Oro and exhibited him. But on seeing him they cried, 'Come down! Not he! Sarmiento!'
"'Go then,' I said to myself, 'there is no way of getting excused here.' I went out and was saluted with a hurrah of threats and insults by men who did not know me, with the exception of two who had reason to detest me.
- "'Come down! Come down! Crucify him.'
- "'I do not obey! You have no right to send for me."
- "'Officer of the guard, strike him down with your sword!'
- "'Go down,' said the latter to me with his sword uplifted.
- "'I do not obey,' I said, taking hold of the iron railing.
- "'Go down!' and he struck me with his sword.
- "'I do not obey,' I repeated quietly.
- "'Give him the edge!' cried Espinosa, foaming with rage. 'If he stays up there, I will pierce him with my lance, Mr. officer of the guard.'
- "'Go down, sir, for God's sake,' said the good official in a low voice, ashamed, in spite of himself, and half weeping; while he discharged blows upon me with his sword.
- "'I shall give you the edge, indeed I shall.'
- "'Do what you please,' I said. 'I do not obey.'
"Some cries of alarm from two windows in the square from voices which were known to me, on seeing that sword rise and fall, had disturbed me a little. But I wished to die as I had lived, as I had sworn to live, without even willfully consenting to violence. Besides, I must humbly confess that I had a little stratagem in reserve. I had ascertained that Benavides was not in the square, and this datum had enabled me rapidly to arrange my plan of defense. The railing of the City Hall steps was really my table of safety. 'The troops have come to the square,' I
