BOLIVAR. 453 



noise. This wretch, under cover of the 

 darkness of the night, entered the house 

 where Bolivar had fixed his abode, and 

 reaching his usual bed-room, he silently 

 approached a hammock, and stabbed to the 

 heart the individual lying there, who imme- 

 diately expired. The unfortunate man, 

 however, who was thus assassinated, prov- 

 ed to be, not Bolivar, but his private se- 

 cretary ; the former having, on that very 

 morning, removed to another house. The 

 murderer was almost immediately appre- 

 hended, and a few days afterwards hanged : 

 he confessed having been bribed by some 

 Spaniards to perpetrate the deed, — but 

 through, as it appeared, the guarded man- 

 ner in which they had communicated with 

 him, he was unable to state their names ; 

 suspicion, however, rested upon some Spa- 

 niards who a few days previously had 

 quitted the island. Bolivar, on hearing of 

 the assassination of his secretary, exclaimed. 



