even from that bad school, turned out good members of society, however. Finally, I was summoned a fourth time to the government house. This time I was prepared. I knew that a terrible blow was to be inflicted, and that I was the appointed victim. It was Sunday, and I had taken leave of some friends at home half in jest and half in earnest, and written down that my life was in danger. I obeyed the summons, however, taking with me a servant who could give information of my imprisonment should that event occur. I met on the way one of my friends, and resisted his prayers and supplications that I would not present myself.
- "'They are going to arrest you; everything is prepared.'
- "'Let me alone; Benavides has sent for me by an aide-de-camp, and I should be ashamed not to answer the call'
"They arrested me! And at oration, when the guard presented itself that was to take me to the prison, the noise of swords made my nerves thrill; there was a humming in my ears, and I was afraid! Death, which I believed my doom at that moment, looked to me sad, disgraceful, guilty; and I had not the courage to accept it in that character. Nothing happened then, however, except that I was fastened into my dungeon with shackles. The days passed, and the mind habituated itself to conquer its anxieties and disenchantment, as the eyes habituated themselves to the darkness. I was a passive victim, and except my family, no one seemed to care for my fate. My cause was no one's but my own. I suffered because I had been indiscreet, because I had desired to attack the evil without possessing the means to attack it; to material facts I opposed protests, and solitary abnegation, and the facts took their own course in spite of me.
"On the night of the 17th of November, at two in the
