Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
lightful enough for her as long as it was Nostromo's suggestion. She could wait for her Gian' Battista's good pleasure there as well as anywhere else. My opinion is that she was always in love with that grave and incorruptible capataz. Moreover, both father and sister were anxious to get Giselle away from the attentions of a certain Ramirez."
"Ah!" said Mrs. Gould, interested. "Ramirez? What sort of man is that?"
"Just a mozo of the town. His father was a cargador. As a lanky boy he ran about the wharf in rags till Nostromo took him up and made a man of him. When he got a little older he put him into a lighter, and very soon gave him charge of the No. 3 boat—the boat which took the silver away, Mrs. Gould. Nostromo selected that lighter for the work because she was the best sailing and the strongest boat of all the company's fleet. Young Ramirez was one of the five cargadores entrusted with the removal of the treasure from the custom-house on that famous night. As the boat he had charge of was sunk, Nostromo, on leaving the company's service, recommended him to Captain Mitchell for his successor. He had trained him in the routine of work perfectly, and thus Mr. Ramirez, from a starving waif, becomes a man and the capataz of the Sulaco cargadores."
"Thanks to Nostromo," said Mrs. Gould, with warm approval.
"Thanks to Nostromo," repeated Dr. Monygham. "Upon my word, the fellow's power frightens me when I think of it. That our poor old Mitchell was only too glad to appoint somebody trained to the
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