Nostromo : A Tale of the Seaboard
"Now, Don Martin, let us take up the sweeps and try to find the Isabels. It is either that or sinking the lighter if the day overtakes us. We must not forget that the steamer from Esmeralda with the soldiers may be coming along. We will pull straight on now. I have discovered a bit of a candle here, and we must take the risk of a small light to make a course by the boat-compass. There is not enough wind to blow it out—may the curse of Heaven fall upon this blind gulf."
A small flame appeared burning quite straight. It showed fragmentally the stout ribs and planking in the hollow, empty part of the lighter. Decoud could see I Nostromo standing up to pull. He saw him as high as the red sash on his waist, with a gleam of a white-handled revolver and the wooden haft of a long knife protruding on his left side. Decoud nerved himself for the effort of rowing. Certainly there was not enough wind to blow the candle out, but its flame swayed a little to the slow movement of the heavy boat. It was so big that with their utmost efforts they could not move it quicker than about a mile an hour. This was sufficient, however, to sweep them among the Isabels long before daylight came. There was a good six hours of darkness before them, and the distance from the harbor to the Great Isabel did not exceed two!
miles. Decoud put this heavy toil to the account of the capataz's impatience. Sometimes they paused, and then both strained their ears to hear the boat from Esmeralda. In this perfect quietness a steamer moving would have been heard from far off. As to seeing anything, it was out of the question. They could not
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