and at the appointed time rise to exterminate not only the friars
but also all the Spaniards and Spanish sympathizers, thus to bring
about the reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, under the benign
guidance of Patriot Bonifacio, with his bolo for a scepter.

With its secrecy and mystic forms, its methods of threats and
intimidation, the Katipunan spread rapidly, especially among the
Tagalogs, the most intransigent of the native peoples, and, it should
be noted, the ones in Whose territory the friars were the principal
landlords. It was organized on the triangle plan, so that no member
might know or communicate with more than three others--the one
above him from whom he received his information and instructions
and two below to whom he transmitted them. The initiations were
conducted with great secrecy and solemnity, calculated to inspire
the new members with awe and fear. The initiate, after a series of
blood-curdling ordeals to try out his courage and resolution, swore
on a human skull a terrific oath to devote his life and energies
to the extermination of the white race, regardless of age or sex,
and later affixed to it his signature or mark, usually the latter,
with his own blood taken from an incision in the left arm or left
breast. This was one form of the famous "blood compact," which, if
history reads aright, played so important a part in the assumption of
sovereignty over the Philippines by Legazpi in the name of Philip II.

Rizal was made the honorary president of the association, his
portrait hung in all the meeting-halls, and the magic of his name
used to attract the easily deluded masses, who were in a state of
agitated ignorance and growing unrest, ripe for any movement that
looked anti-governmental, and especially anti-Spanish. Soon after
the organization had been perfected, collections began to be taken