Page 545 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

the Cargadores presently.’
‘Senor,’ says he, looking at me in a slow, inquisitive man-
ner, ‘would it surprise you to hear that I am too tired to
work just yet? And what work could I do now? How can I
look my Cargadores in the face after losing a lighter?’
‘I begged him not to think any more about the silver, and
he smiled. A smile that went to my heart, sir. ‘It was no mis-
take,’ I told him. ‘It was a fatality. A thing that could not be
helped.’ ‘Si, si!’ he said, and turned away. I thought it best to
leave him alone for a bit to get over it. Sir, it took him years
really, to get over it. I was present at his interview with Don
Carlos. I must say that Gould is rather a cold man. He had
to keep a tight hand on his feelings, dealing with thieves
and rascals, in constant danger of ruin for himself and wife
for so many years, that it had become a second nature. They
looked at each other for a long time. Don Carlos asked what
he could do for him, in his quiet, reserved way.
‘My name is known from one end of Sulaco to the other,’
he said, as quiet as the other. ‘What more can you do for
me?’ That was all that passed on that occasion. Later, how-
ever, there was a very fine coasting schooner for sale, and
Mrs. Gould and I put our heads together to get her bought
and presented to him. It was done, but he paid all the price
back within the next three years. Business was booming all
along this seaboard, sir. Moreover, that man always suc-
ceeded in everything except in saving the silver. Poor Dona
Antonia, fresh from her terrible experiences in the woods
of Los Hatos, had an interview with him, too. Wanted to
hear about Decoud: what they said, what they did, what

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard