ot to know the language of his fathers."

"Then God makes them and they rush together!" [97]

"Still we must protest against such actions," exclaimed another
student. "To remain silent would be to assent to the abuse, and what
has happened may be repeated with any one of us. We're going back to
the times of Nero!"

"You're wrong," replied another. "Nero was a great artist, while
Padre Damaso is only a tiresome preacher."

The comments of the older persons were of a different kind. While
they were waiting for the arrival of the Captain-General in a hut
outside the town, the gobernadorcillo was saying, "To tell who was
right and who was wrong, is not an easy matter. Yet if Senor Ibarra
had used more prudence--"

"If Padre Damaso had used half the prudence of Senor Ibarra, you mean
to say, perhaps!" interrupted Don Filipo. "The bad thing about it is
that they exchanged parts--the youth conducted himself like an old
man and the old man like a youth."

"Did you say that no one moved, no one went near to separate them,
except Capitan Tiago's daughter?" asked Capitan Martin. "None of the
friars, nor the alcalde? Ahem! Worse and worse! I shouldn't like to
be in that young man's skin. No one will forgive him for having been
afraid of him. Worse and worse, ahem!"

"Do you think so?" asked Capitan Basilio curiously.

"I hope," said Don Filipo, exchanging a look with the latter, "that
the people won't desert him. We must keep in mind what his family
has done and what he is trying to do now. And if, as may happen,
the people, being intimidated, are silent, his friends--"

"But, gentlemen," interrupted the gobernadorcillo, "what can we
do? What can the people do? Happen what will, the friars are always
right!"

"They are _always_ right because we _always_ allow them to be,"
answered Don Filipo impatiently, putting double stress on the
italicized word. "Let us be right once and then we'll talk."

The gobernadorcillo scratched his head and stared at the roof while he
replied in a sour tone, "Ay! the heat of the blood! You don't seem to
realize yet what country we're in, you don't know your countrymen. The
friars are rich and united, while we are divided and poor. Yes, try
to defend yourself and you'll see how the people will leave you in
the lurch."

"Yes!" exclaimed Don Filipo bitterly. "That will happen as long as
you think that way, as long as fear and prudence are synonyms. More
attention is paid to a possible evil