Page 496 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

come entangled in a perfect welter of ponchos he nearly
pitched on his head, and did not recover his balance till the
middle of the room. Concealed behind the half-closed jal-
ousies he listened to what went on below.
The envoy had already mounted, and turning to the mo-
rose officers occupying the great doorway, took off his hat
formally.
‘Caballeros,’ he said, in a very loud tone, ‘allow me to rec-
ommend you to take great care of your colonel. It has done
me much honour and gratification to have seen you all, a
fine body of men exercising the soldierly virtue of patience
in this exposed situation, where there is much sun, and no
water to speak of, while a town full of wine and feminine
charms is ready to embrace you for the brave men you are.
Caballeros, I have the honour to salute you. There will be
much dancing to-night in Sulaco. Good-bye!’
But he reined in his horse and inclined his head side-
ways on seeing the old major step out, very tall and meagre,
in a straight narrow coat coming down to his ankles as it
were the casing of the regimental colours rolled round their
staff.
The intelligent old warrior, after enunciating in a dog-
matic tone the general proposition that the ‘world was full
of traitors,’ went on pronouncing deliberately a panegyric
upon Sotillo. He ascribed to him with leisurely emphasis
every virtue under heaven, summing it all up in an absurd
colloquialism current amongst the lower class of Occiden-
tals (especially about Esmeralda). ‘And,’ he concluded, with
a sudden rise in the voice, ‘a man of many teeth—‘hombre