Page 505 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

zle Dr. Monygham by the mystery of his atrocious end.
‘But why shot?’ the doctor again asked himself, audibly.
This time he was answered by a dry laugh from Nostromo.
‘You seem much concerned at a very natural thing, senor
doctor. I wonder why? It is very likely that before long we
shall all get shot one after another, if not by Sotillo, then by
Pedrito, or Fuentes, or Gamacho. And we may even get the
estrapade, too, or worse—quien sabe?—with your pretty
tale of the silver you put into Sotillo’s head.’
‘It was in his head already,’ the doctor protested. ‘I only—
‘
‘Yes. And you only nailed it there so that the devil him-
self—‘
‘That is precisely what I meant to do,’ caught up the doc-
tor.
‘That is what you meant to do. Bueno. It is as I say. You
are a dangerous man.’
Their voices, which without rising had been growing
quarrelsome, ceased suddenly. The late Senor Hirsch, erect
and shadowy against the stars, seemed to be waiting atten-
tive, in impartial silence.
But Dr. Monygham had no mind to quarrel with Nos-
tromo. At this supremely critical point of Sulaco’s fortunes
it was borne upon him at last that this man was really indis-
pensable, more indispensable than ever the infatuation of
Captain Mitchell, his proud discoverer, could conceive; far
beyond what Decoud’s best dry raillery about ‘my illustrious
friend, the unique Capataz de Cargadores,’ had ever intend-
ed. The fellow was unique. He was not ‘one in a thousand.’

0 Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard