Page 101 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

sured that in a given case we shall know how to drop you
in time.’
To this Charles Gould’s only answer had been: ‘You may
begin sending out the machinery as soon as you like.’
And the great man had liked this imperturbable assur-
ance. The secret of it was that to Charles Gould’s mind these
uncompromising terms were agreeable. Like this the mine
preserved its identity, with which he had endowed it as a
boy; and it remained dependent on himself alone. It was a
serious affair, and he, too, took it grimly.
‘Of course,’ he said to his wife, alluding to this last con-
versation with the departed guest, while they walked slowly
up and down the corredor, followed by the irritated eye
of the parrot—‘of course, a man of that sort can take up a
thing or drop it when he likes. He will suffer from no sense
of defeat. He may have to give in, or he may have to die to-
morrow, but the great silver and iron interests will survive,
and some day will get hold of Costaguana along with the
rest of the world.’
They had stopped near the cage. The parrot, catching the
sound of a word belonging to his vocabulary, was moved to
interfere. Parrots are very human.
‘Viva Costaguana!’ he shrieked, with intense self-asser-
tion, and, instantly ruffling up his feathers, assumed an air
of puffed-up somnolence behind the glittering wires.
‘And do you believe that, Charley?’ Mrs. Gould asked.
‘This seems to me most awful materialism, and—‘
‘My dear, it’s nothing to me,’ interrupted her husband, in
a reasonable tone. ‘I make use of what I see. What’s it to

100 Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard