This was the first time Nostromo and Decoud heard the steamer stop.
After order had been restored, and the binnacle lamp relighted, she went
ahead again, passing wide of the lighter in her search for the Isabels.
The group could not be made out, and, at the pitiful entreaties of the
captain, Sotillo allowed the engines to be stopped again to wait for one
of those periodical lightenings of darkness caused by the shifting of
the cloud canopy spread above the waters of the gulf.
Sotillo, on the bridge, muttered from time to time angrily to the
captain. The other, in an apologetic and cringing tone, begged su merced
the colonel to take into consideration the limitations put upon human
faculties by the darkness of the night. Sotillo swelled with rage and
impatience. It was the chance of a lifetime.
"If your eyes are of no more use to you than this, I shall have them put
out," he yelled.
The captain of the steamer made no answer, for just then the mass of the
Great Isabel loomed up darkly after a passing shower, then vanished, as
if swept away by a wave of greater obscurity preceding another downpour.
Pages:
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446