Placido was by this time under the influence of the _amok_, as the Malayists say.
As he approached his home--the house of a silversmith where he lived as a boarder--he tried to collect his thoughts and make a plan--to return to his town and avenge himself by showing the friars that they could not with impunity insult a youth or make a joke of him.

He decided to write a letter immediately to his mother, Cabesang Andang, to inform her of what had happened and to tell her that the schoolroom had closed forever for him.

Although there was the Ateneo of the Jesuits, where he might study that year, yet it was not very likely that the Dominicans would grant him the transfer, and, even though he should secure it, in the following year he would have to return to the University.
"They say that we don't know how to avenge ourselves!" he muttered.

"Let the lightning strike and we'll see!" But Placido was not reckoning upon what awaited him in the house of the silversmith.

Cabesang Andang had just arrived from Batangas, having come to do some shopping, to visit her son, and to bring him money, jerked venison, and silk handkerchiefs.
The first greetings over, the poor woman, who had at once noticed her son's gloomy look, could no longer restrain her curiosity and began to ask questions.