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

our beloved country.’And for many years this was the last of the San Tomemine. What advantage that Government had expectedfrom the spoliation, it is impossible to tell now. Costaguanawas made with difficulty to pay a beggarly money compensationto the families of the victims, and then the matterdropped out of diplomatic despatches. But afterwards anotherGovernment bethought itself of that valuable asset. Itwas an ordinary Costaguana Government—the fourth insix years—but it judged of its opportunities sanely. It rememberedthe San Tome mine with a secret conviction of itsworthlessness in their own hands, but with an ingenious insightinto the various uses a silver mine can be put to, apartfrom the sordid process of extracting the metal from underthe ground. The father of Charles Gould, for a long time oneof the most wealthy merchants of Costaguana, had alreadylost a considerable part of his fortune in forced loans to thesuccessive Governments. He was a man of calm judgment,who never dreamed of pressing his claims; and when, suddenly,the perpetual concession of the San Tome mine wasoffered to him in full settlement, his alarm became extreme.He was versed in the ways of Governments. Indeed, the intentionof this affair, though no doubt deeply meditated inthe closet, lay open on the surface of the document presentedurgently for his signature. The third and most importantclause stipulated that the concession-holder should pay atonce to the Government five years’ royalties on the estimatedoutput of the mine.Mr. Gould, senior, defended himself from this fatal favour