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

Ha! ha! ha! He wants me to admit that we cannot take Sulacowithout him! Ha! ha! ha! Would you like to swim offto her, my son?’A tremendous shout from one end of the ship to the otherstopped his guffaw. Nostromo had leaped overboard; andhis black head bobbed up far away already from the ship.The General muttered an appalled ‘Cielo! Sinner that I am!’in a thunderstruck tone. One anxious glance was enough toshow him that Nostromo was swimming with perfect ease;and then he thundered terribly, ‘No! no! We shall not stopto pick up this impertinent fellow. Let him drown—thatmad Capataz.’Nothing short of main force would have kept Nostromofrom leaping overboard. That empty boat, coming out tomeet him mysteriously, as if rowed by an invisible spectre,exercised the fascination of some sign, of some warning,seemed to answer in a startling and enigmatic way the persistentthought of a treasure and of a man’s fate. He wouldhave leaped if there had been death in that half-mile of water.It was as smooth as a pond, and for some reason sharksare unknown in the Placid Gulf, though on the other side ofthe Punta Mala the coastline swarms with them.The Capataz seized hold of the stern and blew with force.A queer, faint feeling had come over him while he swam. Hehad got rid of his boots and coat in the water. He hung on fora time, regaining his breath. In the distance the transports,more in a bunch now, held on straight for Sulaco, with theirair of friendly contest, of nautical sport, of a regatta; and theunited smoke of their funnels drove like a thin, sulphurous