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

candlestick, as if struck out of Nostromo’s hand, clatteredon the floor.‘Hullo!’ exclaimed the doctor, looking up with a start. Hecould hear the Capataz stagger against the table and gasp.In the sudden extinction of the light within, the dead blacknesssealing the window-frames became alive with stars tohis sight.‘Of course, of course,’ the doctor muttered to himself inEnglish. ‘Enough to make him jump out of his skin.’Nostromo’s heart seemed to force itself into his throat.His head swam. Hirsch! The man was Hirsch! He held ontight to the edge of the table.‘But he was hiding in the lighter,’ he almost shouted Hisvoice fell. ‘In the lighter, and—and—‘‘And Sotillo brought him in,’ said the doctor. ‘He is nomore startling to you than you were to me. What I want toknow is how he induced some compassionate soul to shoothim.’‘So Sotillo knows—‘ began Nostromo, in a more equablevoice.‘Everything!’ interrupted the doctor.The Capataz was heard striking the table with his fist.‘Everything? What are you saying, there? Everything? Knoweverything? It is impossible! Everything?’‘Of course. What do you mean by impossible? I tell youI have heard this Hirsch questioned last night, here, in thisvery room. He knew your name, Decoud’s name, and allabout the loading of the silver…. The lighter was cut in two.He was grovelling in abject terror before Sotillo, but he re-