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

eady firing from the windows. There were little heaps ofcartridges lying about on the open card-tables. I remembera couple of overturned chairs, some bottles rolling on thefloor amongst the packs of cards scattered suddenly as thecaballeros rose from their game to open fire upon the mob.Most of the young men had spent the night at the club in theexpectation of some such disturbance. In two of the candelabra,on the consoles, the candles were burning downin their sockets. A large iron nut, probably stolen from therailway workshops, flew in from the street as I entered, andbroke one of the large mirrors set in the wall. I noticed alsoone of the club servants tied up hand and foot with the cordsof the curtain and flung in a corner. I have a vague recollectionof Don Jaime assuring me hastily that the fellow hadbeen detected putting poison into the dishes at supper. ButI remember distinctly he was shrieking for mercy, withoutstopping at all, continuously, and so absolutely disregardedthat nobody even took the trouble to gag him. The noise hemade was so disagreeable that I had half a mind to do it myself.But there was no time to waste on such trifles. I took myplace at one of the windows and began firing.‘I didn’t learn till later in the afternoon whom it was thatNostromo, with his Cargadores and some Italian workmenas well, had managed to save from those drunken rascals.That man has a peculiar talent when anything striking tothe imagination has to be done. I made that remark to himafterwards when we met after some sort of order had beenrestored in the town, and the answer he made rather surprisedme. He said quite moodily, ‘And how much do I get