Summary:
Basilio is released from jail. After regaining his freedom the youth immediately goes to Simoun and asks the jeweler to help him start a revolution. Simoun is greatly pleased that he had gotten the youth to finally join him. He tells Basilio to meet with Cabesang Tales at a certain time and place so that they could acquire the guns and rifles hidden in Quiroga’s warehouse. Meanwhile, Simoun’s job is to place a dynamite-laden lamp at an important gathering – one that would explode to signal the attack.
Points of Note:
Simoun had previously approached Basilio and had asked the youth to join him in his plan of revolt. That was some time in April, near the close of the semester.
The students were taken to prison at the middle of April.
Basilio was in jail for three and a half months.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Question: Why doesn’t the governor-general want to lengthen his stay in office?
Answer: According to him, he is afraid of what people might say about him behind his back. The real reason is, the governor-general had already saved enough money for himself and surely, with his recent association with Simoun, the jeweler had advised him not to exert any more effort and invest any more money in trying to lengthen his term. In Simoun’s interest, however, the governor-general had already caused enough trouble to the nation to corrupt the social system and finally make it ready for a revolution.
Question: What do most people believe about the relationship of Simoun with the governor-general?
Answer: They say that Simoun is a demon in human flesh who controls the governor-general and seduces him to do dishonorable things. That’s why, when the governor-general leaves the country, Simoun will leave with him.
Question: What has changed in Simoun in the past two months?
Answer: He has lost his spirit and his vitality, brought about by his doubts regarding the true object of his planned rebellion. It wasn’t like before, when he had a clear objective to reclaim and rescue Maria Clara. Now things were different. With the maiden gone, the rebellion was purely intended to satisfy the lust to kill and exact vengeance in order to somehow dull the searing pain of pity for himself that he had always claimed was for the aggrieved and oppressed Filipinos.