Page 397 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

last hours perhaps—of her father’s life to the keeping of the
bandit, whose existence was a protest against the irrespon-
sible tyranny of all parties alike, against the moral darkness
of the land. The gloom of Los Hatos woods was preferable; a
life of hardships in the train of a robber band less debasing.
Antonia embraced with all her soul her uncle’s obstinate de-
fiance of misfortune. It was grounded in the belief in the
man whom she loved.
In his message the Vicar-General answered upon his
head for Hernandez’s fidelity. As to his power, he pointed
out that he had remained unsubdued for so many years. In
that letter Decoud’s idea of the new Occidental State (whose
flourishing and stable condition is a matter of common
knowledge now) was for the first time made public and used
as an argument. Hernandez, ex-bandit and the last general
of Ribierist creation, was confident of being able to hold the
tract of country between the woods of Los Hatos and the
coast range till that devoted patriot, Don Martin Decoud,
could bring General Barrios back to Sulaco for the recon-
quest of the town.
‘Heaven itself wills it. Providence is on our side,’ wrote
Father Corbelan; there was no time to reflect upon or to
controvert his statement; and if the discussion started upon
the reading of that letter in the Amarilla Club was violent, it
was also shortlived. In the general bewilderment of the col-
lapse some jumped at the idea with joyful astonishment as
upon the amazing discovery of a new hope. Others became
fascinated by the prospect of immediate personal safety for
their women and children. The majority caught at it as a

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard