Page 377 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

whole day.’ He drew himself up haughtily, and made a sign
for Captain Mitchell to be led away.
‘What about my watch?’ cried Captain Mitchell, hang-
ing back from the efforts of the men pulling him towards
the door.
Sotillo turned to his officers. ‘No! But only listen to this
picaro, caballeros,’ he pronounced with affected scorn, and
was answered by a chorus of derisive laughter. ‘He demands
his watch!’ … He ran up again to Captain Mitchell, for the
desire to relieve his feelings by inflicting blows and pain
upon this Englishman was very strong within him. ‘Your
watch! You are a prisoner in war time, Mitchell! In war
time! You have no rights and no property! Caramba! The
very breath in your body belongs to me. Remember that.’
‘Bosh!’ said Captain Mitchell, concealing a disagreeable
impression.
Down below, in a great hall, with the earthen floor and
with a tall mound thrown up by white ants in a corner, the
soldiers had kindled a small fire with broken chairs and
tables near the arched gateway, through which the faint
murmur of the harbour waters on the beach could be heard.
While Captain Mitchell was being led down the staircase,
an officer passed him, running up to report to Sotillo the
capture of more prisoners. A lot of smoke hung about in the
vast gloomy place, the fire crackled, and, as if through a haze,
Captain Mitchell made out, surrounded by short soldiers
with fixed bayonets, the heads of three tall prisoners—the
doctor, the engineer-in-chief, and the white leonine mane
of old Viola, who stood half-turned away from the others

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard