Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
broken by short shudders testifying to the most atrocious sufferings.
Dr. Monygham, going out in the police-galley to the islands, beheld the glitter of the moon upon the gulf and the high black shape of the Great Isabel sending a shaft of light afar from under the canopy of clouds.
"Pull easy," he said, wondering what he would find there. He tried to imagine Linda and her father, and dicovered a strange reluctance within himself. "Pull easy," he repeated.
From the moment he fired at the thief of his honor, Giorgio Viola had not stirred from the spot. He stood, his old gun grounded, his hand grasping the barrel near the muzzle. After the lancha carrying off Nostromo forever from her had left the shore, Linda, coming up, stopped before him. He did not seem to be aware of her presence, but when, losing her forced calmness, she cried out:
"Do you know whom you have killed?" he answered:
"Ramirez, the vagabond."
White, and staring insanely at her father, Linda laughed in his face. After a time he joined her faintly in a deep-toned and distant echo of her peals. Then she stopped, and the old man spoke as if startled:
"He cried out in son Gian' Battista's voice."
The gun fell from his opened hand, but the arm remained extended for a moment as if still supported. Linda seized it roughly.
"You are too old to understand. Come into the house."
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