Page 318 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

windows of the houses, and showing his white teeth all the
time. But one of my Cargadores, who had been a soldier,
told me that he had once ordered a man to be flayed alive in
the remote Campo, where he was sent recruiting amongst
the people of the Estancias. It has never entered his head
that the Compania had a man capable of baffling his game.’
The murmuring loquacity of the Capataz disturbed De-
coud like a hint of weakness. And yet, talkative resolution
may be as genuine as grim silence.
‘Sotillo is not baffled so far,’ he said. ‘Have you forgotten
that crazy man forward?’
Nostromo had not forgotten Senor Hirsch. He re-
proached himself bitterly for not having visited the lighter
carefully before leaving the wharf. He reproached himself
for not having stabbed and flung Hirsch overboard at the
very moment of discovery without even looking at his face.
That would have been consistent with the desperate char-
acter of the affair. Whatever happened, Sotillo was already
baffled. Even if that wretch, now as silent as death, did any-
thing to betray the nearness of the lighter, Sotillo—if Sotillo
it was in command of the troops on board—would be still
baffled of his plunder.
‘I have an axe in my hand,’ Nostromo whispered, wrath-
fully, ‘that in three strokes would cut through the side down
to the water’s edge. Moreover, each lighter has a plug in the
stern, and I know exactly where it is. I feel it under the sole
of my foot.’
Decoud recognized the ring of genuine determination
in the nervous murmurs, the vindictive excitement of the

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