Is she the _Andorinha_ ?" The newly-promoted general smote his huge stomach with both hands--"beating the drum," he called it--and the rat-tat signified instant readiness for action.
"The guns will soon scare that bird," he exclaimed.

As _Andorinha_ means "swallow" in English there was some point to the remark.

Nor was he making a vain boast.

The most astounding feature of every revolution in a South American republic is the alacrity with which the army will fire on the navy, _et vice versa_.

The two services seem to be everlastingly at feud.