Page 58 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

face, a pair of eyes gazing straight; then, rearranging his
wrappings, he sank full length and laid his head again on
the saddle.
‘That’s our camp-master, whom I must send back to Sula-
co now we are going to carry our survey into the Sta. Marta
Valley,’ said the engineer. ‘A most useful fellow, lent me by
Captain Mitchell of the O.S.N. Company. It was very good
of Mitchell. Charles Gould told me I couldn’t do better than
take advantage of the offer. He seems to know how to rule all
these muleteers and peons. We had not the slightest trouble
with our people. He shall escort your diligencia right into
Sulaco with some of our railway peons. The road is bad. To
have him at hand may save you an upset or two. He prom-
ised me to take care of your person all the way down as if
you were his father.’
This camp-master was the Italian sailor whom all the
Europeans in Sulaco, following Captain Mitchell’s mis-
pronunciation, were in the habit of calling Nostromo. And
indeed, taciturn and ready, he did take excellent care of his
charge at the bad parts of the road, as Sir John himself ac-
knowledged to Mrs. Gould afterwards.