Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
It was the doctor's turn to remain silent in the contemplation of horrible contingencies.
"Well, we would trust your courage and your sense. And you, too, have a knife at your throat."
'Ah! And whom am I to thank for that? What are your politics and your mines to me—your silver and your constitutions-your Don Carlos this and Don José that "
"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," muttered 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 Señor Hirsch, remained silent, thinking that the doctor was a dangerous person in more than one sense. It was impossible to trust him.
"Do you speak in the name of Don Carlos?" he asked at last.
"Yes, I do," the doctor said, loudly, without hesi-
511
