 of his
own. He wasn't safe to deal with. Sotillo had vaguely planned seizing not only
the treasure but the town itself, and then negotiating at leisure. But in the
face of facts learned from the chief engineer (who had frankly disclosed to him
the whole situation) his audacity, never of a very dashing kind, had been
replaced by a most cautious hesitation.
    »An army - an army crossed the mountains under Pedrito already,« he had
repeated, unable to hide his consternation. »If it had not been that I am given
the news by a man of your position I would never have believed it. Astonishing!«
    »An armed force,« corrected the engineer, suavely.
    His aim was attained. It was to keep Sulaco clear of any armed occupation
for a few hours longer, to let those whom fear impelled leave the town. In the
general dismay there were families hopeful enough to fly upon the road towards
Los Hatos, which was left open by the withdrawal of the armed rabble under
Señores Fuentes and Gamacho, to Rincon, with their enthusiastic welcome for
Pedro Montero. It was a hasty and risky exodus, and it was said that Hernandez,
occupying with his band the woods about Los Hatos, was receiving the fugitives.
That a good many people he knew were contemplating such a flight had been well
known to the chief engineer.
    Father Corbelàn's efforts in the cause of that most pious robber had not
been altogether fruitless. The political chief of Sulaco had yielded at the last
moment to the urgent entreaties of the priest, had signed a provisional
nomination appointing Hernandez a general, and calling upon him officially in
this new capacity to preserve order in the town. The fact is that the political
chief, seeing the situation desperate, did not care what he signed. It was the
last official document he signed before he left the palace of the Intendencia
for the refuge of the O.S.N. Company's office. But even had he meant his act to
be effective it was already too late. The riot which he feared and expected
broke out in less than an hour after Father Corbelàn had left him. Indeed,
Father Corbelàn, who had appointed a meeting with Nostromo in the Dominican
Convent, where he had his residence in one of the cells, never managed to reach
the place. From the Intendencia he had gone straight on to the Avellanos's house
to tell his brother-in-law, and though he stayed there no more than half an hour
he had found himself cut off from his ascetic abode. Nostromo
