Page 252 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

riously.
‘Upon the whole,’ he continued, ‘I suppose he expects
something to his advantage from it. You mustn’t forget that
he does not exercise his extraordinary power over the lower
classes without a certain amount of personal risk and with-
out a great profusion in spending his money. One must pay
in some way or other for such a solid thing as individual
prestige. He told me after we made friends at a dance, in a
Posada kept by a Mexican just outside the walls, that he had
come here to make his fortune. I suppose he looks upon his
prestige as a sort of investment.’
‘Perhaps he prizes it for its own sake,’ Mrs. Gould said in
a tone as if she were repelling an undeserved aspersion. ‘Vi-
ola, the Garibaldino, with whom he has lived for some years,
calls him the Incorruptible.’
‘Ah! he belongs to the group of your proteges out there
towards the harbour, Mrs. Gould. Muy bien. And Captain
Mitchell calls him wonderful. I have heard no end of tales of
his strength, his audacity, his fidelity. No end of fine things.
H’m! incorruptible! It is indeed a name of honour for the
Capataz of the Cargadores of Sulaco. Incorruptible! Fine,
but vague. However, I suppose he’s sensible, too. And I talk-
ed to him upon that sane and practical assumption.’
‘I prefer to think him disinterested, and therefore trust-
worthy,’ Mrs. Gould said, with the nearest approach to
curtness it was in her nature to assume.
‘Well, if so, then the silver will be still more safe. Let it
come down, senora. Let it come down, so that it may go
north and return to us in the shape of credit.’

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