" He removed his glasses and
wiped them, absent-mindedly. "There are three Alvarados living,"
he resumed. "My two brothers, Tomas and Ignacio, reside in Cuba,
and we all work for the cause of independence in our own ways. I
am fortunately situated, but they are surrounded by dangers, and I
must ask you to be extremely careful in communicating with them,
for I am placing their lives in your hands and--I love them
dearly."
"I shall do exactly as you say."
"Very well, then! Go to Neuvitas, where Tomas lives--there is a
steamer leaving in three of four days, and you can arrange passage
on her. He is a dentist. Meet him, somehow, and make yourself
known by repeating this sentence: 'I come from Felipe. He told me
how you whipped him to keep him from going to the Ten Years' War!'
That will be enough; he will ask you who you are and what you
want."
"I see. It's a sort of password."
"No. I've never had reason to communicate with him in this way."
Noting the bewilderment in O'Reilly's face, Alvarado smiled. "You
won't need to say anything more. No living soul, except Tomas and
I, knows that he thrashed me, but it is true. I was young, I
wanted to go to the war, but he took it out of me with a bamboo.
Later we bound ourselves never to mention it. He will understand
from the message that I trust you, and he will help you to reach
the rebels, if such a thing is possible.
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