bandits, who were many. Fortunately three copies had to be signed; Don Julio wrote slowly and I had time to climb, unobserved, through a small window, which opened from the hall into the inner rooms of the hacienda, which served us as lodgings, where I arrived, greatly agitated, and, promptly undressing, went to bed. As a precaution, which served me well, I bound a white cloth around my head and surrounded myself with medicines.
Scarcely had I done all this, when an adjutant entered my room and asked if I were there.
“What is wanted?” I asked him.
“The generals need you.”
“Tell them to excuse me; my head aches terribly and you see that I am lying down.”
“Are you not coming to sign?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, rolling myself up in the bed.
“Why?”
“Because I do not wish to dishonor myself, even more in the eyes of my fellow-patriots than in those of the enemy.”
“Then you believe we have done badly in signing it?”
“Yes, sir; very badly.”
“Then you will not sign it?”
“No, sir.”
“But, what shall I say to Rojas?”