Indeed, at the end of the novel the treasure winds up being "left safely" in this spot, its location unknown to anyone. In that capacity it serves as a symbol of mankind's true treasure, the individual soul, left hidden "for hundreds of years," perhaps, until a social system arises to transcend politics with love. Nostromo does not predict, define, or even hope for such a system, but what optimism there is in the novel concerns just this: the imperishability of the valuable soul until that day. "Time is on its side, señor"; it is a thought to inspire "profound" pleasure indeed. Decoud's play on "incorruptible" draws attention to the symbolic parallel between the silver and "men."