tely to possess himself of it. And he is also afraid of
his officers turning upon him and going over to Pedrito, whom he has not
the courage either to fight or trust. Do you see that, Capataz? He need
fear no desertion as long as some hope remains of that enormous plunder
turning up. I have made it my business to keep this very hope up."

"You have?" the Capataz de Cargadores repeated cautiously. "Well, that
is wonderful. And how long do you think you are going to keep it up?"

"As long as I can."

"What does that mean?"

"I can tell you exactly. As long as I live," the doctor retorted in
a stubborn voice. Then, in a few words, he described the story of his
arrest and the circumstances of his release. "I was going back to that
silly scoundrel when we met," he concluded.

Nostromo had listened with profound attention. "You have made up your
mind, then, to a speedy death," he muttered through his clenched teeth.

"Perhaps, my illustrious Capataz," the doctor said, testily. "You are
not the only one here who can look an ugly death in the face."

"No doubt," mumbled Nostromo, loud enough to be overheard. "There may be
even more than two fools in this place. Who knows?"

"And that is my affair," said the doctor, curtly.

"As taking out the accursed silver to sea was my affair," retorted
Nostromo. "I see. Bueno! Each of us has his reasons. But you were the
last man I conversed with before I started, and you talked to me as if I
were a fool."

Nostromo had a great distaste for the doctor's sardonic treatment of his
great reputation. Decoud's faintly ironic recognition used to make him
uneasy; but the familiarity of a man like Don Martin was flattering,
whereas the doctor was a nobody. He could remember him a penniless
outcast, slinking about the streets of Sulaco, without a single friend
or acquaintance, till Don Carlos Gould took him into the service of the
mine.

"You may be very wise," he went on, thoughtfully, staring into the
obscurity of the room, pervaded by the gruesome enigma of the tortured
and murdered Hirsch. "But I am not such a fool as when I started. I have
learned one thing since, and that is that you are a dangerous man."

Dr. Monygham was too startled to do more than exclaim--

"What is it you say?"

"If he could speak he would say the same thing," pursued Nostromo, with
a nod of his shadowy head silhouetted against the starlit window.

"I do not understand you," said Dr. Monygham, faintly.