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

CHAPTER TWELVENOSTROMO had been growing rich very slowly. It wasan effect of his prudence. He could command himselfeven when thrown off his balance. And to become the slaveof a treasure with full self-knowledge is an occurrence rareand mentally disturbing. But it was also in a great part becauseof the difficulty of converting it into a form in whichit could become available. The mere act of getting it awayfrom the island piecemeal, little by little, was surroundedby difficulties, by the dangers of imminent detection. Hehad to visit the Great Isabel in secret, between his voyagesalong the coast, which were the ostensible source of his fortune.The crew of his own schooner were to be feared as ifthey had been spies upon their dreaded captain. He did notdare stay too long in port. When his coaster was unloaded,he hurried away on another trip, for he feared arousingsuspicion even by a day’s delay. Sometimes during a week’sstay, or more, he could only manage one visit to the treasure.And that was all. A couple of ingots. He suffered throughhis fears as much as through his prudence. To do things bystealth humiliated him. And he suffered most from the concentrationof his thought upon the treasure.A transgression, a crime, entering a man’s existence,eats it up like a malignant growth, consumes it like a fever.Nostromo had lost his peace; the genuineness of all his