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- Джозеф Конрад
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The
chairman
of
the
railway
had
been
enjoying
her
hospitality
for
several
days
,
and
he
was
really
grateful
for
it
.
It
was
only
since
he
had
left
Sta
.
Marta
that
he
had
utterly
lost
touch
with
the
feeling
of
European
life
on
the
background
of
his
exotic
surroundings
.
In
the
capital
he
had
been
the
guest
of
the
Legation
,
and
had
been
kept
busy
negotiating
with
the
members
of
Don
Vincente
's
Government
--
cultured
men
,
men
to
whom
the
conditions
of
civilized
business
were
not
unknown
.
What
concerned
him
most
at
the
time
was
the
acquisition
of
land
for
the
railway
.
In
the
Sta
.
Marta
Valley
,
where
there
was
already
one
line
in
existence
,
the
people
were
tractable
,
and
it
was
only
a
matter
of
price
.
A
commission
had
been
nominated
to
fix
the
values
,
and
the
difficulty
resolved
itself
into
the
judicious
influencing
of
the
Commissioners
.
But
in
Sulaco
--
the
Occidental
Province
for
whose
very
development
the
railway
was
intended
--
there
had
been
trouble
.
It
had
been
lying
for
ages
ensconced
behind
its
natural
barriers
,
repelling
modern
enterprise
by
the
precipices
of
its
mountain
range
,
by
its
shallow
harbour
opening
into
the
everlasting
calms
of
a
gulf
full
of
clouds
,
by
the
benighted
state
of
mind
of
the
owners
of
its
fertile
territory
--
all
these
aristocratic
old
Spanish
families
,
all
those
Don
Ambrosios
this
and
Don
Fernandos
that
,
who
seemed
actually
to
dislike
and
distrust
the
coming
of
the
railway
over
their
lands
.
It
had
happened
that
some
of
the
surveying
parties
scattered
all
over
the
province
had
been
warned
off
with
threats
of
violence
.
In
other
cases
outrageous
pretensions
as
to
price
had
been
raised
.
But
the
man
of
railways
prided
himself
on
being
equal
to
every
emergency
.
Since
he
was
met
by
the
inimical
sentiment
of
blind
conservatism
in
Sulaco
he
would
meet
it
by
sentiment
,
too
,
before
taking
his
stand
on
his
right
alone
.
The
Government
was
bound
to
carry
out
its
part
of
the
contract
with
the
board
of
the
new
railway
company
,
even
if
it
had
to
use
force
for
the
purpose
.
But
he
desired
nothing
less
than
an
armed
disturbance
in
the
smooth
working
of
his
plans
.
They
were
much
too
vast
and
far-reaching
,
and
too
promising
to
leave
a
stone
unturned
;
and
so
he
imagined
to
get
the
President-Dictator
over
there
on
a
tour
of
ceremonies
and
speeches
,
culminating
in
a
great
function
at
the
turning
of
the
first
sod
by
the
harbour
shore
.
After
all
he
was
their
own
creature
--
that
Don
Vincente
.
He
was
the
embodied
triumph
of
the
best
elements
in
the
State
.
These
were
facts
,
and
,
unless
facts
meant
nothing
,
Sir
John
argued
to
himself
,
such
a
man
's
influence
must
be
real
,
and
his
personal
action
would
produce
the
conciliatory
effect
he
required
.
He
had
succeeded
in
arranging
the
trip
with
the
help
of
a
very
clever
advocate
,
who
was
known
in
Sta
.
Marta
as
the
agent
of
the
Gould
silver
mine
,
the
biggest
thing
in
Sulaco
,
and
even
in
the
whole
Republic
.
It
was
indeed
a
fabulously
rich
mine
.
Its
so-called
agent
,
evidently
a
man
of
culture
and
ability
,
seemed
,
without
official
position
,
to
possess
an
extraordinary
influence
in
the
highest
Government
spheres
.
He
was
able
to
assure
Sir
John
that
the
President-Dictator
would
make
the
journey
.
He
regretted
,
however
,
in
the
course
of
the
same
conversation
,
that
General
Montero
insisted
upon
going
,
too
.
General
Montero
,
whom
the
beginning
of
the
struggle
had
found
an
obscure
army
captain
employed
on
the
wild
eastern
frontier
of
the
State
,
had
thrown
in
his
lot
with
the
Ribiera
party
at
a
moment
when
special
circumstances
had
given
that
small
adhesion
a
fortuitous
importance
.
The
fortunes
of
war
served
him
marvellously
,
and
the
victory
of
Rio
Seco
(
after
a
day
of
desperate
fighting
)
put
a
seal
to
his
success
.
At
the
end
he
emerged
General
,
Minister
of
War
,
and
the
military
head
of
the
Blanco
party
,
although
there
was
nothing
aristocratic
in
his
descent
.
Indeed
,
it
was
said
that
he
and
his
brother
,
orphans
,
had
been
brought
up
by
the
munificence
of
a
famous
European
traveller
,
in
whose
service
their
father
had
lost
his
life
.
Another
story
was
that
their
father
had
been
nothing
but
a
charcoal
burner
in
the
woods
,
and
their
mother
a
baptised
Indian
woman
from
the
far
interior
.
However
that
might
be
,
the
Costaguana
Press
was
in
the
habit
of
styling
Montero
's
forest
march
from
his
commandancia
to
join
the
Blanco
forces
at
the
beginning
of
the
troubles
,
the
"
most
heroic
military
exploit
of
modern
times
.
"
About
the
same
time
,
too
,
his
brother
had
turned
up
from
Europe
,
where
he
had
gone
apparently
as
secretary
to
a
consul
.
Having
,
however
,
collected
a
small
band
of
outlaws
,
he
showed
some
talent
as
guerilla
chief
and
had
been
rewarded
at
the
pacification
by
the
post
of
Military
Commandant
of
the
capital
.
The
Minister
of
War
,
then
,
accompanied
the
Dictator
.
The
board
of
the
O.S.N.
Company
,
working
hand-in-hand
with
the
railway
people
for
the
good
of
the
Republic
,
had
on
this
important
occasion
instructed
Captain
Mitchell
to
put
the
mail-boat
Juno
at
the
disposal
of
the
distinguished
party
.
Don
Vincente
,
journeying
south
from
Sta
.
Marta
,
had
embarked
at
Cayta
,
the
principal
port
of
Costaguana
,
and
came
to
Sulaco
by
sea
.
But
the
chairman
of
the
railway
company
had
courageously
crossed
the
mountains
in
a
ramshackle
diligencia
,
mainly
for
the
purpose
of
meeting
his
engineer-in-chief
engaged
in
the
final
survey
of
the
road
.
For
all
the
indifference
of
a
man
of
affairs
to
nature
,
whose
hostility
can
always
be
overcome
by
the
resources
of
finance
,
he
could
not
help
being
impressed
by
his
surroundings
during
his
halt
at
the
surveying
camp
established
at
the
highest
point
his
railway
was
to
reach
.
He
spent
the
night
there
,
arriving
just
too
late
to
see
the
last
dying
glow
of
sunlight
upon
the
snowy
flank
of
Higuerota
.
Pillared
masses
of
black
basalt
framed
like
an
open
portal
a
portion
of
the
white
field
lying
aslant
against
the
west
.
In
the
transparent
air
of
the
high
altitudes
everything
seemed
very
near
,
steeped
in
a
clear
stillness
as
in
an
imponderable
liquid
;
and
with
his
ear
ready
to
catch
the
first
sound
of
the
expected
diligencia
the
engineer-in-chief
,
at
the
door
of
a
hut
of
rough
stones
,
had
contemplated
the
changing
hues
on
the
enormous
side
of
the
mountain
,
thinking
that
in
this
sight
,
as
in
a
piece
of
inspired
music
,
there
could
be
found
together
the
utmost
delicacy
of
shaded
expression
and
a
stupendous
magnificence
of
effect
.
Sir
John
arrived
too
late
to
hear
the
magnificent
and
inaudible
strain
sung
by
the
sunset
amongst
the
high
peaks
of
the
Sierra
.
It
had
sung
itself
out
into
the
breathless
pause
of
deep
dusk
before
,
climbing
down
the
fore
wheel
of
the
diligencia
with
stiff
limbs
,
he
shook
hands
with
the
engineer
.
