Page 476 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

ing his lips slightly, and not looking at the doctor. ‘Now,’
he thought to himself, ‘he will begin asking me about the
treasure.’
But the doctor’s thoughts were concerned with an event
not as marvellous as Nostromo’s appearance, but in itself
much less clear. Why had Sotillo taken himself off with his
whole command with this suddenness and secrecy? What
did this move portend? However, it dawned upon the doc-
tor that the man upstairs was one of the officers left behind
by the disappointed colonel to communicate with him.
‘I believe he is waiting for me,’ he said.
‘It is possible.’
‘I must see. Do not go away yet, Capataz.’
‘Go away where?’ muttered Nostromo.
Already the doctor had left him. He remained leaning
against the wall, staring at the dark water of the harbour;
the shrilling of cicalas filled his ears. An invincible vague-
ness coming over his thoughts took from them all power to
determine his will.
‘Capataz! Capataz!’ the doctor’s voice called urgently
from above.
The sense of betrayal and ruin floated upon his sombre in-
difference as upon a sluggish sea of pitch. But he stepped out
from under the wall, and, looking up, saw Dr. Monygham
leaning out of a lighted window.
‘Come up and see what Sotillo has done. You need not
fear the man up here.’
He answered by a slight, bitter laugh. Fear a man! The
Capataz of the Sulaco Cargadores fear a man! It angered