"In case General Bustamente should be either killed or a prisoner, you would surrender?"
"Instantly, I repeat."
"Well," replied Don Tadeo, stretching out his arm in the direction of the barricade by which he had come, "look yonder, General."
Don Tiburcio looked in the direction indicated, and uttered a cry of surprise and sorrow. Don Pancho Bustamente appeared at the top of the barricade; his head was bare, and two armed men watched all his movements.
"Do you see him?" Don Tadeo asked.
"Yes," replied the General, sorrowfully; "we all surrender, sir;" and turning the point of his sword to the ground, he bent the blade with the intention of breaking it. Don Tadeo stopped him by seizing the sword, which he, however, returned to him immediately, saying—
"General, keep that weapon, it will serve you against the enemies of our country."
The General made no reply; he silently pressed the hand which the King of Darkness held out to him, and turning away to conceal the emotion which agitated him, he wiped away a tear that had fallen upon his grey moustache.