He was tried promptly, the prosecuting witness being another
officer of Luna's staff who had accompanied him to Manila and acted
as a spy upon his movements (P.I.R., 285. 2). The court sentenced him
to dismissal and confinement at hard labor for twelve years. This
did not satisfy Luna's thirst for vengeance, and he was imprisoned
in Bautista on the first floor of a building whose second story was
occupied by that officer. One night Luna came alone into the room
where he was confined and told him that although he was a traitor,
yet he had done good service to the cause; and it was not proper that
a man who had been a colonel in the army should be seen working on
the roads under a guard. He told him that the proper thing for him to
do was to blow his brains out, and that if he did not do it within a
reasonable time the sentinel at his door would shoot him. He gave him
a pistol and left the room. Arguelles decided not to kill himself, but
fully expected that the guard would kill him. Shortly afterwards Luna
was summoned to meet Aguinaldo, and never returned. On September 29,
1899, his sentence was declared null and void and he was reinstated
in his former rank (P.I.R., 285. 3, and 2030. 2)." [448]
Colonel Arguelles has told me exactly the same story.
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