Your
father always followed the strictest rules of morality. I may safely
say that he never harmed any one, but, on the contrary, always
sought by doing good to offset certain unjust deeds committed by your
grandfathers. However, his troubles with the priests continued and took
on a dangerous aspect. Father Damaso alluded to him from the pulpit,
and, if he did not do so directly by name, it was an oversight on his
part, for anything might be expected from a man of his character. I
foresaw that sooner or later the affair would have a bad ending."

The old lieutenant paused for a few minutes and then continued:
"About this time there came to the province a man who had been in
the artillery, but had been thrown out of the ranks on account of
his brutality and ignorance. This man had to make a livelihood. He
was not allowed to engage in the work of an ordinary laborer, since
that might damage Spain's prestige, but somehow obtained the position
of collector of taxes on vehicles. He had no education whatever, and
the natives soon found it out. A Spaniard who cannot read and write
is a wonder to them, and hence he became the subject of all sorts of
ridicule. Knowing that he was being laughed at, he became ashamed to
collect his taxes. This had a bad effect on his character, which was
already bad enough. People used to give him documents upside down to
see him pretend to read them. He would make a show of doing so, and
then, on the first blank space he found, would fill in some sprawling
characters which, I may say, represented him very accurately. The
natives continued to pay their taxes, but kept on ridiculing him. He
fairly raved with anger and worked himself up to such a frame of
mind that he respected none. Finally, he had some words with your
father. It happened that one day, while the collector was studying
a document which had been given to him in a store, some school boys
came along. One of them called the attention of his companions to the
collector, and they all began to laugh and point their fingers at the
unhappy man. The collector finally lost his patience, turned quickly
and chased his tormentors. The boys, of course, ran in all directions,
at the same time mimicking a child learning the alphabet. Blind with
rage because he could not reach them, he threw his cane, struck one
of the boys on the head and knocked him down. Not content with this,
he went up and kicked the boy several times. Unfortunately, your father