s,' said I, 'don't consider me, but our country,
which is the one that will suffer.' I went on to show how absurd was
the movement.--This, later, Pio Valenzuela testified.--He did not
tell me that my name was being used, neither did he suggest that I
was its chief, or anything of that sort.

"Those who testify that I am the chief (which I do not know, nor do I
know of having ever treated with them), what proofs do they present of
my having accepted this chiefship or that I was in relations with them
or with their society? Either they have made use of my name for their
own purposes or they have been deceived by others who have. Where is
the chief who dictates no order and makes no arrangement, who is not
consulted in anything about so important an enterprise until the last
moment, and then when he decides against it is disobeyed? Since the
seventh of July of 1892 I have entirely ceased political activity. It
seems some have wished to avail themselves of my name for their
own ends."

This was Rizal's second temptation to engage in politics, the first
having been a trap laid by his enemies. A man had come to see Rizal
in his earlier days in Dapitan, claiming to be a relative and seeking
letters to prominent Filipinos. The deceit was too plain and Rizal
denounced the envoy to the commandant, whose investigations speedily
disclosed the source of the plot. Further prosecution, of course,
ceased at once.

The visit of some image vendors from Laguna who never before had
visited that region, and who seemed more intent on escaping notice
than interested in business, appeared suspicious, but upon report of
the Jesuits the matter was investigated and nothing really suspicious
was found.

Rizal's charm of manner and attraction for every one he met is best
shown by his relations with the successive commandants at Dapitan,
all of whom, except Carnicero, were naturally predisposed against him,
but every one became his friend and champion. One even asked relief on
the ground of this growing favorable impression upon his part toward
his prisoner.

At times there were rumors of Rizal's speedy pardon, and he would
think of going regularly into scientific work, collecting for those
European museums which had made him proposals that assured ample
livelihood and congenial work.

Then Doctor Blumentritt wrote to him of the ravages of disease among
the Spanish soldiers in Cuba and the scarcity of surgeons to attend
them. Here was a lab