Make them drop the mask and fling down the gauntlet to you!" "Bravo, bravo!" cried several enthusiastically.
"Good for Sandoval! Hurrah for the gauntlet!" added others.
"Let them fling down the gauntlet to us!" repeated Pecson disdainfully.

"But afterwards ?" Sandoval seemed to be cut short in his triumph, but with the vivacity peculiar to his race and his oratorical temperament he had an immediate reply.
"Afterwards ?" he asked.

"Afterwards, if none of the Filipinos dare to accept the challenge, then I, Sandoval, in the name of Spain, will take up the gauntlet, because such a policy would give the lie to the good intentions that she has always cherished toward her provinces, and because he who is thus faithless to the trust reposed in him and abuses his unlimited authority deserves neither the protection of the fatherland nor the support of any Spanish citizen!" The enthusiasm of his hearers broke all bounds.

Isagani embraced him, the others following his example.

They talked of the fatherland, of union, of fraternity, of fidelity.