tation through the medium of soldiers. Authority
could not permit people of position and property to sleep in houses
so ill guarded. In the fortress of Santiago, and in other government
buildings, their sleep would be more tranquil and refreshing. Among
these people was the unfortunate Captain Tinong.

LII.

MARIA CLARA MARRIES.

Captain Tiago was very happy. During these troublous times, no one
had paid any attention to him. He had not been arrested, he had
not been subjected to cross-examination, to electrical machines, to
repeated foot-baths in subterranean habitations, nor to any other of
these pleasantries, well known to certain people who call themselves
civilized. His friends, that is to say, those who had been--for he had
repudiated his Filipino friends as soon as they had become suspects
in the eyes of the Government--had returned home after several days
of vacation in the edifices of the State. The captain-general had
ordered them out of his possessions, to the great displeasure of
the one-armed man, who would have liked to celebrate the approaching
Christmas in so numerous a company of the rich.

Captain Tinong returned to his home, ill, pale, another man. The
excursion had not been for his good. He said nothing, not even to greet
his family, who laughed and wept over him, mad with joy. The poor man
no longer left the house, for fear of saluting a filibuster. Cousin
Primitivo himself, with all the wisdom of the ancients, could not
draw him out of his mutism.

Stories like that of Captain Tinong's were numerous, and Captain Tiago
was not ignorant of them. He overflowed with gratitude, without knowing
exactly to whom he owed these signal favors. Aunt Isabel attributed
the miracle to the Virgin of Antipolo.

"I too, Isabel," said Captain Tiago, "but the Virgin of Antipolo has
probably not done it alone; my friends have helped, and my future
son-in-law, Senor Linares."

It was whispered that Ibarra would be hung; that in spite of lack
of proofs of his guilt, one thing had been found that confirmed the
accusation; the experts had declared the school was so designed that
it might pass for a rampart, faulty enough, to be sure, but what one
might expect of ignorant Indians.

In the midst of affairs, Dona Victorina, Don Tiburcio, and Linares
arrived. As usual, Dona Victorina talked for the three men and herself;
and her speech had undergone a remarkable change. She now claimed
to have naturalized