Nostromo : A Tale of the Seaboard
of the steamer seemed uproarious and distracting. There was a weirdness in not being able to see her. Suddenly all was still. She had stopped, but so close to them that the steam blowing off sent its rumbling vibration right over their heads.
"They are trying to make out where they are," said Decoud, in a whisper. Again he leaned over and put his fingers into the water. "We are moving quite smartly," he informed Nostromo.
"We seem to be crossing their bows," said the capataz, in a cautious tone. "But this is a blind game with death. Moving on is of no use. We mustn't be seen or heard."
His whisper was hoarse with excitement. Of all his face there was nothing visible but a gleam of white eyeballs. His fingers gripped Decoud's shoulder. "That is the only way to save this treasure from this steamer full of soldiers. Any other would have carried lights. But you observe there is not a gleam to show us where she is." Decoud stood as if paralyzed; only his thoughts were wildly active. In the space of a second he remembered the desolate glance of Antonia as he left her a.t the bedside of her father, in the gloomy house of Avellanos, with shuttered windows, but all the doors standing open, and deserted by all the servants except an old negro at the gate. He remembered the Casa Gould on his last visit; the arguments, the tones of his voice, the impenetrable attitude of Charles; Mrs. Gould's face, so blanched with anxiety and fatigue that her eyes seemed to have changed color, appearing nearly black by contrast. Even whole sentences of the proclamation which he
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