Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

PART SECOND: THE ISABELS 8. CHAPTER EIGHT (continued)

They had propped him up in a sitting posture against the side of
the lighter, and he went on with the moaning account of his
adventures till his voice broke, his head fell forward. "Water,"
he whispered, with difficulty. Decoud held one of the cans to
his lips. He revived after an extraordinarily short time, and
scrambled up to his feet wildly. Nostromo, in an angry and
threatening voice, ordered him forward. Hirsch was one of those
men whom fear lashes like a whip, and he must have had an
appalling idea of the Capataz's ferocity. He displayed an
extraordinary agility in disappearing forward into the darkness.
They heard him getting over the tarpaulin; then there was the
sound of a heavy fall, followed by a weary sigh. Afterwards all
was still in the fore-part of the lighter, as though he had
killed himself in his headlong tumble. Nostromo shouted in a
menacing voice--

"Lie still there! Do not move a limb. If I hear as much as a loud
breath from you I shall come over there and put a bullet through
your head."

The mere presence of a coward, however passive, brings an element
of treachery into a dangerous situation. Nostromo's nervous
impatience passed into gloomy thoughtfulness. Decoud, in an
undertone, as if speaking to himself, remarked that, after all,
this bizarre event made no great difference. He could not
conceive what harm the man could do. At most he would be in the
way, like an inanimate and useless object--like a block of wood,
for instance.

"I would think twice before getting rid of a piece of wood," said
Nostromo, calmly. "Something may happen unexpectedly where you
could make use of it. But in an affair like ours a man like this
ought to be thrown overboard. Even if he were as brave as a lion
we would not want him here. We are not running away for our
lives. Senor, there is no harm in a brave man trying to save
himself with ingenuity and courage; but you have heard his tale,
Don Martin. His being here is a miracle of fear--" Nostromo
paused. "There is no room for fear in this lighter," he added
through his teeth.