Page 511 - nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard

that I would not be true to myself if I told you to go to the
devil with your propositions?’
‘I do not know. Maybe you would,’ the doctor said, with a
roughness of tone intended to hide the sinking of his heart
and the faltering of his voice. ‘All I know is, that you had
better get away from here. Some of Sotillo’s men may turn
up here looking for me.’
He slipped off the table, listening intently. The Capataz,
too, stood up.
‘Suppose I went to Cayta, what would you do meantime?’
he asked.
‘I would go to Sotillo directly you had left—in the way I
am thinking of.’
‘A very good way—if only that engineer-in-chief con-
sents. Remind him, senor, that I looked after the old rich
Englishman who pays for the railway, and that I saved the
lives of some of his people that time when a gang of thieves
came from the south to wreck one of his pay-trains. It was I
who discovered it all at the risk of my life, by pretending to
enter into their plans. Just as you are doing with Sotillo.’
‘Yes. Yes, of course. But I can offer him better arguments,’
the doctor said, hastily. ‘ Leave it to me.’
‘Ah, yes! True. I am nothing.’
‘Not at all. You are everything.’
They moved a few paces towards the door. Behind them
the late Senor Hirsch preserved the immobility of a disre-
garded man.
‘That will be all right. I know what to say to the engineer,’
pursued the doctor, in a low tone. ‘My difficulty will be with

10 Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard