Page 320 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

mism. In comparison to it, the chance of being left floating
in a boat, exposed to thirst, hunger, discovery, imprison-
ment, execution, presented itself with an aspect of amenity
worth securing even at the cost of some self-contempt. He
did not accept Nostromo’s proposal that he should get into
the boat at once. ‘Something sudden may overwhelm us,
senor,’ the Capataz remarked promising faithfully, at the
same time, to let go the painter at the moment when the ne-
cessity became manifest.
But Decoud assured him lightly that he did not mean to
take to the boat till the very last moment, and that then he
meant the Capataz to come along, too. The darkness of the
gulf was no longer for him the end of all things. It was part
of a living world since, pervading it, failure and death could
be felt at your elbow. And at the same time it was a shelter.
He exulted in its impenetrable obscurity. ‘Like a wall, like a
wall,’ he muttered to himself.
The only thing which checked his confidence was the
thought of Senor Hirsch. Not to have bound and gagged
him seemed to Decoud now the height of improvident folly.
As long as the miserable creature had the power to raise a
yell he was a constant danger. His abject terror was mute
now, but there was no saying from what cause it might sud-
denly find vent in shrieks.
This very madness of fear which both Decoud and Nos-
tromo had seen in the wild and irrational glances, and in
the continuous twitchings of his mouth, protected Senor
Hirsch from the cruel necessities of this desperate affair.
The moment of silencing him for ever had passed. As Nos-

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