What we must do is to catch them alive and make them talk--I mean, you'll make them talk, since I, as a priest, must not meddle in such matters.

Listen, here's where you win crosses and stars.

I ask only that you make due acknowledgment that it was I who warned you." "It'll be acknowledged, Padre, it'll be acknowledged--and perhaps you'll get a miter!" answered the glowing alferez, glancing at the cuffs of his uniform.
"So, you send me four guards in plain clothes, eh?
Be discreet, and tonight at eight o'clock it'll rain stars and crosses." While all this was taking place, a man ran along the road leading to Ibarra's house and rushed up the stairway.
"Is your master here ?" the voice of Elias called to a servant.
"He's in his study at work." Ibarra, to divert the impatience that he felt while waiting for the time when he could make his explanations to Maria Clara, had set himself to work in his laboratory.
"Ah, that you, Elias ?" he exclaimed.

"I was thinking about you.

Yesterday I forgot to ask you the name of that Spaniard in whose house your grandfather lived." "Let's not talk about me, sir--" "Look," continued Ibarra, not noticing the youth's agitation, while he placed a piece of bamboo over a flame, "I've made a great discovery.