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

CHAPTER EIGHTFOR a moment, before this extraordinary find, they forgottheir own concerns and sensations. Senor Hirsch’ssensations as he lay there must have been those of extremeterror. For a long time he refused to give a sign of life, till atlast Decoud’s objurgations, and, perhaps more, Nostromo’simpatient suggestion that he should be thrown overboard,as he seemed to be dead, induced him to raise one eyelidfirst, and then the other.It appeared that he had never found a safe opportunityto leave Sulaco. He lodged with Anzani, the universalstorekeeper, on the Plaza Mayor. But when the riot brokeout he had made his escape from his host’s house beforedaylight, and in such a hurry that he had forgotten to puton his shoes. He had run out impulsively in his socks, andwith his hat in his hand, into the garden of Anzani’s house.Fear gave him the necessary agility to climb over severallow walls, and afterwards he blundered into the overgrowncloisters of the ruined Franciscan convent in one of the bystreets.He forced himself into the midst of matted busheswith the recklessness of desperation, and this accountedfor his scratched body and his torn clothing. He lay hiddenthere all day, his tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouthwith all the intensity of thirst engendered by heat and fear.Three times different bands of men invaded the place with