n guard
challenged loudly, "Quien vive?" There were more dead men lying about,
and he flattened himself down at once by the side of a cold corpse. He
heard a voice saying, "Here is one of those wounded rascals crawling
about. Shall I go and finish him?" And another voice objected that it
was not safe to go out without a lantern upon such an errand; perhaps it
was only some negro Liberal looking for a chance to stick a knife into
the stomach of an honest man. Hirsch didn't stay to hear any more, but
crawling away to the end of the wharf, hid himself amongst a lot of
empty casks. After a while some people came along, talking, and with
glowing cigarettes. He did not stop to ask himself whether they would be
likely to do him any harm, but bolted incontinently along the jetty,
saw a lighter lying moored at the end, and threw himself into it. In his
desire to find cover he crept right forward under the half-deck, and he
had remained there more dead than alive, suffering agonies of hunger
and thirst, and almost fainting with terror, when he heard numerous
footsteps and the voices of the Europeans who came in a body escorting
the wagonload of treasure, pushed along the rails by a squad of
Cargadores. He understood perfectly what was being done from the talk,
but did not disclose his presence from the fear that he would not
be allowed to remain. His only idea at the time, overpowering and
masterful, was to get away from this terrible Sulaco. And now he
regretted it very much. He had heard Nostromo talk to Decoud, and wished
himself back on shore. He did not desire to be involved in any desperate
affair--in a situation where one could not run away. The involuntary
groans of his anguished spirit had betrayed him to the sharp ears of the
Capataz.

They had propped him up in a sitting posture against the side of the
lighter, and he went on with the moaning account of his adventures till
his voice broke, his head fell forward. "Water," he whispered, with
difficulty. Decoud held one of the cans to his lips. He revived after
an extraordinarily short time, and scrambled up to his feet wildly.
Nostromo, in an angry and threatening voice, ordered him forward. Hirsch
was one of those men whom fear lashes like a whip, and he must have
had an appalling idea of the Capataz's ferocity. He displayed an
extraordinary agility in disappearing forward into the darkness. They
heard him getting over the tarpaulin; then there was the sound of a
heavy