"In that case I am very much afraid that you would be shot."

"I have not a doubt of it. Nevertheless, your proposal pleases me, and I
shall do my best to carry out your wishes."

Whereupon Señor Moreña expressed his thanks in sonorous Castilian,
protested that my courage and devotion would earn me the eternal gratitude
of every patriot, and promised to have everything ready for me in the
course of the week, a promise which he faithfully kept.

Three days later Moreña brought me a packet of letters and a memorandum
containing minute instructions for my guidance. Nothing could be more
harmless looking than the letters. They contained merely a few items of
general news and the recommendation of the bearer to the good offices of
the recipient. But this was only a blind; the real letters were written in
cipher, with sympathetic ink. They were, moreover, addressed to secret
friends of the revolutionary cause, who, as Señor Moreña believed and
hoped, were, as yet, unsuspected by the Spanish authorities, and at large.

"To give you letters to known patriots would be simply to insure your
destruction," said the señor, "even if you were to find them alive and at
liberty."

I had also Don Alberto's letter, and as the old gentleman had once been
president of the _Audiencia Real_ (Royal Council), Moreña thought it would
be of great use to me, and serve to ward off suspicion, even though some
of the friends to whom he had himself written should have meanwhile got
into trouble.

But as if he had not complete confidence in the efficacy of these