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

with many arguments and entreaties, but without success.He knew nothing of mining; he had no means to put hisconcession on the European market; the mine as a workingconcern did not exist. The buildings had been burnt down,the mining plant had been destroyed, the mining populationhad disappeared from the neighbourhood years andyears ago; the very road had vanished under a flood of tropicalvegetation as effectually as if swallowed by the sea; andthe main gallery had fallen in within a hundred yards fromthe entrance. It was no longer an abandoned mine; it wasa wild, inaccessible, and rocky gorge of the Sierra, wherevestiges of charred timber, some heaps of smashed bricks,and a few shapeless pieces of rusty iron could have beenfound under the matted mass of thorny creepers coveringthe ground. Mr. Gould, senior, did not desire the perpetualpossession of that desolate locality; in fact, the mere visionof it arising before his mind in the still watches of the nighthad the power to exasperate him into hours of hot and agitatedinsomnia.It so happened, however, that the Finance Minister ofthe time was a man to whom, in years gone by, Mr. Gouldhad, unfortunately, declined to grant some small pecuniaryassistance, basing his refusal on the ground that the applicantwas a notorious gambler and cheat, besides being morethan half suspected of a robbery with violence on a wealthyranchero in a remote country district, where he was actuallyexercising the function of a judge. Now, after reaching hisexalted position, that politician had proclaimed his intentionto repay evil with good to Senor Gould—the poor man.