."

"I am of the very same mind," said a very prim spinster. "But what
a pity the former governor isn't with us!"

"He would put an end to the race of filibusterillos!"

"Don't they say there are many islands yet uninhabited?"

"If I were the captain-general----"

"Senoras," said the one-armed man, "the captain-general knows his
duty. I understand he is greatly irritated, for he had loaded this
Ibarra with favors."

"Loaded him with favors!" repeated the slim gentlewoman, fanning
furiously. "What ingrates these Indians are! Is it possible to treat
them like human beings?"

"Do you know what I've heard?" asked an officer.

"No! What is it? What do they say?"

"People worthy of confidence say that all this noise about building
a school was a pure pretext; what he meant to make was a fort for
his own defence when he had been attacked."

"What infamy! Would any one but an Indian be capable of it?"

"But they say this filibustero is the son of a Spaniard," said the
one-armed man, without looking at anybody.

"There it is again," cried the portly lady; "always these creoles! No
Indian understands anything about revolution. Train crows, and they'll
pick your eyes out!"

"Do you know what I've heard?" asked a pretty creole, to turn the
conversation. "The wife of Captain Tinong--you remember? We danced and
dined at his house at the fete of Tondo--well, the wife of Captain
Tinong gave the captain-general, this afternoon, a ring worth a
thousand pesos. She said it was a Christmas present."

"Christmas doesn't come for a month."

"She must have feared a downpour," said the stout lady.

"And so got under cover," said the slim.

"That is evident," said the one-armed man, thoughtfully. "I fear
there is something back of this."

"I also," said the portly lady. "The wife of Captain Tinong is very
parsimonious--she has never sent us presents, though we have been to
her house. When such a person lets slip a little present of a thousand
little pesos----"

"But is it certain?" demanded the one-armed man.

"Absolutely! His excellency's aide-de-camp told my cousin, to whom
he is engaged. I'm tempted to believe it's a ring she wore the day
of the fete. She's always covered with diamonds."

"That's one way of advertising! Instead of buying a lay-figure or
renting a shop----"

The one-armed man found a pretext for leaving.

Two hours later, when all the city was asleep, certain inhabitants of
Tondo received an invi