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

didn’t stay to hear any more, but crawling away to the endof the wharf, hid himself amongst a lot of empty casks.After a while some people came along, talking, and withglowing cigarettes. He did not stop to ask himself whetherthey would be likely to do him any harm, but bolted incontinentlyalong the jetty, saw a lighter lying moored atthe end, and threw himself into it. In his desire to find coverhe crept right forward under the half-deck, and he hadremained there more dead than alive, suffering agonies ofhunger and thirst, and almost fainting with terror, when heheard numerous footsteps and the voices of the Europeanswho came in a body escorting the wagonload of treasure,pushed along the rails by a squad of Cargadores. He understoodperfectly what was being done from the talk, but didnot disclose his presence from the fear that he would not beallowed to remain. His only idea at the time, overpoweringand masterful, was to get away from this terrible Sulaco.And now he regretted it very much. He had heard Nostromotalk to Decoud, and wished himself back on shore. He didnot desire to be involved in any desperate affair—in a situationwhere one could not run away. The involuntary groansof his anguished spirit had betrayed him to the sharp earsof the Capataz.They had propped him up in a sitting posture against theside of the lighter, and he went on with the moaning accountof his adventures till his voice broke, his head fell forward.‘Water,’ he whispered, with difficulty. Decoud held one ofthe cans to his lips. He revived after an extraordinarily shorttime, and scrambled up to his feet wildly. Nostromo, in an