Joseph Conrad: Nostromo

PART THIRD: THE LIGHTHOUSE 2. CHAPTER TWO (continued)

"Hold him on one side till the rearguard comes along," answered
the voice. The whole column streamed past Captain Mitchell at a
run, the thundering noise of their feet dying away suddenly on
the shore. His captors held him tightly, disregarding his
declaration that he was an Englishman and his loud demands to be
taken at once before their commanding officer. Finally he lapsed
into dignified silence. With a hollow rumble of wheels on the
planks a couple of field guns, dragged by hand, rolled by. Then,
after a small body of men had marched past escorting four or five
figures which walked in advance, with a jingle of steel
scabbards, he felt a tug at his arms, and was ordered to come
along. During the passage from the wharf to the Custom House it
is to be feared that Captain Mitchell was subjected to certain
indignities at the hands of the soldiers--such as jerks, thumps
on the neck, forcible application of the butt of a rifle to the
small of his back. Their ideas of speed were not in accord with
his notion of his dignity. He became flustered, flushed, and
helpless. It was as if the world were coming to an end.