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

vice imagined that the last three days had exhausted everystartling surprise the political life of Costaguana could offer.He used to confess afterwards that the events whichfollowed surpassed his imagination. To begin with, Sulaco(because of the seizure of the cables and the disorganizationof the steam service) remained for a whole fortnight cut offfrom the rest of the world like a besieged city.‘One would not have believed it possible; but so it was, sir.A full fortnight.’The account of the extraordinary things that happenedduring that time, and the powerful emotions he experienced,acquired a comic impressiveness from the pompousmanner of his personal narrative. He opened it always byassuring his hearer that he was ‘in the thick of things fromfirst to last.’ Then he would begin by describing the gettingaway of the silver, and his natural anxiety lest ‘his fellow’in charge of the lighter should make some mistake. Apartfrom the loss of so much precious metal, the life of SenorMartin Decoud, an agreeable, wealthy, and well-informedyoung gentleman, would have been jeopardized throughhis falling into the hands of his political enemies. CaptainMitchell also admitted that in his solitary vigil on the wharfhe had felt a certain measure of concern for the future of thewhole country.‘A feeling, sir,’ he explained, ‘perfectly comprehensible ina man properly grateful for the many kindnesses receivedfrom the best families of merchants and other native gentlemenof independent means, who, barely saved by us from theexcesses of the mob, seemed, to my mind’s eye, destined to