At night the soldiers, established at various points of the town, kept
a strict watch on all who came in and went out, but Ramos succeeded in
making his escape, cheating or perhaps without cheating the vigilance of
the military. This filled the measure of the rage of the Orbajosans,
and numbers of people were conspiring in the hamlets near Villahorrenda;
meeting at night to disperse in the morning and prepare in this way
the arduous business of the insurrection. Ramos scoured the surrounding
country, collecting men and arms; and as the flying columns followed
the Aceros into the district of Villajuan de Nahara, our chivalrous hero
made great progress in a very short time.

At night he ventured boldly into Orbajosa, employing stratagems and
perhaps bribery. His popularity and the protection which he received in
the town served him, to a certain extent, as a safeguard; and it would
not be rash to affirm that the soldiers did not manifest toward
this daring leader of the insurrection the same rigor as toward the
insignificant men of the place. In Spain, and especially in time of war,
which is here always demoralizing, these unworthy considerations toward
the great are often seen, while the little are persecuted pitilessly.
Favored then by his boldness, by bribery, or by we know not what,
Caballuco entered Orbajosa, gained new recruits, and collected arms and
money. Either for the great security of his person or in order to save
appearances, he did not set foot in his own house; he entered Dona
Perfecta's only for the purpose of treating of important affairs, and
he usually supped in the house of some friend, preferring always the
respected domicile of some priest, and especially that of Don Inocencio,
where he had taken refuge on the fateful morning of the arrests.

Meanwhile Batalla had telegraphed to the Government the information
that a plot of the rebels having been discovered its authors had been