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

sented, briefly. He was mollified by what seemed a sign ofsome faint interest in such things as had befallen him, anddropped a few descriptive phrases with an affected and curtnonchalance. At that moment he felt communicative. Heexpected the continuance of that interest which, whetheraccepted or rejected, would have restored to him his personality—theonly thing lost in that desperate affair. Butthe doctor, engrossed by a desperate adventure of his own,was terrible in the pursuit of his idea. He let an exclamationof regret escape him.‘I could almost wish you had shouted and shown a light.’This unexpected utterance astounded the Capataz by itscharacter of cold-blooded atrocity. It was as much as to say,‘I wish you had shown yourself a coward; I wish you hadhad your throat cut for your pains.’ Naturally he referredit to himself, whereas it related only to the silver, being utteredsimply and with many mental reservations. Surpriseand rage rendered him speechless, and the doctor pursued,practically unheard by Nostromo, whose stirred blood wasbeating violently in his ears.‘For I am convinced Sotillo in possession of the silverwould have turned short round and made for some smallport abroad. Economically it would have been wasteful,but still less wasteful than having it sunk. It was the nextbest thing to having it at hand in some safe place, and usingpart of it to buy up Sotillo. But I doubt whether Don Carloswould have ever made up his mind to it. He is not fit forCostaguana, and that is a fact, Capataz.’The Capataz had mastered the fury that was like a tem-