I made Kasily our cuartel for the training, where there was no busy civilian activity to interrupt. Not to mention that the town proper was already housing 150 recruits. A hundred more and the town would be as busy as Boac, and I didn't think the townsmen there had signed up for that.
Alicia helped me greatly with the preparations. As it turned out—though not entirely surprising—her father was the cabeza of the barrio. She knew exactly whom to talk to, and the villagers, out of gratitude to me and respect for her, cooperated without hesitation.
Two storehouses had been emptied of salt and copra to be converted into the quarters of the recruits, while a large hut had been arranged to accommodate the four officer cadets.
Alicia's house, one of the few bahay-na-batos in the area, would host me, the senior officers, and the two tenientes.
