Page 467 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

and Nostromo there—where is Nostromo? Nostromo can
do this and that—work all day and ride all night—behold!
he found himself a marked Ribierist for any sort of ven-
geance Gamacho, for instance, would choose to take, now
the Montero party, had, after all, mastered the town. The
Europeans had given up; the Caballeros had given up. Don
Martin had indeed explained it was only temporary—that
he was going to bring Barrios to the rescue. Where was that
now—with Don Martin (whose ironic manner of talk had
always made the Capataz feel vaguely uneasy) stranded on
the Great Isabel? Everybody had given up. Even Don Carlos
had given up. The hurried removal of the treasure out to sea
meant nothing else than that. The Capataz de Cargadores,
on a revulsion of subjectiveness, exasperated almost to in-
sanity, beheld all his world without faith and courage. He
had been betrayed!
With the boundless shadows of the sea behind him, out
of his silence and immobility, facing the lofty shapes of
the lower peaks crowded around the white, misty sheen of
Higuerota, Nostromo laughed aloud again, sprang abruptly
to his feet, and stood still. He must go. But where?
‘There is no mistake. They keep us and encourage us as if
we were dogs born to fight and hunt for them. The vecchio
is right,’ he said, slowly and scathingly. He remembered old
Giorgio taking his pipe out of his mouth to throw these
words over his shoulder at the cafe, full of engine-drivers
and fitters from the railway workshops. This image fixed
his wavering purpose. He would try to find old Giorgio if he
could. God knows what might have happened to him! He

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard