Page 486 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

pest in his ears in time to hear the name of Don Carlos. He
seemed to have come out of it a changed man—a man who
spoke thoughtfully in a soft and even voice.
‘And would Don Carlos have been content if I had sur-
rendered this treasure?’
‘I should not wonder if they were all of that way of think-
ing now,’ the doctor said, grimly. ‘I was never consulted.
Decoud had it his own way. Their eyes are opened by this
time, I should think. I for one know that if that silver turned
up this moment miraculously ashore I would give it to So-
tillo. And, as things stand, I would be approved.’
‘Turned up miraculously,’ repeated the Capataz very low;
then raised his voice. ‘That, senor, would be a greater mira-
cle than any saint could perform.’
‘I believe you, Capataz,’ said the doctor, drily.
He went on to develop his view of Sotillo’s dangerous in-
fluence upon the situation. And the Capataz, listening as if
in a dream, felt himself of as little account as the indistinct,
motionless shape of the dead man whom he saw upright
under the beam, with his air of listening also, disregarded,
forgotten, like a terrible example of neglect.
‘Was it for an unconsidered and foolish whim that they
came to me, then?’ he interrupted suddenly. ‘Had I not done
enough for them to be of some account, por Dios? Is it that
the hombres finos—the gentlemen—need not think as long
as there is a man of the people ready to risk his body and
soul? Or, perhaps, we have no souls—like dogs?’
‘There was Decoud, too, with his plan,’ the doctor re-
minded him again.