Page 196 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

‘I shall want a horse presently,’ he said with some asper-
ity to the old man.
‘Si, senor. There are plenty of horses,’ murmured the
Garibaldino, smoothing absently, with his brown hands,
the two heads, one dark with bronze glints, the other fair
with a coppery ripple, of the two girls by his side. The re-
turning stream of sightseers raised a great dust on the road.
Horsemen noticed the group. ‘Go to your mother,’ he said.
‘They are growing up as I am growing older, and there is
nobody—‘
He looked at the young engineer and stopped, as if awak-
ened from a dream; then, folding his arms on his breast,
took up his usual position, leaning back in the doorway
with an upward glance fastened on the white shoulder of
Higuerota far away.
In the carriage Martin Decoud, shifting his position as
though he could not make himself comfortable, muttered as
he swayed towards Antonia, ‘I suppose you hate me.’ Then
in a loud voice he began to congratulate Don Jose upon all
the engineers being convinced Ribierists. The interest of all
those foreigners was gratifying. ‘You have heard this one.
He is an enlightened well-wisher. It is pleasant to think that
the prosperity of Costaguana is of some use to the world.’
‘He is very young,’ Mrs. Gould remarked, quietly.
‘And so very wise for his age,’ retorted Decoud. ‘But here
we have the naked truth from the mouth of that child. You
are right, Don Jose. The natural treasures of Costaguana
are of importance to the progressive Europe represented by
this youth, just as three hundred years ago the wealth of our

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