was the
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patrol duty, strolling, carbine in
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Don Pepe, in a mild and humorous vo
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the hammock. With less confidence,
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ecause whatever happened his honour
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CHAPTER SEVENAT ABOUT that time, in
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(which were accessible to His Excel
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as a great captain of industry and
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on the table.‘You will have to ta
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gadores could have been employed wi
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the Custom House, appeared lonely,
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CHAPTER EIGHTAFTER landing from his
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the cupolas, towers, and miradors r
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as a boy on one of these feluccas b
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made a few steps, then stopped agai
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Sharing in the anti-priestly freeth
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sensible his profound isolation. Hi
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meditating—or, perhaps, reading a
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ing his lips slightly, and not look
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der-blades. From there his eyes tra
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membered that much. What do you wan
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where he would be of the greatest u
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ought never to have left the mounta
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pest in his ears in time to hear th
Page 487 and 488:
‘Am I to understand, senor,’ No
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such a fool as when I started. I ha
Page 491 and 492:
CHAPTER NINEDISTRACTED between doub
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that treasure, for that wealth of s
Page 495 and 496:
come entangled in a perfect welter
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Complete silence. He quaked. It was
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whose one end was fastened to Senor
Page 501 and 502:
its mouth closed askew. The colonel
Page 503 and 504:
any future treacheries of that scou
Page 505 and 506:
He was absolutely the only one. The
Page 507 and 508:
You are safe because you are needed
Page 509 and 510:
‘I don’t know,’ burst out the
Page 511 and 512:
Sotillo.’And Dr. Monygham stopped
Page 513 and 514:
no divers, but he has a ship, boats
Page 515 and 516:
Custom House, before he managed to
Page 517 and 518:
laying about you with a stick among
Page 519 and 520:
had left it twenty-four hours befor
Page 521 and 522:
keen blade piercing his breast.The
Page 523 and 524:
decaying strength.He extended his h
Page 525 and 526:
The Capataz drank greedily. A sligh
Page 527 and 528:
CHAPTER TENTHE next day was quiet i
Page 529 and 530:
lish, French, Italians, all sorts
Page 531 and 532:
of his safe. It was even for that s
Page 533 and 534:
priest, everlastingly worrying the
Page 535 and 536:
ticle to him and the force he has o
Page 537 and 538:
see framed under glass in the Munic
Page 539 and 540:
the land gate, was not able to oppo
Page 541 and 542:
do?’ ‘You know very well I was,
Page 543 and 544:
confines of waking and sleep with r
Page 545 and 546:
they thought up to the last on that
Page 547 and 548:
Ha! ha! ha! He wants me to admit th
Page 549 and 550:
without loss of time and undetected
Page 551 and 552:
ments and barren tasks for the peop
Page 553 and 554:
endary treasure.At the end of his f
Page 555 and 556:
universe as a succession of incompr
Page 557 and 558:
dark, he ceased rowing and flung th
Page 559 and 560:
He had made up his mind that nothin
Page 561 and 562:
CHAPTER ELEVENSULACO outstripped No
Page 563 and 564:
ing tenderness.‘Don’t expect to
Page 565 and 566:
the Bolson de Tonoro. And the heroi
Page 567 and 568:
Gould. She had brought her uncle ov
Page 569 and 570:
him that position? Who can say? Gen
Page 571 and 572:
know how really good you are. You w
Page 573 and 574:
that incorruptible Capataz. Moreove
Page 575 and 576:
the Violas. As late as midnight at
Page 577 and 578:
an old negro, who had been sitting
Page 579 and 580:
Gould added to the grace of her sea
Page 581 and 582:
success for the last of the Goulds.
Page 583 and 584:
qualities was destroyed. He felt it
Page 585 and 586:
ed and feared Captain Fidanza, the
Page 587 and 588:
made for himself, under his rightfu
Page 589 and 590:
He went to see his friend Captain M
Page 591 and 592:
A sudden dread came upon the fearle
Page 593 and 594:
you for the earth to become empty t
Page 595 and 596:
her raised eyes remained fixed on n
Page 597 and 598:
‘Be allowed to listen to your Ram
Page 599 and 600:
his little flower.It had grown dark
Page 601 and 602:
and the triumphant excitement of hi
Page 603 and 604:
‘Where is it? Where? Tell me that
Page 605 and 606:
There was something in that immobil
Page 607 and 608:
CHAPTER THIRTEENON THE day Mrs. Gou
Page 609 and 610:
hills, for which we are starving ou
Page 611 and 612:
Linda had a good share of the Viola
Page 613 and 614:
ious and shameless innocence with k
Page 615 and 616:
stairs. At the moment of opening th
Page 617 and 618:
sala. The prosperous majordomo rema
Page 619 and 620:
has something to say to you alone.
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aim. I myself could have done no be
Page 623 and 624:
lost for ever.’After hearing thes
Page 625 and 626:
photographer, small, frail, bloodth
Page 627:
‘You have killed Gian’ Battista
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