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

CHAPTER TENTHE next day was quiet in the morning, except for thefaint sound of firing to the northward, in the direction ofLos Hatos. Captain Mitchell had listened to it from his balconyanxiously. The phrase, ‘In my delicate position as theonly consular agent then in the port, everything, sir, everythingwas a just cause for anxiety,’ had its place in the moreor less stereotyped relation of the ‘historical events’ whichfor the next few years was at the service of distinguishedstrangers visiting Sulaco. The mention of the dignity andneutrality of the flag, so difficult to preserve in his position,‘right in the thick of these events between the lawlessness ofthat piratical villain Sotillo and the more regularly establishedbut scarcely less atrocious tyranny of his ExcellencyDon Pedro Montero,’ came next in order. Captain Mitchellwas not the man to enlarge upon mere dangers much.But he insisted that it was a memorable day. On that day,towards dusk, he had seen ‘that poor fellow of mine—Nostromo.The sailor whom I discovered, and, I may say, made,sir. The man of the famous ride to Cayta, sir. An historicalevent, sir!’Regarded by the O. S. N. Company as an old and faithfulservant, Captain Mitchell was allowed to attain theterm of his usefulness in ease and dignity at the head of theenormously extended service. The augmentation of the es-