Page 546 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

they thought up to the last on that fatal night. Mrs. Gould
told me his manner was perfect for quietness and sympa-
thy. Miss Avellanos burst into tears only when he told her
how Decoud had happened to say that his plan would be a
glorious success. … And there’s no doubt, sir, that it is. It is
a success.’
The cycle was about to close at last. And while the privi-
leged passenger, shivering with the pleasant anticipations
of his berth, forgot to ask himself, ‘What on earth Decoud’s
plan could be?’ Captain Mitchell was saying, ‘Sorry we must
part so soon. Your intelligent interest made this a pleasant
day to me. I shall see you now on board. You had a glimpse
of the ‘Treasure House of the World.’ A very good name
that.’ And the coxswain’s voice at the door, announcing that
the gig was ready, closed the cycle.
Nostromo had, indeed, found the lighter’s boat, which
he had left on the Great Isabel with Decoud, floating empty
far out in the gulf. He was then on the bridge of the first of
Barrios’s transports, and within an hour’s steaming from
Sulaco. Barrios, always delighted with a feat of daring and
a good judge of courage, had taken a great liking to the Ca-
pataz. During the passage round the coast the General kept
Nostromo near his person, addressing him frequently in
that abrupt and boisterous manner which was the sign of
his high favour.
Nostromo’s eyes were the first to catch, broad on the bow,
the tiny, elusive dark speck, which, alone with the forms of
the Three Isabels right ahead, appeared on the flat, shim-
mering emptiness of the gulf. There are times when no fact