Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

PART THIRD: THE LIGHTHOUSE 3. CHAPTER THREE (continued)

"An armed force," corrected the engineer, suavely. His aim was
attained. It was to keep Sulaco clear of any armed occupation for
a few hours longer, to let those whom fear impelled leave the
town. In the general dismay there were families hopeful enough to
fly upon the road towards Los Hatos, which was left open by the
withdrawal of the armed rabble under Senores Fuentes and Gamacho,
to Rincon, with their enthusiastic welcome for Pedro Montero. It
was a hasty and risky exodus, and it was said that Hernandez,
occupying with his band the woods about Los Hatos, was receiving
the fugitives. That a good many people he knew were contemplating
such a flight had been well known to the chief engineer.

Father Corbelan's efforts in the cause of that most pious robber
had not been altogether fruitless. The political chief of Sulaco
had yielded at the last moment to the urgent entreaties of the
priest, had signed a provisional nomination appointing Hernandez
a general, and calling upon him officially in this new capacity
to preserve order in the town. The fact is that the political
chief, seeing the situation desperate, did not care what he
signed. It was the last official document he signed before he
left the palace of the Intendencia for the refuge of the O.S.N.
Company's office. But even had he meant his act to be effective
it was already too late. The riot which he feared and expected
broke out in less than an hour after Father Corbelan had left
him. Indeed, Father Corbelan, who had appointed a meeting with
Nostromo in the Dominican Convent, where he had his residence in
one of the cells, never managed to reach the place. From the
Intendencia he had gone straight on to the Avellanos's house to
tell his brother-in-law, and though he stayed there no more than
half an hour he had found himself cut off from his ascetic abode.
Nostromo, after waiting there for some time, watching uneasily
the increasing uproar in the street, had made his way to the
offices of the Porvenir, and stayed there till daylight, as
Decoud had mentioned in the letter to his sister. Thus the
Capataz, instead of riding towards the Los Hatos woods as bearer
of Hernandez's nomination, had remained in town to save the life
of the President Dictator, to assist in repressing the outbreak
of the mob, and at last to sail out with the silver of the mine.