had come to the realization that it was
more important to stay alive. What, in reality, he was trying to do
was to see himself consecutively, logically.

In this, he recognized, his mind was different from the Escobars',
from the blind fervor of the many Cuban patriots he knew. He could see
that reflected in their manner toward him: no trace of Vincente's
aloofness remained, they had come, forgetting his comparative youth,
his alien blood, to regard him with almost an anxiety of respect.
When it was possible, men of the widest possible activities talked
to him of their plans. In short, Charles Abbott felt that he might
become a power; and this he coolly set himself to bring about. His
heritage was that of success; there were distinguished men, who had
carried alone heavy responsibilities to their justified end, no more
than two or three generations behind him. His mother, he thought
gladly, surveying her in the clearness of a full detachment, had an
astonishing courage of spirit. Charles told himself that he would
have to become a politician; his undiminished idealism, without which
his validity was nothing, must be shut into his heart, held purely
for the communication of its force and for his own benefit.

The simple path of truth, of partisan enthusiasm, must be put aside.
The uncalculating bravery of the men gathered about General Agramonte
was of indispensable value; but undirected, with no brain to make
secure, to put into operation, the fire they created, that would come
to little. He wished that his connection, his duty, with La Clavel was
over, that he could delegate it elsewhere, but, obviously, for the
moment, that was impossible. It merely remained for him, then, to take
no unpondered chances, never again to be drawn into such a situation
as he had faced with Gaspar Arco de Vaca.

Before such a sharp decision, a certain amount of his sheer joy
evaporated: it was less inspiring to be cautious than daring. The
Cubans themselves, always excepting Andres, had lost an appreciable
amount of their glamour for him. They were, now, units, elements, to
be managed, to be tranquilized, steadied, moved about. All this, of
course, was yet to come; the recognition of him was instinctive rather
than acknowledged. But, he repeated to himself, it was forming,
spreading. That, then, was the shape, the actuality, of his vision--to
establish himself indispensably at the fore of a Cuban liberty,
incipient, dreamed of, and acc