Page 328 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

This was the first time Nostromo and Decoud heard the
steamer stop. After order had been restored, and the bin-
nacle lamp relighted, she went ahead again, passing wide
of the lighter in her search for the Isabels. The group could
not be made out, and, at the pitiful entreaties of the captain,
Sotillo allowed the engines to be stopped again to wait for
one of those periodical lightenings of darkness caused by
the shifting of the cloud canopy spread above the waters of
the gulf.
Sotillo, on the bridge, muttered from time to time angrily
to the captain. The other, in an apologetic and cringing tone,
begged su merced the colonel to take into consideration the
limitations put upon human faculties by the darkness of the
night. Sotillo swelled with rage and impatience. It was the
chance of a lifetime.
‘If your eyes are of no more use to you than this, I shall
have them put out,’ he yelled.
The captain of the steamer made no answer, for just then
the mass of the Great Isabel loomed up darkly after a passing
shower, then vanished, as if swept away by a wave of greater
obscurity preceding another downpour. This was enough
for him. In the voice of a man come back to life again, he
informed Sotillo that in an hour he would be alongside
the Sulaco wharf. The ship was put then full speed on the
course, and a great bustle of preparation for landing arose
among the soldiers on her deck.
It was heard distinctly by Decoud and Nostromo. The
Capataz understood its meaning. They had made out the
Isabels, and were going on now in a straight line for Sulaco.