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

so much wealth made them absurdly foolhardy, and, at thesame time, extremely anxious. The old major of the battalion,a stupid, suspicious man, who had never been afloat inhis life, distinguished himself by putting out suddenly thebinnacle light, the only one allowed on board for the necessitiesof navigation. He could not understand of what use itcould be for finding the way. To the vehement protestationsof the ship’s captain, he stamped his foot and tapped thehandle of his sword. ‘Aha! I have unmasked you,’ he cried,triumphantly. ‘You are tearing your hair from despair at myacuteness. Am I a child to believe that a light in that brassbox can show you where the harbour is? I am an old soldier,I am. I can smell a traitor a league off. You wanted thatgleam to betray our approach to your friend the Englishman.A thing like that show you the way! What a miserablelie! Que picardia! You Sulaco people are all in the pay ofthose foreigners. You deserve to be run through the bodywith my sword.’ Other officers, crowding round, tried tocalm his indignation, repeating persuasively, ‘No, no! Thisis an appliance of the mariners, major. This is no treachery.’The captain of the transport flung himself face downwardson the bridge, and refused to rise. ‘Put an end to me at once,’he repeated in a stifled voice. Sotillo had to interfere.The uproar and confusion on the bridge became so greatthat the helmsman fled from the wheel. He took refuge inthe engine-room, and alarmed the engineers, who, disregardingthe threats of the soldiers set on guard over them,stopped the engines, protesting that they would rather beshot than run the risk of being drowned down below.