Contraband of War a Tale of the Hispano American Struggle

by M.P. Shiel

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1899 ... CHAPTER II. IMMANUEL APPADACCA. It was true that Immanuel Appadacca was at his Venezuelan chateau. He was writing a Spanish madrigal in an apartment overlooking the sea at three in the afternoon of April 20, when an ivory card, scribbled with the words, 'The carrosse awaits your Excellency,' was dropped through a slit in the porphyry wall upon a table near his hand. He glanced at it, and continued to write. Here the hot sweltering sun came in in mellowed rays through blue and scarlet-tinted glass, making tolerable to the eye the blaze of splendour with which the apartment was adorned. From the gaudy mosaic floor to the torrents of copper-coloured draperies that rolled in thick luxury from the entablatures, and the hundred ornaments of gold and ivory and malachite that crowded the not large apartment, there was poured forth a suggestion of princeliness that bewildered the imagination. A soft sound of music, the source of which was not visible, breathed through the apartment. Far below lay, glittering in bright sunlight, a sheltered bay, readily accessible to the chateau by steps cut zigzag down the cliff side. In appearance Appadacca was one of the most striking of men--pallid, with ink-black hair, but under the pallor a certain suggestion of duskiness which could not be readily fixed and described. Some remote ancestor had, in fact, been an Indian squaw, and this trace, mingling with the highest caste of the blood of Seville, still informed his wan visage. He was rather below the middle height, with a well-knit, compact, erect figure. The whole man was extremely finely wrought, beautiful in a high degree. Of his face, in moments of perfect calm, the riveting feature was the lips, well-chiselled, pale, and marble in the firmness of their pressure. When he sp...

258 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1972

About the author

Matthew Phipps Shiel was a prolific British writer of West Indian descent. His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a de facto pen name.

He is remembered mostly for supernatural and scientific romances. His work was published as serials, novels, and as short stories. The Purple Cloud (1901; 1929) remains his most famous and often reprinted novel.