“By yielding. It is often the surest way of winning. You have an unexpected ally.”
“Who can it be?”
“None other than the Pope at Rome.”
“The Pope!” exclaimed both men in a breath.
“Yes. The Pope understands that the Spanish friars are at the bottom of the long trouble in the Philippines and is glad of the war that will give him an excuse for removing them. That will be a victory for him; and, as he has already managed to get possession of the churches, it means a victory for the church as well. If you can get the friendship of America, so that the country will treat you justly, it will also be a victory for the Filipino people.”
“And I am to lose all that I have struggled for?” protested Saguanaldo.
“And I to lose the organization which I have built up through the years?” added the Bishop.
“Better to lose these things alone than to lose both them and your lives as well,” suggested Mrs. Rizal.
“If a common soldier might be permitted to speak”—faltered Hilario Agonoy.
“Say what you wish,” suggested the insurgent general. “We are all equal in our love for the cause.”