Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

shoulder with a smile that, making longitudinal folds onhis face, caused it to resemble a leathern mask with a benignantlydiabolic expression.‘Would not the muchachos of Hernandez like to get holdof this insignificant object, that looks, por Dios, very muchlike a piece of tin?’ he remarked, jocularly.Hernandez, the robber, had been an inoffensive, smallranchero, kidnapped with circumstances of peculiar atrocityfrom his home during one of the civil wars, and forced toserve in the army. There his conduct as soldier was exemplary,till, watching his chance, he killed his colonel, and managedto get clear away. With a band of deserters, who chosehim for their chief, he had taken refuge beyond the wild andwaterless Bolson de Tonoro. The haciendas paid him blackmailin cattle and horses; extraordinary stories were told ofhis powers and of his wonderful escapes from capture. Heused to ride, single-handed, into the villages and the littletowns on the Campo, driving a pack mule before him, withtwo revolvers in his belt, go straight to the shop or store, selectwhat he wanted, and ride away unopposed because ofthe terror his exploits and his audacity inspired. Poor countrypeople he usually left alone; the upper class were oftenstopped on the roads and robbed; but any unlucky officialthat fell into his hands was sure to get a severe flogging. Thearmy officers did not like his name to be mentioned in theirpresence. His followers, mounted on stolen horses, laughedat the pursuit of the regular cavalry sent to hunt them down,and whom they took pleasure to ambush most scientificallyin the broken ground of their own fastness. Expeditions