Page 326 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

intoxicated, and proceeded on their mission up the street
yelling and firing random shots at the windows. This little
festivity, which might have turned out dangerous to the te-
legraphist’s life, enabled him in the end to send his warning
to Sulaco. The lieutenant, staggering upstairs with a drawn
sabre, was before long kissing him on both cheeks in one of
those swift changes of mood peculiar to a state of drunk-
enness. He clasped the telegraphist close round the neck,
assuring him that all the officers of the Esmeralda garrison
were going to be made colonels, while tears of happiness
streamed down his sodden face. Thus it came about that
the town major, coming along later, found the whole party
sleeping on the stairs and in passages, and the telegraphist
(who scorned this chance of escape) very busy clicking the
key of the transmitter. The major led him away barehead-
ed, with his hands tied behind his back, but concealed the
truth from Sotillo, who remained in ignorance of the warn-
ing despatched to Sulaco.
The colonel was not the man to let any sort of darkness
stand in the way of the planned surprise. It appeared to him
a dead certainty; his heart was set upon his object with an
ungovernable, childlike impatience. Ever since the steamer
had rounded Punta Mala, to enter the deeper shadow of the
gulf, he had remained on the bridge in a group of officers
as excited as himself. Distracted between the coaxings and
menaces of Sotillo and his Staff, the miserable commander
of the steamer kept her moving with as much prudence as
they would let him exercise. Some of them had been drink-
ing heavily, no doubt; but the prospect of laying hands on