XII

NOTOSTROMO had been growing rich very slowly. It was an effect of his prudence. He could com- mand himself even when thrown off his balance. And to become the slave of a treasure with full self-knowl- edge is an occurrence rare and mentally disturbing. But it was also in a great part because of the diffi- culty of converting it into a form in which it could become available. The mere act of getting it away from the island piecemeal, little by little, was sur- rounded by difficulties, by the dangers of imminent detection. He had to visit the Great Isabel in secret, between his voyages along the coast, which were the ostensible source of his fortune. The crew of his own schooner were to be feared as if they had been spies upon their dreaded captain. He did not dare stay too long in port. When his coaster was unloaded he hurried away on another trip, for he feared arous- ing suspicion even by a day's delay. Sometimes dur- ing a week's stay, or more, he could only manage one visit to the treasure. And that was all. A couple of ingots. He suffered through his fears as much as through his prudence. To do things by stealth hu- miliated him. And he suffered most from the concen- tration of his thought upon the treasure; as thought becomes concentrated, his unblemished reputation ap-

peared more vividly as a matter of life and death.