Don Rafael quietly picked the wounded boy up and carried him to the town hall.

The artilleryman bled freely from the mouth and died a few moments later without recovering consciousness.
"As was to be expected, the authorities intervened and arrested your father.

All his hidden enemies at once rose up and false accusations came from all sides.

He was accused of being a heretic and a filibuster.

To be a heretic is a great danger anywhere, but especially so at that time when the province was governed by an alcalde who made a great show of his piety, who with his servants used to recite his rosary in the church in a loud voice, perhaps that all might hear and pray with him.