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

its mouth closed askew. The colonel ground his teeth withrage and struck. The rope vibrated leisurely to the blow, likethe long string of a pendulum starting from a rest. But noswinging motion was imparted to the body of Senor Hirsch,the well-known hide merchant on the coast. With a convulsiveeffort of the twisted arms it leaped up a few inches,curling upon itself like a fish on the end of a line. SenorHirsch’s head was flung back on his straining throat; hischin trembled. For a moment the rattle of his chatteringteeth pervaded the vast, shadowy room, where the candlesmade a patch of light round the two flames burning side byside. And as Sotillo, staying his raised hand, waited for himto speak, with the sudden flash of a grin and a strainingforward of the wrenched shoulders, he spat violently intohis face.The uplifted whip fell, and the colonel sprang back witha low cry of dismay, as if aspersed by a jet of deadly venom.Quick as thought he snatched up his revolver, and firedtwice. The report and the concussion of the shots seemedto throw him at once from ungovernable rage into idioticstupor. He stood with drooping jaw and stony eyes. Whathad he done, Sangre de Dios! What had he done? He wasbasely appalled at his impulsive act, sealing for ever theselips from which so much was to be extorted. What could hesay? How could he explain? Ideas of headlong flight somewhere,anywhere, passed through his mind; even the cravenand absurd notion of hiding under the table occurred tohis cowardice. It was too late; his officers had rushed intumultuously, in a great clatter of scabbards, clamouring,