It lost itself amongst the
innumerable tales of conspiracies and plots against the tyrant as a
stream is lost in an arid belt of sandy country before it emerges,
diminished and troubled, perhaps, on the other side. The doctor made
no secret of it that he had lived for years in the wildest parts of
the Republic, wandering with almost unknown Indian tribes in the great
forests of the far interior where the great rivers have their sources.
But it was mere aimless wandering; he had written nothing, collected
nothing, brought nothing for science out of the twilight of the forests,
which seemed to cling to his battered personality limping about Sulaco,
where it had drifted in casually, only to get stranded on the shores of
the sea.
It was also known that he had lived in a state of destitution till the
arrival of the Goulds from Europe. Don Carlos and Dona Emilia had taken
up the mad English doctor, when it became apparent that for all his
savage independence he could be tamed by kindness. Perhaps it was
only hunger that had tamed him. In years gone by he had certainly been
acquainted with Charles Gould's father in Sta.
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