Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

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

"Look, miserable shopkeeper! How can a man like me fail with any
woman, let alone an emancipated girl living in scandalous
freedom?" he seemed to say.

His manner in the Casa Gould was, of course, very
different--devoid of all truculence, and even slightly mournful.
Like most of his countrymen, he was carried away by the sound of
fine words, especially if uttered by himself. He had no
convictions of any sort upon anything except as to the
irresistible power of his personal advantages. But that was so
firm that even Decoud's appearance in Sulaco, and his intimacy
with the Goulds and the Avellanos, did not disquiet him. On the
contrary, he tried to make friends with that rich Costaguanero
from Europe in the hope of borrowing a large sum by-and-by. The
only guiding motive of his life was to get money for the
satisfaction of his expensive tastes, which he indulged
recklessly, having no self-control. He imagined himself a master
of intrigue, but his corruption was as simple as an animal
instinct. At times, in solitude, he had his moments of ferocity,
and also on such occasions as, for instance, when alone in a room
with Anzani trying to get a loan.

He had talked himself into the command of the Esmeralda garrison.
That small seaport had its importance as the station of the main
submarine cable connecting the Occidental Provinces with the
outer world, and the junction with it of the Sulaco branch. Don
Jose Avellanos proposed him, and Barrios, with a rude and jeering
guffaw, had said, "Oh, let Sotillo go. He is a very good man to
keep guard over the cable, and the ladies of Esmeralda ought to
have their turn." Barrios, an indubitably brave man, had no great
opinion of Sotillo.

It was through the Esmeralda cable alone that the San Tome mine
could be kept in constant touch with the great financier, whose
tacit approval made the strength of the Ribierist movement. This
movement had its adversaries even there. Sotillo governed
Esmeralda with repressive severity till the adverse course of
events upon the distant theatre of civil war forced upon him the
reflection that, after all, the great silver mine was fated to
become the spoil of the victors. But caution was necessary. He
began by assuming a dark and mysterious attitude towards the
faithful Ribierist municipality of Esmeralda. Later on, the
information that the commandant was holding assemblies of
officers in the dead of night (which had leaked out somehow)
caused those gentlemen to neglect their civil duties altogether,
and remain shut up in their houses. Suddenly one day all the
letters from Sulaco by the overland courier were carried off by a
file of soldiers from the post office to the Commandancia,
without disguise, concealment, or apology. Sotillo had heard
through Cayta of the final defeat of Ribiera.