Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

PART THIRD: THE LIGHTHOUSE 4. CHAPTER FOUR (continued)

"He was afraid to start back on account of Hernandez being
about," remarked the doctor.

"And but for him we might not have known anything of what has
happened," marvelled Charles Gould.

Mrs. Gould cried out--

"Antonia must not know! She must not be told. Not now."

"Nobody's likely to carry the news," remarked the doctor. "It's
no one's interest. Moreover, the people here are afraid of
Hernandez as if he were the devil." He turned to Charles Gould.
"It's even awkward, because if you wanted to communicate with the
refugees you could find no messenger. When Hernandez was ranging
hundreds of miles away from here the Sulaco populace used to
shudder at the tales of him roasting his prisoners alive."

"Yes," murmured Charles Gould; "Captain Mitchell's Capataz was
the only man in the town who had seen Hernandez eye to eye.
Father Corbelan employed him. He opened the communications first.
It is a pity that--"

His voice was covered by the booming of the great bell of the
cathedral. Three single strokes, one after another, burst out
explosively, dying away in deep and mellow vibrations. And then
all the bells in the tower of every church, convent, or chapel in
town, even those that had remained shut up for years, pealed out
together with a crash. In this furious flood of metallic uproar
there was a power of suggesting images of strife and violence
which blanched Mrs. Gould's cheek. Basilio, who had been waiting
at table, shrinking within himself, clung to the sideboard with
chattering teeth. It was impossible to hear yourself speak.