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- Джозеф Конрад
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Captain
Mitchell
,
feeling
more
and
more
in
the
thick
of
history
,
found
time
for
an
hour
or
so
during
an
afternoon
in
the
drawing-room
of
the
Casa
Gould
,
where
,
with
a
strange
ignorance
of
the
real
forces
at
work
around
him
,
he
professed
himself
delighted
to
get
away
from
the
strain
of
affairs
.
He
did
not
know
what
he
would
have
done
without
his
invaluable
Nostromo
,
he
declared
.
Those
confounded
Costaguana
politics
gave
him
more
work
--
he
confided
to
Mrs.
Gould
--
than
he
had
bargained
for
.
Don
Jose
Avellanos
had
displayed
in
the
service
of
the
endangered
Ribiera
Government
an
organizing
activity
and
an
eloquence
of
which
the
echoes
reached
even
Europe
.
For
,
after
the
new
loan
to
the
Ribiera
Government
,
Europe
had
become
interested
in
Costaguana
.
The
Sala
of
the
Provincial
Assembly
(
in
the
Municipal
Buildings
of
Sulaco
)
,
with
its
portraits
of
the
Liberators
on
the
walls
and
an
old
flag
of
Cortez
preserved
in
a
glass
case
above
the
President
's
chair
,
had
heard
all
these
speeches
--
the
early
one
containing
the
impassioned
declaration
"
Militarism
is
the
enemy
,
"
the
famous
one
of
the
"
trembling
balance
"
delivered
on
the
occasion
of
the
vote
for
the
raising
of
a
second
Sulaco
regiment
in
the
defence
of
the
reforming
Government
;
and
when
the
provinces
again
displayed
their
old
flags
(
proscribed
in
Guzman
Bento
's
time
)
there
was
another
of
those
great
orations
,
when
Don
Jose
greeted
these
old
emblems
of
the
war
of
Independence
,
brought
out
again
in
the
name
of
new
Ideals
.
The
old
idea
of
Federalism
had
disappeared
.
For
his
part
he
did
not
wish
to
revive
old
political
doctrines
.
They
were
perishable
.
They
died
.
But
the
doctrine
of
political
rectitude
was
immortal
.
The
second
Sulaco
regiment
,
to
whom
he
was
presenting
this
flag
,
was
going
to
show
its
valour
in
a
contest
for
order
,
peace
,
progress
;
for
the
establishment
of
national
self-respect
without
which
--
he
declared
with
energy
--
"
we
are
a
reproach
and
a
byword
amongst
the
powers
of
the
world
.
"
Don
Jose
Avellanos
loved
his
country
.
He
had
served
it
lavishly
with
his
fortune
during
his
diplomatic
career
,
and
the
later
story
of
his
captivity
and
barbarous
ill-usage
under
Guzman
Bento
was
well
known
to
his
listeners
.
It
was
a
wonder
that
he
had
not
been
a
victim
of
the
ferocious
and
summary
executions
which
marked
the
course
of
that
tyranny
;
for
Guzman
had
ruled
the
country
with
the
sombre
imbecility
of
political
fanaticism
.
The
power
of
Supreme
Government
had
become
in
his
dull
mind
an
object
of
strange
worship
,
as
if
it
were
some
sort
of
cruel
deity
.
It
was
incarnated
in
himself
,
and
his
adversaries
,
the
Federalists
,
were
the
supreme
sinners
,
objects
of
hate
,
abhorrence
,
and
fear
,
as
heretics
would
be
to
a
convinced
Inquisitor
.
For
years
he
had
carried
about
at
the
tail
of
the
Army
of
Pacification
,
all
over
the
country
,
a
captive
band
of
such
atrocious
criminals
,
who
considered
themselves
most
unfortunate
at
not
having
been
summarily
executed
.
It
was
a
diminishing
company
of
nearly
naked
skeletons
,
loaded
with
irons
,
covered
with
dirt
,
with
vermin
,
with
raw
wounds
,
all
men
of
position
,
of
education
,
of
wealth
,
who
had
learned
to
fight
amongst
themselves
for
scraps
of
rotten
beef
thrown
to
them
by
soldiers
,
or
to
beg
a
negro
cook
for
a
drink
of
muddy
water
in
pitiful
accents
.
Don
Jose
Avellanos
,
clanking
his
chains
amongst
the
others
,
seemed
only
to
exist
in
order
to
prove
how
much
hunger
,
pain
,
degradation
,
and
cruel
torture
a
human
body
can
stand
without
parting
with
the
last
spark
of
life
.
Sometimes
interrogatories
,
backed
by
some
primitive
method
of
torture
,
were
administered
to
them
by
a
commission
of
officers
hastily
assembled
in
a
hut
of
sticks
and
branches
,
and
made
pitiless
by
the
fear
for
their
own
lives
.
A
lucky
one
or
two
of
that
spectral
company
of
prisoners
would
perhaps
be
led
tottering
behind
a
bush
to
be
shot
by
a
file
of
soldiers
.
Always
an
army
chaplain
--
some
unshaven
,
dirty
man
,
girt
with
a
sword
and
with
a
tiny
cross
embroidered
in
white
cotton
on
the
left
breast
of
a
lieutenant
's
uniform
--
would
follow
,
cigarette
in
the
corner
of
the
mouth
,
wooden
stool
in
hand
,
to
hear
the
confession
and
give
absolution
;
for
the
Citizen
Saviour
of
the
Country
(
Guzman
Bento
was
called
thus
officially
in
petitions
)
was
not
averse
from
the
exercise
of
rational
clemency
.
The
irregular
report
of
the
firing
squad
would
be
heard
,
followed
sometimes
by
a
single
finishing
shot
;
a
little
bluish
cloud
of
smoke
would
float
up
above
the
green
bushes
,
and
the
Army
of
Pacification
would
move
on
over
the
savannas
,
through
the
forests
,
crossing
rivers
,
invading
rural
pueblos
,
devastating
the
haciendas
of
the
horrid
aristocrats
,
occupying
the
inland
towns
in
the
fulfilment
of
its
patriotic
mission
,
and
leaving
behind
a
united
land
wherein
the
evil
taint
of
Federalism
could
no
longer
be
detected
in
the
smoke
of
burning
houses
and
the
smell
of
spilt
blood
.
Don
Jose
Avellanos
had
survived
that
time
.
Perhaps
,
when
contemptuously
signifying
to
him
his
release
,
the
Citizen
Saviour
of
the
Country
might
have
thought
this
benighted
aristocrat
too
broken
in
health
and
spirit
and
fortune
to
be
any
longer
dangerous
.
Or
,
perhaps
,
it
may
have
been
a
simple
caprice
.
Guzman
Bento
,
usually
full
of
fanciful
fears
and
brooding
suspicions
,
had
sudden
accesses
of
unreasonable
self-confidence
when
he
perceived
himself
elevated
on
a
pinnacle
of
power
and
safety
beyond
the
reach
of
mere
mortal
plotters
.
At
such
times
he
would
impulsively
command
the
celebration
of
a
solemn
Mass
of
thanksgiving
,
which
would
be
sung
in
great
pomp
in
the
cathedral
of
Sta
.
Marta
by
the
trembling
,
subservient
Archbishop
of
his
creation
.
He
heard
it
sitting
in
a
gilt
armchair
placed
before
the
high
altar
,
surrounded
by
the
civil
and
military
heads
of
his
Government
.
The
unofficial
world
of
Sta
.
Marta
would
crowd
into
the
cathedral
,
for
it
was
not
quite
safe
for
anybody
of
mark
to
stay
away
from
these
manifestations
of
presidential
piety
.
Having
thus
acknowledged
the
only
power
he
was
at
all
disposed
to
recognize
as
above
himself
,
he
would
scatter
acts
of
political
grace
in
a
sardonic
wantonness
of
clemency
.
There
was
no
other
way
left
now
to
enjoy
his
power
but
by
seeing
his
crushed
adversaries
crawl
impotently
into
the
light
of
day
out
of
the
dark
,
noisome
cells
of
the
Collegio
.
Their
harmlessness
fed
his
insatiable
vanity
,
and
they
could
always
be
got
hold
of
again
.
It
was
the
rule
for
all
the
women
of
their
families
to
present
thanks
afterwards
in
a
special
audience
.
The
incarnation
of
that
strange
god
,
El
Gobierno
Supremo
,
received
them
standing
,
cocked
hat
on
head
,
and
exhorted
them
in
a
menacing
mutter
to
show
their
gratitude
by
bringing
up
their
children
in
fidelity
to
the
democratic
form
of
government
,
"
which
I
have
established
for
the
happiness
of
our
country
.
"
His
front
teeth
having
been
knocked
out
in
some
accident
of
his
former
herdsman
's
life
,
his
utterance
was
spluttering
and
indistinct
.
He
had
been
working
for
Costaguana
alone
in
the
midst
of
treachery
and
opposition
.
Let
it
cease
now
lest
he
should
become
weary
of
forgiving
!
Don
Jose
Avellanos
had
known
this
forgiveness
.
He
was
broken
in
health
and
fortune
deplorably
enough
to
present
a
truly
gratifying
spectacle
to
the
supreme
chief
of
democratic
institutions
.
He
retired
to
Sulaco
.
His
wife
had
an
estate
in
that
province
,
and
she
nursed
him
back
to
life
out
of
the
house
of
death
and
captivity
.
When
she
died
,
their
daughter
,
an
only
child
,
was
old
enough
to
devote
herself
to
"
poor
papa
.
"
