Page 495 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

of a slight colic which had declared itself suddenly, and the
rattling teeth of repressed panic, had a genuineness which
impressed the envoy. It was a cold fit. The colonel explained
that he was unable to think, to listen, to speak. With an ap-
pearance of superhuman effort the colonel gasped out that
he was not in a state to return a suitable reply or to execute
any of his Excellency’s orders. But to-morrow! To-morrow!
Ah! to-morrow! Let his Excellency Don Pedro be without
uneasiness. The brave Esmeralda Regiment held the har-
bour, held—And closing his eyes, he rolled his aching head
like a half-delirious invalid under the inquisitive stare of the
envoy, who was obliged to bend down over the hammock
in order to catch the painful and broken accents. Mean-
time, Colonel Sotillo trusted that his Excellency’s humanity
would permit the doctor, the English doctor, to come out
of town with his case of foreign remedies to attend upon
him. He begged anxiously his worship the caballero now
present for the grace of looking in as he passed the Casa
Gould, and informing the English doctor, who was prob-
ably there, that his services were immediately required by
Colonel Sotillo, lying ill of fever in the Custom House. Im-
mediately. Most urgently required. Awaited with extreme
impatience. A thousand thanks. He closed his eyes wearily
and would not open them again, lying perfectly still, deaf,
dumb, insensible, overcome, vanquished, crushed, annihi-
lated by the fell disease.
But as soon as the other had shut after him the door of
the landing, the colonel leaped out with a fling of both feet
in an avalanche of woollen coverings. His spurs having be-

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard