nd another Mason, a prominent school-teacher, were under
constant surveillance and a minute record of their every act is
preserved in the "reserved" files, now, of course, so only in name,
as they are no longer secret. Immediately after they left a house it
would be thoroughly searched and the occupants strictly questioned. In
spite of the precautions of the officials, Rizal soon learned of this,
and those whom they visited were warned of what to expect. In one home
so many forbidden papers were on hand that Rizal delayed his journey
till the family completed their task of carrying them upstairs and
hiding them in the roof.

At another place he came across an instance of superstition such as
that which had caused him to cease his sleight-of-hand exhibitions
on his former return to the Islands. Their host was a man of little
education but great hospitality, and the party were most pleasantly
entertained. During the conversation he spoke of Rizal, but did not
seem to know that his hero had come back to the Philippines. His
remarks drifted into the wildest superstition, and, after asserting
that Rizal bore a charmed life, he startled his audience by saying
that if the author of "Noli Me Tangere" cared to do so, he could be
with them at that very instant. At first the three thought themselves
discovered by their host, but when Rizal made himself known, the
old man proved that he had had no suspicion of his guest's identity,
for he promptly became busy preparing his home for the search which
he realized would shortly follow. On another occasion their host
was a stranger whom Rizal treated for a temporary illness, leaving
a prescription to be filled at the drug store. The name signed to
the paper was a revelation, but the first result was activity in
cleaning house.

No fact is more significant of the utter rottenness of the Spanish
rule than the unanimity of the people in their discontent. Only a
few persons at first were in open opposition, but books, pamphlets
and circulars were eagerly sought, read and preserved, with the
knowledge generally, of the whole family, despite the danger of
possessing them. At times, as in the case of Rizal's novels, an entire
neighborhood was in the secret; the book was buried in a garden and
dug up to be read from at a gathering of the older men, for which a
dance gave pretext. Informers were so rare that the possibility of
treachery among themselves was hardly reckoned in the risk.

The