llet went straight and the
hero fell, but another shot was necessary to despatch his life. His
newly wedded wife remained with him to the end. The best hope of the
Filipino people was crushed; a light in a dark place was snuffed out.

Rizal was no extremist, no believer in harsh and bloody methods, no
revolutionist. He aimed to secure moderate and reasonable reforms, to
lessen the oppressive exactions of the friars, to examine into titles
of their land, and to make possible the education and uplifting of
his people. He loved Spain as he did his own country, and repeatedly
used his influence against the rebellious measures proposed by other
Filipino leaders. His execution was only one of the numerous outrages
which characterized Spain's reign in the Philippines.

In closing this short sketch of Rizal's life we can do no better
than to quote the estimate of him made by Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt,
professor in the University of Leitmeritz, Austria, who prepared a
biographical sketch of Rizal. Dr. Blumentritt said:

"Not only is Rizal the most prominent man of his own people, but the
greatest man the Malayan race has produced. His memory will never
perish in his fatherland, and future generations of Spaniards will
yet learn to utter his name with respect and reverence."

FRIARS AND FILIPINOS.

CHAPTER I.

DON SANTIAGO'S DINNER.

In the latter part of October, Don Santiago de los Santos, popularly
known as Captain Tiago, gave a dinner. Though, contrary to his custom,
he had not announced it until the afternoon of the day on which it was
to occur, the dinner became at once the absorbing topic of conversation
in Binondo, in the other suburbs of Manila, and even in the walled
city. Captain Tiago was generally considered a most liberal man,
and his house, like his country, shut its doors to no one, whether
bent on pleasure or on the development of some new and daring scheme.

The dinner was given in the captain's house in Analoague street. The
building is of ordinary size, of the style of architecture common
to the country, and is situated on that arm of the Pasig called by
some Binondo Creek. This, like all the streams in Manila, satisfies a
multitude of needs. It serves for bathing, mortar-mixing, laundering,
fishing, means of transportation and communication, and even for
drinking water, when the Chinese water-carriers find it convenient
to use it for that purpose. Although the most important artery of
th