Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

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

Ignacio shouted. The light of the carriage lamps, running along
the nopal hedges that crowned the bank on each side, flashed upon
the scared faces of people standing aside in the road, sunk deep,
like an English country lane, into the soft soil of the Campo.
They cowered; their eyes glistened very big for a second; and
then the light, running on, fell upon the half-denuded roots of a
big tree, on another stretch of nopal hedge, caught up another
bunch of faces glaring back apprehensively. Three women--of whom
one was carrying a child--and a couple of men in civilian
dress--one armed with a sabre and another with a gun--were
grouped about a donkey carrying two bundles tied up in blankets.
Further on Ignacio shouted again to pass a carreta, a long wooden
box on two high wheels, with the door at the back swinging open.
Some ladies in it must have recognized the white mules, because
they screamed out, "Is it you, Dona Emilia?"

At the turn of the road the glare of a big fire filled the short
stretch vaulted over by the branches meeting overhead. Near the
ford of a shallow stream a roadside rancho of woven rushes and a
roof of grass had been set on fire by accident, and the flames,
roaring viciously, lit up an open space blocked with horses,
mules, and a distracted, shouting crowd of people. When Ignacio
pulled up, several ladies on foot assailed the carriage, begging
Antonia for a seat. To their clamour she answered by pointing
silently to her father.

"I must leave you here," said Charles Gould, in the uproar. The
flames leaped up sky-high, and in the recoil from the scorching
heat across the road the stream of fugitives pressed against the
carriage. A middle-aged lady dressed in black silk, but with a
coarse manta over her head and a rough branch for a stick in her
hand, staggered against the front wheel. Two young girls,
frightened and silent, were clinging to her arms. Charles Gould
knew her very well.

"Misericordia! We are getting terribly bruised in this crowd!"
she exclaimed, smiling up courageously to him. "We have started
on foot. All our servants ran away yesterday to join the
democrats. We are going to put ourselves under the protection of
Father Corbelan, of your sainted uncle, Antonia. He has wrought a
miracle in the heart of a most merciless robber. A miracle!"