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

appointing Hernandez a general, and calling upon him officiallyin this new capacity to preserve order in the town. Thefact is that the political chief, seeing the situation desperate,did not care what he signed. It was the last official documenthe signed before he left the palace of the Intendenciafor the refuge of the O.S.N. Company’s office. But even hadhe meant his act to be effective it was already too late. Theriot which he feared and expected broke out in less thanan hour after Father Corbelan had left him. Indeed, FatherCorbelan, who had appointed a meeting with Nostromo inthe Dominican Convent, where he had his residence in oneof the cells, never managed to reach the place. From the Intendenciahe had gone straight on to the Avellanos’s houseto tell his brother-in-law, and though he stayed there nomore than half an hour he had found himself cut off fromhis ascetic abode. Nostromo, after waiting there for sometime, watching uneasily the increasing uproar in the street,had made his way to the offices of the Porvenir, and stayedthere till daylight, as Decoud had mentioned in the letter tohis sister. Thus the Capataz, instead of riding towards theLos Hatos woods as bearer of Hernandez’s nomination, hadremained in town to save the life of the President Dictator,to assist in repressing the outbreak of the mob, and at last tosail out with the silver of the mine.But Father Corbelan, escaping to Hernandez, had thedocument in his pocket, a piece of official writing turninga bandit into a general in a memorable last official act ofthe Ribierist party, whose watchwords were honesty, peace,and progress. Probably neither the priest nor the bandit