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

a naked mast. I will do it now, before this steamer closesstill more upon us. The faint creak of a block would betrayus and the San Tome treasure into the hands of thosethieves.’He moved about as warily as a cat. Decoud heard nosound; and it was only by the disappearance of the squareblotch of darkness that he knew the yard had come down,lowered as carefully as if it had been made of glass. Nextmoment he heard Nostromo’s quiet breathing by his side.‘You had better not move at all from where you are, DonMartin,’ advised the Capataz, earnestly. ‘You might stumbleor displace something which would make a noise. Thesweeps and the punting poles are lying about. Move not foryour life. Por Dios, Don Martin,’ he went on in a keen butfriendly whisper, ‘I am so desperate that if I didn’t knowyour worship to be a man of courage, capable of standingstock still whatever happens, I would drive my knife intoyour heart.’A deathlike stillness surrounded the lighter. It was difficultto believe that there was near a steamer full of men withmany pairs of eyes peering from her bridge for some hintof land in the night. Her steam had ceased blowing off, andshe remained stopped too far off apparently for any othersound to reach the lighter.‘Perhaps you would, Capataz,’ Decoud began in a whisper.‘However, you need not trouble. There are other thingsthan the fear of your knife to keep my heart steady. It shallnot betray you. Only, have you forgotten—‘‘I spoke to you openly as to a man as desperate as myself,’