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

make a full confession, Father Beron would declare, leaningforward with that dull, surfeited look which can be seenin the eyes of gluttonous persons after a heavy meal.The priest’s inquisitorial instincts suffered but little fromthe want of classical apparatus of the Inquisition At no timeof the world’s history have men been at a loss how to inflictmental and bodily anguish upon their fellow-creatures.This aptitude came to them in the growing complexity oftheir passions and the early refinement of their ingenuity.But it may safely be said that primeval man did not goto the trouble of inventing tortures. He was indolent andpure of heart. He brained his neighbour ferociously with astone axe from necessity and without malice. The stupidestmind may invent a rankling phrase or brand the innocentwith a cruel aspersion. A piece of string and a ramrod; afew muskets in combination with a length of hide rope; oreven a simple mallet of heavy, hard wood applied with aswing to human fingers or to the joints of a human body isenough for the infliction of the most exquisite torture. Thedoctor had been a very stubborn prisoner, and, as a naturalconsequence of that ‘bad disposition’ (so Father Beroncalled it), his subjugation had been very crushing and verycomplete. That is why the limp in his walk, the twist of hisshoulders, the scars on his cheeks were so pronounced. Hisconfessions, when they came at last, were very complete,too. Sometimes on the nights when he walked the floor, hewondered, grinding his teeth with shame and rage, at thefertility of his imagination when stimulated by a sort ofpain which makes truth, honour, selfrespect, and life itself