Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/128

112 Querétaro, that there was a plot to assassinate all the Spaniards, and that a quantity of arms were stored in the houses of one Sámano and Epigmenio Gonzalez. He also stated that the corregidor knew of it. The cura, being a friend of Dominguez, at once placed the facts before him, advising him either to proceed against Epigmenio Gonzalez or share imprisonment with him. Whereupon the corregidor went to consult with the escribano, who, already aware of the corregidor's complicity, dissimulated by declaring that he did not believe a word of the statement. Corregidor Dominguez, however, persisted that his information was correct, and Juan Fernando suggested that he should ask assistance of the comandante Ignacio García Rebollo, and search Gonzalez's house. This was done, and forty men placed under arms, twenty of whom under the corregidor surrounded the house of Gonzalez while the comandante, with the remaining twenty, invested that of Sámano.

Had the corregidor been fortunate enough to avoid communication with the escribano, all might have gone well with the revolutionists and himself; but the escribano displayed such zeal, and instituted so thorough a search of the house, that the escape of the inmates was rendered impossible, and a quantity of ammunition and weapons was discovered. The corregidor, however unwilling, was now compelled to arrest Epigmenio, his brother, and all the household. While he was thus occupied, his wife, faithful to the cause, devised means to communicate with Allende at San