Page 510 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

‘I don’t know,’ burst out the exasperated doctor. ‘There
are innocent people in danger whose little finger is worth
more than you or I and all the Ribierists together. I don’t
know. You should have asked yourself before you allowed
Decoud to lead you into all this. It was your place to think
like a man; but if you did not think then, try to act like a
man now. Did you imagine Decoud cared very much for
what would happen to you?’
‘No more than you care for what will happen to me,’ mut-
tered the other.
‘No; I care for what will happen to you as little as I care
for what will happen to myself.’
‘And all this because you are such a devoted Ribierist?’
Nostromo said in an incredulous tone.
‘All this because I am such a devoted Ribierist,’ repeated
Dr. Monygham, grimly.
Again Nostromo, gazing abstractedly at the body of the
late Senor Hirsch, remained silent, thinking that the doctor
was a dangerous person in more than one sense. It was im-
possible to trust him.
‘Do you speak in the name of Don Carlos?’ he asked at
last.
‘Yes. I do,’ the doctor said, loudly, without hesitation. ‘He
must come forward now. He must,’ he added in a mutter,
which Nostromo did not catch.
‘What did you say, senor?’
The doctor started. ‘I say that you must be true to your-
self, Capataz. It would be worse than folly to fail now.’
‘True to myself,’ repeated Nostromo. ‘How do you know

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