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

‘They are trying to make out where they are,’ said Decoudin a whisper. Again he leaned over and put his fingersinto the water. ‘We are moving quite smartly,’ he informedNostromo.‘We seem to be crossing her bows,’ said the Capataz in acautious tone. ‘But this is a blind game with death. Movingon is of no use. We mustn’t be seen or heard.’His whisper was hoarse with excitement. Of all his facethere was nothing visible but a gleam of white eyeballs. Hisfingers gripped Decoud’s shoulder. ‘That is the only way tosave this treasure from this steamer full of soldiers. Anyother would have carried lights. But you observe there isnot a gleam to show us where she is.’Decoud stood as if paralyzed; only his thoughts werewildly active. In the space of a second he remembered thedesolate glance of Antonia as he left her at the bedside ofher father in the gloomy house of Avellanos, with shutteredwindows, but all the doors standing open, and desertedby all the servants except an old negro at the gate. He rememberedthe Casa Gould on his last visit, the arguments,the tones of his voice, the impenetrable attitude of Charles,Mrs. Gould’s face so blanched with anxiety and fatiguethat her eyes seemed to have changed colour, appearingnearly black by contrast. Even whole sentences of theproclamation which he meant to make Barrios issue fromhis headquarters at Cayta as soon as he got there passedthrough his mind; the very germ of the new State, the Separationistproclamation which he had tried before he left toread hurriedly to Don Jose, stretched out on his bed under