Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

gadores could have been employed with some chance ofsuccess and the certitude of discretion. But he did not saythat. He pointed out to the doctor that it would have beenbad policy. Directly Don Pepe let it be supposed that hecould be bought over, the Administrador’s personal safetyand the safety of his friends would become endangered. Forthere would be then no reason for moderation. The incorruptibilityof Don Pepe was the essential and restrainingfact. The doctor hung his head and admitted that in a wayit was so.He couldn’t deny to himself that the reasoning was soundenough. Don Pepe’s usefulness consisted in his unstainedcharacter. As to his own usefulness, he reflected bitterly itwas also his own character. He declared to Charles Gouldthat he had the means of keeping Sotillo from joining hisforces with Montero, at least for the present.‘If you had had all this silver here,’ the doctor said, ‘oreven if it had been known to be at the mine, you could havebribed Sotillo to throw off his recent Monterism. You couldhave induced him either to go away in his steamer or evento join you.’‘Certainly not that last,’ Charles Gould declared, firmly.‘What could one do with a man like that, afterwards—tellme, doctor? The silver is gone, and I am glad of it. It wouldhave been an immediate and strong temptation. Thescramble for that visible plunder would have precipitated adisastrous ending. I would have had to defend it, too. I amglad we’ve removed it—even if it is lost. It would have beena danger and a curse.’