 shopkeeper! How can a man like me fail with any woman, let
alone an emancipated girl living in scandalous freedom?« he seemed to say.
    His manner in the Casa Gould was, of course, very different - devoid of all
truculence, and even slightly mournful. Like most of his countrymen, he was
carried away by the sound of fine words, especially if uttered by himself. He
had no convictions of any sort upon anything except as to the irresistible power
of his personal advantages. But that was so firm that even Decoud's appearance
in Sulaco, and his intimacy with the Goulds and the Avellanos, did not disquiet
him. On the contrary, he tried to make friends with that rich Costaguanero from
Europe in the hope of borrowing a large sum by-and-by. The only guiding motive
of his life was to get money for the satisfaction of his expensive tastes, which
he indulged recklessly, having no self-control. He imagined himself a master of
intrigue, but his corruption was as simple as an animal instinct. At times, in
solitude, he had his moments of ferocity, and also on such occasions as, for
instance, when alone in a room with Anzani trying to get a loan.
    He had talked himself into the command of the Esmeralda garrison. That small
seaport had its importance as the station of the main submarine cable connecting
the Occidental Provinces with the outer world, and the junction with it of the
Sulaco branch. Don José Avellanos proposed him, and Barrios, with a rude and
jeering guffaw, had said, »Oh, let Sotillo go. He is a very good man to keep
guard over the cable, and the ladies of Esmeralda ought to have their turn.«
Barrios, an indubitably brave man, had no great opinion of Sotillo.
    It was through the Esmeralda cable alone that the San Tomé mine could be
kept in constant touch with the great financier, whose tacit approval made the
strength of the Ribierist movement. This movement had its adversaries even
there. Sotillo governed Esmeralda with repressive severity till the adverse
course of events upon the distant theatre of civil war forced upon him the
reflection that, after all, the great silver mine was fated to become the spoil
of the victors. But caution was necessary. He began by assuming a dark and
mysterious attitude towards the faithful Ribierist municipality of Esmeralda.
Later on, the information that the commandant was holding assemblies of officers
in the dead of night (which had leaked out somehow) caused those gentlemen to
neglect their civil duties altogether, and remain shut up in their houses.
Suddenly
