 that time;
and also by the general softening of manners as compared with the epoch of civil
wars whence had emerged the iron tyranny of Guzman Bento of fearful memory. In
the contests that broke out at the end of his rule (which had kept peace in the
country for a whole fifteen years) there was more fatuous imbecility, plenty of
cruelty and suffering still, but much less of the old-time fierce and blindly
ferocious political fanaticism. It was all more vile, more base, more
contemptible, and infinitely more manageable in the very outspoken cynicism of
motives. It was more clearly a brazen-faced scramble for a constantly
diminishing quantity of booty; since all enterprise had been stupidly killed in
the land. Thus it came to pass that the province of Sulaco, once the field of
cruel party vengeances, had become in a way one of the considerable prizes of
political career. The great of the earth (in Sta. Marta) reserved the posts in
the old Occidental State to those nearest and dearest to them: nephews,
brothers, husbands of favourite sisters, bosom friends, trusty supporters - or
prominent supporters of whom perhaps they were afraid. It was the blessed
province of great opportunities and of largest salaries; for the San Tomé mine
had its own unofficial pay list, whose items and amounts, fixed in consultation
by Charles Gould and Señor Avellanos, were known to a prominent business man in
the United States, who for twenty minutes or so in every month gave his
undivided attention to Sulaco affairs. At the same time the material interests
of all sorts, backed up by the influence of the San Tomé mine, were quietly
gathering substance in that part of the Republic. If, for instance, the Sulaco
Collectorship was generally understood, in the political world of the capital,
to open the way to the Ministry of Finance, and so on for every official post,
then, on the other hand, the despondent business circles of the Republic had
come to consider the Occidental Province as the promised land of safety,
especially if a man managed to get on good terms with the administration of the
mine. »Charles Gould; excellent fellow! Absolutely necessary to make sure of him
before taking a single step. Get an introduction to him from Moraga if you can -
the agent of the King of Sulaco, don't you know.«
    No wonder, then, that Sir John, coming from Europe to smooth the path for
his railway, had been meeting the name (and even the nickname) of Charles Gould
at every turn in Costaguana. The agent of the San Tomé
