Nostromo : A Tale of the Seaboard
brought back in a few days to Sulaco, if only Decoud managed to make his way at once down the coast. For the military chief there was Barrios, who had nothing but a bullet to expect from Montero, his former professional rival and bitter enemy. Barrios's concurrence was assured. As to his army, it had nothing to expect from Montero either; not even a month's pay. From that point of view the existence of the treasure was of enormous importance. The mere knowledge that it had been saved from the Monterists would be a strong inducement for the Cayta troops to embrace the cause of the new state.
The doctor turned round and contemplated his companion for some time.
"This Decoud, I see, is a persuasive young beggar," he remarked at last. "And, pray, is it for this, then, that Charles Gould has let the whole lot of ingots go out to sea in charge of that Nostromo?"
"Charles Gould," said the engineer-in-chief, "has said no more about his motive than usual. You know he doesn't talk. But we all here know his motive, and he has only one—the safety of the San Tomé mine with the preservation of the Gould Concession in the spirit of his compact with Holroyd. Holroyd is another uncommon man. They understand each other's imaginative side. One is thirty, the other nearly sixty, and they have been made for each other. To be a millionaire, and such a millionaire as Holroyd, is like being eternally young. The audacity of youth reckons upon what it fancies an unlimited time at its disposal; but a millionaire has unlimited means in his hand—which is better. One's time on earth is an uncertain quan-
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