" But he could not afford to wait much longer. That was just it.
Every time he went in and came out with a slam of the door, the sentry
on the landing presented arms, and got in return a black, venomous,
unsteady glance, which, in reality, saw nothing at all, being merely the
reflection of the soul within--a soul of gloomy hatred, irresolution,
avarice, and fury.
The sun had set when he went in once more. A soldier carried in two
lighted candles and slunk out, shutting the door without noise.
"Speak, thou Jewish child of the devil! The silver! The silver, I say!
Where is it? Where have you foreign rogues hidden it? Confess or--"
A slight quiver passed up the taut rope from the racked limbs, but the
body of Senor Hirsch, enterprising business man from Esmeralda, hung
under the heavy beam perpendicular and silent, facing the colonel
awfully. The inflow of the night air, cooled by the snows of the Sierra,
spread gradually a delicious freshness through the close heat of the
room.
"Speak--thief--scoundrel--picaro--or--"
Sotillo had seized the riding-whip, and stood with his arm lifted up.
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