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diff --git a/6737.txt b/6737.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b46a9f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/6737.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20980 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Social Cancer, by Jose Rizal + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Social Cancer + A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere + +Author: Jose Rizal + +Translator: Charles Derbyshire + +Release Date: June 17, 2007 [EBook #6737] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL CANCER *** + + + + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman. + + + + + + + + + The Social Cancer + + + + A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere from the Spanish of + Jose Rizal + + By + + Charles Derbyshire + + + + Manila + Philippine Education Company + New York: World Book Company + 1912 + + + + + + + THE NOVELS OF JOSE RIZAL + + Translated from Spanish into English + + BY CHARLES DERBYSHIRE + + + THE SOCIAL CANCER (NOLI ME TANGERE) + THE REIGN OF GREED (EL FILIBUSTERISMO) + + + + Copyright, 1912, by Philippine Education Company. + Entered at Stationers' Hall. + Registrado en las Islas Filipinas. + All rights reserved. + + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION + + +I + + "We travel rapidly in these historical sketches. The reader + flies in his express train in a few minutes through a couple + of centuries. The centuries pass more slowly to those to + whom the years are doled out day by day. Institutions grow + and beneficently develop themselves, making their way into + the hearts of generations which are shorter-lived than they, + attracting love and respect, and winning loyal obedience; + and then as gradually forfeiting by their shortcomings + the allegiance which had been honorably gained in worthier + periods. We see wealth and greatness; we see corruption and + vice; and one seems to follow so close upon the other, that we + fancy they must have always co-existed. We look more steadily, + and we perceive long periods of time, in which there is first + a growth and then a decay, like what we perceive in a tree + of the forest." + + FROUDE, _Annals of an English Abbey_. + + +Monasticism's record in the Philippines presents no new general fact +to the eye of history. The attempt to eliminate the eternal feminine +from her natural and normal sphere in the scheme of things there met +with the same certain and signal disaster that awaits every perversion +of human activity. Beginning with a band of zealous, earnest men, +sincere in their convictions, to whom the cause was all and their +personalities nothing, it there, as elsewhere, passed through its +usual cycle of usefulness, stagnation, corruption, and degeneration. + +To the unselfish and heroic efforts of the early friars Spain +in large measure owed her dominion over the Philippine Islands +and the Filipinos a marked advance on the road to civilization and +nationality. In fact, after the dreams of sudden wealth from gold and +spices had faded, the islands were retained chiefly as a missionary +conquest and a stepping-stone to the broader fields of Asia, with +Manila as a depot for the Oriental trade. The records of those early +years are filled with tales of courage and heroism worthy of Spain's +proudest years, as the missionary fathers labored with unflagging +zeal in disinterested endeavor for the spread of the Faith and the +betterment of the condition of the Malays among whom they found +themselves. They won the confidence of the native peoples, gathered +them into settlements and villages, led them into the ways of peace, +and became their protectors, guides, and counselors. + +In those times the cross and the sword went hand in hand, but in the +Philippines the latter was rarely needed or used. The lightness and +vivacity of the Spanish character, with its strain of Orientalism, +its fertility of resource in meeting new conditions, its adaptability +in dealing with the dwellers in warmer lands, all played their part in +this as in the other conquests. Only on occasions when some stubborn +resistance was met with, as in Manila and the surrounding country, +where the most advanced of the native peoples dwelt and where some of +the forms and beliefs of Islam had been established, was it necessary +to resort to violence to destroy the native leaders and replace them +with the missionary fathers. A few sallies by young Salcedo, the Cortez +of the Philippine conquest, with a company of the splendid infantry, +which was at that time the admiration and despair of martial Europe, +soon effectively exorcised any idea of resistance that even the boldest +and most intransigent of the native leaders might have entertained. + +For the most part, no great persuasion was needed to turn a simple, +imaginative, fatalistic people from a few vague animistic deities +to the systematic iconology and the elaborate ritual of the Spanish +Church. An obscure _Bathala_ or a dim _Malyari_ was easily superseded +by or transformed into a clearly defined _Dios_, and in the case of +any especially tenacious "demon," he could without much difficulty +be merged into a Christian saint or devil. There was no organized +priesthood to be overcome, the primitive religious observances +consisting almost entirely of occasional orgies presided over by +an old woman, who filled the priestly offices of interpreter for +the unseen powers and chief eater at the sacrificial feast. With +their unflagging zeal, their organization, their elaborate forms +and ceremonies, the missionaries were enabled to win the confidence +of the natives, especially as the greater part of them learned the +local language and identified their lives with the communities under +their care. Accordingly, the people took kindly to their new teachers +and rulers, so that in less than a generation Spanish authority was +generally recognized in the settled portions of the Philippines, +and in the succeeding years the missionaries gradually extended this +area by forming settlements from among the wilder peoples, whom they +persuaded to abandon the more objectionable features of their old +roving, often predatory, life and to group themselves into towns and +villages "under the bell." + +The tactics employed in the conquest and the subsequent behavior of +the conquerors were true to the old Spanish nature, so succinctly +characterized by a plain-spoken Englishman of Mary's reign, when the +war-cry of Castile encircled the globe and even hovered ominously +near the "sceptered isle," when in the intoxication of power character +stands out so sharply defined: "They be verye wyse and politicke, and +can, thorowe ther wysdome, reform and brydell theyr owne natures for +a tyme, and applye ther conditions to the manners of those men with +whom they meddell gladlye by friendshippe; whose mischievous maners +a man shall never know untyll he come under ther subjection; but then +shall he parfectlye parceve and fele them: for in dissimulations untyll +they have ther purposes, and afterwards in oppression and tyrannye, +when they can obtain them, they do exceed all other nations upon the +earthe." [1] + +In the working out of this spirit, with all the indomitable courage +and fanatical ardor derived from the long contests with the Moors, +they reduced the native peoples to submission, but still not to the +galling yoke which they fastened upon the aborigines of America, to +make one Las Casas shine amid the horde of Pizarros. There was some +compulsory labor in timber-cutting and ship-building, with enforced +military service as rowers and soldiers for expeditions to the Moluccas +and the coasts of Asia, but nowhere the unspeakable atrocities which +in Mexico, Hispaniola, and South America drove mothers to strangle +their babes at birth and whole tribes to prefer self-immolation to the +living death in the mines and slave-pens. Quite differently from the +case in America, where entire islands and districts were depopulated, +to bring on later the curse of negro slavery, in the Philippines +the fact appears that the native population really increased and +the standard of living was raised under the stern, yet beneficent, +tutelage of the missionary fathers. The great distance and the +hardships of the journey precluded the coming of many irresponsible +adventurers from Spain and, fortunately for the native population, +no great mineral wealth was ever discovered in the Philippine Islands. + +The system of government was, in its essential features, a simple +one. The missionary priests drew the inhabitants of the towns +and villages about themselves or formed new settlements, and with +profuse use of symbol and symbolism taught the people the Faith, +laying particular stress upon "the fear of God," as administered by +them, reconciling the people to their subjection by inculcating the +Christian virtues of patience and humility. When any recalcitrants +refused to accept the new order, or later showed an inclination to +break away from it, the military forces, acting usually under secret +directions from the padre, made raids in the disaffected parts with +all the unpitying atrocity the Spanish soldiery were ever capable of +displaying in their dealings with a weaker people. After sufficient +punishment had been inflicted and a wholesome fear inspired, the padre +very opportunely interfered in the natives' behalf, by which means +they were convinced that peace and security lay in submission to the +authorities, especially to the curate of their town or district. A +single example will suffice to make the method clear: not an isolated +instance but a typical case chosen from among the mass of records +left by the chief actors themselves. + +Fray Domingo Perez, evidently a man of courage and conviction, for he +later lost his life in the work of which he wrote, was the Dominican +vicar on the Zambales coast when that Order temporarily took over the +district from the Recollects. In a report written for his superior in +1680 he outlines the method clearly: "In order that those whom we have +assembled in the three villages may persevere in their settlements, +the most efficacious fear and the one most suited to their nature is +that the Spaniards of the fort and presidio of Paynaven [2] of whom +they have a very great fear, may come very often to the said villages +and overrun the land, and penetrate even into their old recesses where +they formerly lived; and if perchance they should find anything planted +in the said recesses that they would destroy it and cut it down without +leaving them anything. And so that they may see the father protects +them, when the said Spaniards come to the village, the father opposes +them and takes the part of the Indians. But it is always necessary +in this matter for the soldiers to conquer, and the father is always +very careful always to inform the Spaniards by whom and where anything +is planted which it may be necessary to destroy, and that the edicts +which his Lordship, the governor, sent them be carried out .... But +at all events said Spaniards are to make no trouble for the Indians +whom they find in the villages, but rather must treat them well." [3] + +This in 1680: the Dominican transcriber of the record in 1906 has +added a very illuminating note, revealing the immutability of the +system and showing that the rulers possessed in a superlative degree +the Bourbonesque trait of learning nothing and forgetting nothing: +"Even when I was a missionary to the heathens from 1882 to 1892, +I had occasion to observe the said policy, to inform the chief of +the fortress of the measures that he ought to take, and to make a +false show on the other side so that it might have no influence on +the fortress." + +Thus it stands out in bold relief as a system built up and maintained +by fraud and force, bound in the course of nature to last only as +long as the deception could be carried on and the repressive force +kept up to sufficient strength. Its maintenance required that the +different sections be isolated from each other so that there could +be no growth toward a common understanding and cooeperation, and its +permanence depended upon keeping the people ignorant and contented with +their lot, held under strict control by religious and political fear. + +Yet it was a vast improvement over their old mode of life and their +condition was bettered as they grew up to such a system. Only with +the passing of the years and the increase of wealth and influence, +the ease and luxury invited by these, and the consequent corruption so +induced, with the insatiable longing ever for more wealth and greater +influence, did the poison of greed and grasping power enter the system +to work its insidious way into every part, slowly transforming the +beneficent institution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +into an incubus weighing upon all the activities of the people in +the nineteenth, an unyielding bar to the development of the country, +a hideous anachronism in these modern times. + +It must be remembered also that Spain, in the years following her +brilliant conquests of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, lost +strength and vigor through the corruption at home induced by the +unearned wealth that flowed into the mother country from the colonies, +and by the draining away of her best blood. Nor did her sons ever +develop that economic spirit which is the permanent foundation of +all empire, but they let the wealth of the Indies flow through their +country, principally to London and Amsterdam, there to form in more +practical hands the basis of the British and Dutch colonial empires. + +The priest and the soldier were supreme, so her best sons took up +either the cross or the sword to maintain her dominion in the distant +colonies, a movement which, long continued, spelled for her a form of +national suicide. The soldier expended his strength and generally laid +down his life on alien soil, leaving no fit successor of his own stock +to carry on the work according to his standards. The priest under the +celibate system, in its better days left no offspring at all and in +the days of its corruption none bred and reared under the influences +that make for social and political progress. The dark chambers of the +Inquisition stifled all advance in thought, so the civilization and +the culture of Spain, as well as her political system, settled into +rigid forms to await only the inevitable process of stagnation and +decay. In her proudest hour an old soldier, who had lost one of his +hands fighting her battles against the Turk at Lepanto, employed the +other in writing the masterpiece of her literature, which is really +a caricature of the nation. + +There is much in the career of Spain that calls to mind the dazzling +beauty of her "dark-glancing daughters," with its early bloom, its +startling--almost morbid--brilliance, and its premature decay. Rapid +and brilliant was her rise, gradual and inglorious her steady decline, +from the bright morning when the banners of Castile and Aragon were +flung triumphantly from the battlements of the Alhambra, to the short +summer, not so long gone, when at Cavite and Santiago with swift, +decisive havoc the last ragged remnants of the once world-dominating +power were blown into space and time, to hover disembodied there, a +lesson and a warning to future generations. Whatever her final place in +the records of mankind, whether as the pioneer of modern civilization +or the buccaneer of the nations or, as would seem most likely, a +goodly mixture of both, she has at least--with the exception only +of her great mother, Rome--furnished the most instructive lessons in +political pathology yet recorded, and the advice to students of world +progress to familiarize themselves with her history is even more apt +today than when it first issued from the encyclopedic mind of Macaulay +nearly a century ago. Hardly had she reached the zenith of her power +when the disintegration began, and one by one her brilliant conquests +dropped away, to leave her alone in her faded splendor, with naught but +her vaunting pride left, another "Niobe of nations." In the countries +more in contact with the trend of civilization and more susceptible +to revolutionary influences from the mother country this separation +came from within, while in the remoter parts the archaic and outgrown +system dragged along until a stronger force from without destroyed it. + +Nowhere was the crystallization of form and principle more pronounced +than in religious life, which fastened upon the mother country a +deadening weight that hampered all progress, and in the colonies, +notably in the Philippines, virtually converted her government into +a hagiarchy that had its face toward the past and either could not +or would not move with the current of the times. So, when "the shot +heard round the world," the declaration of humanity's right to be and +to become, in its all-encircling sweep, reached the lands controlled +by her it was coldly received and blindly rejected by the governing +powers, and there was left only the slower, subtler, but none the +less sure, process of working its way among the people to burst in +time in rebellion and the destruction of the conservative forces that +would repress it. + +In the opening years of the nineteenth century the friar orders in the +Philippines had reached the apogee of their power and usefulness. Their +influence was everywhere felt and acknowledged, while the country +still prospered under the effects of the vigorous and progressive +administrations of Anda and Vargas in the preceding century. Native +levies had fought loyally under Spanish leadership against Dutch +and British invaders, or in suppressing local revolts among their +own people, which were always due to some specific grievance, never +directed definitely against the Spanish sovereignty. The Philippines +were shut off from contact with any country but Spain, and even this +communication was restricted and carefully guarded. There was an +elaborate central government which, however, hardly touched the life +of the native peoples, who were guided and governed by the parish +priests, each town being in a way an independent entity. + +Of this halcyon period, just before the process of disintegration +began, there has fortunately been left a record which may be +characterized as the most notable Spanish literary production +relating to the Philippines, being the calm, sympathetic, judicial +account of one who had spent his manhood in the work there and who, +full of years and experience, sat down to tell the story of their +life. [4] In it there are no puerile whinings, no querulous curses +that tropical Malays do not order their lives as did the people of +the Spanish village where he may have been reared, no selfish laments +of ingratitude over blessings unasked and only imperfectly understood +by the natives, no fatuous self-deception as to the real conditions, +but a patient consideration of the difficulties encountered, the good +accomplished, and the unavoidable evils incident to any human work. The +country and the people, too, are described with the charming simplicity +of the eyes that see clearly, the brain that ponders deeply, and the +heart that beats sympathetically. Through all the pages of his account +runs the quiet strain of peace and contentment, of satisfaction with +the existing order, for he had looked upon the creation and saw that +it was good. There is "neither haste, nor hate, nor anger," but the +deliberate recital of the facts warmed and illumined by the geniality +of a soul to whom age and experience had brought, not a sour cynicism, +but the mellowing influence of a ripened philosophy. He was such +an old man as may fondly be imagined walking through the streets of +Paranaque in stately benignity amid the fear and respect of the brown +people over whom he watched. + +But in all his chronicle there is no suggestion of anything more to +hope for, anything beyond. Beautiful as the picture is, it is that of +a system which had reached maturity: a condition of stagnation, not +of growth. In less than a decade, the terrific convulsions in European +politics made themselves felt even in the remote Philippines, and then +began the gradual drawing away of the people from their rulers--blind +gropings and erratic wanderings at first, but nevertheless persistent +and vigorous tendencies. + +The first notable influence was the admission of representatives +for the Philippines into the Spanish Cortes under the revolutionary +governments and the abolition of the trade monopoly with Mexico. The +last galleon reached Manila in 1815, and soon foreign commercial +interests were permitted, in a restricted way, to enter the +country. Then with the separation of Mexico and the other American +colonies from Spain a more marked change was brought about in that +direct communication was established with the mother country, and +the absolutism of the hagiarchy first questioned by the numbers of +Peninsular Spaniards who entered the islands to trade, some even +to settle and rear families there. These also affected the native +population in the larger centers by the spread of their ideas, which +were not always in conformity with those that for several centuries +the friars had been inculcating into their wards. Moreover, there +was a not-inconsiderable portion of the population, sprung from the +friars themselves, who were eager to adopt the customs and ideas of +the Spanish immigrants. + +The suppression of many of the monasteries in Spain in 1835 caused +a large influx of the disestablished monks into the Philippines in +search for a haven, and a home, thus bringing about a conflict with +the native clergy, who were displaced from their best holdings to +provide berths for the newcomers. At the same time, the increase of +education among the native priests brought the natural demand for +more equitable treatment by the Spanish friar, so insistent that it +even broke out into open rebellion in 1843 on the part of a young +Tagalog who thought himself aggrieved in this respect. + +Thus the struggle went on, with stagnation above and some growth below, +so that the governors were ever getting further away from the governed, +and for such a movement there is in the course of nature but one +inevitable result, especially when outside influences are actively at +work penetrating the social system and making for better things. Among +these influences four cumulative ones may be noted: the spread of +journalism, the introduction of steamships into the Philippines, +the return of the Jesuits, and the opening of the Suez Canal. + +The printing-press entered the islands with the conquest, but its use +had been strictly confined to religious works until about the middle of +the past century, when there was a sudden awakening and within a few +years five journals were being published. In 1848 appeared the first +regular newspaper of importance, _El Diario de Manila_, and about a +decade later the principal organ of the Spanish-Filipino population, +_El Comercio_, which, with varying vicissitudes, has continued down +to the present. While rigorously censored, both politically and +religiously, and accessible to only an infinitesimal portion of the +people, they still performed the service of letting a few rays of +light into the Cimmerian intellectual gloom of the time and place. + +With the coming of steam navigation communication between the +different parts of the islands was facilitated and trade encouraged, +with all that such a change meant in the way of breaking up the old +isolation and tending to a common understanding. Spanish power, too, +was for the moment more firmly established, and Moro piracy in Luzon +and the Bisayan Islands, which had been so great a drawback to the +development of the country, was forever ended. + +The return of the Jesuits produced two general results tending to +dissatisfaction with the existing order. To them was assigned the +missionary field of Mindanao, which meant the displacement of the +Recollect Fathers in the missions there, and for these other berths +had to be found. Again the native clergy were the losers in that they +had to give up their best parishes in Luzon, especially around Manila +and Cavite, so the breach was further widened and the soil sown with +discontent. But more far-reaching than this immediate result was +the educational movement inaugurated by the Jesuits. The native, +already feeling the vague impulses from without and stirred by the +growing restlessness of the times, here saw a new world open before +him. A considerable portion of the native population in the larger +centers, who had shared in the economic progress of the colony, were +enabled to look beyond their daily needs and to afford their children +an opportunity for study and advancement--a condition and a need met +by the Jesuits for a time. + +With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 communication with the +mother country became cheaper, quicker, surer, so that large numbers +of Spaniards, many of them in sympathy with the republican movements +at home, came to the Philippines in search of fortunes and generally +left half-caste families who had imbibed their ideas. Native boys +who had already felt the intoxication of such learning as the schools +of Manila afforded them began to dream of greater wonders in Spain, +now that the journey was possible for them. So began the definite +movements that led directly to the disintegration of the friar regime. + +In the same year occurred the revolution in the mother country, +which had tired of the old corrupt despotism. Isabella II was driven +into exile and the country left to waver about uncertainly for several +years, passing through all the stages of government from red radicalism +to absolute conservatism, finally adjusting itself to the middle course +of constitutional monarchism. During the effervescent and ephemeral +republic there was sent to the Philippines a governor who set to work +to modify the old system and establish a government more in harmony +with modern ideas and more democratic in form. His changes were hailed +with delight by the growing class of Filipinos who were striving for +more consideration in their own country, and who, in their enthusiasm +and the intoxication of the moment, perhaps became more radical than +was safe under the conditions--surely too radical for their religious +guides watching and waiting behind the veil of the temple. + +In January, 1872, an uprising occurred in the naval arsenal at Cavite, +with a Spanish non-commissioned officer as one of the leaders. From +the meager evidence now obtainable, this would seem to have been +purely a local mutiny over the service questions of pay and treatment, +but in it the friars saw their opportunity. It was blazoned forth, +with all the wild panic that was to characterize the actions of the +governing powers from that time on, as the premature outbreak of +a general insurrection under the leadership of the native clergy, +and rigorous repressive measures were demanded. Three native +priests, notable for their popularity among their own people, one an +octogenarian and the other two young canons of the Manila Cathedral, +were summarily garroted, along with the renegade Spanish officer +who had participated in the mutiny. No record of any trial of these +priests has ever been brought to light. The Archbishop, himself a +secular [5] clergyman, stoutly refused to degrade them from their +holy office, and they wore their sacerdotal robes at the execution, +which was conducted in a hurried, fearful manner. At the same time +a number of young Manilans who had taken conspicuous part in the +"liberal" demonstrations were deported to the Ladrone Islands or to +remote islands of the Philippine group itself. + +This was the beginning of the end. Yet there immediately followed +the delusive calm which ever precedes the fatal outburst, lulling +those marked for destruction to a delusive security. The two decades +following were years of quiet, unobtrusive growth, during which +the Philippine Islands made the greatest economic progress in their +history. But this in itself was preparing the final catastrophe, for +if there be any fact well established in human experience it is that +with economic development the power of organized religion begins to +wane--the rise of the merchant spells the decline of the priest. A +sordid change, from masses and mysteries to sugar and shoes, this is +often said to be, but it should be noted that the epochs of greatest +economic activity have been those during which the generality of +mankind have lived fuller and freer lives, and above all that in such +eras the finest intellects and the grandest souls have been developed. + +Nor does an institution that has been slowly growing for three +centuries, molding the very life and fiber of the people, disintegrate +without a violent struggle, either in its own constitution or in the +life of the people trained under it. Not only the ecclesiastical but +also the social and political system of the country was controlled by +the religious orders, often silently and secretly, but none the less +effectively. This is evident from the ceaseless conflict that went on +between the religious orders and the Spanish political administrators, +who were at every turn thwarted in their efforts to keep the government +abreast of the times. + +The shock of the affair of 1872 had apparently stunned the Filipinos, +but it had at the same time brought them to the parting of the ways and +induced a vague feeling that there was something radically wrong, which +could only be righted by a closer union among themselves. They began +to consider that their interests and those of the governing powers were +not the same. In these feelings of distrust toward the friars they were +stimulated by the great numbers of immigrant Spaniards who were then +entering the country, many of whom had taken part in the republican +movements at home and who, upon the restoration of the monarchy, +no doubt thought it safer for them to be at as great a distance as +possible from the throne. The young Filipinos studying in Spain came +from different parts of the islands, and by their association there +in a foreign land were learning to forget their narrow sectionalism; +hence the way was being prepared for some concerted action. Thus, +aided and encouraged by the anti-clerical Spaniards in the mother +country, there was growing up a new generation of native leaders, +who looked toward something better than the old system. + +It is with this period in the history of the country--the author's +boyhood--that the story of _Noli Me Tangere_ deals. Typical scenes and +characters are sketched from life with wonderful accuracy, and the +picture presented is that of a master-mind, who knew and loved his +subject. Terror and repression were the order of the day, with ever +a growing unrest in the higher circles, while the native population +at large seemed to be completely _cowed_--"brutalized" is the term +repeatedly used by Rizal in his political essays. Spanish writers of +the period, observing only the superficial movements,--some of which +were indeed fantastical enough, for + + + "they, + Who in oppression's darkness caved have dwelt, + They are not eagles, nourished with the day; + What marvel, then, at times, if they mistake their way?" + + +--and not heeding the currents at work below, take great delight in +ridiculing the pretensions of the young men seeking advancement, +while they indulge in coarse ribaldry over the wretched condition +of the great mass of the "Indians." The author, however, himself a +"miserable Indian," vividly depicts the unnatural conditions and +dominant characters produced under the outworn system of fraud and +force, at the same time presenting his people as living, feeling, +struggling individuals, with all the frailties of human nature and all +the possibilities of mankind, either for good or evil; incidentally +he throws into marked contrast the despicable depreciation used by +the Spanish writers in referring to the Filipinos, making clear the +application of the self-evident proposition that no ordinary human +being in the presence of superior force can very well conduct himself +as a man unless he be treated as such. + +The friar orders, deluded by their transient triumph and secure in +their pride of place, became more arrogant, more domineering than +ever. In the general administration the political rulers were at every +turn thwarted, their best efforts frustrated, and if they ventured +too far their own security threatened; for in the three-cornered +wrangle which lasted throughout the whole of the Spanish domination, +the friar orders had, in addition to the strength derived from their +organization and their wealth, the Damoclean weapon of control over the +natives to hang above the heads of both governor and archbishop. The +curates in the towns, always the real rulers, became veritable despots, +so that no voice dared to raise itself against them, even in the midst +of conditions which the humblest _indio_ was beginning to feel dumbly +to be perverted and unnatural, and that, too, after three centuries +of training under the system that he had ever been taught to accept as +"the will of God." + +The friars seemed long since to have forgotten those noble aims +that had meant so much to the founders and early workers of their +orders, if indeed the great majority of those of the later day had +ever realized the meaning of their office, for the Spanish writers of +the time delight in characterizing them as the meanest of the Spanish +peasantry, when not something worse, who had been "lassoed," taught a +few ritualistic prayers, and shipped to the Philippines to be placed +in isolated towns as lords and masters of the native population, with +all the power and prestige over a docile people that the sacredness of +their holy office gave them. These writers treat the matter lightly, +seeing in it rather a huge joke on the "miserable Indians," and +give the friars great credit for "patriotism," a term which in this +connection they dragged from depth to depth until it quite aptly fitted +Dr. Johnson's famous definition, "the last refuge of a scoundrel." + +In their conduct the religious corporations, both as societies and as +individuals, must be estimated according to their own standards--the +application of any other criterion would be palpably unfair. They +undertook to hold the native in subjection, to regulate the essential +activities of his life according to their ideas, so upon them +must fall the responsibility for the conditions finally attained: +to destroy the freedom of the subject and then attempt to blame him +for his conduct is a paradox into which the learned men often fell, +perhaps inadvertently through their deductive logic. They endeavored +to shape the lives of their Malay wards not only in this existence +but also in the next. Their vows were poverty, chastity, and obedience. + +The vow of poverty was early relegated to the limbo of neglect. Only a +few years after the founding of Manila royal decrees began to issue on +the subject of complaints received by the King over the usurpation of +lands on the part of the priests. Using the same methods so familiar in +the heyday of the institution of monasticism in Europe--pious gifts, +deathbed bequests, pilgrims' offerings--the friar orders gradually +secured the richest of the arable lands in the more thickly settled +portions of the Philippines, notably the part of Luzon occupied by +the Tagalogs. Not always, however, it must in justice be recorded, +were such doubtful means resorted to, for there were instances where +the missionary was the pioneer, gathering about himself a band of +devoted natives and plunging into the unsettled parts to build up +a town with its fields around it, which would later become a friar +estate. With the accumulated incomes from these estates and the fees +for religious observances that poured into their treasuries, the +orders in their nature of perpetual corporations became the masters of +the situation, the lords of the country. But this condition was not +altogether objectionable; it was in the excess of their greed that +they went astray, for the native peoples had been living under this +system through generations and not until they began to feel that they +were not receiving fair treatment did they question the authority of +a power which not only secured them a peaceful existence in this life +but also assured them eternal felicity in the next. + +With only the shining exceptions that are produced in any system, no +matter how false its premises or how decadent it may become, to uphold +faith in the intrinsic soundness of human nature, the vow of chastity +was never much more than a myth. Through the tremendous influence +exerted over a fanatically religious people, who implicitly followed +the teachings of the reverend fathers, once their confidence had +been secured, the curate was seldom to be gainsaid in his desires. By +means of the secret influence in the confessional and the more open +political power wielded by him, the fairest was his to command, +and the favored one and her people looked upon the choice more as an +honor than otherwise, for besides the social standing that it gave her +there was the proud prospect of becoming the mother of children who +could claim kinship with the dominant race. The curate's "companion" +or the sacristan's wife was a power in the community, her family was +raised to a place of importance and influence among their own people, +while she and her ecclesiastical offspring were well cared for. On +the death or removal of the curate, it was almost invariably found +that she had been provided with a husband or protector and a not +inconsiderable amount of property--an arrangement rather appealing +to a people among whom the means of living have ever been so insecure. + +That this practise was not particularly offensive to the people among +whom they dwelt may explain the situation, but to claim that it excuses +the friars approaches dangerously close to casuistry. Still, as long as +this arrangement was decently and moderately carried out, there seems +to have been no great objection, nor from a worldly point of view, +with all the conditions considered, could there be much. But the old +story of excess, of unbridled power turned toward bad ends, again +recurs, at the same time that the ideas brought in by the Spaniards +who came each year in increasing numbers and the principles observed +by the young men studying in Europe cast doubt upon the fitness of +such a state of affairs. As they approached their downfall, like all +mankind, the friars became more open, more insolent, more shameless, +in their conduct. + +The story of Maria Clara, as told in _Noli Me Tangere_, is by no means +an exaggerated instance, but rather one of the few clean enough to +bear the light, and her fate, as depicted in the epilogue, is said +to be based upon an actual occurrence with which the author must have +been familiar. + +The vow of obedience--whether considered as to the Pope, their +highest religious authority, or to the King of Spain, their political +liege--might not always be so callously disregarded, but it could be +evaded and defied. From the Vatican came bull after bull, from the +Escorial decree after decree, only to be archived in Manila, sometimes +after a hollow pretense of compliance. A large part of the records of +Spanish domination is taken up with the wearisome quarrels that went +on between the Archbishop, representing the head of the Church, and +the friar orders, over the questions of the episcopal visitation and +the enforcement of the provisions of the Council of Trent relegating +the monks to their original status of missionaries, with the friars +invariably victorious in their contentions. Royal decrees ordering +inquiries into the titles to the estates of the men of poverty and +those providing for the education of the natives in Spanish were +merely sneered at and left to molder in harmless quiet. Not without +good grounds for his contention, the friar claimed that the Spanish +dominion over the Philippines depended upon him, and he therefore +confidently set himself up as the best judge of how that dominion +should be maintained. + +Thus there are presented in the Philippines of the closing quarter of +the century just past the phenomena so frequently met with in modern +societies, so disheartening to the people who must drag out their lives +under them, of an old system which has outworn its usefulness and is +being called into question, with forces actively at work disintegrating +it, yet with the unhappy folk bred and reared under it unprepared for +a new order of things. The old faith was breaking down, its forms +and beliefs, once so full of life and meaning, were being sharply +examined, doubt and suspicion were the order of the day. Moreover, +it must ever be borne in mind that in the Philippines this unrest, +except in the parts where the friars were the landlords, was not +general among the people, the masses of whom were still sunk in their +"loved Egyptian night," but affected only a very small proportion of +the population--for the most part young men who were groping their +way toward something better, yet without any very clearly conceived +idea of what that better might be, and among whom was to be found the +usual sprinkling of "sunshine patriots" and omnipresent opportunists +ready for any kind of trouble that will afford them a chance to rise. + +Add to the apathy of the masses dragging out their vacant lives amid +the shadows of religious superstition and to the unrest of the few, +the fact that the orders were in absolute control of the political +machinery of the country, with the best part of the agrarian wealth +amortized in their hands; add also the ever-present jealousies, petty +feuds, and racial hatreds, for which Manila and the Philippines, +with their medley of creeds and races, offer such a fertile field, +all fostered by the governing class for the maintenance of the old +Machiavelian principle of "divide and rule," and the sum is about +the most miserable condition under which any portion of mankind ever +tried to fulfill nature's inexorable laws of growth. + + + + + +II + + + And third came she who gives dark creeds their power, + Silabbat-paramasa, sorceress, + Draped fair in many lands as lowly Faith, + But ever juggling souls with rites and prayers; + The keeper of those keys which lock up Hells + And open Heavens. "Wilt thou dare," she said, + "Put by our sacred books, dethrone our gods, + Unpeople all the temples, shaking down + That law which feeds the priests and props the realm?" + But Buddha answered, "What thou bidd'st me keep + Is form which passes, but the free Truth stands; + Get thee unto thy darkness." + + SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, _The Light of Asia_. + + +"Ah, simple people, how little do you know the blessing that you +enjoy! Neither hunger, nor nakedness, nor inclemency of the weather +troubles you. With the payment of seven reals per year, you remain free +of contributions. You do not have to close your houses with bolts. You +do not fear that the district troopers will come in to lay waste your +fields, and trample you under foot at your own firesides. You call +'father' the one who is in command over you. Perhaps there will come +a time when you will be more civilized, and you will break out in +revolution; and you will wake terrified, at the tumult of the riots, +and will see blood flowing through these quiet fields, and gallows +and guillotines erected in these squares, which never yet have seen an +execution." [6] Thus moralized a Spanish traveler in 1842, just as that +_dolce far niente_ was drawing to its close. Already far-seeing men had +begun to raise in the Spanish parliament the question of the future of +the Philippines, looking toward some definite program for their care +under modern conditions and for the adjustment of their relations with +the mother country. But these were mere Cassandra-voices--the horologe +of time was striking for Rome's successor, as it did for Rome herself. + +Just where will come the outbreak after three centuries of +mind-repression and soul-distortion, of forcing a growing subject +into the strait-jacket of medieval thought and action, of natural +selection reversed by the constant elimination of native initiative and +leadership, is indeed a curious study. That there will be an outbreak +somewhere is as certain as that the plant will grow toward the light, +even under the most unfavorable conditions, for man's nature is but +the resultant of eternal forces that ceaselessly and irresistibly +interplay about and upon him, and somewhere this resultant will +express itself in thought or deed. + +After three centuries of Spanish ecclesiastical domination in the +Philippines, it was to be expected that the wards would turn against +their mentors the methods that had been used upon them, nor is it +especially remarkable that there was a decided tendency in some parts +to revert to primitive barbarism, but that concurrently a creative +genius--a bard or seer--should have been developed among a people +who, as a whole, have hardly passed through the clan or village +stage of society, can be regarded as little less than a psychological +phenomenon, and provokes the perhaps presumptuous inquiry as to whether +there may not be some things about our common human nature that the +learned doctors have not yet included in their anthropometric diagrams. + +On the western shore of the Lake of Bay in the heart of the Philippines +clusters the village of Kalamba, first established by the Jesuit +Fathers in the early days of the conquest, and upon their expulsion +in 1767 taken over by the Crown, which later transferred it to the +Dominicans, under whose care the fertile fields about it became one +of the richest of the friar estates. It can hardly be called a town, +even for the Philippines, but is rather a market-village, set as it +is at the outlet of the rich country of northern Batangas on the +open waterway to Manila and the outside world. Around it flourish +the green rice-fields, while Mount Makiling towers majestically near +in her moods of cloud and sunshine, overlooking the picturesque +curve of the shore and the rippling waters of the lake. Shadowy +to the eastward gleam the purple crests of Banahao and Cristobal, +and but a few miles to the southwestward dim-thundering, seething, +earth-rocking Taal mutters and moans of the world's birth-throes. It +is the center of a region rich in native lore and legend, as it sleeps +through the dusty noons when the cacao leaves droop with the heat and +dreams through the silvery nights, waking twice or thrice a week to +the endless babble and ceaseless chatter of an Oriental market where +the noisy throngs make of their trading as much a matter of pleasure +and recreation as of business. + +Directly opposite this market-place, in a house facing the village +church, there was born in 1861 into the already large family of one +of the more prosperous tenants on the Dominican estate a boy who was +to combine in his person the finest traits of the Oriental character +with the best that Spanish and European culture could add, on whom +would fall the burden of his people's woes to lead him over the _via +dolorosa_ of struggle and sacrifice, ending in his own destruction +amid the crumbling ruins of the system whose disintegration he himself +had done so much to compass. + +Jose Rizal-Mercado y Alonso, as his name emerges from the confusion +of Filipino nomenclature, was of Malay extraction, with some distant +strains of Spanish and Chinese blood. His genealogy reveals several +persons remarkable for intellect and independence of character, notably +a Philippine Eloise and Abelard, who, drawn together by their common +enthusiasm for study and learning, became his maternal grandparents, as +well as a great-uncle who was a traveler and student and who directed +the boy's early studies. Thus from the beginning his training was +exceptional, while his mind was stirred by the trouble already brewing +in his community, and from the earliest hours of consciousness he saw +about him the wrongs and injustices which overgrown power will ever +develop in dealing with a weaker subject. One fact of his childhood, +too, stands out clearly, well worthy of record: his mother seems to +have been a woman of more than ordinary education for the time and +place, and, pleased with the boy's quick intelligence, she taught him +to read Spanish from a copy of the Vulgate in that language, which +she had somehow managed to secure and keep in her possession--the +old, old story of the Woman and the Book, repeated often enough under +strange circumstances, but under none stranger than these. The boy's +father was well-to-do, so he was sent at the age of eight to study +in the new Jesuit school in Manila, not however before he had already +inspired some awe in his simple neighbors by the facility with which +he composed verses in his native tongue. + +He began his studies in a private house while waiting for an +opportunity to enter the Ateneo, as the Jesuit school is called, +and while there he saw one of his tutors, Padre Burgos, haled to +an ignominious death on the garrote as a result of the affair of +1872. This made a deep impression on his childish mind and, in fact, +seems to have been one of the principal factors in molding his ideas +and shaping his career. That the effect upon him was lasting and that +his later judgment confirmed him in the belief that a great injustice +had been done, are shown by the fact that his second important work, +_El Filibusterismo_, written about 1891, and miscalled by himself a +"novel," for it is really a series of word-paintings constituting a +terrific arraignment of the whole regime, was dedicated to the three +priests executed in 1872, in these words: "Religion, in refusing +to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime imputed to you; the +government, in surrounding your case with mystery and shadow, gives +reason for belief in some error, committed in fatal moments; and all +the Philippines, in venerating your memory and calling you martyrs, +in no way acknowledges your guilt." The only answer he ever received +to this was eight Remington bullets fired into his back. + +In the Ateneo he quickly attracted attention and became a general +favorite by his application to his studies, the poetic fervor with +which he entered into all the exercises of religious devotion, and +the gentleness of his character. He was from the first considered +"peculiar," for so the common mind regards everything that fails to fit +the old formulas, being of a rather dreamy and reticent disposition, +more inclined to reading Spanish romances than joining in the games of +his schoolmates. And of all the literatures that could be placed in +the hands of an imaginative child, what one would be more productive +in a receptive mind of a fervid love of life and home and country and +all that men hold dear, than that of the musical language of Castile, +with its high coloring and passionate character? + +His activities were varied, for, in addition to his regular studies, +he demonstrated considerable skill in wood-carving and wax-modeling, +and during this period won several prizes for poetical compositions +in Spanish, which, while sometimes juvenile in form and following +closely after Spanish models, reveal at times flashes of thought and +turns of expression that show distinct originality; even in these +early compositions there is that plaintive undertone, that minor +chord of sadness, which pervades all his poems, reaching its fullest +measure of pathos in the verses written in his death-cell. He received +a bachelor's degree according to the Spanish system in 1877, but +continued advanced studies in agriculture at the Ateneo, at the same +time that he was pursuing the course in philosophy in the Dominican +University of Santo Tomas, where in 1879 he startled the learned +doctors by a reference in a prize poem to the Philippines as his +"patria," fatherland. This political heresy on the part of a native +of the islands was given no very serious attention at the time, being +looked upon as the vagary of a schoolboy, but again in the following +year, by what seems a strange fatality, he stirred the resentment of +the friars, especially the Dominicans, by winning over some of their +number the first prize in a literary contest celebrated in honor of +the author of _Don Quixote_. + +The archaic instruction in Santo Tomas soon disgusted him and led to +disagreements with the instructors, and he turned to Spain. Plans +for his journey and his stay there had to be made with the utmost +caution, for it would hardly have fared well with his family had +it become known that the son of a tenant on an estate which was a +part of the University endowment was studying in Europe. He reached +Spanish territory first in Barcelona, the hotbed of radicalism, +where he heard a good deal of revolutionary talk, which, however, +seems to have made but little impression upon him, for throughout +his entire career breadth of thought and strength of character are +revealed in his consistent opposition to all forms of violence. + +In Madrid he pursued the courses in medicine and philosophy, but a +fact of even more consequence than his proficiency in his regular +work was his persistent study of languages and his omnivorous +reading. He was associated with the other Filipinos who were working +in a somewhat spectacular way, misdirected rather than led by what +may be styled the Spanish liberals, for more considerate treatment of +the Philippines. But while he was among them he was not of them, as +his studious habits and reticent disposition would hardly have made +him a favorite among those who were enjoying the broader and gayer +life there. Moreover, he soon advanced far beyond them in thought by +realizing that they were beginning at the wrong end of the labor, +for even at that time he seems to have caught, by what must almost +be looked upon as an inspiration of genius, since there was nothing +apparent in his training that would have suggested it, the realization +of the fact that hope for his people lay in bettering their condition, +that any real benefit must begin with the benighted folk at home, +that the introduction of reforms for which they were unprepared would +be useless, even dangerous to them. This was not at all the popular +idea among his associates and led to serious disagreements with their +leaders, for it was the way of toil and sacrifice without any of the +excitement and glamour that came from drawing up magnificent plans +and sending them back home with appeals for funds to carry on the +propaganda--for the most part banquets and entertainments to Spain's +political leaders. + +His views, as revealed in his purely political writings, may be +succinctly stated, for he had that faculty of expression which never +leaves any room for doubt as to the meaning. His people had a natural +right to grow and to develop, and any obstacles to such growth and +development were to be removed. He realized that the masses of his +countrymen were sunk deep in poverty and ignorance, cringing and +crouching before political authority, crawling and groveling before +religious superstition, but to him this was no subject for jest +or indifferent neglect--it was a serious condition which should be +ameliorated, and hope lay in working into the inert social mass the +leaven of conscious individual effort toward the development of a +distinctive, responsible personality. He was profoundly appreciative +of all the good that Spain had done, but saw in this no inconsistency +with the desire that this gratitude might be given cause to be ever +on the increase, thereby uniting the Philippines with the mother +country by the firm bonds of common ideas and interests, for his +earlier writings breathe nothing but admiration, respect, and loyalty +for Spain and her more advanced institutions. The issue was clear to +him and he tried to keep it so. + +It was indeed administrative myopia, induced largely by blind greed, +which allowed the friar orders to confuse the objections to their +repressive system with an attack upon Spanish sovereignty, thereby +dragging matters from bad to worse, to engender ill feeling and finally +desperation. This narrow, selfish policy had about as much soundness +in it as the idea upon which it was based, so often brought forward +with what looks very suspiciously like a specious effort to cover +mental indolence with a glittering generality, "that the Filipino is +only a grown-up child and needs a strong paternal government," an idea +which entirely overlooks the natural fact that when an impressionable +subject comes within the influence of a stronger force from a higher +civilization he is very likely to remain a child--perhaps a stunted +one--as long as he is treated as such. There is about as much sense +and justice in such logic as there would be in that of keeping a babe +confined in swaddling-bands and then blaming it for not knowing how to +walk. No creature will remain a healthy child forever, but, as Spain +learned to her bitter cost, will be very prone, as the parent grows +decrepit and it begins to feel its strength, to prove a troublesome +subject to handle, thereby reversing the natural law suggested by the +comparison, and bringing such Sancho-Panza statecraft to flounder at +last through as hopeless confusion to as absurd a conclusion as his +own island government. + +Rizal was not one of those rabid, self-seeking revolutionists who +would merely overthrow the government and maintain the old system +with themselves in the privileged places of the former rulers, nor +is he to be classed among the misguided enthusiasts who by their +intemperate demands and immoderate conduct merely strengthen the +hands of those in power. He realized fully that the restrictions +under which the people had become accustomed to order their lives +should be removed gradually as they advanced under suitable guidance +and became capable of adjusting themselves to the new and better +conditions. They should take all the good offered, from any source, +especially that suited to their nature, which they could properly +assimilate. No great patience was ever exhibited by him toward those +of his countrymen--the most repulsive characters in his stories are +such--who would make of themselves mere apes and mimes, decorating +themselves with a veneer of questionable alien characteristics, but +with no personality or stability of their own, presenting at best +a spectacle to make devils laugh and angels weep, lacking even the +hothouse product's virtue of being good to look upon. + +Reduced to a definite form, the wish of the more thoughtful in the +new generation of Filipino leaders that was growing up was that the +Philippine Islands be made a province of Spain with representation in +the Cortes and the concomitant freedom of expression and criticism. All +that was directly asked was some substantial participation in the +management of local affairs, and the curtailment of the arbitrary power +of petty officials, especially of the friar curates, who constituted +the chief obstacle to the education and development of the people. + +The friar orders were, however, all-powerful, not only in the +Philippines, but also in Madrid, where they were not chary of making +use of a part of their wealth to maintain their influence. The +efforts of the Filipinos in Spain, while closely watched, do not +seem to have been given any very serious attention, for the Spanish +authorities no doubt realized that as long as the young men stayed +in Madrid writing manifestoes in a language which less than one +per cent of their countrymen could read and spending their money +on members of the Cortes, there could be little danger of trouble +in the Philippines. Moreover, the Spanish ministers themselves +appear to have been in sympathy with the more moderate wishes of +the Filipinos, a fact indicated by the number of changes ordered +from time to time in the Philippine administration, but they were +powerless before the strength and local influence of the religious +orders. So matters dragged their weary way along until there was an +unexpected and startling development, a David-Goliath contest, and +certainly no one but a genius could have polished the "smooth stone" +that was to smite the giant. + +It is said that the idea of writing a novel depicting conditions in +his native land first came to Rizal from a perusal of Eugene Sue's +_The Wandering Jew_, while he was a student in Madrid, although the +model for the greater part of it is plainly the delectable sketches +in _Don Quixote_, for the author himself possessed in a remarkable +degree that Cervantic touch which raises the commonplace, even the +mean, into the highest regions of art. Not, however, until he had +spent some time in Paris continuing his medical studies, and later in +Germany, did anything definite result. But in 1887 _Noli Me Tangere_ +was printed in Berlin, in an establishment where the author is said +to have worked part of his time as a compositor in order to defray +his expenses while he continued his studies. A limited edition was +published through the financial aid extended by a Filipino associate, +and sent to Hongkong, thence to be surreptitiously introduced into +the Philippines. + +_Noli Me Tangere_ ("Touch Me Not") at the time the work was written had +a peculiar fitness as a title. Not only was there an apt suggestion +of a comparison with the common flower of that name, but the term +is also applied in pathology to a malignant cancer which affects +every bone and tissue in the body, and that this latter was in the +author's mind would appear from the dedication and from the summing-up +of the Philippine situation in the final conversation between Ibarra +and Elias. But in a letter written to a friend in Paris at the time, +the author himself says that it was taken from the Gospel scene where +the risen Savior appears to the Magdalene, to whom He addresses these +words, a scene that has been the subject of several notable paintings. + +In this connection it is interesting to note what he himself thought of +the work, and his frank statement of what he had tried to accomplish, +made just as he was publishing it: "_Noli Me Tangere_, an expression +taken from the Gospel of St. Luke, [7] means _touch me not_. The +book contains things of which no one up to the present time has +spoken, for they are so sensitive that they have never suffered +themselves to be touched by any one whomsoever. For my own part, I +have attempted to do what no one else has been willing to do: I have +dared to answer the calumnies that have for centuries been heaped +upon us and our country. I have written of the social condition and +the life, of our beliefs, our hopes, our longings, our complaints, +and our sorrows; I have unmasked the hypocrisy which, under the cloak +of religion, has come among us to impoverish and to brutalize us, +I have distinguished the true religion from the false, from the +superstition that traffics with the holy word to get money and to +make us believe in absurdities for which Catholicism would blush, +if ever it knew of them. I have unveiled that which has been hidden +behind the deceptive and dazzling words of our governments. I have +told our countrymen of our mistakes, our vices, our faults, and our +weak complaisance with our miseries there. Where I have found virtue I +have spoken of it highly in order to render it homage; and if I have +not wept in speaking of our misfortunes, I have laughed over them, +for no one would wish to weep with me over our woes, and laughter +is ever the best means of concealing sorrow. The deeds that I have +related are true and have actually occurred; I can furnish proof of +this. My book may have (and it does have) defects from an artistic +and esthetic point of view--this I do not deny--but no one can dispute +the veracity of the facts presented." [8] + +But while the primary purpose and first effect of the work was to +crystallize anti-friar sentiment, the author has risen above a mere +personal attack, which would give it only a temporary value, and by +portraying in so clear and sympathetic a way the life of his people +has produced a piece of real literature, of especial interest now as +they are being swept into the newer day. Any fool can point out errors +and defects, if they are at all apparent, and the persistent searching +them out for their own sake is the surest mark of the vulpine mind, +but the author has east aside all such petty considerations and, +whether consciously or not, has left a work of permanent value to +his own people and of interest to all friends of humanity. If ever a +fair land has been cursed with the wearisome breed of fault-finders, +both indigenous and exotic, that land is the Philippines, so it is +indeed refreshing to turn from the dreary waste of carping criticisms, +pragmatical "scientific" analyses, and sneering half-truths to a story +pulsating with life, presenting the Filipino as a human being, with +his virtues and his vices, his loves and hates, his hopes and fears. + +The publication of _Noli Me Tangere_ suggests the reflection that +the story of Achilles' heel is a myth only in form. The belief that +any institution, system, organization, or arrangement has reached +an absolute form is about as far as human folly can go. The friar +orders looked upon themselves as the sum of human achievement in +man-driving and God-persuading, divinely appointed to rule, fixed +in their power, far above suspicion. Yet they were obsessed by the +sensitive, covert dread of exposure that ever lurks spectrally under +pharisaism's specious robe, so when there appeared this work of a +"miserable Indian," who dared to portray them and the conditions +that their control produced exactly as they were--for the indefinable +touch by which the author gives an air of unimpeachable veracity to +his story is perhaps its greatest artistic merit--the effect upon the +mercurial Spanish temperament was, to say the least, electric. The +very audacity of the thing left the friars breathless. + +A committee of learned doctors from Santo Tomas, who were appointed +to examine the work, unmercifully scored it as attacking everything +from the state religion to the integrity of the Spanish dominions, +so the circulation of it in the Philippines was, of course, strictly +prohibited, which naturally made the demand for it greater. Large +sums were paid for single copies, of which, it might be remarked in +passing, the author himself received scarcely any part; collections +have ever had a curious habit of going astray in the Philippines. + +Although the possession of a copy by a Filipino usually meant summary +imprisonment or deportation, often with the concomitant confiscation +of property for the benefit of some "patriot," the book was widely read +among the leading families and had the desired effect of crystallizing +the sentiment against the friars, thus to pave the way for concerted +action. At last the idol had been flouted, so all could attack +it. Within a year after it had begun to circulate in the Philippines a +memorial was presented to the Archbishop by quite a respectable part of +the Filipinos in Manila, requesting that the friar orders be expelled +from the country, but this resulted only in the deportation of every +signer of the petition upon whom the government could lay hands. They +were scattered literally to the four corners of the earth: some to +the Ladrone Islands, some to Fernando Po off the west coast of Africa, +some to Spanish prisons, others to remote parts of the Philippines. + +Meanwhile, the author had returned to the Philippines for a visit +to his family, during which time he was constantly attended by an +officer of the Civil Guard, detailed ostensibly as a body-guard. All +his movements were closely watched, and after a few months the +Captain-General "advised" him to leave the country, at the same time +requesting a copy of _Noli Me Tangere_, saying that the excerpts +submitted to him by the censor had awakened a desire to read the +entire work. Rizal returned to Europe by way of Japan and the United +States, which did not seem to make any distinct impression upon him, +although it was only a little later that he predicted that when Spain +lost control of the Philippines, an eventuality he seemed to consider +certain not far in the future, the United States would be a probable +successor. [9] + +Returning to Europe, he spent some time in London preparing an edition +of Morga's _Sucesos de las Filipinas_, a work published in Mexico +about 1606 by the principal actor in some of the most stirring scenes +of the formative period of the Philippine government. It is a record +of prime importance in Philippine history, and the resuscitation of +it was no small service to the country. Rizal added notes tending to +show that the Filipinos had been possessed of considerable culture and +civilization before the Spanish conquest, and he even intimated that +they had retrograded rather than advanced under Spanish tutelage. But +such an extreme view must be ascribed to patriotic ardor, for Rizal +himself, though possessed of that intangible quality commonly known +as genius and partly trained in northern Europe, is still in his own +personality the strongest refutation of such a contention. + +Later, in Ghent, he published _El Filibusterismo_, called by him a +continuation of _Noli Me Tangere_, but with which it really has no +more connection than that some of the characters reappear and are +disposed of. [10] There is almost no connected plot in it and hardly +any action, but there is the same incisive character-drawing and +clear etching of conditions that characterize the earlier work. It +is a maturer effort and a more forceful political argument, hence +it lacks the charm and simplicity which assign _Noli Me Tangere_ +to a preeminent place in Philippine literature. The light satire +of the earlier work is replaced by bitter sarcasm delivered with +deliberate intent, for the iron had evidently entered his soul with +broadening experience and the realization that justice at the hands +of decadent Spain had been an iridescent dream of his youth. Nor had +the Spanish authorities in the Philippines been idle; his relatives +had been subjected to all the annoyances and irritations of petty +persecution, eventually losing the greater part of their property, +while some of them suffered deportation. + +In 1891 he returned to Hongkong to practise medicine, in which +profession he had remarkable success, even coming to be looked +upon as a wizard by his simple countrymen, among whom circulated +wonderful accounts of his magical powers. He was especially skilled +in ophthalmology, and his first operation after returning from his +studies in Europe was to restore his mother's sight by removing a +cataract from one of her eyes, an achievement which no doubt formed +the basis of marvelous tales. But the misfortunes of his people were +ever the paramount consideration, so he wrote to the Captain-General +requesting permission to remove his numerous relatives to Borneo to +establish a colony there, for which purpose liberal concessions had +been offered him by the British government. The request was denied, +and further stigmatized as an "unpatriotic" attempt to lessen the +population of the Philippines, when labor was already scarce. This +was the answer he received to a reasonable petition after the homes +of his family, including his own birthplace, had been ruthlessly +destroyed by military force, while a quarrel over ownership and rents +was still pending in the courts. The Captain-General at the time was +Valeriano Weyler, the pitiless instrument of the reactionary forces +manipulated by the monastic orders, he who was later sent to Cuba to +introduce there the repressive measures which had apparently been so +efficacious in the Philippines, thus to bring on the interference of +the United States to end Spain's colonial power--all of which induces +the reflection that there may still be deluded casuists who doubt +the reality of Nemesis. + +Weyler was succeeded by Eulogio Despujols, who made sincere attempts to +reform the administration, and was quite popular with the Filipinos. In +reply to repeated requests from Rizal to be permitted to return to +the Philippines unmolested a passport was finally granted to him and +he set out for Manila. For this move on his part, in addition to the +natural desire to be among his own people, two special reasons appear: +he wished to investigate and stop if possible the unwarranted use of +his name in taking up collections that always remained mysteriously +unaccounted for, and he was drawn by a ruse deliberately planned and +executed in that his mother was several times officiously arrested +and hustled about as a common criminal in order to work upon the +son's filial feelings and thus get him back within reach of the +Spanish authority, which, as subsequent events and later researches +have shown, was the real intention in issuing the passport. Entirely +unsuspecting any ulterior motive, however, in a few days after his +arrival he convoked a motley gathering of Filipinos of all grades of +the population, for he seems to have been only slightly acquainted +among his own people and not at all versed in the mazy Walpurgis +dance of Philippine politics, and laid before it the constitution +for a _Liga Filipina_ (Philippine League), an organization looking +toward greater unity among the Filipinos and cooeperation for economic +progress. This _Liga_ was no doubt the result of his observations in +England and Germany, and, despite its questionable form as a secret +society for political and economic purposes, was assuredly a step in +the right direction, but unfortunately its significance was beyond +the comprehension of his countrymen, most of whom saw in it only an +opportunity for harassing the Spanish government, for which all were +ready enough. + +All his movements were closely watched, and a few days after his +return he was arrested on the charge of having seditious literature +in his baggage. The friars were already clamoring for his blood, but +Despujols seems to have been more in sympathy with Rizal than with +the men whose tool he found himself forced to be. Without trial Rizal +was ordered deported to Dapitan, a small settlement on the northern +coast of Mindanao. The decree ordering this deportation and the +destruction of all copies of his books to be found in the Philippines +is a marvel of sophistry, since, in the words of a Spanish writer of +the time, "in this document we do not know which to wonder at most: the +ingenuousness of the Governor-General, for in this decree he implicitly +acknowledges his weakness and proneness to error, or the candor of +Rizal, who believed that all the way was strewn with roses." [11] +But it is quite evident that Despujols was playing a double game, +of which he seems to have been rather ashamed, for he gave strict +orders that copies of the decree should be withheld from Rizal. + +In Dapitan Rizal gave himself up to his studies and such medical +practice as sought him out in that remote spot, for the fame of his +skill was widely extended, and he was allowed to live unmolested +under parole that he would make no attempt to escape. In company +with a Jesuit missionary he gathered about him a number of native +boys and conducted a practical school on the German plan, at the same +time indulging in religious polemics with his Jesuit acquaintances by +correspondence and working fitfully on some compositions which were +never completed, noteworthy among them being a study in English of +the Tagalog verb. + +But while he was living thus quietly in Dapitan, events that were to +determine his fate were misshaping themselves in Manila. The stone had +been loosened on the mountain-side and was bounding on in mad career, +far beyond his control. + + + + + +III + + + He who of old would rend the oak, + Dream'd not of the rebound; + Chain'd by the trunk he vainly broke + Alone--how look'd he round? + + BYRON. + + +Reason and moderation in the person of Rizal scorned and banished, +the spirit of Jean Paul Marat and John Brown of Ossawatomie rises to +the fore in the shape of one Andres Bonifacio, warehouse porter, who +sits up o' nights copying all the letters and documents that he can lay +hands on; composing grandiloquent manifestoes in Tagalog; drawing up +magnificent appointments in the names of prominent persons who would +later suffer even to the shedding of their life's blood through his +mania for writing history in advance; spelling out Spanish tales of +the French Revolution; babbling of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity; +hinting darkly to his confidants that the President of France had begun +life as a blacksmith. Only a few days after Rizal was so summarily +hustled away, Bonifacio gathered together a crowd of malcontents and +ignorant dupes, some of them composing as choice a gang of cutthroats +as ever slit the gullet of a Chinese or tied mutilated prisoners in +ant hills, and solemnly organized the _Kataastaasang Kagalang-galang +Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan_, "Supreme Select Association of the +Sons of the People," for the extermination of the ruling race and +the restoration of the Golden Age. It was to bring the people into +concerted action for a general revolt on a fixed date, when they +would rise simultaneously, take possession of the city of Manila, +and--the rest were better left to the imagination, for they had been +reared under the Spanish colonial system and imitativeness has ever +been pointed out as a cardinal trait in the Filipino character. No +quarter was to be asked or given, and the most sacred ties, even of +consanguinity, were to be disregarded in the general slaughter. To +the inquiry of a curious neophyte as to how the Spaniards were +to be distinguished from the other Europeans, in order to avoid +international complications, dark Andres replied that in case of +doubt they should proceed with due caution but should take good care +that they made no mistakes about letting any of the _Castilas_ escape +their vengeance. The higher officials of the government were to be +taken alive as hostages, while the friars were to be reserved for a +special holocaust on Bagumbayan Field, where over their incinerated +remains a heaven-kissing monument would be erected. + +This Katipunan seems to have been an outgrowth from Spanish +freemasonry, introduced into the Philippines by a Spaniard named +Morayta and Marcelo H. del Pilar, a native of Bulacan Province who was +the practical leader of the Filipinos in Spain, but who died there in +1896 just as he was setting out for Hongkong to mature his plans for a +general uprising to expel the friar orders. There had been some masonic +societies in the islands for some time, but the membership had been +limited to Peninsulars, and they played no part in the politics of the +time. But about 1888 Filipinos began to be admitted into some of them, +and later, chiefly through the exertions of Pilar, lodges exclusively +for them were instituted. These soon began to display great activity, +especially in the transcendental matter of collections, so that their +existence became a source of care to the government and a nightmare to +the religious orders. From them, and with a perversion of the idea in +Rizal's still-born _Liga_, it was an easy transition to the Katipunan, +which was to put aside all pretense of reconciliation with Spain, +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 +up--those collections were never overlooked--for the purpose of +chartering a steamer to rescue him from Dapitan and transport him to +Singapore, whence he might direct the general uprising, the day and +the hour for which were fixed by Bonifacio for August twenty-sixth, +1896, at six o'clock sharp in the evening, since lack of precision +in his magnificent programs was never a fault of that bold patriot, +his logic being as severe as that of the Filipino policeman who put +the flag at half-mast on Good Friday. + +Of all this Rizal himself was, of course, entirely ignorant, until +in May, 1896, a Filipino doctor named Pio Valenzuela, a creature of +Bonifacio's, was despatched to Dapitan, taking along a blind man as a +pretext for the visit to the famous oculist, to lay the plans before +him for his consent and approval. Rizal expostulated with Valenzuela +for a time over such a mad and hopeless venture, which would only bring +ruin and misery upon the masses, and then is said to have very humanly +lost his patience, ending the interview "in so bad a humor and with +words so offensive that the deponent, who had gone with the intention +of remaining there a month, took the steamer on the following day, for +return to Manila." [12] He reported secretly to Bonifacio, who bestowed +several choice Tagalog epithets on Rizal, and charged his envoy to +say nothing about the failure of his mission, but rather to give the +impression that he had been successful. Rizal's name continued to be +used as the shibboleth of the insurrection, and the masses were made +to believe that he would appear as their leader at the appointed hour. + +Vague reports from police officers, to the effect that something +unusual in the nature of secret societies was going on among the +people, began to reach the government, but no great attention was +paid to them, until the evening of August nineteenth, when the parish +priest of Tondo was informed by the mother-superior of one of the +convent-schools that she had just learned of a plot to massacre all +the Spaniards. She had the information from a devoted pupil, whose +brother was a compositor in the office of the _Diario de Manila_. As +is so frequently the case in Filipino families, this elder sister was +the purse-holder, and the brother's insistent requests for money, +which was needed by him to meet the repeated assessments made on +the members as the critical hour approached, awakened her curiosity +and suspicion to such an extent that she forced him to confide the +whole plan to her. Without delay she divulged it to her patroness, +who in turn notified the curate of Tondo, where the printing-office +was located. The priest called in two officers of the Civil Guard, who +arrested the young printer, frightened a confession out of him, and +that night, in company with the friar, searched the printing-office, +finding secreted there several lithographic plates for printing +receipts and certificates of membership in the Katipunan, with a +number of documents giving some account of the plot. + +Then the Spanish population went wild. General Ramon Blanco was +governor and seems to have been about the only person who kept his +head at all. He tried to prevent giving so irresponsible a movement a +fictitious importance, but was utterly powerless to stay the clamor +for blood which at once arose, loudest on the part of those alleged +ministers of the gentle Christ. The gates of the old Walled City, +long fallen into disuse, were cleaned and put in order, martial law +was declared, and wholesale arrests made. Many of the prisoners were +confined in Fort Santiago, one batch being crowded into a dungeon +for which the only ventilation was a grated opening at the top, and +one night a sergeant of the guard carelessly spread his sleeping-mat +over this, so the next morning some fifty-five asphyxiated corpses +were hauled away. On the twenty-sixth armed insurrection broke out at +Caloocan, just north of Manila, from time immemorial the resort of bad +characters from all the country round and the center of brigandage, +while at San Juan del Monte, on the outskirts of the city, several +bloody skirmishes were fought a few days later with the _Guardia +Civil Veterana_, the picked police force. + +Bonifacio had been warned of the discovery of his schemes in time to +make his escape and flee to the barrio, or village, of Balintawak, +a few miles north of Manila, thence to lead the attack on Caloocan +and inaugurate the reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity in the +manner in which Philippine insurrections have generally had a habit +of starting--with the murder of Chinese merchants and the pillage of +their shops. He had from the first reserved for himself the important +office of treasurer in the Katipunan, in addition to being on occasions +president and at all times its ruling spirit, so he now established +himself as dictator and proceeded to appoint a magnificent staff, most +of whom contrived to escape as soon as they were out of reach of his +bolo. Yet he drew considerable numbers about him, for this man, though +almost entirely unlettered, seems to have been quite a personality +among his own people, especially possessed of that gift of oratory +in his native tongue to which the Malay is so preeminently susceptible. + +In Manila a special tribunal was constituted and worked steadily, +sometimes through the siesta-hour, for there were times, of which +this was one, when even Spanish justice could be swift. Bagumbayan +began to be a veritable field of blood, as the old methods of +repression were resorted to for the purpose of striking terror into +the native population by wholesale executions, nor did the ruling +powers realize that the time for such methods had passed. It was a +case of sixteenth-century colonial methods fallen into fretful and +frantic senility, so in all this wretched business it is doubtful whim +to pity the more: the blind stupidity of the fossilized conservatives +incontinently throwing an empire away, forfeiting their influence over +a people whom they, by temperament and experience, should have been +fitted to control and govern; or the potential cruelty of perverted +human nature in the dark Frankenstein who would wreak upon the rulers +in their decadent days the most hideous of the methods in the system +that produced him, as he planned his festive holocaust and carmagnole +on the spot where every spark of initiative and leadership among +his people, both good and bad, had been summarily and ruthlessly +extinguished. There is at least a world of reflection in it for the +rulers of men. + +In the meantime Rizal, wearying of the quiet life in Dapitan and +doubtless foreseeing the impending catastrophe, had requested leave +to volunteer his services as a physician in the military hospitals +of Cuba, of the horrors and sufferings in which he had heard. General +Blanco at once gladly acceded to this request and had him brought to +Manila, but unfortunately the boat carrying him arrived there a day +too late for him to catch the regular August mail-steamer to Spain, +so he was kept in the cruiser a prisoner of war, awaiting the next +transportation. While he was thus detained, the Katipunan plot was +discovered and the rebellion broke out. He was accused of being +the head of it, but Blanco gave him a personal letter completely +exonerating him from any complicity in the outbreak, as well as a +letter of recommendation to the Spanish minister of war. He was placed +on the _Isla de Panay_ when it left for Spain on September third and +traveled at first as a passenger. At Singapore he was advised to land +and claim British protection, as did some of his fellow travelers, +but he refused to do so, saying that his conscience was clear. + +As the name of Rizal had constantly recurred during the trials +of the Katipunan suspects, the military tribunal finally issued a +formal demand for him. The order of arrest was cabled to Port Said +and Rizal there placed in solitary confinement for the remainder +of the voyage. Arrived at Barcelona, he was confined in the grim +fortress of Montjuich, where; by a curious coincidence, the governor +was the same Despujols who had issued the decree of banishment in +1892. Shortly afterwards, he was placed on the transport _Colon_, +which was bound for the Philippines with troops, Blanco having at last +been stirred to action. Strenuous efforts were now made by Rizal's +friends in London to have him removed from the ship at Singapore, +but the British authorities declined to take any action, on the ground +that he was on a Spanish warship and therefore beyond the jurisdiction +of their courts. The _Colon_ arrived at Manila on November third and +Rizal was imprisoned in Fort Santiago, while a special tribunal was +constituted to try him on the charges of carrying on anti-patriotic +and anti-religious propaganda, rebellion, sedition, and the formation +of illegal associations. Some other charges may have been overlooked +in the hurry and excitement. + +It would be almost a travesty to call a trial the proceedings which +began early in December and dragged along until the twenty-sixth. Rizal +was defended by a young Spanish officer selected by him from among +a number designated by the tribunal, who chivalrously performed so +unpopular a duty as well as he could. But the whole affair was a +mockery of justice, for the Spanish government in the Philippines had +finally and hopelessly reached the condition graphically pictured by +Mr. Kipling: + + + Panic that shells the drifting spar-- + Loud waste with none to check-- + Mad fear that rakes a scornful star + Or sweeps a consort's deck! + + +The clamor against Blanco had resulted in his summary removal by royal +decree and the appointment of a real "pacificator," Camilo Polavieja. + +While in prison Rizal prepared an address to those of his countrymen +who were in armed rebellion, repudiating the use of his name and +deprecating the resort to violence. The closing words are a compendium +of his life and beliefs: "Countrymen: I have given proofs, as well as +the best of you, of desiring liberty for our country, and I continue +to desire it. But I place as a premise the education of the people, +so that by means of instruction and work they may have a personality +of their own and that they may make themselves worthy of that same +liberty. In my writings I have recommended the study of the civic +virtues, without which there can be no redemption. I have also written +(and my words have been repeated) that reforms, to be fruitful, must +come from _above_, that those which spring from _below_ are uncertain +and insecure movements. Imbued with these ideas, I cannot do less than +condemn, and I do condemn, this absurd, savage rebellion, planned +behind my back, which dishonors the Filipinos and discredits those +who can speak for us. I abominate all criminal actions and refuse any +kind of participation in them, pitying with all my heart the dupes who +have allowed themselves to be deceived. Go back, then, to your homes, +and may God forgive those who have acted in bad faith." This address, +however, was not published by the Spanish authorities, since they did +not consider it "patriotic" enough; instead, they killed the writer! + +Rizal appeared before the tribunal bound, closely guarded by two +Peninsular soldiers, but maintained his serenity throughout and +answered the charges in a straightforward way. He pointed out the +fact that he had never taken any great part in politics, having +even quarreled with Marcelo del Pilar, the active leader of the +anti-clericals, by reason of those perennial "subscriptions," and that +during the time he was accused of being the instigator and organizer of +armed rebellion he had been a close prisoner in Dapitan under strict +surveillance by both the military and ecclesiastical authorities. The +prosecutor presented a lengthy document, which ran mostly to words, +about the only definite conclusion laid down in it being that the +Philippines "are, and always must remain, Spanish territory." What +there may have been in Rizal's career to hang such a conclusion +upon is not quite dear, but at any rate this learned legal light was +evidently still thinking in colors on the map serenely unconscious in +his European pseudo-prescience of the new and wonderful development +in the Western Hemisphere--humanity militant, Lincolnism. + +The death sentence was asked, but the longer the case dragged on the +more favorable it began to look for the accused, so the president +of the tribunal, after deciding, Jeffreys-like, that the charges had +been proved, ordered that no further evidence be taken. Rizal betrayed +some sunrise when his doom was thus foreshadowed, for, dreamer that +he was, he seems not to have anticipated such a fatal eventuality for +himself. He did not lose his serenity, however, even when the tribunal +promptly brought in a verdict of guilty and imposed the death sentence, +upon which Polavieja the next day placed his _Cumplase_, fixing the +morning of December thirtieth for the execution. + +So Rizal's fate was sealed. The witnesses against him, in so far +as there was any substantial testimony at all, had been his own +countrymen, coerced or cajoled into making statements which they have +since repudiated as false, and which in some cases were extorted from +them by threats and even torture. But he betrayed very little emotion, +even maintaining what must have been an assumed cheerfulness. Only +one reproach is recorded: that he had been made a dupe of, that he had +been deceived by every one, even the _bankeros_ and _cocheros_. His old +Jesuit instructors remained with him in the _capilla_, or death-cell, +[13] and largely through the influence of an image of the Sacred Heart, +which he had carved as a schoolboy, it is claimed that a reconciliation +with the Church was effected. There has been considerable pragmatical +discussion as to what form of retraction from him was necessary, +since he had been, after studying in Europe, a frank freethinker, but +such futile polemics may safely be left to the learned doctors. That +he was reconciled with the Church would seem to be evidenced by +the fact that just before the execution he gave legal status as +his wife to the woman, a rather remarkable Eurasian adventuress, +who had lived with him in Dapitan, and the religious ceremony was +the only one then recognized in the islands. [14] The greater part +of his last night on earth was spent in composing a chain of verse; +no very majestic flight of poesy, but a pathetic monody throbbing with +patient resignation and inextinguishable hope, one of the sweetest, +saddest swan-songs ever sung. + +Thus he was left at the last, entirely alone. As soon as his doom +became certain the Patriots had all scurried to cover, one gentle +poetaster even rushing into doggerel verse to condemn him as a +reversion to barbarism; the wealthier suspects betook themselves +to other lands or made judicious use of their money-bags among the +Spanish officials; the better classes of the population floundered +hopelessly, leaderless, in the confused whirl of opinions and passions; +while the voiceless millions for whom he had spoken moved on in dumb, +uncomprehending silence. He had lived in that higher dreamland of +the future, ahead of his countrymen, ahead even of those who assumed +to be the mentors of his people, and he must learn, as does every +noble soul that labors "to make the bounds of freedom wider yet," +the bitter lesson that nine-tenths, if not all, the woes that afflict +humanity spring from man's own stupid selfishness, that the wresting +of the scepter from the tyrant is often the least of the task, that +the bondman comes to love his bonds--like Chillon's prisoner, his very +chains and he grow friends,--but that the struggle for human freedom +must go on, at whatever cost, in ever-widening circles, "wave after +wave, each mightier than the last," for as long as one body toils in +fetters or one mind welters in blind ignorance, either of the slave's +base delusion or the despot's specious illusion, there can be no final +security for any free man, or his children, or his children's children. + + + + + +IV + + "God save thee, ancient Mariner! + From the fiends, that plague thee thus! + Why look'st thou so?"--"With my cross-bow + I shot the Albatross!" + + COLERIDGE. + + +It was one of those magic December mornings of the tropics--the very +nuptials of earth and sky, when great Nature seems to fling herself +incontinently into creation, wrapping the world in a brooding calm of +light and color, that Spain chose for committing political suicide +in the Philippines. Bagumbayan Field was crowded with troops, both +regulars and militia, for every man capable of being trusted with +arms was drawn up there, excepting only the necessary guards in other +parts of the city. Extra patrols were in the streets, double guards +were placed over the archiepiscopal and gubernatorial palaces. The +calmest man in all Manila that day was he who must stand before the +firing-squad. + +Two special and unusual features are to be noted about this +execution. All the principal actors were Filipinos: the commander of +the troops and the officer directly in charge of the execution were +native-born, while the firing-squad itself was drawn from a local +native regiment, though it is true that on this occasion a squad of +Peninsular _cazadores_, armed with loaded Mausers, stood directly +behind them to see that they failed not in their duty. Again, there +was but one victim; for it seems to have ever been the custom of +the Spanish rulers to associate in these gruesome affairs some real +criminals with the political offenders, no doubt with the intentional +purpose of confusing the issue in the general mind. Rizal standing +alone, the occasion of so much hurried preparation and fearful +precaution, is a pathetic testimonial to the degree of incapacity +into which the ruling powers had fallen, even in chicanery. + +After bidding good-by to his sister and making final disposition +regarding some personal property, the doomed man, under close guard, +walked calmly, even cheerfully, from Fort Santiago along the Malecon +to the Luneta, accompanied by his Jesuit confessors. Arrived there, he +thanked those about him for their kindness and requested the officer +in charge to allow him to face the firing-squad, since he had never +been a traitor to Spain. This the officer declined to permit, for +the order was to shoot him in the back. Rizal assented with a slight +protest, pointed out to the soldiers the spot in his back at which +they should aim, and with a firm step took his place in front of them. + +Then occurred an act almost too hideous to record. There he stood, +expecting a volley of Remington bullets in his back--Time was, and +Life's stream ebbed to Eternity's flood--when the military surgeon +stepped forward and asked if he might feel his pulse! Rizal extended +his left hand, and the officer remarked that he could not understand +how a man's pulse could beat normally at such a terrific moment! The +victim shrugged his shoulders and let the hand fall again to his +side--Latin refinement could be no further refined! + +A moment later there he lay, on his right side, his life-blood +spurting over the Luneta curb, eyes wide open, fixedly staring at that +Heaven where the priests had taught all those centuries agone that +Justice abides. The troops filed past the body, for the most part +silently, while desultory cries of "_Viva Espana!_" from among the +"patriotic" Filipino volunteers were summarily hushed by a Spanish +artillery-officer's stern rebuke: "Silence, you rabble!" To drown +out the fitful cheers and the audible murmurs, the bands struck +up Spanish national airs. Stranger death-dirge no man and system +ever had. Carnival revelers now dance about the scene and Filipino +schoolboys play baseball over that same spot. + +A few days later another execution was held on that spot, of members +of the _Liga_, some of them characters that would have richly deserved +shooting at any place or time, according to existing standards, but +notable among them there knelt, torture-crazed, as to his orisons, +Francisco Roxas, millionaire capitalist, who may be regarded as the +social and economic head of the Filipino people, as Rizal was fitted +to be their intellectual leader. Shades of Anda and Vargas! Out there +at Balintawak--rather fitly, "the home of the snake-demon,"--not three +hours' march from this same spot, on the very edge of the city, Andres +Bonifacio and his literally sansculottic gangs of cutthroats were, +almost with impunity, soiling the fair name of Freedom with murder +and mutilation, rape and rapine, awakening the worst passions of an +excitable, impulsive people, destroying that essential respect for +law and order, which to restore would take a holocaust of fire and +blood, with a generation of severe training. Unquestionably did Rizal +demonstrate himself to be a seer and prophet when he applied to such +a system the story of Babylon and the fateful handwriting on the wall! + +But forces had been loosed that would not be so suppressed, the time +had gone by when such wild methods of repression would serve. The +destruction of the native leaders, culminating in the executions +of Rizal and Roxas, produced a counter-effect by rousing the +Tagalogs, good and bad alike, to desperate fury, and the aftermath +was frightful. The better classes were driven to take part in the +rebellion, and Cavite especially became a veritable slaughter-pen, +as the contest settled down into a hideous struggle for mutual +extermination. Dark Andres went his wild way to perish by the +violence he had himself invoked, a prey to the rising ambition of +a young leader of considerable culture and ability, a schoolmaster +named Emilio Aguinaldo. His Katipunan hovered fitfully around Manila, +for a time even drawing to itself in their desperation some of the +better elements of the population, only to find itself sold out and +deserted by its leaders, dying away for a time; but later, under +changed conditions, it reappeared in strange metamorphosis as the +rallying-center for the largest number of Filipinos who have ever +gathered together for a common purpose, and then finally went down +before those thin grim lines in khaki with sharp and sharpest shot +clearing away the wreck of the old, blazing the way for the new: +the broadening sweep of "Democracy announcing, in rifle-volleys +death-winged, under her Star Banner, to the tune of Yankee-doodle-do, +that she is born, and, whirlwind-like, will envelop the whole world!" + + +MANILA, December 1, 1909 + + + + + + + + + +What? Does no Caesar, does no Achilles, appear on your stage now? + Not an Andromache e'en, not an Orestes, my friend? + +No! there is nought to be seen there but parsons, and syndics of commerce, + Secretaries perchance, ensigns and majors of horse. + +But, my good friend, pray tell, what can such people e'er meet with + That can be truly call'd great?--what that is great can they do? + + SCHILLER: _Shakespeare's Ghost_. + (_Bowring's translation._) + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Author's Dedication + + I A Social Gathering + II Crisostomo Ibarra + III The Dinner + IV Heretic and Filibuster + V A Star in a Dark Night + VI Capitan Tiago + VII An Idyl on an Azotea + VIII Recollections + IX Local Affairs + X The Town + XI The Rulers + XII All Saints + XIII Signs of Storm + XIV Tasio: Lunatic or Sage + IV The Sacristans + XVI Sisa + XVII Basilio + XVIII Souls In Torment + XIX A Schoolmaster's Difficulties + XX The Meeting in the Town Hall + XXI The Story of a Mother + XXII Lights and Shadows + XXIII Fishing + XXIV In the Wood + XXV In the House of the Sage + XXVI The Eve of the Fiesta + XXVII In the Twilight + XXVIII Correspondence + XXIX The Morning + XXX In the Church + XXXI The Sermon + XXXII The Derrick + XXXIII Free Thought + XXXIV The Dinner + XXXV Comments + XXXVI The First Cloud + XXXVII His Excellency + XXXVIII The Procession + XXXIX Dona Consolacion + XL Right and Might + XLI Two Visits + XLII The Espadanas + XLIII Plans + XLIV An Examination of Conscience + XLV The Hunted + XLVI The Cockpit + XLVII The Two Senoras + XLVIII The Enigma + XLIX The Voice of the Hunted + L Elias's Story + LI Exchanges + LII The Cards of the Dead and the Shadows + LIII Il Buon Di Si Conosce Da Mattina + LIV Revelations + LV The Catastrophe + LVI Rumors and Belief + LVII Vae Victis! + LVIII The Accursed + LIX Patriotism and Private Interests + LX Maria Clara Weds + LXI The Chase on the Lake + LXII Padre Damaso Explains + LXIII Christmas Eve + + Epilogue + Glossary + + + + + + +AUTHOR'S DEDICATION + + +To My Fatherland: + + +Recorded in the history of human sufferings is a cancer of so malignant +a character that the least touch irritates it and awakens in it the +sharpest pains. Thus, how many times, when in the midst of modern +civilizations I have wished to call thee before me, now to accompany +me in memories, now to compare thee with other countries, hath thy +dear image presented itself showing a social cancer like to that other! + +Desiring thy welfare, which is our own, and seeking the best treatment, +I will do with thee what the ancients did with their sick, exposing +them on the steps of the temple so that every one who came to invoke +the Divinity might offer them a remedy. + +And to this end, I will strive to reproduce thy condition faithfully, +without discriminations; I will raise a part of the veil that covers +the evil, sacrificing to truth everything, even vanity itself, since, +as thy son, I am conscious that I also suffer from thy defects and +weaknesses. + +THE AUTHOR + + +EUROPE, 1886 + + + + + +THE SOCIAL CANCER + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A Social Gathering + + +On the last of October Don Santiago de los Santos, popularly known as +Capitan Tiago, gave a dinner. In spite of the fact that, contrary to +his usual custom, he had made the announcement only that afternoon, +it was already the sole topic of conversation in Binondo and adjacent +districts, and even in the Walled City, for at that time Capitan +Tiago was considered one of the most hospitable of men, and it was +well known that his house, like his country, shut its doors against +nothing except commerce and all new or bold ideas. Like an electric +shock the announcement ran through the world of parasites, bores, +and hangers-on, whom God in His infinite bounty creates and so kindly +multiplies in Manila. Some looked at once for shoe-polish, others +for buttons and cravats, but all were especially concerned about how +to greet the master of the house in the most familiar tone, in order +to create an atmosphere of ancient friendship or, if occasion should +arise, to excuse a late arrival. + +This dinner was given in a house on Calle Anloague, and although we do +not remember the number we will describe it in such a way that it may +still be recognized, provided the earthquakes have not destroyed it. We +do not believe that its owner has had it torn down, for such labors are +generally entrusted to God or nature--which Powers hold the contracts +also for many of the projects of our government. It is a rather large +building, in the style of many in the country, and fronts upon the arm +of the Pasig which is known to some as the Binondo River, and which, +like all the streams in Manila, plays the varied roles of bath, sewer, +laundry, fishery, means of transportation and communication, and even +drinking water if the Chinese water-carrier finds it convenient. It +is worthy of note that in the distance of nearly a mile this important +artery of the district, where traffic is most dense and movement most +deafening, can boast of only one wooden bridge, which is out of repair +on one side for six months and impassable on the other for the rest of +the year, so that during the hot season the ponies take advantage of +this permanent _status quo_ to jump off the bridge into the water, +to the great surprise of the abstracted mortal who may be dozing +inside the carriage or philosophizing upon the progress of the age. + +The house of which we are speaking is somewhat low and not exactly +correct in all its lines: whether the architect who built it was +afflicted with poor eyesight or whether the earthquakes and typhoons +have twisted it out of shape, no one can say with certainty. A wide +staircase with green newels and carpeted steps leads from the tiled +entrance up to the main floor between rows of flower-pots set upon +pedestals of motley-colored and fantastically decorated Chinese +porcelain. Since there are neither porters nor servants who demand +invitation cards, we will go in, O you who read this, whether friend or +foe, if you are attracted by the strains of the orchestra, the lights, +or the suggestive rattling of dishes, knives, and forks, and if you +wish to see what such a gathering is like in the distant Pearl of +the Orient. Gladly, and for my own comfort, I should spare you this +description of the house, were it not of great importance, since we +mortals in general are very much like tortoises: we are esteemed and +classified according to our shells; in this and still other respects +the mortals of the Philippines in particular also resemble tortoises. + +If we go up the stairs, we immediately find ourselves in a spacious +hallway, called there, for some unknown reason, the _caida_, which +tonight serves as the dining-room and at the same time affords a +place for the orchestra. In the center a large table profusely and +expensively decorated seems to beckon to the hanger-on with sweet +promises, while it threatens the bashful maiden, the simple _dalaga_, +with two mortal hours in the company of strangers whose language and +conversation usually have a very restricted and special character. + +Contrasted with these terrestrial preparations are the motley paintings +on the walls representing religious matters, such as "Purgatory," +"Hell," "The Last Judgment," "The Death of the Just," and "The Death +of the Sinner." + +At the back of the room, fastened in a splendid and elegant framework, +in the Renaissance style, possibly by Arevalo, is a glass case in +which are seen the figures of two old women. The inscription on this +reads: "Our Lady of Peace and Prosperous Voyages, who is worshiped in +Antipolo, visiting in the disguise of a beggar the holy and renowned +Capitana Inez during her sickness." [15] While the work reveals little +taste or art, yet it possesses in compensation an extreme realism, +for to judge from the yellow and bluish tints of her face the sick +woman seems to be already a decaying corpse, and the glasses and other +objects, accompaniments of long illness, are so minutely reproduced +that even their contents may be distinguished. In looking at these +pictures, which excite the appetite and inspire gay bucolic ideas, one +may perhaps be led to think that the malicious host is well acquainted +with the characters of the majority of those who are to sit at his +table and that, in order to conceal his own way of thinking, he has +hung from the ceiling costly Chinese lanterns; bird-cages without +birds; red, green, and blue globes of frosted glass; faded air-plants; +and dried and inflated fishes, which they call _botetes_. The view is +closed on the side of the river by curious wooden arches, half Chinese +and half European, affording glimpses of a terrace with arbors and +bowers faintly lighted by paper lanterns of many colors. + +In the sala, among massive mirrors and gleaming chandeliers, the +guests are assembled. Here, on a raised platform, stands a grand +piano of great price, which tonight has the additional virtue of not +being played upon. Here, hanging on the wall, is an oil-painting of a +handsome man in full dress, rigid, erect, straight as the tasseled cane +he holds in his stiff, ring-covered fingers--the whole seeming to say, +"Ahem! See how well dressed and how dignified I am!" The furnishings +of the room are elegant and perhaps uncomfortable and unhealthful, +since the master of the house would consider not so much the comfort +and health of his guests as his own ostentation, "A terrible thing +is dysentery," he would say to them, "but you are sitting in European +chairs and that is something you don't find every day." + +This room is almost filled with people, the men being separated from +the women as in synagogues and Catholic churches. The women consist of +a number of Filipino and Spanish maidens, who, when they open their +mouths to yawn, instantly cover them with their fans and who murmur +only a few words to each other, any conversation ventured upon dying +out in monosyllables like the sounds heard in a house at night, sounds +made by the rats and lizards. Is it perhaps the different likenesses +of Our Lady hanging on the walls that force them to silence and a +religious demeanor or is it that the women here are an exception? + +A cousin of Capitan Tiago, a sweet-faced old woman, who speaks Spanish +quite badly, is the only one receiving the ladies. To offer to the +Spanish ladies a plate of cigars and _buyos_, to extend her hand to +her countrywomen to be kissed, exactly as the friars do,--this is +the sum of her courtesy, her policy. The poor old lady soon became +bored, and taking advantage of the noise of a plate breaking, rushed +precipitately away, muttering, "_Jesus!_ Just wait, you rascals!" and +failed to reappear. + +The men, for their part, are making more of a stir. Some cadets +in one corner are conversing in a lively manner but in low tones, +looking around now and then to point out different persons in the room +while they laugh more or less openly among themselves. In contrast, +two foreigners dressed in white are promenading silently from one end +of the room to the other with their hands crossed behind their backs, +like the bored passengers on the deck of a ship. All the interest and +the greatest animation proceed from a group composed of two priests, +two civilians, and a soldier who are seated around a small table on +which are seen bottles of wine and English biscuits. + +The soldier, a tall, elderly lieutenant with an austere countenance--a +Duke of Alva straggling behind in the roster of the Civil Guard--talks +little, but in a harsh, curt way. One of the priests, a youthful +Dominican friar, handsome, graceful, polished as the gold-mounted +eyeglasses he wears, maintains a premature gravity. He is the curate +of Binondo and has been in former years a professor in the college of +San Juan de Letran, [16] where he enjoyed the reputation of being a +consummate dialectician, so much so that in the days when the sons +of Guzman [17] still dared to match themselves in subtleties with +laymen, the able disputant B. de Luna had never been able either to +catch or to confuse him, the distinctions made by Fray Sibyla leaving +his opponent in the situation of a fisherman who tries to catch eels +with a lasso. The Dominican says little, appearing to weigh his words. + +Quite in contrast, the other priest, a Franciscan, talks much and +gesticulates more. In spite of the fact that his hair is beginning to +turn gray, he seems to be preserving well his robust constitution, +while his regular features, his rather disquieting glance, his wide +jaws and herculean frame give him the appearance of a Roman noble in +disguise and make us involuntarily recall one of those three monks of +whom Heine tells in his "Gods in Exile," who at the September equinox +in the Tyrol used to cross a lake at midnight and each time place in +the hand of the poor boatman a silver piece, cold as ice, which left +him full of terror. [18] But Fray Damaso is not so mysterious as they +were. He is full of merriment, and if the tone of his voice is rough +like that of a man who has never had occasion to correct himself and +who believes that whatever he says is holy and above improvement, still +his frank, merry laugh wipes out this disagreeable impression and even +obliges us to pardon his showing to the room bare feet and hairy legs +that would make the fortune of a Mendieta in the Quiapo fairs. [19] + +One of the civilians is a very small man with a black beard, the only +thing notable about him being his nose, which, to judge from its size, +ought not to belong to him. The other is a rubicund youth, who seems +to have arrived but recently in the country. With him the Franciscan +is carrying on a lively discussion. + +"You'll see," the friar was saying, "when you've been here a few +months you'll be convinced of what I say. It's one thing to govern +in Madrid and another to live in the Philippines." + +"But--" + +"I, for example," continued Fray Damaso, raising his voice still +higher to prevent the other from speaking, "I, for example, who can +look back over twenty-three years of bananas and _morisqueta_, know +whereof I speak. Don't come at me with theories and fine speeches, +for I know the Indian. [20] Mark well that the moment I arrived in the +country I was assigned to a toxin, small it is true, but especially +devoted to agriculture. I didn't understand Tagalog very well then, +but I was, soon confessing the women, and we understood one another +and they came to like me so well that three years later, when I was +transferred to another and larger town, made vacant by the death of +the native curate, all fell to weeping, they heaped gifts upon me, +they escorted me with music--" + +"But that only goes to show--" + +"Wait, wait! Don't be so hasty! My successor remained a shorter +time, and when he left he had more attendance, more tears, and more +music. Yet he had been more given to whipping and had raised the fees +in the parish to almost double." + +"But you will allow me--" + +"But that isn't all. I stayed in the town of San Diego twenty years +and it has been only a few months since I left it." + +Here he showed signs of chagrin. + +"Twenty years, no one can deny, are more than sufficient to get +acquainted with a town. San Diego has a population of six thousand +souls and I knew every inhabitant as well as if I had been his mother +and wet-nurse. I knew in which foot this one was lame, where the +shoe pinched that one, who was courting that girl, what affairs she +had had and with whom, who was the real father of the child, and so +on--for I was the confessor of every last one, and they took care not +to fail in their duty. Our host, Santiago, will tell you whether I am +speaking the truth, for he has a lot of land there and that was where +we first became friends. Well then, you may see what the Indian is: +when I left I was escorted by only a few old women and some of the +tertiary brethren--and that after I had been there twenty years!" + +"But I don't see what that has to do with the abolition of the tobacco +monopoly," [21] ventured the rubicund youth, taking advantage of the +Franciscan's pausing to drink a glass of sherry. + +Fray Damaso was so greatly surprised that he nearly let his glass +fall. He remained for a moment staring fixedly at the young man. + +"What? How's that?" he was finally able to exclaim in great +wonderment. "Is it possible that you don't see it as clear as +day? Don't you see, my son, that all this proves plainly that the +reforms of the ministers are irrational?" + +It was now the youth's turn to look perplexed. The lieutenant wrinkled +his eyebrows a little more and the small man nodded toward Fray Damaso +equivocally. The Dominican contented himself with almost turning his +back on the whole group. + +"Do you really believe so?" the young man at length asked with great +seriousness, as he looked at the friar with curiosity. + +"Do I believe so? As I believe the Gospel! The Indian is so indolent!" + +"Ah, pardon me for interrupting you," said the young man, lowering +his voice and drawing his chair a little closer, "but you have said +something that awakens all my interest. Does this indolence actually, +naturally, exist among the natives or is there some truth in what a +foreign traveler says: that with this indolence we excuse our own, +as well as our backwardness and our colonial system. He referred to +other colonies whose inhabitants belong to the same race--" + +"Bah, jealousy! Ask Senor Laruja, who also knows this country. Ask him +if there is any equal to the ignorance and indolence of the Indian." + +"It's true," affirmed the little man, who was referred to as Senor +Laruja. "In no part of the world can you find any one more indolent +than the Indian, in no part of the world." + +"Nor more vicious, nor more ungrateful!" + +"Nor more unmannerly!" + +The rubicund youth began to glance about nervously. "Gentlemen," he +whispered, "I believe that we are in the house of an Indian. Those +young ladies--" + +"Bah, don't be so apprehensive! Santiago doesn't consider himself an +Indian--and besides, he's not here. And what if he were! These are +the nonsensical ideas of the newcomers. Let a few months pass and you +will change your opinion, after you have attended a lot of fiestas +and _bailuhan_, slept on cots, and eaten your fill of _tinola_." + +"Ah, is this thing that you call _tinola_ a variety of lotus which +makes people--er--forgetful?" + +"Nothing of the kind!" exclaimed Fray Damaso with a smile. "You're +getting absurd. _Tinola_ is a stew of chicken and squash. How long +has it been since you got here?" + +"Four days," responded the youth, rather offended. + +"Have you come as a government employee?" + +"No, sir, I've come at my own expense to study the country." + +"Man, what a rare bird!" exclaimed Fray Damaso, staring at him with +curiosity. "To come at one's own expense and for such foolishness! What +a wonder! When there are so many books! And with two fingerbreadths +of forehead! Many have written books as big as that! With two +fingerbreadths of forehead!" + +The Dominican here brusquely broke in upon the conversation. "Did +your Reverence, Fray Damaso, say that you had been twenty years in +the town of San Diego and that you had left it? Wasn't your Reverence +satisfied with the town?" + +At this question, which was put in a very natural and almost +negligent tone, Fray Damaso suddenly lost all his merriment and stopped +laughing. "No!" he grunted dryly, and let himself back heavily against +the back of his chair. + +The Dominican went on in a still more indifferent tone. "It must be +painful to leave a town where one has been for twenty years and which +he knows as well as the clothes he wears. I certainly was sorry to +leave Kamiling and that after I had been there only a few months. But +my superiors did it for the good of the Orders for my own good." + +Fray Damaso, for the first time that evening, seemed to be very +thoughtful. Suddenly he brought his fist down on the arm of his chair +and with a heavy breath exclaimed: "Either Religion is a fact or it +is not! That is, either the curates are free or they are not! The +country is going to ruin, it is lost!" And again he struck the arm +of his chair. + +Everybody in the sala turned toward the group with astonished +looks. The Dominican raised his head to stare at the Franciscan from +under his glasses. The two foreigners paused a moment, stared with an +expression of mingled severity and reproof, then immediately continued +their promenade. + +"He's in a bad humor because you haven't treated him with deference," +murmured Senor Laruja into the ear of the rubicund youth. + +"What does your Reverence mean? What's the trouble?" inquired the +Dominican and the lieutenant at the same time, but in different tones. + +"That's why so many calamities come! The ruling powers support +heretics against the ministers of God!" continued the Franciscan, +raising his heavy fists. + +"What do you mean?" again inquired the frowning lieutenant, half +rising from his chair. + +"What do I mean?" repeated Fray Damaso, raising his voice and facing +the lieutenant. "I'll tell you what I mean. I, yes I, mean to say that +when a priest throws out of his cemetery the corpse of a heretic, +no one, not even the King himself, has any right to interfere and +much less to impose any punishment! But a little General--a little +General Calamity--" + +"Padre, his Excellency is the Vice-Regal Patron!" shouted the soldier, +rising to his feet. + +"Excellency! Vice-Regal Patron! What of that!" retorted the Franciscan, +also rising. "In other times he would have been dragged down a +staircase as the religious orders once did with the impious Governor +Bustamente. [22] Those were indeed the days of faith." + +"I warn you that I can't permit this! His Excellency represents his +Majesty the King!" + +"King or rook! What difference does that make? For us there is no +king other than the legitimate [23]--" + +"Halt!" shouted the lieutenant in a threatening tone, as if he were +commanding his soldiers. "Either you withdraw what you have said or +tomorrow I will report it to his Excellency!" + +"Go ahead--right now--go on!" was the sarcastic rejoinder of Fray +Damaso as he approached the officer with clenched fists. "Do you think +that because I wear the cloth, I'm afraid? Go now, while I can lend +you my carriage!" + +The dispute was taking a ludicrous turn, but fortunately the +Dominican intervened. "Gentlemen," he began in an authoritative +tone and with the nasal twang that so well becomes the friars, +"you must not confuse things or seek for offenses where there are +none. We must distinguish in the words of Fray Damaso those of the +man from those of the priest. The latter, as such, _per se_, can +never give offense, because they spring from absolute truth, while +in those of the man there is a secondary distinction to be made: +those which he utters _ab irato_, those which he utters _ex ore_, +but not _in corde_, and those which he does utter _in corde_. These +last are the only ones that can really offend, and only according to +whether they preexisted as a motive _in mente_, or arose solely _per +accidens_ in the heat of the discussion, if there really exist--" + +"But I, by _accidens_ and for my own part, understand his motives, +Padre Sibyla," broke in the old soldier, who saw himself about to +be entangled in so many distinctions that he feared lest he might +still be held to blame. "I understand the motives about which your +Reverence is going to make distinctions. During the absence of Padre +Damaso from San Diego, his coadjutor buried the body of an extremely +worthy individual--yes, sir, extremely worthy, for I had had dealings +with him many times and had been entertained in his house. What +if he never went to confession, what does that matter? Neither do +I go to confession! But to say that he committed suicide is a lie, +a slander! A man such as he was, who has a son upon whom he centers +his affection and hopes, a man who has faith in God, who recognizes +his duties to society, a just and honorable man, does not commit +suicide. This much I will say and will refrain from expressing the +rest of my thoughts here, so please your Reverence." + +Then, turning his back on the Franciscan, he went on: "Now then, this +priest on his return to the town, after maltreating the poor coadjutor, +had the corpse dug up and taken away from the cemetery to be buried I +don't know where. The people of San Diego were cowardly enough not to +protest, although it is true that few knew of the outrage. The dead +man had no relatives there and his only son was in Europe. But his +Excellency learned of the affair and as he is an upright man asked +for some punishment--and Padre Damaso was transferred to a better +town. That's all there is to it. Now your Reverence can make your +distinctions." + +So saying, he withdrew from the group. + +"I'm sorry that I inadvertently brought up so delicate a subject," +said Padre Sibyla sadly. "But, after all, if there has been a gain +in the change of towns--" + +"How is there to be a gain? And what of all the things that +are lost in moving, the letters, and the--and everything that is +mislaid?" interrupted Fray Damaso, stammering in the vain effort to +control his anger. + +Little by little the party resumed its former tranquillity. Other +guests had come in, among them a lame old Spaniard of mild and +inoffensive aspect leaning on the arm of an elderly Filipina, +who was resplendent in frizzes and paint and a European gown. The +group welcomed them heartily, and Doctor De Espadana and his +senora, the _Doctora_ Dona Victorina, took their seats among our +acquaintances. Some newspaper reporters and shopkeepers greeted one +another and moved about aimlessly without knowing just what to do. + +"But can you tell me, Senor Laruja, what kind of man our host +is?" inquired the rubicund youth. "I haven't been introduced to +him yet." + +"They say that he has gone out. I haven't seen him either." + +"There's no need of introductions here," volunteered Fray +Damaso. "Santiago is made of the right stuff." + +"No, he's not the man who invented gunpowder," [24] added Laruja. + +"You too, Senor Laruja," exclaimed Dona Victorina in mild reproach, +as she fanned herself. "How could the poor man invent gunpowder if, +as is said, the Chinese invented it centuries ago?" + +"The Chinese! Are you crazy?" cried Fray Damaso. "Out with you! A +Franciscan, one of my Order, Fray What-do-you-call-him Savalls, +[25] invented it in the--ah the seventh century!" + +"A Franciscan? Well, he must have been a missionary in China, that +Padre Savalls," replied the lady, who did not thus easily part from +her beliefs. + +"Schwartz, [26] perhaps you mean, senora," said Fray Sibyla, without +looking at her. + +"I don't know. Fray Damaso said a Franciscan and I was only repeating." + +"Well, Savalls or Chevas, what does it matter? The difference of +a letter doesn't make him a Chinaman," replied the Franciscan in +bad humor. + +"And in the fourteenth century, not the seventh," added the Dominican +in a tone of correction, as if to mortify the pride of the other friar. + +"Well, neither does a century more or less make him a Dominican." + +"Don't get angry, your Reverence," admonished Padre Sibyla, +smiling. "So much the better that he did invent it so as to save his +brethren the trouble." + +"And did you say, Padre Sibyla, that it was in the fourteenth +century?" asked Dona Victorina with great interest. "Was that before +or after Christ?" + +Fortunately for the individual questioned, two persons entered +the room. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Crisostomo Ibarra + + +It was not two beautiful and well-gowned young women that attracted +the attention of all, even including Fray Sibyla, nor was it his +Excellency the Captain-General with his staff, that the lieutenant +should start from his abstraction and take a couple of steps forward, +or that Fray Damaso should look as if turned to stone; it was simply +the original of the oil-painting leading by the hand a young man +dressed in deep mourning. + +"Good evening, gentlemen! Good evening, Padre!" were the greetings +of Capitan Tiago as he kissed the hands of the priests, who forgot +to bestow upon him their benediction. The Dominican had taken off +his glasses to stare at the newly arrived youth, while Fray Damaso +was pale and unnaturally wide-eyed. + +"I have the honor of presenting to you Don Crisostomo Ibarra, the son +of my deceased friend," went on Capitan Tiago. "The young gentleman +has just arrived from Europe and I went to meet him." + +At the mention of the name exclamations were heard. The lieutenant +forgot to pay his respects to his host and approached the young man, +looking him over from head to foot. The young man himself at that +moment was exchanging the conventional greetings with all in the group, +nor did there seem to be any thing extraordinary about him except +his mourning garments in the center of that brilliantly lighted +room. Yet in spite of them his remarkable stature, his features, +and his movements breathed forth an air of healthy youthfulness in +which both body and mind had equally developed. There might have been +noticed in his frank, pleasant face some faint traces of Spanish +blood showing through a beautiful brown color, slightly flushed at +the cheeks as a result perhaps of his residence in cold countries. + +"What!" he exclaimed with joyful surprise, "the curate of my native +town! Padre Damaso, my father's intimate friend!" + +Every look in the room was directed toward the Franciscan, who made +no movement. + +"Pardon me, perhaps I'm mistaken," added Ibarra, embarrassed. + +"You are not mistaken," the friar was at last able to articulate in a +changed voice, "but your father was never an intimate friend of mine." + +Ibarra slowly withdrew his extended hand, looking greatly surprised, +and turned to encounter the gloomy gaze of the lieutenant fixed on him. + +"Young man, are you the son of Don Rafael Ibarra?" he asked. + +The youth bowed. Fray Damaso partly rose in his chair and stared +fixedly at the lieutenant. + +"Welcome back to your country! And may you be happier in it than your +father was!" exclaimed the officer in a trembling voice. "I knew him +well and can say that he was one of the worthiest and most honorable +men in the Philippines." + +"Sir," replied Ibarra, deeply moved, "the praise you bestow upon my +father removes my doubts about the manner of his death, of which I, +his son, am yet ignorant." + +The eyes of the old soldier filled with tears and turning away hastily +he withdrew. The young man thus found himself alone in the center +of the room. His host having disappeared, he saw no one who might +introduce him to the young ladies, many of whom were watching him +with interest. After a few moments of hesitation he started toward +them in a simple and natural manner. + +"Allow me," he said, "to overstep the rules of strict etiquette. It +has been seven years since I have been in my own country and upon +returning to it I cannot suppress my admiration and refrain from +paying my respects to its most precious ornaments, the ladies." + +But as none of them ventured a reply, he found himself obliged to +retire. He then turned toward a group of men who, upon seeing him +approach, arranged themselves in a semicircle. + +"Gentlemen," he addressed them, "it is a custom in Germany, +when a stranger finds himself at a function and there is no one to +introduce him to those present, that he give his name and so introduce +himself. Allow me to adopt this usage here, not to introduce foreign +customs when our own are so beautiful, but because I find myself driven +to it by necessity. I have already paid my respects to the skies and +to the ladies of my native land; now I wish to greet its citizens, +my fellow-countrymen. Gentlemen, my name is Juan Crisostomo Ibarra +y Magsalin." + +The others gave their names, more or less obscure, and unimportant +here. + +"My name is A----," said one youth dryly, as he made a slight bow. + +"Then I have the honor of addressing the poet whose works have done +so much to keep up my enthusiasm for my native land. It is said that +you do not write any more, but I could not learn the reason." + +"The reason? Because one does not seek inspiration in order to debase +himself and lie. One writer has been imprisoned for having put a +very obvious truth into verse. They may have called me a poet but +they sha'n't call me a fool." + +"And may I enquire what that truth was?" + +"He said that the lion's son is also a lion. He came very near to being +exiled for it," replied the strange youth, moving away from the group. + +A man with a smiling face, dressed in the fashion of the natives +of the country, with diamond studs in his shirt-bosom, came up at +that moment almost running. He went directly to Ibarra and grasped +his hand, saying, "Senor Ibarra, I've been eager to make your +acquaintance. Capitan Tiago is a friend of mine and I knew your +respected father. I am known as Capitan Tinong and live in Tondo, +where you will always be welcome. I hope that you will honor me with a +visit. Come and dine with us tomorrow." He smiled and rubbed his hands. + +"Thank you," replied Ibarra, warmly, charmed with such amiability, +"but tomorrow morning I must leave for San Diego." + +"How unfortunate! Then it will be on your return." + +"Dinner is served!" announced a waiter from the cafe La Campana, and +the guests began to file out toward the table, the women, especially +the Filipinas, with great hesitation. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Dinner + + + Jele, jele, bago quiere. [27] + + +Fray Sibyla seemed to be very content as he moved along tranquilly with +the look of disdain no longer playing about his thin, refined lips. He +even condescended to speak to the lame doctor, De Espadana, who +answered in monosyllables only, as he was somewhat of a stutterer. The +Franciscan was in a frightful humor, kicking at the chairs and even +elbowing a cadet out of his way. The lieutenant was grave while the +others talked vivaciously, praising the magnificence of the table. Dona +Victorina, however, was just turning up her nose in disdain when she +suddenly became as furious as a trampled serpent--the lieutenant had +stepped on the train of her gown. + +"Haven't you any eyes?" she demanded. + +"Yes, senora, two better than yours, but the fact is that I was +admiring your frizzes," retorted the rather ungallant soldier as he +moved away from her. + +As if from instinct the two friars both started toward the head of the +table, perhaps from habit, and then, as might have been expected, the +same thing happened that occurs with the competitors for a university +position, who openly exalt the qualifications and superiority of their +opponents, later giving to understand that just the contrary was meant, +and who murmur and grumble when they do not receive the appointment. + +"For you, Fray Damaso." + +"For you, Fray Sibyla." + +"An older friend of the family--confessor of the deceased lady--age, +dignity, and authority--" + +"Not so very old, either! On the other hand, you are the curate of +the district," replied Fray Damaso sourly, without taking his hand +from the back of the chair. + +"Since you command it, I obey," concluded Fray Sibyla, disposing +himself to take the seat. + +"I don't command it!" protested the Franciscan. "I don't command it!" + +Fray Sibyla was about to seat himself without paying any more attention +to these protests when his eyes happened to encounter those of the +lieutenant. According to clerical opinion in the Philippines, the +highest secular official is inferior to a friar-cook: _cedant arma +togae_, said Cicero in the Senate--_cedant arma cottae_, say the +friars in the Philippines. [28] + +But Fray Sibyla was a well-bred person, so he said, "Lieutenant, here +we are in the world and not in the church. The seat of honor belongs +to you." To judge from the tone of his voice, however, even in the +world it really did belong to him, and the lieutenant, either to keep +out of trouble or to avoid sitting between two friars, curtly declined. + +None of the claimants had given a thought to their host. Ibarra +noticed him watching the scene with a smile of satisfaction. + +"How's this, Don Santiago, aren't you going to sit down with us?" + +But all the seats were occupied; Lucullus was not to sup in the house +of Lucullus. + +"Sit still, don't get up!" said Capitan Tiago, placing his hand on +the young man's shoulder. "This fiesta is for the special purpose +of giving thanks to the Virgin for your safe arrival. _Oy!_ Bring +on the _tinola!_ I ordered _tinola_ as you doubtless have not tasted +any for so long a time." + +A large steaming tureen was brought in. The Dominican, after muttering +the benedicite, to which scarcely any one knew how to respond, began +to serve the contents. But whether from carelessness or other cause, +Padre Damaso received a plate in which a bare neck and a tough wing +of chicken floated about in a large quantity of soup amid lumps of +squash, while the others were eating legs and breasts, especially +Ibarra, to whose lot fell the second joints. Observing all this, the +Franciscan mashed up some pieces of squash, barely tasted the soup, +dropped his spoon noisily, and roughly pushed his plate away. The +Dominican was very busy talking to the rubicund youth. + +"How long have you been away from the country?" Laruja asked Ibarra. + +"Almost seven years." + +"Then you have probably forgotten all about it." + +"Quite the contrary. Even if my country does seem to have forgotten +me, I have always thought about it." + +"How do you mean that it has forgotten you?" inquired the rubicund +youth. + +"I mean that it has been a year since I have received any news from +here, so that I find myself a stranger who does not yet know how and +when his father died." + +This statement drew a sudden exclamation from the lieutenant. + +"And where were you that you didn't telegraph?" asked Dona +Victorina. "When we were married we telegraphed to the Peninsula." [29] + +"Senora, for the past two years I have been in the northern part of +Europe, in Germany and Russian Poland." + +Doctor De Espadana, who until now had not ventured upon any +conversation, thought this a good opportunity to say something. "I--I +knew in S-spain a P-pole from W-warsaw, c-called S-stadtnitzki, if +I r-remember c-correctly. P-perhaps you s-saw him?" he asked timidly +and almost blushingly. + +"It's very likely," answered Ibarra in a friendly manner, "but just +at this moment I don't recall him." + +"B-but you c-couldn't have c-confused him with any one else," went +on the Doctor, taking courage. "He was r-ruddy as gold and t-talked +Spanish very b-badly." + +"Those are good clues, but unfortunately while there I talked Spanish +only in a few consulates." + +"How then did you get along?" asked the wondering Dona Victorina. + +"The language of the country served my needs, madam." + +"Do you also speak English?" inquired the Dominican, who had been in +Hongkong, and who was a master of pidgin-English, that adulteration +of Shakespeare's tongue used by the sons of the Celestial Empire. + +"I stayed in England a year among people who talked nothing but +English." + +"Which country of Europe pleased you the most?" asked the rubicund +youth. + +"After Spain, my second fatherland, any country of free Europe." + +"And you who seem to have traveled so much, tell us what do you +consider the most notable thing that you have seen?" inquired Laruja. + +Ibarra appeared to reflect. "Notable--in what way?" + +"For example, in regard to the life of the people--the social, +political, religious life--in general, in its essential features--as +a whole." + +Ibarra paused thoughtfully before replying. "Frankly, I like everything +in those people, setting aside the national pride of each one. But +before visiting a country, I tried to familiarize myself with its +history, its Exodus, if I may so speak, and afterwards I found +everything quite natural. I have observed that the prosperity or +misery of each people is in direct proportion to its liberties or its +prejudices and, accordingly, to the sacrifices or the selfishness of +its forefathers." + +"And haven't you observed anything more than that?" broke in the +Franciscan with a sneer. Since the beginning of the dinner he had not +uttered a single word, his whole attention having been taking up, +no doubt, with the food. "It wasn't worth while to squander your +fortune to learn so trifling a thing. Any schoolboy knows that." + +Ibarra was placed in an embarrassing position, and the rest looked +from one to the other as if fearing a disagreeable scene. He was +about to say, "The dinner is nearly over and his Reverence is now +satiated," but restrained himself and merely remarked to the others, +"Gentlemen, don't be surprised at the familiarity with which our former +curate treats me. He treated me so when I was a child, and the years +seem to make no difference in his Reverence. I appreciate it, too, +because it recalls the days when his Reverence visited our home and +honored my father's table." + +The Dominican glanced furtively at the Franciscan, who was trembling +visibly. Ibarra continued as he rose from the table: "You will now +permit me to retire, since, as I have just arrived and must go away +tomorrow morning, there remain some important business matters for me +to attend to. The principal part of the dinner is over and I drink +but little wine and seldom touch cordials. Gentlemen, all for Spain +and the Philippines!" Saying this, he drained his glass, which he had +not before touched. The old lieutenant silently followed his example. + +"Don't go!" whispered Capitan Tiago. "Maria Clara will be here. Isabel +has gone to get her. The new curate of your town, who is a saint, +is also coming." + +"I'll call tomorrow before starting. I've a very important visit to +make now." With this he went away. + +Meanwhile the Franciscan had recovered himself. "Do you see?" he +said to the rubicund youth, at the same time flourishing his dessert +spoon. "That comes from pride. They can't stand to have the curate +correct them. They even think that they are respectable persons. It's +the evil result of sending young men to Europe. The government ought +to prohibit it." + +"And how about the lieutenant?" Dona Victorina chimed in upon the +Franciscan, "he didn't get the frown off his face the whole evening. He +did well to leave us so old and still only a lieutenant!" The lady +could not forget the allusion to her frizzes and the trampled ruffles +of her gown. + +That night the rubicund youth wrote down, among other things, the +following title for a chapter in his _Colonial Studies_: "Concerning +the manner in which the neck and wing of a chicken in a friar's plate +of soup may disturb the merriment of a feast." Among his notes there +appeared these observations: "In the Philippines the most unnecessary +person at a dinner is he who gives it, for they are quite capable of +beginning by throwing the host into the street and then everything +will go on smoothly. Under present conditions it would perhaps be a +good thing not to allow the Filipinos to leave the country, and even +not to teach them to read." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Heretic and Filibuster + + +Ibarra stood undecided for a moment. The night breeze, which during +those months blows cool enough in Manila, seemed to drive from his +forehead the light cloud that had darkened it. He took off his hat and +drew a deep breath. Carriages flashed by, public rigs moved along at a +sleepy pace, pedestrians of many nationalities were passing. He walked +along at that irregular pace which indicates thoughtful abstraction +or freedom from care, directing his steps toward Binondo Plaza and +looking about him as if to recall the place. There were the same +streets and the identical houses with their white and blue walls, +whitewashed, or frescoed in bad imitation of granite; the church +continued to show its illuminated clock face; there were the same +Chinese shops with their soiled curtains and their iron gratings, in +one of which was a bar that he, in imitation of the street urchins of +Manila, had twisted one night; it was still unstraightened. "How slowly +everything moves," he murmured as he turned into Calle Sacristia. The +ice-cream venders were repeating the same shrill cry, "_Sorbeteee!_" +while the smoky lamps still lighted the identical Chinese stands and +those of the old women who sold candy and fruit. + +"Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "There's the same Chinese who was here +seven years ago, and that old woman--the very same! It might be said +that tonight I've dreamed of a seven years' journey in Europe. Good +heavens, that pavement is still in the same unrepaired condition +as when I left!" True it was that the stones of the sidewalk on the +corner of San Jacinto and Sacristia were still loose. + +While he was meditating upon this marvel of the city's stability in +a country where everything is so unstable, a hand was placed lightly +on his shoulder. He raised his head to see the old lieutenant gazing +at him with something like a smile in place of the hard expression +and the frown which usually characterized him. + +"Young man, be careful! Learn from your father!" was the abrupt +greeting of the old soldier. + +"Pardon me, but you seem to have thought a great deal of my father. Can +you tell me how he died?" asked Ibarra, staring at him. + +"What! Don't you know about it?" asked the officer. + +"I asked Don Santiago about it, but he wouldn't promise to tell me +until tomorrow. Perhaps you know?" + +"I should say I do, as does everybody else. He died in prison!" + +The young man stepped backward a pace and gazed searchingly at the +lieutenant. "In prison? Who died in prison?" + +"Your father, man, since he was in confinement," was the somewhat +surprised answer. + +"My father--in prison--confined in a prison? What are you talking +about? Do you know who my father was? Are you--?" demanded the young +man, seizing the officer's arm. + +"I rather think that I'm not mistaken. He was Don Rafael Ibarra." + +"Yes, Don Rafael Ibarra," echoed the youth weakly. + +"Well, I thought you knew about it," muttered the soldier in a +tone of compassion as he saw what was passing in Ibarra's mind. "I +supposed that you--but be brave! Here one cannot be honest and keep +out of jail." + +"I must believe that you are not joking with me," replied Ibarra in +a weak voice, after a few moments' silence. "Can you tell me why he +was in prison?" + +The old man seemed to be perplexed. "It's strange to me that your +family affairs were not made known to you." + +"His last letter, a year ago, said that I should not be uneasy if +he did not write, as he was very busy. He charged me to continue my +studies and--sent me his blessing." + +"Then he wrote that letter to you just before he died. It will soon +be a year since we buried him." + +"But why was my father a prisoner?" + +"For a very honorable reason. But come with me to the barracks and +I'll tell you as we go along. Take my arm." + +They moved along for some time in silence. The elder seemed to be in +deep thought and to be seeking inspiration from his goatee, which he +stroked continually. + +"As you well know," he began, "your father was the richest man in +the province, and while many loved and respected him, there were +also some who envied and hated him. We Spaniards who come to the +Philippines are unfortunately not all we ought to be. I say this as +much on account of one of your ancestors as on account of your father's +enemies. The continual changes, the corruption in the higher circles, +the favoritism, the low cost and the shortness of the journey, are to +blame for it all. The worst characters of the Peninsula come here, +and even if a good man does come, the country soon ruins him. So it +was that your father had a number of enemies among the curates and +other Spaniards." + +Here he hesitated for a while. "Some months after your departure the +troubles with Padre Damaso began, but I am unable to explain the real +cause of them. Fray Damaso accused him of not coming to confession, +although he had not done so formerly and they had nevertheless been +good friends, as you may still remember. Moreover, Don Rafael was a +very upright man, more so than many of those who regularly attend +confession and than the confessors themselves. He had framed for +himself a rigid morality and often said to me, when he talked of +these troubles, 'Senor Guevara, do you believe that God will pardon +any crime, a murder for instance, solely by a man's telling it to a +priest--a man after all and one whose duty it is to keep quiet about +it--by his fearing that he will roast in hell as a penance--by being +cowardly and certainly shameless into the bargain? I have another +conception of God,' he used to say, 'for in my opinion one evil does +not correct another, nor is a crime to be expiated by vain lamentings +or by giving alms to the Church. Take this example: if I have killed +the father of a family, if I have made of a woman a sorrowing widow +and destitute orphans of some happy children, have I satisfied eternal +Justice by letting myself be hanged, or by entrusting my secret to one +who is obliged to guard it for me, or by giving alms to priests who +are least in need of them, or by buying indulgences and lamenting +night and day? What of the widow and the orphans? My conscience +tells me that I should try to take the place of him whom I killed, +that I should dedicate my whole life to the welfare of the family +whose misfortunes I caused. But even so, who can replace the love of +a husband and a father?' Thus your father reasoned and by this strict +standard of conduct regulated all his actions, so that it can be said +that he never injured anybody. On the contrary, he endeavored by his +good deeds to wipe out some injustices which he said your ancestors +had committed. But to get back to his troubles with the curate--these +took on a serious aspect. Padre Damaso denounced him from the pulpit, +and that he did not expressly name him was a miracle, since anything +might have been expected of such a character. I foresaw that sooner +or later the affair would have serious results." + +Again the old lieutenant paused. "There happened to be wandering about +the province an ex-artilleryman who has been discharged from the army +on account of his stupidity and ignorance. As the man had to live and +he was not permitted to engage in manual labor, which would injure +our prestige, he somehow or other obtained a position as collector of +the tax on vehicles. The poor devil had no education at all, a fact of +which the natives soon became aware, as it was a marvel for them to see +a Spaniard who didn't know how to read and write. Every one ridiculed +him and the payment of the tax was the occasion of broad smiles. He +knew that he was an object of ridicule and this tended to sour his +disposition even more, rough and bad as it had formerly been. They +would purposely hand him the papers upside down to see his efforts +to read them, and wherever he found a blank space he would scribble +a lot of pothooks which rather fitly passed for his signature. The +natives mocked while they paid him. He swallowed his pride and made +the collections, but was in such a state of mind that he had no respect +for any one. He even came to have some hard words with your father. + +"One day it happened that he was in a shop turning a document over and +over in the effort to get it straight when a schoolboy began to make +signs to his companions and to point laughingly at the collector with +his finger. The fellow heard the laughter and saw the joke reflected +in the solemn faces of the bystanders. He lost his patience and, +turning quickly, started to chase the boys, who ran away shouting _ba, +be, bi, bo, bu_. [30] Blind with rage and unable to catch them, he +threw his cane and struck one of the boys on the head, knocking him +down. He ran up and began to kick the fallen boy, and none of those +who had been laughing had the courage to interfere. Unfortunately, +your father happened to come along just at that time. He ran forward +indignantly, caught the collector by the arm, and reprimanded him +severely. The artilleryman, who was no doubt beside himself with rage, +raised his hand, but your father was too quick for him, and with the +strength of a descendant of the Basques--some say that he struck him, +others that he merely pushed him, but at any rate the man staggered +and fell a little way off, striking his head against a stone. Don +Rafael quietly picked the wounded boy up and carried him to the town +hall. The artilleryman bled freely from the mouth and died a few +moments later without recovering consciousness. + +"As was to be expected, the authorities intervened and arrested +your father. All his hidden enemies at once rose up and false +accusations came from all sides. He was accused of being a heretic +and a filibuster. To be a heretic is a great danger anywhere, +but especially so at that time when the province was governed by an +alcalde who made a great show of his piety, who with his servants used +to recite his rosary in the church in a loud voice, perhaps that all +might hear and pray with him. But to be a filibuster is worse than +to be a heretic and to kill three or four tax-collectors who know +how to read, write, and attend to business. Every one abandoned him, +and his books and papers were seized. He was accused of subscribing to +_El Correo de Ultramar_, and to newspapers from Madrid, of having sent +you to Germany, of having in his possession letters and a photograph +of a priest who had been legally executed, and I don't know what +not. Everything served as an accusation, even the fact that he, a +descendant of Peninsulars, wore a camisa. Had it been any one but +your father, it is likely that he would soon have been set free, +as there was a physician who ascribed the death of the unfortunate +collector to a hemorrhage. But his wealth, his confidence in the law, +and his hatred of everything that was not legal and just, wrought his +undoing. In spite of my repugnance to asking for mercy from any one, +I applied personally to the Captain-General--the predecessor of our +present one--and urged upon him that there could not be anything of +the filibuster about a man who took up with all the Spaniards, even +the poor emigrants, and gave them food and shelter, and in whose +veins yet flowed the generous blood of Spain. It was in vain that +I pledged my life and swore by my poverty and my military honor. I +succeeded only in being coldly listened to and roughly sent away with +the epithet of _chiflado_." [31] + +The old man paused to take a deep breath, and after noticing the +silence of his companion, who was listening with averted face, +continued: "At your father's request I prepared the defense in the +case. I went first to the celebrated Filipino lawyer, young A----, +but he refused to take the case. 'I should lose it,' he told me, +'and my defending him would furnish the motive for another charge +against him and perhaps one against me. Go to Senor M----, who is a +forceful and fluent speaker and a Peninsular of great influence.' I +did so, and the noted lawyer took charge of the case, and conducted it +with mastery and brilliance. But your father's enemies were numerous, +some of them hidden and unknown. False witnesses abounded, and their +calumnies, which under other circumstances would have melted away +before a sarcastic phrase from the defense, here assumed shape and +substance. If the lawyer succeeded in destroying the force of their +testimony by making them contradict each other and even perjure +themselves, new charges were at once preferred. They accused him of +having illegally taken possession of a great deal of land and demanded +damages. They said that he maintained relations with the tulisanes in +order that his crops and animals might not be molested by them. At +last the case became so confused that at the end of a year no one +understood it. The alcalde had to leave and there came in his place +one who had the reputation of being honest, but unfortunately he stayed +only a few months, and his successor was too fond of good horses. + +"The sufferings, the worries, the hard life in the prison, or the pain +of seeing so much ingratitude, broke your father's iron constitution +and he fell ill with that malady which only the tomb can cure. When +the case was almost finished and he was about to be acquitted of the +charge of being an enemy of the fatherland and of being the murderer +of the tax-collector, he died in the prison with no one at his side. I +arrived just in time to see him breathe his last." + +The old lieutenant became silent, but still Ibarra said nothing. They +had arrived meanwhile at the door of the barracks, so the soldier +stopped and said, as he grasped the youth's hand, "Young man, for +details ask Capitan Tiago. Now, good night, as I must return to duty +and see that all's well." + +Silently, but with great feeling, Ibarra shook the lieutenant's bony +hand and followed him with his eyes until he disappeared. Then he +turned slowly and signaled to a passing carriage. "To Lala's Hotel," +was the direction he gave in a scarcely audible voice. + +"This fellow must have just got out of jail," thought the cochero as +he whipped up his horses. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A Star in a Dark Night + + +Ibarra went to his room, which overlooked the river, and dropping +into a chair gazed out into the vast expanse of the heavens spread +before him through the open window. The house on the opposite bank +was profusely lighted, and gay strains of music, largely from stringed +instruments, were borne across the river even to his room. + +If the young man had been less preoccupied, if he had had more +curiosity and had cared to see with his opera glasses what was going +on in that atmosphere of light, he would have been charmed with one of +those magical and fantastic spectacles, the like of which is sometimes +seen in the great theaters of Europe. To the subdued strains of the +orchestra there seems to appear in the midst of a shower of light, a +cascade of gold and diamonds in an Oriental setting, a deity wrapped +in misty gauze, a sylph enveloped in a luminous halo, who moves +forward apparently without touching the floor. In her presence the +flowers bloom, the dance awakens, the music bursts forth, and troops +of devils, nymphs, satyrs, demons, angels, shepherds and shepherdesses, +dance, shake their tambourines, and whirl about in rhythmic evolutions, +each one placing some tribute at the feet of the goddess. Ibarra would +have seen a beautiful and graceful maiden, clothed in the picturesque +garments of the daughters of the Philippines, standing in the center +Of a semicircle made up of every class of people, Chinese, Spaniards, +Filipinos, soldiers, curates, old men and young, all gesticulating +and moving about in a lively manner. Padre Damaso stood at the side +of the beauty, smiling like one especially blessed. Fray Sibyla--yes, +Fray Sibyla himself--was talking to her. Dona Victorina was arranging +in the magnificent hair of the maiden a string of pearls and diamonds +which threw out all the beautiful tints of the rainbow. She was white, +perhaps too much so, and whenever she raised her downcast eyes there +shone forth a spotless soul. When she smiled so as to show her small +white teeth the beholder realized that the rose is only a flower +and ivory but the elephant's tusk. From out the filmy pina draperies +around her white and shapely neck there blinked, as the Tagalogs say, +the bright eyes of a collar of diamonds. One man only in all the crowd +seemed insensible to her radiant influence--a young Franciscan, thin, +wasted, and pale, who watched her from a distance, motionless as a +statue and scarcely breathing. + +But Ibarra saw nothing of all this--his eyes were fixed on other +things. A small space was enclosed by four bare and grimy walls, in +one of which was an iron grating. On the filthy and loathsome floor +was a mat upon which an old man lay alone in the throes of death, +an old man breathing with difficulty and turning his head from side +to side as amid his tears he uttered a name. The old man was alone, +but from time to time a groan or the rattle of a chain was heard on +the other side of the wall. Far away there was a merry feast, almost +an orgy; a youth was laughing, shouting, and pouring wine upon the +flowers amid the applause and drunken laughter of his companions. The +old man had the features of _his_ father, the youth was himself, and +the name that the old man uttered with tears was _his own_ name! This +was what the wretched young man saw before him. The lights in the +house opposite were extinguished, the music and the noises ceased, +but Ibarra still heard the anguished cry of his father calling upon +his son in the hour of his death. + +Silence had now blown its hollow breath over the city, and all +things seemed to sleep in the embrace of nothingness. The cock-crow +alternated with the strokes of the clocks in the church towers and +the mournful cries of the weary sentinels. A waning moon began to +appear, and everything seemed to be at rest; even Ibarra himself, +worn out by his sad thoughts or by his journey, now slept. + +Only the young Franciscan whom we saw not so long ago standing +motionless and silent in the midst of the gaiety of the ballroom slept +not, but kept vigil. In his cell, with his elbow upon the window +sill and his pale, worn cheek resting on the palm of his hand, he +was gazing silently into the distance where a bright star glittered +in the dark sky. The star paled and disappeared, the dim light of the +waning moon faded, but the friar did not move from his place--he was +gazing out over the field of Bagumbayan and the sleeping sea at the +far horizon wrapped in the morning mist. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Capitan Tiago + + + Thy will be done on earth. + + +While our characters are deep in slumber or busy with their breakfasts, +let us turn our attention to Capitan Tiago. We have never had the +honor of being his guest, so it is neither our right nor our duty to +pass him by slightingly, even under the stress of important events. + +Low in stature, with a clear complexion, a corpulent figure and a +full face, thanks to the liberal supply of fat which according to his +admirers was the gift of Heaven and which his enemies averred was the +blood of the poor, Capitan Tiago appeared to be younger than he really +was; he might have been thought between thirty and thirty-five years of +age. At the time of our story his countenance always wore a sanctified +look; his little round head, covered with ebony-black hair cut long in +front and short behind, was reputed to contain many things of weight; +his eyes, small but with no Chinese slant, never varied in expression; +his nose was slender and not at all inclined to flatness; and if his +mouth had not been disfigured by the immoderate use of tobacco and +buyo, which, when chewed and gathered in one cheek, marred the symmetry +of his features, we would say that he might properly have considered +himself a handsome man and have passed for such. Yet in spite of this +bad habit he kept marvelously white both his natural teeth and also +the two which the dentist furnished him at twelve pesos each. + +He was considered one of the richest landlords in Binondo and a +planter of some importance by reason of his estates in Pampanga and +Laguna, principally in the town of San Diego, the income from which +increased with each year. San Diego, on account of its agreeable +baths, its famous cockpit, and his cherished memories of the place, +was his favorite town, so that he spent at least two months of the year +there. His holdings of real estate in the city were large, and it is +superfluous to state that the opium monopoly controlled by him and a +Chinese brought in large profits. They also had the lucrative contract +of feeding the prisoners in Bilibid and furnished zacate to many of the +stateliest establishments in Manila u through the medium of contracts, +of course. Standing well with all the authorities, clever, cunning, +and even bold in speculating upon the wants of others, he was the only +formidable rival of a certain Perez in the matter of the farming-out of +revenues and the sale of offices and appointments, which the Philippine +government always confides to private persons. Thus, at the time of +the events here narrated, Capitan Tiago was a happy man in so far as +it is possible for a narrow-brained individual to be happy in such +a land: he was rich, and at peace with God, the government, and men. + +That he was at peace with God was beyond doubt,--almost like religion +itself. There is no need to be on bad terms with the good God when one +is prosperous on earth, when one has never had any direct dealings with +Him and has never lent Him any money. Capitan Tiago himself had never +offered any prayers to Him, even in his greatest difficulties, for +he was rich and his gold prayed for him. For masses and supplications +high and powerful priests had been created; for novenas and rosaries +God in His infinite bounty had created the poor for the service of +the rich--the poor who for a peso could be secured to recite sixteen +mysteries and to read all the sacred books, even the Hebrew Bible, for +a little extra. If at any time in the midst of pressing difficulties +he needed celestial aid and had not at hand even a red Chinese taper, +he would call upon his most adored saints, promising them many things +for the purpose of putting them under obligation to him and ultimately +convincing them of the righteousness of his desires. + +The saint to whom he promised the most, and whose promises he was +the most faithful in fulfilling, was the Virgin of Antipolo, Our +Lady of Peace and Prosperous Voyages. [32] With many of the lesser +saints he was not very punctual or even decent; and sometimes, +after having his petitions granted, he thought no more about them, +though of course after such treatment he did not bother them again, +when occasion arose. Capitan Tiago knew that the calendar was full of +idle saints who perhaps had nothing wherewith to occupy their time up +there in heaven. Furthermore, to the Virgin of Antipolo he ascribed +greater power and efficiency than to all the other Virgins combined, +whether they carried silver canes, naked or richly clothed images of +the Christ Child, scapularies, rosaries, or girdles. Perhaps this +reverence was owing to the fact that she was a very strict Lady, +watchful of her name, and, according to the senior sacristan of +Antipolo, an enemy of photography. When she was angered she turned +black as ebony, while the other Virgins were softer of heart and more +indulgent. It is a well-known fact that some minds love an absolute +monarch rather than a constitutional one, as witness Louis XIV and +Louis XVI, Philip II and Amadeo I. This fact perhaps explains why +infidel Chinese and even Spaniards may be seen kneeling in the famous +sanctuary; what is not explained is why the priests run away with +the money of the terrible Image, go to America, and get married there. + +In the sala of Capitan Tiago's house, that door, hidden by a silk +curtain leads to a small chapel or oratory such as must be lacking +in no Filipino home. There were placed his household gods--and we +say "gods" because he was inclined to polytheism rather than to +monotheism, which he had never come to understand. There could be +seen images of the Holy Family with busts and extremities of ivory, +glass eyes, long eyelashes, and curly blond hair--masterpieces of +Santa Cruz sculpture. Paintings in oil by artists of Paco and Ermita +[33] represented martyrdoms of saints and miracles of the Virgin; +St. Lucy gazing at the sky and carrying in a plate an extra pair +of eyes with lashes and eyebrows, such as are seen painted in the +triangle of the Trinity or on Egyptian tombs; St. Pascual Bailon; +St. Anthony of Padua in a _guingon_ habit looking with tears upon a +Christ Child dressed as a Captain-General with the three-cornered hat, +sword, and boots, as in the children's ball at Madrid that character +is represented--which signified for Capitan Tiago that while God +might include in His omnipotence the power of a Captain-General of +the Philippines, the Franciscans would nevertheless play with Him +as with a doll. There, might also be seen a St. Anthony the Abbot +with a hog by his side, a hog that for the worthy Capitan was as +miraculous as the saint himself, for which reason he never dared to +refer to it as the _hog_, but as the _creature of holy St. Anthony_; +a St. Francis of Assisi in a coffee-colored robe and with seven +wings, placed over a St. Vincent who had only two but in compensation +carried a trumpet; a St. Peter the Martyr with his head split open +by the talibon of an evil-doer and held fast by a kneeling infidel, +side by side with another St. Peter cutting off the ear of a Moro, +Malchus [34] no doubt, who was gnawing his lips and writhing with +pain, while a fighting-cock on a doric column crowed and flapped his +wings--from all of which Capitan Tiago deduced that in order to be +a saint it was just as well to smite as to be smitten. + +Who could enumerate that army of images and recount the virtues and +perfections that were treasured there! A whole chapter would hardly +suffice. Yet we must not pass over in silence a beautiful St. Michael +of painted and gilded wood almost four feet high. The Archangel +is biting his lower lip and with flashing eyes, frowning forehead, +and rosy cheeks is grasping a Greek shield and brandishing in his +right hand a Sulu kris, ready, as would appear from his attitude and +expression, to smite a worshiper or any one else who might approach, +rather than the horned and tailed devil that had his teeth set in +his girlish leg. + +Capitan Tiago never went near this image from fear of a miracle. Had +not other images, even those more rudely carved ones that issue from +the carpenter shops of Paete, [35] many times come to life for the +confusion and punishment of incredulous sinners? It is a well-known +fact that a certain image of Christ in Spain, when invoked as a witness +of promises of love, had assented with a movement of the head in the +presence of the judge, and that another such image had reached out its +right arm to embrace St. Lutgarda. And furthermore, had he not himself +read a booklet recently published about a mimic sermon preached by an +image of St. Dominic in Soriano? True, the saint had not said a single +word, but from his movements it was inferred, at any rate the author of +the booklet inferred, that he was announcing the end of the world. [36] +Was it not reported, too, that the Virgin of Luta in the town of Lipa +had one cheek swollen larger than the other and that there was mud +on the borders of her gown? Does not this prove mathematically that +the holy images also walk about without holding up their skirts and +that they even suffer from the toothache, perhaps for our sake? Had +he not seen with his own eyes, during the regular Good-Friday sermon, +all the images of Christ move and bow their heads thrice in unison, +thereby calling forth wails and cries from the women and other +sensitive souls destined for Heaven? More? We ourselves have seen +the preacher show to the congregation at the moment of the descent +from the cross a handkerchief stained with blood, and were ourselves +on the point of weeping piously, when, to the sorrow of our soul, a +sacristan assured us that it was all a joke, that the blood was that +of a chicken which had been roasted and eaten on the spot in spite +of the fact that it was Good Friday--and the sacristan was fat! So +Capitan Tiago, even though he was a prudent and pious individual, +took care not to approach the kris of St. Michael. "Let's take no +chances," he would say to himself, "I know that he's an archangel, +but I don't trust him, no, I don't trust him." + +Not a year passed without his joining with an orchestra in the +pilgrimage to the wealthy shrine of Antipolo. He paid for two +thanksgiving masses of the many that make up the three novenas, +and also for the days when there are no novenas, and washed himself +afterwards in the famous _batis_, or pool, where the sacred Image +herself had bathed. Her votaries can even yet discern the tracks of +her feet and the traces of her locks in the hard rock, where she dried +them, resembling exactly those made by any woman who uses coconut-oil, +and just as if her hair had been steel or diamonds and she had weighed +a thousand tons. We should like to see the terrible Image once shake +her sacred hair in the eyes of those credulous persons and put her +foot upon their tongues or their heads. There at the very edge of the +pool Capitan Tiago made it his duty to eat roast pig, _sinigang_ of +_dalag_ with _alibambang_ leaves, and other more or less appetizing +dishes. The two masses would cost him over four hundred pesos, but +it was cheap, after all, if one considered the glory that the Mother +of the Lord would acquire from the pin-wheels, rockets, bombs, and +mortars, and also the increased profits which, thanks to these masses, +would come to one during the year. + +But Antipolo was not the only theater of his ostentatious devotion. In +Binondo, in Pampanga, and in the town of San Diego, when he was about +to put up a fighting-cock with large wagers, he would send gold moneys +to the curate for propitiatory masses and, just as the Romans consulted +the augurs before a battle, giving food to the sacred fowls, so Capitan +Tiago would also consult his augurs, with the modifications befitting +the times and the new truths, tie would watch closely the flame of +the tapers, the smoke from the incense, the voice of the priest, +and from it all attempt to forecast his luck. It was an admitted +fact that he lost very few wagers, and in those cases it was due to +the unlucky circumstance that the officiating priest was hoarse, +or that the altar-candles were few or contained too much tallow, +or that a bad piece of money had slipped in with the rest. The +warden of the Brotherhood would then assure him that such reverses +were tests to which he was subjected by Heaven to receive assurance +of his fidelity and devotion. So, beloved by the priests, respected +by the sacristans, humored by the Chinese chandlers and the dealers +in fireworks, he was a man happy in the religion of this world, and +persons of discernment and great piety even claimed for him great +influence in the celestial court. + +That he was at peace with the government cannot be doubted, however +difficult an achievement it may seem. Incapable of any new idea and +satisfied with his _modus vivendi_, he was ever ready to gratify +the desires of the last official of the fifth class in every one of +the offices, to make presents of hams, capons, turkeys, and Chinese +fruits at all seasons of the year. If he heard any one speak ill of +the natives, he, who did not consider himself as such, would join in +the chorus and speak worse of them; if any one aspersed the Chinese or +Spanish mestizos, he would do the same, perhaps because he considered +himself become a full-blooded Iberian. He was ever first to talk in +favor of any new imposition of taxes, or special assessment, especially +when he smelled a contract or a farming assignment behind it. He always +had an orchestra ready for congratulating and serenading the governors, +judges, and other officials on their name-days and birthdays, at the +birth or death of a relative, and in fact at every variation from the +usual monotony. For such occasions he would secure laudatory poems +and hymns in which were celebrated "the kind and loving governor," +"the brave and courageous judge for whom there awaits in heaven the +palm of the just," with many other things of the same kind. + +He was the president of the rich guild of mestizos in spite of +the protests of many of them, who did not regard him as one of +themselves. In the two years that he held this office he wore out ten +frock coats, an equal number of high hats, and half a dozen canes. The +frock coat and the high hat were in evidence at the Ayuntamiento, +in the governor-general's palace, and at military headquarters; the +high hat and the frock coat might have been noticed in the cockpit, +in the market, in the processions, in the Chinese shops, and under the +hat and within the coat might have been seen the perspiring Capitan +Tiago, waving his tasseled cane, directing, arranging, and throwing +everything into disorder with marvelous activity and a gravity even +more marvelous. + +So the authorities saw in him a safe man, gifted with the best of +dispositions, peaceful, tractable, and obsequious, who read no books +or newspapers from Spain, although he spoke Spanish well. Indeed, +they rather looked upon him with the feeling with which a poor student +contemplates the worn-out heel of his old shoe, twisted by his manner +of walking. In his case there was truth in both the Christian and +profane proverbs _beati pauperes spiritu_ and _beati possidentes_, +[37] and there might well be applied to him that translation, +according to some people incorrect, from the Greek, "Glory to God +in the highest and peace to men of good-will on earth!" even though +we shall see further along that it is not sufficient for men to have +good-will in order to live in peace. + +The irreverent considered him a fool, the poor regarded him +as a heartless and cruel exploiter of misery and want, and his +inferiors saw in him a despot and a tyrant. As to the women, ah, +the women! Accusing rumors buzzed through the wretched nipa huts, +and it was said that wails and sobs might be heard mingled with the +weak cries of an infant. More than one young woman was pointed out by +her neighbors with the finger of scorn: she had a downcast glance and +a faded cheek. But such things never robbed him of sleep nor did any +maiden disturb his peace. It was an old woman who made him suffer, +an old woman who was his rival in piety and who had gained from many +curates such enthusiastic praises and eulogies as he in his best days +had never received. + +Between Capitan Tiago and this widow, who had inherited from brothers +and cousins, there existed a holy rivalry which redounded to the +benefit of the Church as the competition among the Pampanga steamers +then redounded to the benefit of the public. Did Capitan Tiago present +to some Virgin a silver wand ornamented with emeralds and topazes? At +once Dona Patrocinio had ordered another of gold set with diamonds! If +at the time of the Naval procession [38] Capitan Tiago erected an +arch with two facades, covered with ruffled cloth and decorated with +mirrors, glass globes, and chandeliers, then Dona Patrocinio would +have another with four facades, six feet higher, and more gorgeous +hangings. Then he would fall back on his reserves, his strong point, +his specialty--masses with bombs and fireworks; whereat Dona Patrocinia +could only gnaw at her lips with her toothless gums, because, being +exceedingly nervous, she could not endure the chiming of the bells and +still less the explosions of the bombs. While he smiled in triumph, +she would plan her revenge and pay the money of others to secure the +best orators of the five Orders in Manila, the most famous preachers +of the Cathedral, and even the Paulists, [39] to preach on the holy +days upon profound theological subjects to the sinners who understood +only the vernacular of the mariners. The partizans of Capitan Tiago +would observe that she slept during the sermon; but her adherents +would answer that the sermon was paid for in advance, and by her, +and that in any affair payment was the prime requisite. At length, +she had driven him from the field completely by presenting to the +church three _andas_ of gilded silver, each one of which cost her +over three thousand pesos. Capitan Tiago hoped that the old woman +would breathe her last almost any day, or that she would lose five or +six of her lawsuits, so that he might be alone in serving God; but +unfortunately the best lawyers of the _Real Audiencia_ looked after +her interests, and as to her health, there was no part of her that +could be attacked by sickness; she seemed to be a steel wire, no doubt +for the edification of souls, and she hung on in this vale of tears +with the tenacity of a boil on the skin. Her adherents were secure in +the belief that she would be canonized at her death and that Capitan +Tiago himself would have to worship her at the altars--all of which +he agreed to and cheerfully promised, provided only that she die soon. + +Such was Capitan Tiago in the days of which we write. As for the past, +he was the only son of a sugar-planter of Malabon, wealthy enough, +but so miserly that he would not spend a cent to educate his son, +for which reason the little Santiago had been the servant of a good +Dominican, a worthy man who had tried to train him in all of good +that he knew and could teach. When he had reached the happy stage +of being known among his acquaintances as a _logician_, that is, +when he began to study logic, the death of his protector, soon +followed by that of his father, put an end to his studies and he +had to turn his attention to business affairs. He married a pretty +young woman of Santa Cruz, who gave him social position and helped +him to make his fortune. Dona Pia Alba was not satisfied with buying +and selling sugar, indigo, and coffee, but wished to plant and reap, +so the newly-married couple bought land in San Diego. From this time +dated their friendship with Padre Damoso and with Don Rafael Ibarra, +the richest capitalist of the town. + +The lack of an heir in the first six years of their wedded life +made of that eagerness to accumulate riches almost a censurable +ambition. Dona Pia was comely, strong, and healthy, yet it was in +vain that she offered novenas and at the advice of the devout women +of San Diego made a pilgrimage to the Virgin of Kaysaysay [40] in +Taal, distributed alms to the poor, and danced at midday in May in +the procession of the Virgin of Turumba [41] in Pakil. But it was all +with no result until Fray Damaso advised her to go to Obando to dance +in the fiesta of St. Pascual Bailon and ask him for a son. Now it +is well known that there is in Obando a trinity which grants sons or +daughters according to request--Our Lady of Salambaw, St. Clara, and +St. Pascual. Thanks to this wise advice, Dona Pia soon recognized the +signs of approaching motherhood. But alas! like the fisherman of whom +Shakespeare tells in _Macbeth_, who ceased to sing when he had found a +treasure, she at once lost all her mirthfulness, fell into melancholy, +and was never seen to smile again. "Capriciousness, natural in her +condition," commented all, even Capitan Tiago. A puerperal fever put +an end to her hidden grief, and she died, leaving behind a beautiful +girl baby for whom Fray Damaso himself stood sponsor. As St. Pascual +had not granted the son that was asked, they gave the child the name +of Maria Clara, in honor of the Virgin of Salambaw and St. Clara, +punishing the worthy St. Pascual with silence. + +The little girl grew up under the care of her aunt Isabel, that good +old lady of monkish urbanity whom we met at the beginning of the +story. For the most part, her early life was spent in San Diego, on +account of its healthful climate, and there Padre Damaso was devoted +to her. + +Maria Clara had not the small eyes of her father; like her mother, +she had eyes large, black, long-lashed, merry and smiling when she +was playing but sad, deep, and pensive in moments of repose. As a +child her hair was curly and almost blond, her straight nose was +neither too pointed nor too flat, while her mouth with the merry +dimples at the corners recalled the small and pleasing one of her +mother, her skin had the fineness of an onion-cover and was white as +cotton, according to her perplexed relatives, who found the traces +of Capitan Tiago's paternity in her small and shapely ears. Aunt +Isabel ascribed her half-European features to the longings of Dona +Pia, whom she remembered to have seen many times weeping before +the image of St. Anthony. Another cousin was of the same opinion, +differing only in the choice of the smut, as for her it was either +the Virgin herself or St. Michael. A famous philosopher, who was +the cousin of Capitan Tinong and who had memorized the "Amat," [42] +sought for the true explanation in planetary influences. + +The idol of all, Maria Clara grew up amidst smiles and love. The +very friars showered her with attentions when she appeared in the +processions dressed in white, her abundant hair interwoven with +tuberoses and sampaguitas, with two diminutive wings of silver and +gold fastened on the back of her gown, and carrying in her hands a +pair of white doves tied with blue ribbons. Afterwards, she would +be so merry and talk so sweetly in her childish simplicity that the +enraptured Capitan Tiago could do nothing but bless the saints of +Obando and advise every one to purchase beautiful works of sculpture. + +In southern countries the girl of thirteen or fourteen years +changes into a woman as the bud of the night becomes a flower in the +morning. At this period of change, so full of mystery and romance, +Maria Clara was placed, by the advice of the curate of Binondo, in +the nunnery of St. Catherine [43] in order to receive strict religious +training from the Sisters. With tears she took leave of Padre Damaso +and of the only lad who had been a friend of her childhood, Crisostomo +Ibarra, who himself shortly afterward went away to Europe. There in +that convent, which communicates with the world through double bars, +even under the watchful eyes of the nuns, she spent seven years. + +Each having his own particular ends in view and knowing the mutual +inclinations of the two young persons, Don Rafael and Capitan Tiago +agreed upon the marriage of their children and the formation of a +business partnership. This agreement, which was concluded some years +after the younger Ibarra's departure, was celebrated with equal joy +by two hearts in widely separated parts of the world and under very +different circumstances. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +An Idyl on an Azotea + + + The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. + + +That morning Aunt Isabel and Maria Clara went early to mass, +the latter elegantly dressed and wearing a rosary of blue beads, +which partly served as a bracelet for her, and the former with her +spectacles in order to read her _Anchor of Salvation_ during the holy +communion. Scarcely had the priest disappeared from the altar when the +maiden expressed a desire for returning home, to the great surprise and +displeasure of her good aunt, who believed her niece to be as pious +and devoted to praying as a nun, at least. Grumbling and crossing +herself, the good old lady rose. "The good Lord will forgive me, Aunt +Isabel, since He must know the hearts of girls better than you do," +Maria Clara might have said to check the severe yet maternal chidings. + +After they had breakfasted, Maria Clara consumed her impatience in +working at a silk purse while her aunt was trying to clean up the +traces of the former night's revelry by swinging a feather duster +about. Capitan Tiago was busy looking over some papers. Every noise in +the street, every carriage that passed, caused the maiden to tremble +and quickened the beatings of her heart. Now she wished that she were +back in the quiet convent among her friends; there she could have seen +him without emotion and agitation! But was he not the companion of her +infancy, had they not played together and even quarreled at times? The +reason for all this I need not explain; if you, O reader, have ever +loved, you will understand; and if you have not, it is useless for +me to tell you, as the uninitiated do not comprehend these mysteries. + +"I believe, Maria, that the doctor is right," said Capitan Tiago. "You +ought to go into the country, for you are pale and need fresh air. What +do you think of Malabon or San Diego?" At the mention of the latter +place Maria Clara blushed like a poppy and was unable to answer. + +"You and Isabel can go at once to the convent to get your clothes +and to say good-by to your friends," he continued, without raising +his head. "You will not stay there any longer." + +The girl felt the vague sadness that possesses the mind when we leave +forever a place where we have been happy, but another thought softened +this sorrow. + +"In four or five days, after you get some new clothes made, we'll +go to Malabon. Your godfather is no longer in San Diego. The priest +that you may have noticed here last night, that young padre, is the +new curate whom we have there, and he is a saint." + +"I think that San Diego would be better, cousin," observed Aunt +Isabel. "Besides, our house there is better and the time for the +fiesta draws near." + +Maria Clara wanted to embrace her aunt for this speech, but hearing +a carriage stop, she turned pale. + +"Ah, very true," answered Capitan Tiago, and then in a different tone +he exclaimed, "Don Crisostomo!" + +The maiden let her sewing fall from her hands and wished to move but +could not--a violent tremor ran through her body. Steps were heard +on the stairway and then a fresh, manly voice. As if that voice had +some magic power, the maiden controlled her emotion and ran to hide +in the oratory among the saints. The two cousins laughed, and Ibarra +even heard the noise of the door closing. Pale and breathing rapidly, +the maiden pressed her beating heart and tried to listen. She heard +his voice, that beloved voice that for so long a time she had heard +only in her dreams he was asking for her! Overcome with joy, she +kissed the nearest saint, which happened to be St. Anthony the Abbot, +a saint happy in flesh and in wood, ever the object of pleasing +temptations! Afterwards she sought the keyhole in order to see and +examine him. She smiled, and when her aunt snatched her from that +position she unconsciously threw her arms around the old lady's neck +and rained kisses upon her. + +"Foolish child, what's the matter with you?" the old lady was at last +able to say as she wiped a tear from her faded eyes. Maria Clara felt +ashamed and covered her eyes with her plump arm. + +"Come on, get ready, come!" added the old aunt fondly. "While he is +talking to your father about you. Come, don't make him wait." Like +a child the maiden obediently followed her and they shut themselves +up in her chamber. + +Capitan Tiago and Ibarra were conversing in a lively manner when Aunt +Isabel appeared half dragging her niece, who was looking in every +direction except toward the persons in the room. + +What said those two souls communicating through the language of the +eyes, more perfect than that of the lips, the language given to the +soul in order that sound may not mar the ecstasy of feeling? In such +moments, when the thoughts of two happy beings penetrate into each +other's souls through the eyes, the spoken word is halting, rude, and +weak--it is as the harsh, slow roar of the thunder compared with the +rapidity of the dazzling lightning flash, expressing feelings already +recognized, ideas already understood, and if words are made use of +it is only because the heart's desire, dominating all the being and +flooding it with happiness, wills that the whole human organism with +all its physical and psychical powers give expression to the song of +joy that rolls through the soul. To the questioning glance of love, +as it flashes out and then conceals itself, speech has no reply; +the smile, the kiss, the sigh answer. + +Soon the two lovers, fleeing from the dust raised by Aunt Isabel's +broom, found themselves on the azotea where they could commune in +liberty among the little arbors. What did they tell each other in +murmurs that you nod your heads, O little red cypress flowers? Tell +it, you who have fragrance in your breath and color on your lips. And +thou, O zephyr, who learnest rare harmonies in the stillness of the +dark night amid the hidden depths of our virgin forests! Tell it, +O sunbeams, brilliant manifestation upon earth of the Eternal, sole +immaterial essence in a material world, you tell it, for I only know +how to relate prosaic commonplaces. But since you seem unwilling to +do so, I am going to try myself. + +The sky was blue and a fresh breeze, not yet laden with the fragrance +of roses, stirred the leaves and flowers of the vines; that is why +the cypresses, the orchids, the dried fishes, and the Chinese lanterns +were trembling. The splash of paddles in the muddy waters of the river +and the rattle of carriages and carts passing over the Binondo bridge +came up to them distinctly, although they did not hear what the old +aunt murmured as she saw where they were: "That's better, there you'll +be watched by the whole neighborhood." At first they talked nonsense, +giving utterance only to those sweet inanities which are so much like +the boastings of the nations of Europe--pleasing and honey-sweet at +home, but causing foreigners to laugh or frown. + +She, like a sister of Cain, was of course jealous and asked her +sweetheart, "Have you always thought of me? Have you never forgotten me +on all your travels in the great cities among so many beautiful women?" + +He, too, was a brother of Cain, and sought to evade such questions, +making use of a little fiction. "Could I forget you?" he answered +as he gazed enraptured into her dark eyes. "Could I be faithless +to my oath, my sacred oath? Do you remember that stormy night when +you saw me weeping alone by the side of my dead mother and, drawing +near to me, you put your hand on my shoulder, that hand which for so +long a time you had not allowed me to touch, saying to me, 'You have +lost your mother while I never had one,' and you wept with me? You +loved her and she looked upon you as a daughter. Outside it rained +and the lightning flashed, but within I seemed to hear music and to +see a smile on the pallid face of the dead. Oh, that my parents were +alive and might behold you now! I then caught your hand along with +the hand of my mother and swore to love you and to make you happy, +whatever fortune Heaven might have in store for me; and that oath, +which has never weighed upon me as a burden, I now renew! + +"Could I forget you? The thought of you has ever been with me, +strengthening me amid the dangers of travel, and has been a comfort +to my soul's loneliness in foreign lands. The thoughts of you +have neutralized the lotus-effect of Europe, which erases from the +memories of so many of our countrymen the hopes and misfortunes of our +fatherland. In dreams I saw you standing on the shore at Manila, gazing +at the far horizon wrapped in the warm light of the early dawn. I heard +the slow, sad song that awoke in me sleeping affections and called +back to the memory of my heart the first years of our childhood, our +joys, our pleasures, and all that happy past which you gave life to +while you were in our town. It seemed to me that you were the fairy, +the spirit, the poetic incarnation of my fatherland, beautiful, +unaffected, lovable, frank, a true daughter of the Philippines, +that beautiful land which unites with the imposing virtues of the +mother country, Spain, the admirable qualities of a young people, +as you unite in your being all that is beautiful and lovely, the +inheritance of both races" so indeed the love of you and that of my +fatherland have become fused into one. + +"Could I forget you? Many times have I thought that I heard the +sound of your piano and the accents of your voice. When in Germany, +as I wandered at twilight in the woods, peopled with the fantastic +creations of its poets and the mysterious legends of past generations, +always I called upon your name, imagining that I saw you in the mists +that rose from the depths of the valley, or I fancied that I heard +your voice in the rustling of the leaves. When from afar I heard the +songs of the peasants as they returned from their labors, it seemed to +me that their tones harmonized with my inner voices, that they were +singing for _you_, and thus they lent reality to my illusions and +dreams. At times I became lost among the mountain paths and while the +night descended slowly, as it does there, I would find myself still +wandering, seeking my way among the pines and beeches and oaks. Then +when some scattering rays of moonlight slipped down into the clear +spaces left in the dense foliage, I seemed to see you in the heart of +the forest as a dim, loving shade wavering about between the spots of +light and shadow. If perhaps the nightingale poured forth his varied +trills, I fancied it was because he saw you and was inspired by you. + +"Have I thought of you? The fever of love not only gave warmth to the +snows but colored the ice! The beautiful skies of Italy with their +clear depths reminded me of your eyes, its sunny landscape spoke to +me of your smile; the plains of Andalusia with their scent-laden +airs, peopled with oriental memories, full of romance and color, +told me of your love! On dreamy, moonlit nights, while boating oil +the Rhine, I have asked myself if my fancy did not deceive me as I +saw you among the poplars on the banks, on the rocks of the Lorelei, +or in the midst of the waters, singing in the silence of the night +as if you were a comforting fairy maiden sent to enliven the solitude +and sadness of those ruined castles!" + +"I have not traveled like you, so I know only your town and Manila and +Antipolo," she answered with a smile which showed that she believed +all he said. "But since I said good-by to you and entered the convent, +I have always thought of you and have only put you out of my mind +when ordered to do so by my confessor, who imposed many penances upon +me. I recalled our games and our quarrels when we were children. You +used to pick up the most beautiful shells and search in the river +for the roundest and smoothest pebbles of different colors that we +might play games with them. You were very stupid and always lost, +and by way of a forfeit I would slap you with the palm of my hand, +but I always tried not to strike you hard, for I had pity on you. In +those games you cheated much, even more than I did, and we used to +finish our play in a quarrel. Do you remember that time when you +became really angry at me? Then you made me suffer, but afterwards, +when I thought of it in the convent, I smiled and longed for you so +that we might quarrel again--so that we might once more make up. We +were still children and had gone with your mother to bathe in the brook +under the shade of the thick bamboo. On the banks grew many flowers +and plants whose strange names you told me in Latin and Spanish, for +you were even then studying in the Ateneo. [44] I paid no attention, +but amused myself by running after the needle-like dragon-flies and +the butterflies with their rainbow colors and tints of mother-of-pearl +as they swarmed about among the flowers. Sometimes I tried to surprise +them with my hands or to catch the little fishes that slipped rapidly +about amongst the moss and stones in the edge of the water. Once you +disappeared suddenly and when you returned you brought a crown of +leaves and orange blossoms, which you placed upon my head, calling me +Chloe. For yourself you made one of vines. But your mother snatched +away my crown, and after mashing it with a stone mixed it with the +_gogo_ with which she was going to wash our heads. The tears came into +your eyes and you said that she did not understand mythology. 'Silly +boy,' your mother exclaimed, 'you'll see how sweet your hair will +smell afterwards.' I laughed, but you were offended and would not talk +with me, and for the rest of the day appeared so serious that then +I wanted to cry. On our way back to the town through the hot sun, +I picked some sage leaves that grew beside the path and gave them +to you to put in your hat so that you might not get a headache. You +smiled and caught my hand, and we made up." + +Ibarra smiled with happiness as he opened his pocketbook and took from +it a piece of paper in which were wrapped some dry, blackened leaves +which gave off a sweet odor. "Your sage leaves," he said, in answer +to her inquiring look. "This is all that you have ever given me." + +She in turn snatched from her bosom a little pouch of white +satin. "You must not touch this," she said, tapping the palm of his +hand lightly. "It's a letter of farewell." + +"The one I wrote to you before leaving?" + +"Have you ever written me any other, sir?" + +"And what did I say to you then?" + +"Many fibs, excuses of a delinquent debtor," she answered smilingly, +thus giving him to understand how sweet to her those fibs were. "Be +quiet now and I'll read it to you. I'll leave out your fine phrases +in order not to make a martyr of you." + +Raising the paper to the height of her eyes so that the youth might +not see her face, she began: "'_My_'--but I'll not read what follows +that because it's not true." + +Her eyes ran along some lines. + + +"'My father wishes me to go away, in spite of all my pleadings. 'You +are a man now,' he told me, 'and you must think about your future +and about your duties. You must learn the science of life, a thing +which your fatherland cannot teach you, so that you may some day be +useful to it. If you remain here in my shadow, in this environment +of business affairs, you will not learn to look far ahead. The +day in which you lose me you will find yourself like the plant +of which our poet Baltazar tells: grown in the water, its leaves +wither at the least scarcity of moisture and a moment's heat dries +it up. Don't you understand? You are almost a young man, and yet you +weep!' These reproaches hurt me and I confessed that I loved you. My +father reflected for a time in silence and then, placing his hand on +my shoulder, said in a trembling voice, 'Do you think that you alone +know how to love, that your father does not love you, and that he will +not feel the separation from you? It is only a short time since we +lost your mother, and I must journey on alone toward old age, toward +the very time of life when I would seek help and comfort from your +youth, yet I accept my loneliness, hardly knowing whether I shall +ever see you again. But you must think of other and greater things; +the future lies open before you, while for me it is already passing +behind; your love is just awakening, while mine is dying; fire burns +in your blood, while the chill is creeping into mine. Yet you weep +and cannot sacrifice the present for the future, useful as it may be +alike to yourself and to your country.' My father's eyes filled with +tears and I fell upon my knees at his feet, I embraced him, I begged +his forgiveness, and I assured him that I was ready to set out--'" + +Ibarra's growing agitation caused her to suspend the reading, for he +had grown pale and was pacing back and forth. + +"What's the matter? What is troubling you?" she asked him. + +"You have almost made me forget that I have my duties, that I must +leave at once for the town. Tomorrow is the day for commemorating +the dead." + +Maria Clara silently fixed her large dreamy eyes upon him for a few +moments and then, picking some flowers, she said with emotion, "Go, +I won't detain you longer! In a few days we shall see each other +again. Lay these flowers on the tomb of your parents." + +A few moments later the youth descended the stairway accompanied by +Capitan Tiago and Aunt Isabel, while Maria Clara shut herself up in +the oratory. + +"Please tell Andeng to get the house ready, as Maria and Isabel are +coming. A pleasant journey!" said Capitan Tiago as Ibarra stepped into +the carriage, which at once started in the direction of the plaza of +San Gabriel. + +Afterwards, by way of consolation, her father said to Maria Clara, who +was weeping beside an image of the Virgin, "Come, light two candles +worth two reals each, one to St. Roch, [45] and one to St. Raphael, +the protector of travelers. Light the lamp of Our Lady of Peace and +Prosperous Voyages, since there are so many tulisanes. It's better +to spend four reals for wax and six cuartos for oil now than to pay +a big ransom later." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Recollections + + +Ibarra's carriage was passing through a part of the busiest district +in Manila, the same which the night before had made him feel sad, +but which by daylight caused him to smile in spite of himself. The +movement in every part, so many carriages coming and going at full +speed, the carromatas and calesas, the Europeans, the Chinese, +the natives, each in his own peculiar costume, the fruit-venders, +the money-changers, the naked porters, the grocery stores, the lunch +stands and restaurants, the shops, and even the carts drawn by the +impassive and indifferent carabao, who seems to amuse himself in +carrying burdens while he patiently ruminates, all this noise and +confusion, the very sun itself, the distinctive odors and the motley +colors, awoke in the youth's mind a world of sleeping recollections. + +Those streets had not yet been paved, and two successive days of +sunshine filled them with dust which covered everything and made the +passer-by cough while it nearly blinded him. A day of rain formed +pools of muddy water, which at night reflected the carriage lights and +splashed mud a distance of several yards away upon the pedestrians on +the narrow sidewalks. And how many women have left their embroidered +slippers in those waves of mud! + +Then there might have been seen repairing those streets the lines of +convicts with their shaven heads, dressed in short-sleeved camisas +and pantaloons that reached only to their knees, each with his letter +and number in blue. On their legs were chains partly wrapped in dirty +rags to ease the chafing or perhaps the chill of the iron. Joined +two by two, scorched in the sun, worn out by the heat and fatigue, +they were lashed and goaded by a whip in the hands of one of their own +number, who perhaps consoled himself with this power of maltreating +others. They were tall men with somber faces, which he had never seen +brightened with the light of a smile. Yet their eyes gleamed when the +whistling lash fell upon their shoulders or when a passer-by threw +them the chewed and broken stub of a cigar, which the nearest would +snatch up and hide in his salakot, while the rest remained gazing at +the passers-by with strange looks. + +The noise of the stones being crushed to fill the puddles and the +merry clank of the heavy fetters on the swollen ankles seemed to remain +with Ibarra. He shuddered as he recalled a scene that had made a deep +impression on his childish imagination. It was a hot afternoon, and the +burning rays of the sun fell perpendicularly upon a large cart by the +side of which was stretched out one of those unfortunates, lifeless, +yet with his eyes half opened. Two others were silently preparing +a bamboo bier, showing no signs of anger or sorrow or impatience, +for such is the character attributed to the natives: today it is you, +tomorrow it will be I, they say to themselves. The people moved rapidly +about without giving heed, women came up and after a look of curiosity +continued unconcerned on their way--it was such a common sight that +their hearts had become callous. Carriages passed, flashing back from +their varnished sides the rays of the sun that burned in a cloudless +sky. Only he, a child of eleven years and fresh from the country, was +moved, and to him alone it brought bad dreams on the following night. + +There no longer existed the useful and honored _Puente de Barcas_, the +good Filipino pontoon bridge that had done its best to be of service +in spite of its natural imperfections and its rising and falling +at the caprice of the Pasig, which had more than once abused it and +finally destroyed it. The almond trees in the plaza of San Gabriel +[46] had not grown; they were still in the same feeble and stunted +condition. The Escolta appeared less beautiful in spite of the fact +that an imposing building with caryatids carved on its front now +occupied the place of the old row of shops. The new Bridge of Spain +caught his attention, while the houses on the right bank of the river +among the clumps of bamboo and trees where the Escolta ends and the +Isla de Romero begins, reminded him of the cool mornings when he used +to pass there in a boat on his way to the baths of Uli-Uli. + +He met many carriages, drawn by beautiful pairs of dwarfish ponies, +within which were government clerks who seemed yet half asleep as they +made their way to their offices, or military officers, or Chinese in +foolish and ridiculous attitudes, or Gave friars and canons. In an +elegant victoria he thought he recognized Padre Damaso, grave and +frowning, but he had already passed. Now he was pleasantly greeted +by Capitan Tinong, who was passing in a carretela with his wife and +two daughters. + +As they went down off the bridge the horses broke into a trot along the +Sabana Drive. [47] On the left the Arroceros Cigar Factory resounded +with the noise of the cigar-makers pounding the tobacco leaves, and +Ibarra was unable to restrain a smile as he thought of the strong odor +which about five o'clock in the afternoon used to float all over the +_Puente de Barcas_ and which had made him sick when he was a child. The +lively conversations and the repartee of the crowds from the cigar +factories carried him back to the district of Lavapies in Madrid, +with its riots of cigar-makers, so fatal for the unfortunate policemen. + +The Botanical Garden drove away these agreeable recollections; the +demon of comparison brought before his mind the Botanical Gardens +of Europe, in countries where great, labor and much money are needed +to make a single leaf grow or one flower open its calyx; he recalled +those of the colonies, where they are well supplied and tended, and +all open to the public. Ibarra turned away his gaze toward the old +Manila surrounded still by its walls and moats like a sickly girl +wrapped in the garments of her grandmother's better days. + +Then the sight of the sea losing itself in the distance! "On +the other shore lies Europe," thought the young man,--"Europe, +with its attractive peoples in constant movement in the search for +happiness, weaving their dreams in the morning and disillusioning +themselves at the setting of the sun, happy even in the midst of +their calamities. Yes, on the farther shore of the boundless sea +are the really spiritual nations, those who, even though they put +no restraints on material development, are still more spiritual than +those who pride themselves on adoring only the spirit!" + +But these musings were in turn banished from his mind as he came in +sight of the little mound in Bagumbayan Field. [48] This isolated +knoll at the side of the Luneta now caught his attention and made him +reminiscent. He thought of the man who had awakened his intellect and +made him understand goodness and justice. The ideas which that man +had impressed upon him were not many, to be sure, but they were not +meaningless repetitions, they were convictions which had not paled +in the light of the most brilliant foci of progress. That man was an +old priest whose words of farewell still resounded in his ears: "Do +not forget that if knowledge is the heritage of mankind, it is only +the courageous who inherit it," he had reminded him. "I have tried to +pass on to you what I got from my teachers, the sum of which I have +endeavored to increase and transmit to the coming generation as far +as in me lay. You will now do the same for those who come after you, +and you can treble it, since you are going to rich countries." Then he +had added with a smile, "They come here seeking wealth, go you to their +country to seek also that other wealth which we lack! But remember +that all that glitters is not gold." The old man had died on that spot. + +At these recollections the youth murmured audibly: "No, in spite of +everything, the fatherland first, first the Philippines, the child +of Spain, first the Spanish fatherland! No, that which is decreed by +fate does not tarnish the honor of the fatherland, no!" + +He gave little heed to Ermita, the phenix of nipa that had rearisen +from its ashes under the form of blue and white houses with red-painted +roofs of corrugated iron. Nor was his attention caught by Malate, +neither by the cavalry barracks with the spreading trees in front, +nor by the inhabitants or their little nipa huts, pyramidal or +prismatic in shape, hidden away among the banana plants and areca +palms, constructed like nests by each father of a family. + +The carriage continued on its way, meeting now and then carromatas +drawn by one or two ponies whose abaka harness indicated that they +were from the country. The drivers would try to catch a glimpse of the +occupant of the fine carriage, but would pass on without exchanging a +word, without a single salute. At times a heavy cart drawn by a slow +and indifferent carabao would appear on the dusty road over which beat +the brilliant sunlight of the tropics. The mournful and monotonous song +of the driver mounted on the back of the carabao would be mingled at +one time with the screechings of a dry wheel on the huge axle of the +heavy vehicle or at another time with the dull scraping of worn-out +runners on a sledge which was dragged heavily through the dust, and +over the ruts in the road. In the fields and wide meadows the herds +were grazing, attended ever by the white buffalo-birds which roosted +peacefully on the backs of the animals while these chewed their cuds +or browsed in lazy contentment upon the rich grass. In the distance +ponies frisked, jumping and running about, pursued by the lively colts +with long tails and abundant manes who whinnied and pawed the ground +with their hard hoofs. + +Let us leave the youth dreaming or dozing, since neither the sad +nor the animated poetry of the open country held his attention. For +him there was no charm in the sun that gleamed upon the tops of the +trees and caused the rustics, with feet burned by the hot ground in +spite of their callousness, to hurry along, or that made the villager +pause beneath the shade of an almond tree or a bamboo brake while he +pondered upon vague and inexplicable things. While the youth's carriage +sways along like a drunken thing on account of the inequalities in +the surface of the road when passing over a bamboo bridge or going +up an incline or descending a steep slope, let us return to Manila. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Local Affairs + + +Ibarra had not been mistaken about the occupant of the victoria, +for it was indeed Padre Damaso, and he was on his way to the house +which the youth had just left. + +"Where are you going?" asked the friar of Maria Clara and Aunt Isabel, +who were about to enter a silver-mounted carriage. In the midst of +his preoccupation Padre Damaso stroked the maiden's cheek lightly. + +"To the convent to get my things," answered the latter. + +"Ahaa! Aha! We'll see who's stronger, we'll see," muttered the friar +abstractedly, as with bowed head and slow step he turned to the +stairway, leaving the two women not a little amazed. + +"He must have a sermon to preach and is memorizing it," commented +Aunt Isabel. "Get in, Maria, or we'll be late." + +Whether or not Padre Damaso was preparing a sermon we cannot say, +but it is certain that some grave matter filled his mind, for he did +not extend his hand to Capitan Tiago, who had almost to get down on +his knees to kiss it. + +"Santiago," said the friar at once, "I have an important matter to +talk to you about. Let's go into your office." + +Capitan Tiago began to feel uneasy, so much so that he did not know +what to say; but he obeyed, following the heavy figure of the priest, +who closed the door behind him. + +While they confer in secret, let us learn what Fray Sibyla has +been doing. The astute Dominican is not at the rectory, for very +soon after celebrating mass he had gone to the convent of his order, +situated just inside the gate of Isabel II, or of Magellan, according +to what family happened to be reigning in Madrid. Without paying any +attention to the rich odor of chocolate, or to the rattle of boxes +and coins which came from the treasury, and scarcely acknowledging +the respectful and deferential salute of the procurator-brother, +he entered, passed along several corridors, and knocked at a door. + +"Come in," sighed a weak voice. + +"May God restore health to your Reverence," was the young Dominican's +greeting as he entered. + +Seated in a large armchair was an aged priest, wasted and rather +sallow, like the saints that Rivera painted. His eyes were sunken in +their hollow sockets, over which his heavy eyebrows were almost always +contracted, thus accentuating their brilliant gleam. Padre Sibyla, +with his arms crossed under the venerable scapulary of St. Dominic, +gazed at him feelingly, then bowed his head and waited in silence. + +"Ah," sighed the old man, "they advise an operation, an operation, +Hernando, at my age! This country, O this terrible country! Take +warning from my ease, Hernando!" + +Fray Sibyla raised his eyes slowly and fixed them on the sick man's +face. "What has your Reverence decided to do?" he asked. + +"To die! Ah, what else can I do? I am suffering too much, but--I +have made many suffer, I am paying my debt! And how are you? What +has brought you here?" + +"I've come to talk about the business which you committed to my care." + +"Ah! What about it?" + +"Pish!" answered the young man disgustedly, as he seated himself +and turned away his face with a contemptuous expression, "They've +been telling us fairy tales. Young Ibarra is a youth of discernment; +he doesn't seem to be a fool, but I believe that he is a good lad." + +"You believe so?" + +"Hostilities began last night." + +"Already? How?" + +Fray Sibyla then recounted briefly what had taken place between Padre +Damaso and Ibarra. "Besides," he said in conclusion, "the young man +is going to marry Capitan Tiago's daughter, who was educated in the +college of our Sisterhood. He's rich, and won't care to make enemies +and to run the risk of ruining his fortune and his happiness." + +The sick man nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think as you do. With a wife +like that and such a father-in-law, we'll own him body and soul. If +not, so much the better for him to declare himself an enemy of ours." + +Fray Sibyla looked at the old man in surprise. + +"For the good of our holy Order, I mean, of course," he added, +breathing heavily. "I prefer open attacks to the silly praises and +flatteries of friends, which are really paid for." + +"Does your Reverence think--" + +The old man regarded him sadly. "Keep it clearly before you," he +answered, gasping for breath. "Our power will last as long as it +is believed in. If they attack us, the government will say, 'They +attack them because they see in them an obstacle to their liberty, +so then let us preserve them.'" + +"But if it should listen to them? Sometimes the government--" + +"It will not listen!" + +"Nevertheless, if, led on by cupidity, it should come to wish for +itself what we are taking in--if there should be some bold and +daring one--" + +"Then woe unto that one!" + +Both remained silent for a time, then the sick man continued: +"Besides, we need their attacks, to keep us awake; that makes us see +our weaknesses so that we may remedy them. Exaggerated flattery will +deceive us and put us to sleep, while outside our walls we shall be +laughed at, and the day in which we become an object of ridicule, we +shall fall as we fell in Europe. Money will not flow into our churches, +no one will buy our scapularies or girdles or anything else, and when +we cease to be rich we shall no longer be able to control consciences." + +"But we shall always have our estates, our property." + +"All will be lost as we lost them in Europe! And the worst of it is +that we are working toward our own ruin. For example, this unrestrained +eagerness to raise arbitrarily the rents on our lands each year, +this eagerness which I have so vainly combated in all the chapters, +this will ruin us! The native sees himself obliged to purchase farms +in other places, which bring him as good returns as ours, or better. I +fear that we are already on the decline; _quos vult perdere Jupiter +dementat prius_. [49] For this reason we should not increase our +burden; the people are already murmuring. You have decided well: +let us leave the others to settle their accounts in that quarter; +let us preserve the prestige that remains to us, and as we shall soon +appear before God, let us wash our hands of it--and may the God of +mercy have pity on our weakness!" + +"So your Reverence thinks that the rent or tax--" + +"Let's not talk any more about money," interrupted the sick man with +signs of disgust. "You say that the lieutenant threatened to Padre +Damaso that--" + +"Yes, Padre," broke in Fray Sibyla with a faint smile, "but this +morning I saw him and he told me that he was sorry for what occurred +last night, that the sherry had gone to his head, and that he believed +that Padre Damaso was in the same condition. 'And your threat?' I +asked him jokingly. 'Padre,' he answered me, 'I know how to keep my +word when my honor is affected, but I am not nor have ever been an +informer--for that reason I wear only two stars.'" + +After they had conversed a while longer on unimportant subjects, +Fray Sibyla took his departure. + +It was true that the lieutenant had not gone to the Palace, but the +Captain-General heard what had occurred. While talking with some +of his aides about the allusions that the Manila newspapers were +making to him under the names of comets and celestial apparitions, +one of them told him about the affair of Padre Damaso, with a somewhat +heightened coloring although substantially correct as to matter. + +"From whom did you learn this?" asked his Excellency, smiling. + +"From Laruja, who was telling it this morning in the office." + +The Captain-General again smiled and said: "A woman or a friar can't +insult one. I contemplate living in peace for the time that I shall +remain in this country and I don't want any more quarrels with men who +wear skirts. Besides, I've learned that the Provincial has scoffed +at my orders. I asked for the removal of this friar as a punishment +and they transferred him to a better town 'monkish tricks,' as we +say in Spain." + +But when his Excellency found himself alone he stopped smiling. "Ah, +if this people were not so stupid, I would put a curb on their +Reverences," he sighed to himself. "But every people deserves its fate, +so let's do as everybody else does." + +Capitan Tiago, meanwhile, had concluded his interview with Padre +Damaso, or rather, to speak more exactly, Padre Damaso had concluded +with him. + +"So now you are warned!" said the Franciscan on leaving. "All this +could have been avoided if you had consulted me beforehand, if you had +not lied when I asked you. Try not to play any more foolish tricks, +and trust your protector." + +Capitan Tiago walked up and down the sala a few times, meditating +and sighing. Suddenly, as if a happy thought had occurred to him, +he ran to the oratory and extinguished the candles and the lamp that +had been lighted for Ibarra's safety. "The way is long and there's +yet time," he muttered. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Town + + +Almost on the margin of the lake, in the midst of meadows and +paddy-fields, lies the town of San Diego. [50] From it sugar, rice, +coffee, and fruits are either exported or sold for a small part of +their value to the Chinese, who exploit the simplicity and vices of +the native farmers. + +When on a clear day the boys ascend to the upper part of the church +tower, which is beautified by moss and creeping plants, they break +out into joyful exclamations at the beauty of the scene spread out +before them. In the midst of the clustering roofs of nipa, tiles, +corrugated iron, and palm leaves, separated by groves and gardens, +each one is able to discover his own home, his little nest. Everything +serves as a mark: a tree, that tamarind with its light foliage, +that coco palm laden with nuts, like the Astarte Genetrix, or the +Diana of Ephesus with her numerous breasts, a bending bamboo, an +areca palm, or a cross. Yonder is the river, a huge glassy serpent +sleeping on a green carpet, with rocks, scattered here and there +along its sandy channel, that break its current into ripples. There, +the bed is narrowed between high banks to which the gnarled trees +cling with bared roots; here, it becomes a gentle slope where the +stream widens and eddies about. Farther away, a small hut built on the +edge of the high bank seems to defy the winds, the heights and the +depths, presenting with its slender posts the appearance of a huge, +long-legged bird watching for a reptile to seize upon. Trunks of palm +or other trees with their bark still on them unite the banks by a +shaky and infirm foot-bridge which, if not a very secure crossing, +is nevertheless a wonderful contrivance for gymnastic exercises in +preserving one's balance, a thing not to be despised. The boys bathing +in the river are amused by the difficulties of the old woman crossing +with a basket on her head or by the antics of the old man who moves +tremblingly and loses his staff in the water. + +But that which always attracts particular notice is what might be +called a peninsula of forest in the sea of cultivated fields. There +in that wood are century-old trees with hollow trunks, which die only +when their high tops are struck and set on fire by the lightning--and +it is said that the fire always checks itself and dies out in the same +spot. There are huge points of rock which time and nature are clothing +with velvet garments of moss. Layer after layer of dust settles in +the hollows, the rains beat it down, and the birds bring seeds. The +tropical vegetation spreads out luxuriantly in thickets and underbrush, +while curtains of interwoven vines hang from the branches of the trees +and twine about their roots or spread along the ground, as if Flora +were not yet satisfied but must place plant above plant. Mosses and +fungi live upon the cracked trunks, and orchids--graceful guests--twine +in loving embrace with the foliage of the hospitable trees. + +Strange legends exist concerning this wood, which is held in awe by +the country folk. The most credible account, and therefore the one +least known and believed, seems to be this. When the town was still +a collection of miserable huts with the grass growing abundantly in +the so-called streets, at the time when the wild boar and deer roamed +about during the nights, there arrived in the place one day an old, +hollow-eyed Spaniard, who spoke Tagalog rather well. After looking +about and inspecting the land, he finally inquired for the owners of +this wood, in which there were hot springs. Some persons who claimed to +be such presented themselves, and the old man acquired it in exchange +for clothes, jewels, and a sum of money. Soon afterward he disappeared +mysteriously. The people thought that he had been spirited away, +when a bad odor from the neighboring wood attracted the attention of +some herdsmen. Tracing this, they found the decaying corpse of the +old Spaniard hanging from the branch of a balete tree. [51] In life +he had inspired fear by his deep, hollow voice, his sunken eyes, and +his mirthless laugh, but now, dead by his own act, he disturbed the +sleep of the women. Some threw the jewels into the river and burned the +clothes, and from the time that the corpse was buried at the foot of +the balete itself, no one willingly ventured near the spot. A belated +herdsman looking for some of his strayed charges told of lights that +he had seen there, and when some venturesome youths went to the place +they heard mournful cries. To win the smiles of his disdainful lady, +a forlorn lover agreed to spend the night there and in proof to wrap +around the trunk a long piece of rattan, but he died of a quick fever +that seized him the very next day. Stories and legends still cluster +about the place. + +A few months after the finding of the old Spaniard's body there +appeared a youth, apparently a Spanish mestizo, who said that +he was the son of the deceased. He established himself in the +place and devoted his attention to agriculture, especially the +raising of indigo. Don Saturnino was a silent young man with a +violent disposition, even cruel at times, yet he was energetic and +industrious. He surrounded the grave of his father with a wall, +but visited it only at rare intervals. When he was along in years, +he married a young woman from Manila, and she became the mother of +Don Rafael, the father of Crisostomo. From his youth Don Rafael was a +favorite with the country people. The agricultural methods introduced +and encouraged by his father spread rapidly, new settlers poured in, +the Chinese came, and the settlement became a village with a native +priest. Later the village grew into a town, the priest died, and Fray +Damaso came. + +All this time the tomb and the land around it remained +unmolested. Sometimes a crowd of boys armed with clubs and stones would +become bold enough to wander into the place to gather guavas, papayas, +lomboy, and other fruits, but it frequently happened that when their +sport was at its height, or while they gazed in awed silence at the +rotting piece of rope which still swung from the branch, stones would +fall, coming from they knew not where. Then with cries of "The old +man! The old man!" they would throw away fruit and clubs, jump from +the trees, and hurry between the rocks and through the thickets; +nor would they stop running until they were well out of the wood, +some pale and breathless, others weeping, and only a few laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Rulers + + + Divide and rule. + + (_The New Machiavelli._) + + +Who were the caciques of the town? + +Don Rafael, when alive, even though he was the richest, owned more +land, and was the patron of nearly everybody, had not been one of +them. As he was modest and depreciated the value of his own deeds, +no faction in his favor had ever been formed in the town, and we +have already seen how the people all rose up against him when they +saw him hesitate upon being attacked. + +Could it be Capitan Tiago? True it was that when he went there he +was received with an orchestra by his debtors, who banqueted him and +heaped gifts upon him. The finest fruits burdened his table and a +quarter of deer or wild boar was his share of the hunt. If he found +the horse of a debtor beautiful, half an hour afterwards it was in +his stable. All this was true, but they laughed at him behind his +back and in secret called him "Sacristan Tiago." + +Perhaps it was the gobernadorcillo? [52] No, for he was only an +unhappy mortal who commanded not, but obeyed; who ordered not, but +was ordered; who drove not, but was driven. Nevertheless, he had +to answer to the alcalde for having commanded, ordered, and driven, +just as if he were the originator of everything. Yet be it said to +his credit that he had never presumed upon or usurped such honors, +which had cost him five thousand pesos and many humiliations. But +considering the income it brought him, it was cheap. + +Well then, might it be God? Ah, the good God disturbed neither the +consciences nor the sleep of the inhabitants. At least, He did not +make them tremble, and if by chance He might have been mentioned in +a sermon, surely they would have sighed longingly, "Oh, that only +there were a God!" To the good Lord they paid little attention, as +the saints gave them enough to do. For those poor folk God had come +to be like those unfortunate monarchs who are surrounded by courtiers +to whom alone the people render homage. + +San Diego was a kind of Rome: not the Rome of the time when the cunning +Romulus laid out its walls with a plow, nor of the later time when, +bathed in its own and others' blood, it dictated laws to the world--no, +it was a Rome of our own times with the difference that in place of +marble monuments and colosseums it had its monuments of sawali and its +cockpit of nipa. The curate was the Pope in the Vatican; the alferez +of the Civil Guard, the King of Italy on the Quirinal: all, it must be +understood, on a scale of nipa and bamboo. Here, as there, continual +quarreling went on, since each wished to be the master and considered +the other an intruder. Let us examine the characteristics of each. + +Fray Bernardo Salvi was that silent young Franciscan of whom we +have spoken before. In his habits and manners he was quite different +from his brethren and even from his predecessor, the violent Padre +Damaso. He was thin and sickly, habitually pensive, strict in the +fulfilment of his religious duties, and careful of his good name. In +a month after his arrival nearly every one in the town had joined +the Venerable Tertiary Order, to the great distress of its rival, +the Society of the Holy Rosary. His soul leaped with joy to see about +each neck four or five scapularies and around each waist a knotted +girdle, and to behold the procession of corpses and ghosts in _guingon_ +habits. The senior sacristan made a small fortune selling--or giving +away as alms, we should say--all things necessary for the salvation +of the soul and the warfare against the devil, as it is well known +that this spirit, which formerly had the temerity to contradict God +himself face to face and to doubt His words, as is related in the +holy book of Job, who carried our Lord Christ through the air as +afterwards in the Dark Ages he carried the ghosts, and continues, +according to report, to carry the _asuang_ of the Philippines, now +seems to have become so shamefaced that he cannot endure the sight of +a piece of painted cloth and that he fears the knots on a cord. But +all this proves nothing more than that there is progress on this side +also and that the devil is backward, or at least a conservative, +as are all who dwell in darkness. Otherwise, we must attribute to +him the weakness of a fifteen-year-old girl. + +As we have said, Fray Salvi was very assiduous in the fulfilment of his +duties, too assiduous, the alferez thought. While he was preaching--he +was very fond of preaching--the doors of the church were closed, +wherein he was like Nero, who allowed no one to leave the theater while +he was singing. But the former did it for the salvation and the latter +for the corruption of souls. Fray Salvi rarely resorted to blows, +but was accustomed to punish every shortcoming of his subordinates +with fines. In this respect he was very different from Padre Damaso, +who had been accustomed to settle everything with his fists or a cane, +administering such chastisement with the greatest good-will. For this, +however, he should not be judged too harshly, as he was firm in the +belief that the Indian could be managed only by beating him, just +as was affirmed by a friar who knew enough to write books, and Padre +Damaso never disputed anything that he saw in print, a credulity of +which many might have reason to complain. Although Fray Salvi made +little use of violence, yet, as an old wiseacre of the town said, +what he lacked in quantity he made up in quality. But this should +not be counted against him, for the fasts and abstinences thinned his +blood and unstrung his nerves and, as the people said, the wind got +into his head. Thus it came about that it was not possible to learn +from the condition of the sacristans' backs whether the curate was +fasting or feasting. + +The only rival of this spiritual power, with tendencies toward the +temporal, was, as we have said, the alferez: the only one, since the +women told how the devil himself would flee from the curate, because, +having one day dared to tempt him, he was caught, tied to a bedpost, +soundly whipped with a rope, and set at liberty only after nine +days. As a consequence, any one who after this would still be the +enemy of such a man, deserved to fall into worse repute than even +the weak and unwary devils. + +But the alferez deserved his fate. His wife was an old Filipina of +abundant rouge and paint, known as Dona Consolacion--although her +husband and some others called her by quite another name. The alferez +revenged his conjugal misfortunes on his own person by getting so +drunk that he made a tank of himself, or by ordering his soldiers to +drill in the sun while he remained in the shade, or, more frequently, +by beating up his consort, who, if she was not a lamb of God to +take away one's sins, at least served to lay up for her spouse many +torments in Purgatory--if perchance he should get there, a matter of +doubt to the devout women. As if for the fun of it, these two used to +beat each other up beautifully, giving free shows to the neighborhood +with vocal and instrumental accompaniments, four-handed, soft, loud, +with pedal and all. + +Whenever these scandals reached the ears of Padre Salvi, he would +smile, cross himself, and recite a paternoster. They called him a +grafter, a hypocrite, a Carlist, and a miser: he merely smiled and +recited more prayers. The alferez had a little anecdote which he +always related to the occasional Spaniards who visited him: + +"Are you going over to the convento to visit the sanctimonious rascal +there, the little curate? Yes! Well, if he offers you chocolate which +I doubt--but if he offers it remember this: if he calls to the servant +and says, 'Juan, make a cup of chocolate, _eh!_' then stay without +fear; but if he calls out, 'Juan, make a cup of chocolate, _ah!_' +then take your hat and leave on a run." + +"What!" the startled visitor would ask, "does he poison +people? _Carambas!_" + +"No, man, not at all!" + +"What then?" + +"'Chocolate_, eh!_' means thick and rich, while 'chocolate, _ah!_' +means watered and thin." + +But we are of the opinion that this was a slander on the part of +the alferez, since the same story is told of many curates. At least, +it may be a thing peculiar to the Order. + +To make trouble for the curate, the soldier, at the instigation of his +wife, would prohibit any one from walking abroad after nine o'clock at +night. Dona Consolacion would then claim that she had seen the curate, +disguised in a pina camisa and salakot, walking about late. Fray Salvi +would take his revenge in a holy manner. Upon seeing the alferez enter +the church he would innocently order the sacristan to close all the +doors, and would then go up into the pulpit and preach until the very +saints closed their eyes and even the wooden dove above his head, +the image of the Holy Ghost, murmured for mercy. But the alferez, +like all the unregenerate, did not change his ways for this; he would +go away cursing, and as soon as he was able to catch a sacristan, or +one of the curate's servants, he would arrest him, give him a beating, +and make him scrub the floor of the barracks and that of his own house, +which at such times was put in a decent condition. On going to pay +the fine imposed by the curate for his absence, the sacristan would +explain the cause. Fray Salvi would listen in silence, take the money, +and at once turn out his goats and sheep so that they might graze +in the alferez's garden, while he himself looked up a new text for +another longer and more edifying sermon. But these were only little +pleasantries, and if the two chanced to meet they would shake hands +and converse politely. + +When her husband was sleeping off the wine he had drunk, or was +snoring through the siesta, and she could not quarrel with him, Dona +Consolacion, in a blue flannel camisa, with a big cigar in her mouth, +would take her stand at the window. She could not endure the young +people, so from there she would scrutinize and mock the passing girls, +who, being afraid of her, would hurry by in confusion, holding their +breath the while, and not daring to raise their eyes. One great virtue +Dona Consolation possessed, and this was that she had evidently never +looked in a mirror. + +These were the rulers of the town of San Diego. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +All Saints + + +The one thing perhaps that indisputably distinguishes man from the +brute creation is the attention which he pays to those who have passed +away and, wonder of wonders! this characteristic seems to be more +deeply rooted in proportion to the lack of civilization. Historians +relate that the ancient inhabitants of the Philippines venerated and +deified their ancestors; but now the contrary is true, and the dead +have to entrust themselves to the living. It is also related that +the people of New Guinea preserve the bones of their dead in chests +and maintain communication with them. The greater part of the peoples +of Asia, Africa, and America offer them the finest products of their +kitchens or dishes of what was their favorite food when alive, and +give banquets at which they believe them to be present. The Egyptians +raised up palaces and the Mussulmans built shrines, but the masters +in these things, those who have most clearly read the human heart, +are the people of Dahomey. These negroes know that man is revengeful, +so they consider that nothing will more content the dead than to +sacrifice all his enemies upon his grave, and, as man is curious and +may not know how to entertain himself in the other life, each year +they send him a newsletter under the skin of a beheaded slave. + +We ourselves differ from all the rest. In spite of the inscriptions on +the tombs, hardly any one believes that the dead rest, and much less, +that they rest in peace. The most optimistic fancies his forefathers +still roasting in purgatory and, if it turns out that he himself be +not completely damned, he will yet be able to associate with them for +many years. If any one would contradict let him visit the churches and +cemeteries of the country on All Saints' day and he will be convinced. + +Now that we are in San Diego let us visit its cemetery, which is +located in the midst of paddy-fields, there toward the west--not a +city, merely a village of the dead, approached by a path dusty in dry +weather and navigable on rainy days. A wooden gate and a fence half +of stone and half of bamboo stakes, appear to separate it from the +abode of the living but not from the curate's goats and some of the +pigs of the neighborhood, who come and go making explorations among the +tombs and enlivening the solitude with their presence. In the center of +this enclosure rises a large wooden cross set on a stone pedestal. The +storms have doubled over the tin plate for the inscription INRI, and +the rains have effaced the letters. At the foot of the cross, as on +the real Golgotha, is a confused heap of skulls and bones which the +indifferent grave-digger has thrown from the graves he digs, and there +they will probably await, not the resurrection of the dead, but the +coming of the animals to defile them. Round about may be noted signs +of recent excavations; here the earth is sunken, there it forms a low +mound. There grow in all their luxuriance the _tarambulo_ to prick +the feet with its spiny berries and the _pandakaki_ to add its odor +to that of the cemetery, as if the place did not have smells enough +already. Yet the ground is sprinkled with a few little flowers which, +like those skulls, are known only to their Creator; their petals wear +a pale smile and their fragrance is the fragrance of the tombs. The +grass and creepers fill up the corners or climb over the walls and +niches to cover and beautify the naked ugliness and in places even +penetrate into the fissures made by the earthquakes, so as to hide +from sight the revered hollowness of the sepulcher. + +At the time we enter, the people have driven the animals away, with the +single exception of some old hog, an animal that is hard to convince, +who shows his small eyes and pulling back his head from a great gap +in the fence, sticks up his snout and seems to say to a woman praying +near, "Don't eat it all, leave something for me, won't you?" + +Two men are digging a grave near one of the tottering walls. One +of them, the grave-digger, works with indifference, throwing about +bones as a gardener does stones and dry branches, while the other, +more intent on his work, is perspiring, smoking, and spitting at +every moment. + +"Listen," says the latter in Tagalog, "wouldn't it be better for us +to dig in some other place? This is too recent." + +"One grave is as recent as another." + +"I can't stand it any longer! That bone you're just cut in two has +blood oozing from it--and those hairs?" + +"But how sensitive you are!" was the other's reproach. "Just as if +you were a town clerk! If, like myself, you had dug up a corpse of +twenty days, on a dark and rainy night--! My lantern went out--" + +His companion shuddered. + +"The coffin burst open, the corpse fell half-way out, it stunk--and +supposing you had to carry it--the rain wet us both--" + +"Ugh! And why did you dig it up?" + +The grave-digger looked at him in surprise. "Why? How do I know? I +was ordered to do so." + +"Who ordered you?" + +The grave-digger stepped backward and looked his companion over from +head to foot. "Man, you're like a Spaniard, for afterwards a Spaniard +asked me the same questions, but in secret. So I'm going to answer +you as I answered the Spaniard: the fat curate ordered me to do so." + +"Ah! And what did you do with the corpse afterwards?" further +questioned the sensitive one. + +"The devil! If I didn't know you and was not sure that you are a _man_ +I would say that you were certainly a Spaniard of the Civil Guard, +since you ask questions just as he did. Well, the fat curate ordered +me to bury it in the Chinamen's cemetery, but the coffin was heavy +and the Chinese cemetery far away--" + +"No, no! I'm not going to dig any more!" the other interrupted in +horror as he threw away his spade and jumped out of the hole. "I've cut +a skull in two and I'm afraid that it won't let me sleep tonight." The +old grave-digger laughed to see how the chicken-hearted fellow left, +crossing himself. + +The cemetery was filling up with men and women dressed in +mourning. Some sought a grave for a time, disputing among themselves +the while, and as if they were unable to agree, they scattered +about, each kneeling where he thought best. Others, who had niches +for their deceased relatives, lighted candles and fell to praying +devoutly. Exaggerated or suppressed sighs and sobs were heard amid +the hum of prayers, _orapreo, orapreiss, requiem-aeternams_, that +arose from all sides. + +A little old man with bright eyes entered bareheaded. Upon seeing +him many laughed, and some women knitted their eyebrows. The old man +did not seem to pay any attention to these demonstrations as he went +toward a pile of skulls and knelt to look earnestly for something +among the bones. Then he carefully removed the skulls one by one, but +apparently without finding what he sought, for he wrinkled his brow, +nodded his head from side to side, looked all about him, and finally +rose and approached the grave-digger, who raised his head when the +old man spoke to him. + +"Do you know where there is a beautiful skull, white as the meat of a +coconut, with a complete set of teeth, which I had there at the foot +of the cross under those leaves?" + +The grave-digger shrugged his shoulders. + +"Look!" added the old man, showing a silver coin, "I have only this, +but I'll give it to you if you find the skull for me." + +The gleam of the silver caused the grave-digger to consider, and +staring toward the heap of bones he said, "Isn't it there? No? Then +I don't know where it is." + +"Don't you know? When those who owe me pay me, I'll give you more," +continued the old man. "It was the skull of my wife, so if you find +it for me--" + +"Isn't it there? Then I don't know! But if you wish, I can give +you another." + +"You're like the grave you're digging," apostrophized the old man +nervously. "You don't know the value of what you lose. For whom is +that grave?" + +"How should I know?" replied the other in bad humor. + +"For a corpse!" + +"Like the grave, like the grave!" repeated the old man with a dry +smile. "You don't know what you throw away nor what you receive! Dig, +dig on!" And he turned away in the direction of the gate. + +Meanwhile, the grave-digger had completed his task, attested by the +two mounds of fresh red earth at the sides of the grave. He took some +buyo from his salakot and began to chew it while he stared stupidly +at what was going on around him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Signs of Storm + + +As the old man was leaving the cemetery there stopped at the head +of the path a carriage which, from its dust-covered appearance and +sweating horses, seemed to have come from a great distance. Followed +by an aged servant, Ibarra left the carriage and dismissed it with a +wave of his hand, then gravely and silently turned toward the cemetery. + +"My illness and my duties have not permitted me to return," said the +old servant timidly. "Capitan Tiago promised that he would see that +a niche was constructed, but I planted some flowers on the grave and +set up a cross carved by my own hands." Ibarra made no reply. "There +behind that big cross, sir," he added when they were well inside the +gate, as he pointed to the place. + +Ibarra was so intent upon his quest that he did not notice the +movement of surprise on the part of the persons who recognized him +and suspended their prayers to watch him curiously. He walked along +carefully to avoid stepping on any of the graves, which were easily +distinguishable by the hollow places in the soil. In other times he +had walked on them carelessly, but now they were to be respected: +his father lay among them. When he reached the large cross he stopped +and looked all around. His companion stood confused and confounded, +seeking some mark in the ground, but nowhere was any cross to be seen. + +"Was it here?" he murmured through his teeth. "No, there! But the +ground has been disturbed." + +Ibarra gave him a look of anguish. + +"Yes," he went on, "I remember that there was a stone near it. The +grave was rather short. The grave-digger was sick, so a farmer had +to dig it. But let's ask that man what has become of the cross." + +They went over to where the grave-digger was watching them with +curiosity. He removed his salakot respectfully as they approached. + +"Can you tell me which is the grave there that had a cross over +it?" asked the servant. + +The grave-digger looked toward the place and reflected. "A big cross?" + +"Yes, a big one!" affirmed the servant eagerly, with a significant +look at Ibarra, whose face lighted up. + +"A carved cross tied up with rattan?" continued the grave-digger. + +"That's it, that's it, like this!" exclaimed the servant in answer +as he drew on the ground the figure of a Byzantine cross. + +"Were there flowers scattered on the grave?" + +"Oleanders and tuberoses and forget-me-nots, yes!" the servant added +joyfully, offering the grave-digger a cigar. + +"Tell us which is the grave and where the cross is." + +The grave-digger scratched his ear and answered with a yawn: "Well, +as for the cross, I burned it." + +"Burned it? Why did you burn it?" + +"Because the fat curate ordered me to do so." + +"Who is the fat curate?" asked Ibarra. + +"Who? Why, the one that beats people with a big cane." + +Ibarra drew his hand across his forehead. "But at least you can tell +us where the grave is. You must remember that." + +The grave-digger smiled as he answered quietly, "But the corpse is +no longer there." + +"What's that you're saying?" + +"Yes," continued the grave-digger in a half-jesting tone. "I buried +a woman in that place a week ago." + +"Are you crazy?" cried the servant. "It hasn't been a year since we +buried him." + +"That's very true, but a good many months ago I dug the body up. The +fat curate ordered me to do so and to take it to the cemetery of the +Chinamen. But as it was heavy and there was rain that night--" + +He was stopped by the threatening attitude of Ibarra, who had caught +him by the arm and was shaking him. "Did you do that?" demanded the +youth in an indescribable tone. + +"Don't be angry, sir," stammered the pale and trembling +grave-digger. "I didn't bury him among the Chinamen. Better be drowned +than lie among Chinamen, I said to myself, so I threw the body into +the lake." + +Ibarra placed both his hands on the grave-digger's shoulders and +stared at him for a long time with an indefinable expression. Then, +with the ejaculation, "You are only a miserable slave!" he turned +away hurriedly, stepping upon bones, graves, and crosses, like one +beside himself. + +The grave-digger patted his arm and muttered, "All the trouble dead +men cause! The fat padre caned me for allowing it to be buried while +I was sick, and this fellow almost tore my arm off for having dug it +up. That's what these Spaniards are! I'll lose my job yet!" + +Ibarra walked rapidly with a far-away look in his eyes, while the +aged servant followed him weeping. The sun was setting, and over the +eastern sky was flung a heavy curtain of clouds. A dry wind shook the +tree-tops and made the bamboo clumps creak. Ibarra went bareheaded, +but no tear wet his eyes nor did any sigh escape from his breast. He +moved as if fleeing from something, perhaps the shade of his father, +perhaps the approaching storm. He crossed through the town to the +outskirts on the opposite side and turned toward the old house which he +had not entered for so many years. Surrounded by a cactus-covered wall +it seemed to beckon to him with its open windows, while the ilang-ilang +waved its flower-laden branches joyfully and the doves circled about +the conical roof of their cote in the middle of the garden. + +But the youth gave no heed to these signs of welcome back to his old +home, his eyes being fixed on the figure of a priest approaching from +the opposite direction. It was the curate of San Diego, the pensive +Franciscan whom we have seen before, the rival of the alferez. The +breeze folded back the brim of his wide hat and blew his _guingon_ +habit closely about him, revealing the outlines of his body and his +thin, curved thighs. In his right hand he carried an ivory-headed +_palasan_ cane. + +This was the first time that he and Ibarra had met. When they drew +near each other Ibarra stopped and gazed at him from head to foot; +Fray Salvi avoided the look and tried to appear unconcerned. After +a moment of hesitation Ibarra went up to him quickly and dropping a +heavy hand on his shoulder, asked in a husky voice, "What did you do +with my father?" + +Fray Salvi, pale and trembling as he read the deep feelings that +flushed the youth's face, could not answer; he seemed paralyzed. + +"What did you do with my father?" again demanded the youth in a +choking voice. + +The priest, who was gradually being forced to his knees by the heavy +hand that pressed upon his shoulder, made a great effort and answered, +"You are mistaken, I did nothing to your father." + +"You didn't?" went on the youth, forcing him down upon his knees. + +"No, I assure you! It was my predecessor, it was Padre Damaso!" + +"Ah!" exclaimed the youth, releasing his hold, and clapping his hand +desperately to his brow; then, leaving poor Fray Salvi, he turned away +and hurried toward his house. The old servant came up and helped the +friar to his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Tasio: Lunatic or Sage + + +The peculiar old man wandered about the streets aimlessly. A former +student of philosophy, he had given up his career in obedience to +his mother's wishes and not from any lack of means or ability. Quite +the contrary, it was because his mother was rich and he was said +to possess talent. The good woman feared that her son would become +learned and forget God, so she had given him his choice of entering +the priesthood or leaving college. Being in love, he chose the latter +course and married. Then having lost both his wife and his mother +within a year, he sought consolation in his books in order to free +himself from sorrow, the cockpit, and the dangers of idleness. He +became so addicted to his studies and the purchase of books, that he +entirely neglected his fortune and gradually ruined himself. Persons +of culture called him Don Anastasio, or Tasio the Sage, while the +great crowd of the ignorant knew him as Tasio the Lunatic, on account +of his peculiar ideas and his eccentric manner of dealing with others. + +As we said before, the evening threatened to be stormy. The lightning +flashed its pale rays across the leaden sky, the air was heavy and +the slight breeze excessively sultry. Tasio had apparently already +forgotten his beloved skull, and now he was smiling as he looked at +the dark clouds. Near the church he met a man wearing an alpaca coat, +who carried in one hand a large bundle of candles and in the other +a tasseled cane, the emblem of his office as gobernadorcillo. + +"You seem to be merry?" he greeted Tasio in Tagalog. + +"Truly I am, senor capitan, I'm merry because I hope for something." + +"Ah? What do you hope for?" + +"The storm!" + +"The storm? Are you thinking of taking a bath?" asked the +gobernadorcillo in a jesting way as he stared at the simple attire +of the old man. + +"A bath? That's not a bad idea, especially when one has just stumbled +over some trash!" answered Tasio in a similar, though somewhat +more offensive tone, staring at the other's face. "But I hope for +something better." + +"What, then?" + +"Some thunderbolts that will kill people and burn down houses," +returned the Sage seriously. + +"Why don't you ask for the deluge at once?" + +"We all deserve it, even you and I! You, senor gobernadorcillo, +have there a bundle of tapers that came from some Chinese shop, yet +this now makes the tenth year that I have been proposing to each new +occupant of your office the purchase of lightning-rods. Every one +laughs at me, and buys bombs and rockets and pays for the ringing of +bells. Even you yourself, on the day after I made my proposition, +ordered from the Chinese founders a bell in honor of St. Barbara, +[53] when science has shown that it is dangerous to ring the bells +during a storm. Explain to me why in the year '70, when lightning +struck in Binan, it hit the very church tower and destroyed the clock +and altar. What was the bell of St. Barbara doing then?" + +At the moment there was a vivid flash. "_Jesus, Maria, y Jose!_ +Holy St. Barbara!" exclaimed the gobernadorcillo, turning pale and +crossing himself. + +Tasio burst out into a loud laugh. "You are worthy of your patroness," +he remarked dryly in Spanish as he turned his back and went toward +the church. + +Inside, the sacristans were preparing a catafalque, bordered with +candles placed in wooden sockets. Two large tables had been placed +one above the other and covered with black cloth across which ran +white stripes, with here and there a skull painted on it. + +"Is that for the souls or for the candles?" inquired the old man, +but noticing two boys, one about ten and the other seven, he turned +to them without awaiting an answer from the sacristans. + +"Won't you come with me, boys?" he asked them. "Your mother has +prepared a supper for you fit for a curate." + +"The senior sacristan will not let us leave until eight o'clock, +sir," answered the larger of the two boys. "I expect to get my pay +to give it to our mother." + +"Ah! And where are you going now?" + +"To the belfry, sir, to ring the knell for the souls." + +"Going to the belfry! Then take care! Don't go near the bells during +the storm!" + +Tasio then left the church, not without first bestowing a look of pity +on the two boys, who were climbing the stairway into the organ-loft. He +passed his hand over his eyes, looked at the sky again, and murmured, +"Now I should be sorry if thunderbolts should fall." With his head +bowed in thought he started toward the outskirts of the town. + +"Won't you come in?" invited a voice in Spanish from a window. + +The Sage raised his head and saw a man of thirty or thirty-five years +of age smiling at him. + +"What are you reading there?" asked Tasio, pointing to a book the +man held in his hand. + +"A work just published: 'The Torments Suffered by the Blessed Souls +in Purgatory,'" the other answered with a smile. + +"Man, man, man!" exclaimed the Sage in an altered tone as he entered +the house. "The author must be a very clever person." + +Upon reaching the top of the stairway, he was cordially received by the +master of the house, Don Filipo Lino, and his young wife, Dona Teodora +Vina. Don Filipo was the teniente-mayor of the town and leader of one +of the parties--the liberal faction, if it be possible to speak so, +and if there exist parties in the towns of the Philippines. + +"Did you meet in the cemetery the son of the deceased Don Rafael, +who has just returned from Europe?" + +"Yes, I saw him as he alighted from his carriage." + +"They say that he went to look for his father's grave. It must have +been a terrible blow." + +The Sage shrugged his shoulders. + +"Doesn't such a misfortune affect you?" asked the young wife. + +"You know very well that I was one of the six who accompanied the body, +and it was I who appealed to the Captain-General when I saw that no +one, not even the authorities, said anything about such an outrage, +although I always prefer to honor a good man in life rather than to +worship him after his death." + +"Well?" + +"But, madam, I am not a believer in hereditary monarchy. By reason +of the Chinese blood which I have received from my mother I believe +a little like the Chinese: I honor the father on account of the son +and not the son on account of the father. I believe that each one +should receive the reward or punishment for his own deeds, not for +those of another." + +"Did you order a mass said for your dead wife, as I advised +you yesterday?" asked the young woman, changing the subject of +conversation. + +"No," answered the old man with a smile. + +"What a pity!" she exclaimed with unfeigned regret. + +"They say that until ten o'clock tomorrow the souls will wander at +liberty, awaiting the prayers of the living, and that during these +days one mass is equivalent to five on other days of the year, or +even to six, as the curate said this morning." + +"What! Does that mean that we have a period without paying, which we +should take advantage of?" + +"But, Doray," interrupted Don Filipo, "you know that Don Anastasio +doesn't believe in purgatory." + +"I don't believe in purgatory!" protested the old man, partly rising +from his seat. "Even when I know something of its history!" + +"The history of purgatory!" exclaimed the couple, full of +surprise. "Come, relate it to us." + +"You don't know it and yet you order masses and talk about its +torments? Well, as it has begun to rain and threatens to continue, +we shall have time to relieve the monotony," replied Tasio, falling +into a thoughtful mood. + +Don Filipo closed the book which he held in his hand and Doray sat +down at his side determined not to believe anything that the old man +was about to say. + +The latter began in the following manner: "Purgatory existed long +before Our Lord came into the world and must have been located in +the center of the earth, according to Padre Astete; or somewhere near +Cluny, according to the monk of whom Padre Girard tells us. But the +location is of least importance here. Now then, who were scorching +in those fires that had been burning from the beginning of the +world? Its very ancient existence is proved by Christian philosophy, +which teaches that God has created nothing new since he rested." + +"But it could have existed _in potentia_ and not _in actu_," [54] +observed Don Filipo. + +"Very well! But yet I must answer that some knew of it and as existing +_in actu_. One of these was Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, who wrote +part of the Zend-Avesta and founded a religion which in some points +resembles ours, and Zarathustra, according to the scholars, flourished +at least eight hundred years before Christ. I say 'at least,' since +Gaffarel, after examining the testimony of Plato, Xanthus of Lydia, +Pliny, Hermippus, and Eudoxus, believes it to have been two thousand +five hundred years before our era. However that may be, it is certain +that Zarathustra talked of a kind of purgatory and showed ways of +getting free from it. The living could redeem the souls of those who +died in sin by reciting passages from the Avesta and by doing good +works, but under the condition that the person offering the petitions +should be a relative, up to the fourth generation. The time for this +occurred every year and lasted five days. Later, when this belief had +become fixed among the people, the priests of that religion saw in it a +chance of profit and so they exploited 'the deep and dark prison where +remorse reigns,' as Zarathustra called it. They declared that by the +payment of a small coin it was possible to save a soul from a year of +torture, but as in that religion there were sins punishable by three +hundred to a thousand years of suffering, such as lying, faithlessness, +failure to keep one's word, and so on, it resulted that the rascals +took in countless sums. Here you will observe something like our +purgatory, if you take into account the differences in the religions." + +A vivid flash of lightning, followed by rolling thunder, caused Doray +to start up and exclaim, as she crossed herself: "_Jesus, Maria, +y Jose!_ I'm going to leave you, I'm going to burn some sacred palm +and light candles of penitence." + +The rain began to fall in torrents. The Sage Tasio, watching the young +woman leave, continued: "Now that she is not here, we can consider this +matter more rationally. Doray, even though a little superstitious, +is a good Catholic, and I don't care to root out the faith from her +heart. A pure and simple faith is as distinct from fanaticism as the +flame from smoke or music from discords: only the fools and the deaf +confuse them. Between ourselves we can say that the idea of purgatory +is good, holy, and rational. It perpetuates the union of those who +were and those who are, leading thus to greater purity of life. The +evil is in its abuse. + +"But let us now see where Catholicism got this idea, which does not +exist in the Old Testament nor in the Gospels. Neither Moses nor Christ +made the slightest mention of it, and the single passage which is +cited from Maccabees is insufficient. Besides, this book was declared +apocryphal by the Council of Laodicea and the holy Catholic Church +accepted it only later. Neither have the pagan religions anything +like it. The oft-quoted passage in Virgil, _Aliae panduntur inanes_, +[55] which probably gave occasion for St. Gregory the Great to speak +of drowned souls, and to Dante for another narrative in his _Divine +Comedy_, cannot have been the origin of this belief. Neither the +Brahmins, the Buddhists, nor the Egyptians, who may have given Rome +her Charon and her Avernus, had anything like this idea. I won't speak +now of the religions of northern Europe, for they were religions of +warriors, bards, and hunters, and not of philosophers. While they yet +preserve their beliefs and even their rites under Christian forms, +they were unable to accompany the hordes in the spoliation of Rome +or to seat themselves on the Capitoline; the religions of the mists +were dissipated by the southern sun. Now then, the early Christians +did not believe in a purgatory but died in the blissful confidence +of shortly seeing God face to face. Apparently the first fathers of +the Church who mentioned it were St. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, +and St. Irenaeus, who were all perhaps influenced by Zarathustra's +religion, which still flourished and was widely spread throughout +the East, since at every step we read reproaches against Origen's +Orientalism. St. Irenaeus proved its existence by the fact that +Christ remained 'three days in the depths of the earth,' three days +of purgatory, and deduced from this that every soul must remain there +until the resurrection of the body, although the '_Hodie mecum eris in +Paradiso_' [56] seems to contradict it. St. Augustine also speaks of +purgatory and, if not affirming its existence, yet he did not believe +it impossible, conjecturing that in another existence there might +continue the punishments that we receive in this life for our sins." + +"The devil with St. Augustine!" ejaculated Don Filipo. "He wasn't +satisfied with what we suffer here but wished a continuance." + +"Well, so it went" some believed it and others didn't. Although +St. Gregory finally came to admit it in his _de quibusdam levibus +culpis esse ante judicium purgatorius ignis credendus est_, [57] yet +nothing definite was done until the year 1439, that is, eight centuries +later, when the Council of Florence declared that there must exist +a purifying fire for the souls of those who have died in the love of +God but without having satisfied divine Justice. Lastly, the Council +of Trent under Pius IV in 1563, in the twenty-fifth session, issued +the purgatorial decree beginning _Cura catholica ecclesia, Spiritu +Santo edocta_, wherein it deduces that, after the office of the mass, +the petitions of the living, their prayers, alms, and other pious +works are the surest means of freeing the souls. Nevertheless, the +Protestants do not believe in it nor do the Greek Fathers, since they +reject any Biblical authority for it and say that our responsibility +ends with death, and that the '_Quodcumque ligaberis in terra_,' +[58] does not mean '_usque ad purgatorium,_' [59] but to this the +answer can be made that since purgatory is located in the center of +the earth it fell naturally under the control of St. Peter. But I +should never get through if I had to relate all that has been said +on the subject. Any day that you wish to discuss the matter with me, +come to my house and there we will consult the books and talk freely +and quietly. + +"Now I must go. I don't understand why Christian piety permits robbery +on this night--and you, the authorities, allow it--and I fear for +my books. If they should steal them to read I wouldn't object, but +I know that there are many who wish to burn them in order to do for +me an act of charity, and such charity, worthy of the Caliph Omar, +is to be dreaded. Some believe that on account of those books I am +already damned--" + +"But I suppose that you do believe in damnation?" asked Doray with +a smile, as she appeared carrying in a brazier the dry palm leaves, +which gave off a peculiar smoke and an agreeable odor. + +"I don't know, madam, what God will do with me," replied the old man +thoughtfully. "When I die I will commit myself to Him without fear +and He may do with me what He wishes. But a thought strikes me!" + +"What thought is that?" + +"If the only ones who can be saved are the Catholics, and of them +only five per cent--as many curates say--and as the Catholics form +only a twelfth part of the population of the world--if we believe +what statistics show--it would result that after damning millions +and millions of men during the countless ages that passed before +the Saviour came to the earth, after a Son of God has died for us, +it is now possible to save only five in every twelve hundred. That +cannot be so! I prefer to believe and say with Job: 'Wilt thou break +a leaf driven to and fro, and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?' No, +such a calamity is impossible and to believe it is blasphemy!" + +"What do you wish? Divine Justice, divine Purity--" + +"Oh, but divine Justice and divine Purity saw the future before the +creation," answered the old man, as he rose shuddering. "Man is an +accidental and not a necessary part of creation, and that God cannot +have created him, no indeed, only to make a few happy and condemn +hundreds to eternal misery, and all in a moment, for hereditary +faults! No! If that be true, strangle your baby son sleeping there! If +such a belief were not a blasphemy against that God, who must be +the Highest Good, then the Phenician Moloch, which was appeased with +human sacrifices and innocent blood, and in whose belly were burned +the babes torn from their mothers' breasts, that bloody deity, that +horrible divinity, would be by the side of Him a weak girl, a friend, +a mother of humanity!" + +Horrified, the Lunatic--or the Sage--left the house and ran along the +street in spite of the rain and the darkness. A lurid flash, followed +by frightful thunder and filling the air with deadly currents, lighted +the old man as he stretched his hand toward the sky and cried out: +"Thou protestest! I know that Thou art not cruel, I know that I must +only name Thee Good!" + +The flashes of lightning became more frequent and the storm increased +in violence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The Sacristans + + +The thunder resounded, roar following close upon roar, each preceded' +by a blinding flash of zigzag lightning, so that it might have been +said that God was writing his name in fire and that the eternal +arch of heaven was trembling with fear. The rain, whipped about in +a different direction each moment by the mournfully whistling wind, +fell in torrents. With a voice full of fear the bells sounded their +sad supplication, and in the brief pauses between the roars of the +unchained elements tolled forth sorrowful peals, like plaintive groans. + +On the second floor of the church tower were the two boys whom we saw +talking to the Sage. The younger, a child of seven years with large +black eyes and a timid countenance, was huddling close to his brother, +a boy of ten, whom he greatly resembled in features, except that the +look on the elder's face was deeper and firmer. + +Both were meanly dressed in clothes full of rents and patches. They sat +upon a block of wood, each holding the end of a rope which extended +upward and was lost amid the shadows above. The wind-driven rain +reached them and snuffed the piece of candle burning dimly on the +large round stone that was used to furnish the thunder on Good Friday +by being rolled around the gallery. + +"Pull on the rope, Crispin, pull!" cried the elder to his little +brother, who did as he was told, so that from above was heard a faint +peal, instantly drowned out by the reechoing thunder. + +"Oh, if we were only at home now with mother," sighed the younger, +as he gazed at his brother. "There I shouldn't be afraid." + +The elder did not answer; he was watching the melting wax of the +candle, apparently lost in thought. + +"There no one would say that I stole," went on Crispin. "Mother +wouldn't allow it. If she knew that they whip me--" + +The elder took his gaze from the flame, raised his head, and clutching +the thick rope pulled violently on it so that a sonorous peal of the +bells was heard. + +"Are we always going to live this way, brother?" continued +Crispin. "I'd like to get sick at home tomorrow, I'd like to fall +into a long sickness so that mother might take care of me and not +let me come back to the convento. So I'd not be called a thief nor +would they whip me. And you too, brother, you must get sick with me." + +"No," answered the older, "we should all die: mother of grief and we +of hunger." + +Crispin remained silent for a moment, then asked, "How much will you +get this month?" + +"Two pesos. They're fined me twice." + +"Then pay what they say I've stolen, so that they won't call us +thieves. Pay it, brother!" + +"Are you crazy, Crispin? Mother wouldn't have anything to eat. The +senior sacristan says that you've stolen two gold pieces, and they're +worth thirty-two pesos." + +The little one counted on his fingers up to thirty-two. "Six +hands and two fingers over and each finger a peso!" he murmured +thoughtfully. "And each peso, how many cuartos?" + +"A hundred and sixty." + +"A hundred and sixty cuartos? A hundred and sixty times a +cuarto? Goodness! And how many are a hundred and sixty?" + +"Thirty-two hands," answered the older. + +Crispin looked hard at his little hands. "Thirty-two hands," he +repeated, "six hands and two fingers over and each finger thirty-two +hands and each finger a cuarto--goodness, what a lot of cuartos! I +could hardly count them in three days; and with them could be bought +shoes for our feet, a hat for my head when the sun shines hot, a +big umbrella for the rain, and food, and clothes for you and mother, +and--" He became silent and thoughtful again. + +"Now I'm sorry that I didn't steal!" he soon exclaimed. + +"Crispin!" reproached his brother. + +"Don't get angry! The curate has said that he'll beat me to death +if the money doesn't appear, and if I had stolen it I could make +it appear. Anyhow, if I died you and mother would at least have +clothes. Oh, if I had only stolen it!" + +The elder pulled on the rope in silence. After a time he replied with +a sigh: "What I'm afraid of is that mother will scold you when she +knows about it." + +"Do you think so?" asked the younger with astonishment. "You will +tell her that they're whipped me and I'll show the welts on my back +and my torn pocket. I had only one cuarto, which was given to me last +Easter, but the curate took that away from me yesterday. I never saw +a prettier cuarto! No, mother won't believe it." + +"If the curate says so--" + +Crispin began to cry, murmuring between his sobs, "Then go home +alone! I don't want to go. Tell mother that I'm sick. I don't want +to go." + +"Crispin, don't cry!" pleaded the elder. "Mother won't believe +it--don't cry! Old Tasio told us that a fine supper is waiting for us." + +"A fine supper! And I haven't eaten for a long time. They won't give +me anything to eat until the two gold pieces appear. But, if mother +believes it? You must tell her that the senior sacristan is a liar +but that the curate believes him and that all of them are liars, that +they say that we're thieves because our father is a vagabond who--" + +At that instant a head appeared at the top of the stairway leading +down to the floor below, and that head, like Medusa's, froze the +words on the child's lips. It was a long, narrow head covered with +black hair, with blue glasses concealing the fact that one eye was +sightless. The senior sacristan was accustomed to appear thus without +noise or warning of any kind. The two brothers turned cold with fear. + +"On you, Basilio, I impose a fine of two reals for not ringing the +bells in time," he said in a voice so hollow that his throat seemed +to lack vocal chords. "You, Crispin, must stay tonight, until what +you stole reappears." + +Crispin looked at his brother as if pleading for protection. + +"But we already have permission--mother expects us at eight o'clock," +objected Basilio timidly. + +"Neither shall you go home at eight, you'll stay until ten." + +"But, sir, after nine o'clock no one is allowed to be out and our +house is far from here." + +"Are you trying to give me orders?" growled the man irritably, as he +caught Crispin by the arm and started to drag him away. + +"Oh, sir, it's been a week now since we're seen our mother," begged +Basilio, catching hold of his brother as if to defend him. + +The senior sacristan struck his hand away and jerked at Crispin, +who began to weep as he fell to the floor, crying out to his brother, +"Don't leave me, they're going to kill me!" + +The sacristan gave no heed to this and dragged him on to the +stairway. As they disappeared among the shadows below Basilio stood +speechless, listening to the sounds of his brother's body striking +against the steps. Then followed the sound of a blow and heartrending +cries that died away in the distance. + +The boy stood on tiptoe, hardly breathing and listening fixedly, +with his eyes unnaturally wide and his fists clenched. "When shall I +be strong enough to plow a field?" he muttered between his teeth as +he started below hastily. Upon reaching the organ-loft he paused to +listen; the voice of his brother was fast dying away in the distance +and the cries of "Mother! Brother!" were at last completely cut +off by the sound of a closing door. Trembling and perspiring, he +paused for a moment with his fist in his mouth to keep down a cry of +anguish. He let his gaze wander about the dimly lighted church where +an oil-lamp gave a ghostly light, revealing the catafalque in the +center. The doors were closed and fastened, and the windows had iron +bars on them. Suddenly he reascended the stairway to the place where +the candle was burning and then climbed up into the third floor of +the belfry. After untying the ropes from the bell-clappers he again +descended. He was pale and his eyes glistened, but not with tears. + +Meanwhile, the rain was gradually ceasing and the sky was +clearing. Basilio knotted the ropes together, tied one end to a rail +of the balustrade, and without even remembering to put out the light +let himself down into the darkness outside. A few moments later voices +were heard on one of the streets of the town, two shots resounded, +but no one seemed to be alarmed and silence again reigned. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Sisa + + +Through the dark night the villagers slept. The families who had +remembered their dead gave themselves up to quiet and satisfied sleep, +for they had recited their requiems, the novena of the souls, and had +burned many wax tapers before the sacred images. The rich and powerful +had discharged the duties their positions imposed upon them. On the +following day they would hear three masses said by each priest and +would give two pesos for another, besides buying a bull of indulgences +for the dead. Truly, divine justice is not nearly so exacting as human. + +But the poor and indigent who earn scarcely enough to keep themselves +alive and who also have to pay tribute to the petty officials, clerks, +and soldiers, that they may be allowed to live in peace, sleep not +so tranquilly as gentle poets who have perhaps not felt the pinches +of want would have us believe. The poor are sad and thoughtful, for +on that night, if they have not recited many prayers, yet they have +prayed much--with pain in their eyes and tears in their hearts. They +have not the novenas, nor do they know the responsories, versicles, +and prayers which the friars have composed for those who lack original +ideas and feelings, nor do they understand them. They pray in the +language of their misery: their souls weep for them and for those +dead beings whose love was their wealth. Their lips may proffer +the salutations, but their minds cry out complaints, charged with +lamentations. Wilt Thou be satisfied, O Thou who blessedst poverty, +and you, O suffering souls, with the simple prayers of the poor, +offered before a rude picture in the light of a dim wick, or do +you perhaps desire wax tapers before bleeding Christs and Virgins +with small mouths and crystal eyes, and masses in Latin recited +mechanically by priests? And thou, Religion preached for suffering +humanity, hast thou forgotten thy mission of consoling the oppressed +in their misery and of humiliating the powerful in their pride? Hast +thou now promises only for the rich, for those who, can pay thee? + +The poor widow watches among the children who sleep at her side. She +is thinking of the indulgences that she ought to buy for the repose +of the souls of her parents and of her dead husband. "A peso," +she says, "a peso is a week of happiness for my children, a week of +laughter and joy, my savings for a month, a dress for my daughter +who is becoming a woman." "But it is necessary that you put aside +these worldly desires," says the voice that she heard in the pulpit, +"it is necessary that you make sacrifices." Yes, it is necessary. The +Church does not gratuitously save the beloved souls for you nor does +it distribute indulgences without payment. You must buy them, so +tonight instead of sleeping you should work. Think of your daughter, +so poorly clothed! Fast, for heaven is dear! Decidedly, it seems +that the poor enter not into heaven. Such thoughts wander through the +space enclosed between the rough mats spread out on the bamboo floor +and the ridge of the roof, from which hangs the hammock wherein the +baby swings. The infant's breathing is easy and peaceful, but from +time to time he swallows and smacks his lips; his hungry stomach, +which is not satisfied with what his older brothers have given him, +dreams of eating. + +The cicadas chant monotonously, mingling their ceaseless notes with +the trills of the cricket hidden in the grass, or the chirp of the +little lizard which has come out in search of food, while the big +gekko, no longer fearing the water, disturbs the concert with its +ill-omened voice as it shows its head from out the hollow of the +decayed tree-trunk. + +The dogs howl mournfully in the streets and superstitious folk, +hearing them, are convinced that they see spirits and ghosts. But +neither the dogs nor the other animals see the sorrows of men--yet +how many of these exist! + +Distant from the town an hour's walk lives the mother of Basilio and +Crispin. The wife of a heartless man, she struggles to live for her +sons, while her husband is a vagrant gamester with whom her interviews +are rare but always painful. He has gradually stripped her of her +few jewels to pay the cost of his vices, and when the suffering Sisa +no longer had anything that he might take to satisfy his whims, he +had begun to maltreat her. Weak in character, with more heart than +intellect, she knew only how to love and to weep. Her husband was +a god and her sons were his angels, so he, knowing to what point he +was loved and feared, conducted himself like all false gods: daily +he became more cruel, more inhuman, more wilful. Once when he had +appeared with his countenance gloomier than ever before, Sisa had +consulted him about the plan of making a sacristan of Basilio, and +he had merely continued to stroke his game-cock, saying neither yes +nor no, only asking whether the boy would earn much money. She had +not dared to insist, but her needy situation and her desire that the +boys should learn to read and write in the town school forced her to +carry out the plan. Still her husband had said nothing. + +That night, between ten and eleven o'clock, when the stars were +glittering in a sky now cleared of all signs of the storm of the +early evening, Sisa sat on a wooden bench watching some fagots that +smouldered upon the fireplace fashioned of rough pieces of natural +rock. Upon a tripod, or _tunko_, was a small pot of boiling rice +and upon the red coals lay three little dried fishes such as are +sold at three for two cuartos. Her chin rested in the palm of her +hand while she gazed at the weak yellow glow peculiar to the cane, +which burns rapidly and leaves embers that quickly grow pale. A sad +smile lighted up her face as she recalled a funny riddle about the pot +and the fire which Crispin had once propounded to her. The boy said: +"The black man sat down and the red man looked at him, a moment passed, +and cock-a-doodle-doo rang forth." + +Sisa was still young, and it was plain that at one time she had been +pretty and attractive. Her eyes, which, like her disposition, she +had given to her sons, were beautiful, with long lashes and a deep +look. Her nose was regular and her pale lips curved pleasantly. She +was what the Tagalogs call _kayumanguing-kaligatan_; that is, her +color was a clear, pure brown. In spite of her youthfulness, pain +and perhaps even hunger had begun to make hollow her pallid cheeks, +and if her abundant hair, in other times the delight and adornment of +her person, was even yet simply and neatly arranged, though without +pins or combs, it was not from coquetry but from habit. + +Sisa had been for several days confined to the house sewing upon +some work which had been ordered for the earliest possible time. In +order to earn the money, she had not attended mass that morning, as +it would have taken two hours at least to go to the town and return: +poverty obliges one to sin! She had finished the work and delivered +it but had received only a promise of payment. All that day she had +been anticipating the pleasures of the evening, for she knew that her +sons were coming and she had intended to make them some presents. She +had bought some small fishes, picked the most beautiful tomatoes in +her little garden, as she knew that Crispin was very fond of them, and +begged from a neighbor, old Tasio the Sage, who lived half a mile away, +some slices of dried wild boar's meat and a leg of wild duck, which +Basilio especially liked. Full of hope, she had cooked the whitest +of rice, which she herself had gleaned from the threshing-floors. It +was indeed a curate's meal for the poor boys. + +But by an unfortunate chance her husband came and ate the rice, +the slices of wild boar's meat, the duck leg, five of the little +fishes, and the tomatoes. Sisa said nothing, although she felt as +if she herself were being eaten. His hunger at length appeased, +he remembered to ask for the boys. Then Sisa smiled happily and +resolved that she would not eat that night, because what remained +was not enough for three. The father had asked for their sons and +that for her was better than eating. + +Soon he picked up his game-cock and started away. + +"Don't you want to see them?" she asked tremulously. "Old Tasio told +me that they would be a little late. Crispin now knows how to read +and perhaps Basilio will bring his wages." + +This last reason caused the husband to pause and waver, but his good +angel triumphed. "In that case keep a peso for me," he said as he +went away. + +Sisa wept bitterly, but the thought of her sons soon dried her +tears. She cooked some more rice and prepared the only three fishes +that were left: each would have one and a half. "They'll have good +appetites," she mused, "the way is long and hungry stomachs have +no heart." + +So she sat, he ear strained to catch every sound, listening to the +lightest footfalls: strong and clear, Basilio; light and irregular, +Crispin--thus she mused. The _kalao_ called in the woods several times +after the rain had ceased, but still her sons did not come. She put the +fishes inside the pot to keep them warm and went to the threshold of +the hut to look toward the road. To keep herself company, she began +to sing in a low voice, a voice usually so sweet and tender that when +her sons listened to her singing the _kundiman_ they wept without +knowing why, but tonight it trembled and the notes were halting. She +stopped singing and gazed earnestly into the darkness, but no one +was coming from the town--that noise was only the wind shaking the +raindrops from the wide banana leaves. + +Suddenly a black dog appeared before her dragging something along the +path. Sisa was frightened but caught up a stone and threw it at the +dog, which ran away howling mournfully. She was not superstitious, +but she had heard so much about presentiments and black dogs that +terror seized her. She shut the door hastily and sat down by the +light. Night favors credulity and the imagination peoples the air +with specters. She tried to pray, to call upon the Virgin and upon +God to watch over her sons, especially her little Crispin. Then she +forgot her prayers as her thoughts wandered to think about them, to +recall the features of each, those features that always wore a smile +for her both asleep and awake. Suddenly she felt her hair rise on her +head and her eyes stared wildly; illusion or reality, she saw Crispin +standing by the fireplace, there where he was wont to sit and prattle +to her, but now he said nothing as he gazed at her with those large, +thoughtful eyes, and smiled. + +"Mother, open the door! Open, mother!" cried the voice of Basilio +from without. + +Sisa shuddered violently and the vision disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Basilio + + + La vida es sueno. + + +Basilio was scarcely inside when he staggered and fell into his +mother's arms. An inexplicable chill seized Sisa as she saw him enter +alone. She wanted to speak but could make no sound; she wanted to +embrace her son but lacked the strength; to weep was impossible. At +sight of the blood which covered the boy's forehead she cried in a +tone that seemed to come from a breaking heart, "My sons!" + +"Don't be afraid, mother," Basilio reassured her. "Crispin stayed at +the convento." + +"At the convento? He stayed at the convento? Is he alive?" + +The boy raised his eyes to her. "Ah!" she sighed, passing from the +depths of sorrow to the heights of joy. She wept and embraced her son, +covering his bloody forehead with kisses. + +"Crispin is alive! You left him at the convento! But why are you +wounded, my son? Have you had a fall?" she inquired, as she examined +him anxiously. + +"The senior sacristan took Crispin away and told me that I could not +leave until ten o'clock, but it was already late and so I ran away. In +the town the soldiers challenged me, I started to run, they fired, +and a bullet grazed my forehead. I was afraid they would arrest me and +beat me and make me scrub out the barracks, as they did with Pablo, +who is still sick from it." + +"My God, my God!" murmured his mother, shuddering. "Thou hast saved +him!" Then while she sought for bandages, water, vinegar, and a +feather, she went on, "A finger's breadth more and they would have +killed you, they would have killed my boy! The civil-guards do not +think of the mothers." + +"You must say that I fell from a tree so that no one will know they +chased me," Basilio cautioned her. + +"Why did Crispin stay?" asked Sisa, after dressing her son's wound. + +Basilio hesitated a few moments, then with his arms about her and +their tears mingling, he related little by little the story of the +gold pieces, without speaking, however, of the tortures they were +inflicting upon his young brother. + +"My good Crispin! To accuse my good Crispin! It's because we're poor +and we poor people have to endure everything!" murmured Sisa, staring +through her tears at the light of the lamp, which was now dying out +from lack of oil. So they remained silent for a while. + +"Haven't you had any supper yet? Here are rice and fish." + +"I don't want anything, only a little water." + +"Yes," answered his mother sadly, "I know that you don't like dried +fish. I had prepared something else, but your father came." + +"Father came?" asked Basilio, instinctively examining the face and +hands of his mother. + +The son's questioning gaze pained Sisa's heart, for she understood it +only too well, so she added hastily: "He came and asked a lot about +you and wanted to see you, and he was very hungry. He said that if +you continued to be so good he would come back to stay with us." + +An exclamation of disgust from Basilio's contracted lips interrupted +her. "Son!" she reproached him. + +"Forgive me, mother," he answered seriously. "But aren't we three +better off--you, Crispin, and I? You're crying--I haven't said +anything." + +Sisa sighed and asked, "Aren't you going to eat? Then let's go to +sleep, for it's now very late." She then closed up the hut and covered +the few coals with ashes so that the fire would not die out entirely, +just as a man does with his inner feelings; he covers them with the +ashes of his life, which he calls indifference, so that they may not +be deadened by daily contact with his fellows. + +Basilio murmured his prayers and lay down near his mother, who was +upon her knees praying. He felt hot and cold, he tried to close his +eyes as he thought of his little brother who that night had expected +to sleep in his mother's lap and who now was probably trembling with +terror and weeping in some dark corner of the convento. His ears were +again pierced with those cries he had heard in the church tower. But +wearied nature soon began to confuse his ideas and the veil of sleep +descended upon his eyes. + +He saw a bedroom where two dim tapers burned. The curate, with +a rattan whip in his hand, was listening gloomily to something +that the senior sacristan was telling him in a strange tongue with +horrible gestures. Crispin quailed and turned his tearful eyes in +every direction as if seeking some one or some hiding-place. The +curate turned toward him and called to him irritably, the rattan +whistled. The child ran to hide himself behind the sacristan, who +caught and held him, thus exposing him to the curate's fury. The +unfortunate boy fought, kicked, screamed, threw himself on the floor +and rolled about. He picked himself up, ran, slipped, fell, and parried +the blows with his hands, which, wounded, he hid quickly, all the time +shrieking with pain. Basilio saw him twist himself, strike the floor +with his head, he saw and heard the rattan whistle. In desperation +his little brother rose. Mad with pain he threw himself upon his +tormentor and bit him on the hand. The curate gave a cry and dropped +the rattan--the sacristan caught up a heavy cane and struck the boy a +blow on the head so that he fell stunned--the curate, seeing him down, +trampled him with his feet. But the child no longer defended himself +nor did he cry out; he rolled along the floor, a lifeless mass that +left a damp track. [60] + +Sisa's voice brought him back to reality. "What's the matter? Why +are you crying?" + +"I dreamed--O God!" exclaimed Basilio, sitting up, covered with +perspiration. "It was a dream! Tell me, mother, that it was only a +dream! Only a dream!" + +"What did you dream?" + +The boy did not answer, but sat drying his tears and wiping away the +perspiration. The hut was in total darkness. + +"A dream, a dream!" repeated Basilio in subdued tones. + +"Tell me what you dreamed. I can't sleep," said his mother when he +lay down again. + +"Well," he said in a low voice, "I dreamed that we had gone to +glean the rice-stalks--in a field where there were many flowers--the +women had baskets full of rice-stalks the men too had baskets full of +rice-stalks--and the children too--I don't remember any more, mother, +I don't remember the rest." + +Sisa had no faith in dreams, so she did not insist. + +"Mother, I've thought of a plan tonight," said Basilio after a few +moments' silence. + +"What is your plan?" she asked. Sisa was humble in everything, even +with her own sons, trusting their judgment more than her own. + +"I don't want to be a sacristan any longer." + +"What?" + +"Listen, mother, to what I've been thinking about. Today there arrived +from Spain the son of the dead Don Rafael, and he will be a good +man like his father. Well now, mother, tomorrow you will get Crispin, +collect my wages, and say that I will not be a sacristan any longer. As +soon as I get well I'll go to see Don Crisostomo and ask him to hire me +as a herdsman of his cattle and carabaos--I'm now big enough. Crispin +can study with old Tasio, who does not whip and who is a good man, +even if the curate does not believe so. What have we to fear now from +the padre? Can he make us any poorer than we are? You may believe it, +mother, the old man is good. I've seen him often in the church when +no one else was about, kneeling and praying, believe it. So, mother, +I'll stop being a sacristan. I earn but little and that little is taken +away from me in fines. Every one complains of the same thing. I'll +be a herdsman and by performing my tasks carefully I'll make my +employer like me. Perhaps he'll let us milk a cow so that we can drink +milk--Crispin likes milk so much. Who can tell! Maybe they'll give us +a little calf if they see that I behave well and we'll take care of +it and fatten it like our hen. I'll pick fruits in the woods and sell +them in the town along with the vegetables from our garden, so we'll +have money. I'll set snares and traps to catch birds and wild cats, +[61] I'll fish in the river, and when I'm bigger, I'll hunt. I'll be +able also to cut firewood to sell or to present to the owner of the +cows, and so he'll be satisfied with us. When I'm able to plow, I'll +ask him to let me have a piece of land to plant in sugar-cane or corn +and you won't have to sew until midnight. We'll have new clothes for +every fiesta, we'll eat meat and big fish, we'll live free, seeing each +other every day and eating together. Old Tasio says that Crispin has a +good head and so we'll send him to Manila to study. I'll support him +by working hard. Isn't that fine, mother? Perhaps he'll be a doctor, +what do you say?" + +"What can I say but yes?" said Sisa as she embraced her son. She noted, +however, that in their future the boy took no account of his father, +and shed silent tears. + +Basilio went on talking of his plans with the confidence of the +years that see only what they wish for. To everything Sisa said +yes--everything appeared good. + +Sleep again began to weigh down upon the tired eyelids of the boy, +and this time Ole-Luk-Oie, of whom Andersen tells us, spread over +him his beautiful umbrella with its pleasing pictures. Now he saw +himself with his little brother as they picked guavas, alpay, and +other fruits in the woods; they clambered from branch to branch, light +as butterflies; they penetrated into the caves and saw the shining +rocks; they bathed in the springs where the sand was gold-dust and +the stones like the jewels in the Virgin's crown. The little fishes +sang and laughed, the plants bent their branches toward them laden +with golden fruit. Then he saw a bell hanging in a tree with a long +rope for ringing it; to the rope was tied a cow with a bird's nest +between her horns and Crispin was inside the bell. + +Thus he went on dreaming, while his mother, who was not of his age +and who had not run for an hour, slept not. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Souls in Torment + + +It was about seven o'clock in the morning when Fray Salvi finished +celebrating his last mass, having offered up three in the space of +an hour. "The padre is ill," commented the pious women. "He doesn't +move about with his usual slowness and elegance of manner." + +He took off his vestments without the least comment, without saying +a word or looking at any one. "Attention!" whispered the sacristans +among themselves. "The devil's to pay! It's going to rain fines, +and all on account of those two brothers." + +He left the sacristy to go up into the rectory, in the hallway of +which there awaited him some seven or eight women seated upon benches +and a man who was pacing back and forth. Upon seeing him approach, +the women arose and one of them pressed forward to kiss his hand, +but the holy man made a sign of impatience that stopped her short. + +"Can it be that you've lost a real, _kuriput?_" exclaimed the woman +with a jesting laugh, offended at such a reception. "Not to give +his hand to me, Matron of the Sisterhood, Sister Rufa!" It was an +unheard-of proceeding. + +"He didn't go into the confessional this morning," added Sister Sipa, +a toothless old woman. "I wanted to confess myself so as to receive +communion and get the indulgences." + +"Well, I'm sorry for you," commented a young woman with a frank +face. "This week I earned three plenary indulgences and dedicated +them to the soul of my husband." + +"Badly done, Sister Juana," said the offended Rufa. "One plenary +indulgence was enough to get him out of purgatory. You ought not to +squander the holy indulgences. Do as I do." + +"I thought, so many more the better," answered the simple Sister Juana, +smiling. "But tell me what you do." + +Sister Rufa did not answer at once. First, she asked for a buyo and +chewed at it, gazed at her audience, which was listening attentively, +then spat to one side and commenced, chewing at the buyo meanwhile: "I +don't misspend one holy day! Since I've belonged to the Sisterhood I've +earned four hundred and fifty-seven plenary indulgences, seven hundred +sixty thousand five hundred and ninety-eight years of indulgence. I +set down all that I earn, for I like to have clean accounts. I don't +want to cheat or be cheated." + +Here Sister Rufa paused to give more attention to her chewing. The +women gazed at her in admiration, but the man who was pacing back and +forth remarked with some disdain, "Well, this year I've gained four +plenary indulgences more than you have, Sister Rufa, and a hundred +years more, and that without praying much either." + +"More than I? More than six hundred and eighty-nine plenary indulgences +or nine hundred ninety-four thousand eight hundred and fifty-six +years?" queried Rufa, somewhat disgruntled. + +"That's it, eight indulgences and a hundred fifteen years more and +a few months over," answered the man, from whose neck hung soiled +scapularies and rosaries. + +"That's not strange!" admitted Rufa, at last admitting defeat. "You're +an expert, the best in the province." + +The flattered man smiled and continued, "It isn't so wonderful that I +earn more than you do. Why, I can almost say that even when sleeping +I earn indulgences." + +"And what do you do with them, sir?" asked four or five voices at +the same time. + +"Pish!" answered the man with a gesture of proud disdain. "I have +them to throw away!" + +"But in that I can't commend you, sir," protested Rufa. "You'll go +to purgatory for wasting the indulgences. You know very well that +for every idle word one must suffer forty days in fire, according to +the curate; for every span of thread uselessly wasted, sixty days; +and for every drop of water spilled, twenty. You'll go to purgatory." + +"Well, I'll know how to get out," answered Brother Pedro with sublime +confidence. "How many souls have I saved from the flames! How many +saints have I made! Besides, even _in articulo mortis_ I can still +earn, if I wish, at least seven plenary indulgences and shall be able +to save others as I die." So saying, he strode proudly away. + +Sister Rufa turned to the others: "Nevertheless, you must do as I do, +for I don't lose a single day and I keep my accounts well. I don't +want to cheat or be cheated." + +"Well, what do you do?" asked Juana. + +"You must imitate what I do. For example, suppose I earn a year +of indulgence: I set it down in my account-book and say, 'Most +Blessed Father and Lord St. Dominic, please see if there is anybody +in purgatory who needs exactly a year--neither a day more nor a day +less.' Then I play heads and tails: if it comes heads, no; if tails, +yes. Let's suppose that it comes tails, then I write down _paid_; if it +comes heads, then I keep the indulgence. In this way I arrange groups +of a hundred years each, of which I keep a careful account. It's a pity +that we can't do with them as with money--put them out at interest, +for in that way we should be able to save more souls. Believe me, +and do as I do." + +"Well, I do it a better way," remarked Sister Sipa. + +"What? Better?" demanded the astonished Rufa. "That can't be! My +system can't be improved upon!" + +"Listen a moment and you'll be convinced, Sister," said old Sipa in +a tone of vexation. + +"How is it? Let's hear!" exclaimed the others. + +After coughing ceremoniously the old woman began with great care: +"You know very well that by saying the _Bendita sea tu pureza_ and +the _Senor mio Jesucristo, Padre dulcisimo por el gozo_, ten years +are gained for each letter--" + +"Twenty!" "No, less!" "Five!" interrupted several voices. + +"A few years more or less make no difference. Now, when a servant +breaks a plate, a glass, or a cup, I make him pick up the pieces; +and for every scrap, even the very smallest, he has to recite for +me one of those prayers. The indulgences that I earn in this way +I devote to the souls. Every one in my house, except the cats, +understands this system." + +"But those indulgences are earned by the servants and not by you, +Sister Sipa," objected Rufa. + +"And my cups and plates, who pays for them? The servants are glad to +pay for them in that way and it suits me also. I never resort to blows, +only sometimes a pinch, or a whack on the head." + +"I'm going to do as you do!" "I'll do the same!" "And I!" exclaimed +the women. + +"But suppose the plate is only broken into two or three pieces, +then you earn very few," observed the obstinate Rufa. + +"_Aba!_" answered old Sipa. "I make them recite the prayers +anyhow. Then I glue the pieces together again and so lose nothing." + +Sister Rufa had no more objections left. + +"Allow me to ask about a doubt of mine," said young Juana timidly. "You +ladies understand so well these matters of heaven, purgatory, and +hell, while I confess that I'm ignorant. Often I find in the novenas +and other books this direction: three paternosters, three Ave Marias, +and three Gloria Patris--" + +"Yes, well?" + +"Now I want to know how they should be recited: whether three +paternosters in succession, three Ave Marias in succession, and +three Gloria Patris in succession; or a paternoster, an Ave Maria, +and a Gloria Patri together, three times?" + +"This way: a paternoster three times--" + +"Pardon me, Sister Sipa," interrupted Rufa, "they must be recited in +the other way. You mustn't mix up males and females. The paternosters +are males, the Ave Marias are females, and the Gloria Patris are +the children." + +"Eh? Excuse me, Sister Rufa: paternoster, Ave Maria, and Gloria are +like rice, meat, and sauce--a mouthful for the saints--" + +"You're wrong! You'll see, for you who pray that way will never get +what you ask for." + +"And you who pray the other way won't get anything from your novenas," +replied old Sipa. + +"Who won't?" asked Rufa, rising. "A short time ago I lost a little +pig, I prayed to St. Anthony and found it, and then I sold it for a +good price. _Aba!_" + +"Yes? Then that's why one of your neighbors was saying that you sold +a pig of hers." + +"Who? The shameless one! Perhaps I'm like you--" + +Here the expert had to interfere to restore peace, for no one +was thinking any more about paternosters--the talk was all about +pigs. "Come, come, there mustn't be any quarrel over a pig, +Sisters! The Holy Scriptures give us an example to follow. The +heretics and Protestants didn't quarrel with Our Lord for driving +into the water a herd of swine that belonged to them, and we that +are Christians and besides, Brethren of the Holy Rosary, shall we +have hard words on account of a little pig! What would our rivals, +the Tertiary Brethren, say?" + +All became silent before such wisdom, at the same time fearing what +the Tertiary Brethren might say. The expert, well satisfied with +such acquiescence, changed his tone and continued: "Soon the curate +will send for us. We must tell him which preacher we've chosen of +the three that he suggested yesterday, whether Padre Damaso, Padre +Martin, or the coadjutor. I don't know whether the Tertiary Brethren +have yet made any choice, so we must decide." + +"The coadjutor," murmured Juana timidly. + +"Ahem! The coadjutor doesn't know how to preach," declared Sipa. "Padre +Martin is better." + +"Padre Martin!" exclaimed another disdainfully. "He hasn't any +voice. Padre Damaso would be better." + +"That's right!" cried Rufa. "Padre Damaso surely does know how to +preach! He looks like a comedian!" + +"But we don't understand him," murmured Juana. + +"Because he's very deep! And as he preaches well--" + +This speech was interrupted by the arrival of Sisa, who was carrying +a basket on her head. She saluted the Sisters and went on up the +stairway. + +"She's going in! Let's go in too!" they exclaimed. Sisa felt her heart +beating violently as she ascended the stairs. She did not know just +what to say to the padre to placate his wrath or what reasons she +could advance in defense of her son. That morning at the first flush +of dawn she had gone into her garden to pick the choicest vegetables, +which she placed in a basket among banana-leaves and flowers; then she +had looked along the bank of the river for the _pako_ which she knew +the curate liked for salads. Putting on her best clothes and without +awakening her son, she had set out for the town with the basket on her +head. As she went up the stairway she, tried to make as little noise +as possible and listened attentively in the hope that she might hear +a fresh, childish voice, so well known to her. But she heard nothing +nor did she meet any one as she made her way to the kitchen. There +she looked into all the corners. The servants and sacristans received +her coldly, scarcely acknowledging her greeting. + +"Where can I put these vegetables?" she asked, not taking any offense +at their coldness. + +"There, anywhere!" growled the cook, hardly looking at her as he +busied himself in picking the feathers from a capon. + +With great care Sisa arranged the vegetables and the salad leaves on +the table, placing the flowers above them. Smiling, she then addressed +one of the servants, who seemed to be more approachable than the cook: +"May I speak with the padre?" + +"He's sick," was the whispered answer. + +"And Crispin? Do you know if he is in the sacristy?" The servant +looked surprised and wrinkled his eyebrows. "Crispin? Isn't he at +your house? Do you mean to deny it?" + +"Basilio is at home, but Crispin stayed here," answered Sisa, "and +I want to see him." + +"Yes, he stayed, but afterwards he ran away, after stealing a lot of +things. Early this morning the curate ordered me to go and report it +to the Civil Guard. They must have gone to your house already to hunt +for the boys." + +Sisa covered her ears and opened her mouth to speak, but her lips +moved without giving out any sound. + +"A pretty pair of sons you have!" exclaimed the cook. "It's plain +that you're a faithful wife, the sons are so like the father. Take +care that the younger doesn't surpass him." + +Sisa broke out into bitter weeping and let herself fall upon a bench. + +"Don't cry here!" yelled the cook. "Don't you know that the padre's +sick? Get out in the street and cry!" + +The unfortunate mother was almost shoved down the stairway at the +very time when the Sisters were coming down, complaining and making +conjectures about the curate's illness, so she hid her face in her +panuelo and suppressed the sounds of her grief. Upon reaching the +street she looked about uncertainly for a moment and then, as if +having reached a decision, walked rapidly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A Schoolmaster's Difficulties + + + El vulgo es necio y pues lo paga, es justo + Hablarle en necio para darle el gusto. [62] + + LOPE DE VEGA. + + +The mountain-encircled lake slept peacefully with that hypocrisy of +the elements which gave no hint of how its waters had the night before +responded to the fury of the storm. As the first reflections of light +awoke on its surface the phosphorescent spirits, there were outlined +in the distance, almost on the horizon, the gray silhouettes of the +little bankas of the fishermen who were taking in their nets and +of the larger craft spreading their sails. Two men dressed in deep +mourning stood gazing at the water from a little elevation: one was +Ibarra and the other a youth of humble aspect and melancholy features. + +"This is the place," the latter was saying. "From here your father's +body was thrown into the water. Here's where the grave-digger brought +Lieutenant Guevara and me." + +Ibarra warmly grasped the hand of the young man, who went on: "You +have no occasion to thank me. I owed many favors to your father, and +the only thing that I could do for him was to accompany his body to +the grave. I came here without knowing any one, without recommendation, +and having neither name nor fortune, just as at present. My predecessor +had abandoned the school to engage in the tobacco trade. Your father +protected me, secured me a house, and furnished whatever was necessary +for running the school. He used to visit the classes and distribute +pictures among the poor but studious children, as well as provide +them with books and paper. But this, like all good things, lasted +only a little while." + +Ibarra took off his hat and seemed to be praying for a time. Then he +turned to his companion: "Did you say that my father helped the poor +children? And now?" + +"Now they get along as well as possible and write when they can," +answered the youth. + +"What is the reason?" + +"The reason lies in their torn camisas and their downcast eyes." + +"How many pupils have you now?" asked Ibarra with interest, after +a pause. + +"More than two hundred on the roll but only about twenty-five in +actual attendance." + +"How does that happen?" + +The schoolmaster smiled sadly as he answered, "To tell you the reasons +would make a long and tiresome story." + +"Don't attribute my question to idle curiosity," replied Ibarra +gravely, while he stared at the distant horizon. "I've thought +better of it and believe that to carry out my father's ideas will be +more fitting than to weep for him, and far better than to revenge +him. Sacred nature has become his grave, and his enemies were the +people and a priest. The former I pardon on account of their ignorance +and the latter because I wish that Religion, which elevated society, +should be respected. I wish to be inspired with the spirit of him +who gave me life and therefore desire to know about the obstacles +encountered here in educational work." + +"The country will bless your memory, sir," said the schoolmaster, +"if you carry out the beautiful plans of your dead father! You wish +to know the obstacles which the progress of education meets? Well +then, under present circumstances, without substantial aid education +will never amount to much; in the very first place because, even +when we have the pupils, lack of suitable means, and other things +that attract them more, kill off their interest. It is said that in +Germany a peasant's son studies for eight years in the town school, +but who here would spend half that time when such poor results are to +be obtained? They read, write, and memorize selections, and sometimes +whole books, in Spanish, without understanding a single word. [63] +What benefit does our country child get from the school?" + +"And why have you, who see the evil, not thought of remedying it?" + +The schoolmaster shook his head sadly. "A poor teacher struggles not +only against prejudices but also against certain influences. First, +it would be necessary to have a suitable place and not to do as I +must at present--hold the classes under the convento by the side of +the padre's carriage. There the children, who like to read aloud, +very naturally disturb the padre, and he often comes down, nervous, +especially when he has his attacks, yells at them, and even insults +me at times. You know that no one can either teach or learn under +such circumstances, for the child will not respect his teacher when +he sees him abused without standing up for his rights. In order to +be heeded and to maintain his authority the teacher needs prestige, +reputation, moral strength, and some freedom of action. + +"Now let me recount to you even sadder details. I have wished to +introduce reforms and have been laughed at. In order to remedy the evil +of which I just spoke to you, I tried to teach Spanish to the children +because, in addition to the fact that the government so orders, I +thought also that it would be of advantage for everybody. I used the +simplest method of words and phrases without paying any attention to +long rules, expecting to teach them grammar when they should understand +the language. At the end of a few weeks some of the brightest were +almost able to understand me and could use a few phrases." + +The schoolmaster paused and seemed to hesitate, then, as if making +a resolution, he went on: "I must not be ashamed of the story of +my wrongs, for any one in my place would have acted the same as I +did. As I said, it was a good beginning, but a few days afterwards +Padre Damaso, who was the curate then, sent for me by the senior +sacristan. Knowing his disposition and fearing to make him wait, +I went upstairs at once, saluted him, and wished him good-morning +in Spanish. His only greeting had been to put out his hand for me to +kiss, but at this he drew it back and without answering me began to +laugh loud and mockingly. I was very much embarrassed, as the senior +sacristan was present. At the moment I didn't know just what to say, +for the curate continued his laughter and I stood staring at him. Then +I began to get impatient and saw that I was about to do something +indiscreet, since to be a good Christian and to preserve one's +dignity are not incompatible. I was going to put a question to him +when suddenly, passing from ridicule to insult, he said sarcastically, +'So it's _buenos dins, eh? Buenos dias!_ How nice that you know how +to talk Spanish!' Then again he broke out into laughter." + +Ibarra was unable to repress a smile. + +"You smile," continued the schoolmaster, following Ibarra's example, +"but I must confess that at the time I had very little desire to +laugh. I was still standing--I felt the blood rush to my head and +lightning seemed to flash through my brain. The curate I saw far, +far away. I advanced to reply to him without knowing just what I was +going to say, but the senior sacristan put himself between us. Padre +Damaso arose and said to me in Tagalog: 'Don't try to shine in borrowed +finery. Be content to talk your own dialect and don't spoil Spanish, +which isn't meant for you. Do you know the teacher Ciruela? [64] +Well, Ciruela was a teacher who didn't know how to read, and he had +a school.' I wanted to detain him, but he went into his bedroom and +slammed the door. + +"What was I to do with only my meager salary, to collect which I +have to get the curate's approval and make a trip to the capital of +the province, what could I do against him, the foremost religious +and political power in the town, backed up by his Order, feared by +the government, rich, powerful, sought after and listened to, always +believed and heeded by everybody? Although he insulted me, I had to +remain silent, for if I replied he would have had me removed from my +position, by which I should lose all hope in my chosen profession. Nor +would the cause of education gain anything, but the opposite, for +everybody would take the curate's side, they would curse me and +call me presumptuous, proud, vain, a bad Christian, uncultured, +and if not those things, then anti-Spanish and a filibuster. Of a +schoolmaster neither learning nor zeal is expected; resignation, +humility, and inaction only are asked. May God pardon me if I have +gone against my conscience and my judgement, but I was born in this +country, I have to live, I have a mother, so I have abandoned myself +to my fate like a corpse tossed about by the waves." + +"Did this difficulty discourage you for all time? Have you lived +so since?" + +"Would that it had been a warning to me! If only my troubles had been +limited to that! It is true that from that time I began to dislike +my profession and thought of seeking some other occupation, as my +predecessor had done, because any work that is done in disgust and +shame is a kind of martyrdom and because every day the school recalled +the insult to my mind, causing me hours of great bitterness. But what +was I to do? I could not undeceive my mother, I had to say to her that +her three years of sacrifice to give me this profession now constituted +my happiness. It is necessary to make her believe that this profession +is most honorable, the work delightful, the way strewn with flowers, +that the performance of my duties brings me only friendship, that the +people respect me and show me every consideration. By doing otherwise, +without ceasing to be unhappy myself, I should have caused more +sorrow, which besides being useless would also be a sin. I stayed on, +therefore, and tried not to feel discouraged. I tried to struggle on." + +Here he paused for a while, then resumed: "From the day on which I +was so grossly insulted I began to examine myself and I found that I +was in fact very ignorant. I applied myself day and night to the study +of Spanish and whatever concerned my profession. The old Sage lent me +some books, and I read and pondered over everything that I could get +hold of. With the new ideas that I have been acquiring in one place +and another my point of view has changed and I have seen many things +under a different aspect from what they had appeared to me before. I +saw error where before I had seen only truth, and truth in many +things where I had formerly seen only error. Corporal punishment, for +example, which from time immemorial has been the distinctive feature +in the schools and which has heretofore been considered as the only +efficacious means of making pupils learn--so we have been accustomed +to believe--soon appeared to me to be a great hindrance rather than +in any way an aid to the child's progress. I became convinced that +it was impossible to use one's mind properly when blows, or similar +punishment, were in prospect. Fear and terror disturb the most serene, +and a child's imagination, besides being very lively, is also very +impressionable. As it is on the brain that ideas are impressed, +it is necessary that there be both inner and outer calm, that there +be serenity of spirit, physical and moral repose, and willingness, +so I thought that before everything else I should cultivate in the +children confidence, assurance, and some personal pride. Moreover, +I comprehended that the daily sight of floggings destroyed kindness +in their hearts and deadened all sense of dignity, which is such a +powerful lever in the world. At the same time it caused them to lose +their sense of shame, which is a difficult thing to restore. I have +also observed that when one pupil is flogged, he gets comfort from +the fact that the others are treated in the same way, and that he +smiles with satisfaction upon hearing the wails of the others. As for +the person who does the flogging, while at first he may do it with +repugnance, he soon becomes hardened to it and even takes delight in +his gloomy task. The past filled me with horror, so I wanted to save +the present by modifying the old system. I endeavored to make study +a thing of love and joy, I wished to make the primer not a black book +bathed in the tears of childhood but a friend who was going to reveal +wonderful secrets, and of the schoolroom not a place of sorrows but a +scene of intellectual refreshment. So, little by little, I abolished +corporal punishment, taking the instruments of it entirely away from +the school and replacing them with emulation and personal pride. If +one was careless about his lesson, I charged it to lack of desire +and never to lack of capacity. I made them think that they were more +capable than they really were, which urged them on to study just as +any confidence leads to notable achievements. At first it seemed that +the change of method was impracticable; many ceased their studies, +but I persisted and observed that little by little their minds were +being elevated and that more children came, that they came with more +regularity, and that he who was praised in the presence of the others +studied with double diligence on the next day. + +"It soon became known throughout the town that I did not whip +the children. The curate sent for me, and fearing another scene I +greeted him curtly in Tagalog. On this occasion he was very serious +with me. He said that I was exposing the children to destruction, +that I was wasting time, that I was not fulfilling my duties, that +the father who spared the rod was spoiling the child--according +to the Holy Ghost--that learning enters with blood, and so on. He +quoted to me sayings of barbarous times just as if it were enough +that a thing had been said by the ancients to make it indisputable; +according to which we ought to believe that there really existed +those monsters which in past ages were imaged and sculptured in the +palaces and temples. Finally, he charged me to be more careful and to +return to the old system, otherwise he would make unfavorable report +about me to the alcalde of the province. Nor was this the end of my +troubles. A few days afterward some of the parents of the children +presented themselves under the convento and I had to call to my aid +all my patience and resignation. They began by reminding me of former +times when teachers had character and taught as their grandfathers +had. 'Those indeed were the times of the wise men,' they declared, +'they whipped, and straightened the bent tree. They were not boys but +old men of experience, gray-haired and severe. Don Catalino, king of +them all and founder of this very school, used to administer no less +than twenty-five blows and as a result his pupils became wise men +and priests. Ah, the old people were worth more than we ourselves, +yes, sir, more than we ourselves!' Some did not content themselves +with such indirect rudeness, but told me plainly that if I continued +my system their children would learn nothing and that they would be +obliged to take them from the school It was useless to argue with them, +for as a young man they thought me incapable of sound judgment. What +would I not have given for some gray hairs! They cited the authority +of the curate, of this one and that one, and even called attention +to themselves, saying that if it had not been for the whippings +they had received from their teachers they would never have learned +anything. Only a few persons showed any sympathy to sweeten for me +the bitterness of such a disillusioning. + +"In view of all this I had to give up my system, which, after so much +toil, was just beginning to produce results. In desperation I carried +the whips bank to the school the next day and began the barbarous +practice again. Serenity disappeared and sadness reigned in the faces +of the children, who had just begun to care for me, and who were my +only kindred and friends. Although I tried to spare the whippings and +to administer them with all the moderation possible, yet the children +felt the change keenly, they became discouraged and wept bitterly. It +touched my heart, and even though in my own mind I was vexed with the +stupid parents, still I was unable to take any spite out on those +innocent victims of their parents' prejudices. Their tears burned +me, my heart seemed bursting from my breast, and that day I left +the school before closing-time to go home and weep alone. Perhaps +my sensitiveness may seem strange to you, but if you had been in my +place you would understand it. Old Don Anastasio said to me, 'So the +parents want floggings? Why not inflict them on themselves?' As a +result of it all I became sick." Ibarra was listening thoughtfully. + +"Scarcely had I recovered when I returned to the school to find the +number of my pupils reduced to a fifth. The better ones had run away +upon the return to the old system, and of those who remained--mostly +those who came to school to escape work at home--not one showed any +joy, not one congratulated me on my recovery. It would have been the +same to them whether I got well or not, or they might have preferred +that I continue sick since my substitute, although he whipped them +more, rarely went to the school. My other pupils, those whose parents +had obliged them to attend school, had gone to other places. Their +parents blamed me for having spoiled them and heaped reproaches on +me for it. One, however, the son of a country woman who visited me +during my illness, had not returned on account of having been made +a sacristan, and the senior sacristan says that the sacristans must +not attend school: they would be dismissed." + +"Were you resigned in looking after your new pupils?" asked Ibarra. + +"What else could I do?" was the queried reply. "Nevertheless, during my +illness many things had happened, among them a change of curates, so +I took new hope and made another attempt to the end that the children +should not lose all their time and should, in so far as possible, get +some benefit from the floggings, that such things might at least have +some good result for them. I pondered over the matter, as I wished that +even if they could not love me, by getting something useful from me, +they might remember me with less bitterness. You know that in nearly +all the schools the books are in Spanish, with the exception of the +catechism in Tagalog, which varies according to the religious order to +which the curate belongs. These books are generally novenas, canticles, +and the Catechism of Padre Astete, [65] from which they learn about +as much piety as they would from the books of heretics. Seeing the +impossibility of teaching the pupils in Spanish or of translating so +many books, I tried to substitute short passages from useful works +in Tagalog, such as the Treatise on Manners by Hortensio y Feliza, +some manuals of Agriculture, and so forth. Sometimes I would myself +translate simple works, such as Padre Barranera's History of the +Philippines, which I then dictated to the children, with at times a +few observations of my own, so that they might make note-books. As +I had no maps for teaching geography, I copied one of the province +that I saw at the capital and with this and the tiles of the floor +I gave them some idea of the country. This time it was the women +who got excited. The men contented themselves with smiling, as they +saw in it only one of my vagaries. The new curate sent for me, and +while he did not reprimand me, yet he said that I should first take +care of religion, that before learning such things the children must +pass an examination to show that they had memorized the mysteries, +the canticles, and the catechism of Christian Doctrine. + +"So then, I am now working to the end that the children become changed +into parrots and know by heart so many things of which they do not +understand a single word. Many of them now know the mysteries and +the canticles, but I fear that my efforts will come to grief with +the Catechism of Padre Astete, since the greater part of the pupils +do not distinguish between the questions and the answers, nor do they +understand what either may mean. Thus we shall die, thus those unborn +will do, while in Europe they will talk of progress." + +"Let's not be so pessimistic," said Ibarra. "The teniente-mayor has +sent me an invitation to attend a meeting in the town hall. Who knows +but that there you may find an answer to your questions?" + +The schoolmaster shook his head in doubt as he answered: "You'll see +how the plan of which they talked to me meets the same fate as mine +has. But yet, let us see!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The Meeting in the Town Hall + + +The hall was about twelve to fifteen meters long by eight to ten +wide. Its whitewashed walls were covered with drawings in charcoal, +more or less ugly and obscene, with inscriptions to complete their +meanings. Stacked neatly against the wall in one corner were to be +seen about a dozen old flint-locks among rusty swords and talibons, the +armament of the cuadrilleros. [66] At one end of the hall there hung, +half hidden by soiled red curtains, a picture of his Majesty, the King +of Spain. Underneath this picture, upon a wooden platform, an old chair +spread out its broken arms. In front of the chair was a wooden table +spotted with ink stains and whittled and carved with inscriptions +and initials like the tables in the German taverns frequented by +students. Benches and broken chairs completed the furniture. + +This is the hall of council, of judgment, and of torture, wherein are +now gathered the officials of the town and its dependent villages. The +faction of old men does not mix with that of the youths, for they are +mutually hostile. They represent respectively the conservative and +the liberal parties, save that their disputes assume in the towns an +extreme character. + +"The conduct of the gobernadorcillo fills me with distrust," +Don Filipo, the teniente-mayor and leader of the liberal faction, +was saying to his friends. "It was a deep-laid scheme, this thing +of putting off the discussion of expenses until the eleventh +hour. Remember that we have scarcely eleven days left." + +"And he has staved at the convento to hold a conference with the +curate, who is sick," observed one of the youths. + +"It doesn't matter," remarked another. "We have everything +prepared. Just so the plan of the old men doesn't receive a majority--" + +"I don't believe it will," interrupted Don Filipo, "as I shall present +the plan of the old men myself!" + +"What! What are you saying?" asked his surprised hearers. + +"I said that if I speak first I shall present the plan of our rivals." + +"But what about our plan?" + +"I shall leave it to you to present ours," answered Don Filipo +with a smile, turning toward a youthful cabeza de barangay. [67] +"You will propose it after I have been defeated." + +"We don't understand you, sir," said his hearers, staring at him with +doubtful looks. + +"Listen," continued the liberal leader in a low voice to several +near him. "This morning I met old Tasio and the old man said to me: +'Your rivals hate you more than they do your ideas. Do you wish that +a thing shall not be done? Then propose it yourself, and though it +were more useful than a miter, it would be rejected. Once they have +defeated you, have the least forward person in the whole gathering +propose what you want, and your rivals, in order to humiliate you, +will accept it.' But keep quiet about it." + +"But--" + +"So I will propose the plan of our rivals and exaggerate it to the +point of making it ridiculous. Ah, here come Senor Ibarra and the +schoolmaster." + +These two young men saluted each of the groups without joining +either. A few moments later the gobernadorcillo, the very same +individual whom we saw yesterday carrying a bundle of candles, entered +with a look of disgust on his face. Upon his entrance the murmurs +ceased, every one sat down, and silence was gradually established, +as he took his seat under the picture of the King, coughed four or +five times, rubbed his hand over his face and head, rested his elbows +on the table, then withdrew them, coughed once more, and then the +whole thing over again. + +"Gentlemen," he at last began in an unsteady voice, "I have been so +bold as to call you together here for this meeting--ahem! Ahem! We +have to celebrate the fiesta of our patron saint, San Diego, on the +twelfth of this month--ahem!--today is the second--ahem! Ahem!" At +this point a slow, dry cough cut off his speech. + +A man of proud bearing, apparently about forty years of age, then +arose from the bench of the elders. He was the rich Capitan Basilio, +the direct contrast of Don Rafael, Ibarra's father. He was a man who +maintained that after the death of St. Thomas Aquinas the world had +made no more progress, and that since St. John Lateran had left it, +humanity had been retrograding. + +"Gentlemen, allow me to speak a few words about such an interesting +matter," he began. "I speak first even though there are others here +present who have more right to do so than I have, but I speak first +because in these matters it seems to me that by speaking first one +does not take the first place--no more than that by speaking last does +one become the least. Besides, the things that I have to say are of +such importance that they should not be put off or last spoken of, and +accordingly I wish to speak first in order to give them due weight. So +you will allow me to speak first in this meeting where I see so many +notable persons, such as the present senor capitan, the former capitan; +my distinguished friend, Don Valentin, a former capitan; the friend +of my infancy, Don Julio; our celebrated captain of cuadrilleros, +Don Melchor; and many other personages, whom, for the sake of brevity, +I must omit to enumerate--all of whom you see present here. I beg of +you that I may be allowed a few words before any one else speaks. Have +I the good fortune to see my humble request granted by the meeting?" + +Here the orator with a faint smile inclined his head respectfully. "Go +on, you have our undivided attention!" said the notables alluded to and +some others who considered Capitan Basilio a great orator. The elders +coughed in a satisfied way and rubbed their hands. After wiping the +perspiration from his brow with a silk handkerchief, he then proceeded: + +"Now that you have been so kind and complaisant with my humble self as +to grant me the use of a few words before any one else of those here +present, I shall take advantage of this permission, so generously +granted, and shall talk. In imagination I fancy myself in the midst +of the august Roman senate, _senatus populusque romanus_, as was said +in those happy days which, unfortunately for humanity, will nevermore +return. I propose to the _Patres Conscripti_, as the learned Cicero +would say if he were in my place, I propose, in view of the short time +left, and time is money as Solomon said, that concerning this important +matter each one set forth his opinion clearly, briefly, and simply." + +Satisfied with himself and flattered by the attention in the hall, the +orator took his seat, not without first casting a glance of superiority +toward Ibarra, who was seated in a corner, and a significant look at +his friends as if to say, "Aha! Haven't I spoken well?" His friends +reflected both of these expressions by staring at the youths as though +to make them die of envy. + +"Now any one may speak who wishes that--ahem!" began the +gobernadorcillo, but a repetition of the cough and sighs cut short +the phrase. + +To judge from the silence, no one wished to consider himself called +upon as one of the Conscript Fathers, since no one rose. Then Don +Filipo seized the opportunity and rose to speak. The conservatives +winked and made significant signs to each other. + +"I rise, gentlemen, to present my estimate of expenses for the fiesta," +he began. "We can't allow it," commented a consumptive old man, +who was an irreconcilable conservative. + +"We'll vote against it," corroborated others. "Gentlemen!" exclaimed +Don Filipo, repressing a smile, "I haven't yet made known the plan +which we, _the younger men_, bring here. We feel _sure_ that this +great plan will be preferred by all over any other that our opponents +think of or are capable of conceiving." + +This presumptuous exordium so thoroughly irritated the minds of the +conservatives that they swore in their hearts to offer determined +opposition. + +"We have estimated three thousand five hundred pesos for the expenses," +went on Don Filipo. "Now then, with such a sum we shall be able to +celebrate a fiesta that will eclipse in magnificence any that has +been seen up to this time in our own or neighboring provinces." + +"Ahem!" coughed some doubters. "The town of A---- has five thousand, +B---- has four thousand, ahem! Humbug!" + +"Listen to me, gentlemen, and I'll convince you," continued the +unterrified speaker. "I propose that we erect a theater in the middle +of the plaza, to cost one hundred and fifty pesos." + +"That won't be enough! It'll take one hundred and sixty," objected +a confirmed conservative. + +"Write it down, Senor Director, two hundred pesos for the theater," +said Don Filipo. "I further propose that we contract with a troupe +of comedians from Tondo for seven performances on seven successive +nights. Seven performances at two hundred pesos a night make fourteen +hundred pesos. Write down fourteen hundred pesos, Senor Director!" + +Both the elders and the youths stared in amazement. Only those in +the secret gave no sign. + +"I propose besides that we have magnificent fireworks; no little +lights and pin-wheels such as please children and old maids, nothing +of the sort. We want big bombs and immense rockets. I propose two +hundred big bombs at two pesos each and two hundred rockets at the +same price. We'll have them made by the pyrotechnists of Malabon." + +"Huh!" grunted an old man, "a two-peso bomb doesn't frighten or deafen +me! They ought to be three-peso ones." + +"Write down one thousand pesos for two hundred bombs and two hundred +rockets." + +The conservatives could no longer restrain themselves. Some of them +rose and began to whisper together. "Moreover, in order that our +visitors may see that we are a liberal people and have plenty of +money," continued the speaker, raising his voice and casting a rapid +glance at the whispering group of elders, "I propose: first, four +_hermanos mayores_ [68] for the two days of the fiesta; and second, +that each day there be thrown into the lake two hundred fried chickens, +one hundred stuffed capons, and forty roast pigs, as did Sylla, +a contemporary of that Cicero, of whom Capitan Basilio just spoke." + +"That's it, like Sylla," repeated the flattered Capitan Basilio. + +The surprise steadily increased. + +"Since many rich people will attend and each one will bring thousands +of pesos, his best game-cocks, and his playing-cards, I propose that +the cockpit run for fifteen days and that license be granted to open +all gambling houses--" + +The youths interrupted him by rising, thinking that he had gone +crazy. The elders were arguing heatedly. + +"And, finally, that we may not neglect the pleasures of the soul--" + +The murmurs and cries which arose all over the hall drowned his voice +out completely, and tumult reigned. + +"No!" yelled an irreconcilable conservative. "I don't want him to +flatter himself over having run the whole fiesta, no! Let me speak! Let +me speak!" + +"Don Filipo has deceived us," cried the liberals. "We'll vote against +his plan. He has gone over to the old men. We'll vote against him!" + +The gobernadorcillo, more overwhelmed than ever, did nothing to restore +order, but rather was waiting for them to restore it themselves. + +The captain of the cuadrilleros begged to be heard and was granted +permission to speak, but he did not open his mouth and sat down again +confused and ashamed. + +By good fortune, Capitan Valentin, the most moderate of all +the conservatives, arose and said: "We cannot agree to what the +teniente-mayor has proposed, as it appears to be exaggerated. So many +bombs and so many nights of theatrical performances can only be desired +by a young man, such as he is, who can spend night after night sitting +up and listening to so many explosions without becoming deaf. I have +consulted the opinion of the sensible persons here and all of them +unanimously disapprove Don Filipo's plan. Is it not so, gentlemen?" + +"Yes, yes!" cried the youths and elders with one voice. The youths +were delighted to hear an old man speak so. + +"What are we going to do with four _hermanos mayores?_" went on the old +man. "What is the meaning of those chickens, capons, and roast pigs, +thrown into the lake? 'Humbug!' our neighbors would say. And afterwards +we should have to fast for six months! What have we to do with Sylla +and the Romans? Have they ever invited us to any of their festivities, +I wonder? I, at least, have never received any invitation from them, +and you can all see that I'm an old man!" + +"The Romans live in Rome, where the Pope is," Capitan Basilio prompted +him in a low voice. "Now I understand!" exclaimed the old man calmly. + +"They would make of their festivals watch-meetings, and the Pope +would order them to throw their food into the sea so that they might +commit no sin. But, in spite of all that, your plan is inadmissible, +impossible, a piece of foolishness!" + +Being so stoutly opposed, Don Filipo had to withdraw his proposal. Now +that their chief rival had been defeated, even the worst of the +irreconcilable insurgents looked on with calmness while a young cabeza +de barangay asked for the floor. + +"I beg that you excuse the boldness of one so young as I am in +daring to speak before so many persons respected for their age and +prudence and judgment in affairs, but since the eloquent orator, +Capitan Basilio, has requested every one to express his opinion, +let the authoritative words spoken by him excuse my insignificance." + +The conservatives nodded their heads with satisfaction, remarking +to one another: "This young man talks sensibly." "He's modest." "He +reasons admirably." + +"What a pity that he doesn't know very well how to gesticulate," +observed Capitan Basilio. "But there's time yet! He hasn't studied +Cicero and he's still a young man!" + +"If I present to you, gentlemen, any program or plan," the young +man continued, "I don't do so with the thought that you will find +it perfect or that you will accept it, but at the same time that I +once more bow to the judgment of all of you, I wish to prove to our +elders that our thoughts are always like theirs, since we take as +our own those ideas so eloquently expressed by Capitan Basilio." + +"Well spoken! Well spoken!" cried the flattered conservatives. Capitan +Basilio made signs to the speaker showing him how he should stand and +how he ought to move his arm. The only one remaining impassive was the +gobernadorcillo, who was either bewildered or preoccupied; as a matter +of fact, he seemed to be both. The young man went on with more warmth: + +"My plan, gentlemen, reduces itself to this: invent new shows that +are not common and ordinary, such as we see every day, and endeavor +that the money collected may not leave the town, and that it be not +wasted in smoke, but that it be used in some manner beneficial to all." + +"That's right!" assented the youths. "That's what we want." + +"Excellent!" added the elders. + +"What should we get from a week of comedies, as the teniente-mayor +proposes? What can we learn from the kings of Bohemia and Granada, who +commanded that their daughters' heads be cut off, or that they should +be blown from a cannon, which later is converted into a throne? We +are not kings, neither are we barbarians; we have no cannon, and if +we should imitate those people, they would hang us on Bagumbayan. What +are those princesses who mingle in the battles, scattering thrusts and +blows about in combat with princes, or who wander alone over mountains +and through valleys as though seduced by the _tikbalang_? Our nature is +to love sweetness and tenderness in woman, and we would shudder at the +thought of taking the blood-stained hand of a maiden, even when the +blood was that of a Moro or a giant, so abhorred by us. We consider +vile the man who raises his hand against a woman, be he prince or +alferez or rude countryman. Would it not be a thousand times better +to give a representation of our own customs in order to correct our +defects and vices and to encourage our better qualities?" + +"That's right! That's right!" exclaimed some of his faction. + +"He's right," muttered several old men thoughtfully. + +"I should never have thought of that," murmured Capitan Basilio. + +"But how are you going to do it?" asked the irreconcilable. + +"Very easily," answered the youth. "I have brought here two +dramas which I feel sure the good taste and recognized judgment of +the respected elders here assembled will find very agreeable and +entertaining. One is entitled 'The Election of the Gobernadorcillo,' +being a comedy in prose in five acts, written by one who is here +present. The other is in nine acts for two nights and is a fantastical +drama of a satirical nature, entitled 'Mariang Makiling,' [69] written +by one of the best poets of the province. Seeing that the discussion of +preparations for the fiesta has been postponed and fearing that there +would not be time enough left, we have secretly secured the actors +and had them learn their parts. We hope that with a week of rehearsal +they will have plenty of time to know their parts thoroughly. This, +gentlemen, besides being new, useful, and reasonable, has the great +advantage of being economical; we shall not need costumes, as those +of our daily life will be suitable." + +"I'll pay for the theater!" shouted Capitan Basilio enthusiastically. + +"If you need cuadrilleros, I'll lend you mine," cried their captain. + +"And I--and I--if art old man is needed--" stammered another one, +swelling with pride. + +"Accepted! Accepted!" cried many voices. + +Don Filipo became pale with emotion and his eyes filled with tears. + +"He's crying from spite," thought the irreconcilable, so he yelled, +"Accepted! Accepted without discussion!" Thus satisfied with revenge +and the complete defeat of his rival, this fellow began to praise +the young man's plan. + +The latter continued his speech: "A fifth of the money collected may be +used to distribute a few prizes, such as to the best school child, the +best herdsman, farmer, fisherman, and so on. We can arrange for boat +races on the river and lake and for horse races on shore, we can raise +greased poles and also have other games in which our country people can +take part. I concede that on account of our long-established customs we +must have some fireworks; wheels and fire castles are very beautiful +and entertaining, but I don't believe it necessary to have bombs, as +the former speaker proposed. Two bands of music will afford sufficient +merriment and thus we shall avoid those rivalries and quarrels between +the poor musicians who come to gladden our fiesta with their work +and who so often behave like fighting-cocks, afterwards going away +poorly paid, underfed, and even bruised and wounded at times. With +the money left over we can begin the erection of a small building for +a schoolhouse, since we can't wait until God Himself comes down and +builds one for us, and it is a sad state of affairs that while we have +a fine cockpit our children study almost in the curate's stable. Such +are the outlines of my plan; the details can be worked out by all." + +A murmur of pleasure ran through the hall, as nearly every one agreed +with the youth. + +Some few muttered, "Innovations! Innovations! When we were young--" + +"Let's adopt it for the time being and humiliate that fellow," said +others, indicating Don Filipo. + +When silence was restored all were agreed. There was lacking only the +approval of the gobernadorcillo. That worthy official was perspiring +and fidgeting about. He rubbed his hand over his forehead and was at +length able to stammer out in a weak voice: "I also agree, but--ahem!" + +Every one in the hall listened in silence. + +"But what?" asked Capitan Basilio. + +"Very agreeable," repeated the gobernadorcillo, "that is to say--I +don't agree--I mean--yes, but--" Here he rubbed his eyes with the +back of his hand. "But the curate," the poor fellow went on, "the +curate wants something else." + +"Does the curate or do we ourselves pay for this fiesta? Has he given +a cuarto for it?" exclaimed a penetrating voice. All looked toward +the place whence these questions came and saw there the Sage Tasio. + +Don Filipo remained motionless with his eyes fixed on the +gobernadorcillo. + +"What does the curate want?" asked Capitan Basilio. + +"Well, the padre wants six processions, three sermons, three high +masses, and if there is any money left, a comedy from Tondo with +songs in the intermissions." + +"But we don't want that," said the youths and some of the old men. + +"The curate wants it," repeated the gobernadorcillo. "I've promised +him that his wish shall be carried out." + +"Then why did you have us assemble here?" + +"F-for the very purpose of telling you this!" + +"Why didn't you tell us so at the start?" + +"I wanted to tell you, gentlemen, but Capitan Basilio spoke and I +haven't had a chance. The curate must be obeyed." + +"He must be obeyed," echoed several old men. + +"He must be obeyed or else the alcalde will put us all in jail," +added several other old men sadly. + +"Well then, obey him, and run the fiesta yourselves," exclaimed the +youths, rising. "We withdraw our contributions." + +"Everything has already been collected," said the gobernadorcillo. + +Don Filipo approached this official and said to him bitterly, "I +sacrificed my pride in favor of a good cause; you are sacrificing your +dignity as a man in favor of a bad one, and you've spoiled everything." + +Ibarra turned to the schoolmaster and asked him, "Is there anything +that I can do for you at the capital of the province? I leave for +there immediately." + +"Have you some business there?" + +"We have business there!" answered Ibarra mysteriously. + +On the way home, when Don Filipo was cursing his bad luck, old Tasio +said to him: "The blame is ours! You didn't protest when they gave +you a slave for a chief, and I, fool that I am, had forgotten it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Story of a Mother + + + Andaba incierto--volaba errante, + Un solo instante--sin descansar. [70] + + ALAEJOS. + + +Sisa ran in the direction of her home with her thoughts in that +confused whirl which is produced in our being when, in the midst of +misfortunes, protection and hope alike are gone. It is then that +everything seems to grow dark around us, and, if we do see some +faint light shining from afar, we run toward it, we follow it, +even though an abyss yawns in our path. The mother wanted to save +her sons, and mothers do not ask about means when their children +are concerned. Precipitately she ran, pursued by fear and dark +forebodings. Had they already arrested her son Basilio? Whither had +her boy Crispin fled? + +As she approached her little hut she made out above the garden fence +the caps of two soldiers. It would be impossible to tell what her heart +felt: she forgot everything. She was not ignorant of the boldness of +those men, who did not lower their gaze before even the richest people +of the town. What would they do now to her and to her sons, accused +of theft! The civil-guards are not men, they are civil-guards; they +do not listen to supplications and they are accustomed to see tears. + +Sisa instinctively raised her eyes toward the sky, that sky which +smiled with brilliance indescribable, and in whose transparent +blue floated some little fleecy clouds. She stopped to control the +trembling that had seized her whole body. The soldiers were leaving +the house and were alone, as they had arrested nothing more than the +hen which Sisa had been fattening. She breathed more freely and took +heart again. "How good they are and what kind hearts they have!" she +murmured, almost weeping with joy. Had the soldiers burned her house +but left her sons at liberty she would have heaped blessings upon +them! She again looked gratefully toward the sky through which a +flock of herons, those light clouds in the skies of the Philippines, +were cutting their path, and with restored confidence she continued on +her way. As she approached those fearful men she threw her glances in +every direction as if unconcerned and pretended not to see her hen, +which was cackling for help. Scarcely had she passed them when she +wanted to run, but prudence restrained her steps. + +She had not gone far when she heard herself called by an imperious +voice. Shuddering, she pretended not to hear, and continued on her +way. They called her again, this time with a yell and an insulting +epithet. She turned toward them, pale and trembling in spite of +herself. One of them beckoned to her. Mechanically Sisa approached +them, her tongue paralyzed with fear and her throat parched. + +"Tell us the truth or we'll tie you to that tree and shoot you," +said one of them in a threatening tone. + +The woman stared at the tree. + +"You're the mother of the thieves, aren't you?" asked the other. + +"Mother of the thieves!" repeated Sisa mechanically. + +"Where's the money your sons brought you last night?" + +"Ah! The money--" + +"Don't deny it or it'll be the worse for you," added the other. "We've +come to arrest your sons, and the older has escaped from us. Where +have you hidden the younger?" + +Upon hearing this Sisa breathed more freely and answered, "Sir, it +has been many days since I've seen Crispin. I expected to see him +this morning at the convento, but there they only told me--" + +The two soldiers exchanged significant glances. "All right!" exclaimed +one of them. "Give us the money and we'll leave you alone." + +"Sir," begged the unfortunate woman, "my sons wouldn't steal +even though they were starving, for we are used to that kind of +suffering. Basilio didn't bring me a single cuarto. Search the whole +house and if you find even a real, do with us what you will. Not all +of us poor folks are thieves!" + +"Well then," ordered the soldier slowly, as he fixed his gaze on +Sisa's eyes, "come with us. Your sons will show up and try to get +rid of the money they stole. Come on!" + +"I--go with you?" murmured the woman, as she stepped backward and +gazed fearfully at their uniforms. "And why not?" + +"Oh, have pity on me!" she begged, almost on her knees. "I'm very +poor, so I've neither gold nor jewels to offer you. The only thing +I had you've already taken, and that is the hen which I was thinking +of selling. Take everything that you find in the house, but leave me +here in peace, leave me here to die!" + +"Go ahead! You're got to go, and if you don't move along willingly, +we'll tie you." + +Sisa broke out into bitter weeping, but those men were inflexible. "At +least, let me go ahead of you some distance," she begged, when she +felt them take hold of her brutally and push her along. + +The soldiers seemed to be somewhat affected and, after whispering +apart, one of them said: "All right, since from here until we get into +the town, you might be able to escape, you'll walk between us. Once +there you may walk ahead twenty paces, but take care that you don't +delay and that you don't go into any shop, and don't stop. Go ahead, +quickly!" + +Vain were her supplications and arguments, useless her promises. The +soldiers said that they had already compromised themselves by having +conceded too much. Upon finding herself between them she felt as if +she would die of shame. No one indeed was coming along the road, but +how about the air and the light of day? True shame encounters eyes +everywhere. She covered her face with her panuelo and walked along +blindly, weeping in silence at her disgrace. She had felt misery and +knew what it was to be abandoned by every one, even her own husband, +but until now she had considered herself honored and respected: up +to this time she had looked with compassion on those boldly dressed +women whom the town knew as the concubines of the soldiers. Now it +seemed to her that she had fallen even a step lower than they in the +social scale. + +The sound of hoofs was heard, proceeding from a small train of men +and women mounted on poor nags, each between two baskets hung over +the back of his mount; it was a party carrying fish to the interior +towns. Some of them on passing her hut had often asked for a drink of +water and had presented her with some fishes. Now as they passed her +they seemed to beat and trample upon her while their compassionate +or disdainful looks penetrated through her panuelo and stung her +face. When these travelers had finally passed she sighed and raised the +panuelo an instant to see how far she still was from the town. There +yet remained a few telegraph poles to be passed before reaching the +_bantayan_, or little watch-house, at the entrance to the town. Never +had that distance seemed so great to her. + +Beside the road there grew a leafy bamboo thicket in whose shade she +had rested at other times, and where her lover had talked so sweetly as +he helped her carry her basket of fruit and vegetables. Alas, all that +was past, like a dream! The lover had become her husband and a cabeza +de barangay, and then trouble had commenced to knock at her door. As +the sun was beginning to shine hotly, the soldiers asked her if she did +not want to rest there. "Thanks, no!" was the horrified woman's answer. + +Real terror seized her when they neared the town. She threw her +anguished gaze in all directions, but no refuge offered itself, +only wide rice-fields, a small irrigating ditch, and some stunted +trees; there was not a cliff or even a rock upon which she might dash +herself to pieces! Now she regretted that she had come so far with +the soldiers; she longed for the deep river that flowed by her hut, +whose high and rock-strewn banks would have offered such a sweet +death. But again the thought of her sons, especially of Crispin, of +whose fate she was still ignorant, lightened the darkness of her night, +and she was able to murmur resignedly, "Afterwards--afterwards--we'll +go and live in the depths of the forest." + +Drying her eyes and trying to look calm, she turned to her guards and +said in a low voice, with an indefinable accent that was a complaint +and a lament, a prayer and a reproach, sorrow condensed into sound, +"Now we're in the town." Even the soldiers seemed touched as they +answered her with a gesture. She struggled to affect a calm bearing +while she went forward quickly. + +At that moment the church bells began to peal out, announcing the end +of the high mass. Sisa hurried her steps so as to avoid, if possible, +meeting the people who were coming out, but in vain, for no means +offered to escape encountering them. With a bitter smile she saluted +two of her acquaintances, who merely turned inquiring glances upon +her, so that to avoid further mortification she fixed her gaze on +the ground, and yet, strange to say, she stumbled over the stones in +the road! Upon seeing her, people paused for a moment and conversed +among themselves as they gazed at her, all of which she saw and felt +in spite of her downcast eyes. + +She heard the shameless tones of a woman who asked from behind at the +top of her voice, "Where did you catch her? And the money?" It was a +woman without a tapis, or tunic, dressed in a green and yellow skirt +and a camisa of blue gauze, easily recognizable from her costume as +a _querida_ of the soldiery. Sisa felt as if she had received a slap +in the face, for that woman had exposed her before the crowd. She +raised her eyes for a moment to get her fill of scorn and hate, but +saw the people far, far away. Yet she felt the chill of their stares +and heard their whispers as she moved over the ground almost without +knowing that she touched it. + +"Eh, this way!" a guard called to her. Like an automaton whose +mechanism is breaking, she whirled about rapidly on her heels, then +without seeing or thinking of anything ran to hide herself. She +made out a door where a sentinel stood and tried to enter it, but +a still more imperious voice called her aside. With wavering steps +she sought the direction of that voice, then felt herself pushed +along by the shoulders; she shut her eyes, took a couple of steps, +and lacking further strength, let herself fall to the ground, first +on her knees and then in a sitting posture. Dry and voiceless sobs +shook her frame convulsively. + +Now she was in the barracks among the soldiers, women, hogs, and +chickens. Some of the men were sewing at their clothes while their +thighs furnished pillows for their _queridas_, who were reclining +on benches, smoking and gazing wearily at the ceiling. Other women +were helping some of the men clean their ornaments and arms, humming +doubtful songs the while. + +"It seems that the chicks have escaped, for you've brought only the +old hen!" commented one woman to the new arrivals,--whether alluding +to Sisa or the still clucking hen is not certain. + +"Yes, the hen is always worth more than the chicks," Sisa herself +answered when she observed that the soldiers were silent. + +"Where's the sergeant?" asked one of the guards in a disgusted +tone. "Has report been made to the alferez yet?" + +A general shrugging of shoulders was his answer, for no one was going +to trouble himself inquiring about the fate of a poor woman. + +There Sisa spent two hours in a state of semi-idiocy, huddled in a +corner with her head hidden in her arms and her hair falling down in +disorder. At noon the alferez was informed, and the first thing that +he did was to discredit the curate's accusation. + +"Bah! Tricks of that rascally friar," he commented, as he ordered +that the woman be released and that no one should pay any attention +to the matter. "If he wants to get back what he's lost, let him ask +St. Anthony or complain to the nuncio. Out with her!" + +Consequently, Sisa was ejected from the barracks almost violently, +as she did not try to move herself. Finding herself in the street, she +instinctively started to hurry toward her house, with her head bared, +her hair disheveled, and her gaze fixed on the distant horizon. The sun +burned in its zenith with never a cloud to shade its flashing disk; +the wind shook the leaves of the trees lightly along the dry road, +while no bird dared stir from the shade of their branches. + +At last Sisa reached her hut and entered it in silence, She walked all +about it and ran in and out for a time. Then she hurried to old Tasio's +house and knocked at the door, but he was not at home. The unhappy +woman then returned to her hut and began to call loudly for Basilio +and Crispin, stopping every few minutes to listen attentively. Her +voice came back in an echo, for the soft murmur of the water in the +neighboring river and the rustling of the bamboo leaves were the +only sounds that broke the stillness. She called again and again as +she climbed the low cliffs, or went down into a gully, or descended +to the river. Her eyes rolled about with a sinister expression, now +flashing up with brilliant gleams, now becoming obscured like the +sky on a stormy night; it might be said that the light of reason was +flickering and about to be extinguished. + +Again returning to her hut, she sat down on the mat where she had +lain the night before. Raising her eyes, she saw a twisted remnant +from Basilio's camisa at the end of the bamboo post in the _dinding_, +or wall, that overlooked the precipice. She seized and examined it +in the sunlight. There were blood stains on it, but Sisa hardly saw +them, for she went outside and continued to raise and lower it before +her eyes to examine it in the burning sunlight. The light was failing +and everything beginning to grow dark around her. She gazed wide-eyed +and unblinkingly straight at the sun. + +Still wandering about here and there, crying and wailing, she would +have frightened any listener, for her voice now uttered rare notes such +as are not often produced in the human throat. In a night of roaring +tempest, when the whirling winds beat with invisible wings against +the crowding shadows that ride upon it, if you should find yourself +in a solitary and ruined building, you would hear moans and sighs +which you might suppose to be the soughing of the wind as it beats +on the high towers and moldering walls to fill you with terror and +make you shudder in spite of yourself; as mournful as those unknown +sounds of the dark night when the tempest roars were the accents of +that mother. In this condition night came upon her. Perhaps Heaven +had granted some hours of sleep while the invisible wing of an angel, +brushing over her pallid countenance, might wipe out the sorrows +from her memory; perhaps such suffering was too great for weak human +endurance, and Providence had intervened with its sweet remedy, +forgetfulness. However that may be, the next day Sisa wandered about +smiling, singing, and talking with all the creatures of wood and field. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Lights and Shadows + + +Three days have passed since the events narrated, three days which +the town of San Diego has devoted to making preparations for the +fiesta, commenting and murmuring at the same time. While all were +enjoying the prospect of the pleasures to come, some spoke ill of the +gobernadorcillo, others of the teniente-mayor, others of the young men, +and there were not lacking those who blamed everybody for everything. + +There was a great deal of comment on the arrival of Maria Clara, +accompanied by her Aunt Isabel. All rejoiced over it because they loved +her and admired her beauty, while at the same time they wondered at the +change that had come over Padre Salvi. "He often becomes inattentive +during the holy services, nor does he talk much with us, and he is +thinner and more taciturn than usual," commented his penitents. The +cook noticed him getting thinner and thinner by minutes and complained +of the little honor that was done to his dishes. But that which caused +the most comment among the people was the fact that in the convento +were to be seen more than two lights burning during the evening while +Padre Salvi was on a visit to a private dwelling--the home of Maria +Clara! The pious women crossed themselves but continued their comments. + +Ibarra had telegraphed from the capital of the province welcoming Aunt +Isabel and her niece, but had failed to explain the reason for his +absence. Many thought him a prisoner on account of his treatment of +Padre Salvi on the afternoon of All Saints, but the comments reached +a climax when, on the evening of the third day, they saw him alight +before the home of his fiancee and extend a polite greeting to the +priest, who was just entering the same house. + +Sisa and her sons were forgotten by all. + +If we should now go into the home of Maria Clara, a beautiful nest +set among trees of orange and ilang-ilang, we should surprise the two +young people at a window overlooking the lake, shadowed by flowers +and climbing vines which exhaled a delicate perfume. Their lips +murmured words softer than the rustling of the leaves and sweeter +than the aromatic odors that floated through the garden. It was the +hour when the sirens of the lake take advantage of the fast falling +twilight to show their merry heads above the waves to gaze upon the +setting sun and sing it to rest. It is said that their eyes and hair +are blue, and that they are crowned with white and red water plants; +that at times the foam reveals their shapely forms, whiter than +the foam itself, and that when night descends completely they begin +their divine sports, playing mysterious airs like those of AEolian +harps. But let us turn to our young people and listen to the end of +their conversation. Ibarra was speaking to Maria Clara. + +"Tomorrow before daybreak your wish shall be fulfilled. I'll arrange +everything tonight so that nothing will be lacking." + +"Then I'll write to my girl friends to come. But arrange it so that +the curate won't be there." + +"Why?" + +"Because he seems to be watching me. His deep, gloomy eyes trouble +me, and when he fixes them on me I'm afraid. When he talks to me, his +voice--oh, he speaks of such odd, such strange, such incomprehensible +things! He asked me once if I have ever dreamed of letters from my +mother. I really believe that he is half-crazy. My friend Sinang and +my foster-sister, Andeng, say that he is somewhat touched, because +he neither eats nor bathes and lives in darkness. See to it that he +does not come!" + +"We can't do otherwise than invite him," answered Ibarra +thoughtfully. "The customs of the country require it. He is in your +house and, besides, he has conducted himself nobly toward me. When +the alcalde consulted him about the business of which I've told you, +he had only praises for me and didn't try to put the least obstacle +in the way. But I see that you're serious about it, so cease worrying, +for he won't go in the same boat with us." + +Light footsteps were heard. It was the curate, who approached with a +forced smile on his lips. "The wind is chilly," he said, "and when +one catches cold one generally doesn't get rid of it until the hot +weather. Aren't you afraid of catching cold?" His voice trembled +and his eyes were turned toward the distant horizon, away from the +young people. + +"No, we rather find the night pleasant and the breeze delicious," +answered Ibarra. "During these months we have our autumn and our +spring. Some leaves fall, but the flowers are always in bloom." + +Fray Salvi sighed. + +"I think the union of these two seasons beautiful, with no cold winter +intervening," continued Ibarra. "In February the buds on the trees +will burst open and in March we'll have the ripe fruit. When the hot +month's come we shall go elsewhere." + +Fray Salvi smiled and began to talk of commonplace things, of the +weather, of the town, and of the fiesta. Maria Clara slipped away on +some pretext. + +"Since we are talking of fiestas, allow me to invite you to the one +that we are going to celebrate tomorrow. It is to be a picnic in the +woods, which we and our friends are going to hold together." + +"Where will it be held?" + +"The young women wish to hold it by the brook in the neighboring wood, +near to the old balete, so we shall rise early to avoid the sun." + +The priest thought a moment and then answered: "The invitation is +very tempting and I accept it to prove to you that I hold no rancor +against you. But I shall have to go late, after I've attended to my +duties. Happy are you who are free, entirely free." + +A few moments later Ibarra left in order to look after the arrangements +for the picnic on the next day. The night was dark and in the street +some one approached and saluted him respectfully. + +"Who are you?" asked Ibarra. + +"Sir, you don't know my name," answered the unknown, "but I've been +waiting for you two days." + +"For what purpose?" + +"Because nowhere has any pity been shown me and they say that I'm an +outlaw, sir. But I've lost my two sons, my wife is insane, and every +one says that I deserve what has happened to me." + +Ibarra looked at the man critically as he asked, "What do you want +now?" + +"To beg for your pity upon my wife and sons." + +"I can't stop now," replied Ibarra. "If you wish to come, you can +tell me as we go along what has happened to you." + +The man thanked him, and the two quickly disappeared in the shadows +along the dimly lighted street. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Fishing + + +The stars still glittered in the sapphire arch of heaven and the birds +were still sleeping among the branches when a merry party, lighted +by torches of resin, commonly called _huepes_, made its way through +the streets toward the lake. There were five girls, who walked along +rapidly with hands clasped or arms encircling one another's waists, +followed by some old women and by servants who were carrying gracefully +on their heads baskets of food and dishes. Looking upon the laughing +and hopeful countenances of the young women and watching the wind blow +about their abundant black hair and the wide folds of their garments, +we might have taken them for goddesses of the night fleeing from the +day, did we not know that they were Maria Clara and her four friends, +the merry Sinang, the grave Victoria, the beautiful Iday, and the +thoughtful Neneng of modest and timid beauty. They were conversing +in a lively manner, laughing and pinching one another, whispering in +one another's ears and then breaking out into loud laughter. + +"You'll wake up the people who are still asleep," Aunt Isabel +scolded. "When we were young, we didn't make so much disturbance." + +"Neither would you get up so early nor would the old folks have been +such sleepy-heads," retorted little Sinang. + +They were silent for a short time, then tried to talk in low tones, +but soon forgot themselves and again filled the street with their +fresh young voices. + +"Behave as if you were displeased and don't talk to him," Sinang was +advising Maria Clara. "Scold him so he won't get into bad habits." + + "Don't be so exacting," objected Iday. + +"Be exacting! Don't be foolish! He must be made to obey while he's +only engaged, for after he's your husband he'll do as he pleases," +counseled little Sinang. + +"What do you know about that, child?" her cousin Victoria corrected +her. + +"Sst! Keep quiet, for here they come!" + +A group of young men, lighting their way with large bamboo torches, +now came up, marching gravely along to the sound of a guitar. + +"It sounds like a beggar's guitar," laughed Sinang. When the two +parties met it was the women who maintained a serious and formal +attitude, just as if they had never known how to laugh, while on the +other hand the men talked and laughed, asking six questions to get +half an answer. + +"Is the lake calm? Do you think we'll have good weather?" asked +the mothers. + +"Don't be alarmed, ladies, I know how to swim well," answered a tall, +thin, emaciated youth. + +"We ought to have heard mass first," sighed Aunt Isabel, clasping +her hands. + +"There's yet time, ma'am. Albino has been a theological student in +his day and can say it in the boat," remarked another youth, pointing +to the tall, thin one who had first spoken. The latter, who had a +clownish countenance, threw himself into an attitude of contrition, +caricaturing Padre Salvi. Ibarra, though he maintained his serious +demeanor, also joined in the merriment. + +When they arrived at the beach, there involuntarily escaped from +the women exclamations of surprise and pleasure at the sight of +two large bankas fastened together and picturesquely adorned with +garlands of flowers, leaves, and ruined cotton of many colors. Little +paper lanterns hung from an improvised canopy amid flowers and +fruits. Comfortable seats with rugs and cushions for the women had +been provided by Ibarra. Even the paddles and oars were decorated, +while in the more profusely decorated banka were a harp, guitars, +accordions, and a trumpet made from a carabao horn. In the other banka +fires burned on the clay _kalanes_ for preparing refreshments of tea, +coffee, and _salabat_. + +"In this boat here the women, and in the other there the men," ordered +the mothers upon embarking. "Keep quiet! Don't move about so or we'll +be upset." + +"Cross yourself first," advised Aunt Isabel, setting the example. + +"Are we to be here all alone?" asked Sinang with a grimace. "Ourselves +alone?" This question was opportunely answered by a pinch from +her mother. + +As the boats moved slowly away from the shore, the light of the +lanterns was reflected in the calm waters of the lake, while in the +eastern sky the first tints of dawn were just beginning to appear. A +deep silence reigned over the party after the division established +by the mothers, for the young people seemed to have given themselves +up to meditation. + +"Take care," said Albino, the ex-theological student, in a loud tone +to another youth. "Keep your foot tight on the plug under you." + +"What?" + +"It might come out and let the water in. This banka has a lot of +holes in it." + +"Oh, we're going to sink!" cried the frightened women. + +"Don't be alarmed, ladies," the ex-theological student reassured them +to calm their fears. "The banka you are in is safe. It has only five +holes in it and they aren't large." + +"Five holes! _Jesus!_ Do you want to drown us?" exclaimed the +horrified women. + +"Not more than five, ladies, and only about so large," the +ex-theological student assured them, indicating the circle formed +with his index finger and thumb. "Press hard on the plugs so that +they won't come out." + +"_Maria Santisima!_ The water's coming in," cried an old woman who +felt herself already getting wet. + +There now arose a small tumult; some screamed, while others thought +of jumping into the water. + +"Press hard on the plugs there!" repeated Albino, pointing toward +the place where the girls were. + +"Where, where? _Dios!_ We don't know how! For pity's sake come here, +for we don't know how!" begged the frightened women. + +It was accordingly necessary for five of the young men to get over +into the other banka to calm the terrified mothers. But by some +strange chance it seemed that there w, as danger by the side of each +of the _dalagas_; all the old ladies together did not have a single +dangerous hole near them! Still more strange it was that Ibarra had +to be seated by the side of Maria Clara, Albino beside Victoria, +and so on. Quiet was restored among the solicitous mothers but not +in the circle of the young people. + +As the water was perfectly still, the fish-corrals not far away, +and the hour yet early, it was decided to abandon the oars so that +all might partake of some refreshment. Dawn had now come, so the +lanterns were extinguished. + +"There's nothing to compare with _salabat_, drunk in the morning before +going to mass," said Capitana Tika, mother of the merry Sinang. "Drink +some _salabat_ and eat a rice-cake, Albino, and you'll see that even +you will want to pray." + +"That's what I'm doing," answered the youth addressed. "I'm thinking +of confessing myself." + +"No," said Sinang, "drink some coffee to bring merry thoughts." + +"I will, at once, because I feel a trifle sad." + +"Don't do that," advised Aunt Isabel. "Drink some tea and eat a few +crackers. They say that tea calms one's thoughts." + +"I'll also take some tea and crackers," answered the complaisant youth, +"since fortunately none of these drinks is Catholicism." + +"But, can you--" Victoria began. + + "Drink some chocolate also? Well, I guess so, since breakfast is + not so far off." + +The morning was beautiful. The water began to gleam with the light +reflected from the sky with such clearness that every object stood +revealed without producing a shadow, a bright, fresh clearness +permeated with color, such as we get a hint of in some marine +paintings. All were now merry as they breathed in the light breeze that +began to arise. Even the mothers, so full of cautions and warnings, +now laughed and joked among themselves. + +"Do you remember," one old woman was saying to Capitana Tika, +"do you remember the time we went to bathe in the river, before we +were married? In little boats made from banana-stalks there drifted +down with the current fruits of many kinds and fragrant flowers. The +little boats had banners on them and each of us could see her name +on one of them." + +"And when we were on our way back home?" added another, without +letting her go on. "We found the bamboo bridges destroyed and so we +had to wade the brooks. The rascals!" + +"Yes, I know that I chose rather to let the borders of my skirt get +wet than to uncover my feet," said Capitana Tika, "for I knew that +in the thickets on the bank there were eyes watching us." + +Some of the girls who heard these reminiscences winked and smiled, +while the others were so occupied with their own conversations that +they took no notice. + +One man alone, he who performed the duty of pilot, remained silent and +removed from all the merriment. He was a youth of athletic build and +striking features, with large, sad eyes and compressed lips. His black +hair, long and unkempt, fell over a stout neck. A dark striped shirt +afforded a suggestion through its folds of the powerful muscles that +enabled the vigorous arms to handle as if it were a pen the wide and +unwieldy paddle which' served as a rudder for steering the two bankas. + +Maria Clara had more than once caught him looking at her, but on such +occasions he had quickly turned his gaze toward the distant mountain +or the shore. The young woman was moved with pity at his loneliness +and offered him some crackers. The pilot gave her a surprised stare, +which, however, lasted for only a second. He took a cracker and +thanked her briefly in a scarcely audible voice. After this no one +paid any more attention to him. The sallies and merry laughter of the +young folks caused not the slightest movement in the muscles of his +face. Even the merry Sinang did not make him smile when she received +pinchings that caused her to wrinkle up her eyebrows for an instant, +only to return to her former merry mood. + +The lunch over, they proceeded on their way toward the fish-corrals, +of which there were two situated near each other, both belonging +to Capitan Tiago. From afar were to be seen some herons perched +in contemplative attitude on the tops of the bamboo posts, while +a number of white birds, which the Tagalogs call _kalaway_, flew +about in different directions, skimming the water with their wings +and filling the air with shrill cries. At the approach of the bankas +the herons took to flight, and Maria Clara followed them with her +gaze as they flew in the direction of the neighboring mountain. + +"Do those birds build their nests on the mountain?" she asked the +pilot, not so much from a desire to know as for the purpose of making +him talk. + +"Probably they do, senora," he answered, "but no one up to this time +has ever seen their nests." + +"Don't they have nests?" + +"I suppose they must have them, otherwise they would be very +unfortunate." + +Maria Clara did not notice the tone of sadness with which he uttered +these words. "Then--" + +"It is said, senora," answered the strange youth, "that the nests of +those birds are invisible and that they have the power of rendering +invisible any one who possesses one of them. Just as the soul can +only be seen in the pure mirror of the eyes, so also in the mirror +of the water alone can their nests be looked upon." + +Maria Clara became sad and thoughtful. Meanwhile, they had reached +the first fish-corral and an aged boatman tied the craft to a post. + +"Wait!" called Aunt Isabel to the son of the fisherman, who was getting +ready to climb upon the platform of the corral with his _panalok_, +or fish-net fastened on the end of a stout bamboo pole. "We must get +the _sinigang_ ready so that the fish may pass at once from the water +into the soup." + +"Kind Aunt Isabel!" exclaimed the ex-theological student. "She doesn't +want the fish to miss the water for an instant!" + +Andeng, Maria Clara's foster-sister, in spite of her carefree and happy +face, enjoyed the reputation of being an excellent cook, so she set +about preparing a soup of rice and vegetables, helped and hindered by +some of the young men, eager perhaps to win her favor. The other young +women all busied themselves in cutting up and washing the vegetables. + +In order to divert the impatience of those who were waiting to see the +fishes taken alive and wriggling from their prison, the beautiful Iday +got out the harp, for Iday not only played well on that instrument, +but, besides, she had very pretty fingers. The young people applauded +and Maria Clara kissed her, for the harp is the most popular instrument +in that province, and was especially suited to this occasion. + +"Sing the hymn about marriage," begged the old women. The men protested +and Victoria, who had a fine voice, complained of hoarseness. The "Hymn +of Marriage" is a beautiful Tagalog chant in which are set forth the +cares and sorrows of the married state, yet not passing over its joys. + +They then asked Maria Clara to sing, but she protested that all her +songs were sad ones. This protest, however, was overruled so she held +back no longer. Taking the harp, she played a short prelude and then +sang in a harmonious and vibrating voice full of feeling: + + + Sweet are the hours in one's native land, + Where all is dear the sunbeams bless; + Life-giving breezes sweep the strand, + And death is soften'd by love's caress. + + Warm kisses play on mother's lips, + On her fond, tender breast awaking; + When round her neck the soft arm slips, + And bright eyes smile, all love partaking. + + Sweet is death for one's native land, + Where all is dear the sunbeams bless; + Dead is the breeze that sweeps the strand, + Without a mother, home, or love's caress. + + +The song ceased, the voice died away, the harp became silent, and they +still listened; no one applauded. The young women felt their eyes +fill with tears, and Ibarra seemed to be unpleasantly affected. The +youthful pilot stared motionless into the distance. + +Suddenly a thundering roar was heard, such that the women screamed and +covered their ears; it was the ex-theological student blowing with all +the strength of his lungs on the _tambuli_, or carabao horn. Laughter +and cheerfulness returned while tear-dimmed eyes brightened. "Are +you trying to deafen us, you heretic?" cried Aunt Isabel. + +"Madam," replied the offender gravely, "I once heard of a poor +trumpeter on the banks of the Rhine who, by playing on his trumpet, +won in marriage a rich and noble maiden." + +"That's right, the trumpeter of Sackingen!" exclaimed Ibarra, unable +to resist taking part in the renewed merriment. + +"Do you hear that?" went on Albino. "Now I want to see if I can't +have the same luck." So saying, he began to blow with even more force +into the resounding horn, holding it close to the ears of the girls +who looked saddest. As might be expected, a small tumult arose and +the mothers finally reduced him to silence by beating him with their +slippers [71] and pinching him. + +"My, oh my!" he complained as he felt of his smarting arms, "what +a distance there is between the Philippines and the banks of the +Rhine! _O tempora! O mores!_ Some are given honors and others +sanbenitos!" + +All laughed at this, even the grave Victoria, while Sinang, she of +the smiling eyes, whispered to Maria Clara, "Happy girl! I, too, +would sing if I could!" + +Andeng at length announced that the soup was ready to receive its +guests, so the young fisherman climbed up into the pen placed at +the narrower end of the corral, over which might be written for the +fishes, were they able to read and understand Italian, "_Lasciate ogni +speranza voi ch' entrante_," [72] for no fish that gets in there is +ever released except by death. This division of the corral encloses +a circular space so arranged that a man can stand on a platform in +the upper part and draw the fish out with a small net. + +"I shouldn't get tired fishing there with a pole and line," commented +Sinang, trembling with pleasant anticipation. + +All were now watching and some even began to believe that they saw +the fishes wriggling about in the net and showing their glittering +scales. But when the youth lowered his net not a fish leaped up. + +"It must be full," whispered Albino, "for it has been over five days +now since it was visited." + +The fisherman drew in his net, but not even a single little fish +adorned it. The water as it fell back in glittering drops reflecting +the sunlight seemed to mock his efforts with a silvery smile. An +exclamation of surprise, displeasure, and disappointment escaped from +the lips of all. Again the youth repeated the operation, but with no +better result. + +"You don't understand your business," said Albino, climbing up into +the pen of the corral and taking the net from the youth's hands. "Now +you'll see! Andeng, get the pot ready!" + +But apparently Albino did not understand the business either, for +the net again came up empty. All broke out into laughter at him. + +"Don't make so much noise that the fish can hear and so not let +themselves be caught. This net must be torn." But on examination all +the meshes of the net appeared to be intact. + +"Give it to me," said Leon, Iday's sweetheart. He assured himself +that the fence was in good condition, examined the net and being +satisfied with it, asked, "Are you sure that it hasn't been visited +for five days?" + +"Very sure! The last time was on the eve of All Saints." + +"Well then, either the lake is enchanted or I'll draw up something." + +Leon then dropped the pole into the water and instantly astonishment +was pictured on his countenance. Silently he looked off toward the +mountain and moved the pole about in the water, then without raising +it murmured in a low voice: + +"A cayman!" + +"A cayman!" repeated everyone, as the word ran from mouth to mouth +in the midst of fright and general surprise. + +"What did you say?" they asked him. + +"I say that we're caught a cayman," Leon assured them, and as he +dropped the heavy end of the pole into the water, he continued: +"Don't you hear that sound? That's not sand, but a tough hide, the +back of a cayman. Don't you see how the posts shake? He's pushing +against them even though he is all rolled up. Wait, he's a big one, +his body is almost a foot or more across." + +"What shall we do?" was the question. + +"Catch him!" prompted some one. + +"Heavens_!_ And who'll catch him?" + +No one offered to go down into the trap, for the water was deep. + +"We ought to tie him to our banka and drag him along in triumph," +suggested Sinang. "The idea of his eating the fish that we were going +to eat!" + +"I have never yet seen a live cayman," murmured Maria Clara. + +The pilot arose, picked up a long rope, and climbed nimbly up on the +platform, where Leon made room for him. With the exception of Maria +Clara, no one had taken any notice of him, but now all admired his +shapely figure. To the great surprise of all and in spite of their +cries, he leaped down into the enclosure. + +"Take this knife!" called Crisostomo to him, holding out a wide Toledo +blade, but already the water was splashing up in a thousand jets and +the depths closed mysteriously. + +"_Jesus, Maria, y Jose_!" exclaimed the old women. "We're going to +have an accident!" + +"Don't be uneasy, ladies," said the old boatman, "for if there is +any one in the province who can do it, he's the man." + +"What's his name?" they asked. + +"We call him 'The Pilot' and he's the best I've ever seen, only he +doesn't like the business." + +The water became disturbed, then broke into ripples, the fence shook; +a struggle seemed to be going on in the depths. All were silent +and hardly breathed. Ibarra grasped the handle of the sharp knife +convulsively. + +Now the struggle seemed to be at an end and the head of the youth +appeared, to be greeted with joyful cries. The eyes of the old women +filled with tears. The pilot climbed up with one end of the rope in +his hand and once on the platform began to pull on it. The monster +soon appeared above the water with the rope tied in a double band +around its neck and underneath its front legs. It was a large one, +as Leon had said, speckled, and on its back grew the green moss which +is to the caymans what gray hairs are to men. Roaring like a bull and +beating its tail against or catching hold of the sides of the corral, +it opened its huge jaws and showed its long, sharp teeth. The pilot +was hoisting it alone, for no one had thought to assist him. + +Once out of the water and resting on the platform, he placed his +foot upon it and with his strong hands forced its huge jaws together +and tried to tie its snout with stout knots. With a last effort the +reptile arched its body, struck the floor with its powerful tail, +and jerking free, hurled itself with one leap into the water outside +the corral, dragging its captor along with it. A cry of horror broke +from the lips of all. But like a flash of lightning another body shot +into the water so quickly that there was hardly time to realize that +it was Ibarra. Maria Clara did not swoon only for the reason that +the Filipino women do not yet know how to do so. + +The anxious watchers saw the water become colored and dyed with +blood. The young fisherman jumped down with his bolo in his hand and +was followed by his father, but they had scarcely disappeared when +Crisostomo and the pilot reappeared clinging to the dead body of the +reptile, which had the whole length of its white belly slit open and +the knife still sticking in its throat. + +To describe the joy were impossible, as a dozen arms reached out to +drag the young men from the water. The old women were beside themselves +between laughter and prayers. Andeng forgot that her _sinigang_ +had boiled over three times, spilling the soup and putting out the +fire. The only one who could say nothing was Maria Clara. + +Ibarra was uninjured, while the pilot had only a slight scratch on +his arm. "I owe my life to you," said the latter to Ibarra, who was +wrapping himself up in blankets and cloths. The pilot's voice seemed +to have a note of sadness in it. + +"You are too daring," answered Ibarra. "Don't tempt fate again." + +"If you had not come up again--" murmured the still pale and trembling +Maria Clara. + +"If I had not come up and you had followed me," replied Ibarra, +completing the thought in his own way, "in the bottom of the lake, +_I should still have been with my family!_" He had not forgotten that +there lay the bones of his father. + +The old women did not want to visit the other corral but wished to +return, saying that the day had begun inauspiciously and that many more +accidents might occur. "All because we didn't hear mass," sighed one. + +"But what accident has befallen us, ladies?" asked Ibarra. "The cayman +seems to have been the only unlucky one." + +"All of which proves," concluded the ex-student of theology, "that +in all its sinful life this unfortunate reptile has never attended +mass--at least, I've never seen him among the many other caymans that +frequent the church." + +So the boats were turned in the direction of the other corral and +Andeng had to get her _sinigang_ ready again. The day was now well +advanced, with a fresh breeze blowing. The waves curled up behind the +body of the cayman, raising "mountains of foam whereon the smooth, +rich sunlight glitters," as the poet says. The music again resounded; +Iday played on the harp, while the men handled the accordions and +guitars with greater or less skill. The prize-winner was Albino, who +actually scratched the instruments, getting out of tune and losing +the time every moment or else forgetting it and changing to another +tune entirely different. + +The second corral was visited with some misgivings, as many expected to +find there the mate of the dead cayman, but nature is ever a jester, +and the nets came up full at each haul. Aunt Isabel superintended +the sorting of the fish and ordered that some be left in the trap for +decoys. "It's not lucky to empty the corral completely," she concluded. + +Then they made their way toward the shore near the forest of old trees +that belonged to Ibarra. There in the shade by the clear waters of the +brook, among the flowers, they ate their breakfast under improvised +canopies. The space was filled with music while the smoke from the +fires curled up in slender wreaths. The water bubbled cheerfully in +the hot dishes as though uttering sounds of consolation, or perchance +of sarcasm and irony, to the dead fishes. The body of the cayman +writhed about, sometimes showing its torn white belly and again its +speckled greenish back, while man, Nature's favorite, went on his +way undisturbed by what the Brahmins and vegetarians would call so +many cases of fratricide. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +In the Wood + + +Early, very early indeed, somewhat differently from his usual custom, +Padre Salvi had celebrated mass and cleansed a dozen sinful souls in a +few moments. Then it seemed that the reading of some letters which he +had received firmly sealed and waxed caused the worthy curate to lose +his appetite, since he allowed his chocolate to become completely cold. + +"The padre is getting sick," commented the cook while preparing another +cup. "For days he hasn't eaten; of the six dishes that I set before +him on the table he doesn't touch even two." + +"It's because he sleeps badly," replied the other servant. "He has +nightmares since he changed his bedroom. His eyes are becoming more +sunken all the time and he's getting thinner and yellower day by day." + +Truly, Padre Salvi was a pitiable sight. He did not care to touch the +second cup of chocolate nor to taste the sweet cakes of Cebu; instead, +he paced thoughtfully about the spacious sala, crumpling in his bony +hands the letters, which he read from time to time. Finally, he called +for his carriage, got ready, and directed that he be taken to the +wood where stood the fateful tree near which the picnic was being held. + +Arriving at the edge of the wood, the padre dismissed his carriage +and made his way alone into its depths. A gloomy pathway opened a +difficult passage through the thickets and led to the brook formed +by certain warm springs, like many that flow from the slopes of +Mr. Makiling. Adorning its banks grow wild flowers, many of which +have as yet no Latin names, but which are doubtless well-known to +the gilded insects and butterflies of all shapes and colors, blue and +gold, white and black, many-hued, glittering with iridescent spots, +with rubies and emeralds on their wings, and to the countless beetles +with their metallic lusters of powdered gold. The hum of the insects, +the cries of the cicada, which cease not night or day, the songs of +the birds, and the dry crashing of the rotten branch that falls and +strikes all around against the trees, are the only sounds to break +the stillness of that mysterious place. + +For some time the padre wandered aimlessly among the thick underbrush, +avoiding the thorns that caught at his _guingon_ habit as though to +detain him, and the roots of the trees that protruded from the soil +to form stumbling-blocks at every step for this wanderer unaccustomed +to such places. But suddenly his feet were arrested by the sound of +clear voices raised in merry laughter, seeming to come from the brook +and apparently drawing nearer. + +"I'm going to see if I can find one of those nests," said a beautiful, +sweet voice, which the curate recognized. "I'd like to see _him_ +without having him see me, so I could follow him everywhere." + +Padre Salvi hid behind the trunk of a large tree and set himself +to eavesdrop. + +"Does that mean that you want to do with him what the curate does with +you?" asked a laughing voice. "He watches you everywhere. Be careful, +for jealousy makes people thin and puts rings around their eyes." + +"No, no, not jealousy, it's pure curiosity," replied the silvery voice, +while the laughing one repeated, "Yes, jealousy, jealousy!" and she +burst out into merry laughter. + +"If I were jealous, instead of making myself invisible, I'd make him +so, in order that no one might see him." + +"But neither would you see _him_ and that wouldn't be nice. The best +thing for us to do if we find the nest would be to present it to the +curate so that he could watch over us without the necessity of our +seeing him, don't you think so?" + +"I don't believe in those herons' nests," interrupted another voice, +"but if at any time I should be jealous, I'd know how to watch and +still keep myself hidden." + +"How, how? Perhaps like a _Sor Escucha?_" [73] + +This reminiscence of school-days provoked another merry burst of +laughter. + +"And you know how she's fooled, the _Sor Escucha!_" + +From his hiding-place Padre Salvi saw Maria Clara, Victoria, and Sinang +wading along the border of the brook. They were moving forward with +their eyes fixed on the crystal waters, seeking the enchanted nest of +the heron, wet to their knees so that the wide folds of their bathing +skirts revealed the graceful curves of their bodies. Their hair was +flung loose, their arms bare, and they wore camisas with wide stripes +of bright hues. While looking for something that they could not find +they were picking flowers and plants which grew along the bank. + +The religious Acteon stood pale and motionless gazing at that chaste +Diana, but his eyes glittered in their dark circles, untired of staring +at those white and shapely arms and at that elegant neck and bust, +while the small rosy feet that played in the water awoke in his starved +being strange sensations and in his burning brain dreams of new ideas. + +The three charming figures disappeared behind a bamboo thicket +around a bend in the brook, and their cruel allusions ceased to be +heard. Intoxicated, staggering, covered with perspiration, Padre Salvi +left his hiding-place and looked all about him with rolling eyes. He +stood still as if in doubt, then took a few steps as though he would +try to follow the girls, but turned again and made his way along the +banks of the stream to seek the rest of the party. + +At a little distance he saw in the middle of the brook a kind of +bathing-place, well enclosed, decorated with palm leaves, flowers, +and streamers, with a leafy clump of bamboo for a covering, from +within which came the sound of happy feminine voices. Farther on +he saw a bamboo bridge and beyond it the men bathing. Near these a +crowd of servants was busily engaged around improvised _kalanes_ in +plucking chickens, washing rice, and roasting a pig. On the opposite +bank in a cleared space were gathered men and women under a canvas +covering which was fastened partly to the hoary trees and partly to +newly-driven stakes. There were gathered the alferez, the coadjutor, +the gobernadorcillo, the teniente-mayor, the schoolmaster, and many +other personages of the town, even including Sinang's father, Capitan +Basilio, who had been the adversary of the deceased Don Rafael in +an old lawsuit. Ibarra had said to him, "We are disputing over a +point of law, but that does not mean that we are enemies," so the +celebrated orator of the conservatives had enthusiastically accepted +the invitation, sending along three turkeys and putting his servants +at the young man's disposal. + +The curate was received with respect and deference by all, even the +alferez. "Why, where has your Reverence been?" asked the latter, +as he noticed the curate's scratched face and his habit covered with +leaves and dry twigs. "Has your Reverence had a fall?" + +"No, I lost my way," replied Padre Salvi, lowering his gaze to examine +his gown. + +Bottles of lemonade were brought out and green coconuts were split +open so that the bathers as they came from the water might refresh +themselves with the milk and the soft meat, whiter than the milk +itself. The girls all received in addition rosaries of sampaguitas, +intertwined with roses and ilang-ilang blossoms, to perfume their +flowing tresses. Some of the company sat on the ground or reclined +in hammocks swung from the branches of the trees, while others +amused themselves around a wide flat rock on which were to be seen +playing-cards, a chess-board, booklets, cowry shells, and pebbles. + +They showed the cayman to the curate, but he seemed inattentive +until they told him that the gaping wound had been inflicted by +Ibarra. The celebrated and unknown pilot was no longer to be seen, +as he had disappeared before the arrival of the alferez. + +At length Maria Clara came from the bath with her companions, looking +fresh as a rose on its first morning when the dew sparkling on its fair +petals glistens like diamonds. Her first smile was for Crisostomo and +the first cloud on her brow for Padre Salvi, who noted it and sighed. + +The lunch hour was now come, and the curate, the coadjutor, the +gobernadorcillo, the teniente-mayor, and the other dignitaries took +their seats at the table over which Ibarra presided. The mothers +would not permit any of the men to eat at the table where the young +women sat. + +"This time, Albino, you can't invent holes as in the bankas," said +Leon to the quondam student of theology. "What_!_ What's that?" asked +the old women. + +"The bankas, ladies, were as whole as this plate is," explained Leon. + +"_Jesus!_ The rascal!" exclaimed the smiling Aunt Isabel. + +"Have you yet learned anything of the criminal who assaulted Padre +Damaso?" inquired Fray Salvi of the alferez. + +"Of what criminal, Padre?" asked the military man, staring at the +friar over the glass of wine that he was emptying, + +"What criminal! Why, the one who struck Padre Damaso in the road +yesterday afternoon!" + +"Struck Padre Damaso?" asked several voices. + +The coadjutor seemed to smile, while Padre Salvi went on: "Yes, and +Padre Damaso is now confined to his bed. It's thought that he may be +the very same Elias who threw you into the mudhole, senor alferez." + +Either from shame or wine the alferez's face became very red. + +"Of course, I thought," continued Padre Salvi in a joking manner, +"that you, the alferez of the Civil Guard, would be informed about +the affair." + +The soldier bit his lip and was murmuring some foolish excuse, when +the meal was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a pale, thin, +poorly-clad woman. No one had noticed her approach, for she had come +so noiselessly that at night she might have been taken for a ghost. + +"Give this poor woman something to eat," cried the old women. "_Oy_, +come here!" + +Still the strange woman kept on her way to the table where the +curate was seated. As he turned his face and recognized her, his +knife dropped from his hand. + +"Give this woman something to eat," ordered Ibarra. + +"The night is dark and the boys disappear," murmured the wandering +woman, but at sight of the alferez, who spoke to her, she became +frightened and ran away among the trees. + +"Who is she?" he asked. + +"An unfortunate woman who has become insane from fear and sorrow," +answered Don Filipo. "For four days now she has been so." + +"Is her name Sisa?" asked Ibarra with interest. + +"Your soldiers arrested her," continued the teniente-mayor, rather +bitterly, to the alferez. "They marched her through the town on +account of something about her sons which isn't very clearly known." + +"What!" exclaimed the alferez, turning to the curate, "she isn't the +mother of your two sacristans?" + +The curate nodded in affirmation. + +"They disappeared and nobody made any inquiries about them," added Don +Filipo with a severe look at the gobernadorcillo, who dropped his eyes. + +"Look for that woman," Crisostomo ordered the servants. "I promised +to try to learn where her sons are." + +"They disappeared, did you say?" asked the alferez. "Your sacristans +disappeared, Padre?" + +The friar emptied the glass of wine before him and again nodded. + +"_Caramba_, Padre!" exclaimed the alferez with a sarcastic laugh, +pleased at the thought of a little revenge. "A few pesos of your +Reverence's disappear and my sergeant is routed out early to hunt for +them--two sacristans disappear and your Reverence says nothing--and +you, senor capitan--It's also true that you--" + +Here he broke off with another laugh as he buried his spoon in the +red meat of a wild papaya. + +The curate, confused, and not over-intent upon what he was saying, +replied, "That's because I have to answer for the money--" + +"A good answer, reverend shepherd of souls!" interrupted the alferez +with his mouth full of food. "A splendid answer, holy man!" + +Ibarra wished to intervene, but Padre Salvi controlled himself by +an effort and said with a forced smile, "Then you don't know, sir, +what is said about the disappearance of those boys? No? Then ask +your soldiers!" + +"What!" exclaimed the alferez, all his mirth gone. + +"It's said that on the night they disappeared several shots were +heard." + +"Several shots?" echoed the alferez, looking around at the other +guests, who nodded their heads in corroboration of the padre's +statement. + +Padre Salvi then replied slowly and with cutting sarcasm: "Come now, +I see that you don't catch the criminals nor do you know what is going +on in your own house, yet you try to set yourself up as a preacher +to point out their duties to others. You ought to keep in mind that +proverb about the fool in his own house--" [74] + +"Gentlemen!" interrupted Ibarra, seeing that the alferez had grown +pale. "In this connection I should like to have your opinion about a +project of mine. I'm thinking of putting this crazy woman under the +care of a skilful physician and, in the meantime, with your aid and +advice, I'll search for her sons." + +The return of the servants without the madwoman, whom they had been +unable to find, brought peace by turning the conversation to other +matters. + +The meal ended, and while the tea and coffee were being served, +both old and young scattered about in different groups. Some took the +chessmen, others the cards, while the girls, curious about the future, +chose to put questions to a _Wheel of Fortune_. + +"Come, Senor Ibarra," called Capitan Basilio in merry mood, "we have +a lawsuit fifteen years old, and there isn't a judge in the Audiencia +who can settle it. Let's see if we can't end it on the chess-board." + +"With the greatest pleasure," replied the youth. "Just wait a moment, +the alferez is leaving." + +Upon hearing about this match all the old men who understood chess +gathered around the board, for it promised to be an interesting one, +and attracted even spectators who were not familiar with the game. The +old women, however, surrounded the curate in order to converse with him +about spiritual matters, but Fray Salvi apparently did not consider +the place and time appropriate, for he gave vague answers and his +sad, rather bored, looks wandered in all directions except toward +his questioners. + +The chess-match began with great solemnity. "If this game ends in a +draw, it's understood that the lawsuit is to be dropped," said Ibarra. + +In the midst of the game Ibarra received a telegram which caused +his eyes to shine and his face to become pale. He put it into his +pocketbook, at the same time glancing toward the group of young people, +who were still with laughter and shouts putting questions to Destiny. + +"Check to the king!" called the youth. + +Capitan Basilio had no other recourse than to hide the piece behind +the queen. + +"Check to the queen!" called the youth as he threatened that piece +with a rook which was defended by a pawn. + +Being unable to protect the queen or to withdraw the piece on account +of the king behind it, Capitan Basilio asked for time to reflect. + +"Willingly," agreed Ibarra, "especially as I have something to say this +very minute to those young people in that group over there." He arose +with the agreement that his opponent should have a quarter of an hour. + +Iday had the round card on which were written the forty-eight +questions, while Albino held the book of answers. + +"A lie! It's not so!" cried Sinang, half in tears. + +"What's the matter?" asked Maria Clara. + +"Just imagine, I asked, 'When shall I have some sense?' I threw the +dice and that worn-out priest read from the book, 'When the frogs +raise hair.' What do you think of that?" As she said this, Sinang +made a grimace at the laughing ex-theological student. + +"Who told you to ask that question?" her cousin Victoria asked her. "To +ask it is enough to deserve such an answer." + +"You ask a question," they said to Ibarra, offering him the +wheel. "We're decided that whoever gets the best answer shall receive +a present from the rest. Each of us has already had a question." + +"Who got the best answer?" + +"Maria Clara, Maria Clara!" replied Sinang. "We made her ask, +willy-nilly, 'Is your sweetheart faithful and constant?' And the +book answered--" + +But here the blushing Maria Clara put her hands over Sinang's mouth +so that she could not finish. + +"Well, give me the wheel," said Crisostomo, smiling. "My question is, +'Shall I succeed in my present enterprise?'" + +"What an ugly question!" exclaimed Sinang. + +Ibarra threw the dice and in accordance with the resulting number +the page and line were sought. + +"Dreams are dreams," read Albino. + +Ibarra drew out the telegram and opened it with trembling hands. "This +time your book is wrong!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Read this: 'School +project approved. Suit decided in your favor.'" + +"What does it mean?" all asked. + +"Didn't you say that a present is to be given to the one receiving +the best answer?" he asked in a voice shaking with emotion as he tore +the telegram carefully into two pieces. + +"Yes, yes!" + +"Well then, this is my present," he said as he gave one piece to +Maria Clara. "A school for boys and girls is to be built in the town +and this school is my present." + +"And the other part, what does it mean?" + +"It's to be given to the one who has received the worst answer." + +"To me, then, to me!" cried Sinang. + +Ibarra gave her the other piece of the telegram and hastily withdrew. + +"What does it mean?" she asked, but the happy youth was already at +a distance, returning to the game of chess. + +Fray Salvi in abstracted mood approached the circle of young +people. Maria Clara wiped away her tears of joy, the laughter ceased, +and the talk died away. The curate stared at the young people without +offering to say anything, while they silently waited for him to speak. + +"What's this?" he at length asked, picking up the book and turning +its leaves. + +"_The Wheel of Fortune_, a book of games," replied Leon. + +"Don't you know that it's a sin to believe in these things?" he +scolded, tearing the leaves out angrily. + +Cries of surprise and anger escaped from the lips of all. + +"It's a greater sin to dispose of what isn't yours, against the wish +of the owner," contradicted Albino, rising. "Padre, that's what is +called stealing and it is forbidden by God and men!" + +Maria Clara clasped her hands and gazed with tearful eyes at the +remnants of the book which a few moments before had been the source +of so much happiness for her. + +Contrary to the general expectation, Fray Salvi did not reply to +Albino, but stood staring at the torn leaves as they were whirled +about, some falling in the wood, some in the water, then he staggered +away with his hands over his head. He stopped for a few moments +to speak with Ibarra, who accompanied him to one of the carriages, +which were at the disposal of the guests. + +"He's doing well to leave, that kill-joy," murmured Sinang. "He has +a face that seems to say, 'Don't laugh, for I know about your sins!'" + +After making the present to his fiancee, Ibarra was so happy that +he began to play without reflection or a careful examination of the +positions of the pieces. The result was that although Capitan Basilio +was hard pressed the game became a stalemate, owing to many careless +moves on the young man's part. + +"It's settled, we're at peace!" exclaimed Capitan Basilio heartily. + +"Yes, we're at peace," repeated the youth, "whatever the decision of +the court may be." And the two shook hands cordially. + +While all present were rejoicing over this happy termination of a +quarrel of which both parties were tired, the sudden arrival of a +sergeant and four soldiers of the Civil Guard, all armed and with +bayonets fixed, disturbed the mirth and caused fright among the women. + +"Keep still, everybody!" shouted the sergeant. "Shoot any one who +moves!" + +In spite of this blustering command, Ibarra arose and approached the +sergeant. "What do you want?" he asked. + +"That you deliver to us at once a criminal named Elias, who was your +pilot this morning," was the threatening reply. + +"A criminal--the pilot? You must be mistaken," answered Ibarra. + +"No, sir, this Elias has just been accused of putting his hand on +a priest--" + +"Oh, was that the pilot?" + +"The very same, according to reports. You admit persons of bad +character into your fiestas, Senor Ibarra." + +Ibarra looked him over from head to foot and replied with great +disdain, "I don't have to give you an account of my actions! At our +fiestas all are welcome. Had you yourself come, you would have found +a place at our table, just as did your alferez, who was with us a +couple of hours ago." With this he turned his back. + +The sergeant gnawed at the ends of his mustache but, considering +himself the weaker party, ordered the soldiers to institute a search, +especially among the trees, for the pilot, a description of whom he +carried on a piece of paper. + +Don Filipo said to him, "Notice that this description fits nine tenths +of the natives. Don't make any false move!" + +After a time the soldiers returned with the report that they +had been unable to see either banka or man that could be called +suspicious-looking, so the sergeant muttered a few words and went +away as he had come--in the manner of the Civil Guard! + +The merriment was little by little restored, amid questions and +comments. + +"So that's the Elias who threw the alferez into the mudhole," said +Leon thoughtfully. + +"How did that happen? How was it?" asked some of the more curious. + +"They say that on a very rainy day in September the alferez met a man +who was carrying a bundle of firewood. The road was very muddy and +there was only a narrow path at the side, wide enough for but one +person. They say that the alferez, instead of reining in his pony, +put spurs to it, at the same time calling to the man to get out +of the way. It seemed that this man, on account of the heavy load +he was carrying on his shoulder, had little relish for going back +nor did he want to be swallowed up in the mud, so he continued on +his way forward. The alferez in irritation tried to knock him down, +but he snatched a piece of wood from his bundle and struck the pony +on the head with such great force that it fell, throwing its rider +into the mud. They also say that the man went on his way tranquilly +without taking any notice of the five bullets that were fired after +him by the alferez, who was blind with mud and rage. As the man was +entirely unknown to him it was supposed that he might be the famous +Elias who came to the province several months ago, having come from +no one knows where. He has given the Civil Guard cause to know him +in several towns for similar actions." + +"Then he's a tulisan?" asked Victoria shuddering. + +"I don't think so, for they say that he fought against some tulisanes +one day when they were robbing a house." + +"He hasn't the look of a criminal," commented Sinang. + +"No, but he looks very sad. I didn't see him smile the whole morning," +added Maria Clara thoughtfully. + +So the afternoon passed away and the hour for returning to the +town came. Under the last rays of the setting sun they left +the woods, passing in silence by the mysterious tomb of Ibarra's +ancestors. Afterwards, the merry talk was resumed in a lively manner, +full of warmth, beneath those branches so little accustomed to hear +so many voices. The trees seemed sad, while the vines swung back and +forth as if to say, "Farewell, youth! Farewell, dream of a day!" + +Now in the light of the great red torches of bamboo and with the +sound of the guitars let us leave them on the road to the town. The +groups grow smaller, the lights are extinguished, the songs die away, +and the guitar becomes silent as they approach the abodes of men. Put +on the mask now that you are once more amongst your kind! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +In the House of the Sage + + +On the morning of the following day, Ibarra, after visiting his lands, +made his way to the home of old Tasio. Complete stillness reigned in +the garden, for even the swallows circling about the eaves scarcely +made any noise. Moss grew on the old wall, over which a kind of ivy +clambered to form borders around the windows. The little house seemed +to be the abode of silence. + +Ibarra hitched his horse carefully to a post and walking almost on +tiptoe crossed the clean and well-kept garden to the stairway, which +he ascended, and as the door was open, he entered. The first sight that +met his gaze was the old man bent over a book in which he seemed to be +writing. On the walls were collections of insects and plants arranged +among maps and stands filled with books and manuscripts. The old man +was so absorbed in his work that he did not notice the presence of the +youth until the latter, not wishing to disturb him, tried to retire. + +"Ah, you here?" he asked, gazing at Ibarra with a strange +expression. "Excuse me," answered the youth, "I see that you're +very busy--" + +"True, I was writing a little, but it's not urgent, and I want to +rest. Can I do anything for you?" + +"A great deal," answered Ibarra, drawing nearer, "but--" + +A glance at the book on the table caused him to exclaim in surprise, +"What, are you given to deciphering hieroglyphics?" + +"No," replied the old man, as he offered his visitor a chair. "I don't +understand Egyptian or Coptic either, but I know something about the +system of writing, so I write in hieroglyphics." + +"You write in hieroglyphics! Why?" exclaimed the youth, doubting what +he saw and heard. + +"So that I cannot be read now." + +Ibarra gazed at him fixedly, wondering to himself if the old man were +not indeed crazy. He examined the book rapidly to learn if he was +telling the truth and saw neatly drawn figures of animals, circles, +semicircles, flowers, feet, hands, arms, and such things. + +"But why do you write if you don't want to be read?" + +"Because I'm not writing for this generation, but for other ages. If +this generation could read, it would burn my books, the labor of +my whole life. But the generation that deciphers these characters +will be an intelligent generation, it will understand and say, +'Not all were asleep in the night of our ancestors!' The mystery of +these curious characters will save my work from the ignorance of men, +just as the mystery of strange rites has saved many truths from the +destructive priestly classes." + +"In what language do you write?" asked Ibarra after a pause. + +"In our own, Tagalog." + +"Are the hieroglyphical signs suitable?" + +"If it were not for the difficulty of drawing them, which takes time +and patience, I would almost say that they are more suitable than the +Latin alphabet. The ancient Egyptian had our vowels; our _o_, which +is only final and is not like that of the Spanish, which is a vowel +between _o_ and _u_. Like us, the Egyptians lacked the true sound of +_e_, and in their language are found our _ha_ and _kha_, which we +do not have in the Latin alphabet such as is used in Spanish. For +example, in this word _mukha_," he went on, pointing to the book, +"I transcribe the syllable _ha_ more correctly with the figure of +a fish than with the Latin _h_, which in Europe is pronounced in +different ways. For a weaker aspirate, as for example in this word +_hain_, where the _h_ has less force, I avail myself of this lion's +head or of these three lotus flowers, according to the quantity of +the vowel. Besides, I have the nasal sound which does not exist in +the Latin-Spanish alphabet. I repeat that if it were not for the +difficulty of drawing them exactly, these hieroglyphics could almost +be adopted, but this same difficulty obliges me to be concise and +not say more than what is exact and necessary. Moreover, this work +keeps me company when my guests from China and Japan go away." + +"Your guests from China and Japan?" + +"Don't you hear them? My guests are the swallows. This year one of +them is missing--some bad boy in China or Japan must have caught it." + +"How do you know that they come from those countries?" + +"Easily enough! Several years ago, before they left I tied to +the foot of each one a slip of paper with the name 'Philippines' +in English on it, supposing that they must not travel very far and +because English is understood nearly everywhere. For years my slips +brought no reply, so that at last I had it written in Chinese and here +in the following November they have returned with other notes which +I have had deciphered. One is written in Chinese and is a greeting +from the banks of the Hoang-Ho and the other, as the Chinaman whom +I consulted supposes, must be in Japanese. But I'm taking your time +with these things and haven't asked you what I can do for you." + +"I've come to speak to you about a matter of importance," said the +youth. "Yesterday afternoon--" + +"Have they caught that poor fellow?" + +"You mean Elias? How did you know about him?" + +"I saw the Muse of the Civil Guard!" + +"The Muse of the Civil Guard? Who is she?" + +"The alferez's woman, whom you didn't invite to your picnic. Yesterday +morning the incident of the cayman became known through the town. The +Muse of the Civil Guard is as astute as she is malignant and she +guessed that the pilot must be the bold person who threw her husband +into the mudhole and who assaulted Padre Damaso. As she reads all the +reports that her husband is to receive, scarcely had he got back home, +drunk and not knowing what he was doing, when to revenge herself on +you she sent the sergeant with the soldiers to disturb the merriment +of your picnic. Be careful! Eve was a good woman, sprung from the +hands of God--they say that Dona Consolacion is evil and it's not +known whose hands she came from! In order to be good, a woman needs +to have been, at least sometime, either a maid or a mother." + +Ibarra smiled slightly and replied by taking some documents from his +pocketbook. "My dead father used to consult you in some things and +I recall that he had only to congratulate himself on following your +advice. I have on hand a little enterprise, the success of which +I must assure." Here he explained briefly his plan for the school, +which he had offered to his fiancee, spreading out in view of the +astonished Sage some plans which had been prepared in Manila. + +"I would like to have you advise me as to what persons in the +town I must first win over in order to assure the success of the +undertaking. You know the inhabitants well, while I have just arrived +and am almost a stranger in my own country." + +Old Tasio examined the plans before him with tear-dimmed eyes. "What +you are going to do has been my dream, the dream of a poor lunatic!" he +exclaimed with emotion. "And now the first thing that I advise you +to do is never to come to consult with me." + +The youth gazed at him in surprise. + +"Because the sensible people," he continued with bitter irony, "would +take you for a madman also. The people consider madmen those who do +not think as they do, so they hold me as such, which I appreciate, +because the day in which they think me returned to sanity, they will +deprive me of the little liberty that I've purchased at the expense +of the reputation of being a sane individual. And who knows but they +are right? I do not live according to their rules, my principles +and ideals are different. The gobernadorcillo enjoys among them the +reputation of being a wise man because he learned nothing more than +to serve chocolate and to put up with Padre Damaso's bad humor, so now +he is wealthy, he disturbs the petty destinies of his fellow-townsmen, +and at times he even talks of justice. 'That's a man of talent,' think +the vulgar, 'look how from nothing he has made himself great!' But I, +I inherited fortune and position, I have studied, and now I am poor, +I am not trusted with the most ridiculous office, and all say, 'He's a +fool! He doesn't know how to live!' The curate calls me 'philosopher' +as a nickname and gives to understand that I am a charlatan who is +making a show of what I learned in the higher schools, when that is +exactly what benefits me the least. Perhaps I really am the fool and +they the wise ones--who can say?" + +The old man shook his head as if to drive away that thought, and +continued: "The second thing I can advise is that you consult the +curate, the gobernadorcillo, and all persons in authority. They will +give you bad, stupid, or useless advice, but consultation doesn't +mean compliance, although you should make it appear that you are +taking their advice and acting according to it." + +Ibarra reflected a moment before he replied: "The advice is good, but +difficult to follow. Couldn't I go ahead with my idea without a shadow +being thrown upon it? Couldn't a worthy enterprise make its way over +everything, since truth doesn't need to borrow garments from error?" + +"Nobody loves the naked truth!" answered the old man. "That is good +in theory and practicable in the world of which youth dreams. Here is +the schoolmaster, who has struggled in a vacuum; with the enthusiasm +of a child, he has sought the good, yet he has won only jests and +laughter. You have said that you are a stranger in your own country, +and I believe it. The very first day you arrived you began by wounding +the vanity of a priest who is regarded by the people as a saint, and +as a sage among his fellows. God grant that such a misstep may not have +already determined your future! Because the Dominicans and Augustinians +look with disdain on the _guingon_ habit, the rope girdle, and the +immodest foot-wear, because a learned doctor in Santo Tomas [75] +may have once recalled that Pope Innocent III described the statutes +of that order as more fit for hogs than men, don't believe but that +all of them work hand in hand to affirm what a preacher once said, +'The most insignificant lay brother can do more than the government +with all its soldiers!' _Cave ne cadas!_ [76] Gold is powerful--the +golden calf has thrown God down from His altars many times, and that +too since the days of Moses!" + +"I'm not so pessimistic nor does life appear to me so perilous in +my country," said Ibarra with a smile. "I believe that those fears +are somewhat exaggerated and I hope to be able to carry out my plans +without meeting any great opposition in that quarter." + +"Yes, if they extend their hands to you; no, if they withhold them. All +your efforts will be shattered against the walls of the rectory if +the friar so much as waves his girdle or shakes his habit; tomorrow +the alcalde will on some pretext deny you what today he has granted; +no mother will allow her son to attend the school, and then all your +labors will produce a counter-effect--they will dishearten those who +afterwards may wish to attempt altruistic undertakings." + +"But, after all," replied the youth, "I can't believe in that power of +which you speak, and even supposing it to exist and making allowance +for it, I should still have on my side the sensible people and the +government, which is animated by the best intentions, which has great +hopes, and which frankly desires the welfare of the Philippines." + +"The government! The government!" muttered the Sage, raising his eyes +to stare at the ceiling. "However inspired it may be with the desire +for fostering the greatness of the country for the benefit of the +country itself and of the mother country, however some official or +other may recall the generous spirit of the Catholic Kings [77] and +may agree with it, too, the government sees nothing, hears nothing, +nor does it decide anything, except what the curate or the Provincial +causes it to see, hear, and decide. The government is convinced that it +depends for its salvation wholly on them, that it is sustained because +they uphold it, and that the day on which they cease to support it, +it will fall like a manikin that has lost its prop. They intimidate +the government with an uprising of the people and the people with +the forces of the government, whence originates a simple game, very +much like what happens to timid persons when they visit gloomy places, +taking for ghosts their own shadows and for strange voices the echoes +of their own. As long as the government does not deal directly with +the country it will not get away from this tutelage, it will live +like those imbecile youths who tremble at the voice of their tutor, +whose kindness they are begging for. The government has no dream of +a healthy future; it is the arm, while the head is the convento. By +this inertia with which it allows itself to be dragged from depth to +depth, it becomes changed into a shadow, its integrity is impaired, +and in a weak and incapable way it trusts everything to mercenary +hands. But compare our system of government with those of the countries +you have visited--" + +"Oh!" interrupted Ibarra, "that's asking too much! Let us content +ourselves with observing that our people do not complain or suffer as +do the people of other countries, thanks to Religion and the benignity +of the governing powers. + +"This people does not complain because it has no voice, it does not +move because it is lethargic, and you say that it does not suffer +because you haven't seen how its heart bleeds. But some day you will +see this, you will hear its complaints, and then woe unto those who +found their strength on ignorance and fanaticism! Woe unto those +who rejoice in deceit and labor during the night, believing that all +are asleep! When the light of day shows up the monsters of darkness, +the frightful reaction will come. So many sighs suppressed, so much +poison distilled drop by drop, so much force repressed for centuries, +will come to light and burst! Who then will pay those accounts which +oppressed peoples present from time to time and which History preserves +for us on her bloody pages?" + +"God, the government, and Religion will not allow that day to +come!" replied Ibarra, impressed in spite of himself. "The Philippines +is religious and loves Spain, the Philippines will realize how much +the nation is doing for her. There are abuses, yes, there are defects, +that cannot be denied, but Spain is laboring to introduce reforms +that will correct these abuses and defects, she is formulating plans, +she is not selfish!" + +"I know it, and that is the worst of it! The reforms which emanate +from the higher places are annulled in the lower circles, thanks to +the vices of all, thanks, for instance, to the eager desire to get +rich in a short time, and to the ignorance of the people, who consent +to everything. A royal decree does not correct abuses when there is +no zealous authority to watch over its execution, while freedom of +speech against the insolence of petty tyrants is not conceded. Plans +will remain plans, abuses will still be abuses, and the satisfied +ministry will sleep in peace in spite of everything. Moreover, +if perchance there does come into a high place a person with great +and generous ideas, he will begin to hear, while behind his back he +is considered a fool, 'Your Excellency does not know the country, +your Excellency does not understand the character of the Indians, +your Excellency is going to ruin them, your Excellency will do well +to trust So-and-so,' and his Excellency in fact does not know the +country, for he has been until now stationed in America, and besides +that, he has all the shortcomings and weaknesses of other men, so he +allows himself to be convinced. His Excellency also remembers that +to secure the appointment he has had to sweat much and suffer more, +that he holds it for only three years, that he is getting old and +that it is necessary to think, not of quixotisms, but of the future: +a modest mansion in Madrid, a cozy house in the country, and a good +income in order to live in luxury at the capital--these are what +he must look for in the Philippines. Let us not ask for miracles, +let us not ask that he who comes as an outsider to make his fortune +and go away afterwards should interest himself in the welfare of the +country. What matters to him the gratitude or the curses of a people +whom he does not know, in a country where he has no associations, +where he has no affections? Fame to be sweet must resound in the +ears of those we love, in the atmosphere of our home or of the land +that will guard our ashes; we wish that fame should hover over our +tomb to warm with its breath the chill of death, so that we may +not be completely reduced to nothingness, that something of us may +survive. Naught of this can we offer to those who come to watch over +our destinies. And the worst of all this is that they go away just +when they are beginning to get an understanding of their duties. But +we are getting away from our subject." + +"But before getting back to it I must make some things plain," +interrupted the youth eagerly. "I can admit that the government does +not know the people, but I believe that the people know the government +even less. There are useless officials, bad ones, if you wish, but +there are also good ones, and if these are unable to do anything it +is because they meet with an inert mass, the people, who take little +part in the affairs that concern them. But I didn't come to hold a +discussion with you on that point, I came to ask for advice and you +tell me to lower my head before grotesque idols!" + +"Yes, I repeat it, because here you must either lower your head or +lose it." + +"Either lower my head or lose it!" repeated Ibarra thoughtfully. "The +dilemma is hard! But why? Is love for my country incompatible with love +for Spain? Is it necessary to debase oneself to be a good Christian, +to prostitute one's conscience in order to carry out a good purpose? I +love my native land, the Philippines, because to it I owe my life and +my happiness, because every man should love his country. I love Spain, +the fatherland of my ancestors, because in spite of everything the +Philippines owes to it, and will continue to owe, her happiness and +her future. I am a Catholic, I preserve pure the faith of my fathers, +and I do not see why I have to lower my head when I can raise it, +to give it over to my enemies when I can humble them!" + +"Because the field in which you wish to sow is in possession of your +enemies and against them you are powerless. It is necessary that you +first kiss the hand that--" + +But the youth let him go no farther, exclaiming passionately, "Kiss +their hands! You forget that among them they killed my father and +threw his body from the tomb! I who am his son do not forget it, +and that I do not avenge it is because I have regard for the good +name of the Church!" + +The old Sage bowed his head as he answered slowly: "Senor Ibarra, if +you preserve those memories, which I cannot counsel you to forget, +abandon the enterprise you are undertaking and seek in some other +way the welfare of your countrymen. The enterprise needs another man, +because to make it a success zeal and money alone are not sufficient; +in our country are required also self-denial, tenacity of purpose, +and faith, for the soil is not ready, it is only sown with discord." + +Ibarra appreciated the value of these observations, but still would +not be discouraged. The thought of Maria Clara was in his mind and +his promise must be fulfilled. + +"Doesn't your experience suggest any other than this hard means?" he +asked in a low voice. + +The old man took him by the arm and led him to the window. A fresh +breeze, the precursor of the north wind, was blowing, and before their +eyes spread out the garden bounded by the wide forest that was a kind +of park. + +"Why can we not do as that weak stalk laden with flowers and buds +does?" asked the Sage, pointing to a beautiful jasmine plant. "The wind +blows and shakes it and it bows its head as if to hide its precious +load. If the stalk should hold itself erect it would be broken, +its flowers would be scattered by the wind, and its buds would be +blighted. The wind passes by and the stalk raises itself erect, +proud of its treasure, yet who will blame it for having bowed before +necessity? There you see that gigantic _kupang_, which majestically +waves its light foliage wherein the eagle builds his nest. I brought +it from the forest as a weak sapling and braced its stem for months +with slender pieces of bamboo. If I had transplanted it large and +full of life, it is certain that it would not have lived here, +for the wind would have thrown it down before its roots could have +fixed themselves in the soil, before it could have become accustomed +to its surroundings, and before it could have secured sufficient +nourishment for its size and height. So you, transplanted from Europe +to this stony soil, may end, if you do not seek support and do not +humble yourself. You are among evil conditions, alone, elevated, the +ground shakes, the sky presages a storm, and the top of your family +tree has shown that it draws the thunderbolt. It is not courage, but +foolhardiness, to fight alone against all that exists. No one censures +the pilot who makes for a port at the first gust of the whirlwind. To +stoop as the bullet passes is not cowardly--it is worse to defy it +only to fall, never to rise again." + +"But could this sacrifice produce the fruit that I hope for?" asked +Ibarra. "Would the priest believe in me and forget the affront? Would +they aid me frankly in behalf of the education that contests with the +conventos the wealth of the country? Can they not pretend friendship, +make a show of protection, and yet underneath in the shadows fight it, +undermine it, wound it in the heel, in order to weaken it quicker +than by attacking it in front? Granted the previous actions which +you surmise, anything may be expected!" + +The old man remained silent from inability to answer these +questions. After meditating for some time, he said: "If such should +happen, if the enterprise should fail, you would be consoled by +the thought that you had done what was expected of you and thus +something would be gained. You would have placed the first stone, +you would have sown the seed, and after the storm had spent itself +perhaps some grain would have survived the catastrophe to grow and +save the species from destruction and to serve afterwards as the seed +for the sons of the dead sower. The example may encourage others who +are only afraid to begin." + +Weighing these reasons, Ibarra realized the situation and saw that +with all the old man's pessimism there was a great deal of truth in +what he said. + +"I believe you!" he exclaimed, pressing the old man's hand. "Not in +vain have I looked to you for advice. This very day I'll go and reach +an understanding with the curate, who, after all is said, has done +me no wrong and who must be good, since all of them are not like the +persecutor of my father. I have, besides, to interest him in behalf of +that unfortunate madwoman and her sons. I put my trust in God and men!" + +After taking leave of the old man he mounted his horse and rode +away. As the pessimistic Sage followed him with his gaze, he muttered: +"Now let's watch how Destiny will unfold the drama that began in the +cemetery." But for once he was greatly mistaken--the drama had begun +long before! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The Eve of the Fiesta + + +It is now the tenth of November, the eve of the fiesta. Emerging from +its habitual monotony, the town has given itself over to unwonted +activity in house, church, cockpit, and field. Windows are covered +with banners and many-hued draperies. All space is filled with noise +and music, and the air is saturated with rejoicings. + +On little tables with embroidered covers the _dalagas_ arrange in +bright-hued glass dishes different kinds of sweetmeats made from +native fruits. In the yard the hens cackle, the cocks crow, and the +hogs grunt, all terrified by this merriment of man. Servants move +in and out carrying fancy dishes and silver cutlery. Here there is a +quarrel over a broken plate, there they laugh at the simple country +girl. Everywhere there is ordering, whispering, shouting. Comments and +conjectures are made, one hurries the other,--all is commotion, noise, +and confusion. All this effort and all this toil are for the stranger +as well as the acquaintance, to entertain every one, whether he has +been seen before or not, or whether he is expected to be seen again, in +order that the casual visitor, the foreigner, friend, enemy, Filipino, +Spaniard, the poor and the rich, may go away happy and contented. No +gratitude is even asked of them nor is it expected that they do no +damage to the hospitable family either during or after digestion! The +rich, those who have ever been to Manila and have seen a little more +than their neighbors, have bought beer, champagne, liqueurs, wines, +and food-stuffs from Europe, of which they will hardly taste a bite +or drink a drop. + +Their tables are luxuriously furnished. In the center is a well-modeled +artificial pineapple in which are arranged toothpicks elaborately +carved by convicts in their rest-hours. Here they have designed a +fan, there a bouquet of flowers, a bird, a rose, a palm leaf, or a +chain, all wrought from a single piece of wood, the artisan being a +forced laborer, the tool a dull knife, and the taskmaster's voice the +inspiration. Around this toothpick-holder are placed glass fruit-trays +from which rise pyramids of oranges, lansons, ates, chicos, and even +mangos in spite of the fact that it is November. On wide platters +upon bright-hued sheets of perforated paper are to be seen hams from +Europe and China, stuffed turkeys, and a big pastry in the shape of +an Agnus Dei or a dove, the Holy Ghost perhaps. Among all these are +jars of appetizing _acharas_ with fanciful decorations made from +the flowers of the areca palm and other fruits and vegetables, all +tastefully cut and fastened with sirup to the sides of the flasks. + +Glass lamp globes that have been handed down from father to son are +cleaned, the copper ornaments polished, the kerosene lamps taken out +of the red wrappings which have protected them from the flies and +mosquitoes during the year and which have made them unserviceable; +the prismatic glass pendants shake to and fro, they clink together +harmoniously in song, and even seem to take part in the fiesta as +they flash back and break up the rays of light, reflecting them on +the white walls in all the colors of the rainbow. The children play +about amusing themselves by chasing the colors, they stumble and break +the globes, but this does not interfere with the general merriment, +although at other times in the year the tears in their round eyes +would be taken account of in a different way. + +Along with these venerated lamps there also come forth from their +hiding-places the work of the girls: crocheted scarfs, rugs, artificial +flowers. There appear old glass trays, on the bottoms of which are +sketched miniature lakes with little fishes, caymans, shell-fish, +seaweeds, coral, and glassy stones of brilliant hues. These are heaped +with cigars, cigarettes, and diminutive buyos prepared by the delicate +fingers of the maidens. The floor of the house shines like a mirror, +curtains of pina and husi festoon the doorways, from the windows +hang lanterns covered with glass or with paper, pink, blue, green, or +red. The house itself is filled with plants and flower-pots on stands +of Chinese porcelain. Even the saints bedeck themselves, the images +and relics put on a festive air, the dust is brushed from them and +on the freshly-washed glass of their cases are hung flowery garlands. + +In the streets are raised at intervals fanciful bamboo arches, known as +_sinkaban_, constructed in various ways and adorned with _kaluskus_, +the curling bunches of shavings scraped on their sides, at the sight +of which alone the hearts of the children rejoice. About the front +of the church, where the procession is to pass, is a large and costly +canopy upheld on bamboo posts. Beneath this the children run and play, +climbing, jumping, and tearing the new camisas in which they should +shine on the principal day of the fiesta. + +There on the plaza a platform has been erected, the scenery being +of bamboo, nipa, and wood; there the Tondo comedians will perform +wonders and compete with the gods in improbable miracles, there +will sing and dance Marianito, Chananay, Balbino, Ratia, Carvajal, +Yeyeng, Liceria, etc. The Filipino enjoys the theater and is a deeply +interested spectator of dramatic representations, but he listens in +silence to the song, he gazes delighted at the dancing and mimicry, +he never hisses or applauds. + +If the show is not to his liking, he chews his buyo or withdraws +without disturbing the others who perhaps find pleasure in it. Only +at times the commoner sort will howl when the actors embrace or kiss +the actresses, but they never go beyond that. Formerly, dramas only +were played; the local poet composed a piece in which there must +necessarily be a fight every second minute, a clown, and terrifying +transformations. But since the Tondo artist have begun to fight every +fifteen seconds, with two clowns, and even greater marvels than before, +they have put to rout their provincial compeers. The gobernadorcillo +was very fond of this sort of thing, so, with the approval of the +curate, he chose a spectacle with magic and fireworks, entitled, "The +Prince Villardo or the Captives Rescued from the Infamous Cave." [78] + +From time to time the bells chime out merrily, those same bells that +ten days ago were tolling so mournfully. Pin-wheels and mortars rend +the air, for the Filipino pyrotechnist, who learned the art from +no known instructor, displays his ability by preparing fire bulls, +castles of Bengal lights, paper balloons inflated with hot air, bombs, +rockets, and the like. + +Now distant strains of music are heard and the small boys rush headlong +toward the outskirts of the town to meet the bands of music, five +of which have been engaged, as well as three orchestras. The band of +Pagsanhan belonging to the escribano must not be lacking nor that of +San Pedro de Tunasan, at that time famous because it was directed by +the maestro Austria, the vagabond "Corporal Mariano" who, according to +report, carried fame and harmony in the tip of his baton. Musicians +praise his funeral march, "El Sauce," [79] and deplore his lack of +musical education, since with his genius he might have brought glory +to his country. The bands enter the town playing lively airs, followed +by ragged or half-naked urchins, one in the camisa of his brother, +another in his father's pantaloons. As soon as the band ceases, the +boys know the piece by heart, they hum and whistle it with rare skill, +they pronounce their judgment upon it. + +Meanwhile, there are arriving in conveyances of all kinds relatives, +friends, strangers, the gamblers with their best game-cocks and their +bags of gold, ready to risk their fortune on the green cloth or within +the arena of the cockpit. + +"The alferez has fifty pesos for each night," murmurs a small, +chubby individual into the ears of the latest arrivals. "Capitan +Tiago's coming and will set up a bank; Capitan Joaquin's bringing +eighteen thousand. There'll be _liam-po_: Carlos the Chinaman will +set it up with ten thousand. Big stakes are coming from Tanawan, Lipa, +and Batangas, as well as from Santa Cruz. [80] It's going to be on a +big scale, yes, sir, on a grand scale! But have some chocolate! This +year Capitan Tiago won't break us as he did last, since he's paid +for only three thanksgiving masses and I've got a cacao _mutya_. And +how's your family?" + +"Well, thank you," the visitors respond, "and Padre Damaso?" + +"Padre Damaso will preach in the morning and sit in with us at night." + +"Good enough! Then there's no danger." + +"Sure, we're sure! Carlos the Chinaman will loosen up also." Here +the chubby individual works his fingers as though counting out pieces +of money. + +Outside the town the hill-folk, the _kasama_, are putting on their +best clothes to carry to the houses of their landlords well-fattened +chickens, wild pigs, deer, and birds. Some load firewood on the heavy +carts, others fruits, ferns, and orchids, the rarest that grow in +the forests, others bring broad-leafed caladiums and flame-colored +_tikas-tikas_ blossoms to decorate the doors of the houses. + +But the place where the greatest activity reigns, where it is converted +into a tumult, is there on a little plot of raised ground, a few +steps from Ibarra's house. Pulleys screech and yells are heard amid +the metallic sound of iron striking upon stone, hammers upon nails, +of axes chopping out posts. A crowd of laborers is digging in the +earth to open a wide, deep trench, while others place in line the +stones taken from the town quarries. Carts are unloaded, piles of +sand are heaped up, windlasses and derricks are set in place. + +"Hey, you there! Hurry up!" cries a little old man with lively and +intelligent features, who has for a cane a copper-bound rule around +which is wound the cord of a plumb-bob. This is the foreman of the +work, Nor Juan, architect, mason, carpenter, painter, locksmith, +stonecutter, and, on occasions, sculptor. "It must be finished right +now! Tomorrow there'll be no work and the day after tomorrow is the +ceremony. Hurry!" + +"Cut that hole so that this cylinder will fit it exactly," he says +to some masons who are shaping a large square block of stone. "Within +that our names will be preserved." + +He repeats to every newcomer who approaches the place what he +has already said a thousand times: "You know what we're going to +build? Well, it's a schoolhouse, a model of its kind, like those in +Germany, and even better. A great architect has drawn the plans, +and I--I am bossing the job! Yes, sir, look at it, it's going to +be a palace with two wings, one for the boys and the other for the +girls. Here in the middle a big garden with three fountains, there on +the sides shaded walks with little plots for the children to sow and +cultivate plants in during their recess-time, that they may improve +the hours and not waste them. Look how deep the foundations are, +three meters and seventy-five centimeters! This building is going +to have storerooms, cellars, and for those who are not diligent +students dungeons near the playgrounds so that the culprits may hear +how the studious children are enjoying themselves. Do you see that +big space? That will be a lawn for running and exercising in the +open air. The little girls will have a garden with benches, swings, +walks where they can jump the rope, fountains, bird-cages, and so +on. It's going to be magnificent!" + +Then Nor Juan would rub his hands together as he thought of the +fame that he was going to acquire. Strangers would come to see it +and would ask, "Who was the great artisan that built this?" and all +would answer, "Don't you know? Can it be that you've never heard +of Nor Juan? Undoubtedly you've come from a great distance!" With +these thoughts he moved from one part to the other, examining and +reexamining everything. + +"It seems to me that there's too much timber for one derrick," he +remarked to a yellowish man who was overseeing some laborers. "I +should have enough with three large beams for the tripod and three +more for the braces." + +"Never mind!" answered the yellowish man, smiling in a peculiar +way. "The more apparatus we use in the work, so much the greater effect +we'll get. The whole thing will look better and of more importance, +so they'll say, 'How hard they've worked!' You'll see, you'll see +what a derrick I'll put up! Then I'll decorate it with banners, and +garlands of leaves and flowers. You'll say afterwards that you were +right in hiring me as one of your laborers, and Senor Ibarra couldn't +ask for more!" As he said this the man laughed and smiled. Nor Juan +also smiled, but shook his head. + +Some distance away were seen two kiosks united by a kind of arbor +covered with banana leaves. The schoolmaster and some thirty boys +were weaving crowns and fastening banners upon the frail bamboo posts, +which were wrapped in white cloth. + +"Take care that the letters are well written," he admonished the boys +who were preparing inscriptions. "The alcalde is coming, many curates +will be present, perhaps even the Captain-General, who is now in the +province. If they see that you draw well, maybe they'll praise you." + +"And give us a blackboard?" + +"Perhaps, but Senor Ibarra has already ordered one from +Manila. Tomorrow some things will come to be distributed among you +as prizes. Leave those flowers in the water and tomorrow we'll make +the bouquets. Bring more flowers, for it's necessary that the table +be covered with them--flowers please the eye." + +"My father will bring some water-lilies and a basket of sampaguitas +tomorrow." + +"Mine has brought three cartloads of sand without pay." + +"My uncle has promised to pay a teacher," added a nephew of Capitan +Basilio. + +Truly, the project was receiving help from all. The curate had asked to +stand sponsor for it and himself bless the laying of the corner-stone, +a ceremony to take place on the last day of the fiesta as one of its +greatest solemnities. The very coadjutor had timidly approached Ibarra +with an offer of all the fees for masses that the devout would pay +until the building was finished. Even more, the rich and economical +Sister Rufa had declared that if money should be lacking she would +canvass other towns and beg for alms, with the mere condition that she +be paid her expenses for travel and subsistence. Ibarra thanked them +all, as he answered, "We aren't going to have anything very great, +since I am not rich and this building is not a church. Besides, +I didn't undertake to erect it at the expense of others." + +The younger men, students from Manila, who had come to take part +in the fiesta, gazed at him in admiration and took him for a model; +but, as it nearly always happens, when we wish to imitate great men, +that we copy only their foibles and even their defects, since we are +capable of nothing else, so many of these admirers took note of the +way in which he tied his cravat, others of the style of his collar, +and not a few of the number of buttons on his coat and vest. + +The funereal presentiments of old Tasio seemed to have been dissipated +forever. So Ibarra observed to him one day, but the old pessimist +answered: "Remember what Baltazar says: + + + Kung ang isalubong sa iyong pagdating + Ay masayang maukha't may pakitang giliw, + Lalong pag-ingata't kaaway na lihim [81]-- + + +Baltazar was no less a thinker than a poet." + +Thus in the gathering shadows before the setting of the sun events +were shaping themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +In the Twilight + + +In Capitan Tiago's house also great preparations had been made. We +know its owner, whose love of ostentation and whose pride as a +Manilan imposed the necessity of humiliating the provincials with his +splendor. Another reason, too, made it his duty to eclipse all others: +he had his daughter Maria Clara with him, and there was present his +future son-in-law, who was attracting universal attention. + +In fact one of the most serious newspapers in Manila had devoted to +Ibarra an article on its front page, entitled, "Imitate him!" heaping +him with praise and giving him some advice. It had called him, "The +cultivated young gentleman and rich capitalist;" two lines further +on, "The distinguished philanthropist;" in the following paragraph, +"The disciple of Minerva who had gone to the mother country to +pay his respects to the true home of the arts and sciences;" and +a little further on, "The Filipino Spaniard." Capitan Tiago burned +with generous zeal to imitate him and wondered whether he ought not +to erect a convento at his own expense. + +Some days before there had arrived at the house where Maria Clara +and Aunt Isabel were staying a profusion of eases of European wines +and food-stuffs, colossal mirrors, paintings, and Maria Clara's +piano. Capitan Tiago had arrived on the day before the fiesta and as +his daughter kissed his hand, had presented her with a beautiful locket +set with diamonds and emeralds, containing a sliver from St. Peter's +boat, in which Our Savior sat during the fishing. His first interview +with his future son-in-law could not have been more cordial. Naturally, +they talked about the school, and Capitan Tiago wanted it named +"School of St. Francis." "Believe me," he said, "St. Francis is a good +patron. If you call it 'School of Primary Instruction,' you will gain +nothing. Who is Primary Instruction, anyhow?" + +Some friends of Maria Clara came and asked her to go for a walk. "But +come back quickly," said Capitan Tiago to his daughter, when she asked +his permission, "for you know that Padre Damaso, who has just arrived, +will dine with us." + +Then turning to Ibarra, who had become thoughtful, he said, "You dine +with us also, you'll be all alone in your house." + +"I would with the greatest pleasure, but I have to be at home in +case visitors come," stammered the youth, as he avoided the gaze of +Maria Clara. + +"Bring your friends along," replied Capitan Tiago heartily. "In my +house there's always plenty to eat. Also, I want you and Padre Damaso +to get on good terms." + +"There'll be time enough for that," answered Ibarra with a forced +smile, as he prepared to accompany the girls. + +They went downstairs, Maria Clara in the center between Victoria +and Iday, Aunt Isabel following. The people made way for them +respectfully. Maria Clara was startling in her beauty; her pallor +was all gone, and if her eyes were still pensive, her mouth on the +contrary seemed to know only smiles. With maiden friendliness the +happy young woman greeted the acquaintances of her childhood, now +the admirers of her promising youth. In less than a fortnight she had +succeeded in recovering that frank confidence, that childish prattle, +which seemed to have been benumbed between the narrow walls of the +nunnery. It might be said that on leaving the cocoon the butterfly +recognized all the flowers, for it seemed to be enough for her to +spread her wings for a moment and warm herself in the sun's rays to +lose all the stiffness of the chrysalis. This new life manifested +itself in her whole nature. Everything she found good and beautiful, +and she showed her love with that maiden modesty which, having never +been conscious of any but pure thoughts, knows not the meaning of false +blushes. While she would cover her face when she was teased, still her +eyes smiled, and a light thrill would course through her whole being. + +The houses were beginning to show lights, and in the streets where +the music was moving about there were lighted torches of bamboo and +wood made in imitation of those in the church. From the streets +the people in the houses might be seen through the windows in an +atmosphere of music and flowers, moving about to the sounds of piano, +harp, or orchestra. Swarming in the streets were Chinese, Spaniards, +Filipinos, some dressed in European style, some in the costumes +of the country. Crowding, elbowing, and pushing one another, walked +servants carrying meat and chickens, students in white, men and women, +all exposing themselves to be knocked down by the carriages which, +in spite of the drivers' cries, made their way with difficulty. + +In front of Capitan Basilio's house some young women called to our +acquaintances and invited them to enter. The merry voice of Sinang as +she ran down the stairs put an end to all excuses. "Come up a moment +so that I may go with you," she said. "I'm bored staying here among +so many strangers who talk only of game-cocks and cards." + +They were ushered into a large room filled with people, some of whom +came forward to greet Ibarra, for his name was now well known. All +gazed in ecstasy at the beauty of Maria Clara and some old women +murmured, as they chewed their buyo, "She looks like the Virgin!" + +There they had to have chocolate, as Capitan Basilio had become a warm +friend and defender of Ibarra since the day of the picnic. He had +learned from the half of the telegram given to his daughter Sinang +that Ibarra had known beforehand about the court's decision in the +latter's favor, so, not wishing to be outdone in generosity, he had +tried to set aside the decision of the chess-match. But when Ibarra +would not consent to this, he had proposed that the money which would +have been spent in court fees should be used to pay a teacher in the +new school. In consequence, the orator employed all his eloquence to +the end that other litigants should give up their extravagant claims, +saying to them, "Believe me, in a lawsuit the winner is left without +a camisa." But he had succeeded in convincing no one, even though he +cited the Romans. + +After drinking the chocolate our young people had to listen to +piano-playing by the town organist. "When I listen to him in the +church," exclaimed Sinang, pointing to the organist, "I want to dance, +and now that he's playing here I feel like praying, so I'm going out +with you." + +"Don't you want to join us tonight?" whispered Capitan Basilio into +Ibarra's ear as they were leaving. "Padre Damaso is going to set up +a little bank." Ibarra smiled and answered with an equivocal shake +of his head. + +"Who's that?" asked Maria Clara of Victoria, indicating with a rapid +glance a youth who was following them. + +"He's--he's a cousin of mine," she answered with some agitation. + +"And the other?" + +"He's no cousin of mine," put in Sinang merrily. "He's my uncle's son." + +They passed in front of the parish rectory, which was not one of the +least animated buildings. Sinang was unable to repress an exclamation +of surprise on seeing the lamps burning, those lamps of antique +pattern which Padre Salvi had never allowed to be lighted, in order +not to waste kerosene. Loud talk and resounding bursts of laughter +might be heard as the friars moved slowly about, nodding their heads +in unison with the big cigars that adorned their lips. The laymen +with them, who from their European garments appeared to be officials +and employees of the province, were endeavoring to imitate whatever +the good priests did. Maria Clara made out the rotund figure of Padre +Damaso at the side of the trim silhouette of Padre Sibyla. Motionless +in his place stood the silent and mysterious Fray Salvi. + +"He's sad," observed Sinang, "for he's thinking about how much so +many visitors are going to cost. But you'll see how he'll not pay +it himself, but the sacristans will. His visitors always eat at +other places." + +"Sinang!" scolded Victoria. + +"I haven't been able to endure him since he tore up the _Wheel of +Fortune_. I don't go to confession to him any more." + +Of all the houses one only was to be noticed without lights and with +all the windows closed--that of the alferez. Maria Clara expressed +surprise at this. + +"The witch! The Muse of the Civil Guard, as the old man says," +exclaimed the irrepressible Sinang. "What has she to do with our +merrymakings? I imagine she's raging! But just let the cholera come +and you'd see her give a banquet." + +"But, Sinang!" again her cousin scolded. + +"I never was able to endure her and especially since she disturbed our +picnic with her civil-guards. If I were the Archbishop I'd marry Her +to Padre Salvi--then think what children! Look how she tried to arrest +the poor pilot, who threw himself into the water simply to please--" + +She was not allowed to finish, for in the corner of the plaza +where a blind man was singing to the accompaniment of a guitar, +a curious spectacle was presented. It was a man miserably dressed, +wearing a broad salakot of palm leaves. His clothing consisted of a +ragged coat and wide pantaloons, like those worn by the Chinese, torn +in many places. Wretched sandals covered his feet. His countenance +remained hidden in the shadow of his wide hat, but from this shadow +there flashed intermittently two burning rays. Placing a flat basket +on the ground, he would withdraw a few paces and utter strange, +incomprehensible sounds, remaining the while standing entirely alone as +if he and the crowd were mutually avoiding each other. Then some women +would approach the basket and put into it fruit, fish, or rice. When +no one any longer approached, from the shadows would issue sadder +but less pitiful sounds, cries of gratitude perhaps. Then he would +take up the basket and make his way to another place to repeat the +same performance. + +Maria Clara divined that there must be some misfortune there, and +full of interest she asked concerning the strange creature. + +"He's a leper," Iday told her. "Four years ago he contracted the +disease, some say from taking care of his mother, others from lying +in a damp prison. He lives in the fields near the Chinese cemetery, +having intercourse with no one, because all flee from him for fear of +contagion. If you might only see his home! It's a tumbledown shack, +through which the wind and rain pass like a needle through cloth. He +has been forbidden to touch anything belonging to the people. One day +when a little child fell into a shallow ditch as he was passing, +he helped to get it out. The child's father complained to the +gobernadorcillo, who ordered that the leper be flogged through the +streets and that the rattan be burned afterwards. It was horrible! The +leper fled with his flogger in pursuit, while the gobernadorcillo +cried, 'Catch him! Better be drowned than get the disease you have!'" + +"Can it be true!" murmured Maria Clara, then, without saying what she +was about to do, went up to the wretch's basket and dropped into it +the locket her father had given her. + +"What have you done?" her friends asked. + +"I hadn't anything else," she answered, trying to conceal her tears +with a smile. + +"What is he going to do with your locket?" Victoria asked her. "One +day they gave him some money, but he pushed it away with a stick; +why should he want it when no one accepts anything that comes from +him? As if the locket could be eaten!" + +Maria Clara gazed enviously at the women who were selling food-stuffs +and shrugged her shoulders. The leper approached the basket, picked +up the jeweled locket, which glittered in his hands, then fell upon +his knees, kissed it, and taking off his salakot buried his forehead +in the dust where the maiden had stepped. Maria Clara hid her face +behind her fan and raised her handkerchief to her eyes. + +Meanwhile, a poor woman had approached the leper, who seemed to be +praying. Her long hair was loose and unkempt, and in the light of +the torches could be recognized the extremely emaciated features of +the crazy Sisa. Feeling the touch of her hand, the leper jumped up +with a cry, but to the horror of the onlooker's Sisa caught him by +the arm and said: + +"Let us pray, let us pray! Today is All Souls' day! Those lights are +the souls of men! Let us pray for my sons!" + +"Separate them! Separate them! The madwoman will get the +disease!" cried the crowd, but no one dared to go near them. + +"Do you see that light in the tower? That is my son Basilio sliding +down a rope! Do you see that light in the convento? That is my son +Crispin! But I'm not going to see them because the curate is sick +and had many gold pieces and the gold pieces are lost! Pray, let us +pray for the soul of the curate! I took him the finest fruits, for +my garden was full of flowers and I had two sons! I had a garden, +I used to take care of my flowers, and I had two sons!" + +Then releasing her hold of the leper, she ran away singing, "I had +a garden and flowers, I had two sons, a garden, and flowers!" + +"What have you been able to do for that poor woman?" Maria Clara +asked Ibarra. + +"Nothing! Lately she has been missing from the totem and wasn't to +be found," answered the youth, rather confusedly. "Besides, I have +been very busy. But don't let it trouble you. The curate has promised +to help me, but advised that I proceed with great tact and caution, +for the Civil Guard seems to be mixed up in it. The curate is greatly +interested in her case." + +"Didn't the alferez say that he would have search made for her sons?" + +"Yes, but at the time he was somewhat--drunk." Scarcely had he said +this when they saw the crazy woman being led, or rather dragged along, +by a soldier. Sisa was offering resistance. + +"Why are you arresting her? What has she done?" asked Ibarra. + +"Why, haven't you seen how she's been raising a disturbance?" was +the reply of the guardian of the public peace. + +The leper caught up his basket hurriedly and ran away. + +Maria Clara wanted to go home, as she had lost all her mirth and good +humor. "So there are people who are not happy," she murmured. Arriving +at her door, she felt her sadness increase when her fiance declined +to go in, excusing himself on the plea of necessity. Maria Clara went +upstairs thinking what a bore are the fiesta days, when strangers +make their visits. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +Correspondence + + Cada uno habla de la feria como le va en ella. [82] + + +As nothing of importance to our characters happened during the +first two days, we should gladly pass on to the third and last, +were it not that perhaps some foreign reader may wish to know how the +Filipinos celebrate their fiestas. For this reason we shall faithfully +reproduce in this chapter several letters, one of them being that +of the correspondent of a noted Manila newspaper, respected for its +grave tone and deep seriousness. Our readers will correct some natural +and trifling slips of the pen. Thus the worthy correspondent of the +respectable newspaper wrote: + + + "TO THE EDITOR, MY DISTINGUISHED FRIEND,--Never did I witness, + nor had I ever expected to see in the provinces, a religious + fiesta so solemn, so splendid, and so impressive as that + now being celebrated in this town by the Most Reverend and + virtuous Franciscan Fathers. + + "Great crowds are in attendance. I have here had the pleasure + of greeting nearly all the Spaniards who reside in this + province, three Reverend Augustinian Fathers from the province + of Batangas, and two Reverend Dominican Fathers. One of the + latter is the Very Reverend Fray Hernando Sibyla, who has come + to honor this town with his presence, a distinction which its + worthy inhabitants should never forget. I have also seen a + great number of the best people of Cavite and Pampanga, many + wealthy persons from Manila, and many bands of music,--among + these the very artistic one of Pagsanhan belonging to + the escribano, Don Miguel Guevara,--swarms of Chinamen and + Indians, who, with the curiosity of the former and the piety + of the latter, awaited anxiously the day on which was to be + celebrated the comic-mimic-lyric-lightning-change-dramatic + spectacle, for which a large and spacious theater had been + erected in the middle of the plaza. + + "At nine on the night of the 10th, the eve of the fiesta, + after a succulent dinner set before us by the _hermano mayor_, + the attention of all the Spaniards and friars in the convento + was attracted by strains of music from a surging multitude + which, with the noise of bombs and rockets, preceded by + the leading citizens of the town, came to the convento to + escort us to the place prepared and arranged for us that we + might witness the spectacle. Such a courteous offer we had to + accept, although I should have preferred to rest in the arms + of Morpheus and repose my weary limbs, which were aching, + thanks to the joltings of the vehicle furnished us by the + gobernadorcillo of B----. + + "Accordingly we joined them and proceeded to look for our + companions, who were dining in the house, owned here by the + pious and wealthy Don Santiago de los Santos. The curate of + the town, the Very Reverend Fray Bernardo Salvi, and the Very + Reverend Fray Damaso Verdolagas, who is now by the special + favor of Heaven recovered from the suffering caused him by + an impious hand, in company with the Very Reverend Fray + Hernando Sibyla and the virtuous curate of Tanawan, with + other Spaniards, were guests in the house of the Filipino + Croesus. There we had the good fortune of admiring not only + the luxury and good taste of the host, which are not usual + among the natives, but also the beauty of the charming + and wealthy heiress, who showed herself to be a polished + disciple of St. Cecelia by playing on her elegant piano, + with a mastery that recalled Galvez to me, the best German + and Italian compositions. It is a matter of regret that such + a charming young lady should be so excessively modest as to + hide her talents from a society which has only admiration + for her. Nor should I leave unwritten that in the house + of our host there were set before us champagne and fine + liqueurs with the profusion and splendor that characterize + the well-known capitalist. + + "We attended the spectacle. You already know our artists, + Ratia, Carvajal, and Fernandez, whose cleverness was + comprehended by us alone, since the uncultured crowd did + not understand a jot of it. Chananay and Balbino were very + good, though a little hoarse; the latter made one break, + but together, and as regards earnest effort, they were + admirable. The Indians were greatly pleased with the Tagalog + drama, especially the gobernadorcillo, who rubbed his hands + and informed us that it was a pity that they had not made the + princess join in combat with the giant who had stolen her + away, which in his opinion would have been more marvelous, + especially if the giant had been represented as vulnerable + only in the navel, like a certain Ferragus of whom the stories + of the Paladins tell. The Very Reverend Fray Damaso, in his + customary goodness of heart, concurred in this opinion, and + added that in such case the princess should be made to discover + the giant's weak spot and give him the _coup de grace_. + + "Needless to tell you that during the show the affability + of the Filipino Rothschild allowed nothing to be lacking: + ice-cream, lemonade, wines, and refreshments of all kinds + circulated profusely among us. A matter of reasonable and + special note was the absence of the well-known and cultured + youth, Don Juan Crisostomo Ibarra, who, as you know, will + tomorrow preside at the laying of the corner-stone for the + great edifice which he is so philanthropically erecting. This + worthy descendant of the Pelayos and Elcanos (for I have + learned that one of his paternal ancestors was from our heroic + and noble northern provinces, perhaps one of the companions + of Magellan or Legazpi) did not show himself during the + entire day, owing to a slight indisposition. His name runs + from mouth to mouth, being uttered with praises that can only + reflect glory upon Spain and true Spaniards like ourselves, + who never deny our blood, however mixed it may be. + + "Today, at eleven o'clock in the morning, we attended a + deeply-moving spectacle. Today, as is generally known, is + the fiesta of the Virgin of Peace and is being observed by + the Brethren of the Holy Rosary. Tomorrow will occur the + fiesta of the patron, San Diego, and it will be observed + principally by the Venerable Tertiary Order. Between these + two societies there exists a pious rivalry in serving God, + which piety has reached the extreme of holy quarrels among + them, as has just happened in the dispute over the preacher of + acknowledged fame, the oft-mentioned Very Reverend Fray Damaso, + who tomorrow will occupy the pulpit of the Holy Ghost with + a sermon, which, according to general expectation, will be + a literary and religious event. + + "So, _as we were saying_, we attended a highly edifying + and moving spectacle. Six pious youths, three to recite the + mass and three for acolytes, marched out of the sacristy and + prostrated themselves before the altar, while the officiating + priest, the Very Reverend Fray Hernando Sibyla, chanted the + _Surge Domine_--the signal for commencing the procession + around the church--with the magnificent voice and religious + unction that all recognize and that make him so worthy of + general admiration. When the _Surge Domine_ was concluded, + the gobernadorcillo, in a frock coat, carrying the standard + and followed by four acolytes with incense-burners, headed + the procession. Behind them came the tall silver candelabra, + the municipal corporation, the precious images dressed in satin + and gold, representing St. Dominic and the Virgin of Peace in a + magnificent blue robe trimmed with gilded silver, the gift of + the pious ex-gobernadorcillo, the so-worthy-of-being-imitated + and never-sufficiently-praised Don Santiago de los Santos. All + these images were borne on silver cars. Behind the Mother of + God came the Spaniards and the rest of the clergy, while the + officiating priest was protected by a canopy carried by the + cabezas de barangay, and the procession was closed by a squad + of the worthy Civil Guard. I believe it unnecessary to state + that a multitude of Indians, carrying lighted candles with + great devotion, formed the two lines of the procession. The + musicians played religious marches, while bombs and pinwheels + furnished repeated salutes. It causes admiration to see the + modesty and the fervor which these ceremonies inspire in the + hearts of the true believers, the grand, pure faith professed + for the Virgin of Peace, the solemnity and fervent devotion + with which such ceremonies are performed by those of us who + have had the good fortune to be born under the sacrosanct + and immaculate banner of Spain. + + "The procession concluded, there began the mass rendered by + the orchestra and the theatrical artists. After the reading + of the Gospel, the Very Reverend Fray Manuel Martin, an + Augustinian from the province of Batangas, ascended the + pulpit and kept the whole audience enraptured and hanging + on his words, especially the Spaniards, during the exordium + in Castilian, as he spoke with vigor and in such flowing + and well-rounded periods that our hearts were filled with + fervor and enthusiasm. This indeed is the term that should + be used for what is felt, or what we feel, when the Virgin + of our beloved Spain is considered, and above all when there + can be intercalated in the text, if the subject permits, + the ideas of a prince of the Church, the _Senor Monescillo_, + [83] which are surely those of all Spaniards. + + "At the conclusion of the services all of us went up into + the convento with the leading citizens of the town and other + persons of note. There we were especially honored by the + refinement, attention, and prodigality that characterize the + Very Reverend Fray Salvi, there being set before us cigars + and an abundant lunch which the _hermano mayor_ had prepared + under the convento for all who might feel the necessity for + appeasing the cravings of their stomachs. + + "During the day nothing has been lacking to make the fiesta + joyous and to preserve the animation so characteristic of + Spaniards, and which it is impossible to restrain on such + occasions as this, showing itself sometimes in singing and + dancing, at other times in simple and merry diversions of + so strong and noble a nature that all sorrow is driven away, + and it is enough for three Spaniards to be gathered together + in one place in order that sadness and ill-humor be banished + thence. Then homage was paid to Terpsichore in many homes, + but especially in that of the cultured Filipino millionaire, + where we were all invited to dine. Needless to say, the + banquet, which was sumptuous and elegantly served, was a + second edition of the wedding-feast in Cana, or of Camacho, + [84] corrected and enlarged. While we were enjoying the meal, + which was directed by a cook from 'La Campana,' an orchestra + played harmonious melodies. The beautiful young lady of the + house, in a mestiza gown [85] and a cascade of diamonds, + was as ever the queen of the feast.. All of us deplored from + the bottom of our hearts a light sprain in her shapely foot + that deprived her of the pleasures of the dance, for if we + have to judge by her other conspicuous perfections, the young + lady must dance like a sylph. + + "The alcalde of the province arrived this afternoon for + the purpose of honoring with his presence the ceremony of + tomorrow. He has expressed regret over the poor health of the + distinguished landlord, Senor Ibarra, who in God's mercy is + now, according to report, somewhat recovered. + + "Tonight there was a solemn procession, but of that I will + speak in my letter tomorrow, because in addition to the + explosions that have bewildered me and made me somewhat deaf + I am tired and falling over with sleep. While, therefore, + I recover my strength in the arms of Morpheus--or rather on + a cot in the convento--I desire for you, my distinguished + friend, a pleasant night and take leave of you until tomorrow, + which will be the great day. + + + Your affectionate friend, + + + SAN DIEGO, November 11. + + + THE CORRESPONDENT." + + +Thus wrote the worthy correspondent. Now let us see what Capitan +Martin wrote to his friend, Luis Chiquito: + + + "DEAR CHOY,--Come a-running if you can, for there's something + doing at the fiesta. Just imagine, Capitan Joaquin is almost + broke. Capitan Tiago has doubled up on him three times and + won at the first turn of the cards each time, so that Capitan + Manuel, the owner of the house, is growing smaller every + minute from sheer joy. Padre Damaso smashed a lamp with his + fist because up to now he hasn't won on a single card. The + Consul has lost on his cocks and in the bank all that he won + from us at the fiesta of Binan and at that of the Virgin of + the Pillar in Santa Cruz. + + "We expected Capitan Tiago to bring us his future son-in-law, + the rich heir of Don Rafael, but it seems that he wishes to + imitate his father, for he does not even show himself. It's + a pity, for it seems he never will be any use to us. + + "Carlos the Chinaman is making a big fortune with the + _liam-po_. I suspect that he carries something hidden, + probably a charm, for he complains constantly of headaches and + keeps his head bandaged, and when the wheel of the _liam-po_ + is slowing down he leans over, almost touching it, as if he + were looking at it closely. I am shocked, because I know more + stories of the same kind. + + "Good-by, Choy. My birds are well and my wife is happy and + having a good time. + + + Your friend, + + + MARTIN ARISTORENAS." + + +Ibarra had received a perfumed note which Andeng, Maria Clara's +foster-sister, delivered to him on the evening of the first day of +the fiesta. This note said: + + + "CRISOSTOMO,--It has been over a day since you have shown + yourself. I have heard that you are ill and have prayed for + you and lighted two candles, although papa says that you are + not seriously ill. Last night and today I've been bored by + requests to play on the piano and by invitations to dance. I + didn't know before that there are so many tiresome people + in the world! If it were not for Padre Damaso, who tries to + entertain me by talking to me and telling me many things, I + would have shut myself up in my room and gone to sleep. Write + me what the matter is with you and I'll tell papa to visit + you. For the present I send Andeng to make you some tea, + as she knows how to prepare it well, probably better than + your servants do. + + + MARIA CLARA." + + + "P.S. If you don't come tomorrow, I won't go to the + ceremony. _Vale!_" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +The Morning + + +At the first flush of dawn bands of music awoke the tired people of the +town with lively airs. Life and movement reawakened, the bells began +to chime, and the explosions commenced. It was the last day of the +fiesta, in fact the fiesta proper. Much was hoped for, even more than +on the previous day. The Brethren of the Venerable Tertiary Order were +more numerous than those of the Holy Rosary, so they smiled piously, +secure that they would humiliate their rivals. They had purchased a +greater number of tapers, wherefor the Chinese dealers had reaped a +harvest and in gratitude were thinking of being baptized, although +some remarked that this was not so much on account of their faith in +Catholicism as from a desire to get a wife. To this the pious women +answered, "Even so, the marriage of so many Chinamen at once would +be little short of a miracle and their wives would convert them." + +The people arrayed themselves in their best clothes and dragged out +from their strong-boxes all their jewelry. The sharpers and gamblers +all shone in embroidered camisas with large diamond studs, heavy +gold chains, and white straw hats. Only the old Sage went his way +as usual in his dark-striped sinamay camisa buttoned up to the neck, +loose shoes, and wide gray felt hat. + +"You look sadder than ever!" the teniente-mayor accosted him. "Don't +you want us to be happy now and then, since we have so much to +weep over?" + +"To be happy doesn't mean to act the fool," answered the old man. "It's +the senseless orgy of every year! And all for no end but to squander +money, when there is so much misery and want. Yes, I understand it all, +it's the same orgy, the revel to drown the woes of all." + +"You know that I share your opinion, though," replied Don Filipo, +half jestingly and half in earnest. "I have defended it, but what +can one do against the gobernadorcillo and the curate?" + +"Resign!" was the old man's curt answer as he moved away. + +Don Filipo stood perplexed, staring after the old man. "Resign!" he +muttered as he made his way toward the church. "Resign! Yes, if this +office were an honor and not a burden, yes, I would resign." + +The paved court in front of the church was filled with people; men +and women, young and old, dressed in their best clothes, all crowded +together, came and went through the wide doors. There was a smell +of powder, of flowers, of incense, and of perfumes, while bombs, +rockets, and serpent-crackers made the women run and scream, the +children laugh. One band played in front of the convento, another +escorted the town officials, and still others marched about the +streets, where floated and waved a multitude of banners. Variegated +colors and lights distracted the sight, melodies and explosions the +hearing, while the bells kept up a ceaseless chime. Moving all about +were carriages whose horses at times became frightened, frisked and +reared all of which, while not included in the program of the fiesta, +formed a show in itself, free and by no means the least entertaining. + +The _hermano mayor_ for this day had sent servants to seek in the +streets for whomsoever they might invite, as did he who gave the +feast of which the Gospel tells us. Almost by force were urged +invitations to partake of chocolate, coffee, tea, and sweetmeats, +these invitations not seldom reaching the proportions of a demand. + +There was to be celebrated the high mass, that known as the dalmatic, +like the one of the day before, about which the worthy correspondent +wrote, only that now the officiating priest was to be Padre Salvi, +and that the alcalde of the province, with many other Spaniards and +persons of note, was to attend it in order to hear Padre Damaso, +who enjoyed a great reputation in the province. Even the alferez, +smarting under the preachments of Padre Salvi, would also attend in +order to give evidence of his good-will and to recompense himself, +if possible, for the bad spells the curate had caused him. + +Such was the reputation of Padre Damaso that the correspondent wrote +beforehand to the editor of his newspaper: + + +"As was announced in my badly executed account of yesterday, so it +has come to pass. We have had the especial pleasure of listening +to the Very Reverend Fray Damaso Verdolagas, former curate of this +town, recently transferred to a larger parish in recognition of +his meritorious services. The illustrious and holy orator occupied +the pulpit of the Holy Ghost and preached a most eloquent and +profound sermon, which edified and left marveling all the faithful +who had waited so anxiously to see spring from his fecund lips +the restoring fountain of eternal life. Sublimity of conception, +boldness of imagination, novelty of phraseology, gracefulness of style, +naturalness of gestures, cleverness of speech, vigor of ideas--these +are the traits of the Spanish Bossuet, who has justly earned such +a high reputation not only among the enlightened Spaniards but even +among the rude Indians and the cunning sons of the Celestial Empire." + + +But the confiding correspondent almost saw himself obliged to erase +what he had written. Padre Damaso complained of a cold that he had +contracted the night before, for after singing a few merry songs he +had eaten three plates of ice-cream and attended the show for a short +time. As a result of all this, he wished to renounce his part as the +spokesman of God to men, but as no one else was to be found who was so +well versed in the life and miracles of San Diego,--the curate knew +them, it is true, but it was his place to celebrate mass,--the other +priests unanimously declared that the tone of Padre Damaso's voice +could not be improved upon and that it would be a great pity for +him to forego delivering such an eloquent sermon as he had written +and memorized. Accordingly, his former housekeeper prepared for him +lemonade, rubbed his chest and neck with liniment and olive-oil, +massaged him, and wrapped him in warm cloths. He drank some raw +eggs beaten up in wine and for the whole morning neither talked nor +breakfasted, taking only a glass of milk and a cup of chocolate with a +dozen or so of crackers, heroically renouncing his usual fried chicken +and half of a Laguna cheese, because the housekeeper affirmed that +cheese contained salt and grease, which would aggravate his cough. + +"All for the sake of meriting heaven and of converting us!" exclaimed +the Tertiary Sisters, much affected, upon being informed of these +sacrifices. + +"May Our Lady of Peace punish him!" muttered the Sisters of the Holy +Rosary, unable to forgive him for leaning to the side of their rivals. + +At half past eight the procession started from the shadow of the +canvas canopy. It was the same as that of the previous day but for +the introduction of one novelty: the older members of the Venerable +Tertiary Order and some maidens dressed as old women displayed long +gowns, the poor having them of coarse cloth and the rich of silk, +or rather of Franciscan _guingon_, as it is called, since it is most +used by the reverend Franciscan friars. All these sacred garments +were genuine, having come from the convento in Manila, where the +people may obtain them as alms at a fixed price, if a commercial term +may be permitted; this fixed price was liable to increase but not to +reduction. In the convento itself and in the nunnery of St. Clara [86] +are sold these same garments which possess, besides the special merit +of gaining many indulgences for those who may be shrouded in them, +the very special merit of being dearer in proportion as they are old, +threadbare, and unserviceable. We write this in case any pious reader +need such sacred relics--or any cunning rag-picker of Europe wish to +make a fortune by taking to the Philippines a consignment of patched +and grimy garments, since they are valued at sixteen pesos or more, +according to their more or less tattered appearance. + +San Diego de Alcala was borne on a float adorned with plates of +repousse silver. The saint, though rather thin, had an ivory bust +which gave him a severe and majestic mien, in spite of abundant kingly +bangs like those of the Negrito. His mantle was of satin embroidered +with gold. + +Our venerable father, St. Francis, followed the Virgin as on yesterday, +except that the priest under the canopy this time was Padre Salvi +and not the graceful Padre Sibyla, so refined in manner. But if the +former lacked a beautiful carriage he had more than enough unction, +walking half bent over with lowered eyes and hands crossed in mystic +attitude. The bearers of the canopy were the same cabezas de barangay, +sweating with satisfaction at seeing themselves at the same time +semi-sacristans, collectors of the tribute, redeemers of poor erring +humanity, and consequently Christs who were giving their blood for +the sins of others. The surpliced coadjutor went from float to float +carrying the censer, with the smoke from which he from time to time +regaled the nostrils of the curate, who then became even more serious +and grave. + +So the procession moved forward slowly and deliberately to the +sound of bombs, songs, and religious melodies let loose into the +air by bands of musicians that followed the floats. Meanwhile, +the _hermano mayor_ distributed candles with such zeal that many of +the participants returned to their homes with light enough for four +nights of card-playing. Devoutly the curious spectators knelt at the +passage of the float of the Mother of God, reciting Credos and Salves +fervently. In front of a house in whose gaily decorated windows were +to be seen the alcalde, Capitan Tiago, Maria Clara, and Ibarra, with +various Spaniards and young ladies, the float was detained. Padre +Salvi happened to raise his eyes, but made not the slightest movement +that might have been taken for a salute or a recognition of them. He +merely stood erect, so that his cope fell over his shoulders more +gracefully and elegantly. + +In the street under the window was a young woman of pleasing +countenance, dressed in deep mourning, carrying in her arms a young +baby. She must have been a nursemaid only, for the child was white +and ruddy while she was brown and had hair blacker than jet. Upon +seeing the curate the tender infant held out its arms, laughed with +the laugh that neither causes nor is caused by sorrow, and cried out +stammeringly in the midst of a brief silence, "Pa-pa! Papa! Papa!" The +young woman shuddered, slapped her hand hurriedly over the baby's +mouth and ran away in dismay, with the baby crying. + +Malicious ones winked at each other, and the Spaniards who had +witnessed the short scene smiled, while the natural pallor of Padre +Salvi changed to the hue of poppies. Yet the people were wrong, +for the curate was not acquainted with the woman at all, she being +a stranger in the town. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +In the Church + + +From end to end the huge barn that men dedicate as a home to the +Creator of all existing things was filled with people. Pushing, +crowding, and crushing one another, the few who were leaving and +the many who were entering filled the air with exclamations of +distress. Even from afar an arm would be stretched out to dip the +fingers in the holy water, but at the critical moment the surging crowd +would force the hand away. Then would be heard a complaint, a trampled +woman would upbraid some one, but the pushing would continue. Some old +people might succeed in dipping their fingers in the water, now the +color of slime, where the population of a whole town, with transients +besides, had washed. With it they would anoint themselves devoutly, +although with difficulty, on the neck, on the crown of the head, +on the forehead, on the chin, on the chest, and on the abdomen, +in the assurance that thus they were sanctifying those parts and +that they would suffer neither stiff neck, headache, consumption, +nor indigestion. The young people, whether they were not so ailing or +did not believe in that holy prophylactic, hardly more than moistened +the tip of a finger--and this only in order that the devout might +have no cause to talk--and pretended to make the sign of the cross on +their foreheads, of course without touching them. "It may be blessed +and everything you may wish," some young woman doubtless thought, +"but it has such a color!" + +It was difficult to breathe in the heat amid the smells of the human +animal, but the preacher was worth all these inconveniences, as the +sermon was costing the town two hundred and fifty pesos. Old Tasio +had said: "Two hundred and fifty pesos for a sermon! One man on one +occasion! Only a third of what comedians cost, who will work for +three nights! Surely you must be very rich!" + +"What has that to do with the drama?" testily inquired the nervous +leader of the Tertiary Brethren. "With the drama souls go to hell but +with the sermon to heaven! If he had asked a thousand, we would have +paid him and should still owe him gratitude." + +"After all, you're right," replied the Sage, "for the sermon is more +amusing to me at least than the drama." + +"But I am not amused even by the drama!" yelled the other furiously. + +"I believe it, since you understand one about as well as you do the +other!" And the impious old man moved away without paying any attention +to the insults and the direful prophecies that the irritated leader +offered concerning his future existence. + +While they were waiting for the alcalde, the people sweated and yawned, +agitating the air with fans, hats, and handkerchiefs. Children shouted +and cried, which kept the sacristans busy putting them out of the +sacred edifice. Such action brought to the dull and conscientious +leader of the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary this thought: "'Suffer +little children to come unto me,' said Our Savior, it is true, but +here must be understood, children who do not cry." + +An old woman in a _guingon_ habit, Sister Pute, chid her granddaughter, +a child of six years, who was kneeling at her side, "O lost one, give +heed, for you're going to hear a sermon like that of Good Friday!" Here +the old lady gave her a pinch to awaken the piety of the child, +who made a grimace, stuck out her nose, and wrinkled up her eyebrows. + +Some men squatted on their heels and dozed beside the confessional. One +old man nodding caused our old woman to believe that he was mumbling +prayers, so, running her fingers rapidly over the beads of her +rosary--as that was the most reverent way of respecting the designs +of Heaven--little by little she set herself to imitating hint. + +Ibarra stood in one corner while Maria Clara knelt near the high +altar in a space which the curate had had the courtesy to order the +sacristans to clear for her. Capitan Tiago, in a frock coat, sat on +one of the benches provided for the authorities, which caused the +children who did not know him to take him for another gobernadorcillo +and to be wary about getting near him. + +At last the alcalde with his staff arrived, proceeding from the +sacristy and taking their seats in magnificent chairs placed on strips +of carpet. The alcalde wore a full-dress uniform and displayed the +cordon of Carlos III, with four or five other decorations. The people +did not recognize him. + +"_Aba!_" exclaimed a rustic. "A civil-guard dressed as a comedian!" + +"Fool!" rejoined a bystander, nudging him with his elbow. "It's the +Prince Villardo that we saw at the show last night!" + +So the alcalde went up several degrees in the popular estimation by +becoming an enchanted prince, a vanquisher of giants. + +When the mass began, those who were seated arose and those who +had been asleep were awakened by the ringing of the bells and the +sonorous voices of the singers. Padre Salvi, in spite of his gravity, +wore a look of deep satisfaction, since there were serving him as +deacon and subdeacon none less than two Augustinians. Each one, as +it came his turn, sang well, in a more or less nasal tone and with +unintelligible articulation, except the officiating priest himself, +whose voice trembled somewhat, even getting out of tune at times, +to the great wonder of those who knew him. Still he moved about +with precision and elegance while he recited the _Dominus vobiscum_ +unctuously, dropping his head a little to the side and gazing toward +heaven. Seeing him receive the smoke from the incense one would +have said that Galen was right in averring the passage of smoke in +the nasal canals to the head through a screen of ethmoids, since +he straightened himself, threw his head back, and moved toward the +middle of the altar with such pompousness and gravity that Capitan +Tiago found him more majestic than the Chinese comedian of the +night before, even though the latter had been dressed as an emperor, +paint-bedaubed, with beribboned sword, stiff beard like a horse's +mane, and high-soled slippers. "Undoubtedly," so his thoughts ran, +"a single curate of ours has more majesty than all the emperors." + +At length came the expected moment, that of hearing Padre Damaso. The +three priests seated themselves in their chairs in an edifying +attitude, as the worthy correspondent would say, the alcalde and +other persons of place and position following their example. The +music ceased. + +The sudden transition from noise to silence awoke our aged Sister Pute, +who was already snoring under cover of the music. Like Segismundo, +[87] or like the cook in the story of the Sleeping Beauty, the first +thing that she did upon awaking was to whack her granddaughter on +the neck, as the child had also fallen asleep. The latter screamed, +but soon consoled herself at the sight of a woman who was beating her +breast with contrition and enthusiasm. All tried to place themselves +comfortably, those who had no benches squatting down on the floor or +on their heels. + +Padre Damaso passed through the congregation preceded by two +sacristans and followed by another friar carrying a massive volume. He +disappeared as he went up the winding staircase, but his round head +soon reappeared, then his fat neck, followed immediately by his +body. Coughing slightly, he looked about him with assurance. He +noticed Ibarra and with a special wink gave to understand that he +would not overlook that youth in his prayers. Then he turned a look +of satisfaction upon Padre Sibyla and another of disdain upon Padre +Martin, the preacher of the previous day. This inspection concluded, +he turned cautiously and said, "Attention, brother!" to his companion, +who opened the massive volume. + +But the sermon deserves a separate chapter. A young man who was then +learning stenography and who idolizes great orators, took it down; +thanks to this fact, we can here present a selection from the sacred +oratory of those regions. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +The Sermon + + +Fray Damaso began slowly in a low voice: "'_Et spiritum bonum dedisti, +qui doceret eos, et manna tuum non prohibuisti ab ore eorum, et aquam +dedisti eis in siti_. And thou gavest thy good Spirit to teach them, +and thy manna thou didst not withhold from their mouth, and thou +gavest them water for their thirst!' Words which the Lord spoke +through the mouth of Esdras, in the second book, the ninth chapter, +and the twentieth verse." [88] + +Padre Sibyla glanced in surprise at the preacher. Padre Manuel Martin +turned pale and swallowed hard that was better than his! Whether Padre +Damaso noticed this or whether he was still hoarse, the fact is that +he coughed several times as he placed both hands on the rail of the +pulpit. The Holy Ghost was above his head, freshly painted, clean and +white, with rose-colored beak and feet. "Most honorable sir" (to the +alcalde), "most holy priests, Christians, brethren in Jesus Christ!" + +Here he made a solemn pause as again he swept his gaze over the +congregation, with whose attention and concentration he seemed +satisfied. + +"The first part of the sermon is to be in Spanish and the other in +Tagalog; _loquebantur omnes linguas_." + +After the salutations and the pause he extended his right hand +majestically toward the altar, at the same time fixing his gaze on +the alcalde. He slowly crossed his arms without uttering a word, then +suddenly passing from calmness to action, threw back his head and +made a sign toward the main door, sawing the air with his open hand +so forcibly that the sacristans interpreted the gesture as a command +and closed the doors. The alferez became uneasy, doubting whether +he should go or stay, when the preacher began in a strong voice, +full and sonorous; truly his old housekeeper was skilled in medicine. + +"Radiant and resplendent is the altar, wide is the great door, the +air is the vehicle of the holy and divine words that will spring +from my mouth! Hear ye then with the ears of your souls and hearts +that the words of the Lord may not fall on the stony soil where the +birds of Hell may consume them, but that ye may grow and flourish +as holy seed in the field of our venerable and seraphic father, +St. Francis! O ye great sinners, captives of the Moros of the soul +that infest the sea of eternal life in the powerful craft of the +flesh and the world, ye who are laden with the fetters of lust and +avarice, and who toil in the galleys of the infernal Satan, look +ye here with reverent repentance upon him who saved souls from the +captivity of the devil, upon the intrepid Gideon, upon the valiant +David, upon the triumphant Roland of Christianity, upon the celestial +Civil Guard, more powerful than all the Civil Guards together, now +existing or to exist!" (The alferez frowned.) "Yes, senor alferez, +more valiant and powerful, he who with no other weapon than a wooden +cross boldly vanquishes the eternal tulisan of the shades and all +the hosts of Lucifer, and who would have exterminated them forever, +were not the spirits immortal! This marvel of divine creation, this +wonderful prodigy, is the blessed Diego of Alcala, who, if I may avail +myself of a comparison, since comparisons aid in the comprehension of +incomprehensible things, as another has said, I say then that this +great saint is merely a private soldier, a steward in the powerful +company which our seraphic father, St. Francis, sends from Heaven, +and to which I have the honor to belong as a corporal or sergeant, +by the grace of God!" + +The "rude Indians," as the correspondent would say, caught nothing +more from this paragraph than the words "Civil Guard," "tulisan," +"San Diego," and "St. Francis," so, observing the wry face of the +alferez and the bellicose gestures of the preacher, they deduced that +the latter was reprehending him for not running down the tulisanes. San +Diego and St. Francis would be commissioned in this duty and justly +so, as is proved by a picture existing in the convento at Manila, +representing St. Francis, by means of his girdle only, holding back the +Chinese invasion in the first years after the discovery. The devout +were accordingly not a little rejoiced and thanked God for this aid, +not doubting that once the tulisanes had disappeared, St. Francis would +also destroy the Civil Guard. With redoubled attention, therefore, +they listened to Padre Damaso, as he continued: + +"Most honorable sir" Great affairs are great affairs even by the side +of the small and the small are always small even by the side of the +great. So History says, but since History hits the nail on the head +only once in a hundred times, being a thing made by men, and men make +mistakes--_errarle es hominum_, [89] as Cicero said--he who opens his +mouth makes mistakes, as they say in my country then the result is +that there are profound truths which History does not record. These +truths, most honorable sir, the divine Spirit spoke with that supreme +wisdom which human intelligence has not comprehended since the times +of Seneca and Aristotle, those wise priests of antiquity, even to our +sinful days, and these truths are that not always are small affairs +small, but that they are great, not by the side of the little things, +but by the side of the grandest of the earth and of the heavens and +of the air and of the clouds and of the waters and of space and of +life and of death!" + +"Amen!" exclaimed the leader of the Tertiaries, crossing himself. + +With this figure of rhetoric, which he had learned from a famous +preacher in Manila, Padre Damaso wished to startle his audience, +and in fact his holy ghost was so fascinated with such great truths +that it was necessary to kick him to remind him of his business. + +"Patent to your eyes--" prompted the holy ghost below. + +"Patent to your eyes is the conclusive and impressive proof of this +eternal philosophical truth! Patent is that sun of virtue, and I say +sun and not moon, for there is no great merit in the fact that the +moon shines during the night,--in the land of the blind the one-eyed +man is king; by night may shine a light, a tiny star,--so the greatest +merit is to be able to shine even in the middle of the day, as the sun +does; so shines our brother Diego even in the midst of the greatest +saints! Here you have patent to your eyes, in your impious disbelief, +the masterpiece of the Highest for the confusion of the great of the +earth, yes, my brethren, patent, _patent_ to all, PATENT!" + +A man rose pale and trembling and hid himself in a confessional. He was +a liquor dealer who had been dozing and dreaming that the carbineers +were demanding the patent, or license, that he did not have. It may +safely be affirmed that he did not come out from his hiding-place +while the sermon lasted. + +"Humble and lowly saint, thy wooden cross" (the one that the image held +was of silver), "thy modest gown, honors the great Francis whose sons +and imitators we are. We propagate thy holy race in the whole world, +in the remote places, in the cities, in the towns, without distinction +between black and white" (the alcalde held his breath), "suffering +hardships and martyrdoms, thy holy race of faith and religion militant" +("Ah!" breathed the alcalde) "which holds the world in balance and +prevents it from falling into the depths of perdition." + +His hearers, including even Capitan Tiago, yawned little by +little. Maria Clara was not listening to the sermon, for she knew +that Ibarra was near and was thinking about him while she fanned +herself and gazed at an evangelical bull that had all the outlines +of a small carabao. + +"All should know by heart the Holy Scriptures and the lives of the +saints and then I should not have to preach to you, O sinners! You +should know such important and necessary things as the Lord's +Prayer, although many of you have forgotten it, living now as do +the Protestants or heretics, who, like the Chinese, respect not the +ministers of God. But the worse for you, O ye accursed, moving as +you are toward damnation!" + +"_Aba_, Pale Lamaso, what!" [90] muttered Carlos, the Chinese, +looking angrily at the preacher, who continued to extemporize, +emitting a series of apostrophes and imprecations. + +"You will die in final unrepentance, O race of heretics! God punishes +you even on this earth with jails and prisons! Women should flee from +you, the rulers should hang all of you so that the seed of Satan +be not multiplied in the vineyard of the Lord! Jesus Christ said: +'If you have an evil member that leads you to sin, cut it off, and +cast it into the fire--'" + +Having forgotten both his sermon and his rhetoric, Fray Damaso began to +be nervous. Ibarra became uneasy and looked about for a quiet corner, +but the church was crowded. Maria Clara neither heard nor saw anything +as she was analyzing a picture, of the blessed souls in purgatory, +souls in the shape of men and women dressed in hides, with miters, +hoods, and cowls, all roasting in the fire and clutching St. Francis' +girdle, which did not break even with such great weight. With that +improvisation on the preacher's part, the holy-ghost friar lost the +thread of the sermon and skipped over three long paragraphs, giving +the wrong cue to the now laboriously-panting Fray Damaso. + +"Who of you, O sinners, would lick the sores of a poor and ragged +beggar? Who? Let him answer by raising his hand! None! That I knew, for +only a saint like Diego de Alcala would do it. He licked all the sores, +saying to an astonished brother, 'Thus is this sick one cured!' O +Christian charity! O matchless example! O virtue of virtues! O +inimitable pattern! O spotless talisman!" Here he continued a long +series of exclamations, the while crossing his arms and raising and +lowering them as though he wished to fly or to frighten the birds away. + +"Before dying he spoke in Latin, without knowing Latin! Marvel, O +sinners! You, in spite of what you study, for which blows are given +to you, you do not speak Latin, and you will die without speaking +it! To speak Latin is a gift of God and therefore the Church uses +Latin! I, too, speak Latin! Was God going to deny this consolation +to His beloved Diego? Could he die, could he be permitted to die, +without speaking Latin? Impossible! God wouldn't be just, He Wouldn't +be God! So he talked in Latin, and of that fact the writers of his +time bear witness!" + +He ended this exordium with the passage which had cost him the most +toil and which he had plagiarized from a great writer, Sinibaldo de +Mas. "Therefore, I salute thee, illustrious Diego, the glory of our +Order! Thou art the pattern of virtue, meek with honor, humble with +nobility, compliant with fortitude, temperate with ambition, hostile +with loyalty, compassionate with pardon, holy with conscientiousness, +full of faith with devotion, credulous with sincerity, chaste with +love, reserved with secrecy; long-suffering with patience, brave +with timidity, moderate with desire, bold with resolution, obedient +with subjection., modest with pride, zealous with disinterestedness, +skilful with capability, ceremonious with politeness, astute with +sagacity, merciful with piety, secretive with modesty, revengeful with +valor, poor on account of thy labors with true conformity, prodigal +with economy, active with ease, economical with liberality, innocent +with sagacity, reformer with consistency, indifferent with zeal for +learning: God created thee to feel the raptures of Platonic love! Aid +me in singing thy greatness and thy name higher than the stars and +clearer than the sun itself that circles about thy feet! Aid me, all +of you, as you appeal to God for sufficient inspiration by reciting +the Ave Maria!" + +All fell upon their knees and raised a murmur like the humming of a +thousand bees. The alcalde laboriously bent one knee and wagged his +head in a disgusted manner, while the alferez looked pale and penitent. + +"To the devil with the curate!" muttered one of two youths who had +come from Manila. + +"Keep still!" admonished his companion. "His woman might hear us." + +Meanwhile, Padre Damaso, instead of reciting the Ave Maria, +was scolding his holy ghost for having skipped three of his best +paragraphs; at the same time he consumed a couple of cakes and a +glass of Malaga, secure of encountering therein greater inspiration +than in all the holy ghosts, whether of wood in the form of a dove +or of flesh in the shape of an inattentive friar. + +Then he began the sermon in Tagalog. The devout old woman again gave +her granddaughter a hearty slap. The child awoke ill-naturedly and +asked, "Is it time to cry now?" + +"Not yet, O lost one, but don't go to sleep again!" answered the +good grandmother. + +Of the second part of the sermon--that in Tagalog--we have only a +few rough notes, for Padre Damaso extemporized in this language, +not because he knew it better, but because, holding the provincial +Filipinos ignorant of rhetoric, he was not afraid of making blunders +before them. With Spaniards the case was different; he had heard +rules of oratory spoken of, and it was possible that among his hearers +some one had been in college-halls, perhaps the alcalde, so he wrote +out his sermons, corrected and polished them, and then memorized and +rehearsed them for several days beforehand. + +It is common knowledge that none of those present understood the drift +of the sermon. They were so dull of understanding and the preacher +was so profound, as Sister Rufa said, that the audience waited in +vain for an opportunity to weep, and the lost grandchild of the +blessed old woman went to sleep again. Nevertheless, this part had +greater consequences than the first, at least for certain hearers, +as we shall see later. + +He began with a "_Mana capatir con cristiano_," [91] followed by an +avalanche of untranslatable phrases. He talked of the soul, of Hell, +of "_mahal na santo pintacasi_," [92] of the Indian sinners and of +the virtuous Franciscan Fathers. + +"The devil!" exclaimed one of the two irreverent Manilans to his +companion. "That's all Greek to me. I'm going." Seeing the doors +closed, he went out through the sacristy, to the great scandal of +the people and especially of the preacher, who turned pale and paused +in the midst of his sentence. Some looked for a violent apostrophe, +but Padre Damaso contented himself with watching the delinquent, +and then he went on with his sermon. + +Then were let loose curses upon the age, against the lack of reverence, +against the growing indifference to Religion. This matter seemed to +be his forte, for he appeared to be inspired and expressed himself +with force and clearness. He talked of the sinners who did not attend +confession, who died in prisons without the sacraments, of families +accursed, of proud and puffed-up little half-breeds, of young sages +and little philosophers, of pettifoggers, of picayunish students, +and so on. Well known is this habit that many have when they wish +to ridicule their enemies; they apply to them belittling epithets +because their brains do not appear to furnish them any other means, +and thus they are happy. + +Ibarra heard it all and understood the allusions. Preserving an outward +calm, he turned his eyes to God and the authorities, but saw nothing +more than the images of saints, and the alcalde was sleeping. + +Meanwhile, the preacher's enthusiasm was rising by degrees. He spoke +of the times when every Filipino upon meeting a priest took off +his hat, knelt on the ground, and kissed the priest's hand. "But +now," he added, "you only take off your salakot or your felt hat, +which you have placed on the side of your head in order not to +ruffle your nicely combed hair! You content yourself with saying, +'good day, _among_,' and there are proud dabblers in a little Latin +who, from having studied in Manila or in Europe, believe that they +have the right to shake a priest's hand instead of kissing it. Ah, +the day of judgment will quickly come, the world will end, as many +saints have foretold; it will rain fire, stones, and ashes to chastise +your pride!" The people were exhorted not to imitate such "savages" +but to hate and shun them, since they were beyond the religious pale. + +"Hear what the holy decrees say! When an Indian meets a curate in the +street he should bow his head and offer his neck for his master to +step upon. If the curate and the Indian are both on horseback, then +the Indian should stop and take off his hat or salakot reverently; +and finally, if the Indian is on horseback and the curate on foot, +the Indian should alight and not mount again until the curate has +told him to go on, or is far away. This is what the holy decrees say +and he who does not obey will be excommunicated." + +"And when one is riding a carabao?" asked a scrupulous countryman of +his neighbor. + +"Then--keep on going!" answered the latter, who was a casuist. + +But in spite of the cries and gestures of the preacher many fell +asleep or wandered in their attention, since these sermons were +ever the same. In vain some devout women tried to sigh and sob +over the sins of the wicked; they had to desist in the attempt from +lack of supporters. Even Sister Pute was thinking of something quite +different. A man beside her had dropped off to sleep in such a way that +he had fallen over and crushed her habit, so the good woman caught +up one of her clogs and with blows began to wake him, crying out, +"Get away, savage, brute, devil, carabao, cur, accursed!" + +Naturally, this caused somewhat of a stir. The preacher paused and +arched his eyebrows, surprised at so great a scandal. Indignation +choked the words in his throat and he was able only to bellow, while +he pounded the pulpit with his fists. This had the desired effect, +however, for the old woman, though still grumbling, dropped her clog +and, crossing herself repeatedly, fell devoutly upon her knees. + +"Aaah! Aaah!" the indignant priest was at last able to roar out as +he crossed his arms and shook his head. "For this do I preach to +you the whole morning, savages! Here in the house of God you quarrel +and curse, shameless ones! Aaaah! You respect nothing! This is the +result of the luxury and the looseness of the age! That's just what +I've told you, aah!" + +Upon this theme he continued to preach for half an hour. The alcalde +snored, and Maria Clara nodded, for the poor child could no longer keep +from sleeping, since she had no more paintings or images to study, +nor anything else to amuse her. On Ibarra the words and allusions +made no more impression, for he was thinking of a cottage on the top +of a mountain and saw Maria Clara in the garden; let men crawl about +in their miserable towns in the depths of the valley! + +Padre Salvi had caused the altar bell to be rung twice, but this was +only adding fuel to the flame, for Padre Damaso became stubborn and +prolonged the sermon. Fray Sibyla gnawed at his lips and repeatedly +adjusted his gold-mounted eye-glasses. Fray Manuel Martin was the +only one who appeared to listen with pleasure, for he was smiling. + +But at last God said "Enough"; the orator became weary and descended +from the pulpit. All knelt to render thanks to God. The alcalde rubbed +his eyes, stretched out one arm as if to waken himself, and yawned +with a deep _aah_. The mass continued. + +When all were kneeling and the priests had lowered their heads while +the _Incarnatus est_ was being sung, a man murmured in Ibarra's ear, +"At the laying of the cornerstone, don't move away from the curate, +don't go down into the trench, don't go near the stone--your life +depends upon it!" + +Ibarra turned to see Elias, who, as soon as he had said this, +disappeared in the crowd. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +The Derrick + + +The yellowish individual had kept his word, for it was no simple +derrick that he had erected above the open trench to let the heavy +block of granite down into its place. It was not the simple tripod +that Nor Juan had wanted for suspending a pulley from its top, but +was much more, being at once a machine and an ornament, a grand and +imposing ornament. Over eight meters in height rose the confused +and complicated scaffolding. Four thick posts sunk in the ground +served as a frame, fastened to each other by huge timbers crossing +diagonally and joined by large nails driven in only half-way, perhaps +for the reason that the apparatus was simply for temporary use and +thus might easily be taken down again. Huge cables stretched from all +sides gave an appearance of solidity and grandeur to the whole. At +the top it was crowned with many-colored banners, streaming pennants, +and enormous garlands of flowers and leaves artistically interwoven. + +There at the top in the shadow made by the posts, the garlands, and +the banners, hung fastened with cords and iron hooks an unusually +large three-wheeled pulley over the polished sides of which passed +in a crotch three cables even larger than the others. These held +suspended the smooth, massive stone hollowed out in the center +to form with a similar hole in the lower stone, already in place, +the little space intended to contain the records of contemporaneous +history, such as newspapers, manuscripts, money, medals, and the like, +and perhaps to transmit them to very remote generations. The cables +extended downward and connected with another equally large pulley +at the bottom of the apparatus, whence they passed to the drum of +a windlass held in place by means of heavy timbers. This windlass, +which could be turned with two cranks, increased the strength of a +man a hundredfold by the movement of notched wheels, although it is +true that what was gained in force was lost in velocity. + +"Look," said the yellowish individual, turning the crank, "look, +Nor Juan, how with merely my own strength I can raise and lower the +great stone. It's so well arranged that at will I can regulate the +rise or fall inch by inch, so that a man in the trench can easily +fit the stones together while I manage it from here." + +Nor Juan could not but gaze in admiration at the speaker, who was +smiling in his peculiar way. Curious bystanders made remarks praising +the yellowish individual. + +"Who taught you mechanics?" asked Nor Juan. + +"My father, my dead father," was the answer, accompanied by his +peculiar smile. + +"Who taught your father?" + +"Don Saturnino, the grandfather of Don Crisostomo." + +"I didn't know that Don Saturnino--" + +"Oh, he knew a lot of things! He not only beat his laborers well and +exposed them out in the sun, but he also knew how to wake the sleepers +and put the waking to sleep. You'll see in time what my father taught +me, you'll see!" + +Here the yellowish individual smiled again, but in a strange way. + +On a tame covered with a piece of Persian tapestry rested a leaden +cylinder containing the objects that were to be kept in the tomb-like +receptacle and a glass case with thick sides, which would hold that +mummy of an epoch and preserve for the future the records of a past. + +Tasio, the Sage, who was walking about there thoughtfully, murmured: +"Perchance some day when this edifice, which is today begun, has grown +old and after many vicissitudes has fallen into ruins, either from +the visitations of Nature or the destructive hand of man, and above +the ruins grow the ivy and the moss,--then when Time has destroyed the +moss and ivy, and scattered the ashes of the ruins themselves to the +winds, wiping from the pages of History the recollection of it and +of those who destroyed it, long since lost from the memory of man: +perchance when the races have been buried in their mantle of earth or +have disappeared, only by accident the pick of some miner striking a +spark from this rock will dig up mysteries and enigmas from the depths +of the soil. Perchance the learned men of the nation that dwells in +these regions will labor, as do the present Egyptologists, with the +remains of a great civilization which occupied itself with eternity, +little dreaming that upon it was descending so long a night. Perchance +some learned professor will say to his students of five or six years of +age, in a language spoken by all mankind, 'Gentlemen, after studying +and examining carefully the objects found in the depths of our soil, +after deciphering some symbols and translating a few words, we can +without the shadow of a doubt conclude that these objects belonged to +the barbaric age of man, to that obscure era which we are accustomed +to speak of as fabulous. In short, gentlemen, in order that you may +form an approximate idea of the backwardness of our ancestors, it will +be sufficient that I point out to you the fact that those who lived +here not only recognized kings, but also for the purpose of settling +questions of local government they had to go to the other side of the +earth, just as if we should say that a body in order to move itself +would need to consult a head existing in another part of the globe, +perhaps in regions now sunk under the waves. This incredible defect, +however improbable it may seem to us now, must have existed, if we +take into consideration the circumstances surrounding those beings, +whom I scarcely dare to call human! In those primitive times men were +still (or at least so they believed) in direct communication with their +Creator, since they had ministers from Him, beings different from the +rest, designated always with the mysterious letters "M. R. P.", [93] +concerning the meaning of which our learned men do not agree. According +to the professor of languages whom we have here, rather mediocre, since +he does not speak more than a hundred of the imperfect languages of +the past, "M. R. P." may signify "_Muy Rico Propietario_." [94] These +ministers were a species of demigods, very virtuous and enlightened, +and were very eloquent orators, who, in spite of their great power and +prestige, never committed the slightest fault, which fact strengthens +my belief in supposing that they were of a nature distinct from the +rest. If this were not sufficient to sustain my belief, there yet +remains the argument, disputed by no one and day by day confirmed, +that these mysterious beings could make God descend to earth merely +by saying a few words, that God could speak only through their mouths, +that they ate His flesh and drank His blood, and even at times allowed +the common folk to do the same.'" + +These and other opinions the skeptical Sage put into the mouths of +all the corrupt men of the future. Perhaps, as may easily be the case, +old Tasio was mistaken, but we must return to our story. + +In the kiosks which we saw two days ago occupied by the schoolmaster +and his pupils, there was now spread out a toothsome and abundant +meal. Noteworthy is the fact that on the table prepared for the school +children there was not a single bottle of wine but an abundance of +fruits. In the arbors joining the two kiosks were the seats for the +musicians and a table covered with sweetmeats and confections, with +bottles of water for the thirsty public, all decorated with leaves +and flowers. The schoolmaster had erected near by a greased pole and +hurdles, and had hung up pots and pans for a number of games. + +The crowd, resplendent in bright-colored garments, gathered as people +fled from the burning sun, some into the shade of the trees, others +under the arbor. The boys climbed up into the branches or on the stones +in order to see the ceremony better, making up in this way for their +short stature. They looked with envy at the clean and well-dressed +school children, who occupied a place especially assigned to them and +whose parents were overjoyed, as they, poor country folk, would see +their children eat from a white tablecloth, almost the same as the +curate or the alcalde. Thinking of this alone was enough to drive +away hunger, and such an event would be recounted from father to son. + +Soon were heard the distant strains of the band, which was preceded +by a motley throng made up of persons of all ages, in clothing of +all colors. The yellowish individual became uneasy and with a glance +examined his whole apparatus. A curious countryman followed his glance +and watched all his movements; this was Elias, who had also come to +witness the ceremony, but in his salakot and rough attire he was almost +unrecognizable. He had secured a very good position almost at the side +of the windlass, on the edge of the excavation. With the music came +the alcalde, the municipal officials, the friars, with the exception +of Padre Damaso, and the Spanish employees. Ibarra was conversing with +the alcalde, of whom he had made quite a friend since he had addressed +to him some well-turned compliments over his decorations and ribbons, +for aristocratic pretensions were the weakness of his Honor. Capitan +Tiago, the alferez, and some other wealthy personages came in the +gilded cluster of maidens displaying their silken parasols. Padre +Salvi followed, silent and thoughtful as ever. + +"Count upon my support always in any worthy enterprise," the alcalde +was saying to Ibarra. "I will give you whatever appropriation you +need or else see that it is furnished by others." + +As they drew nearer the youth felt his heart beat faster. Instinctively +he glanced at the strange scaffolding raised there. He saw the +yellowish individual salute him respectfully and gaze at him fixedly +for a moment. With surprise he noticed Elias, who with a significant +wink gave him to understand that he should remember the warning in +the church. + +The curate put on his sacerdotal robes and commenced the ceremony, +while the one-eyed sacristan held the book and an acolyte the +hyssop and jar of holy water. The rest stood about him uncovered, +and maintained such a profound silence that, in spite of his reading +in a low tone, it was apparent that Padre Salvi's voice was trembling. + +Meanwhile, there had been placed in the glass case the manuscripts, +newspapers, medals, coins, and the like, and the whole enclosed in +the leaden cylinder, which was then hermetically sealed. + +"Senor Ibarra, will you put the box in its place? The curate is +waiting," murmured the alcalde into the young man's ear. + +"I would with great pleasure," answered the latter, "but that would +be usurping the honorable duty of the escribano. The escribano must +make affidavit of the act." + +So the escribano gravely took the box, descended the carpeted stairway +leading to the bottom of the excavation and with due solemnity placed +it in the hole in the stone. The curate then took the hyssop and +sprinkled the stones with holy water. + +Now the moment had arrived for each one to place his trowelful of +mortar on the face of the large stone lying in the trench, in order +that the other might be fitted and fastened to it. Ibarra handed +the alcalde a mason's trowel, on the wide silver Made of which was +engraved the date. But the alcalde first gave a harangue in Spanish: + +"People of San Diego! We have the honor to preside over a ceremony +whose importance you will not understand unless We tell you of it. A +school is being founded, and the school is the basis of society, the +school is the book in which is written the future of the nations! Show +us the schools of a people and We will show you what that people is. + +"People of San Diego! Thank God, who has given you holy priests, +and the government of the mother country, which untiringly spreads +civilization through these fertile isles, protected beneath her +glorious mantle! Thank God, who has taken pity on you and sent you +these humble priests who enlighten you and teach you the divine +word! Thank the government, which has made, is making, and will +continue to make, so many sacrifices for you and your children! + +"And now that the first stone of this important edifice is consecrated, +We, alcalde-mayor of this province, in the name of his Majesty the +King, whom God preserve, King of the Spains, in the name of the +illustrious Spanish government and under the protection of its +spotless and ever-victorious banner, We consecrate this act and +begin the construction of this schoolhouse! People of San Diego, +long live the King! Long live Spain! Long live the friars! Long live +the Catholic Religion!" + +Many voices were raised in answer, adding, "Long live the Senor +Alcalde!" + +He then majestically descended to the strains of the band, which +began to play, deposited several trowelfuls of mortar on the stone, +and with equal majesty reascended. The employees applauded. + +Ibarra offered another trowel to the curate, who, after fixing his +eyes on him for a moment, descended slowly. Half-way down the steps he +raised his eyes to look at the stone, which hung fastened by the stout +cables, but this was only for a second, and he then went on down. He +did the same as the alcalde, but this time more applause was heard, +for to the employees were added some friars and Capitan Tiago. + +Padre Salvi then seemed to seek for some one to whom he might give the +trowel. He looked doubtfully at Maria Clara, but changing his mind, +offered it to the escribano. The latter in gallantry offered it to +Maria Clara, who smilingly refused it. The friars, the employees, +and the alferez went down one after another, nor was Capitan Tiago +forgotten. Ibarra only was left, and the order was about to be given +for the yellowish individual to lower the stone when the curate +remembered the youth and said to him in a joking tone, with affected +familiarity: + +"Aren't you going to put on your trowelful, Senor Ibarra?" + +"I should be a Juan Palomo, to prepare the meal and eat it myself," +answered the latter in the same tone. + +"Go on!" said the alcalde, shoving him forward gently. "Otherwise, +I'll order that the stone be not lowered at all and we'll be here +until doomsday." + +Before such a terrible threat Ibarra had to obey. He exchanged the +small silver trowel for a large iron one, an act which caused some of +the spectators to smile, and went forward tranquilly. Elias gazed at +him with such an indefinable expression that on seeing it one might +have said that his whole life was concentrated in his eyes. The +yellowish individual stared into the trench, which opened at his +feet. After directing a rapid glance at the heavy stone hanging over +his head and another at Elias and the yellowish individual, Ibarra +said to Nor Juan in a somewhat unsteady voice, "Give me the mortar +and get me another trowel up there." + +The youth remained alone. Elias no longer looked at him, for his +eyes were fastened on the hand of the yellowish individual, who, +leaning over the trench, was anxiously following the movements of +Ibarra. There was heard the noise of the trowel scraping on the +stone in the midst of a feeble murmur among the employees, who were +congratulating the alcalde on his speech. + +Suddenly a crash was heard. The pulley tied at the base of the derrick +jumped up and after it the windlass, which struck the heavy posts like +a battering-ram. The timbers shook, the fastenings flew apart, and +the whole apparatus fell in a second with a frightful crash. A cloud +of dust arose, while a cry of horror from a thousand voices filled +the air. Nearly all fled; only a few dashed toward the trench. Maria +Clara and Padre Salvi remained in their places, pale, motionless, +and speechless. + +When the dust had cleared away a little, they saw Ibarra standing among +beams, posts, and cables, between the windlass and the heavy stone, +which in its rapid descent had shaken and crushed everything. The youth +still held the trowel in his hand and was staring with frightened +eyes at the body of a man which lay at his feet half-buried among +the timbers. + +"You're not killed! You're still alive! For God's sake, speak!" cried +several employees, full of terror and solicitude. + +"A miracle! A miracle!" shouted some. + +"Come and extricate the body of this poor devil!" exclaimed Ibarra +like one arousing himself from sleep. + +On hearing his voice Maria Clara felt her strength leave her and fell +half-fainting into the arms of her friends. + +Great confusion prevailed. All were talking, gesticulating, running +about, descending into the trench, coming up again, all amazed and +terrified. + +"Who is the dead man? Is he still alive?" asked the alferez. + +The corpse was identified as that of the yellowish individual who +had been operating the windlass. + +"Arrest the foreman on the work!" was the first thing that the alcalde +was able to say. + +They examined the corpse, placing their hands on the chest, but the +heart had ceased to beat. The blow had struck him on the head, and +blood was flowing from his nose, mouth, and ears. On his neck were +to be noticed some peculiar marks, four deep depressions toward the +back and one more somewhat larger on the other side, which induced +the belief that a hand of steel had caught him as in a pair of pincers. + +The priests felicitated the youth warmly and shook his hand. The +Franciscan of humble aspect who had served as holy ghost for Padre +Damaso exclaimed with tearful eyes, "God is just, God is good!" + +"When I think that a few moments before I was down there!" said one +of the employees to Ibarra. "What if I had happened to be the last!" + +"It makes my hair stand on end!" remarked another partly bald +individual. + +"I'm glad that it happened to you and not to me," murmured an old +man tremblingly. + +"Don Pascual!" exclaimed some of the Spaniards. + +"I say that because the young man is not dead. If I had not been +crushed, I should have died afterwards merely from thinking about it." + +But Ibarra was already at a distance informing himself as to Maria +Clara's condition. + +"Don't let this stop the fiesta, Senor Ibarra," said the +alcalde. "Praise God, the dead man is neither a priest nor a +Spaniard! We must rejoice over your escape! Think if the stone had +caught you!" + +"There are presentiments, there are presentiments!" exclaimed +the escribano. "I've said so before! Senor Ibarra didn't go down +willingly. I saw it!" + +"The dead man is only an Indian!" + +"Let the fiesta go on! Music! Sadness will never resuscitate the dead!" + +"An investigation shall be made right here!" + +"Send for the directorcillo!" + +"Arrest the foreman on the work! To the stocks with him!" + +"To the stocks! Music! To the stocks with the foreman!" + +"Senor Alcalde," said Ibarra gravely, "if mourning will not resuscitate +the dead, much less will arresting this man about whose guilt we know +nothing. I will be security for his person and so I ask his liberty +for these days at least." + +"Very well! But don't let him do it again!" + +All kinds of rumors began to circulate. The idea of a miracle was soon +an accepted fact, although Fray Salvi seemed to rejoice but little over +a miracle attributed to a saint of his Order and in his parish. There +were not lacking those who added that they had seen descending into +the trench, when everything was tumbling down, a figure in a dark robe +like that of the Franciscans. There was no doubt about it; it was San +Diego himself! It was also noted that Ibarra had attended mass and +that the yellowish individual had not--it was all as clear as the sun! + +"You see! You didn't want to go to mass!" said a mother to her son. "If +I hadn't whipped you to make you go you would now be on your way to +the town hall, like him, in a cart!" + +The yellowish individual, or rather his corpse, wrapped up in a mat, +was in fact being carried to the town hall. Ibarra hurried home to +change his clothes. + +"A bad beginning, huh!" commented old Tasio, as he moved away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +Free Thought + + +Ibarra was just putting the finishing touches to a change of +clothing when a servant informed him that a countryman was asking +for him. Supposing it to be one of his laborers, he ordered that he +be brought into his office, or study, which was at the same time a +library and a chemical laboratory. Greatly to his surprise he found +himself face to face with the severe and mysterious figure of Elias. + +"You saved my life," said the pilot in Tagalog, noticing Ibarra's +start of surprise. "I have partly paid the debt and you have nothing to +thank me for, but quite the opposite. I've come to ask a favor of you." + +"Speak!" answered the youth in the same language, puzzled by the +pilot's gravity. + +Elias stared into Ibarra's eyes for some seconds before he replied, +"When human courts try to clear up this mystery, I beg of you not to +speak to any one of the warning that I gave you in the church." + +"Don't worry," answered the youth in a rather disgusted tone. "I know +that you're wanted, but I'm no informer." + +"Oh, it's not on my account, not on my account!" exclaimed Elias with +some vigor and haughtiness. "It's on your own account. I fear nothing +from men." + +Ibarra's surprise increased. The tone in which this rustics--formerly +a pilot--spoke was new and did not seem to harmonize with either his +condition or his fortune. "What do you mean?" he asked, interrogating +that mysterious individual with his looks. + +"I do not talk in enigmas but try to express myself clearly; for your +greater security, it is better that your enemies think you unsuspecting +and unprepared." + +Ibarra recoiled. "My enemies? Have I enemies?" + +"All of us have them, sir, from the smallest insect up to man, from +the poorest and humblest to the richest and most powerful! Enmity is +the law of life!" + +Ibarra gazed at him in silence for a while, then murmured, "You are +neither a pilot nor a rustic!" + +"You have enemies in high and low places," continued Elias, without +heeding the young man's words. "You are planning a great undertaking, +you have a past. Your father and your grandfather had enemies because +they had passions, and in life it is not the criminal who provokes +the most hate but the honest man." + +"Do you know who my enemies are?" + +Elias meditated for a moment. "I knew one--him who is dead," he +finally answered. "Last night I learned that a plot against you was +being hatched, from some words exchanged with an unknown person who +lost himself in the crowd. 'The fish will not eat him, as they did his +father; you'll see tomorrow,' the unknown said. These words caught my +attention not only by their meaning but also on account of the person +who uttered them, for he had some days before presented himself to +the foreman on the work with the express request that he be allowed +to superintend the placing of the stone. He didn't ask for much pay +but made a show of great knowledge. I hadn't sufficient reason for +believing in his bad intentions, but something within told me that my +conjectures were true and therefore I chose as the suitable occasion +to warn you a moment when you could not ask me any questions. The +rest you have seen for yourself." + +For a long time after Elias had become silent Ibarra remained +thoughtful, not answering him or saying a word. "I'm sorry that that +man is dead!" he exclaimed at length. "From him something more might +have been learned." + +"If he had lived, he would have escaped from the trembling hand of +blind human justice. God has judged him, God has killed him, let God +be the only Judge!" + +Crisostomo gazed for a moment at the man, who, while he spoke thus, +exposed his muscular arms covered with lumps and bruises. "Do you +also believe in the miracle?" he asked with a smile. "You know what +a miracle the people are talking about." + +"Were I to believe in miracles, I should not believe in God. I +should believe in a deified man, I should believe that man had really +created a god in his own image and likeness," the mysterious pilot +answered solemnly. "But I believe in Him, I have felt His hand more +than once. When the whole apparatus was falling down and threatening +destruction to all who happened to be near it, I, I myself, caught +the criminal, I placed myself at his side. He was struck and I am +safe and sound." + +"You! So it was you--" + +"Yes! I caught him when he tried to escape, once his deadly work had +begun. I saw his crime, and I say this to you: let God be the sole +judge among men, let Him be the only one to have the right over life, +let no man ever think to take His place!" + +"But you in this instance--" + +"No!" interrupted Elias, guessing the objection. "It's not the +same. When a man condemns others to death or destroys their +future forever he does it with impunity and uses the strength of +others to execute his judgments, which after all may be mistaken or +erroneous. But I, in exposing the criminal to the same peril that he +had prepared for others, incurred the same risk as he did. I did not +kill him, but let the hand of God smite him." + +"Then you don't believe in accidents?" + +"Believing in accidents is like believing in miracles; both presuppose +that God does not know the future. What is an accident? An event +that no one has at all foreseen. What is a miracle? A contradiction, +an overturning of natural laws. Lack of foresight and contradiction +in the Intelligence that rules the machinery of the world indicate +two great defects." + +"Who are you?" Ibarra again asked with some awe. + +"Have you ever studied?" + +"I have had to believe greatly in God, because I have lost faith in +men," answered the pilot, avoiding the question. + +Ibarra thought he understood this hunted youth; he rejected human +justice, he refused to recognize the right of man to judge his +fellows, he protested against force and the superiority of some +classes over others. + +"But nevertheless you must admit the necessity of human justice, +however imperfect it may be," he answered. "God, in spite of the +many ministers He may have on earth, cannot, or rather does not, +pronounce His judgments clearly to settle the million conflicts +that our passions excite. It is proper, it is necessary, it is just, +that man sometimes judge his fellows." + +"Yes, to do good, but not to do ill, to correct and to better, but +not to destroy, for if his judgments are wrong he hasn't the power to +remedy the evil he has done. But," he added with a change of tone, +"this discussion is beyond my powers and I'm detaining you, who are +being waited for. Don't forget what I've just told you--you have +enemies. Take care of yourself for the good of our country." Saying +this, he turned to go. + +"When shall I see you again?" asked Ibarra. + +"Whenever you wish and always when I can be of service to you. I am +still your debtor." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +The Dinner + + +There in the decorated kiosk the great men of the province were +dining. The alcalde occupied one end of the table and Ibarra the +other. At the young man's right sat Maria Clara and at his left +the escribano. Capitan Tiago, the alferez, the gobernadorcillo, the +friars, the employees, and the few young ladies who had remained sat, +not according to rank, but according to their inclinations. The meal +was quite animated and happy. + +When the dinner was half over, a messenger came in search of Capitan +Tiago with a telegram, to open which he naturally requested the +permission of the others, who very naturally begged him to do so. The +worthy capitan at first knitted his eyebrows, then raised them; +his face became pale, then lighted up as he hastily folded the paper +and arose. + +"Gentlemen," he announced in confusion, "his Excellency the +Captain-General is coming this evening to honor my house." Thereupon he +set off at a run, hatless, taking with him the message and his napkin. + +He was followed by exclamations and questions, for a cry of +"Tulisanes!" would not have produced greater effect. "But, +listen!" "When is he coming?" "Tell us about it!" "His Excellency!" But +Capitan Tiago was already far away. + +"His Excellency is coming and will stay at Capitan Tiago's!" exclaimed +some without taking into consideration the fact that his daughter +and future son-in-law were present. + +"The choice couldn't be better," answered the latter. + +The friars gazed at one another with looks that seemed to say: "The +Captain-General is playing another one of his tricks, he is slighting +us, for he ought to stay at the convento," but since this was the +thought of all they remained silent, none of them giving expression +to it. + +"I was told of this yesterday," said the alcalde, "but at that time +his Excellency had not yet fully decided." + +"Do you know, Senor Alcalde, how long the Captain-General thinks of +staying here?" asked the alferez uneasily. + +"With certainty, no. His Excellency likes to give surprises." + +"Here come some more messages." These were for the alcalde, +the alferez, and the gobernadorcillo, and contained the same +announcement. The friars noted well that none came directed to +the curate. + +"His Excellency will arrive at four this afternoon, +gentlemen!" announced the alcalde solemnly. "So we can finish our meal +in peace." Leonidas at Thermopylae could not have said more cheerfully, +"Tonight we shall sup with Pluto!" + +The conversation again resumed its ordinary course. + +"I note the absence of our great preacher," timidly remarked an +employee of inoffensive aspect who had not opened his mouth up to +the time of eating, and who spoke now for the first time in the +whole morning. + +All who knew the history of Crisostomo's father made a movement and +winked, as if to say, "Get out! Fools rush in--" But some one more +charitably disposed answered, "He must be rather tired." + +"Rather?" exclaimed the alferez. "He must be exhausted, and as they +say here, all fagged out. What a sermon it was!" + +"A splendid sermon--wonderful!" said the escribano. + +"Magnificent--profound!" added the correspondent. + +"To be able to talk so much, it's necessary to have the lungs that he +has," observed Padre Manuel Martin. The Augustinian did not concede +him anything more than lungs. + +"And his fertility of expression!" added Padre Salvi. + +"Do you know that Senor Ibarra has the best cook in the +province?" remarked the alcalde, to cut short such talk. + +"You may well say that, but his beautiful neighbor doesn't wish to +honor the table, for she is scarcely eating a bite," observed one of +the employees. + +Maria Clara blushed. "I thank the gentleman, he troubles himself too +much on my account," she stammered timidly, "but--" + +"But you honor it enough merely by being present," concluded the +gallant alcalde as he turned to Padre Salvi. + +"Padre," he said in a loud voice, "I've observed that during the +whole day your Reverence has been silent and thoughtful." + +"The alcalde is a great observer," remarked Fray Sibyla in a meaning +tone. + +"It's a habit of mine," stammered the Franciscan. "It pleases me more +to listen than to talk." + +"Your Reverence always takes care to win and not to lose," said the +alferez in a jesting tone. + +Padre Salvi, however, did not take this as a joke, for his gaze +brightened a moment as he replied, "The alferez knows very well these +days that I'm not the one who is winning or losing most." + +The alferez turned the hit aside with a forced laugh, pretending not +to take it to himself. + +"But, gentlemen, I don't understand how it is possible to talk +of winnings and losses," interposed the alcalde. "What will these +amiable and discreet young ladies who honor us with their company +think of us? For me the young women are like the AEolian harps in the +middle of the night--it is necessary to listen with close attention +in order that their ineffable harmonies may elevate the soul to the +celestial spheres of the infinite and the ideal!" + +"Your Honor is becoming poetical!" exclaimed the escribano gleefully, +and both emptied their wine-glasses. + +"I can't help it," said the alcalde as he wiped his lips. "Opportunity, +while it doesn't always make the thief, makes the poet. In my youth +I composed verses which were really not bad." + +"So your Excellency has been unfaithful to the Muses to follow Themis," +emphatically declared our mythical or mythological correspondent. + +"Pshaw, what would you have? To run through the entire social scale +was always my dream. Yesterday I was gathering flowers and singing +songs, today I wield the rod of justice and serve Humanity, tomorrow--" + +"Tomorrow your Honor will throw the rod into the fire to warm yourself +by it in the winter of life, and take an appointment in the cabinet," +added Padre Sibyla. + +"Pshaw! Yes--no--to be a cabinet official isn't exactly my beau-ideal: +any upstart may become one. A villa in the North in which to spend the +summer, a mansion in Madrid, and some property in Andalusia for the +winter--there we shall live remembering our beloved Philippines. Of +me Voltaire would not say, 'We have lived among these people only to +enrich ourselves and to calumniate them.'" + +The alcalde quoted this in French, so the employees, thinking that +his Honor had cracked a joke, began to laugh in appreciation of +it. Some of the friars did likewise, since they did not know that +the Voltaire mentioned was the same Voltaire whom they had so often +cursed and consigned to hell. But Padre Sibyla was aware of it and +became serious from the belief that the alcalde had said something +heretical or impious. + +In the other kiosk the children were eating under the direction of +their teacher. For Filipino children they were rather noisy, since +at the table and in the presence of other persons their sins are +generally more of omission than of commission. Perhaps one who was +using the tableware improperly would be corrected by his neighbor +and from this there would arise a noisy discussion in which each +would have his partisans. Some would say the spoon, others the knife +or the fork, and as no one was considered an authority there would +arise the contention that God is Christ or, more clearly, a dispute +of theologians. Their fathers and mothers winked, made signs, nudged +one another, and showed their happiness by their smiles. + +"Ya!" exclaimed a countrywoman to an old man who was mashing buyo in +his _kalikut_, "in spite of the fact that my husband is opposed to it, +my Andoy shall be a priest. It's true that we're poor, but we'll work, +and if necessary we'll beg alms. There are not lacking those who will +give money so that the poor may take holy orders. Does not Brother +Mateo, a man who does not lie, say that Pope Sextus was a herder of +carabaos in Batangas? Well then, look at my Andoy, see if he hasn't +already the face of a St. Vincent!" The good mother watered at the +mouth to see her son take hold of a fork with both hands. + +"God help us!" added the old man, rolling his quid of buyo. "If +Andoy gets to be Pope we'll go to Rome he, he! I can still walk well, +and if I die--he, he!" + +"Don't worry, granddad! Andoy won't forget that you taught him how +to weave baskets." + +"You're right, Petra. I also believe that your son will be great, at +least a patriarch. I have never seen any one who learned the business +in a shorter time. Yes, he'll remember me when as Pope or bishop he +entertains himself in making baskets for his cook. He'll then say +masses for my soul--he, he!" With this hope the good old man again +filled his _kalikut_ with buyo. + +"If God hears my prayers and my hopes are fulfilled, I'll say to Andoy, +'Son, take away all our sins and send us to Heaven!' Then we shan't +need to pray and fast and buy indulgences. One whose son is a blessed +Pope can commit sins!" + +"Send him to my house tomorrow, Petra," cried the old man +enthusiastically, "and I'll teach him to weave the _nito!_" + +"Huh! Get out! What are you dreaming about, grand-dad? Do you still +think that the Popes even move their hands? The curate, being nothing +more than a curate, only works in the mass--when he turns around! The +Archbishop doesn't even turn around, for he says mass sitting down. So +the Pope--the Pope says it in bed with a fan! What are you thinking +about?" + +"Of nothing more, Petra, than that he know how to weave the _nito_. It +would be well for him to be able to sell hats and cigar-cases so that +he wouldn't have to beg alms, as the curate does here every year in +the name of the Pope. It always fills me with compassion to see a +saint poor, so I give all my savings." + +Another countryman here joined in the conversation, saying, "It's all +settled, cumare, [95] my son has got to be a doctor, there's nothing +like being a doctor!" + +"Doctor! What are you talking about, cumpare?" retorted Petra. "There's +nothing like being a curate!" + +"A curate, pish! A curate? The doctor makes lots of money, the sick +people worship him, cumare!" + +"Excuse me! The curate, by making three or four turns and saying +_deminos pabiscum_, [96] eats God and makes money. All, even the women, +tell him their secrets." + +"And the doctor? What do you think a doctor is? The doctor sees all +that the women have, he feels the pulses of the _dalagas!_ I'd just +like to be a doctor for a week!" + +"And the curate, perhaps the curate doesn't see what your doctor +sees? Better still, you know the saying, 'the fattest chicken and +the roundest leg for the curate!'" + +"What of that? Do the doctors eat dried fish? Do they soil their +fingers eating salt?" + +"Does the curate dirty his hands as your doctors do? He has great +estates and when he works he works with music and has sacristans to +help him." + +"But the confessing, cumare? Isn't that work?" + +"No work about that! I'd just like to be confessing everybody! While +we work and sweat to find out what our own neighbors are doing, +the curate does nothing more than take a seat and they tell him +everything. Sometimes he falls asleep, but he lets out two or three +blessings and we are again the children of God! I'd just like to be +a curate for one evening in Lent!" + +"But the preaching? You can't tell me that it's not work. Just look +how the fat curate was sweating this morning," objected the rustic, +who felt himself being beaten into retreat. + +"Preaching! Work to preach! Where's your judgment? I'd just like to +be talking half a day from the pulpit, scolding and quarreling with +everybody, without any one daring to reply, and be getting paid for +it besides. I'd just like to be the curate for one morning when those +who are in debt to me are attending mass! Look there now, how Padre +Damaso gets fat with so much scolding and beating." + +Padre Damaso was, indeed, approaching with the gait of a heavy +man. He was half smiling, but in such a malignant way that Ibarra, +upon seeing him, lost the thread of his talk. The padre was greeted +with some surprise but with signs of pleasure on the part of all +except Ibarra. They were then at the dessert and the champagne was +foaming in the glasses. + +Padre Damaso's smile became nervous when he saw Maria Clara seated +at Crisostomo's right. He took a seat beside the alcalde and said in +the midst of a significant silence, "Were you discussing something, +gentlemen? Go ahead!" + +"We were at the toasts," answered the alcalde. "Senor Ibarra was +mentioning all who have helped him in his philanthropic enterprise +and was speaking of the architect when your Reverence--" + +"Well, I don't know anything about architecture," interrupted Padre +Damaso, "but I laugh at architects and the fools who employ them. Here +you have it--I drew the plan of this church and it's perfectly +constructed, so an English jeweler who stopped in the convento one +day assured me. To draw a plan one needs only to have two fingers' +breadth of forehead." + +"Nevertheless," answered the alcalde, seeing that Ibarra was silent, +"when we consider certain buildings, as, for example, this schoolhouse, +we need an expert." + +"Get out with your experts!" exclaimed the priest with a sneer. "Only +a fool needs experts! One must be more of a brute than the Indians, +who build their own houses, not to know how to construct four walls +and put a roof on top of them. That's all a schoolhouse is!" + +The guests gazed at Ibarra, who had turned pale, but he continued as +if in conversation with Maria Clara. + +"But your Reverence should consider--" + +"See now," went on the Franciscan, not allowing the alcalde to +continue, "look how one of our lay brothers, the most stupid that we +have, has constructed a hospital, good, pretty, and cheap. He made +them work hard and paid only eight cuartos a day even to those who +had to come from other towns. He knew how to handle them, not like +a lot of cranks and little mestizos who are spoiling them by paying +three or four reals." + +"Does your Reverence say that he paid only eight +cuartos? Impossible!" The alcalde was trying to change the course of +the conversation. + +"Yes, sir, and those who pride themselves on being good Spaniards +ought to imitate him. You see now, since the Suez Canal was opened, +the corruption that has come in here. Formerly, when we had to double +the Cape, neither so many vagabonds came here nor so many others went +from here to become vagabonds." + +"But, Padre Damaso--" + +"You know well enough what the Indian is--just as soon as he gets +a little learning he sets himself up as a doctor! All these little +fellows that go to Europe--" + +"But, listen, your Reverence!" interrupted the alcalde, who was +becoming nervous over the aggressiveness of such talk. + +"Every one ends up as he deserves," the friar continued. "The hand +of God is manifest in the midst of it all, and one must be blind +not to see it. Even in this life the fathers of such vipers receive +their punishment, they die in jail ha, ha! As we might say, they +have nowhere--" + +But he did not finish the sentence. Ibarra, livid, had been following +him with his gaze and upon hearing this allusion to his father jumped +up and dropped a heavy hand on the priest's head, so that he fell back +stunned. The company was so filled with surprise and fright that no +one made any movement to interfere. + +"Keep off!" cried the youth in a terrible voice, as he caught up a +sharp knife and placed his foot on the neck of the friar, who was +recovering from the shock of his fall. "Let him who values his life +keep away!" + +The youth was beside himself. His whole body trembled and his eyes +rolled threateningly in their sockets. Fray Damaso arose with an +effort, but the youth caught him by the neck and shook him until he +again fell doubled over on his knees. + +"Senor Ibarra! Senor Ibarra!" stammered some. But no one, not even +the alferez himself, dared to approach the gleaming knife, when they +considered the youth's strength and the condition of his mind. All +seemed to be paralyzed. + +"You, here! You have been silent, now it is my turn! I have tried to +avoid this, but God brings me to it--let God be the judge!" The youth +was breathing laboriously, but with a hand of iron he held down the +Franciscan, who was struggling vainly to free himself. + +"My heart beats tranquilly, my hand is sure," he began, looking +around him. "First, is there one among you, one who has not loved his +father, who was born in such shame and humiliation that he hates his +memory? You see? You understand this silence? Priest of a God of peace, +with your mouth full of sanctity and religion and your heart full of +evil, you cannot know what a father is, or you might have thought of +your own! In all this crowd which you despise there is not one like +you! You are condemned!" + +The persons surrounding him, thinking that he was about to commit +murder, made a movement. + +"Away!" he cried again in a threatening voice. "What, do you fear that +I shall stain my hands with impure blood? Have I not told you that +my heart beats tranquilly? Away from us! Listen, priests and judges, +you who think yourselves other men and attribute to yourselves other +rights: my father was an honorable man,--ask these people here, who +venerate his memory. My father was a good citizen and he sacrificed +himself for me and for the good of his country. His house was open +and his table was set for the stranger and the outcast who came to +him in distress! He was a Christian who always did good and who never +oppressed the unprotected or afflicted those in trouble. To this man +here he opened his doors, he made him sit at his table and called +him his friend. And how has this man repaid him? He calumniated him, +persecuted him, raised up against him all the ignorant by availing +himself of the sanctity of his position; he outraged his tomb, +dishonored his memory, and persecuted him even in the sleep of +death! Not satisfied with this, he persecutes the son now! I have +fled from him, I have avoided his presence. You this morning heard +him profane the pulpit, pointing me out to popular fanaticism, and I +held my peace! Now he comes here to seek a quarrel with me. To your +surprise, I have suffered in silence, but he again insults the most +sacred memory that there is for a son. You who are here, priests and +judges, have you seen your aged father wear himself out working for +you, separating himself from you for your welfare, have you seen him +die of sorrow in a prison sighing for your embrace, seeking some one +to comfort him, alone, sick, when you were in a foreign land? Have you +afterwards heard his name dishonored, have you found his tomb empty +when you went to pray beside it? No? You are silent, you condemn him!" + +He raised his hand, but with the swiftness of light a girlish form +put itself between them and delicate fingers restrained the avenging +arm. It was Maria Clara. Ibarra stared at her with a look that seemed +to reflect madness. Slowly his clenched fingers relaxed, letting +fall the body of the Franciscan and the knife. Covering his face, +he fled through the crowd. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +Comments + + +News of the incident soon spread throughout the town. At first all +were incredulous, but, having to yield to the fact, they broke out +into exclamations of surprise. Each one, according to his moral lights, +made his comments. + +"Padre Damaso is dead," said some. "When they picked him up his face +was covered with blood and he wasn't breathing." + +"May he rest in peace! But he hasn't any more than settled his +debts!" exclaimed a young man. "Look what he did this morning in the +convento--there isn't any name for it." + +"What did he do? Did he beat up the coadjutor again?" + +"What did he do? Tell us about it!" + +"You saw that Spanish mestizo go out through the sacristy in the +midst of the sermon?" + +"Yes, we saw him. Padre Damaso took note of him." + +"Well, after the sermon he sent for the young man and asked him why he +had gone out. 'I don't understand Tagalog, Padre,' was the reply. 'And +why did you joke about it, saying that it was Greek?' yelled Padre +Damaso, slapping the young man in the face. The latter retorted and +the two came to blows until they were separated." + +"If that had happened to me--" hissed a student between his teeth. + +"I don't approve of the action of the Franciscan," said another, +"since Religion ought not to be imposed on any one as a punishment +or a penance. But I am almost glad of it, for I know that young man, +I know that he's from San Pedro Makati and that he talks Tagalog +well. Now he wants to be taken for a recent arrival from Russia and +prides himself on appearing not to know the language of his fathers." + +"Then God makes them and they rush together!" [97] + +"Still we must protest against such actions," exclaimed another +student. "To remain silent would be to assent to the abuse, and what +has happened may be repeated with any one of us. We're going back to +the times of Nero!" + +"You're wrong," replied another. "Nero was a great artist, while +Padre Damaso is only a tiresome preacher." + +The comments of the older persons were of a different kind. While +they were waiting for the arrival of the Captain-General in a hut +outside the town, the gobernadorcillo was saying, "To tell who was +right and who was wrong, is not an easy matter. Yet if Senor Ibarra +had used more prudence--" + +"If Padre Damaso had used half the prudence of Senor Ibarra, you mean +to say, perhaps!" interrupted Don Filipo. "The bad thing about it is +that they exchanged parts--the youth conducted himself like an old +man and the old man like a youth." + +"Did you say that no one moved, no one went near to separate them, +except Capitan Tiago's daughter?" asked Capitan Martin. "None of the +friars, nor the alcalde? Ahem! Worse and worse! I shouldn't like to +be in that young man's skin. No one will forgive him for having been +afraid of him. Worse and worse, ahem!" + +"Do you think so?" asked Capitan Basilio curiously. + +"I hope," said Don Filipo, exchanging a look with the latter, "that +the people won't desert him. We must keep in mind what his family +has done and what he is trying to do now. And if, as may happen, +the people, being intimidated, are silent, his friends--" + +"But, gentlemen," interrupted the gobernadorcillo, "what can we +do? What can the people do? Happen what will, the friars are always +right!" + +"They are _always_ right because we _always_ allow them to be," +answered Don Filipo impatiently, putting double stress on the +italicized word. "Let us be right once and then we'll talk." + +The gobernadorcillo scratched his head and stared at the roof while he +replied in a sour tone, "Ay! the heat of the blood! You don't seem to +realize yet what country we're in, you don't know your countrymen. The +friars are rich and united, while we are divided and poor. Yes, try +to defend yourself and you'll see how the people will leave you in +the lurch." + +"Yes!" exclaimed Don Filipo bitterly. "That will happen as long as +you think that way, as long as fear and prudence are synonyms. More +attention is paid to a possible evil than to a necessary good. At +once fear, and not confidence, presents itself; each one thinks only +of himself, no one thinks of the rest, and therefore we are all weak!" + +"Well then, think of others before yourself and you'll see how they'll +leave you in the lurch. Don't you know the proverb, 'Charity begins +at home'?" + +"You had better say," replied the exasperated teniente-mayor, "that +cowardice begins in selfishness and ends in shame! This very day I'm +going to hand in my resignation to the alcalde. I'm tired of passing +for a joke without being useful to anybody. Good-by!" + +The women had opinions of still another kind. + +"Ay_!_" sighed one woman of kindly expression. "The young men are +always so! If his good mother were alive, what would she say? When I +think that the like may happen to my son, who has a violent temper, +I almost envy his dead mother. I should die of grief!" + +"Well, I shouldn't," replied another. "It wouldn't cause me any shame +if such a thing should happen to my two sons." + + "What are you saying, Capitana Maria!" exclaimed the first, clasping + her hands. + +"It pleases me to see a son defend the memory of his parents, Capitana +Tinay. What would you say if some day when you were a widow you heard +your husband spoken ill of and your son Antonio should hang his head +and remain silent?" + +"I would deny him my blessing!" exclaimed a third, Sister Rufa, "but--" + +"Deny him my blessing, never!" interrupted the kind Capitana Tinay. "A +mother ought not to say that! But I don't know what I should do--I +don't know--I believe I'd die--but I shouldn't want to see him +again. But what do you think about it, Capitana Maria?" + +"After all," added Sister Rufa, "it must not be forgotten that it's +a great sin to place your hand on a sacred person." + +"A father's memory is more sacred!" replied Capitana Maria. "No one, +not even the Pope himself, much less Padre Damaso, may profane such +a holy memory." + +"That's true!" murmured Capitana Tinay, admiring the wisdom of +both. "Where did you get such good ideas?" + +"But the excommunication and the condemnation?" exclaimed Sister +Rufa. "What are honor and a good name in this life if in the other we +are damned? Everything passes away quickly--but the excommunication--to +outrage a minister of Christ! No one less than the Pope can pardon +that!" + +"God, who commands honor for father and mother, will pardon it, +God will not excommunicate him! And I tell you that if that young +man comes to my house I will receive him and talk with him, and if +I had a daughter I would want him for a son-in-law; he who is a good +son will be a good husband and a good father--believe it, Sister Rufa!" + +"Well, I don't think so. Say what you like, and even though you may +appear to be right, I'll always rather believe the curate. Before +everything else, I'll save my soul. What do you say, Capitana Tinny?" + +"Oh, what do you want me to say? You're both right the curate is +right, but God must also be right. I don't know, I'm only a foolish +woman. What I'm going to do is to tell my son not to study any more, +for they say that persons who know anything die on the gallows. _Maria +Santisima_, my son wants to go to Europe!" + +"What are you thinking of doing?" + +"Tell him to stay with me--why should he know more? Tomorrow or the +next day we shall die, the learned and the ignorant alike must die, +and the only question is to live in peace." The good old woman sighed +and raised her eyes toward the sky. + +"For my part," said Capitana Maria gravely, "if I were rich like +you I would let my sons travel; they are young and will some day be +men. I have only a little while to live, we should see one another in +the other life, so sons should aspire to be more than their fathers, +but at our sides we only teach them to be children." + +"Ay, what rare thoughts you have!" exclaimed the astonished Capitana +Tinay, clasping her hands. "It must be that you didn't suffer in +bearing your twin boys." + +"For the very reason that I did bear them with suffering, that I have +nurtured and reared them in spite of our poverty, I do not wish that, +after the trouble they're cost me, they be only half-men." + +"It seems to me that you don't love your children as God commands," +said Sister Rufa in a rather severe tone. + +"Pardon me, every mother loves her sons in her own way. One mother +loves them for her own sake and another loves them for their sake. I +am one of the latter, for my husband has so taught me." + +"All your ideas, Capitana Maria," said Sister Rufa, as if preaching, +"are but little religious. Become a sister of the Holy Rosary or of +St. Francis or of St. Rita or of St. Clara." + +"Sister Rufa, when I am a worthy sister of men then I'll try to be +a sister of the saints," she answered with a smile. + +To put an end to this chapter of comments and that the reader +may learn in passing what the simple country folk thought of the +incident, we will now go to the plaza, where under the large awning +some rustics are conversing, one of them--he who dreamed about doctors +of medicine--being an acquaintance of ours. + +"What I regret most," said he, "is that the schoolhouse won't be +finished." + +"What's that?" asked the bystanders with interest. + +"My son won't be a doctor but a carter, nothing more! Now there won't +be any school!" + +"Who says there won't be any school?" asked a rough and robust +countryman with wide cheeks and a narrow head. + +"I do! The white padres have called Don Crisostomo _plibastiero_. [98] +Now there won't be any school." + +All stood looking questioningly at each other; that was a new term +to them. + +"And is that a bad name?" the rough countryman made bold to ask. + +"The worst thing that one Christian can say to another!" + +"Worse than _tarantado_ and _sarayate?"_ [99] + +"If it were only that! I've been called those names several times +and they didn't even give me a bellyache." + +"Well, it can't be worse than '_indio,_' as the alferez says." + +The man who was to have a carter for a son became gloomier, while +the other scratched his head in thought. + +"Then it must be like the _betelapora_ [100] that the alferez's old +woman says. Worse than that is to spit on the Host." + +"Well, it's worse than to spit on the Host on Good Friday," was the +grave reply. "You remember the word _ispichoso_ [101] which when +applied to a man is enough to have the civil-guards take him into +exile or put him in jail well, _plibustiero_ is much worse. According +to what the telegrapher and the directorcillo said, _plibustiero_, +said by a Christian, a curate, or a Spaniard to another Christian like +us is a _santusdeus with requimiternam_, [102] for if they ever call +you a _plibustiero_ then you'd better get yourself shriven and pay +your debts, since nothing remains for you but to be hanged. You know +whether the telegrapher and the directorcillo ought to be informed; +one talks with wires and the other knows Spanish and works only with +a pen." All were appalled. + +"May they force me to wear shoes and in all my life to drink nothing +but that vile stuff they call beer, if I ever let myself be called +_pelbistero!_" swore the countryman, clenching his fists. "What, +rich as Don Crisostomo is, knowing Spanish as he does, and able to +eat fast with a knife and spoon, I'd laugh at five curates!" + +"The next civil-guard I catch stealing my chickens I'm going to call +_palabistiero_, then I'll go to confession at once," murmured one of +the rustics in a low voice as he withdrew from the group. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +The First Cloud + + +In Capitan Tiago's house reigned no less disorder than in the people's +imagination. Maria Clara did nothing but weep and would not listen to +the consoling words of her aunt and of Andeng, her foster-sister. Her +father had forbidden her to speak to Ibarra until the priests should +absolve him from the excommunication. Capitan Tiago himself, in the +midst of his preparations for receiving the Captain-General properly, +had been summoned to the convento. + +"Don't cry, daughter," said Aunt Isabel, as she polished the bright +plates of the mirrors with a piece of chamois. "They'll withdraw the +excommunication, they'll write now to the Pope, and we'll make a big +poor-offering. Padre Damaso only fainted, he's not dead." + +"Don't cry," whispered Andeng. "I'll manage it so that you may talk +with him. What are confessionals for if not that we may sin? Everything +is forgiven by telling it to the curate." + +At length Capitan Tiago returned. They sought in his face the answer +to many questions, and it announced discouragement. The poor fellow +was perspiring; he rubbed his hand across his forehead, but was unable +to say a single word. + +"What has happened, Santiago?" asked Aunt Isabel anxiously. + +He answered by sighing and wiping away a tear. + +"For God's sake, speak! What has happened?" + +"Just what I feared," he broke out at last, half in tears. "All is +lost! Padre Damaso has ordered me to break the engagement, otherwise +he will damn me in this life and in the next. All of them told me +the same, even Padre Sibyla. I must close the doors of my house +against him, and I owe him over fifty thousand pesos! I told the +padres this, but they refused to take any notice of it. 'Which do +you prefer to lose,' they asked me, 'fifty thousand pesos or your +life and your soul?' Ay, St. Anthony, if I had only known, if I had +only known! Don't cry, daughter," he went on, turning to the sobbing +girl. "You're not like your mother, who never cried except just before +you were born. Padre Damaso told me that a relative of his has just +arrived from Spain and you are to marry him." + +Maria Clara covered her ears, while Aunt Isabel screamed, "Santiago, +are you crazy? To talk to her of another sweetheart now! Do you think +that your daughter changes sweethearts as she does her camisa?" + +"That's just the way I felt, Isabel. Don Crisostomo is rich, while +the Spaniards marry only for love of money. But what do you want me +to do? They've threatened me with another excommunication. They say +that not only my soul but also my body is in great danger--my body, +do you hear, my body!" + +"But you're only making your daughter more disconsolate! Isn't the +Archbishop your friend? Why don't you write to him?" + +"The Archbishop is also a friar, the Archbishop does only what the +friars tell him to do. But, Maria, don't cry. The Captain-General +is coming, he'll want to see you, and your eyes are all red. Ay, +I was thinking to spend a happy evening! Without this misfortune +I should be the happiest of men--every one would envy me! Be calm, +my child, I'm more unfortunate than you and I'm not crying. You can +have another and better husband, while I--I've lost fifty thousand +pesos! Ay, Virgin of Antipolo, if tonight I may only have luck!" + +Salvos, the sound of carriage wheels, the galloping of horses, +and a band playing the royal march, announced the arrival of his +Excellency, the Captain-General of the Philippines. Maria Clara +ran to hide herself in her chamber. Poor child, rough hands that +knew not its delicate chords were playing with her heart! While +the house became filled with people and heavy steps, commanding +voices, and the clank of sabers and spurs resounded on all sides, +the afflicted maiden reclined half-kneeling before a picture of the +Virgin represented in that sorrowful loneliness perceived only by +Delaroche, as if he had surprised her returning from the sepulcher of +her Son. But Maria Clara was not thinking of that mother's sorrow, +she was thinking of her own. With her head hanging down over her +breast and her hands resting on the floor she made the picture of a +lily bent by the storm. A future dreamed of and cherished for years, +whose illusions, born in infancy and grown strong throughout youth, +had given form to the very fibers of her being, to be wiped away now +from her mind and heart by a single word! It was enough to stop the +beating of one and to deprive the other of reason. + +Maria Clara was a loving daughter as well as a good and pious +Christian, so it was not the excommunication alone that terrified her, +but the command and the ominous calmness of her father demanding the +sacrifice of her love. Now she felt the whole force of that affection +which until this moment she had hardly suspected. It had been like +a river gliding along peacefully with its banks carpeted by fragrant +flowers and its bed covered with fine sand, so that the wind hardly +ruffled its current as it moved along, seeming hardly to flow at all; +but suddenly its bed becomes narrower, sharp stones block the way, +hoary logs fall across it forming a barrier--then the stream rises +and roars with its waves boiling and scattering clouds of foam, +it beats against the rocks and rushes into the abyss! + +She wanted to pray, but who in despair can pray? Prayers are for the +hours of hope, and when in the absence of this we turn to God it is +only with complaints. "My God," cried her heart, "why dost Thou thus +cut a man off, why dost Thou deny him the love of others? Thou dost +not deny him thy sunlight and thy air nor hide from him the sight of +thy heaven! Why then deny him love, for without a sight of the sky, +without air or sunlight, one can live, but without love--never!" + +Would these cries unheard by men reach the throne of God or be heard +by the Mother of the distressed? The poor maiden who had never known +a mother dared to confide these sorrows of an earthly love to that +pure heart that knew only the love of daughter and of mother. In +her despair she turned to that deified image of womanhood, the most +beautiful idealization of the most ideal of all creatures, to that +poetical creation of Christianity who unites in herself the two most +beautiful phases of womanhood without its sorrows: those of virgin +and mother,--to her whom we call Mary! + +"Mother, mother!" she moaned. + +Aunt Isabel came to tear her away from her sorrow since she was being +asked for by some friends and by the Captain-General, who wished to +talk with her. + +"Aunt, tell them that I'm ill," begged the frightened girl. "They're +going to make me play on the piano and sing." + +"Your father has promised. Are you going to put your father in a +bad light?" + +Maria Clara rose, looked at her aunt, and threw back her shapely arms, +murmuring, "Oh, if I only had--" + +But without concluding the phrase she began to make herself ready +for presentation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +His Excellency + + +"I Want to talk with that young man," said his Excellency to an +aide. "He has aroused all my interest." + +"They have already gone to look for him, General. But here is a young +man from Manila who insists on being introduced. We told him that +your Excellency had no time for interviews, that you had not come +to give audiences, but to see the town and the procession, and he +answered that your Excellency always has time to dispense justice--" + +His Excellency turned to the alcalde in wonder. "If I am not mistaken," +said the latter with a slight bow, "he is the young man who this +morning had a quarrel with Padre Damaso over the sermon." + +"Still another? Has this friar set himself to stir up the whole +province or does he think that he governs here? Show the young man +in." His Excellency paced nervously from one end of the sala to +the other. + +In the hall were gathered various Spaniards mingled with soldiers +and officials of San Diego and neighboring towns, standing in groups +conversing or disputing. There were also to be seen all the friars, +with the exception of Padre Damaso, and they wanted to go in to pay +their respects to his Excellency. + +"His Excellency the Captain-General begs your Reverences to wait a +moment," said the aide. "Come in, young man!" The Manilan who had +confounded Greek with Tagalog entered the room pale and trembling. + +All were filled with surprise; surely his Excellency must be greatly +irritated to dare to make the friars wait! Padre Sibyla remarked, +"I haven't anything to say to him, I'm wasting my time here." + +"I say the same," added an Augustinian. "Shall we go?" + +"Wouldn't it be better that we find out how he stands?" asked Padre +Salvi. "We should avoid a scandal, and should be able to remind him +of his duties toward--religion." + +"Your Reverences may enter, if you so desire," said the aide as +he ushered out the youth who did not understand Greek and whose +countenance was now beaming with satisfaction. + +Fray Sibyla entered first, Padre Salvi, Padre Martin, and the other +priests following. They all made respectful bows with the exception +of Padre Sibyla, who even in bending preserved a certain air of +superiority. Padre Salvi on the other hand almost doubled himself +over the girdle. + +"Which of your Reverences is Padre Damaso?" asked the Captain-General +without any preliminary greeting, neither asking them to be seated nor +inquiring about their health nor addressing them with the flattering +speeches to which such important personages are accustomed. + +"Padre Damaso is not here among us, sir," replied Fray Sibyla in the +same dry tone as that used by his Excellency. + +"Your Excellency's servant is in bed sick," added Padre Salvi +humbly. "After having the pleasure of welcoming you and of informing +ourselves concerning your Excellency's health, as is the duty of all +good subjects of the King and of every person of culture, we have +come in the name of the respected servant of your Excellency who has +had the misfortune--" + +"Oh!" interrupted the Captain-General, twirling a chair about on one +leg and smiling nervously, "if all the servants of my Excellency were +like his Reverence, Padre Damaso, I should prefer myself to serve +my Excellency!" + +The reverend gentlemen, who were standing up physically, did so +mentally at this interruption. + +"Won't your Reverences be seated?" he added after a brief pause, +moderating his tone a little. + +Capitan Tiago here appeared in full dress, walking on tiptoe and +leading by the hand Maria Clara, who entered timidly and with +hesitation. Still she bowed gracefully and ceremoniously. + +"Is this young lady your daughter?" asked the Captain-General in +surprise. + +"And your Excellency's, General," answered Capitan Tiago +seriously. [103] + +The alcalde and the aides opened their eyes wide, but his Excellency +lost none of his gravity as he took the girl's hand and said affably, +"Happy are the fathers who have daughters like you, senorita! I have +heard you spoken of with respect and admiration and have wanted to +see you and thank you for your beautiful action of this afternoon. I +am informed of _everything_ and when I make my report to his Majesty's +government I shall not forget your noble conduct. Meanwhile, permit me +to thank you in the name of his Majesty, the King, whom I represent +here and who loves _peace and tranquillity_ in his loyal subjects, +and for myself, a father who has daughters of your age, and to propose +a reward for you." + +"Sir--" answered the trembling Maria Clara. + +His Excellency guessed what she wanted to say, and so continued: +"It is well, senorita, that you are at peace with your conscience and +content with the good opinion of your fellow-countrymen, with the +faith which is its own best reward and beyond which we should not +aspire. But you must not deprive me of an opportunity to show that +if Justice knows how to punish she also knows how to reward and that +she is not always _blind!_" The italicized words were all spoken in +a loud and significant tone. + +"Senor Don Juan Crisostomo Ibarra awaits the orders of your +Excellency!" announced the aide in a loud voice. + +Maria Clara shuddered. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the Captain-General. "Allow me, senorita, to express +my desire to see you again before leaving the town, as I still have +some very important things to say to you. Senor Alcalde, you will +accompany me during the walk which I wish to take after the conference +that I will hold alone with Senor Ibarra." + +"Your Excellency will permit us to inform you," began Padre Salvi +humbly, "that Senor Ibarra is excommunicated." + +His Excellency cut short this speech, saying, "I am happy that I have +only to regret the condition of Padre Damaso, for whom I _sincerely_ +desire a _complete_ recovery, since at his age _a voyage to Spain_ +on account of his health may not be very agreeable. But that depends +on him! Meanwhile, may God preserve the health of your Reverences!" + +"And so much depends on him," murmured Padre Salvi as they +retired. "We'll see who makes that voyage soonest!" remarked another +Franciscan. + +"I shall leave at once," declared the indignant Padre Sibyla. + +"And we shall go back to our province," said the Augustinians. Neither +the Dominican nor the Augustinians could endure the thought that they +had been so coldly received on a Franciscan's account. + +In the hall they met Ibarra, their amphitryon of a few hours before, +but no greetings were exchanged, only looks that said many things. But +when the friars had withdrawn the alcalde greeted him familiarly, +although the entrance of the aide looking for the young man left +no time for conversation. In the doorway he met Maria Clara; their +looks also said many things but quite different from what the friars' +eyes had expressed. + +Ibarra was dressed in deep mourning, but presented himself serenely +and made a profound bow, even though the visit of the friars had not +appeared to him to be a good augury. The Captain-General advanced +toward him several steps. + +"I take pleasure, Senor Ibarra, in shaking your hand. Permit me to +receive you in all confidence." His Excellency examined the youth +with marked satisfaction. + +"Sir, such kindness--" + +"Your surprise offends me, signifying as it does that you had not +expected to be well received. That is casting a doubt on my sense +of justice!" + +"A cordial reception, sir, for an insignificant subject of his Majesty +like myself is not justice but a favor." + +"Good, good," exclaimed his Excellency, seating himself and waving +Ibarra to a chair. "Let us enjoy a brief period of frankness. I am +very well satisfied with your conduct and have already recommended +you to his Majesty for a decoration on account of your philanthropic +idea of erecting a schoolhouse. If you had let me know, I would have +attended the ceremony with pleasure, and perhaps might have prevented +a disagreeable incident." + +"It seemed to me such a small matter," answered the youth, "that I +did not think it worth while troubling your Excellency with it in the +midst of your numerous cares. Besides, my duty was to apply first to +the chief authority of my province." + +His Excellency nodded with a satisfied air and went on in an even more +familiar tone: "In regard to the trouble you're had with Padre Damaso, +don't hold any fear or rancor, for they won't touch a hair of your head +while I govern the islands. As for the excommunication, I'll speak +to the Archbishop, since it is necessary for us to adjust ourselves +to circumstances. Here we can't laugh at such things in public as we +can in the Peninsula and in enlightened Europe. Nevertheless, be more +prudent in the future. You have placed yourself in opposition to the +religious orders, who must be respected on account of their influence +and their wealth. But I will protect you, for I like good sons, +I like to see them honor the memory of their fathers. I loved mine, +and, as God lives, I don't know what I would have done in your place!" + +Then, changing the subject of conversation quickly, he asked, "I'm +told that you have just returned from Europe; were you in Madrid?" + +"Yes, sir, several months." + +"Perhaps you heard my family spoken of?" + +"Your Excellency had just left when I had the honor of being introduced +to your family." + +"How is it, then, that you came without bringing any recommendations +to me?" + +"Sir," replied Ibarra with a bow, "because I did not come direct from +Spain and because I have heard your Excellency so well spoken of that +I thought a letter of recommendation might not only be valueless but +even offensive; all Filipinos are recommended to you." + +A smile played about the old soldier's lips and he replied slowly, as +though measuring and weighing his words, "You flatter me by thinking +so, and--so it ought to be. Nevertheless, young man, you must know +what burdens weigh upon our shoulders here in the Philippines. Here +we, old soldiers, have to do and to be everything: King, Minister of +State, of War, of Justice, of Finance, of Agriculture, and of all +the rest. The worst part of it too is that in every matter we have +to consult the distant mother country, which accepts or rejects our +proposals according to circumstances there--and at times blindly. As we +Spaniards say, 'He who attempts many things succeeds in none.' Besides, +we generally come here knowing little about the country and leave +it when we begin to get acquainted with it. With you I can be frank, +for it would be useless to try to be otherwise. Even in Spain, where +each department has its own minister, born and reared in the locality, +where there are a press and a public opinion, where the opposition +frankly opens the eyes of the government and keeps it informed, +everything moves along imperfectly and defectively; thus it is a +miracle that here things are not completely topsyturvy in the lack +of these safeguards, and having to live and work under the shadow +of a most powerful opposition. Good intentions are not lacking to +us, the governing powers, but we find ourselves obliged to avail +ourselves of the eyes and arms of others whom ordinarily we do not +know and who perhaps, instead of serving their country, serve only +their own private interests. This is not our fault but the fault +of circumstances--the friars aid us not a little in getting along, +but they are not sufficient. You have aroused my interest and it is +my desire that the imperfections of our present system of government +be of no hindrance to you. I cannot look after everybody nor can +everybody come to me. Can I be of service to you in any way? Have +you no request to make?" + +Ibarra reflected a moment before he answered. "Sir, my dearest wish +is the happiness of my country, a happiness which I desire to see +owed to the mother country and to the efforts of my fellow-citizens, +the two united by the eternal bonds of common aspirations and common +interests. What I would request can only be given by the government +after years of unceasing toil and after the introduction of definite +reforms." + +His Excellency gazed at him for a few seconds with a searching look, +which Ibarra sustained with naturalness. "You are the first man that +I've talked to in this country!" he finally exclaimed, extending +his hand. + +"Your Excellency has seen only those who drag themselves about in the +city; you have not visited the slandered huts of our towns or your +Excellency would have been able to see real men, if to be a man it +is sufficient to have a generous heart and simple customs." + +The Captain-General rose and began to walk back and forth in the +room. "Senor Ibarra," he exclaimed, pausing suddenly, and the young man +also rose, "perhaps within a month I shall leave. Your education and +your mode of thinking are not for this country. Sell what you have, +pack your trunk, and come with me to Europe; the climate there will +be more agreeable to you." + +"I shall always while I live preserve the memory of your Excellency's +kindness," replied Ibarra with emotion, "but I must remain in this +country where my fathers have lived." + +"Where they have died you might say with more exactness! Believe +me, perhaps I know your country better than you yourself do. Ah, +now I remember," he exclaimed with a change of tone, "you are going +to marry an adorable young woman and I'm detaining you here! Go, go +to her, and that you may have greater freedom send her father to me," +this with a smile. "Don't forget, though, that I want you to accompany +me in my walk." + +Ibarra bowed and withdrew. His Excellency then called to his +aide. "I'm satisfied," he said, slapping the latter lightly on the +shoulder. "Today I've seen for the first time how it is possible for +one to be a good Spaniard without ceasing to be a good Filipino and +to love his country. Today I showed their Reverences that we are not +all puppets of theirs. This young man gave me the opportunity and I +shall soon have settled all my accounts with the friars. It's a pity +that some day or other this young man--But call the alcalde." + +The alcalde presented himself immediately. As he entered, the +Captain-General said to him, "Senor Alcalde, in order to avoid any +repetition of _scenes_ such as you _witnessed_ this afternoon, scenes +that I regret, as they _hurt the prestige_ of the government and of +all good Spaniards, allow me to recommend to your _especial_ care +Senor Ibarra, so that you may afford him means for carrying out his +patriotic intentions and also that in the future you prevent his being +molested by persons of any class whatsoever, under any pretext at all." + +The alcalde understood the reprimand and bowed to conceal his +confusion. + +"Have the same order communicated to the alferez who commands in the +district here. Also, investigate whether that gentleman has affairs +of his own that are not sanctioned by the regulations. I've heard +more than one complaint in regard to that." + +Capitan Tiago presented himself stiff and formal. "Don Santiago," said +his Excellency in an affable tone, "a little while ago I felicitated +you on the happiness of having a daughter such as the Senorita de los +Santos; now let me congratulate you on your future son-in-law. The +most virtuous of daughters is certainly worthy of the best citizen of +the Philippines. Is it permitted to know when the wedding will occur?" + +"Sir!" stammered Capitan Tiago, wiping the perspiration from his +forehead. + +"Come now, I see that there is nothing definitely arranged. If persons +are lacking to stand up with them, I shall take the greatest pleasure +in being one of them. That's for the purpose of ridding myself of the +feeling of disgust which the many weddings I've heretofore taken part +in have given me," he added, turning to the alcalde. + +"Yes, sir," answered Capitan Tiago with a smile that would move +to pity. + +Ibarra almost ran in search of Maria Clara--he had so many things +to tell her. Hearing merry voices in one of the rooms, he knocked +lightly on the door. + +"Who's there?" asked the voice of Maria Clara. + +"I!" + +The voices became hushed and the door--did not open. + +"It's I, may I come in?" called the young man, his heart beating +violently. + +The silence continued. Then light footsteps approached the door and the +merry voice of Sinang murmured through the keyhole, "Crisostomo, we're +going to the theater tonight. Write what you have to say to Maria." + +The footsteps retreated again as rapidly as they approached. + +"What does this mean?" murmured Ibarra thoughtfully as he retired +slowly from the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +The Procession + + +At nightfall, when all the lanterns in the windows had been lighted, +for the fourth time the procession started amid the ringing of bells +and the usual explosions of bombs. The Captain-General, who had gone +out on foot in company with his two aides, Capitan Tiago, the alcalde, +the alferez, and Ibarra, preceded by civil-guards and officials who +opened the way and cleared the street, was invited to review the +procession from the house of the gobernadorcillo, in front of which +a platform had been erected where a _loa_ [104] would be recited in +honor of the Blessed Patron. + +Ibarra would gladly have renounced the pleasure of hearing this +poetical composition, preferring to watch the procession from Capitan +Tiago's house, where Maria Clara had remained with some of her friends, +but his Excellency wished to hear the _loa_, so he had no recourse +but to console himself with the prospect of seeing her at the theater. + +The procession was headed by the silver candelabra borne by three +begloved sacristans, behind whom came the school children in charge +of their teacher, then boys with paper lanterns of varied shapes +and colors placed on the ends of bamboo poles of greater or less +length and decorated according to the caprice of each boy, since +this illumination was furnished by the children of the barrios, who +gladly performed this service, imposed by the _matanda sa nayon_, +[105] each one designing and fashioning his own lantern, adorning it +as his fancy prompted and his finances permitted with a greater or +less number of frills and little streamers, and lighting it with a +piece of candle if he had a friend or relative who was a sacristan, +or if he could buy one of the small red tapers such as the Chinese +burn before their altars. + +In the midst of the crowd came and went alguazils, guardians of +justice to take care that the lines were not broken and the people +did not crowd together. For this purpose they availed themselves of +their rods, with blows from which, administered opportunely and with +sufficient force, they endeavored to add to the glory and brilliance +of the procession--all for the edification of souls and the splendor +of religious show. At the same time that the alguazils were thus +distributing free their sanctifying blows, other persons, to console +the recipients, distributed candles and tapers of different sizes, +also free. + +"Senor Alcalde," said Ibarra in a low voice, "do they administer those +blows as a punishment for sin or simply because they like to do so?" + +"You're right, Senor Ibarra," answered the Captain-General, overhearing +the question. "This barbarous sight is a wonder to all who come here +from other countries. It ought to be forbidden." + +Without any apparent reason, the first saint that appeared was St. John +the Baptist. On looking at him it might have been said that the fame +of Our Savior's cousin did not amount to much among the people, for +while it is true that he had the feet and legs of a maiden and the +face of an anchorite, yet he was placed on an old wooden _andas_, +and was hidden by a crowd of children who, armed with candles and +unlighted lanterns, were engaging in mock fights. + +"Unfortunate saint!" muttered the Sage Tasio, who was watching the +procession from the street, "it avails you nothing to have been the +forerunner of the Good Tidings or that Jesus bowed before you! Your +great faith and your austerity avail you nothing, nor the fact that +you died for the truth and your convictions, all of which men forget +when they consider nothing more than their own merits. It avails more +to preach badly in the churches than to be the eloquent voice crying +in the desert, this is what the Philippines teaches you! If you had +eaten turkey instead of locusts and had worn garments of silk rather +than hides, if you had joined a Corporation--" + +But the old man suspended his apostrophe at the approach +of St. Francis. "Didn't I say so?" he then went on, smiling +sarcastically. "This one rides on a ear, and, good Heavens, what a +car! How many lights and how many glass lanterns! Never did I see +you surrounded by so many luminaries, Giovanni Bernardone! [106] +And what music! Other tunes were heard by your followers after your +death! But, venerable and humble founder, if you were to come back +to life now you would see only degenerate Eliases of Cortona, and +if your followers should recognize you, they would put you in jail, +and perhaps you would share the fate of Cesareus of Spyre." + +After the music came a banner on which was pictured the same saint, but +with seven wings, carried by the Tertiary Brethren dressed in _guingon_ +habits and praying in high, plaintive voices. Rather inexplicably, +next came St. Mary Magdalene, a beautiful image with abundant hair, +wearing a panuelo of embroidered pina held by fingers covered with +rings, and a silk gown decorated with gilt spangles. Lights and +incense surrounded her while her glass tears reflected the colors +of the Bengal lights, which, while giving a fantastic appearance to +the procession, also made the saintly sinner weep now green, now red, +now blue tears. The houses did not begin to light up until St. Francis +was passing; St. John the Baptist did not enjoy this honor and passed +hastily by as if ashamed to be the only one dressed in hides in such +a crowd of folk covered with gold and jewels. + +"There goes our saint!" exclaimed the daughter of the gobernadorcillo +to her visitors. "I've lent him all my rings, but that's in order to +get to heaven." + +The candle-bearers stopped around the platform to listen to the _loa_ +and the blessed saints did the same; either they or their bearers +wished to hear the verses. Those who were carrying St. John, tired +of waiting, squatted down on their heels and agreed to set him on +the ground. + +"The alguazil may scold!" objected one of them. + +"Huh, in the sacristy they leave him in a corner among the cobwebs!" + +So St. John, once on the ground, became one of the townsfolk. + +As the Magdalene set out the women joined the procession, only that +instead of beginning with the children, as among the men, the old women +came first and the girls filled up the lines to the car of the Virgin, +behind which came the curate under his canopy. This practise they had +from Padre Damaso, who said: "To the Virgin the maidens and not the old +women are pleasing!" This statement had caused wry faces on the part +of many saintly old ladies, but the Virgin did not change her tastes. + +San Diego followed the Magdalene but did not seem to be rejoicing +over this fact, since he moved along as repentantly as he had in +the morning when he followed St. Francis. His float was drawn by six +Tertiary Sisters--whether because of some vow or on account of some +sickness, the fact is that they dragged him along, and with zeal. San +Diego stopped in front of the platform and waited to be saluted. + +But it was necessary to wait for the float of the Virgin, which was +preceded by persons dressed like phantoms, who frightened the little +children so that there were heard the cries and screams of terrified +babies. Yet in the midst of that dark mass of gowns, hoods, girdles, +and nuns' veils, from which arose a monotonous and snuffling prayer, +there were to be seen, like white jasmines or fresh sampaguitas among +old rags, twelve girls dressed in white, crowned with flowers, their +hair curled, and flashing from their eyes glances as bright as their +necklaces. Like little genii of light who were prisoners of specters +they moved along holding to the wide blue ribbons tied to the Virgin's +car and suggesting the doves that draw the car of Spring. + +Now all the images were in attitudes of attention, crowded one against +the other to listen to the verses. Everybody kept his eyes fixed on +the half-drawn curtain until at length a sigh of admiration escaped +from the lips of all. Deservedly so, too, for it was a boy with wings, +riding-boots, sash, belt, and plumed hat. + +"It's the alcalde!" cried some one, but this prodigy of creation began +to recite a poem like himself and took no offense at the comparison. + +But why record here what he said in Latin, Tagalog, and Spanish, all +in verse--this poor victim of the gobernadorcillo? Our readers have +enjoyed Padre Damaso's sermon of the morning and we do not wish to +spoil them by too many wonders. Besides, the Franciscan might feel +hard toward us if we were to put forward a competitor, and this is +far from being the desire of such peaceful folk as we have the good +fortune to be. + +Afterwards, the procession moved on, St. John proceeding along his +vale of tears. When the Virgin passed the house of Capitan Tiago a +heavenly song greeted her with the words of the archangel. It was +a voice tender, melodious, pleading, sighing out the _Ave Maria_ +of Gounod to the accompaniment of a piano that prayed with it. The +music of the procession became hushed, the praying ceased, and even +Padre Salvi himself paused. The voice trembled and became plaintive, +expressing more than a salutation--rather a prayer and a protest. + +Terror and melancholy settled down upon Ibarra's heart as he listened +to the voice from the window where he stood. He comprehended what +that suffering soul was expressing in a song and yet feared to ask +himself the cause of such sorrow. Gloomy and thoughtful, he turned +to the Captain-General. + +"You will join me at the table," the latter said to him. "There we'll +talk about those boys who disappeared." + +"Could I be the cause?" murmured the young man, staring without seeing +the Captain-General, whom he was following mechanically. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +Dona Consolacion + + +Why were the windows closed in the house of the alferez? Where +were the masculine features and the flannel camisa of the Medusa or +Muse of the Civil Guard while the procession was passing? Had Dona +Consolacion realized how disagreeable were her forehead seamed with +thick veins that appeared to conduct not blood but vinegar and gall, +and the thick cigar that made a fit ornament for her purple lips, +and her envious leer, and yielding to a generous impulse had she +wished not to disturb the pleasure of the populace by her sinister +appearance? Ah, for her generous impulses existed in the Golden +Age! The house, showed neither lanterns nor banners and was gloomy +precisely because the town was making merry, as Sinang said, and but +for the sentinel walking before the door appeared to be uninhabited. + +A dim light shone in the disordered sala, rendering transparent +the dirty concha-panes on which the cobwebs had fastened and the +dust had become incrusted. The lady of the house, according to +her indolent custom, was dozing on a wide sofa. She was dressed as +usual, that is, badly and horribly: tied round her head a panuelo, +from beneath which escaped thin locks of tangled hair, a camisa +of blue flannel over another which must once have been white, and +a faded skirt which showed the outlines of her thin, flat thighs, +placed one over the other and shaking feverishly. From her mouth +issued little clouds of smoke which she puffed wearily in whatever +direction she happened to be looking when she opened her eyes. If at +that moment Don Francisco de Canamaque [107] could have seen her, he +would have taken her for a cacique of the town or the _mankukulam_, +and then decorated his discovery with commentaries in the vernacular +of the markets, invented by him for her particular use. + +That morning she had not attended mass, not because she had not so +desired, for on the contrary she had wished to show herself to the +multitude and to hear the sermon, but her spouse had not permitted +her to do so, his refusal being accompanied as usual by two or three +insults, oaths, and threats of kicking. The alferez knew that his +mate dressed ridiculously and had the appearance of what is known as a +"_querida_ of the soldiers," so he did not care to expose her to the +gaze of strangers and persons from the capital. But she did not so +understand it. She knew that she was beautiful and attractive, that she +had the airs of a queen and dressed much better and with more splendor +than Maria Clara herself, who wore a tapis while she went in a flowing +skirt. It was therefore necessary for the alferez to threaten her, +"Either shut up, or I'll kick you back to your damned town!" Dona +Consolacion did not care to return to her town at the toe of a boot, +but she meditated revenge. + +Never had the dark face of this lady been such as to inspire confidence +in any one, not even when she painted, but that morning it greatly +worried the servants, especially when they saw her move about the house +from one part to another, silently, as if meditating something terrible +or malign. Her glance reflected the look that springs from the eyes of +a serpent when caught and about to be crushed; it was cold, luminous, +and penetrating, with something fascinating, loathsome, and cruel in +it. The most insignificant error, the least unusual noise, drew from +her a vile insult that struck into the soul, but no one answered her, +for to excuse oneself would have been an additional fault. + +So the day passed. Not encountering any obstacle that would block her +way,--her husband had been invited out,--she became saturated with +bile, the cells of her whole organism seemed to become charged with +electricity which threatened to burst in a storm of hate. Everything +about her folded up as do the flowers at the first breath of the +hurricane, so she met with no resistance nor found any point or high +place to discharge her evil humor. The soldiers and servants kept away +from her. That she might not hear the sounds of rejoicing outside she +had ordered the windows closed and charged the sentinel to let no one +enter. She tied a handkerchief around her head as if to keep it from +bursting and, in spite of the fact that the sun was still shining, +ordered the lamps to be lighted. + +Sisa, as we saw, had been arrested as a disturber of the peace +and taken to the barracks. The alferez was not then present, so +the unfortunate woman had had to spend the night there seated on a +bench in an abandoned attitude. The next day the alferez saw her, +and fearing for her in those days of confusion nor caring to risk a +disagreeable scene, he had charged the soldiers to look after her, +to treat her kindly, and to give her something to eat. Thus the +madwoman spent two days. + +Tonight, whether the nearness to the house of Capitan Tiago had brought +to her Maria Clara's sad song or whether other recollections awoke +in her old melodies, whatever the cause, Sisa also began to sing in a +sweet and melancholy voice the _kundiman_ of her youth. The soldiers +heard her and fell silent; those airs awoke old memories of the days +before they had been corrupted. Dona Consolacion also heard them in her +tedium, and on learning who it was that sang, after a few moments of +meditation, ordered that Sisa be brought to her instantly. Something +like a smile wandered over her dry lips. + +When Sisa was brought in she came calmly, showing neither wonder nor +fear. She seemed to see no lady or mistress, and this wounded the +vanity of the Muse, who endeavored to inspire respect and fear. She +coughed, made a sign to the soldiers to leave her, and taking down +her husband's whip, said to the crazy woman in a sinister tone, +"Come on, _magcantar icau!_" [108] + +Naturally, Sisa did not understand such Tagalog, and this ignorance +calmed the Medusa's wrath, for one of the beautiful qualities of this +lady was to try not to know Tagalog, or at least to appear not to know +it. Speaking it the worst possible, she would thus give herself the +air of a genuine _orofea_, [109] as she was accustomed to say. But +she did well, for if she martyrized Tagalog, Spanish fared no better +with her, either in regard to grammar or pronunciation, in spite of +her husband, the chairs and the shoes, all of which had done what +they could to teach her. + +One of the words that had cost her more effort than the hieroglyphics +cost Champollion was the name _Filipinas_. The story goes that on +the day after her wedding, when she was talking with her husband, who +was then a corporal, she had said _Pilipinas_. The corporal thought +it his duty to correct her, so he said, slapping her on the head, +"Say _Felipinas_, woman! Don't be stupid! Don't you know that's what +your damned country is called, from _Felipe?_" + +The woman, dreaming through her honeymoon, wished to obey and said +_Felepinas_. To the corporal it seemed that she was getting nearer to +it, so he increased the slaps and reprimanded her thus: "But, woman, +can't you pronounce _Felipe?_ Don't forget it; you know the king, +Don Felipe--the fifth--. Say _Felipe_, and add to it _nas_, which +in Latin means 'islands of Indians,' and you have the name of your +damned country!" + +Consolacion, at that time a washerwoman, patted her bruises and +repeated with symptoms of losing her patience, "Fe-li-pe, Felipe--nas, +Fe-li-pe-nas, Felipinas, so?" + +The corporal saw visions. How could it be _Felipenas_ instead of +_Felipinas?_ One of two things: either it was _Felipenas_ or it was +necessary to say _Felipi!_ So that day he very prudently dropped the +subject. Leaving his wife, he went to consult the books. Here his +astonishment reached a climax: he rubbed his eyes--let's see--slowly, +now! _F-i-l-i-p-i-n-a-s_, Filipinas! So all the well-printed books +gave it--neither he nor his wife was right! + +"How's this?" he murmured. "Can history lie? Doesn't this book say that +Alonso Saavedra gave the country that name in honor of the prince, +Don Felipe? How was that name corrupted? Can it be that this Alonso +Saavedra was an Indian?" [110] + +With these doubts he went to consult the sergeant Gomez, who, as +a youth, had wanted to be a curate. Without deigning to look at +the corporal the sergeant blew out a mouthful of smoke and answered +with great pompousness, "In ancient times it was pronounced _Filipi_ +instead of _Felipe_. But since we moderns have become Frenchified we +can't endure two _i's_ in succession, so cultured people, especially +in Madrid--you've never been in Madrid?--cultured people, as I say, +have begun to change the first _i_ to _e_ in many words. This is +called modernizing yourself." + +The poor corporal had never been in Madrid--here was the cause of +his failure to understand the riddle: what things are learned in +Madrid! "So now it's proper to say--" + +"In the ancient style, man! This country's not yet cultured! In the +ancient style, _Filipinas!_" exclaimed Gomez disdainfully. + +The corporal, even if he was a bad philologist, was yet a good +husband. What he had just learned his spouse must also know, so he +proceeded with her education: "Consola, what do you call your damned +country?" + +"What should I call it? Just what you taught me: _Felifinas!_" + +"I'll throw a chair at you, you ----! Yesterday you pronounced it +even better in the modern style, but now it's proper to pronounce it +like an ancient: _Feli_, I mean, _Filipinas!_" + +"Remember that I'm no ancient! What are you thinking about?" + +"Never mind! Say _Filipinas!_" + +"I don't want to. I'm no ancient baggage, scarcely thirty years +old!" she replied, rolling up her sleeves and preparing herself for +the fray. + +"Say it, you ----, or I'll throw this chair at you!" + +Consolacion saw the movement, reflected, then began to stammer with +heavy breaths, "_Feli-, Fele-, File--_" + +Pum! Crack! The chair finished the word. So the lesson ended in +fisticuffs, scratchings, slaps. The corporal caught her by the hair; +she grabbed his goatee, but was unable to bite because of her loose +teeth. He let out a yell, released her and begged her pardon. Blood +began to flow, one eye got redder than the other, a camisa was torn +into shreds, many things came to light, but not _Filipinas_. + +Similar incidents occurred every time the question of language came +up. The corporal, watching her linguistic progress, sorrowfully +calculated that in ten years his mate would have completely forgotten +how to talk, and this was about what really came to pass. When they +were married she still knew Tagalog and could make herself understood +in Spanish, but now, at the time of our story, she no longer spoke any +language. She had become so addicted to expressing herself by means +of signs--and of these she chose the loudest and most impressive--that +she could have given odds to the inventor of Volapuk. + +Sisa, therefore, had the good fortune not to understand her, so +the Medusa smoothed out her eyebrows a little, while a smile of +satisfaction lighted up her face; undoubtedly she did not know Tagalog, +she was an _orofea!_ + +"Boy, tell her in Tagalog to sing! She doesn't understand me, she +doesn't understand Spanish!" + +The madwoman understood the boy and began to sing the _Song of +the Night_. Dona Consolacion listened at first with a sneer, which +disappeared little by little from her lips. She became attentive, then +serious, and even somewhat thoughtful. The voice, the sentiment in the +lines, and the song itself affected her--that dry and withered heart +was perhaps thirsting for rain. She understood it well: "The sadness, +the cold, and the moisture that descend from the sky when wrapped in +the mantle of night," so ran the _kundiman_, seemed to be descending +also on her heart. "The withered and faded flower which during the +day flaunted her finery, seeking applause and full of vanity, at +eventide, repentant and disenchanted, makes an effort to raise her +drooping petals to the sky, seeking a little shade to hide herself and +die without the mocking of the light that saw her in her splendor, +without seeing the vanity of her pride, begging also that a little +dew should weep upon her. The nightbird leaves his solitary retreat, +the hollow of an ancient trunk, and disturbs the sad loneliness of +the open places--" + +"No, don't sing!" she exclaimed in perfect Tagalog, as she rose with +agitation. "Don't sing! Those verses hurt me." + +The crazy woman became silent. The boy ejaculated, "_Aba!_ She talks +Tagalog!" and stood staring with admiration at his mistress, who, +realizing that she had given herself away, was ashamed of it, and as +her nature was not that of a woman, the shame took the aspect of rage +and hate; so she showed the door to the imprudent boy and closed it +behind him with a kick. + +Twisting the whip in her nervous hands, she took a few turns around +the room, then stopping suddenly in front of the crazy woman, said +to her in Spanish, "Dance!" But Sisa did not move. + +"Dance, dance!" she repeated in a sinister tone. + +The madwoman looked at her with wandering, expressionless eyes, while +the alfereza lifted one of her arms, then the other, and shook them, +but to no purpose, for Sisa did not understand. Then she began to +jump about and shake herself, encouraging Sisa to imitate her. In +the distance was to be heard the music of the procession playing +a grave and majestic march, but Dona Consolacion danced furiously, +keeping other time to other music resounding within her. Sisa gazed at +her without moving, while her eyes expressed curiosity and something +like a weak smile hovered around her pallid lips: the lady's dancing +amused her. The latter stopped as if ashamed, raised the whip,--that +terrible whip known to thieves and soldiers, made in Ulango [111] +and perfected by the alferez with twisted wires,--and said, "Now it's +your turn to dance--dance!" + +She began to strike the madwoman's bare feet gently with the +whip. Sisa's face drew up with pain and she was forced to protect +herself with her hands. + +"Aha, now you're starting!" she exclaimed with savage joy, passing +from _lento_ to _allegro vivace_. + +The afflicted Sisa gave a cry of pain and quickly raised her foot. + +"You've got to dance, you Indian--!" The whip swung and whistled. + +Sisa let herself fall to the floor and placed both hands on her knees +while she gazed at her tormentor with wildly-staring eyes. Two sharp +cuts of the whip on her shoulder made her stand up, and it was not +merely a cry but a howl that the unfortunate woman uttered. Her thin +camisa was torn, her skin broken, and the blood was flowing. + +The sight of blood arouses the tiger; the blood of her victim aroused +Dona Consolacion. "Dance, damn you, dance! Evil to the mother who +bore you!" she cried. "Dance, or I'll flog you to death!" She then +caught Sisa with one hand and, whipping her with the other, began to +dance about. + +The crazy woman at last understood and followed the example by +swinging her arms about awkwardly. A smile of satisfaction curled +the lips of her teacher, the smile of a female Mephistopheles who +succeeds in getting a great pupil. There were in it hate, disdain, +jest, and cruelty; with a burst of demoniacal laughter she could not +have expressed more. + +Thus, absorbed in the joy of the sight, she was not aware of the +arrival of her husband until he opened the door with a loud kick. The +alferez appeared pale and gloomy, and when he saw what was going on +he threw a terrible glance at his wife, who did not move from her +place but stood smiling at him cynically. + +The alferez put his hand as gently as he could on the shoulder of +the strange dancer and made her stop. The crazy woman sighed and sank +slowly to the floor covered with her own blood. + +The silence continued. The alferez breathed heavily, while his wife +watched him with questioning eyes. She picked up the whip and asked +in a smooth, soft voice, "What's the matter with you? You haven't +even wished me good evening." + +The alferez did not answer, but instead called the boy and said to him, +"Take this woman away and tell Marta to get her some other clothes +and attend to her. You give her something to eat and a good bed. Take +care that she isn't ill-treated! Tomorrow she'll be taken to Senor +Ibarra's house." + +Then he closed the door carefully, bolted it, and approached his +wife. "You're tempting me to kill you!" he exclaimed, doubling up +his fists. + +"What's the matter with you?" she asked, rising and drawing away +from him. + +"What's the matter with me!" he yelled in a voice of thunder, letting +out an oath and holding up before her a sheet of paper covered with +scrawls. "Didn't you write this letter to the alcalde saying that +I'm bribed to permit gambling, huh? I don't know why I don't beat +you to death." + +"Let's see you! Let's see you try it if you dare!" she replied with +a jeering laugh. "The one who beats me to death has got to be more +of a man than you are!" + +He heard the insult, but saw the whip. Catching up a plate from the +table, he threw it at her head, but she, accustomed to such fights, +dodged quickly and the plate was shattered against the wall. A cup +and saucer met with a similar fate. + +"Coward!" she yelled; "you're afraid to come near me!" And to +exasperate him the more, she spat upon him. + +The alferez went blind from rage and with a roar attempted to throw +himself upon her, but she, with astonishing quickness, hit him across +the face with the whip and ran hurriedly into an inner room, shutting +and bolting the door violently behind her. Bellowing with rage and +pain, he followed, but was only able to run against the door, which +made him vomit oaths. + +"Accursed be your offspring, you sow! Open, open, or I'll break your +head!" he howled, beating the door with his hands and feet. + +No answer was heard, but instead the scraping of chairs and trunks as +if she was building a barricade with the furniture. The house shook +under the kicks and curses of the alferez. + +"Don't come in, don't come in!" called the sour voice inside. "If +you show yourself, I'll shoot you." + +By degrees he appeared to become calm and contented himself with +walking up and down the room like a wild beast in its cage. + +"Go out into the street and cool off your head!" the woman continued +to jeer at him, as she now seemed to have completed her preparations +for defense. + +"I swear that if I catch you, even God won't save you, you old sow!" + +"Yes, now you can say what you like. You didn't want me to go to +mass! You didn't let me attend to my religious duties!" she answered +with such sarcasm as only she knew how to use. + +The alferez put on his helmet, arranged his clothing a little, and +went out with heavy steps, but returned after a few minutes without +making the least noise, having taken off his shoes. The servants, +accustomed to these brawls, were usually bored, but this novelty of the +shoes attracted their attention, so they winked to one another. The +alferez sat down quietly in a chair at the side of the Sublime Port +and had the patience to wait for more than half an hour. + +"Have you really gone out or are you still there, old goat?" asked +the voice from time to time, changing the epithets and raising the +tone. At last she began to take away the furniture piece by piece. He +heard the noise and smiled. + +"Boy, has your master gone out?" cried Dona Consolacion. + +At a sign from the alferez the boy answered, "Yes, senora, he's +gone out." + +A gleeful laugh was heard from her as she pulled back the bolt. Slowly +her husband arose, the door opened a little way-- + +A yell, the sound of a falling body, oaths, howls, curses, blows, +hoarse voices--who can tell what took place in the darkness of +that room? + +As the boy went out into the kitchen he made a significant sign to +the cook, who said to him, "You'll pay for that." + +"I? In any case the whole town will! She asked me if he had gone out, +not if he had come back!" + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +Right and Might + + +Ten o'clock at night: the last rockets rose lazily in the dark sky +where a few paper balloons recently inflated with smoke and hot air +still glimmered like new stars. Some of those adorned with fireworks +took fire, threatening all the houses, so there might be seen on the +ridges of the roofs men armed with pails of water and long poles with +pieces of cloth on the ends. Their black silhouettes stood out in +the vague clearness of the air like phantoms that had descended from +space to witness the rejoicings of men. Many pieces of fireworks of +fantastic shapes--wheels, castles, bulls, carabaos--had been set off, +surpassing in beauty and grandeur anything ever before seen by the +inhabitants of San Diego. + +Now the people were moving in crowds toward the plaza to attend the +theater for the last time, Here and there might be seen Bengal lights +fantastically illuminating the merry groups while the boys were +availing themselves of torches to hunt in the grass for unexploded +bombs and other remnants that could still be used. But soon the music +gave the signal and all abandoned the open places. + +The great stage was brilliantly illuminated. Thousands of lights +surrounded the posts, hung from the roof, or sowed the floor with +pyramidal clusters. An alguazil was looking after these, and when he +came forward to attend to them the crowd shouted at him and whistled, +"There he is! there he is!" + +In front of the curtain the orchestra players were tuning their +instruments and playing preludes of airs. Behind them was the space +spoken of by the correspondent in his letter, where the leading +citizens of the town, the Spaniards, and the rich visitors occupied +rows of chairs. The general public, the nameless rabble, filled +up the rest of the place, some of them bringing benches on their +shoulders not so much for seats as to make, up for their lack of +stature. This provoked noisy protests on the part of the benchless, +so the offenders got down at once; but before long they were up again +as if nothing had happened. + +Goings and comings, cries, exclamations, bursts of laughter, a +serpent-cracker turned loose, a firecracker set off--all contributed +to swell the uproar. Here a bench had a leg broken off and the +people fell to the ground amid the laughter of the crowd. They were +visitors who had come from afar to observe and now found themselves +the observed. Over there they quarreled and disputed over a seat, +a little farther on was heard the noise of breaking glass; it +was Andeng carrying refreshments and drinks, holding the wide tray +carefully with both hands, but by chance she had met her sweetheart, +who tried to take advantage of the situation. + +The teniente-mayor, Don Filipo, presided over the show, as the +gobernadorcillo was fond of monte. He was talking with old Tasio. "What +can I do? The alcalde was unwilling to accept my resignation. 'Don't +you feel strong enough to attend to your duties?' he asked me." + +"How did you answer him?" + +"'Senor Alcalde,' I answered, 'the strength of a teniente-mayor, +however insignificant it may be, is like all other authority it +emanates from higher spheres. The King himself receives his strength +from the people and the people theirs from God. That is exactly what +I lack, Senor Alcalde.' But he did not care to listen to me, telling +me that we would talk about it after the fiesta." + +"Then may God help you!" said the old man, starting away. + +"Don't you want to see the show?" + +"Thanks, no! For dreams and nonsense I am sufficient unto myself," the +Sage answered with a sarcastic smile. "But now I think of it, has your +attention never been drawn to the character of our people? Peaceful, +yet fond of warlike shows and bloody fights; democratic, yet adoring +emperors, kings, and princes; irreligious, yet impoverishing itself +by costly religious pageants. Our women have gentle natures yet go +wild with joy when a princess flourishes a lance. Do you know to what +it is due? Well--" + +The arrival of Maria Clara and her friends put an end to this +conversation. Don Filipo met them and ushered them to their +seats. Behind them came the curate with another Franciscan and some +Spaniards. Following the priests were a number of the townsmen who +make it their business to escort the friars. "May God reward them +also in the next life," muttered old Tasio as he went away. + +The play began with Chananay and Marianito in _Crispino e la +comare_. All now had their eyes and ears turned to the stage, all but +one: Padre Salvi, who seemed to have gone there for no other purpose +than that of watching Maria Clara, whose sadness gave to her beauty an +air so ideal and interesting that it was easy to understand how she +might be looked upon with rapture. But the eyes of the Franciscan, +deeply hidden in their sunken sockets, spoke nothing of rapture. In +that gloomy gaze was to be read something desperately sad--with such +eyes Cain might have gazed from afar on the Paradise whose delights +his mother pictured to him! + +The first scene was over when Ibarra entered. His appearance caused a +murmur, and attention was fixed on him and the curate. But the young +man seemed not to notice anything as he greeted Maria Clara and her +friends in a natural way and took a seat beside them. + +The only one who spoke to him was Sinang. "Did you see the +fireworks?" she asked. + +"No, little friend, I had to go with the Captain-General." + +"Well, that's a shame! The curate was with us and told us stories +of the damned--can you imagine it!--to fill us with fear so that we +might not enjoy ourselves--can you imagine it!" + +The curate arose and approached Don Filipo, with whom he began an +animated conversation. The former spoke in a nervous manner, the +latter in a low, measured voice. + +"I'm sorry that I can't please your Reverence," said Don Filipo, +"but Senor Ibarra is one of the heaviest contributors and has a right +to be here as long as he doesn't disturb the peace." + +"But isn't it disturbing the peace to scandalize good Christians? It's +letting a wolf enter the fold. You will answer for this to God and +the authorities!" + +"I always answer for the actions that spring from my own will, Padre," +replied Don Filipo with a slight bow. "But my little authority does not +empower me to mix in religious affairs. Those who wish to avoid contact +with him need not talk to him. Senor Ibarra forces himself on no one." + +"But it's giving opportunity for danger, and he who loves danger +perishes in it." + +"I don't see any danger, Padre. The alcalde and the Captain-General, +my superior officers, have been talking with him all the afternoon +and it's not for me to teach them a lesson." + +"If you don't put him out of here, we'll leave." + +"I'm very sorry, but I can't put any one out of here." The curate +repented of his threat, but it was too late to retract, so he made +a sign to his companion, who arose with regret, and the two went +out together. The persons attached to them followed their example, +casting looks of hatred at Ibarra. + +The murmurs and whispers increased. A number of people approached +the young man and said to him, "We're with you, don't take any notice +of them." + +"Whom do you mean by _them?_" Ibarra asked in surprise. + +"Those who've just left to avoid contact with you." + +"Left to avoid contact with me?" + +"Yes, they say that you're excommunicated." + +"Excommunicated?" The astonished youth did not know what to say. He +looked about him and saw that Maria Clara was hiding her face behind +her fan. "But is it possible?" he exclaimed finally. "Are we still +in the Dark Ages? So--" + +He approached the young women and said with a change of tone, "Excuse +me, I've forgotten an engagement. I'll be back to see you home." + +"Stay!" Sinang said to him. "Yeyeng is going to dance _La +Calandria_. She dances divinely." + +"I can't, little friend, but I'll be back." The uproar increased. + +Yeyeng appeared fancifully dressed, with the "_Da uste su +permiso_?" and Carvajal was answering her, "_Pase uste adelante_," +when two soldiers of the Civil Guard went up to Don Filipo and ordered +him to stop the performance. + +"Why?" asked the teniente-mayor in surprise. + +"Because the alferez and his wife have been fighting and can't sleep." + +"Tell the alferez that we have permission from the alcalde and that +against such permission _no one_ in the town has any authority, +not even the gobernadorcillo himself, and _he_ is my _only superior_." + +"Well, the show must stop!" repeated the soldiers. Don Filipo turned +his back and they went away. In order not to disturb the merriment +he told no one about the incident. + +After the selection of vaudeville, which was loudly applauded, +the Prince Villardo presented himself, challenging to mortal combat +the Moros who held his father prisoner. The hero threatened to cut +off all their heads at a single stroke and send them to the moon, +but fortunately for the Moros, who were disposing themselves for +the combat, a tumult arose. The orchestra suddenly ceased playing, +threw their instruments away, and jumped up on the stage. The valiant +Villardo, not expecting them and taking them for allies of the Moros, +dropped his sword and shield, and started to run. The Moros, seeing +that such a doughty Christian was fleeing, did not consider it improper +to imitate him. Cries, groans, prayers, oaths were heard, while the +people ran and pushed one another about. The lights were extinguished, +blazing lamps were thrown into the air. "Tulisanes! Tulisanes!" cried +some. "Fire, fire! Robbers!" shouted others. Women and children wept, +benches and spectators were rolled together on the ground amid the +general pandemonium. + +The cause of all this uproar was two civil-guards, clubs in hand, +chasing the musicians in order to break up the performance. The +teniente-mayor, with the aid of the cuadrilleros, who were armed +with old sabers, managed at length to arrest them, in spite of their +resistance. + +"Take them to the town hall!" cried Don Filipo. "Take care that they +don't get away!" + +Ibarra had returned to look for Maria Clara. The frightened girls clung +to him pale and trembling while Aunt Isabel recited the Latin litany. + +When the people were somewhat calmed down from their fright and had +learned the cause of the disturbance, they were beside themselves +with indignation. Stones rained on the squad of cuadrilleros who were +conducting the two offenders from the scene, and there were even those +who proposed to set fire to the barracks of the Civil Guard so as to +roast Dona Consolacion along with the alferez. + +"That's what they're good for!" cried a woman, doubling up her fists +and stretching out her arms. "To disturb the town! They don't chase any +but honest folks! Out yonder are the tulisanes and the gamblers. Let's +set fire to the barracks!" + +One man was beating himself on the arm and begging for +confession. Plaintive sounds issued from under the overturned +benches--it was a poor musician. The stage was crowded with actors +and spectators, all talking at the same time. There was Chananay +dressed as Leonor in _Il Trovatore_, talking in the language of the +markets to Ratia in the costume of a schoolmaster; Yeyeng, wrapped +in a silk shawl, was clinging to the Prince Villardo; while Balbino +and the Moros were exerting themselves to console the more or less +injured musicians. [112] Several Spaniards went from group to group +haranguing every one they met. + +A large crowd was forming, whose intention Don Filipo seemed to be +aware of, for he ran to stop them. "Don't disturb the peace!" he +cried. "Tomorrow we'll ask for an accounting and we'll get +justice. I'll answer for it that we get justice!" + +"No!" was the reply of several. "They did the same thing in Kalamba, +[113] the same promise was made, but the alcalde did nothing. We'll +take the law into our own hands! To the barracks!" + +In vain the teniente-mayor pleaded with them. The crowd maintained its +hostile attitude, so he looked about him for help and noticed Ibarra. + +"Senor Ibarra, as a favor! Restrain them while I get some +cuadrilleros." + +"What can I do?" asked the perplexed youth, but the teniente-mayor was +already at a distance. He gazed about him seeking he knew not whom, +when accidentally he discerned Elias, who stood impassively watching +the disturbance. + +Ibarra ran to him, caught him by the arm, and said to him in Spanish: +"For God's sake, do something, if you can! I can't do anything." The +pilot must have understood him, for he disappeared in the crowd. Lively +disputes and sharp exclamations were heard. Gradually the crowd began +to break up, its members each taking a less hostile attitude. It was +high time, indeed, for the soldiers were already rushing out armed +and with fixed bayonets. + +Meanwhile, what had the curate been doing? Padre Salvi had not gone +to bed but had stood motionless, resting his forehead against the +curtains and gazing toward the plaza. From time to time a suppressed +sigh escaped him, and if the light of the lamp had not been so +dim, perhaps it would have been possible to see his eyes fill with +tears. Thus nearly an hour passed. + +The tumult in the plaza awoke him from his reverie. With startled +eyes he saw the confused movements of the people, while their +voices came up to him faintly. A breathless servant informed him +of what was happening. A thought shot across his mind: in the midst +of confusion and tumult is the time when libertines take advantage +of the consternation and weakness of woman. Every one seeks to save +himself, no one thinks of any one else; a cry is not heard or heeded, +women faint, are struck and fall, terror and fright heed not shame, +under the cover of night--and when they are in love! He imagined +that he saw Crisostomo snatch the fainting Maria Clara up in his +arms and disappear into the darkness. So he went down the stairway by +leaps and bounds, and without hat or cane made for the plaza like a +madman. There he met some Spaniards who were reprimanding the soldiers, +but on looking toward the seats that the girls had occupied he saw +that they were vacant. + +"Padre! Padre!" cried the Spaniards, but he paid no attention to +them as he ran in the direction of Capitan Tiago's. There he breathed +more freely, for he saw in the open hallway the adorable silhouette, +full of grace and soft in outline, of Maria Clara, and that of the +aunt carrying cups and glasses. + +"Ah!" he murmured, "it seems that she has been taken sick only." + + +Aunt Isabel at that moment closed the windows and the graceful shadow +was no longer to be seen. The curate moved away without heeding the +crowd. He had before his eyes the beautiful form of a maiden sleeping +and breathing sweetly. Her eyelids were shaded by long lashes which +formed graceful curves like those of the Virgins of Raphael, the +little mouth was smiling, all the features breathed forth virginity, +purity, and innocence. That countenance formed a sweet vision in the +midst of the white coverings of her bed like the head of a cherub +among the clouds. His imagination went still further--but who can +write what a burning brain can imagine? + +Perhaps only the newspaper correspondent, who concluded his account +of the fiesta and its accompanying incidents in the following manner: + + +"A thousand thanks, infinite thanks, to the opportune and active +intervention of the Very Reverend Padre Fray Bernardo Salvi, who, +defying every danger in the midst of the unbridled mob, without hat +or cane, calmed the wrath of the crowd, using only his persuasive +word with the majesty and authority that are never lacking to a +minister of a Religion of Peace. With unparalleled self-abnegation +this virtuous priest tore himself from sweet repose, such as every +good conscience like his enjoys, and rushed to protect his flock +from the least harm. The people of San Diego will hardly forget this +sublime deed of their heroic Pastor, remembering to hold themselves +grateful to him for all eternity!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +Two Visits + + +Ibarra was in such a state of mind that he found it impossible to +sleep, so to distract his attention from the sad thoughts which are +so exaggerated during the night-hours he set to work in his lonely +cabinet. Day found him still making mixtures and combinations, to the +action of which he subjected pieces of bamboo and other substances, +placing them afterwards in numbered and sealed jars. + +A servant entered to announce the arrival of a man who had the +appearance of being from the country. "Show him in," said Ibarra +without looking around. + +Elias entered and remained standing in silence. + +"Ah, it's you!" exclaimed Ibarra in Tagalog when he recognized +him. "Excuse me for making you wait, I didn't notice that it was +you. I'm making an important experiment." + +"I don't want to disturb you," answered the youthful pilot. "I've +come first to ask you if there is anything I can do for you in the +province, of Batangas, for which I am leaving immediately, and also +to bring you some bad news." + +Ibarra questioned him with a look. + +"Capitan Tiago's daughter is ill," continued Elias quietly, "but +not seriously." + +"That's what I feared," murmured Ibarra in a weak voice. "Do you know +what is the matter with her?" + +"A fever. Now, if you have nothing to command--" + +"Thank you, my friend, no. I wish you a pleasant journey. But first +let me ask you a question--if it is indiscreet, do not answer." + +Elias bowed. + +"How were you able to quiet the disturbance last night?" asked Ibarra, +looking steadily at him. + +"Very easily," answered Elias in the most natural manner. "The leaders +of the commotion were two brothers whose father died from a beating +given him by the Civil Guard. One day I had the good fortune to +save them from the same hands into which their father had fallen, +and both are accordingly grateful to me. I appealed to them last +night and they undertook to dissuade the rest." + +"And those two brothers whose father died from the beating--" + +"Will end as their father did," replied Elias in a low voice. "When +misfortune has once singled out a family all its members must +perish,--when the lightning strikes a tree the whole is reduced +to ashes." + +Ibarra fell silent on hearing this, so Elias took his leave. When +the youth found himself alone he lost the serene self-possession he +had maintained in the pilot's presence. His sorrow pictured itself +on his countenance. "I, I have made her suffer," he murmured. + +He dressed himself quickly and descended the stairs. A small man, +dressed in mourning, with a large scar on his left cheek, saluted +him humbly, and detained him on his way. + +"What do you want?" asked Ibarra. + +"Sir, my name is Lucas, and I'm the brother of the man who was killed +yesterday." + +"Ah, you have my sympathy. Well?" + +"Sir, I want to know how much you're going to pay my brother's family." + +"Pay?" repeated the young man, unable to conceal his disgust. "We'll +talk of that later. Come back this afternoon, I'm in a hurry now." + +"Only tell me how much you're willing to pay," insisted Lucas. + +"I've told you that we'll talk about that some other time. I haven't +time now," repeated Ibarra impatiently. + +"You haven't time now, sir?" asked Lucas bitterly, placing himself +in front of the young man. "You haven't time to consider the dead?" + +"Come this afternoon, my good man," replied Ibarra, restraining +himself. "I'm on my way now to visit a sick person." + +"Ah, for the sick you forget the dead? Do you think that because we +are poor--" + +Ibarra looked at him and interrupted, "Don't try my patience!" then +went on his way. + +Lucas stood looking after him with a smile full of hate. "It's easy to +see that you're the grandson of the man who tied my father out in the +sun," he muttered between his teeth. "You still have the same blood." + +Then with a change of tone he added, "But, if you pay well--friends!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +The Espadanas + + +The fiesta is over. The people of the town have again found, as in +every other year, that their treasury is poorer, that they have worked, +sweated, and stayed awake much without really amusing themselves, +without gaining any new friends, and, in a word, that they have dearly +bought their dissipation and their headaches. But this matters nothing, +for the same will be done next year, the same the coming century, +since it has always been the custom. + +In Capitan Tiago's house sadness reigns. All the windows are closed, +the inmates move about noiselessly, and only in the kitchen do they +dare to speak in natural tones. Maria Clara, the soul of the house, +lies sick in bed and her condition is reflected in all the faces, +as the sorrows of the mind may be read in the countenance of an +individual. + +"Which seems best to you, Isabel, shall I make a poor-offering to the +cross of Tunasan or to the cross of Matahong?" asks the afflicted +father in a low voice. "The Tunasan cross grows while the Matahong +cross sweats which do you think is more miraculous?" + +Aunt Isabel reflects, shakes her head, and murmurs, "To grow, to grow +is a greater miracle than to sweat. All of us sweat, but not all of +us grow." + +"That's right, Isabel; but remember that to sweat for the wood of +which bench-legs are made to sweat--is not a small miracle. Come, +the best thing will be to make poor-offerings to both crosses, so +neither will resent it, and Maria will get better sooner. Are the +rooms ready? You know that with the doctors is coming a new gentleman, +a distant relative of Padre Damaso's. Nothing should be lacking." + +At the other end of the dining-room are the two cousins, Sinang and +Victoria, who have come to keep the sick girl company. Andeng is +helping them clean a silver tea-set. + +"Do you know Dr. Espadana?" the foster-sister of Maria Clara asks +Victoria curiously. + +"No," replies the latter, "the only thing that I know about him is +that he charges high, according to Capitan Tiago." + +"Then he must be good!" exclaims Andeng. "The one who performed an +operation on Dona Maria charged high; so he was learned." + +"Silly!" retorts Sinang. "Every one who charges high is not +learned. Look at Dr. Guevara; after performing a bungling operation +that cost the life of both mother and child, he charged the widower +fifty pesos. The thing to know is how to charge!" + +"What do you know about it?" asks her cousin, nudging her. + +"Don't I know? The husband, who is a poor sawyer, after losing his +wife had to lose his home also, for the alcalde, being a friend of +the doctor's, made him pay. Don't I know about it, when my father +lent him the money to make the journey to Santa Cruz?" [114] + +The sound of a carriage stopping in front of the house put an end +to these conversations. Capitan Tiago, followed by Aunt Isabel, ran +down the steps to welcome the new arrivals: the Doctor Don Tiburcio +de Espadana, his senora the _Doctora_ Dona Victorina de los Reyes +_de_ De Espadana, and a young Spaniard of pleasant countenance and +agreeable aspect. + +Dona Victorina was attired in a loose silk gown embroidered with +flowers and a hat with a huge parrot half-crushed between blue and +red ribbons. The dust of the road mingled with the rice-powder on +her cheeks seemed to accentuate her wrinkles. As at the time we saw +her in Manila, she now supported her lame husband on her arm. + +"I have the pleasure of introducing to you our cousin, Don Alfonso +Linares de Espadana," said Dona Victorina, indicating their young +companion. "The gentleman is a godson of a relative of Padre Damaso's +and has been private secretary to all the ministers." + +The young man bowed politely and Capitan Tiago came very near to +kissing his hand. + +While their numerous trunks and traveling-bags are being carried +in and Capitan Tiago is conducting them to their rooms, let us talk +a little of this couple whose acquaintance we made slightly in the +first chapters. + +Dona Victorina was a lady of forty and five winters, which were +equivalent to thirty and two summers according to her arithmetical +calculations. She had been beautiful in her youth, having had, as +she used to say, 'good flesh,' but in the ecstasies of contemplating +herself she had looked with disdain on her many Filipino admirers, +since her aspirations were toward another race. She had refused to +bestow on any one her little white hand, not indeed from distrust, +for not a few times had she given jewelry and gems of great value to +various foreign and Spanish adventurers. Six months before the time of +our story she had seen realized her most beautiful dream,--the dream +of her whole life,--for which she might scorn the fond illusions +of her youth and even the promises of love that Capitan Tiago had +in other days whispered in her ear or sung in some serenade. Late, +it is true, had the dream been realized, but Dona Victorina, who, +although she spoke the language badly, was more Spanish than Augustina +of Saragossa, [115] understood the proverb, "Better late than never," +and found consolation in repeating it to herself. "Absolute happiness +does not exist on earth," was another favorite proverb of hers, +but she never used both together before other persons. + +Having passed her first, second, third, and fourth youth in casting +her nets in the sea of the world for the object of her vigils, she had +been compelled at last to content herself with what fate was willing +to apportion her. Had the poor woman been only thirty and one instead +of thirty and two summers--the difference according to her mode of +reckoning was great--she would have restored to Destiny the award it +offered her to wait for another more suited to her taste, but since +man proposes and necessity disposes, she saw herself obliged in her +great need for a husband to content herself with a poor fellow who had +been cast out from Estremadura [116] and who, after wandering about +the world for six or seven years like a modern Ulysses, had at last +found on the island of Luzon hospitality and a withered Calypso for +his better half. This unhappy mortal, by name Tiburcio Espadana, was +only thirty-five years of age and looked like an old man, yet he was, +nevertheless, younger than Dona Victorina, who was only thirty-two. The +reason for this is easy to understand but dangerous to state. + +Don Tiburcio had come to the Philippines as a petty official in the +Customs, but such had been his bad luck that, besides suffering +severely from seasickness and breaking a leg during the voyage, +he had been dismissed within a fortnight, just at the time when he +found himself without a cuarto. After his rough experience on the sea +he did not care to return to Spain without having made his fortune, +so he decided to devote himself to something. Spanish pride forbade +him to engage in manual labor, although the poor fellow would gladly +have done any kind of work in order to earn an honest living. But the +prestige of the Spaniards would not have allowed it, even though this +prestige did not protect him from want. + +At first he had lived at the expense of some of his countrymen, but in +his honesty the bread tasted bitter, so instead of getting fat he grew +thin. Since he had neither learning nor money nor recommendations he +was advised by his countrymen, who wished to get rid of him, to go to +the provinces and pass himself off as a doctor of medicine. He refused +at first, for he had learned nothing during the short period that he +had spent as an attendant in a hospital, his duties there having been +to dust off the benches and light the fires. But as his wants were +pressing and as his scruples were soon laid to rest by his friends +he finally listened to them and went to the provinces. He began by +visiting some sick persons, and at first made only moderate charges, +as his conscience dictated, but later, like the young philosopher +of whom Samaniego [117] tells, he ended by putting a higher price +on his visits. Thus he soon passed for a great physician and would +probably have made his fortune if the medical authorities in Manila +had not heard of his exorbitant fees and the competition that he was +causing others. Both private parties and professionals interceded for +him. "Man," they said to the zealous medical official, "let him make +his stake and as soon as he has six or seven thousand pesos he can +go back home and live there in peace. After all, what does it matter +to you if he does deceive the unwary Indians? They should be more +careful! He's a poor devil--don't take the bread from his mouth--be a +good Spaniard!" This official was a good Spaniard and agreed to wink at +the matter, but the news soon reached the ears of the people and they +began to distrust him, so in a little while he lost his practise and +again saw himself obliged almost to beg his daily bread. It was then +that he learned through a friend, who was an intimate acquaintance of +Dona Victorina's, of the dire straits in which that lady was placed +and also of her patriotism and her kind heart. Don Tiburcio then saw +a patch of blue sky and asked to be introduced to her. + +Dona Victorina and Don Tiburcio met: _tarde venientibus ossa_, +[118] he would have exclaimed had he known Latin! She was no longer +passable, she was passee. Her abundant hair had been reduced to a knot +about the size of an onion, according to her maid, while her face was +furrowed with wrinkles and her teeth were falling loose. Her eyes, +too, had suffered considerably, so that she squinted frequently in +looking any distance. Her disposition was the only part of her that +remained intact. + +At the end of a half-hour's conversation they understood and accepted +each other. She would have preferred a Spaniard who was less lame, +less stuttering, less bald, less toothless, who slobbered less when he +talked, and who had more "spirit" and "quality," as she used to say, +but that class of Spaniards no longer came to seek her hand. She +had more than once heard it said that opportunity is pictured as +being bald, and firmly believed that Don Tiburcio was opportunity +itself, for as a result of his misfortunes he suffered from premature +baldness. And what woman is not prudent at thirty-two years of age? + +Don Tiburcio, for his part, felt a vague melancholy when he thought of +his honeymoon, but smiled with resignation and called to his support +the specter of hunger. Never had he been ambitious or pretentious; his +tastes were simple and his desires limited; but his heart, untouched +till then, had dreamed of a very different divinity. Back there in his +youth when, worn out with work, he lay doom on his rough bed after +a frugal meal, he used to fall asleep dreaming of an image, smiling +and tender. Afterwards, when troubles and privations increased and +with the passing of years the poetical image failed to materialize, +he thought modestly of a good woman, diligent and industrious, who +would bring him a small dowry, to console him for the fatigues of +his toil and to quarrel with him now and then--yes, he had thought of +quarrels as a kind of happiness! But when obliged to wander from land +to land in search not so much of fortune as of some simple means of +livelihood for the remainder of his days; when, deluded by the stories +of his countrymen from overseas, he had set out for the Philippines, +realism gave, place to an arrogant mestiza or a beautiful Indian with +big black eyes, gowned in silks and transparent draperies, loaded +down with gold and diamonds, offering him her love, her carriages, +her all. When he reached Manila he thought for a time that his dream +was to be realized, for the young women whom he saw driving on the +Luneta and the Malecon in silver-mounted carriages had gazed at him +with some curiosity. Then after his position was gone, the mestiza and +the Indian disappeared and with great effort he forced before himself +the image of a widow, of course an agreeable widow! So when he saw +his dream take shape in part he became sad, but with a certain touch +of native philosophy said to himself, "Those were all dreams and in +this world one does not live on dreams!" Thus he dispelled his doubts: +she used rice-powder, but after their marriage he would break her +of the habit; her face had many wrinkles, but his coat was torn and +patched; she was a pretentious old woman, domineering and mannish, +but hunger was more terrible, more domineering and pretentious still, +and anyway, he had been blessed with a mild disposition for that very +end, and love softens the character. She spoke Spanish badly, but he +himself did not talk it well, as he had been told when notified of his +dismissal Moreover, what did it matter to him if she was an ugly and +ridiculous old woman? He was lame, toothless, and bald! Don Tiburcio +preferred to take charge of her rather than to become a public charge +from hunger. When some friends joked with him about it, he answered, +"Give me bread and call me a fool." + +Don Tiburcio was one of those men who are popularly spoken of as +unwilling to harm a fly. Modest, incapable of harboring an unkind +thought, in bygone days he would have been made a missionary. His stay +in the country had not given him the conviction of grand superiority, +of great valor, and of elevated importance that the greater part +of his countrymen acquire in a few weeks. His heart had never been +capable of entertaining hate nor had he been able to find a single +filibuster; he saw only unhappy wretches whom he must despoil if he +did not wish to be more unhappy than they were. When he was threatened +with prosecution for passing himself off as a physician he was not +resentful nor did he complain. Recognizing the justness of the charge +against him, he merely answered, "But it's necessary to live!" + +So they married, or rather, bagged each other, and went to Santa Ann +to spend their honeymoon. But on their wedding-night Dona Victorina +was attacked by a horrible indigestion and Don Tiburcio thanked God +and showed himself solicitous and attentive. A few days afterward, +however, he looked into a mirror and smiled a sad smile as he gazed +at his naked gums, for he had aged ten years at least. + +Very well satisfied with her husband, Dona Victorina had a fine +set of false teeth made for him and called in the best tailors of +the city to attend to his clothing. She ordered carriages, sent to +Batangas and Albay for the best ponies, and even obliged him to keep a +pair for the races. Nor did she neglect her own person while she was +transforming him. She laid aside the native costume for the European +and substituted false frizzes for the simple Filipino coiffure, while +her gowns, which fitted her marvelously ill, disturbed the peace of +all the quiet neighborhood. + +Her husband, who never went out on foot,--she did not care to have his +lameness noticed,--took her on lonely drives in unfrequented places to +her great sorrow, for she wanted to show him off in public, but she +kept quiet out of respect for their honeymoon. The last quarter was +coming on when he took up the subject of the rice-powder, telling her +that the use of it was false and unnatural. Dona Victorina wrinkled +up her eyebrows and stared at his false teeth. He became silent, +and she understood his weakness. + +She placed a _de_ before her husband's surname, since the _de_ cost +nothing and gave "quality" to the name, signing herself "Victorina +de los Reyes _de_ De Espadana." This _de_ was such a mania with her +that neither the stationer nor her husband could get it out of her +head. "If I write only one _de_ it may be thought that you don't have +it, you fool!" she said to her husband. [119] + +Soon she believed that she was about to become a mother, so she +announced to all her acquaintances, "Next month De Espadana and I are +going to the _Penyinsula_. I don't want our son to be born here and +be called a revolutionist." She talked incessantly of the journey, +having memorized the names of the different ports of call, so that +it was a treat to hear her talk: "I'm going to see the isthmus in the +Suez Canal--De Espadana thinks it very beautiful and De Espadana has +traveled over the whole world." "I'll probably not return to this +land of savages." "I wasn't born to live here--Aden or Port Said +would suit me better--I've thought so ever since I was a girl." In +her geography Dona Victorina divided the world into the Philippines +and Spain; rather differently from the clever people who divide it +into Spain and America or China for another name. + +Her husband realized that these things were barbarisms, but held his +peace to escape a scolding or reminders of his stuttering. To increase +the illusion of approaching maternity she became whimsical, dressed +herself in colors with a profusion of flowers and ribbons, and appeared +on the Escolta in a wrapper. But oh, the disenchantment! Three months +went by and the dream faded, and now, having no reason for fearing +that her son would be a revolutionist, she gave up the trip. She +consulted doctors, midwives, old women, but all in vain. Having to the +great displeasure of Capitan Tiago jested about St. Pascual Bailon, +she was unwilling to appeal to any saint. For this reason a friend +of her husband's remarked to her: + +"Believe me, senora, you are the only _strong-spirited_ person in +this tiresome country." + +She had smiled, without knowing what _strong-spirited_ meant, but that +night she asked her husband. "My dear," he answered, "the s-strongest +s-spirit that I know of is ammonia. My f-friend must have s-spoken +f-figuratively." + +After that she would say on every possible occasion, "I'm the only +ammonia in this tiresome country, speaking figuratively. So Senor +N. de N., a Peninsular gentleman of quality, told me." + +Whatever she said had to be done, for she had succeeded in dominating +her husband completely. He on his part did not put up any great +resistance and so was converted into a kind of lap-dog of hers. If +she was displeased with him she would not let him go out, and when +she was really angry she tore out his false teeth, thus leaving him +a horrible sight for several days. + +It soon occurred to her that her husband ought to be a doctor of +medicine and surgery, and she so informed him. + +"My dear, do you w-want me to be arrested?" he asked fearfully. + +"Don't be a fool! Leave me to arrange it," she answered. "You're +not going to treat any one, but I want people to call you _Doctor_ +and me _Doctora_, see?" + +So on the following day Rodoreda [120] received an order to engrave on +a slab of black marble: DR. DE ESPADANA, SPECIALIST IN ALL KINDS OF +DISEASES. All the servants had to address them by their new titles, +and as a result she increased the number of frizzes, the layers of +rice-powder, the ribbons and laces, and gazed with more disdain than +ever on her poor and unfortunate countrywomen whose husbands belonged +to a lower grade of society than hers did. Day by day she felt more +dignified and exalted and, by continuing in this way, at the end of +a year she would have believed herself to be of divine origin. + +These sublime thoughts, however, did not keep her from becoming older +and more ridiculous every day. Every time Capitan Tiago saw her and +recalled having made love to her in vain he forthwith sent a peso to +the church for a mass of thanksgiving. Still, he greatly respected her +husband on account of his title of specialist in all kinds of diseases +and listened attentively to the few phrases that he was able to stutter +out. For this reason and because this doctor was more exclusive than +others, Capitan Tiago had selected him to treat his daughter. + +In regard to young Linares, that is another matter. When arranging for +the trip to Spain, Dona Victorina had thought of having a Peninsular +administrator, as she did not trust the Filipinos. Her husband +bethought himself of a nephew of his in Madrid who was studying law +and who was considered the brightest of the family. So they wrote to +him, paying his passage in advance, and when the dream disappeared +he was already on his way. + +Such were the three persons who had just arrived. While they were +partaking of a late breakfast, Padre Salvi came in. The Espadanas +were already acquainted with him, and they introduced the blushing +young Linares with all his titles. + +As was natural, they talked of Maria Clara, who was resting and +sleeping. They talked of their journey, and Dona Victorina exhibited +all her verbosity in criticising the customs of the provincials,--their +nipa houses, their bamboo bridges; without forgetting to mention to +the curate her intimacy with this and that high official and other +persons of "quality" who were very fond of her. + +"If you had come two days ago, Dona Victorina," put in Capitan +Tiago during a slight pause, "you would have met his Excellency, +the Captain-General. He sat right there." + +"What! How's that? His Excellency here! In your house? No!" + +"I tell you that he sat right there. If you had only come two days +ago--" + +"Ah, what a pity that Clarita did not get sick sooner!" she exclaimed +with real feeling. Then turning to Linares, "Do you hear, cousin? His +Excellency was here! Don't you see now that De Espadana was right +when he told you that you weren't going to the house of a miserable +Indian? Because, you know, Don Santiago, in Madrid our cousin was +the friend of ministers and dukes and dined in the house of Count +El Campanario." + +"The Duke of La Torte, Victorina," corrected her husband. [121] + +"It's the same thing. If you will tell me--" + +"Shall I find Padre Damaso in his town?" interrupted Linares, +addressing Padre Salvi. "I've been told that it's near here." + +"He's right here and will be over in a little while," replied the +curate. + +"How glad I am of that! I have a letter to him," exclaimed the youth, +"and if it were not for the happy chance that brings me here, I would +have come expressly to visit him." + +In the meantime the _happy_ chance had awakened. + +"De Espadana," said Dona Victorina, when the meal was over, "shall +we go in to see Clarita?" Then to Capitan Tiago, "Only for you, Don +Santiago, only for you! My husband only attends persons of quality, +and yet, and yet--! He's not like those here. In Madrid he only +visited persons of quality." + +They adjourned to the sick girl's chamber. The windows were closed +from fear of a draught, so the room was almost dark, being only +dimly illuminated by two tapers which burned before an image of the +Virgin of Antipolo. Her head covered with a handkerchief saturated +in cologne, her body wrapped carefully in white sheets which swathed +her youthful form with many folds, under curtains of jusi and pina, +the girl lay on her kamagon bed. Her hair formed a frame around her +oval countenance and accentuated her transparent paleness, which +was enlivened only by her large, sad eyes. At her side were her two +friends and Andeng with a bouquet of tuberoses. + +De Espadana felt her pulse, examined her tongue, asked a few questions, +and said, as he wagged his head from side to side, "S-she's s-sick, +but s-she c-can be c-cured." Dona Victorina looked proudly at the +bystanders. + +"Lichen with milk in the morning, syrup of marshmallow, two cynoglossum +pills!" ordered De Espadana. + +"Cheer up, Clarita!" said Dona Victorina, going up to her. "We've +come to cure you. I want to introduce our cousin." + +Linares was so absorbed in the contemplation of those eloquent eyes, +which seemed to be searching for some one, that he did not hear Dona +Victorina name him. + +"Senor Linares," said the curate, calling him out of his abstraction, +"here comes Padre Damaso." + +It was indeed Padre Damaso, but pale and rather sad. On leaving his +bed his first visit was for Maria Clara. Nor was it the Padre Damaso +of former times, hearty and self-confident; now he moved silently +and with some hesitation. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +Plans + + +Without heeding any of the bystanders, Padre Damaso went directly +to the bed of the sick girl and taking her hand said to her with +ineffable tenderness, while tears sprang into his eyes, "Maria, +my daughter, you mustn't die!" + +The sick girl opened her eyes and stared at him with a strange +expression. No one who knew the Franciscan had suspected in him such +tender feelings, no one had believed that under his rude and rough +exterior there might beat a heart. Unable to go on, he withdrew from +the girl's side, weeping like a child, and went outside under the +favorite vines of Maria Clara's balcony to give free rein to his grief. + +"How he loves his goddaughter!" thought all present, while Fray Salvi +gazed at him motionlessly and in silence, lightly gnawing his lips +the while. + +When he had become somewhat calm again Dona Victorina introduced +Linares, who approached him respectfully. Fray Damaso silently looked +him over from head to foot, took the letter offered and read it, +but apparently without understanding, for he asked, "And who are you?" + +"Alfonso Linares, the godson of your brother-in-law," stammered the +young man. + +Padre Damaso threw back his body and looked the youth over again +carefully. Then his features lighted up and he arose. "So you are the +godson of Carlicos!" he exclaimed. "Come and let me embrace you! I +got your letter several days ago. So it's you! I didn't recognize +you,--which is easily explained, for you weren't born when I left the +country,--I didn't recognize you!" Padre Damaso squeezed his robust +arms about the young man, who became very red, whether from modesty +or lack of breath is not known. + +After the first moments of effusion had passed and inquiries about +Carlicos and his wife had been made and answered, Padre Damaso asked, +"Come now, what does Carlicos want me to do for you?" + +"I believe he says something about that in the letter," Linares +again stammered. + +"In the letter? Let's see! That's right! He wants me to get you a job +and a wife. Ahem! A job, a job that's easy! Can you read and write?" + +"I received my degree of law from the University." + +"_Carambas!_ So you're a pettifogger! You don't show it; you look +more like a shy maiden. So much the better! But to get you a wife--" + +"Padre, I'm not in such a great hurry," interrupted Linares in +confusion. + +But Padre Damaso was already pacing from one end of the hallway to +the other, muttering, "A wife, a wife!" His countenance was no longer +sad or merry but now wore an expression of great seriousness, while +he seemed to be thinking deeply. Padre Salvi gazed on the scene from +a distance. + +"I didn't think that the matter would trouble me so much," murmured +Padre Damaso in a tearful voice. "But of two evils, the lesser!" Then +raising his voice he approached Linares and said to him, "Come, boy, +let's talk to Santiago." + +Linares turned pale and allowed himself to be dragged along by the +priest, who moved thoughtfully. Then it was Padre Salvi's turn to +pace back and forth, pensive as ever. + +A voice wishing him good morning drew him from his monotonous walk. He +raised his head and saw Lucas, who saluted him humbly. + +"What do you want?" questioned the curate's eyes. + +"Padre, I'm the brother of the man who was killed on the day of the +fiesta," began Lucas in tearful accents. + +The curate recoiled and murmured in a scarcely audible voice, "Well?" + +Lucas made an effort to weep and wiped his eyes with a +handkerchief. "Padre," he went on tearfully, "I've been to Don +Crisostomo to ask for an indemnity. First he received me with kicks, +saying that he wouldn't pay anything since he himself had run the risk +of getting killed through the fault of my dear, unfortunate brother. I +went to talk to him yesterday, but he had gone to Manila. He left +me five hundred pesos for charity's sake and charged me not to come +back again. Ah, Padre, five hundred pesos for my poor brother--five +hundred pesos! Ah, Padre--" + +At first the curate had listened with surprise and attention while +his lips curled slightly with a smile of such disdain and sarcasm +at the sight of this farce that, had Lucas noticed it, he would have +run away at top speed. "Now what do you want?" he asked, turning away. + +"Ah, Padre, tell me for the love of God what I ought to do. The padre +has always given good advice." + +"Who told you so? You don't belong in these parts." + +"The padre is known all over the province." + +With irritated looks Padre Salvi approached him and pointing to the +street said to the now startled Lucas, "Go home and be thankful that +Don Crisostomo didn't have you sent to jail! Get out of here!" + +Lucas forgot the part he was playing and murmured, "But I thought--" + +"Get out of here!" cried Padre Salvi nervously. + +"I would like to see Padre Damaso." + +"Padre Damaso is busy. Get out of here!" again ordered the curate +imperiously. + +Lucas went down the stairway muttering, "He's another of them--as he +doesn't pay well--the one who pays best!" + +At the sound of the curate's voice all had hurried to the spot, +including Padre Damaso, Capitan Tiago, and Linares. + +"An insolent vagabond who came to beg and who doesn't want to work," +explained Padre Salvi, picking up his hat and cane to return to +the convento. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +An Examination of Conscience + + +Long days and weary nights passed at the sick girl's bed. After having +confessed herself, Maria Clara had suffered a relapse, and in her +delirium she uttered only the name of the mother whom she had never +known. But her girl friends, her father, and her aunt kept watch at +her side. Offerings and alms were sent to all the miraculous images, +Capitan Tiago vowed a gold cane to the Virgin of Antipolo, and at +length the fever began to subside slowly and regularly. + +Doctor De Espadana was astonished at the virtues of the syrup of +marshmallow and the infusion of lichen, prescriptions that he had not +varied. Dona Victorina was so pleased with her husband that one day +when he stepped on the train of her gown she did not apply her penal +code to the extent of taking his set of false teeth away from him, +but contented herself with merely exclaiming, "If you weren't lame +you'd even step on my corset!"--an article of apparel she did not wear. + +One afternoon while Sinang and Victoria were visiting their friend, +the curate, Capitan Tiago, and Dona Victorina's family were conversing +over their lunch in the dining-room. + +"Well, I feel very sorry about it," said the doctor; "Padre Damaso +also will regret it very much." + +"Where do you say they're transferring him to?" Linares asked the +curate. + +"To the province of Tayabas," replied the curate negligently. + +"One who will be greatly affected by it is Maria Clara, when she +learns of it," said Capitan Tiago. "She loves him like a father." + +Fray Salvi looked at him askance. + +"I believe, Padre," continued Capitan Tiago, "that all her illness +is the result of the trouble on the last day of the fiesta." + +"I'm of the same opinion, and think that you've done well not to let +Senor Ibarra see her. She would have got worse. + +"If it wasn't for us," put in Dona Victorina, "Clarita would already +be in heaven singing praises to God." + +"Amen!" Capitan Tiago thought it his duty to exclaim. "It's lucky +for you that my husband didn't have any patient of greater quality, +for then you'd have had to call in another, and all those here are +ignoramuses. My husband--" + +"Just as I was saying," the curate in turn interrupted, "I think that +the confession that Maria Clara made brought on the favorable crisis +which has saved her life. A clean conscience is worth more than a lot +of medicine. Don't think that I deny the power of science, above all, +that of surgery, but a clean conscience! Read the pious books and +you'll see how many cures are effected merely by a clean confession." + +"Pardon me," objected the piqued Dona Victorina, "this power of the +confessional--cure the alferez's woman with a confession!" + +"A wound, madam, is not a form of illness which the conscience +can affect," replied Padre Salvi severely. "Nevertheless, a clean +confession will preserve her from receiving in the future such blows +as she got this morning." + +"She deserves them!" went on Dona Victorina as if she had not heard +what Padre Salvi said. "That woman is so insolent! In the church she +did nothing but stare at me. You can see that she's a nobody. Sunday +I was going to ask her if she saw anything funny about my face, +but who would lower oneself to speak to people that are not of rank?" + +The curate, on his part, continued just as though he had not heard +this tirade. "Believe me, Don Santiago, to complete your daughter's +recovery it's necessary that she take communion tomorrow. I'll bring +the viaticum over here. I don't think she has anything to confess, +but yet, if she wants to confess herself tonight--" + +"I don't know," Dona Victorina instantly took advantage of a slight +hesitation on Padre Salvi's part to add, "I don't understand how +there can be men capable of marrying such a fright as that woman +is. It's easily seen where she comes from. She's just dying of envy, +you can see it! How much does an alferez get?" + +"Accordingly, Don Santiago, tell your cousin to prepare the sick girl +for the communion tomorrow. I'll come over tonight to absolve her of +her peccadillos." + +Seeing Aunt Isabel come from the sick-room, he said to her in Tagalog, +"Prepare your niece for confession tonight. Tomorrow I'll bring over +the viaticum. With that she'll improve faster." + +"But, Padre," Linares gathered up enough courage to ask faintly, +"you don't think that she's in any danger of dying?" + +"Don't you worry," answered the padre without looking at him. "I +know what I'm doing; I've helped take care of plenty of sick people +before. Besides, she'll decide herself whether or not she wishes to +receive the holy communion and you'll see that she says yes." + +Capitan Tiago immediately agreed to everything, while Aunt Isabel +returned to the sick girl's chamber. Maria Clara was still in bed, +pale, very pale, and at her side were her two friends. + +"Take one more grain," Sinang whispered, as she offered her a white +tablet that she took from a small glass tube. "He says that when you +feel a rumbling or buzzing in your ears you are to stop the medicine." + +"Hasn't he written to you again?" asked the sick girl in a low voice. + +"No, he must be very busy." + +"Hasn't he sent any message?" + +"He says nothing more than that he's going to try to get the Archbishop +to absolve him from the excommunication, so that--" + +This conversation was suspended at the aunt's approach. "The +padre says for you to get ready for confession, daughter," said the +latter. "You girls must leave her so that she can make her examination +of conscience." + +"But it hasn't been a week since she confessed!" protested Sinang. "I'm +not sick and I don't sin as often as that." + +"Aba! Don't you know what the curate says: the righteous sin seven +times a day? Come, what book shall I bring you, the _Ancora_, the +_Ramillete_, or the _Camino Recto para ir al Cielo?_" + +Maria Clara did not answer. + +"Well, you mustn't tire yourself," added the good aunt to console +her. "I'll read the examination myself and you'll have only to recall +your sins." + +"Write to him not to think of me any more," murmured Maria Clara in +Sinang's ear as the latter said good-by to her. + +"What?" + +But the aunt again approached, and Sinang had to go away without +understanding what her friend had meant. The good old aunt drew a +chair up to the light, put her spectacles on the end of her nose, and +opened a booklet. "Pay close attention, daughter. I'm going to begin +with the Ten Commandments. I'll go slow so that you can meditate. If +you don't hear well tell me so that I can repeat. You know that in +looking after your welfare I'm never weary." + +She began to read in a monotonous and snuffling voice the +considerations of cases of sinfulness. At the end of each paragraph +she made a long pause in order to give the girl time to recall her +sins and to repent of them. + +Maria Clara stared vaguely into space. After finishing the first +commandment, _to love God above all things_, Aunt Isabel looked at +her over her spectacles and was satisfied with her sad and thoughtful +mien. She coughed piously and after a long pause began to read the +second commandment. The good old woman read with unction and when she +had finished the commentaries looked again at her niece, who turned +her head slowly to the other side. + +"Bah!" said Aunt Isabel to herself. "With taking His holy name in vain +the poor child has nothing to do. Let's pass on to the third." [122] + +The third commandment was analyzed and commented upon. After citing +all the cases in which one can break it she again looked toward the +bed. But now she lifted up her glasses and rubbed her eyes, for she +had seen her niece raise a handkerchief to her face as if to wipe +away tears. + +"Hum, ahem! The poor child once went to sleep during the sermon." Then +replacing her glasses on the end of her nose, she said, "Now let's +see if, just as you've failed to keep holy the Sabbath, you've failed +to honor your father and mother." + +So she read the fourth commandment in an even slower and more snuffling +voice, thinking thus to give solemnity to the act, just as she had +seen many friars do. Aunt Isabel had never heard a Quaker preach or +she would also have trembled. + +The sick girl, in the meantime, raised the handkerchief to her eyes +several times and her breathing became more noticeable. + +"What a good soul!" thought the old woman. "She who is so obedient +and submissive to every one! I've committed more sins and yet I've +never been able really to cry." + +She then began the fifth commandment with greater pauses and even +more pronounced snuffling, if that were possible, and with such great +enthusiasm that she did not hear the stifled sobs of her niece. Only +in a pause which she made after the comments on homicide, by violence +did she notice the groans of the sinner. Then her tone passed into the +sublime as she read the rest of the commandment in accents that she +tried to reader threatening, seeing that her niece was still weeping. + +"Weep, daughter, weep!" she said, approaching the bed. "The more you +weep the sooner God will pardon you. Hold the sorrow of repentance as +better than that of mere penitence. Weep, daughter, weep! You don't +know how much I enjoy seeing you weep. Beat yourself on the breast +also, but not hard, for you're still sick." + +But, as if her sorrow needed mystery and solitude to make it increase, +Maria Clara, on seeing herself observed, little by little stopped +sighing and dried her eyes without saying anything or answering her +aunt, who continued the reading. Since the wails of her audience had +ceased, however, she lost her enthusiasm, and the last commandments +made her so sleepy that she began to yawn, with great detriment to +her snuffling, which was thus interrupted. + +"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it," +thought the good old lady afterwards. "This girl sins like a soldier +against the first five and from the sixth to the tenth not a venial +sin, just the opposite to us! How the world does move now!" + +So she lighted a large candle to the Virgin of Antipolo and two other +smaller ones to Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of the Pillar, +[123] taking care to put away in a corner a marble crucifix to make +it understand that the candles were not lighted for it. Nor did the +Virgin of Delaroche have any share; she was an unknown foreigner, +and Aunt Isabel had never heard of any miracle of hers. + +We do not know what occurred during the confession that night and we +respect such secrets. But the confession was a long one and the aunt, +who stood watch over her niece at a distance, could note that the +curate, instead of turning his ear to hear the words of the sick girl, +rather had his face turned toward hers, and seemed only to be trying +to read, or divine, her thoughts by gazing into her beautiful eyes. + +Pale and with contracted lips Padre Salvi left the chamber. Looking +at his forehead, which was gloomy and covered with perspiration, +one would have said that it was he who had confessed and had not +obtained absolution. + +"_Jesus, Maria, y Jose!_" exclaimed Aunt Isabel, crossing herself to +dispel an evil thought, "who understands the girls nowadays?" + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +The Hunted + + +In the dim light shed by the moonbeams sifting through the thick +foliage a man wandered through the forest with slow and cautious +steps. From time to time, as if to find his way, he whistled a peculiar +melody, which was answered in the distance by some one whistling the +same air. The man would listen attentively and then make his way in +the direction of the distant sound, until at length, after overcoming +the thousand obstacles offered by the virgin forest in the night-time, +he reached a small open space, which was bathed in the light of the +moon in its first quarter. The high, tree-crowned rocks that rose +about formed a kind of ruined amphitheater, in the center of which +were scattered recently felled trees and charred logs among boulders +covered with nature's mantle of verdure. + +Scarcely had the unknown arrived when another figure started suddenly +from behind a large rock and advanced with drawn revolver. "Who are +you?" he asked in Tagalog in an imperious tone, cocking the weapon. + +"Is old Pablo among you?" inquired the unknown in an even tone, +without answering the question or showing any signs of fear. + +"You mean the capitan? Yes, he's here." + +"Then tell him that Elias is here looking for him," was the answer +of the unknown, who was no other than the mysterious pilot. + +"Are you Elias?" asked the other respectfully, as he approached him, +not, however, ceasing to cover him with the revolver. "Then come!" + +Elias followed him, and they penetrated into a kind of cave sunk +down in the depths of the earth. The guide, who seemed to be familiar +with the way, warned the pilot when he should descend or turn aside +or stoop down, so they were not long in reaching a kind of hall +which was poorly lighted by pitch torches and occupied by twelve to +fifteen armed men with dirty faces and soiled clothing, some seated +and some lying down as they talked fitfully to one another. Resting +his arms on a stone that served for a table and gazing thoughtfully +at the torches, which gave out so little light for so much smoke, +was seen an old, sad-featured man with his head wrapped in a bloody +bandage. Did we not know that it was a den of tulisanes we might have +said, on reading the look of desperation in the old man's face, that +it was the Tower of Hunger on the eve before Ugolino devoured his sons. + +Upon the arrival of Elias and his guide the figures partly rose, +but at a signal from the latter they settled back again, satisfying +themselves with the observation that the newcomer was unarmed. The +old man turned his head slowly and saw the quiet figure of Elias, +who stood uncovered, gazing at him with sad interest. + +"It's you at last," murmured the old man, his gaze lighting up somewhat +as he recognized the youth. + +"In what condition do I find you!" exclaimed the youth in a suppressed +tone, shaking his head. + +The old man dropped his head in silence and made a sign to the others, +who arose and withdrew, first taking the measure of the pilot's +muscles and stature with a glance. + +"Yes!" said the old man to Elias as soon as they were alone. "Six +months ago when I sheltered you in my house, it was I who pitied +you. Now we have changed parts and it is you who pity me. But sit +down and tell me how you got here." + +"It's fifteen days now since I was told of your misfortune," began the +young man slowly in a low voice as he stared at the light. "I started +at once and have been seeking you from mountain to mountain. I've +traveled over nearly the whole of two provinces." + +"In order not to shed innocent blood," continued the old man, "I +have had to flee. My enemies were afraid to show themselves. I was +confronted merely with some unfortunates who have never done me the +least harm." + +After a brief pause during which he seemed to be occupied in trying +to read the thoughts in the dark countenance of the old man, Elias +replied: "I've come to make a proposition to you. Having sought in vain +for some survivor of the family that caused the misfortunes of mine, +I've decided to leave the province where I live and move toward the +North among the independent pagan tribes. Don't you want to abandon +the life you have entered upon and come with me? I will be your son, +since you have lost your own; I have no family, and in you will find +a father." + +The old man shook his, head in negation, saying, "When one at my +age makes a desperate resolution, it's because there is no other +recourse. A man who, like myself, has spent his youth and his mature +years toiling for the future of himself and his sons; a man who has +been submissive to every wish of his superiors, who has conscientiously +performed difficult tasks, enduring all that he might live in peace and +quiet--when that man, whose blood time has chilled, renounces all his +past and foregoes all his future, even on the very brink of the grave, +it is because he has with mature judgment decided that peace does +not exist and that it is not the highest good. Why drag out miserable +days on foreign soil? I had two sons, a daughter, a home, a fortune, +I was esteemed and respected; now I am as a tree shorn of its branches, +a wanderer, a fugitive, hunted like a wild beast through the forest, +and all for what? Because a man dishonored my daughter, because her +brothers called that man's infamy to account, and because that man +is set above his fellows with the title of minister of God! In spite +of everything, I, her father, I, dishonored in my old age, forgave +the injury, for I was indulgent with the passions of youth and the +weakness of the flesh, and in the face of irreparable wrong what could +I do but hold my peace and save what remained to me? But the culprit, +fearful of vengeance sooner or later, sought the destruction of my +sons. Do you know what he did? No? You don't know, then, that he +pretended that there had been a robbery committed in the convento +and that one of my sons figured among the accused? The other could +not be included because he was in another place at the time. Do you +know what tortures they were subjected to? You know of them, for +they are the same in all the towns! I, I saw my son hanging by the +hair, I heard his cries, I heard him call upon me, and I, coward and +lover of peace, hadn't the courage either to kill or to die! Do you +know that the theft was not proved, that it was shown to be a false +charge, and that in punishment the curate was transferred to another +town, but that my son died as a result of his tortures? The other, +the one who was left to me, was not a coward like his father, so our +persecutor was still fearful that he would wreak vengeance on him, +and, under the pretext of his not having his cedula, [124] which he +had not carried with him just at that time, had him arrested by the +Civil Guard, mistreated him, enraged and harassed him with insults +until he was driven to suicide! And I, I have outlived so much shame; +but if I had not the courage of a father to defend my sons, there yet +remains to me a heart burning for revenge, and I will have it! The +discontented are gathering under my command, my enemies increase +my forces, and on the day that I feel myself strong enough I will +descend to the lowlands and in flames sate my vengeance and end my +own existence. And that day will come or there is no God!" [125] + +The old man arose trembling. With fiery look and hollow voice, he +added, tearing his long hair, "Curses, curses upon me that I restrained +the avenging hands of my sons--I have murdered them! Had I let the +guilty perish, had I confided less in the justice of God and men, I +should now have my sons--fugitives, perhaps, but I should have them; +they would not have died under torture! I was not born to be a father, +so I have them not! Curses upon me that I had not learned with my +years to know the conditions under which I lived! But in fire and +blood by my own death I will avenge them!" + +In his paroxysm of grief the unfortunate father tore away the bandage, +reopening a wound in his forehead from which gushed a stream of blood. + +"I respect your sorrow," said Elias, "and I understand your desire +for revenge. I, too, am like you, and yet from fear of injuring the +innocent I prefer to forget my misfortunes." + +"You can forget because you are young and because you haven't lost a +son, your last hope! But I assure you that I shall injure no innocent +one. Do you see this wound? Rather than kill a poor cuadrillero, +who was doing his duty, I let him inflict it." + +"But look," urged Elias, after a moment's silence, "look what a +frightful catastrophe you are going to bring down upon our unfortunate +people. If you accomplish your revenge by your own hand, your enemies +will make terrible reprisals, not against you, not against those who +are armed, but against the peaceful, who as usual will be accused--and +then the eases of injustice!" + +"Let the people learn to defend themselves, let each one defend +himself!" + +"You know that that is impossible. Sir, I knew you in other days when +you were happy; then you gave me good advice, will you now permit me--" + +The old man folded his arms in an attitude of attention. "Sir," +continued Elias, weighing his words well, "I have had the good +fortune to render a service to a young man who is rich, generous, +noble, and who desires the welfare of his country. They say that +this young man has friends in Madrid--I don't know myself--but I +can assure you that he is a friend of the Captain-General's. What +do you say that we make him the bearer of the people's complaints, +if we interest him in the cause of the unhappy?" + +The old man shook his head. "You say that he is rich? The rich think +only of increasing their wealth, pride and show blind them, and as +they are generally safe, above all when they have powerful friends, +none of them troubles himself about the woes of the unfortunate. I +know all, because I was rich!" + +"But the man of whom I speak is not like the others. He is a son who +has been insulted over the memory of his father, and a young man who, +as he is soon to have a family, thinks of the future, of a happy +future for his children." + +"Then he is a man who is going to be happy--our cause is not for +happy men." + +"But it is for men who have feelings!" + +"Perhaps!" replied the old man, seating himself. "Suppose that he +agrees to carry our cry even to the Captain-General, suppose that +he finds in the Cortes [126] delegates who will plead for us; do you +think that we shall get justice?" + +"Let us try it before we resort to violent measure," answered +Elias. "You must be surprised that I, another unfortunate, young +and strong, should propose to you, old and weak, peaceful measures, +but it's because I've seen as much misery caused by us as by the +tyrants. The defenseless are the ones who pay." + +"And if we accomplish nothing?" + +"Something we shall accomplish, believe me, for all those who are in +power are not unjust. But if we accomplish nothing, if they disregard +our entreaties, if man has become deaf to the cry of sorrow from his +kind, then I will put myself under your orders!" + +The old man embraced the youth enthusiastically. "I accept your +proposition, Elias. I know that you will keep your word. You will +come to me, and I shall help you to revenge your ancestors, you will +help me to revenge my sons, my sons that were like you!" + +"In the meantime, sir, you will refrain from violent measures?" + +"You will present the complaints of the people, you know them. When +shall I know your answer?" + +"In four days send a man to the beach at San Diego and I will tell +him what I shall have learned from the person in whom I place so +much hope. If he accepts, they will give us justice; and if not, +I'll be the first to fall in the struggle that we will begin." + +"Elias will not die, Elias will be the leader when Capitan Pablo fails, +satisfied in his revenge," concluded the old man, as he accompanied +the youth out of the cave into the open air. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +The Cockpit + + +To keep holy the afternoon of the Sabbath one generally goes to +the cockpit in the Philippines, just as to the bull-fights in +Spain. Cockfighting, a passion introduced into the country and +exploited for a century past, is one of the vices of the people, more +widely spread than opium-smoking among the Chinese. There the poor +man goes to risk all that he has, desirous of getting rich without +work. There the rich man goes to amuse himself, using the money that +remains to him from his feasts and his masses of thanksgiving. The +fortune that he gambles is his own, the cock is raised with much +more care perhaps than his son and successor in the cockpit, so we +have nothing to say against it. Since the government permits it and +even in a way recommends it, by providing that the spectacle may take +place only in the _public plazas_, on _holidays_ (in order that all +may see it and be encouraged by the example?), _from the high mass +until nightfall (eight_ hours), let us proceed thither to seek out +some of our acquaintances. + +The cockpit of San Diego does not differ from those to be found in +other towns, except in some details. It consists of three parts, +the first of which, the entrance, is a large rectangle some twenty +meters long by fourteen wide. On one side is the gateway, generally +tended by an old woman whose business it is to collect the _sa pintu_, +or admission fee. Of this contribution, which every one pays, the +government receives a part, amounting to some hundreds of thousands of +pesos a year. It is said that with this money, with which vice pays +its license, magnificent schoolhouses are erected, bridges and roads +are constructed, prizes for encouraging agriculture and commerce are +distributed: blessed be the vice that produces such good results! In +this first enclosure are the vendors of buyos, cigars, sweetmeats, +and foodstuffs. There swarm the boys in company with their fathers +or uncles, who carefully initiate them into the secrets of life. + +This enclosure communicates with another of somewhat larger +dimensions,--a kind of foyer where the public gathers while waiting +for the combats. There are the greater part of the fighting-cocks tied +with cords which are fastened to the ground by means of a piece of +bone or hard wood; there are assembled the gamblers, the devotees, +those skilled in tying on the gaffs, there they make agreements, +they deliberate, they beg for loans, they curse, they swear, they +laugh boisterously. That one fondles his chicken, rubbing his hand +over its brilliant plumage, this one examines and counts the scales +on its legs, they recount the exploits of the champions. + +There you will see many with mournful faces carrying by the feet +corpses picked of their feathers; the creature that was the favorite +for months, petted and cared for day and night, on which were founded +such flattering hopes, is now nothing more than a carcass to be +sold for a peseta or to be stewed with ginger and eaten that very +night. _Sic transit gloria mundi!_ The loser returns to the home +where his anxious wife and ragged children await him, without his +money or his chicken. Of all that golden dream, of all those vigils +during months from the dawn of day to the setting of the sun, of all +those fatigues and labors, there results only a peseta, the ashes +left from so much smoke. + +In this foyer even the least intelligent takes part in the discussion, +while the man of most hasty judgment conscientiously investigates +the matter, weighs, examines, extends the wings, feels the muscles of +the cocks. Some go very well-dressed, surrounded and followed by the +partisans of their champions; others who are dirty and bear the imprint +of vice on their squalid features anxiously follow the movements of +the rich to note the bets, since the purse may become empty but the +passion never satiated. No countenance here but is animated--not +here is to be found the indolent, apathetic, silent Filipino--all +is movement, passion, eagerness. It may be, one would say, that they +have that thirst which is quickened by the water of the swamp. + +From this place one passes into the arena, which is known as the +_Rueda_, the wheel. The ground here, surrounded by bamboo-stakes, is +usually higher than that in the two other divisions. In the back part, +reaching almost to the roof, are tiers of seats for the spectators, +or gamblers, since these are the same. During the fights these seats +are filled with men and boys who shout, clamor, sweat, quarrel, +and blaspheme--fortunately, hardly any women get in this far. In the +_Rueda_ are the men of importance, the rich, the famous bettors, the +contractor, the referee. On the perfectly leveled ground the cocks +fight, and from there Destiny apportions to the families smiles or +tears, feast or famine. + +At the time of entering we see the gobernadorcillo, Capitan Pablo, +Capitan Basilio, and Lucas, the man with the sear on his face who +felt so deeply the death of his brother. + +Capitan Basilio approaches one of the townsmen and asks, "Do you know +which cock Capitan Tiago is going to bring?" + +"I don't know, sir. This morning two came, one of them the _lasak_ +that whipped the Consul's _talisain_." [127] + +"Do you think that my _bulik_ is a match for it?" + +"I should say so! I'll bet my house and my camisa on it!" + +At that moment Capitan Tiago arrives, dressed like the heavy gamblers, +in a camisa of Canton linen, woolen pantaloons, and a wide straw +hat. Behind him come two servants carrying the _lasak_ and a white +cock of enormous size. + +"Sinang tells me that Maria is improving all the time," says Capitan +Basilio. + +"She has no more fever but is still very weak." + +"Did you lose last night?" + +"A little. I hear that you won. I'm going to see if I can't get +even here." + +"Do you want to fight the _lasak?_" asks Capitan Basilio, looking at +the cock and taking it from the servant. "That depends--if there's +a bet." + +"How much will you put up?" + +"I won't gamble for less than two." + +"Have you seen my _bulik?_" inquires Capitan Basilio, calling to a +man who is carrying a small game-cock. + +Capitan Tiago examines it and after feeling its weight and studying +its scales returns it with the question, "How much will you put up?" + +"Whatever you will." + +"Two, and five hundred?" + +"Three?" + +"Three!" + +"For the next fight after this!" + +The chorus of curious bystanders and the gamblers spread the news +that two celebrated cocks will fight, each of which has a history +and a well-earned reputation. All wish to see and examine the two +celebrities, opinions are offered, prophecies are made. + +Meanwhile, the murmur of the voices grows, the confusion increases, +the _Rueda_ is broken into, the seats are filled. The skilled +attendants carry the two cocks into the arena, a white and a red, +already armed but with the gaffs still sheathed. Cries are heard, +"On the white!" "On the white!" while some other voice answers, +"On the red!" The odds are on the white, he is the favorite; the red +is the "outsider," the _dejado_. + +Members of the Civil Guard move about in the crowd. They are not +dressed in the uniform of that meritorious corps, but neither are +they in civilian costume. Trousers of _guingon_ with a red stripe, +a camisa stained blue from the faded blouse, and a service-cap, make +up their costume, in keeping with their deportment; they make bets +and keep watch, they raise disturbances and talk of keeping the peace. + +While the spectators are yelling, waving their hands, flourishing and +clinking pieces of silver; while they search in their pockets for the +last coin, or, in the lack of such, try to pledge their word, promising +to sell the carabao or the next crop, two boys, brothers apparently, +follow the bettors with wistful eyes, loiter about, murmur timid words +to which no one listens, become more and more gloomy and gaze at one +another ill-humoredly and dejectedly. Lucas watches them covertly, +smiles malignantly, jingles his silver, passes close to them, and +gazing into the _Rueda_, cries out: + +"Fifty, fifty to twenty on the white!" + +The two brothers exchange glances. + +"I told you," muttered the elder, "that you shouldn't have put up all +the money. If you had listened to me we should now have something to +bet on the red." + +The younger timidly approached Lucas and touched him on the arm. + +"Oh, it's you!" exclaimed the latter, turning around with feigned +surprise. "Does your brother accept my proposition or do you want +to bet?" + +"How can we bet when we've lost everything?" + +"Then you accept?" + +"He doesn't want to! If you would lend us something, now that you +say you know us--" + +Lucas scratched his head, pulled at his camisa, and replied, "Yes, +I know you. You are Tarsilo and Bruno, both young and strong. I know +that your brave father died as a result of the hundred lashes a day +those soldiers gave him. I know that you don't think of revenging him." + +"Don't meddle in our affairs!" broke in Tarsilo, the elder. "That might +lead to trouble. If it were not that we have a sister, we should have +been hanged long ago." + +"Hanged? They only hang a coward, one who has no money or +influence. And at all events the mountains are near." + +"A hundred to twenty on the white!" cried a passer-by. + +"Lend us four pesos, three, two," begged the younger. + +"We'll soon pay them back double. The fight is going to commence." + +Lucas again scratched his head. "Tush! This money isn't mine. Don +Crisostomo has given it to me for those who are willing to serve +him. But I see that you're not like your father--he was really +brave--let him who is not so not seek amusement!" So saying, he drew +away from them a little. + +"Let's take him up, what's the difference?" said Bruno. "It's the same +to be shot as to be hanged. We poor folks are good for nothing else." + +"You're right--but think of our sister!" + +Meanwhile, the ring has been cleared and the combat is about to +begin. The voices die away as the two starters, with the expert who +fastens the gaffs, are left alone in the center. At a signal from +the referee, the expert unsheathes the gaffs and the fine blades +glitter threateningly. + +Sadly and silently the two brothers draw nearer to the ring until their +foreheads are pressed against the railing. A man approaches them and +calls into their ears, "_Pare_, [128] a hundred to ten on the white!" + +Tarsilo stares at him in a foolish way and responds to Bruno's nudge +with a grunt. + +The starters hold the cocks with skilful delicacy, taking care not +to wound themselves. A solemn silence reigns; the spectators seem +to be changed into hideous wax figures. They present one cock to +the other, holding his head down so that the other may peck at it +and thus irritate him. Then the other is given a like opportunity, +for in every duel there must be fair play, whether it is a question +of Parisian cocks or Filipino cocks. Afterwards, they hold them up +in sight of each other, close together, so that each of the enraged +little creatures may see who it is that has pulled out a feather, +and with whom he must fight. Their neck-feathers bristle up as they +gaze at each other fixedly with flashes of anger darting from their +little round eyes. Now the moment has come; the attendants place them +on the ground a short distance apart and leave them a clear field. + +Slowly they advance, their footfalls are, audible on the hard +ground. No one in the crowd speaks, no one breathes. Raising and +lowering their heads as if to gauge one another with a look, the two +cocks utter sounds of defiance and contempt. Each sees the bright +blade throwing out its cold, bluish reflections. The danger animates +them and they rush directly toward each other, but a pace apart they +check themselves with fixed gaze and bristling plumage. At that moment +their little heads are filled with a rush of blood, their anger flashes +forth, and they hurl themselves together with instinctive valor. They +strike beak to beak, breast to breast, gaff to gaff, wing to wing, but +the blows are skilfully parried, only a few feathers fall. Again they +size each other up: suddenly the white rises on his wings, brandishing +the deadly knife, but the red has bent his legs and lowered his head, +so the white smites only the empty air.. Then on touching the ground +the white, fearing a blow from behind, turns quickly to face his +adversary. The red attacks him furiously, but he defends himself +calmly--not undeservedly is he the favorite of the spectators, all +of whom tremulously and anxiously follow the fortunes of the fight, +only here and there an involuntary cry being heard. + +The ground becomes strewn with red and white feathers dyed in blood, +but the contest is not for the first blood; the Filipino, carrying out +the laws dictated by his government, wishes it to be to the death or +until one or the other turns tail and runs. Blood covers the ground, +the blows are more numerous, but victory still hangs in the balance. At +last, with a supreme effort, the white throws himself forward for +a final stroke, fastens his gaff in the wing of the red and catches +it between the bones. But the white himself has been wounded in the +breast and both are weak and feeble from loss of blood. Breathless, +their strength spent, caught one against the other, they remain +motionless until the white, with blood pouring from his beak, falls, +kicking his death-throes. The red remains at his side with his wing +caught, then slowly doubles up his legs and gently closes his eyes. + +Then the referee, in accordance with the rule prescribed by the +government, declares the red the winner. A savage yell greets +the decision, a yell that is heard over the whole town, even and +prolonged. He who hears this from afar then knows that the winner is +the one against which the odds were placed, or the joy would not be +so lasting. The same happens with the nations: when a small one gains +a victory over a large one, it is sung and recounted from age to age. + +"You see now!" said Bruno dejectedly to his brother, "if you had +listened to me we should now have a hundred pesos. You're the cause +of our being penniless." + +Tarsilo did not answer, but gazed about him as if looking for some one. + +"There he is, talking to Pedro," added Bruno. "He's giving him money, +lots of money!" + +True it was that Lucas was counting silver coins into the hand of +Sisa's husband. The two then exchanged some words in secret and +separated, apparently satisfied. + +"Pedro must have agreed. That's what it is to be decided," sighed +Bruno. + +Tarsilo remained gloomy and thoughtful, wiping away with the cuff of +his camisa the perspiration that ran down his forehead. + +"Brother," said Bruno, "I'm going to accept, if you don't decide. The +_law_ [129] continues, the _lasak_ must win and we ought not +to lose any chance. I want to bet on the next fight. What's the +difference? We'll revenge our father." + +"Wait!" said Tarsilo, as he gazed at him fixedly, eye to eye, while +both turned pale. "I'll go with you, you're right. We'll revenge our +father." Still, he hesitated, and again wiped away the perspiration. + +"What's stopping you?" asked Bruno impatiently. + +"Do you know what fight comes next? Is it worth while?" + +"If you think that way, no! Haven't you heard? The _bulik_ of Capitan +Basilio's against Capitan Tiago's _lasak_. According to the _law_ +the _lasak_ must win." + +"Ah, the _lasak_! I'd bet on it, too. But let's be sure first." + +Bruno made a sign of impatience, but followed his brother, who +examined the cock, studied it, meditated and reflected, asked some +questions. The poor fellow was in doubt. Bruno gazed at him with +nervous anger. + +"But don't you see that wide scale he has by the side of his +spur? Don't you see those feet? What more do you want? Look at those +legs, spread out his wings! And this split scale above this wide one, +and this double one?" + +Tarsilo did not hear him, but went on examining the cock. The clinking +of gold and silver came to his ears. "Now let's look at the _bulik_," +he said in a thick voice. + +Bruno stamped on the ground and gnashed his teeth, but obeyed. They +approached another group where a cock was being prepared for the +ring. A gaff was selected, red silk thread for tying it on was waxed +and rubbed thoroughly. Tarsilo took in the creature with a gloomily +impressive gaze, as if he were not looking at the bird so much as at +something in the future. He rubbed his hand across his forehead and +said to his brother in a stifled voice, "Are you ready?" + +"I? Long ago! Without looking at them!" + +"But, our poor sister--" + +"_Aba!_ Haven't they told you that Don Crisostomo is the leader? Didn't +you see him walking with the Captain-General? What risk do we run?" + +"And if we get killed?" + +"What's the difference? Our father was flogged to death!" + +"You're right!" + +The brothers now sought for Lucas in the different groups. As soon +as they saw him Tarsilo stopped. "No! Let's get out of here! We're +going to ruin ourselves!" he exclaimed. + +"Go on if you want to! I'm going to accept!" + +"Bruno!" + +Unfortunately, a man approached them, saying, "Are you betting? I'm +for the _bulik!_" The brothers did not answer. + +"I'll give odds!" + +"How much?" asked Bruno. + +The man began to count out his pesos. Bruno watched him breathlessly. + +"I have two hundred. Fifty to forty!" + +"No," said Bruno resolutely. "Put--" + +"All right! Fifty to thirty!" + +"Double it if you want to." + +"All right. The _bulik_ belongs to my protector and I've just won. A +hundred to sixty!" + +"Taken! Wait till I get the money." + +"But I'll hold the stakes," said the other, not confiding much in +Bruno's looks. + +"It's all the same to me," answered the latter, trusting to his +fists. Then turning to his brother he added, "Even if you do keep out, +I'm going in." + +Tarsilo reflected: he loved his brother and liked the sport, and, +unable to desert him, he murmured, "Let it go." + +They made their way to Lucas, who, on seeing them approach, smiled. + +"Sir!" called Tarsilo. + +"What's up?" + +"How much will you give us?" asked the two brothers together. + +"I've already told you. If you will undertake to get others for the +purpose of making a surprise-attack on the barracks, I'll give each +of you thirty pesos and ten pesos for each companion you bring. If +all goes well, each one will receive a hundred pesos and you double +that amount. Don Crisostomo is rich." + +"Accepted!" exclaimed Bruno. "Let's have the money." + +"I knew you were brave, as your father was! Come, so that those +fellows who killed him may not overhear us," said Lucas, indicating +the civil-guards. + +Taking them into a corner, he explained to them while he was counting +out the money, "Tomorrow Don Crisostomo will get back with the +arms. Day after tomorrow, about eight o'clock at night, go to the +cemetery and I'll let you know the final arrangements. You have time +to look for companions." + +After they had left him the two brothers seemed to have changed +parts--Tarsilo was calm, while Bruno was uneasy. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +The Two Senoras + + +While Capitan Tiago was gambling on his _lasak_, Dona Victorina was +taking a walk through the town for the purpose of observing how the +indolent Indians kept their houses and fields. She was dressed as +elegantly as possible with all her ribbons and flowers over her silk +gown, in order to impress the provincials and make them realize what a +distance intervened between them and her sacred person. Giving her arm +to her lame husband, she strutted along the streets amid the wonder +and stupefaction of the natives. Her cousin Linares had remained in +the house. + +"What ugly shacks these Indians have!" she began with a grimace. "I +don't see how they can live in them--one must have to be an Indian! And +how rude they are and how proud! They don't take off their hats when +they meet us! Hit them over the head as the curates and the officers +of the Civil Guard do--teach them politeness!" + +"And if they hit me back?" asked Dr. De Espadana. + +"That's what you're a man for!" + +"B-but, I'm l-lame!" + +Dona Victorina was falling into a bad humor. The streets were unpaved +and the train of her gown was covered with dust. Besides, they had met +a number of young women, who, in passing them, had dropped their eyes +and had not admired her rich costume as they should have done. Sinang's +cochero, who was driving Sinang and her cousin in an elegant carriage, +had the impudence to yell "_Tabi!_" in such a commanding tone that +she had to jump out of the way, and could only protest: "Look at +that brute of a cochero! I'm going to tell his master to train his +servants better." + +"Let's go back to the house," she commanded to her husband, who, +fearing a storm, wheeled on his crutch in obedience to her mandate. + +They met and exchanged greetings with the alferez. This increased +Dona Victorina's ill humor, for the officer not only did not proffer +any compliment on her costume, but even seemed to stare at it in a +mocking way. + +"You ought not to shake hands with a mere alferez," she said to her +husband as the soldier left them. "He scarcely touched his helmet +while you took off your hat. You don't know how to maintain your rank!" + +"He's the b-boss here!" + +"What do we care for that? We are Indians, perhaps?" + +"You're right," he assented, not caring to quarrel. They passed in +front of the officer's dwelling. Dona Consolacion was at the window, +as usual, dressed in flannel and smoking her cigar. As the house was +low, the two senoras measured one another with looks; Dona Victorina +stared while the Muse of the Civil Guard examined her from head to +foot, and then, sticking out her lower lip, turned her head away +and spat on the ground. This used up the last of Dona Victorina's +patience. Leaving her husband without support, she planted herself +in front of the alfereza, trembling with anger from head to foot and +unable to speak. Dona Consolacion slowly turned her head, calmly looked +her over again, and once more spat, this time with greater disdain. + +"What's the matter with you, Dona?" she asked. + +"Can you tell me, senora, why you look at me so? Are you envious?" Dona +Victorina was at length able to articulate. + +"I, envious of you, I, of you?" drawled the Muse. "Yes, I envy you +those frizzes!" + +"Come, woman!" pleaded the doctor. "D-don't t-take any n-notice!" + +"Let me teach this shameless slattern a lesson," replied his wife, +giving him such a shove that he nearly kissed the ground. Then she +again turned to Dona Consolacion. + +"Remember who you're dealing with!" she exclaimed. "Don't think that +I'm a provincial or a soldier's _querida!_ In my house in Manila the +alfereces don't eater, they wait at the door." + +"Oho, _Excelentisima Senora!_ Alfereces don't enter, but cripples +do--like that one--ha, ha, ha!" + +Had it not been for the rouge, Dona Victorian would have been seen to +blush. She tried to get to her antagonist, but the sentinel stopped +her. In the meantime the street was filling up with a curious crowd. + +"Listen, I lower myself talking to you--people of quality--Don't you +want to wash my clothes? I'll pay you well! Do you think that I don't +know that you were a washerwoman_?_" + +Dona Consolacion straightened up furiously; the remark about washing +hurt her. "Do you think that we don't know who you are and what +class of people you belong with? Get out, my husband has already +told me! Senora, I at least have never belonged to more than one, +but you? One must be dying of hunger to take the leavings, the mop +of the whole world!" + +This shot found its mark with Dona Victorina. She rolled up her +sleeves, clenched her fists, and gritted her teeth. "Come down, +old sow!" she cried. "I'm going to smash that dirty mouth of +yours! _Querida_ of a battalion, filthy hag!" + +The Muse immediately disappeared from the window and was soon seen +running down the stairs flourishing her husband's whip. + +Don Tiburcio interposed himself supplicatingly, but they would have +come to blows had not the alferez arrived on the scene. + +"Ladies! Don Tiburcio!" + +"Train your woman better, buy her some decent clothes, and if you +haven't any money left, rob the people--that's what you've got soldiers +for!" yelled Dona Victorina. + +"Here I am, senora! Why doesn't your Excellency smash my mouth? You're +only tongue and spittle, Dona Excelencia!" + +"Senora!" cried the alferez furiously to Dona Victorina, "be +thankful that I remember that you're a woman or else I'd kick you to +pieces--frizzes, ribbons, and all!" + +"S-senor Alferez!" + +"Get out, you quack! You don't wear the pants!" + +The women brought into play words and gestures, insults and abuse, +dragging out all the evil that was stored in the recesses of their +minds. Since all four talked at once and said so many things that +might hurt the prestige of certain classes by the truths that were +brought to light, we forbear from recording what they said. The curious +spectators, while they may not have understood all that was said, +got not a little entertainment out of the scene and hoped that the +affair would come to blows. Unfortunately for them, the curate came +along and restored order. + +"Senores! Senoras! What a shame! Senor Alferez!" + +"What are you doing here, you hypocrite, Carlist!" + +"Don Tiburcio, take your wife away! Senora, hold your tongue!" + +"Say that to these robbers of the poor!" + +Little by little the lexicon of epithets was exhausted, the review +of shamelessness of the two couples completed, and with threats and +insults they gradually drew away from one another. Fray Salvi moved +from one group to the other, giving animation to the scene. Would +that our friend the correspondent had been present! + +"This very day we'll go to Manila and see the +Captain-General!" declared the raging Dona Victorina to her +husband. "You're not a man! It's a waste of money to buy trousers +for you!" + +"B-but, woman, the g-guards? I'm l-lame!" + +"You must challenge him for pistol or sword, or--or--" Dona Victorina +stared fixedly at his false teeth. + +"My d-dear, I've never had hold of a--" + +But she did not let him finish. With a majestic sweep of her hand +she snatched out his false teeth and trampled them in the street. + +Thus, he half-crying and she breathing fire, they reached the +house. Linares was talking with Maria Clara, Sinang, and Victoria, and +as he had heard nothing of the quarrel, became rather uneasy at sight +of his cousins. Maria Clara, lying in an easy-chair among pillows and +wraps, was greatly surprised to see the new physiognomy of her doctor. + +"Cousin," began Dona Victorina, "you must challenge the alferez right +away, or--" + +"Why?" asked the startled Linares. + +"You challenge him right now or else I'll tell everybody here who +you are." + +"But, Dona Victorina!" + +The three girls exchanged glances. + +"You'll see! The alferez has insulted us and said that you are what +you are! His old hag came down with a whip and he, this thing here, +permitted the insult--a man!" + +"_Aba!_" exclaimed Sinang, "they're had a fight and we didn't see it!" + +"The alferez smashed the doctor's teeth," observed Victoria. + +"This very day we go to Manila. You, you stay here to challenge him +or else I'll tell Don Santiago that all we're told him is a lie, +I'll tell him--" + +"But, Dona Victorina, Dona Victorina," interrupted the now pallid +Linares, going up to her, "be calm, don't call up--" Then he added +in a whisper, "Don't be imprudent, especially just now." + +At that moment Capitan Tiago came in from the cockpit, sad and +sighing; he had lost his _lasak_. But Dona Victorina left him no +time to grieve. In a few words but with no lack of strong language +she related what had happened, trying of course to put herself in +the best light possible. + +"Linares is going to challenge him, do you hear? If he doesn't, don't +let him marry your daughter, don't you permit it! If he hasn't any +courage, he doesn't deserve Clarita!" + +"So you're going to marry this gentleman?" asked Sinang, but her +merry eyes filled with tears. "I knew that you were prudent but not +that you were fickle." + +Pale as wax, Maria Clara partly rose and stared with frightened eyes +at her father, at Dona Victorina, at Linares. The latter blushed, +Capitan Tiago dropped his eyes, while the senora went on: + +"Clarita, bear this in mind: never marry a man that doesn't wear +trousers. You expose yourself to insults, even from the dogs!" + +The girl did not answer her, but turned to her friends and said, +"Help me to my room, I can't walk alone." + +By their aid she rose, and with her waist encircled by the round arms +of her friends, resting her marble-like head on the shoulder of the +beautiful Victoria, she went to her chamber. + +That same night the married couple gathered their effects together +and presented Capitan Tiago with a bill which amounted to several +thousand pesos. Very early the following day they left for Manila in +his carriage, committing to the bashful Linares the office of avenger. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +The Enigma + + + Volveran las oscuras golondrinas. [130] + + BECQUER. + + +As Lucas had foretold, Ibarra arrived on the following day. His first +visit was to the family of Capitan Tiago for the purpose of seeing +Maria Clara and informing her that his Grace had reconciled him with +religion, and that he brought to the curate a letter of recommendation +in the handwriting of the Archbishop himself. Aunt Isabel was not +a little rejoiced at this, for she liked the young man and did not +look favorably on the marriage of her niece with Linares. Capitan +Tiago was not at home. + +"Come in," said the aunt in her broken Spanish. "Maria, Don Crisostomo +is once more in the favor of God. The Archbishop has _discommunicated_ +him." + +But the youth was unable to advance, the smile froze on his lips, +words failed him. Standing on the balcony at the side of Maria Clara +was Linares, arranging bouquets of flowers and leaves. Roses and +sampaguitas were scattered about on the floor. Reclining in a big +chair, pale, with a sad and pensive air, Maria Clara toyed with an +ivory fan which was not whiter than her shapely fingers. + +At the appearance of Ibarra, Linares turned pale and Maria Clara's +cheeks flushed crimson. She tried to rise, but strength failed her, +so she dropped her eyes and let the fan fall. An embarrassed silence +prevailed for a few moments. Ibarra was then able to move forward and +murmur tremblingly, "I've just got back and have come immediately to +see you. I find you better than I had thought I should." + +The girl seemed to have been stricken dumb; she neither said anything +nor raised her eyes. + +Ibarra looked Linares over from head to foot with a stare which the +bashful youth bore haughtily. + +"Well, I see that my arrival was unexpected," said Ibarra +slowly. "Maria, pardon me that I didn't have myself announced. At +some other time I'll be able to make explanations to you about my +conduct. We'll still see one another surely." + +These last words were accompanied by a look at Linares. The girl +raised toward him her lovely eyes, full of purity and sadness. They +were so beseeching and eloquent that Ibarra stopped in confusion. + +"May I come tomorrow?" + +"You know that for my part you are always welcome," she answered +faintly. + +Ibarra withdrew in apparent calm, but with a tempest in his head and +ice in his heart. What he had just seen and felt was incomprehensible +to him: was it doubt, dislike, or faithlessness? + +"Oh, only a woman after all!" he murmured. + +Taking no note of where he was going, he reached the spot where the +schoolhouse was under construction. The work was well advanced, Nor +Juan with his mile and plumb-bob coming and going among the numerous +laborers. Upon catching sight of Ibarra he ran to meet him. + +"Don Crisostomo, at last you've come! We've all been waiting for +you. Look at the walls, they're already more than a meter high and +within two days they'll be up to the height of a man. I've put in +only the strongest and most durable woods--molave, dungon, ipil, +langil--and sent for the finest--tindalo, malatapay, pino, and +narra--for the finishings. Do you want to look at the foundations?" + +The workmen saluted Ibarra respectfully, while Nor Juan made voluble +explanations. "Here is the piping that I have taken the liberty +to add," he said. "These subterranean conduits lead to a sort of +cesspool, thirty yards away. It will help fertilize the garden. There +was nothing of that in the plan. Does it displease you?" + +"Quite the contrary, I approve what you've done and congratulate +you. You are a real architect. From whom did you learn the business?" + +"From myself, sir," replied the old man modestly. + +"Oh, before I forget about it--tell those who may have scruples, +if perhaps there is any one who fears to speak to me, that I'm no +longer excommunicated. The Archbishop invited me to dinner." + +"_Aba_, sir, we don't pay any attention to excommunications! All of +us are excommunicated. Padre Damaso himself is and yet he stays fat." + +"How's that?" + +"It's true, sir, for a year ago he caned the coadjutor, who is +just as much a sacred person as he is. Who pays any attention to +excommunications, sir?" + +Among the laborers Ibarra caught sight of Elias, who, as he saluted +him along with the others, gave him to understand by a look that he +had something to say to him. + +"Nor Juan," said Ibarra, "will you bring me your list of the laborers?" + +Nor Juan disappeared, and Ibarra approached Elias, who was by himself, +lifting a heavy stone into a cart. + +"If you can grant me a few hours' conversation, sir, walk down to +the shore of the lake this evening and get into my banka." The youth +nodded, and Elias moved away. + +Nor Juan now brought the list, but Ibarra scanned it in vain; the +name of Elias did not appear on it! + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +The Voice of the Hunted + + +As the sun was sinking below the horizon Ibarra stepped into Elias's +banka at the shore of the lake. The youth looked out of humor. + +"Pardon me, sir," said Elias sadly, on seeing him, "that I have been +so bold as to make this appointment. I wanted to talk to you freely +and so I chose this means, for here we won't have any listeners. We +can return within an hour." + +"You're wrong, friend," answered Ibarra with a forced smile. "You'll +have to take me to that town whose belfry we see from here. A mischance +forces me to this." + +"A mischance?" + +"Yes. On my way here I met the alferez and he forced his company on +me. I thought of you and remembered that he knows you, so to get away +from him I told him that I was going to that town. I'll have to stay +there all day, since he will look for me tomorrow afternoon." + +"I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but you might simply have invited +him to accompany you," answered Elias naturally. + +"What about you?" + +"He wouldn't have recognized me, since the only time he ever saw me +he wasn't in a position to take careful note of my appearance." + +"I'm in bad luck," sighed Ibarra, thinking of Maria Clara. "What did +you have to tell me?" + +Elias looked about him. They were already at a distance from the +shore, the sun had set, and as in these latitudes there is scarcely +any twilight, the shades were lengthening, bringing into view the +bright disk of the full moon. + +"Sir," replied Elias gravely, "I am the bearer of the wishes of many +unfortunates." + +"Unfortunates? What do you mean?" + +In a few words Elias recounted his conversation with the leader of the +tulisanes, omitting the latter's doubts and threats. Ibarra listened +attentively and was the first to break the long silence that reigned +after he had finished his story. + +"So they want--" + +"Radical reforms in the armed forces, in the priesthood, and in the +administration of justice; that is to say, they ask for paternal +treatment from the government." + +"Reforms? In what sense?" + +"For example, more respect for a man's dignity, more security for the +individual, less force in the armed forces, fewer privileges for that +corps which so easily abuses what it has." + +"Elias," answered the youth, "I don't know who you are, but I +suspect that you are not a man of the people; you think and act so +differently from others. You will understand me if I tell you that, +however imperfect the condition of affairs may be now, it would be +more so if it were changed. I might be able to get the friends that +I have in Madrid to talk, _by paying them_; I might even be able to +see the Captain-General; but neither would the former accomplish +anything nor has the latter sufficient power to introduce so many +novelties. Nor would I ever take a single step in that direction, +for the reason that, while I fully understand that it is true that +these corporations have their faults, they are necessary at this +time. They are what is known as a necessary evil." + +Greatly surprised, Elias raised his head and looked at him in +astonishment. "Do you, then, also believe in a necessary evil, +sir?" he asked in a voice that trembled slightly. "Do you believe +that in order to do good it is necessary to do evil?" + +"No, I believe in it as in a violent remedy that we make use of when we +wish to cure a disease. Now then, the country is an organism suffering +from a chronic malady, and in order to cure it, the government sees +the necessity of employing such means, harsh and violent if you wish, +but useful and necessary." + +"He is a bad doctor, sir, who seeks only to destroy or stifle the +symptoms without an effort to examine into the origin of the malady, +or, when knowing it, fears to attack it. The Civil Guard has only +this purpose: the repression of crime by means of terror and force, a +purpose that it does not fulfil or accomplishes only incidentally. You +must take into account the truth that society can be severe with +individuals only when it has provided them with the means necessary +for their moral perfection. In our country, where there is no society, +since there is no unity between the people and the government, the +latter should be indulgent, not only because indulgence is necessary +but also because the individual, abandoned and uncared for by it, +has less responsibility, for the very reason that he has received less +guidance. Besides, following out your comparison, the treatment that +is applied to the ills of the country is so destructive that it is +felt only in the sound parts of the organism, whose vitality is thus +weakened and made receptive of evil. Would it not be more rational to +strengthen the diseased parts of the organism and lessen the violence +of the remedy a little?" + +"To weaken the Civil Guard would be to endanger the security of +the towns." + +"The security of the towns!" exclaimed Elias bitterly. "It will +soon be fifteen years since the towns have had their Civil Guard, +and look: still we have tulisanes, still we hear that they sack +towns, that they infest the highways. Robberies continue and the +perpetrators are not hunted down; crime flourishes, and the real +criminal goes scot-free, but not so the peaceful inhabitant of the +town. Ask any honorable citizen if he looks upon this institution as +a benefit, a protection on the part of the government, and not as an +imposition, a despotism whose outrageous acts do more damage than +the violent deeds of criminals. These latter are indeed serious, +but they are rare, and against them one has the right to defend +himself, but against the molestations of legal force he is not even +allowed a protest, and if they are not serious they are nevertheless +continued and sanctioned. What effect does this institution produce +among our people? It paralyzes communication because all are afraid +of being abused on trifling pretexts. It pays more attention to +formalities than to the real nature of things, which is the first +symptom of incapacity. Because one has forgotten his cedula he must +be manacled and knocked about, regardless of the fact that he may be +a decent and respectable citizen. The superiors hold it their first +duty to make people salute them, either willingly or forcibly, even +in the darkness of the night, and their inferiors imitate them by +mistreating and robbing the country folk, nor are pretexts lacking +to this end. Sanctity of the home does not exist; not long ago in +Kalamba they entered, by forcing their way through the windows, the +house of a peaceful inhabitant to whom their chief owed money and +favors. There is no personal security; when they need to have their +barracks or houses cleaned they go out and arrest any one who does not +resist them, in order to make him work the whole day. Do you care to +hear more? During these holidays gambling, which is prohibited by law, +has gone on while they forcibly broke up the celebrations permitted by +the authorities. You saw what the people thought about these things; +what have they got by repressing their anger and hoping for human +justice? Ah, sir, if that is what you call keeping the peace--" + +"I agree with you that there are evils," replied Ibarra, "but let +us bear with those evils on account of the benefits that accompany +them. This institution may be imperfect, but, believe me, by the fear +that it inspires it keeps the number of criminals from increasing." + +"Say rather that by this fear the number is increased," corrected +Elias. "Before the creation of this corps almost all the evil-doers, +with the exception of a very few, were criminals from hunger. They +plundered and robbed in order to live, but when their time of want +was passed, they again left the highways clear. Sufficient to put +them to flight were the poor, but brave cuadrilleros, they who have +been so calumniated by the writers about our country, who have for a +right, death, for duty, fighting, and for reward, jests. Now there are +tulisanes who are such for life. A single fault, a crime inhumanly +punished, resistance against the outrages of this power, fear of +atrocious tortures, east them out forever from society and condemn +them to slay or be slain. The terrorism of the Civil Guard closes +against them the doors of repentance, and as outlaws they fight to +defend themselves in the mountains better than the soldiers at whom +they laugh. The result is that we are unable to put an end to the evil +that we have created. Remember what the prudence of the Captain-General +de la Torre [131] accomplished. The amnesty granted by him to those +unhappy people has proved that in those mountains there still beat the +hearts of men and that they only wait for pardon. Terrorism is useful +when the people are slaves, when the mountains afford no hiding-places, +when power places a sentinel behind every tree, and when the body of +the slave contains nothing more than a stomach and intestines. But +when in desperation he fights for his life, feeling his arm strong, +his heart throb, his whole being fill with hate, how can terrorism +hope to extinguish the flame to which it is only adding fuel?" + +"I am perplexed, Elias, to hear you talk thus, and I should almost +believe that you were right had I not my own convictions. But note this +fact--and don't be offended, for I consider you an exception--look +who the men are that ask for these reforms" nearly all criminals or +on the way to be such!" + +"Criminals now, or future criminals; but why are they such? Because +their peace has been disturbed, their happiness destroyed, their +dearest affections wounded, and when they have asked justice for +protection, they have become convinced that they can expect it only +from themselves. But you are mistaken, sir, if you think that only the +criminals ask for justice. Go from town to town, from house to house, +listen to the secret sighings in the bosoms of the families, and you +will be convinced that the evils which the Civil Guard corrects are +the same as, if not less than, those it causes all the time. Should +we decide from this that all the people are criminals? If so, then +why defend some from the others, why not destroy them all?" + +"Some error exists here which I do not see just now some fallacy in the +theory to invalidate the practise, for in Spain, the mother country, +this corps is displaying, and has ever displayed, great usefulness." + +"I don't doubt it. Perhaps there, it is better organized, the men +of better grade, perhaps also Spain needs it while the Philippines +does not. Our customs, our mode of life, which are always invoked +when there is a desire to deny us some right, are entirely overlooked +when the desire is to impose something upon us. And tell me, sir, why +have not the other nations, which from their nearness to Spain must be +more like her than the Philippines is, adopted this institution? Is it +because of this that they still have fewer robberies on their railway +trains, fewer riots, fewer murders, and fewer assassinations in their +great capitals?" + +Ibarra bowed his head in deep thought, raising it after a few +moments to reply: "This question, my friend, calls for serious +study. If my inquiries convince me that these complaints are well +founded I will write to my friends in Madrid, since we have no +representatives. Meanwhile, believe me that the government needs a +corps with strength enough to make itself respected and to enforce +its authority." + +"Yes, sir, when the government is at war with the country. But for +the welfare of the government itself we must not have the people think +that they are in opposition to authority. Rather, if such were true, +if we prefer force to prestige, we ought to take care to whom we grant +this unlimited power, this authority. So much power in the hands +of men, ignorant men filled with passions, without moral training, +of untried principles, is a weapon in the hands of a madman in a +defenseless multitude. I concede and wish to believe with you that +the government needs this weapon, but then let it choose this weapon +carefully, let it select the most worthy instruments, and since it +prefers to take upon itself authority, rather than have the people +grant it, at least let it be seen that it knows how to exercise it." + +Elias spoke passionately, enthusiastically, in vibrating tones; his +eyes flashed. A solemn pause followed. The banka, unimpelled by the +paddle, seemed to stand still on the water. The moon shone majestically +in a sapphire sky and a few lights glimmered on the distant shore. + +"What more do they ask for?" inquired Ibarra. + +"Reform in the priesthood," answered Elias in a sad and discouraged +tone. "These unfortunates ask for more protection against--" + +"Against the religious orders?" + +"Against their oppressors, sir." + +"Has the Philippines forgotten what she owes to those orders? Has she +forgotten the immense debt of gratitude that is due from her to those +who snatched her from error to give her the true faith, to those who +have protected her against the tyrannical acts of the civil power? This +is the evil result of not knowing the history of our native land!" + +The surprised Elias could hardly credit what he heard. "Sir," he +replied in a grave tone, "you accuse these people of ingratitude; +let me, one of the people who suffer, defend them. Favors rendered, +in order to have any claims to recognition, must be disinterested. Let +us pass over its missionary work, the much-invoked Christian charity; +let us brush history aside and not ask what Spain has done with the +Jewish people, who gave all Europe a Book, a Religion, and a God; +what she has done with the Arabic people, who gave her culture, +who were tolerant with her religious beliefs, and who awoke her +lethargic national spirit, so nearly destroyed during the Roman and +Gothic dominations. You say that she snatched us from error and gave +us the true faith: do you call faith these outward forms, do you +call religion this traffic in girdles and scapularies, truth these +miracles and wonderful tales that we hear daily? Is this the law of +Jesus Christ? For this it was hardly necessary that a God should allow +Himself to be crucified or that we should be obliged to show eternal +gratitude. Superstition existed long before--it was only necessary +to systematize it and raise the price of its merchandise! + +"You will tell me that however imperfect our religion may be at +present, it is preferable to what we had before. I believe that, too, +and would agree with you in saying so, but the cost is too great, +since for it we have given up our nationality, our independence. For +it we have given over to its priests our best towns, our fields, and +still give up our savings by the purchase of religious objects. An +article of foreign manufacture has been introduced among us, we have +paid well for it, and we are even. + +"If you mean the protection that they afforded us against the +_encomenderos_, [132] I might answer that through them we fell under +the power of the _encomenderos_. But no, I realize that a true faith +and a sincere love for humanity guided the first missionaries to our +shores; I realize the debt of gratitude we owe to those noble hearts; +I know that at that time Spain abounded in heroes of all kinds, in +religious as well as in political affairs, in civil and in military +life. But because the forefathers were virtuous, should we consent +to the abuses of their degenerate descendants? Because they have +rendered us great service, should we be to blame for preventing them +from doing us wrong? The country does not ask for their expulsion but +only for reforms required by the changed circumstances and new needs." + +"I love our native land as well as you can, Elias; I understand +something of what it desires, and I have listened with attention to +all you have said. But, after all, my friend, I believe that we are +looking at things through rather impassioned eyes. Here, less than +in other parts, do I see the necessity for reforms." + +"Is it possible, sir," asked Elias, extending his arms in a gesture +of despair, "that you do not see the necessity for reforms, you, +after the misfortunes of your family?" + +"Ah, I forget myself and my own troubles in the presence of the +security of the Philippines, in the presence of the interests of +Spain!" interrupted Ibarra warmly. "To preserve the Philippines it +is meet that the friars continue as they are. On the union with Spain +depends the welfare of our country." + +When Ibarra had ceased Elias still sat in an attitude of attention +with a sad countenance and eyes that had lost their luster. "The +missionaries conquered the country, it is true," he replied, "but do +you believe that by the friars the Philippines will be preserved?" + +"Yes, by them alone. Such is the belief of all who have written about +the country." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Elias dejectedly, throwing the paddle clown in the +banka, "I did not believe that you would have so poor an idea of +the government and of the country. Why don't you condemn both? What +would you say of the members of a family that dwells in peace only +through the intervention of an outsider: a country that is obedient +because it is deceived; a government that commands be, cause it avails +itself of fraud, a government that does not know how to make itself +loved or respected for its own sake? Pardon me, sir, but I believe +that our government is stupid and is working its own ruin when it +rejoices that such is the belief. I thank you for your kindness, +where do you wish me to take you now?" + +"No," replied Ibarra, "let us talk; it is necessary to see who is +right on such an important subject." + +"Pardon me, sir," replied Elias, shaking his head, "but I haven't the +eloquence to convince you. Even though I have had some education I am +still an Indian, my way of life seems to you a precarious one, and my +words will always seem to you suspicious. Those who have given voice +to the opposite opinion are Spaniards, and as such, even though they +may speak idly and foolishly, their tones, their titles, and their +origin make their words sacred and give them such authority that I +have desisted forever from arguing against them. Moreover, when I +see that you, who love your country, you, whose father sleeps beneath +these quiet waters, you, who have seen yourself attacked, insulted, +and persecuted, hold such opinions in spite of all these things, and +in spite of your knowledge, I begin to doubt my own convictions and +to admit the possibility that the people may be mistaken. I'll have +to tell those unfortunates who have put their trust in men that they +must place it in God and their own strength. Again I thank you--tell +me where I shall take you." + +"Elias, your bitter words touch my heart and make me also doubt. What +do you want? I was not brought up among the people, so I am perhaps +ignorant of their needs. I spent my childhood in the Jesuit college, +I grew up in Europe, I have been molded by books, learning only what +men have been able to bring to light. What remains among the shadows, +what the writers do not tell, that I am ignorant of. Yet I love our +country as you do, not only because it is the duty of every man to +love the country to which he owes his existence and to which he will +no doubt owe his final rest, not only because my father so taught +me, but also because my mother was an Indian, because my fondest +recollections cluster around my country, and I love it also because +to it I owe and shall ever owe my happiness!" + +"And I, because to it I owe my misfortunes," muttered Elias. + +"Yes, my friend, I know that you suffer, that you are unfortunate, +and that those facts make you look into the future darkly and +influence your way of thinking, so I am somewhat forearmed against +your complaints. If I could understand your motives, something of +your past--" + +"My misfortunes had another source. If I thought that the story of +them would be of any use, I would relate it to you, since, apart from +the fact that I make no secret of it, it is quite well known to many." + +"Perhaps on hearing it I might correct my opinions. You know that I do +not trust much to theories, preferring rather to be guided by facts." + +Elias remained thoughtful for a few moments. "If that is the case, +sir, I will tell you my story briefly." + + + + +CHAPTER L + +Elias's Story + + +"Some sixty years ago my grandfather dwelt in Manila, being employed +as a bookkeeper in a Spanish commercial house. He was then very young, +was married, and had a son. One night from some unknown cause the +warehouse burned down. The fire was communicated to the dwelling of his +employer and from there to many other buildings. The losses were great, +a scapegoat was sought, and the merchant accused my grandfather. In +vain he protested his innocence, but he was poor and unable to pay the +great lawyers, so he was condemned to be flogged publicly and paraded +through the streets of Manila. Not so very long since they still used +the infamous method of punishment which the people call the '_caballo +y vaca_,' [133] and which is a thousand times more dreadful than death +itself. Abandoned by all except his young wife, my grandfather saw +himself tied to a horse, followed by an unfeeling crowd, and whipped +on every street-corner in the sight of men, his brothers, and in the +neighborhood of numerous temples of a God of peace. When the wretch, +now forever disgraced, had satisfied the vengeance of man with his +blood, his tortures, and his cries, he had to be taken off the horse, +for he had become unconscious. Would to God that he had died! But +by one of those refinements of cruelty he was given his liberty. His +wife, pregnant at the time, vainly begged from door to door for work or +alms in order to care for her sick husband and their poor son, but who +would trust the wife of an incendiary and a disgraced man? The wife, +then, had to become a prostitute!" + +Ibarra rose in his seat. + +"Oh, don't get excited! Prostitution was not now a dishonor for her +or a disgrace to her husband; for them honor and shame no longer +existed. The husband recovered from his wounds and came with his wife +and child to hide himself in the mountains of this province. Here they +lived several months, miserable, alone, hated and shunned by all. The +wife gave birth to a sickly child, which fortunately died. Unable +to endure such misery and being less courageous than his wife, my +grandfather, in despair at seeing his sick wife deprived of all care +and assistance, hanged himself. His corpse rotted in sight of the son, +who was scarcely able to care for his sick mother, and the stench +from it led to their discovery. Her husband's death was attributed +to her, for of what is the wife of a wretch, a woman who has been +a prostitute besides, not believed to be capable? If she swears, +they call her a perjurer; if she weeps, they say that she is acting; +and that she blasphemes when she calls on God. Nevertheless, they +had pity on her condition and waited for the birth of another child +before they flogged her. You know how the friars spread the belief +that the Indians can only be managed by blows: read what Padre Gaspar +de San Agustin says! [134] + +"A woman thus condemned will curse the day on which her child is born, +and this, besides prolonging her torture, violates every maternal +sentiment. Unfortunately, she brought forth a healthy child. Two months +afterwards, the sentence was executed to the great satisfaction of +the men who thought that thus they were performing their duty. Not +being at peace in these mountains, she then fled with her two sons +to a neighboring province, where they lived like wild beasts, hating +and hated. The elder of the two boys still remembered, even amid so +much misery, the happiness of his infancy, so he became a tulisan as +soon as he found himself strong enough. Before long the bloody name +of Balat spread from province to province, a terror to the people, +because in his revenge he did everything with blood and fire. The +younger, who was by nature kind-hearted, resigned himself to his +shameful fate along with his mother, and they lived on what the woods +afforded, clothing themselves in the cast-off rags of travelers. She +had lost her name, being known only as _the convict, the prostitute, +the scourged_. He was known as the son of his mother only, because +the gentleness of his disposition led every one to believe that he +was not the son of the incendiary and because any doubt as to the +morality of the Indians can be held reasonable. + +"At last, one day the notorious Balat fell into the clutches of the +authorities, who exacted of him a strict accounting for his crimes, +and of his mother for having done nothing to rear him properly. One +morning the younger brother went to look for his mother, who had +gone into the woods to gather mushrooms and had not returned. He +found her stretched out on the ground under a cotton-tree beside the +highway, her face turned toward the sky, her eyes fixed and staring, +her clenched hands buried in the blood-stained earth. Some impulse +moved him to look up in the direction toward which the eyes of the +dead woman were staring, and he saw hanging from a branch a basket +and in the basket the gory head of his brother!" + +"My God!" ejaculated Ibarra. + +"That might have been the exclamation of my father," continued Elias +coldly. "The body of the brigand had been cut up and the trunk buried, +but his limbs were distributed and hung up in different towns. If +ever you go from Kalamba to Santo Tomas you will still see a withered +lomboy-tree where one of my uncle's legs hung rotting--nature has +blasted the tree so that it no longer grows or bears fruit. The same +was done with the other limbs, but the head, as the best part of the +person and the portion most easily recognizable, was hung up in front +of his mother's hut!" + +Ibarra bowed his head. + +"The boy fled like one accursed," Elias went on. "He fled from town +to town by mountain and valley. When he thought that he had reached +a place where he was not known, he hired himself out as a laborer in +the house of a rich man in the province of Tayabas. His activity and +the gentleness of his character gained him the good-will of all who +did not know his past, and by his thrift and economy he succeeded in +accumulating a little capital. He was still young, he thought his +sorrows buried in the past, and he dreamed of a happy future. His +pleasant appearance, his youth, and his somewhat unfortunate condition +won him the love of a young woman of the town, but he dared not ask +for her hand from fear that his past might become known. But love +is stronger than anything else and they wandered from the straight +path, so, to save the woman's honor, he risked everything by asking +for her in marriage. The records were sought and his whole past +became known. The girl's father was rich and succeeded in having him +prosecuted. He did not try to defend himself but admitted everything, +and so was sent to prison. The woman gave birth to twins, a boy and a +girl, who were nurtured in secret and made to believe that their father +was dead no difficult matter, since at a tender age they saw their +mother die, and they gave little thought to tracing genealogies. As our +maternal grandfather was rich our childhood passed happily. My sister +and I were brought up together, loving one another as only twins can +love when they have no other affections. When quite young I was sent +to study in the Jesuit College, and my sister, in order that we might +not be completely separated, entered the Concordia College. [135] After +our brief education was finished, since we desired only to be farmers, +we returned to the town to take possession of the inheritance left +us by our grandfather. We lived happily for a time, the future smiled +on us, we had many servants, our' fields produced abundant harvests, +and my sister was about to be married to a young man whom she adored +and who responded equally to her affection. + +"But in a dispute over money and by reason of my haughty disposition +at that time, I alienated the good will of a distant relative, and +one day he east in my face my doubtful birth and shameful descent. I +thought it all a slander and demanded satisfaction. The tomb which +covered so much rottenness was again opened and to my consternation +the whole truth came out to overwhelm me. To add to our sorrow, we +had had for many years an old servant who had endured all my whims +without ever leaving us, contenting himself merely with weeping and +groaning at the rough jests of the other servants. I don't know how my +relative had found it out, but the fact is that he had this old man +summoned into court and made him tell the truth: that old servant, +who had clung to his beloved children, and whom I had abused many +times, was my father! Our happiness faded away, I gave up our fortune, +my sister lost her betrothed, and with our father we left the town +to seek refuge elsewhere. The thought that he had contributed to +our misfortunes shortened the old man's days, but before he died I +learned from his lips the whole story of the sorrowful past. + +"My sister and I were left alone. She wept a great deal, but even +in the midst of such great sorrows as heaped themselves upon us, +she could not forget her love. Without complaining, without uttering +a word, she saw her former sweetheart married to another girl, but I +watched her gradually sicken without being able to console her. One +day she disappeared, and it was in vain that I sought everywhere, +in vain I made inquiries about her. About six months afterwards I +learned that about that time, after a flood on the lake, there had +been found in some rice fields bordering on the beach at Kalamba, +the corpse of a young woman who had been either drowned or murdered, +for she had had, so they said, a knife sticking in her breast. The +officials of that town published the fact in the country round about, +but no one came to claim the body, no young woman apparently had +disappeared. From the description they gave me afterward of her dress, +her ornaments, the beauty of her countenance, and her abundant hair, +I recognized in her my poor sister. + +"Since then I have wandered from province to province. My reputation +and my history are in the mouths of many. They attribute great deeds +to me, sometimes calumniating me, but I pay little attention to men, +keeping ever on my way. Such in brief is my story, a story of one of +the judgments of men." + +Elias fell silent as he rowed along. + +"I still believe that you are not wrong," murmured Crisostomo in a low +voice, "when you say that justice should seek to do good by rewarding +virtue and educating the criminals. Only, it's impossible, Utopian! And +where could be secured so much money, so many new employees?" + +"For what, then, are the priests who proclaim their mission of peace +and charity? Is it more meritorious to moisten the head of a child +with water, to give it salt to eat, than to awake in the benighted +conscience of a criminal that spark which God has granted to every +man to light him to his welfare? Is it more humane to accompany +a criminal to the scaffold than to lead him along the difficult +path from vice to virtue? Don't they also pay spies, executioners, +civil-guards? These things, besides being dirty, also cost money." + +"My friend, neither you nor I, although we may wish it, can accomplish +this." + +"Alone, it is true, we are nothing, but take up the cause of the +people, unite yourself with the people, be not heedless of their +cries, set an example to the rest, spread the idea of what is called +a fatherland!" + +"What the people ask for is impossible. We must wait." + +"Wait! To wait means to suffer!" + +"If I should ask for it, the powers that be would laugh at me." + +"But if the people supported you?" + +"Never! I will never be the one to lead the multitude to get by force +what the government does not think proper to grant, no! If I should +ever see that multitude armed I would place myself on the side of the +government, for in such a mob I should not see my countrymen. I desire +the country's welfare, therefore I would build a schoolhouse. I seek +it by means of instruction, by progressive advancement; without light +there is no road." + +"Neither is there liberty without strife!" answered Elias. + +"The fact is that I don't want that liberty!" + +"The fact is that without liberty there is no light," replied the +pilot with warmth. "You say that you are only slightly acquainted +with your country, and I believe you. You don't see the struggle that +is preparing, you don't see the cloud on the horizon. The fight is +beginning in the sphere of ideas, to descend later into the arena, +which will be dyed with blood. I hear the voice of God--woe unto them +who would oppose it! For them History has not been written!" + +Elias was transfigured; standing uncovered, with his manly face +illuminated by the moon, there was something extraordinary about +him. He shook his long hair, and went on: + +"Don't you see how everything is awakening? The sleep has lasted for +centuries, but one day the thunderbolt [136] struck, and in striking, +infused life. Since then new tendencies are stirring our spirits, +and these tendencies, today scattered, will some day be united, guided +by the God who has not failed other peoples and who will not fail us, +for His cause is the cause of liberty!" + +A solemn silence followed these words, while the banka, carried along +insensibly by the waves, neared the shore. + +Elias was the first to break the silence. "What shall I tell those +who sent me?" he asked with a change from his former tone. + +"I've already told you: I greatly deplore their condition, but +they should wait. Evils are not remedied by other evils, and in our +misfortunes each of us has his share of blame." + +Elias did not again reply, but dropped his head and rowed along until +they reached the shore, where he took leave of Ibarra: "I thank you, +sir, for the condescension you have shown me. Now, for your own good, +I beg of you that in the future you forget me and that you do not +recognize me again, no matter in what situation you may find me." + +So saying, he drew away in the banka, rowing toward a thicket on the +shore. As he covered the long distance he remained silent, apparently +intent upon nothing but the thousands of phosphorescent diamonds +that the oar caught up and dropped back into the lake, where they +disappeared mysteriously into the blue waves. + +When he had reached the shadow of the thicket a man came out of it +and approached the banka. "What shall I tell the capitan?" he asked. + +"Tell him that Elias, if he lives, will keep his word," was the +sad answer. + +"When will you join us, then?" + +"When your capitan thinks that the hour of danger has come." + +"Very well. Good-by!" + +"If I don't die first," added Elias in a low voice. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +Exchanges + + +The bashful Linares was anxious and ill at ease. He had just received +from Dona Victorina a letter which ran thus: + + + DEER COZIN within 3 days i expec to here from you if the + alferes has killed you or you him i dont want anuther day to + pass befour that broot has his punishment if that tim passes + an you havent challenjed him ill tel don santiago you was + never segretary nor joked with canobas nor went on a spree + with the general don arseno martinez ill tel clarita its all + a humbug an ill not give you a sent more if you challenje him + i promis all you want so lets see you challenje him i warn you + there must be no excuses nor delays yore cozin who loves you + + VICTORINA DE LOS REYES DE DE ESPADANA + + sampaloc monday 7 in the evening + + +The affair was serious. He was well enough acquainted with the +character of Dona Victorina to know what she was capable of. To talk +to her of reason was to talk of honesty and courtesy to a revenue +carbineer when he proposes to find contraband where there is none, +to plead with her would be useless, to deceive her worse--there was +no way out of the difficulty but to send the challenge. + +"But how? Suppose he receives me with violence?" he soliloquized, +as he paced to and fro. "Suppose I find him with his senora? Who will +be willing to be my second? The curate? Capitan Tiago? Damn the hour +in which I listened to her advice! The old toady! To oblige me to +get myself tangled up, to tell lies, to make a blustering fool of +myself! What will the young lady say about me? Now I'm sorry that +I've been secretary to all the ministers!" + +While the good Linares was in the midst of his soliloquy, Padre Salvi +came in. The Franciscan was even thinner and paler than usual, but his +eyes gleamed with a strange light and his lips wore a peculiar smile. + +"Senor Linares, all alone?" was his greeting as he made his way to +the sala, through the half-opened door of which floated the notes +from a piano. Linares tried to smile. + +"Where is Don Santiago?" continued the curate. + +Capitan Tiago at that moment appeared, kissed the curate's hand, and +relieved him of his hat and cane, smiling all the while like one of +the blessed. + +"Come, come!" exclaimed the curate, entering the sala, followed by +Linares and Capitan Tiago, "I have good news for you all. I've just +received letters from Manila which confirm the one Senor Ibarra +brought me yesterday. So, Don Santiago, the objection is removed." + +Maria Clara, who was seated at the piano between her two friends, +partly rose, but her strength failed her, and she fell back +again. Linares turned pale and looked at Capitan Tiago, who dropped +his eyes. + +"That young man seems to me to be very agreeable," continued the +curate. "At first I misjudged him--he's a little quick-tempered--but +he knows so well how to atone for his faults afterwards that one +can't hold anything against him. If it were not for Padre Damaso--" + +Here the curate shot a quick glance at Maria Clara, who was listening +without taking her eyes off the sheet of music, in spite of the sly +pinches of Sinang, who was thus expressing her joy--had she been +alone she would have danced. + +"Padre Damaso?" queried Linares. + +"Yes, Padre Damaso has said," the curate went on, without taking +his gaze from Maria Clara, "that as--being her sponsor in baptism, +he can't permit--but, after all, I believe that if Senor Ibarra begs +his pardon, which I don't doubt he'll do, everything will be settled." + +Maria Clara rose, made some excuse, and retired to her chamber, +accompanied by Victoria. + +"But if Padre Damaso doesn't pardon him?" asked Capitan Tiago in a +low voice. + +"Then Maria Clara will decide. Padre Damaso is her +father--spiritually. But I think they'll reach an understanding." + +At that moment footsteps were heard and Ibarra appeared, followed +by Aunt Isabel. His appearance produced varied impressions. To his +affable greeting Capitan Tiago did not know whether to laugh or to +cry. He acknowledged the presence of Linares with a profound bow. Fray +Salvi arose and extended his hand so cordially that the youth could +not restrain a look of astonishment. + +"Don't be surprised," said Fray Salvi, "for I was just now praising +you." + +Ibarra thanked him and went up to Sinang, who began with her childish +garrulity, "Where have you been all day? We were all asking, where +can that soul redeemed from purgatory have gone? And we all said the +same thing." + +"May I know what you said?" + +"No, that's a secret, but I'll tell you soon alone. Now tell me where +you've been, so we can see who guessed right." + +"No, that's also a secret, but I'll tell you alone, if these gentlemen +will excuse us." + +"Certainly, certainly, by all means!" exclaimed Padre Salvi. + +Rejoicing over the prospect of learning a secret, Sinang led Crisostomo +to one end of the sala. + +"Tell me, little friend," he asked, "is Maria angry with me?" + +"I don't know, but she says that it's better for you to forget her, +then she begins to cry. Capitan Tiago wants her to marry that man. So +does Padre Damaso, but she doesn't say either yes or no. This morning +when we were talking about you and I said, 'Suppose he has gone to +make love to some other girl?' she answered, 'Would that he had!' and +began to cry." + +Ibarra became grave. "Tell Maria that I want to talk with her alone." + +"Alone?" asked Sinang, wrinkling her eyebrows and staring at him. + +"Entirely alone, no, but not with that fellow present." + +"It's rather difficult, but don't worry, I'll tell her." + +"When shall I have an answer?" + +"Tomorrow come to my house early. Maria doesn't want to be left alone +at all, so we stay with her. Victoria sleeps with her one night and +I the other, and tonight it's my turn. But listen, your secret? Are +you going away without telling me?" + +"That's right! I was in the town of Los Banos. I'm going to develop +some coconut-groves and I'm thinking of putting up an oil-mill. Your +father will be my partner." + +"Nothing more than that? What a secret!" exclaimed Sinang aloud, +in the tone of a cheated usurer. "I thought--" + +"Be careful! I don't want you to make it known!" + +"Nor do I want to do it," replied Sinang, turning up her nose. "If +it were something more important, I would tell my friends. But to +buy coconuts! Coconuts! Who's interested in coconuts?" And with +extraordinary haste she ran to join her friends. + +A few minutes later Ibarra, seeing that the interest of the party +could only languish, took his leave. Capitan Tiago wore a bitter-sweet +look, Linares was silent and watchful, while the curate with assumed +cheerfulness talked of indifferent matters. None of the girls had +reappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +The Cards of the Dead and the Shadows + + +The moon was hidden in a cloudy sky while a cold wind, precursor +of the approaching December, swept the dry leaves and dust about in +the narrow pathway leading to the cemetery. Three shadowy forms were +conversing in low tones under the arch of the gateway. + +"Have you spoken to Elias?" asked a voice. + +"No, you know how reserved and circumspect he is. But he ought to be +one of us. Don Crisostomo saved his life." + +"That's why I joined," said the first voice. "Don Crisostomo had my +wife cured in the house of a doctor in Manila. I'll look after the +convento to settle some old scores with the curate." + +"And we'll take care of the barracks to show the civil-guards that +our father had sons." + +"How many of us will there be?" + +"Five, and five will be enough. Don Crisostomo's servant, though, +says there'll be twenty of us." + +"What if you don't succeed?" + +"Hist!" exclaimed one of the shadows, and all fell silent. + +In the semi-obscurity a shadowy figure was seen to approach, +sneaking along by the fence. From time to time it stopped as if +to look back. Nor was reason for this movement lacking, since some +twenty paces behind it came another figure, larger and apparently +darker than the first, but so lightly did it touch the ground that +it vanished as rapidly as though the earth had swallowed it every +time the first shadow paused and turned. + +"They're following me," muttered the first figure. "Can it be the +civil-guards? Did the senior sacristan lie?" + +"They said that they would meet here," thought the second shadow. "Some +mischief must be on foot when the two brothers conceal it from me." + +At length the first shadow reached the gateway of the cemetery. The +three who were already there stepped forward. + +"Is that you?" + +"Is that you?" + +"We must scatter, for they've followed me. Tomorrow you'll get the arms +and tomorrow night is the time. The cry is, 'Viva Don Crisostomo!' Go!" + +The three shadows disappeared behind the stone walls. The later +arrival hid in the hollow of the gateway and waited silently. "Let's +see who's following me," he thought. + +The second shadow came up very cautiously and paused as if to look +about him. "I'm late," he muttered, "but perhaps they will return." + +A thin fine rain, which threatened to last, began to fall, so it +occurred to him to take refuge under the gateway. Naturally, he ran +against the other. + +"Ah! Who are you?" asked the latest arrival in a rough tone. + +"Who are you?" returned the other calmly, after which there followed +a moment's pause as each tried to recognize the other's voice and to +make out his features. + +"What are you waiting here for?" asked he of the rough voice. + +"For the clock to strike eight so that I can play cards with the +dead. I want to win something tonight," answered the other in a +natural tone. "And you, what have you come for?" + +"For--for the same purpose." + +"_Aba!_ I'm glad of that, I'll not be alone. I've brought cards. At +the first stroke of the bell I'll make the lay, at the second I'll +deal. The cards that move are the cards of the dead and we'll have +to cut for them. Have you brought cards?" + +"No." + +"Then how--" + +"It's simple enough--just as you're going to deal for them, so I +expect them to play for me." + +"But what if the dead don't play?" + +"What can we do? Gambling hasn't yet been made compulsory among +the dead." + +A short silence ensued. + +"Are you armed? How are you going to fight with the dead?" + +"With my fists," answered the larger of the two. + +"Oh, the devil! Now I remember--the dead won't bet when there's more +than one living person, and there are two of us." + +"Is that right? Well, I don't want to leave." + +"Nor I. I'm short of money," answered the smaller. "But let's do this: +let's play for it, the one who loses to leave." + +"All right," agreed the other, rather ungraciously. "Then let's +get inside. Have you any matches?" They went in to seek in the +semi-obscurity for a suitable place and soon found a niche in which +they could sit. The shorter took some cards from his salakot, while +the other struck a match, in the light from which they stared at +each other, but, from the expressions on their faces, apparently +without recognition. Nevertheless, we can recognize in the taller +and deep-voiced one Elias and in the shorter one, from the scar on +his cheek, Lucas. + +"Cut!" called Lucas, still staring at the other. He pushed aside some +bones that were in the niche and dealt an ace and a jack. + +Elias lighted match after match. "On the jack!" he said, and to +indicate the card placed a vertebra on top of it. + +"Play!" called Lucas, as he dealt an ace with the fourth or fifth +card. "You've lost," he added. "Now leave me alone so that I can try +to make a raise." + +Elias moved away without a word and was soon swallowed up in the +darkness. + +Several minutes later the church-clock struck eight and the bell +announced the hour of the souls, but Lucas invited no one to play nor +did he call on the dead, as the superstition directs; instead, he took +off his hat and muttered a few prayers, crossing and recrossing himself +with the same fervor with which, at that same moment, the leader of the +Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary was going through a similar performance. + +Throughout the night a drizzling rain continued to fall. By nine +o'clock the streets were dark and solitary. The coconut-oil lanterns, +which the inhabitants were required to hang out, scarcely illuminated +a small circle around each, seeming to be lighted only to render the +darkness more apparent. Two civil-guards paced back and forth in the +street near the church. + +"It's cold!" said one in Tagalog with a Visayan accent. "We haven't +caught any sacristan, so there is no one to repair the alferez's +chicken-coop. They're all scared out by the death of that other +one. This makes me tired." + +"Me, too," answered the other. "No one commits robbery, no one raises +a disturbance, but, thank God, they say that Elias is in town. The +alferez says that whoever catches him will be exempt from floggings +for three months." + +"Aha! Do you remember his description?" asked the Visayan. + +"I should say so! Height: tall, according to the alferez, medium, +according to Padre Damaso; color, brown; eyes, black; nose, ordinary; +beard, none; hair, black." + +"Aha! But special marks?" + +"Black shirt, black pantaloons, wood-cutter." + +"Aha, he won't get away from me! I think I see him now." + +"I wouldn't mistake him for any one else, even though he might look +like him." + +Thus the two soldiers continued on their round. + +By the light of the lanterns we may again see two shadowy figures +moving cautiously along, one behind the other. An energetic "_Quien +vive?_" stops both, and the first answers, "_Espana!_" in a trembling +voice. + +The soldiers seize him and hustle him toward a lantern to examine +him. It is Lucas, but the soldiers seem to be in doubt, questioning +each other with their eyes. + +"The alferez didn't say that he had a scar," whispered the +Visayan. "Where you going?" + +"To order a mass for tomorrow." + +"Haven't you seen Elias?" + +"I don't know him, sir," answered Lucas. + +"I didn't ask you if you know him, you fool! Neither do we know +him. I'm asking you if you've seen him." + +"No, sir." + +"Listen, I'll describe him: Height, sometimes tall, sometimes medium; +hair and eyes, black; all the other features, ordinary," recited the +Visayan. "Now do you know him?" + +"No, sir," replied Lucas stupidly. + +"Then get away from here! Brute! Dolt!" And they gave him a shove. + +"Do you know why Elias is tall to the alferez and of medium height +to the curate?" asked the Tagalog thoughtfully. + +"No," answered the Visayan. + +"Because the alferez was down in the mudhole when he saw him and the +curate was on foot." + +"That's right!" exclaimed the Visayan. "You're talented--blow is it +that you're a civil-guard?" + +"I wasn't always one; I was a smuggler," answered the Tagalog with +a touch of pride. + +But another shadowy figure diverted their attention. They challenged +this one also and took the man to the light. + +This time it was the real Elias. + +"Where you going?" + +"To look for a man, sir, who beat and threatened my brother. He has +a scar on his face and is called Elias." + +"Aha!" exclaimed the two guards, gazing at each other in astonishment, +as they started on the run toward the church, where Lucas had +disappeared a few moments before. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +Il Buon Di Si Conosce Da Mattina [137] + + +Early the next morning the report spread through the town that many +lights had been seen in the cemetery on the previous night. The leader +of the Venerable Tertiary Order spoke of lighted candles, of their +shape and size, and, although he could not fix the exact number, had +counted more than twenty. Sister Sipa, of the Brotherhood of the Holy +Rosary, could not bear the thought that a member of a rival order +should alone boast of having seen this divine marvel, so she, even +though she did not live near the place, had heard cries and groans, +and even thought she recognized by their voices certain persons with +whom she, in other times,--but out of Christian charity she not only +forgave them but prayed for them and would keep their names secret, +for all of which she was declared on the spot to be a saint. Sister +Rufa was not so keen of hearing, but she could not suffer that Sister +Sipa had heard so much and she nothing, so she related a dream in +which there had appeared before her many souls--not only of the +dead but even of the living--souls in torment who begged for a part +of those indulgences of hers which were so carefully recorded and +treasured. She could furnish names to the families interested and +only asked for a few alms to succor the Pope in his needs. A little +fellow, a herder, who dared to assert that he had seen nothing more +than one light and two men in salakots had difficulty in escaping +with mere slaps and scoldings. Vainly he swore to it; there were his +carabaos with him and could verify his statement. "Do you pretend +to know more than the Warden and the Sisters, _paracmason_, [138] +heretic?" he was asked amid angry looks. The curate went up into the +pulpit and preached about purgatory so fervently that the pesos again +flowed forth from their hiding-places to pay for masses. + +But let us leave the suffering souls and listen to the conversation +between Don Filipo and old Tasio in the lonely home of the latter. The +Sage, or Lunatic, was sick, having been for days unable to leave his +bed, prostrated by a malady that was rapidly growing worse. + +"Really, I don't know whether to congratulate you or not that your +resignation has been accepted. Formerly, when the gobernadorcillo so +shamelessly disregarded the will of the majority, it was right for +you to tender it, but now that you are engaged in a contest with the +Civil Guard it's not quite proper. In time of war you ought to remain +at your post." + +"Yes, but not when the general sells himself," answered Don +Filipo. "You know that on the following morning the gobernadorcillo +liberated the soldiers that I had succeeded in arresting and refused +to take any further action. Without the consent of my superior officer +I could do nothing." + +"You alone, nothing; but with the rest, much. You should have +taken advantage of this opportunity to set an example to the other +towns. Above the ridiculous authority of the gobernadorcillo are the +rights of the people. It was the beginning of a good lesson and you +have neglected it." + +"But what could I have done against the representative of the +interests? Here you have Senor Ibarra, he has bowed before the beliefs +of the crowd. Do you think that he believes in excommunications?" + +"You are not in the same fix. Senor Ibarra is trying to sow the good +seed, and to do so he must bend himself and make what use he can of +the material at hand. Your mission was to stir things up, and for that +purpose initiative and force are required. Besides, the fight should +not be considered as merely against the gobernadorcillo. The principle +ought to be, against him who makes wrong use of his authority, +against him who disturbs the public peace, against him who fails in +his duty. You would not have been alone, for the country is not the +same now that it was twenty years ago." + +"Do you think so?" asked Don Filipo. + +"Don't you feel it?" rejoined the old man, sitting up in his bed. "Ah, +that is because you haven't seen the past, you haven't studied the +effect of European immigration, of the coming of new books, and +of the movement of our youth to Europe. Examine and compare these +facts. It is true that the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo +Tomas, with its most sapient faculty, still exists and that some +intelligences are yet exercised in formulating distinctions and in +penetrating the subtleties of scholasticism; but where will you now +find the metaphysical youth of our days, with their archaic education, +who tortured their brains and died in full pursuit of sophistries +in some corner of the provinces, without ever having succeeded in +understanding the attributes of _being_, or solving the problem of +_essence_ and _existence_, those lofty concepts that made us forget +what was essential,--our own existence and our own individuality? Look +at the youth of today! Full of enthusiasm at the view of a wider +horizon, they study history, mathematics, geography, literature, +physical sciences, languages--all subjects that in our times we heard +mentioned with horror, as though they were heresies. The greatest +free-thinker of my day declared them inferior to the classifications of +Aristotle and the laws of the syllogism. Man has at last comprehended +that he is man; he has given up analyzing his God and searching into +the imperceptible, into what he has not seen; he has given up framing +laws for the phantasms of his brain; he comprehends that his heritage +is the vast world, dominion over which is within his reach; weary of +his useless and presumptuous toil, he lowers his head and examines what +surrounds him. See how poets are now springing up among us! The Muses +of Nature are gradually opening up their treasures to us and begin +to smile in encouragement on our efforts; the experimental sciences +have already borne their first-fruits; time only is lacking for their +development. The lawyers of today are being trained in the new forms of +the philosophy of law, some of them begin to shine in the midst of the +shadows which surround our courts of justice, indicating a change in +the course of affairs. Hear how the youth talk, visit the centers of +learning! Other names resound within the walls of the schools, there +where we heard only those of St. Thomas, Suarez, Amat, Sanchez, [139] +and others who were the idols of our times. In vain do the friars cry +out from the pulpits against our demoralization, as the fish-venders +cry out against the cupidity of their customers, disregarding the +fact that their wares are stale and unserviceable! In vain do the +conventos extend their ramifications to check the new current. The +gods are going! The roots of the tree may weaken the plants that +support themselves under it, but they cannot take away life from +those other beings, which, like birds, are soaring toward the sky." + +The Sage spoke with animation, his eyes gleamed. + +"Still, the new seed is small," objected Don Filipo incredulously. "If +all enter upon the progress we purchase so dearly, it may be stifled." + +"Stifled! Who will stifle it? Man, that weak dwarf, stifle progress, +the powerful child of time and action? When has he been able to do +so? Bigotry, the gibbet, the stake, by endeavoring to stifle it, +have hurried it along. _E pur si muove_, [140] said Galileo, when +the Dominicans forced him to declare that the earth does not move, +and the same statement might be applied to human progress. Some wills +are broken down, some individuals sacrificed, but that is of little +import; progress continues on its way, and from the blood of those +who fall new and vigorous offspring is born. See, the press itself, +however backward it may wish to be, is taking a step forward. The +Dominicans themselves do not escape the operation of this law, but are +imitating the Jesuits, their irreconcilable enemies. They hold fiestas +in their cloisters, they erect little theaters, they compose poems, +because, as they are not devoid of intelligence in spite of believing +in the fifteenth century, they realize that the Jesuits are right, +and they will still take part in the future of the younger peoples +that they have reared." + +"So, according to you, the Jesuits keep up with progress?" asked Don +Filipo in wonder. "Why, then, are they opposed in Europe?" + +"I will answer you like an old scholastic," replied the Sage, lying +down again and resuming his jesting expression. "There are three +ways in which one may accompany the course of progress: in front of, +beside, or behind it. The first guide it, the second suffer themselves +to be carried along with it, and the last are dragged after it and to +these last the Jesuits belong. They would like to direct it, but as +they see that it is strong and has other tendencies, they capitulate, +preferring to follow rather than to be crushed or left alone among the +shadows by the wayside. Well now, we in the Philippines are moving +along at least three centuries behind the car of progress; we are +barely beginning to emerge from the Middle Ages. Hence the Jesuits, +who are reactionary in Europe, when seen from our point of view, +represent progress. To them the Philippines owes her dawning system +of instruction in the natural sciences, the soul of the nineteenth +century, as she owed to the Dominicans scholasticism, already dead +in spite of Leo XIII, for there is no Pope who can revive what common +sense has judged and condemned. + +"But where are we getting to?" he asked with a change of tone. "Ah, +we were speaking of the present condition of the Philippines. Yes, +we are now entering upon a period of strife, or rather, I should say +that you are, for my generation belongs to the night, we are passing +away. This strife is between the past, which seizes and strives +with curses to cling to the tottering feudal castle, and the future, +whose song of triumph may be heard from afar amid the splendors of the +coming dawn, bringing the message of Good-News from other lands. Who +will fall and be buried in the moldering ruins?" + +The old man paused. Noticing that Don Filipo was gazing at him +thoughtfully, he said with a smile, "I can almost guess what you +are thinking." + +"Really?" + +"You are thinking of how easily I may be mistaken," was the answer +with a sad smile. "Today I am feverish, and I am not infallible: _homo +sum et nihil humani a me alienum puto_, [141] said Terence, and if +at any time one is allowed to dream, why not dream pleasantly in the +last hours of life? And after all, I have lived only in dreams! You +are right, it is a dream! Our youths think only of love affairs and +dissipations; they expend more time and work harder to deceive and +dishonor a maiden than in thinking about the welfare of their country; +our women, in order to care for the house and family of God, neglect +their own: our men are active only in vice and heroic only in shame; +childhood develops amid ignorance and routine, youth lives its best +years without ideals, and a sterile manhood serves only as an example +for corrupting youth. Gladly do I die! _Claudite iam rivos, pueri!_" +[142] + +"Don't you want some medicine?" asked Don Filipo in order to change +the course of the conversation, which had darkened the old man's face. + +"The dying need no medicines; you who remain need them. Tell Don +Crisostomo to come and see me tomorrow, for I have some important +things to say to him. In a few days I am going away. The Philippines +is in darkness!" + +After a few moments more of talk, Don Filipo left the sick man's house, +grave and thoughtful. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +Revelations + + + Quidquid latet, adparebit, + Nil inultum remanebit. [143] + + +The vesper bells are ringing, and at the holy sound all pause, drop +their tasks, and uncover. The laborer returning from the fields +ceases the song with which he was pacing his carabao and murmurs a +prayer, the women in the street cross themselves and move their lips +affectedly so that none may doubt their piety, a man stops caressing +his game-cock and recites the angelus to bring better luck, while +inside the houses they pray aloud. Every sound but that of the Ave +Maria dies away, becomes hushed. + +Nevertheless, the curate, without his hat, rushes across the street, +to the scandalizing of many old women, and, greater scandal still, +directs his steps toward the house of the alferez. The devout women +then think it time to cease the movement of their lips in order to +kiss the curate's hand, but Padre Salvi takes no notice of them. This +evening he finds no pleasure in placing his bony hand on his Christian +nose that he may slip it down dissemblingly (as Dona Consolacion +has observed) over the bosom of the attractive young woman who may +have bent over to receive his blessing. Some important matter must +be engaging his attention when he thus forgets his own interests and +those of the Church! + +In fact, he rushes headlong up the stairway and knocks impatiently +at the alferez's door. The latter puts in his appearance, scowling, +followed by his better half, who smiles like one of the damned. + +"Ah, Padre, I was just going over to see you. That old goat of yours--" + +"I have a very important matter--" + +"I can't stand for his running about and breaking down the fence. I'll +shoot him if he comes back!" + +"That is, if you are alive tomorrow!" exclaimed the panting curate +as he made his way toward the sala. + +"What, do you think that puny doll will kill me? I'll bust him with +a kick!" + +Padre Salvi stepped backward with an involuntary glance toward the +alferez's feet. "Whom are you talking about?" he asked tremblingly. + +"About whom would I talk but that simpleton who has challenged me to +a duel with revolvers at a hundred paces?" + +"Ah!" sighed the curate, then he added, "I've come to talk to you +about a very urgent matter." + +"Enough of urgent matters! It'll be like that affair of the two boys." + +Had the light been other than from coconut oil and the lamp globe +not so dirty, the alferez would have noticed the curate's pallor. + +"Now this is a serious matter, which concerns the lives of all of us," +declared Padre Salvi in a low voice. + +"A serious matter?" echoed the alferez, turning pale. "Can that boy +shoot straight?" + +"I'm not talking about him." + +"Then, what?" + +The friar made a sign toward the door, which the alferez closed in +his own way--with a kick, for he had found his hands superfluous and +had lost nothing by ceasing to be bimanous. + +A curse and a roar sounded outside. "Brute, you've split my forehead +open!" yelled his wife. + +"Now, unburden yourself," he said calmly to the curate. + +The latter stared at him for a space, then asked in the nasal, +droning voice of the preacher, "Didn't you see me come--running?" + +"Sure! I thought you'd lost something." + +"Well, now," continued the curate, without heeding the alferez's +rudeness, "when I fail thus in my duty, it's because there are grave +reasons." + +"Well, what else?" asked the other, tapping the floor with his foot. + +"Be calm!" + +"Then why did you come in such a hurry?" + +The curate drew nearer to him and asked mysteriously, +"Haven't--you--heard--anything?" + +The alferez shrugged his shoulders. + +"You admit that you know absolutely nothing?" + +"Do you want to talk about Elias, who put away your senior sacristan +last night?" was the retort. + +"No, I'm not talking about those matters," answered the curate +ill-naturedly. "I'm talking about a great danger." + +"Well, damn it, out with it!" + +"Come," said the friar slowly and disdainfully, "you see once more +how important we ecclesiastics are. The meanest lay brother is worth +as much as a regiment, while a curate--" + +Then he added in a low and mysterious tone, "I've discovered a big +conspiracy!" + +The alferez started up and gazed in astonishment at the friar. + +"A terrible and well-organized plot, which will be carried out this +very night." + +"This very night!" exclaimed the alferez, pushing the curate aside +and running to his revolver and sword hanging on the wall. + +"Who'll I arrest? Who'll I arrest?" he cried. + +"Calm yourself! There is still time, thanks to the promptness with +which I have acted. We have till eight o'clock." + +"I'll shoot all of them!" + +"Listen_!_ This afternoon a woman whose name I can't reveal (it's a +secret of the confessional) came to me and told everything. At eight +o'clock they will seize the barracks by surprise, plunder the convento, +capture the police boat, and murder all of us Spaniards." + +The alferez was stupefied. + +"The woman did not tell me any more than this," added the curate. + +"She didn't tell any more? Then I'll arrest her!" + +"I can't consent to that. The bar of penitence is the throne of the +God of mercies." + +"There's neither God nor mercies that amount to anything! I'll +arrest her!" + +"You're losing your head! What you must do is to get yourself +ready. Muster your soldiers quietly and put them in ambush, send +me four guards for the convento, and notify the men in charge of +the boat." + +"The boat isn't here. I'll ask for help from the other sections." + +"No, for then the plotters would be warned and would not carry out +their plans. What we must do is to catch them alive and make them +talk--I mean, you'll make them talk, since I, as a priest, must not +meddle in such matters. Listen, here's where you win crosses and +stars. I ask only that you make due acknowledgment that it was I who +warned you." + +"It'll be acknowledged, Padre, it'll be acknowledged--and perhaps +you'll get a miter!" answered the glowing alferez, glancing at the +cuffs of his uniform. + +"So, you send me four guards in plain clothes, eh? Be discreet, +and tonight at eight o'clock it'll rain stars and crosses." + +While all this was taking place, a man ran along the road leading to +Ibarra's house and rushed up the stairway. + +"Is your master here?" the voice of Elias called to a servant. + +"He's in his study at work." + +Ibarra, to divert the impatience that he felt while waiting for the +time when he could make his explanations to Maria Clara, had set +himself to work in his laboratory. + +"Ah, that you, Elias?" he exclaimed. "I was thinking about +you. Yesterday I forgot to ask you the name of that Spaniard in whose +house your grandfather lived." + +"Let's not talk about me, sir--" + +"Look," continued Ibarra, not noticing the youth's agitation, +while he placed a piece of bamboo over a flame, "I've made a great +discovery. This bamboo is incombustible." + +"It's not a question of bamboo now, sir, it's a question of your +collecting your papers and fleeing at this very moment." + +Ibarra glanced at him in surprise and, on seeing the gravity of his +countenance, dropped the object that he held in his hands. + +"Burn everything that may compromise you and within an hour put +yourself in a place of safety." + +"Why?" Ibarra was at length able to ask. + +"Put all your valuables in a safe place--" + +"Why?" + +"Burn every letter written by you or to you--the most innocent thing +may be wrongly construed--" + +"But why all this?" + +"Why! Because I've just discovered a plot that is to be attributed +to you in order to ruin you." + +"A plot? Who is forming it?" + +"I haven't been able to discover the author of it, but just a moment +ago I talked with one of the poor dupes who are paid to carry it out, +and I wasn't able to dissuade him." + +"But he--didn't he tell you who is paying him?" + +"Yes! Under a pledge of secrecy he said that it was you." + +"My God!" exclaimed the terrified Ibarra. + +"There's no doubt of it, sir. Don't lose any time, for the plot will +probably be carried out this very night." + +Ibarra, with his hands on his head and his eyes staring unnaturally, +seemed not to hear him. + +"The blow cannot be averted," continued Elias. "I've come late, +I don't know who the leaders are. Save yourself, sir, save yourself +for your country's sake!" + +"Whither shall I flee? She expects me tonight!" exclaimed Ibarra, +thinking of Maria Clara. + +"To any town whatsoever, to Manila, to the house of some official, +but anywhere so that they may not say that you are directing this +movement." + +"Suppose that I myself report the plot?" + +"You an informer!" exclaimed Elias, stepping back and staring at +him. "You would appear as a traitor and coward in the eyes of the +plotters and faint-hearted in the eyes of others. They would say that +you planned the whole thing to curry favor. They would say--" + +"But what's to be done?" + +"I've already told you. Destroy every document that relates to your +affairs, flee, and await the outcome." + +"And Maria Clara?" exclaimed the young man. "No, I'll die first!" + +Elias wrung his hands, saying, "Well then, at least parry the +blow. Prepare for the time when they accuse you." + +Ibarra gazed about him in bewilderment. "Then help me. There in +that writing-desk are all the letters of my family. Select those of +my father, which are perhaps the ones that may compromise me. Read +the signatures." + +So the bewildered and stupefied young man opened and shut boxes, +collected papers, read letters hurriedly, tearing up some and laying +others aside. He took down some books and began to turn their leaves. + +Elias did the same, if not so excitedly, yet with equal eagerness. But +suddenly he paused, his eyes bulged, he turned the paper in his hand +over and over, then asked in a trembling voice: + +"Was your family acquainted with Don Pedro Eibarramendia?" + +"I should say so!" answered Ibarra, as he opened a chest and took +out a bundle of papers. "He was my great-grandfather." + +"Your great-grandfather Don Pedro Eibarramendia?" again asked Elias +with changed and livid features. + +"Yes," replied Ibarra absently, "we shortened the surname; it was +too long." + +"Was he a Basque?" demanded Elias, approaching him. + +"Yes, a Basque--but what's the matter?" asked Ibarra in surprise. + +Clenching his fists and pressing them to his forehead, Elias glared +at Crisostomo, who recoiled when he saw the expression on the other's +face. "Do you know who Don Pedro Eibarramendia was?" he asked between +his teeth. "Don Pedro Eibarramendia was the villain who falsely accused +my grandfather and caused all our misfortunes. I have sought for that +name and God has revealed it to me! Render me now an accounting for +our misfortunes!" + +Elias caught and shook the arm of Crisostomo, who gazed at him in +terror. In a voice that was bitter and trembling with hate, he said, +"Look at me well, look at one who has suffered and you live, you live, +you have wealth, a home, reputation--you live, you live!" + +Beside himself, he ran to a small collection of arms and snatched up +a dagger. But scarcely had he done so when he let it fall again and +stared like a madman at the motionless Ibarra. + +"What was I about to do?" he muttered, fleeing from the house. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +The Catastrophe + + +There in the dining-room Capitan Tiago, Linares, and Aunt Isabel were +at supper, so that even in the sala the rattling of plates and dishes +was plainly heard. Maria Clara had said that she was not hungry and +had seated herself at the piano in company with the merry Sinang, +who was murmuring mysterious words into her ear. Meanwhile Padre +Salvi paced nervously back and forth in the room. + +It was not, indeed, that the convalescent was not hungry, no; but she +was expecting the arrival of a certain person and was taking advantage +of this moment when her Argus was not present, Linares' supper-hour. + +"You'll see how that specter will stay till eight," murmured Sinang, +indicating the curate. "And at eight _he_ will come. The curate's in +love with Linares." + +Maria Clara gazed in consternation at her friend, who went on +heedlessly with her terrible chatter: "Oh, I know why he doesn't +go, in spite of my hints--he doesn't want to burn up oil in the +convento! Don't you know that since you've been sick the two lamps that +he used to keep lighted he has had put out? But look how he stares, +and what a face!" + +At that moment a clock in the house struck eight. The curate shuddered +and sat down in a corner. + +"Here he comes!" exclaimed Sinang, pinching Maria Clara. "Don't you +hear him?" + +The church bell boomed out the hour of eight and all rose to +pray. Padre Salvi offered up a prayer in a weak and trembling voice, +but as each was busy with his own thoughts no one paid any attention +to the priest's agitation. + +Scarcely had the prayer ceased when Ibarra appeared. The youth was +in mourning not only in his attire but also in his face, to such an +extent that, on seeing him, Maria Clara arose and took a step toward +him to ask what the matter was. But at that instant the report of +firearms was heard. Ibarra stopped, his eyes rolled, he lost the power +of speech. The curate had concealed himself behind a post. More shots, +more reports were heard from the direction of the convento, followed +by cries and the sound of persons running. Capitan Tiago, Aunt Isabel, +and Linares rushed in pell-mell, crying, "Tulisan! Tulisan!" Andeng +followed, flourishing the gridiron as she ran toward her foster-sister. + +Aunt Isabel fell on her knees weeping and reciting the _Kyrie eleyson_; +Capitan Tiago, pale and trembling, carried on his fork a chicken-liver +which he offered tearfully to the Virgin of Antipolo; Linares with his +mouth full of food was armed with a case-knife; Sinang and Maria Clara +were in each other's arms; while the only one that remained motionless, +as if petrified, was Crisostomo, whose paleness was indescribable. + +The cries and sound of blows continued, windows were closed noisily, +the report of a gun was heard from time to time. + +"_Christie eleyson!_ Santiago, let the prophecy be fulfilled! Shut +the windows!" groaned Aunt Isabel. + +"Fifty big bombs and two thanksgiving masses!" responded Capitan +Tiago. "_Ora pro nobis!_" + +Gradually there prevailed a heavy silence which was soon broken by +the voice of the alferez, calling as he ran: "Padre, Padre Salvi, +come here!" + +"_Miserere!_ The alferez is calling for confession," cried Aunt +Isabel. "The alferez is wounded?" asked Linares hastily. "Ah!!!" Only +then did he notice that he had not yet swallowed what he had in +his mouth. + +"Padre, come here! There's nothing more to fear!" the alferez continued +to call out. + +The pallid Fray Salvi at last concluded to venture out from his +hiding-place, and went down the stairs. + +"The outlaws have killed the alferez! Maria, Sinang, go into your +room and fasten the door! _Kyrie eleyson!_" + +Ibarra also turned toward the stairway, in spite of Aunt Isabel's +cries: "Don't go out, you haven't been shriven, don't go out!" The +good old lady had been a particular friend of his mother's. + +But Ibarra left the house. Everything seemed to reel around him, +the ground was unstable. His ears buzzed, his legs moved heavily and +irregularly. Waves of blood, lights and shadows chased one another +before his eyes, and in spite of the bright moonlight he stumbled +over the stones and blocks of wood in the vacant and deserted street. + +Near the barracks he saw soldiers, with bayonets fixed, who were +talking among themselves so excitedly that he passed them unnoticed. In +the town hall were to be heard blows, cries, and curses, with the +voice of the alferez dominating everything: "To the stocks! Handcuff +them! Shoot any one who moves! Sergeant, mount the guard! Today no +one shall walk about, not even God! Captain, this is no time to go +to sleep!" + +Ibarra hastened his steps toward home, where his servants were +anxiously awaiting him. "Saddle the best horse and go to bed!" he +ordered them. + +Going into his study, he hastily packed a traveling-bag, opened an +iron safe, took out what money he found there and put it into some +sacks. Then he collected his jewels, took clown a portrait of Maria +Clara, armed himself with a dagger and two revolvers, and turned +toward a closet where he kept his instruments. + +At that moment three heavy knocks sounded on the door. "Who's +there?" asked Ibarra in a gloomy tone. + +"Open, in the King's name, open at once, or we'll break the door down," +answered an imperious voice in Spanish. + +Ibarra looked toward the window, his eyes gleamed, and he cocked his +revolver. Then changing his mind, he put the weapons down and went +to open the door just as the servant appeared. Three guards instantly +seized him. + +"Consider yourself a prisoner in the King's name," said the sergeant. + +"For what?" + +"They'll tell you over there. We're forbidden to say." The youth +reflected a moment and then, perhaps not wishing that the soldiers +should discover his preparations for flight, picked up his hat, saying, +"I'm at your service. I suppose that it will only be for a few hours." + +"If you promise not to try to escape, we won't tie you the alferez +grants this favor--but if you run--" + +Ibarra went with them, leaving his servants in consternation. + +Meanwhile, what had become of Elias? Leaving the house of Crisostomo, +he had run like one crazed, without heeding where he was going. He +crossed the fields in violent agitation, he reached the woods; he fled +from the town, from the light--even the moon so troubled him that he +plunged into the mysterious shadows of the trees. There, sometimes +pausing, sometimes moving along unfrequented paths, supporting himself +on the hoary trunks or being entangled in the undergrowth, he gazed +toward the town, which, bathed in the light of the moon, spread out +before him on the plain along the shore of the lake. Birds awakened +from their sleep flew about, huge bats and owls moved from branch to +branch with strident cries and gazed at him with their round eyes, but +Elias neither heard nor heeded them. In his fancy he was followed by +the offended shades of his family, he saw on every branch the gruesome +basket containing Balat's gory head, as his father had described it +to him; at every tree he seemed to stumble over the corpse of his +grandmother; he imagined that he saw the rotting skeleton of his +dishonored grandfather swinging among the shadows--and the skeleton +and the corpse and the gory head cried after him, "Coward! Coward!" + +Leaving the hill, Elias descended to the lake and ran along the +shore excitedly. There at a distance in the midst of the waters, +where the moonlight seemed to form a cloud, he thought he could see a +specter rise and soar the shade of his sister with her breast bloody +and her loose hair streaming about. He fell to his knees on the sand +and extending his arms cried out, "You, too!" + +Then with his gaze fixed on the cloud he arose slowly and went forward +into the water as if he were following some one. He passed over the +gentle slope that forms the bar and was soon far from the shore. The +water rose to his waist, but he plunged on like one fascinated, +following, ever following, the ghostly charmer. Now the water covered +his chest--a volley of rifle-shots sounded, the vision disappeared, +the youth returned to his senses. In the stillness of the night and +the greater density of the air the reports reached him clearly and +distinctly. He stopped to reflect and found himself in the water--over +the peaceful ripples of the lake he could still make out the lights +in the fishermen's huts. + +He returned to the shore and started toward the town, but for what +purpose he himself knew not. The streets appeared to be deserted, +the houses were closed, and even the dogs that were wont to bark +through the night had hidden themselves in fear. The silvery light +of the moon added to the sadness and loneliness. + +Fearful of meeting the civil-guards, he made his way along through +yards and gardens, in one of which he thought he could discern two +human figures, but he kept on his way, leaping over fences and walls, +until after great labor he reached the other end of the town and +went toward Crisostomo's house. In the doorway were the servants, +lamenting their master's arrest. + +After learning about what had occurred Elias pretended to go away, +but really went around behind the house, jumped over the wall, and +crawled through a window into the study where the candle that Ibarra +had lighted was still burning. He saw the books and papers and found +the arms, the jewels, and the sacks of money. Reconstructing in his +imagination the scene that had taken place there and seeing so many +papers that might be of a compromising nature, he decided to gather +them up, throw them from the window, and bury them. + +But, on glancing toward the street, he saw two guards approaching, +their bayonets and caps gleaming in the moonlight. With them was the +directorcillo. He made a sudden resolution: throwing the papers and +some clothing into a heap in the center of the room, he poured over +them the oil from a lamp and set fire to the whole. He was hurriedly +placing the arms in his belt when he caught sight of the portrait +of Maria Clara and hesitated a moment, then thrust it into one of +the sacks and with them in his hands leaped from the window into +the garden. + +It was time that he did so, too, for the guards were forcing +an entrance. "Let us in to get your master's papers!" cried the +directorcillo. + +"Have you permission? If you haven't, you won't get in,'" answered +an old man. + +But the soldiers pushed him aside with the butts of their rifles and +ran up the stairway, just as a thick cloud of smoke rolled through the +house and long tongues of flame shot out from the study, enveloping +the doors and windows. + +"Fire! Fire!" was the cry, as each rushed to save what he could. But +the blaze had reached the little laboratory and caught the inflammable +materials there, so the guards had to retire. The flames roared about, +licking up everything in their way and cutting off the passages. Vainly +was water brought from the well and cries for help raised, for the +house was set apart from the rest. The fire swept through all the +rooms and sent toward the sky thick spirals of smoke. Soon the whole +structure was at the mercy of the flames, fanned now by the wind, +which in the heat grew stronger. Some few rustics came up, but only +to gaze on this great bonfire, the end of that old building which +had been so long respected by the elements. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +Rumors and Beliefs + + +Day dawned at last for the terrified town. The streets near the +barracks and the town hail were still deserted and solitary, the +houses showed no signs of life. Nevertheless, the wooden panel of +a window was pushed back noisily and a child's head was stretched +out and turned from side to side, gazing about in all directions. At +once, however, a smack indicated the contact of tanned hide with the +soft human article, so the child made a wry face, closed its eyes, +and disappeared. The window slammed shut. + +But an example had been set. That opening and shutting of the window +had no doubt been heard on all sides, for soon another window opened +slowly and there appeared cautiously the head of a wrinkled and +toothless old woman: it was the same Sister Pute who had raised such a +disturbance while Padre Damaso was preaching. Children and old women +are the representatives of curiosity in this world: the former from +a wish to know things and the latter from a desire to recollect them. + +Apparently there was no one to apply a slipper to Sister Pute, for she +remained gazing out into the distance with wrinkled eyebrows. Then she +rinsed out her mouth, spat noisily, and crossed herself. In the house +opposite, another window was now timidly opened to reveal Sister Rufa, +she who did not wish to cheat or be cheated. They stared at each other +for a moment, smiled, made some signs, and again crossed themselves. + +"_Jesus_, it seemed like a thanksgiving mass, regular +fireworks!" commented Sister Rufa. + +"Since the town was sacked by Balat, I've never seen another night +equal to it," responded Sister Pute. + +"What a lot of shots! They say that it was old Pablo's band." + +"Tulisanes? That can't be! They say that it was the cuadrilleros +against the civil-guards. That's why Don Filipo has been arrested." + +"_Sanctus Deus!_ They say that at least fourteen were killed." + +Other windows were now opened and more faces appeared to exchange +greetings and make comments. In the clear light, which promised a +bright day, soldiers could be seen in the distance, coming and going +confusedly like gray silhouettes. + +"There goes one more corpse!" was the exclamation from a window. + +"One? I see two." + +"And I--but really, can it be you don't know what it was?" asked a +sly-featured individual. + +"Oh, the cuadrilleros!" + +"No, sir, it was a mutiny in the barracks!" + +"What kind of mutiny? The curate against the alferez?" + +"No, it was nothing of the kind," answered the man who had asked the +first question. "It was the Chinamen who have rebelled." With this +he shut his window. + +"The Chinamen!" echoed all in great astonishment. "That's why not +one of them is to be seen!" "They've probably killed them all!" + +"I thought they were going to do something bad. Yesterday--" + +"I saw it myself. Last night--" + +"What a pity!" exclaimed Sister Rufa. "To get killed just before +Christmas when they bring around their presents! They should have +waited until New Year's." + +Little by little the street awoke to life. Dogs, chickens, pigs, and +doves began the movement, and these animals were soon followed by some +ragged urchins who held fast to each other's arms as they timidly +approached the barracks. Then a few old women with handkerchiefs +tied about their heads and fastened under their chins appeared with +thick rosaries in their hands, pretending to be at their prayers so +that the soldiers would let them pass. When it was seen that one +might walk about without being shot at, the men began to come out +with assumed airs of indifference. First they limited their steps +to the neighborhood of their houses, caressing their game-cocks, +then they extended their stroll, stopping from time to time, until +at last they stood in front of the town hall. + +In a quarter of an hour other versions of the affair were in +circulation. Ibarra with his servants had tried to kidnap Maria Clara, +and Capitan Tiago had defended her, aided by the Civil Guard. The +number of killed was now not fourteen but thirty. Capitan Tiago was +wounded and would leave that very day with his family for Manila. + +The arrival of two cuadrilleros carrying a human form on a covered +stretcher and followed by a civil-guard produced a great sensation. It +was conjectured that they came from the convento, and, from the shape +of the feet, which were dangling over one end, some guessed who the +dead man might be, some one else a little distance away told who it +was; further on the corpse was multiplied and the mystery of the Holy +Trinity duplicated, later the miracle of the loaves and fishes was +repeated--and the dead were then thirty and eight. + +By half-past seven, when other guards arrived from neighboring towns, +the current version was clear and detailed. "I've just come from the +town hall, where I've seen Don Filipo and Don Crisostomo prisoners," a +man told Sister Pute. "I've talked with one of the cuadrilleros who are +on guard. Well, Bruno, the son of that fellow who was flogged to death, +confessed everything last night. As you know, Capitan Tiago is going +to marry his daughter to the young Spaniard, so Don Crisostomo in his +rage wanted to get revenge and tried to kill all the Spaniards, even +the curate. Last night they attacked the barracks and the convento, +but fortunately, by God's mercy, the curate was in Capitan Tiago's +house. They say that a lot of them escaped. The civil-guards burned +Don Crisostomo's house down, and if they hadn't arrested him first +they would have burned him also." + +"They burned the house down?" + +"All the servants are under arrest. Look, you can still see the smoke +from here!" answered the narrator, approaching the window. "Those +who come from there tell of many sad things." + +All looked toward the place indicated. A thin column of smoke was +still slowly rising toward the sky. All made comments, more or less +pitying, more or less accusing. + +"Poor youth!" exclaimed an old man, Pute's husband. + +"Yes," she answered, "but look how he didn't order a mass said for +the soul of his father, who undoubtedly needs it more than others." + +"But, woman, haven't you any pity?" + +"Pity for the excommunicated? It's a sin to take pity on the enemies +of God, the curates say. Don't you remember? In the cemetery he walked +about as if he was in a corral." + +"But a corral and the cemetery are alike," replied the old man, +"only that into the former only one kind of animal enters." + +"Shut up!" cried Sister Pute. "You'll still defend those whom God +has clearly punished. You'll see how they'll arrest you, too. You're +upholding a falling house." + +Her husband became silent before this argument. + +"Yes," continued the old lady, "after striking Padre Damaso there +wasn't anything left for him to do but to kill Padre Salvi." + +"But you can't deny that he was good when he was a little boy." + +"Yes, he was good," replied the old woman, "but he went to Spain. All +those that go to Spain become heretics, as the curates have said." + +"Oho!" exclaimed her husband, seeing his chance for a retort, "and +the curate, and all the curates, and the Archbishop, and the Pope, +and the Virgin--aren't they from Spain? Are they also heretics? _Aba!_" + +Happily for Sister Pute the arrival of a maidservant running, all +pale and terrified, cut short this discussion. + +"A man hanged in the next garden!" she cried breathlessly. + +"A man hanged?" exclaimed all in stupefaction. The women crossed +themselves. No one could move from his place. + +"Yes, sir," went on the trembling servant; "I was going to pick +peas--I looked into our neighbor's garden to see if it was--I saw +a man swinging--I thought it was Teo, the servant who always gives +me--I went nearer to--pick the peas, and I saw that it wasn't Teo, +but a dead man. I ran and I ran and--" + +"Let's go see him," said the old man, rising. "Show us the way." + +"Don't you go!" cried Sister Pute, catching hold of his +camisa. "Something will happen to you! Is he hanged? Then the worse +for him!" + +"Let me see him, woman. You, Juan, go to the barracks and report +it. Perhaps he's not dead yet." + +So he proceeded to the garden with the servant, who kept behind +him. The women, including even Sister Pute herself, followed after, +filled with fear and curiosity. + +"There he is, sir," said the servant, as she stopped and pointed with +her finger. + +The committee paused at a respectful distance and allowed the old +man to go forward alone. + +A human body hanging from the branch of a santol tree swung about +gently in the breeze. The old man stared at it for a time and saw +that the legs and arms were stiff, the clothing soiled, and the head +doubled over. + +"We mustn't touch him until some officer of the law arrives," he said +aloud. "He's already stiff, he's been dead for some time." + +The women gradually moved closer. + +"He's the fellow who lived in that little house there. He came here +two weeks ago. Look at the scar on his face." + +"_Ave Maria!_" exclaimed some of the women. + +"Shall we pray for his soul?" asked a young woman, after she had +finished staring and examining the body. + +"Fool, heretic!" scolded Sister Pute. "Don't you know what Padre +Damaso said? It's tempting God to pray for one of the damned. Whoever +commits suicide is irrevocably damned and therefore he isn't buried +in holy ground." + +Then she added, "I knew that this man was coming to a bad end; +I never could find out how he lived." + +"I saw him twice talking with the senior sacristan," observed a +young woman. + +"It wouldn't be to confess himself or to order a mass!" + +Other neighbors came up until a large group surrounded the corpse, +which was still swinging about. After half an hour, an alguazil and +the directorcillo arrived with two cuadrilleros, who took the body +down and placed it on a stretcher. + +"People are getting in a hurry to die," remarked the directorcillo +with a smile, as he took a pen from behind his ear. + +He made captious inquiries, and took down the statement of the +maidservant, whom he tried to confuse, now looking at her fiercely, +now threatening her, now attributing to her things that she had not +said, so much so that she, thinking that she would have to go to jail, +began to cry and wound up by declaring that she wasn't looking for +peas but and she called Teo as a witness. + +While this was taking place, a rustic in a wide salakot with a big +bandage on his neck was examining the corpse and the rope. The face +was not more livid than the rest of the body, two scratches and two +red spots were to be seen above the noose, the strands of the rope were +white and had no blood on them. The curious rustic carefully examined +the camisa and pantaloons, and noticed that they were very dusty and +freshly torn in some parts. But what most caught his attention were +the seeds of _amores-secos_ that were sticking on the camisa even up +to the collar. + +"What are you looking at?" the directorcillo asked him. "I was looking, +sir, to see if I could recognize him," stammered the rustic, partly +uncovering, but in such a way that his salakot fell lower. + +"But haven't you heard that it's a certain Lucas? Were you asleep?" + +The crowd laughed, while the abashed rustic muttered a few words and +moved away slowly with his head down. + +"Here, where you going?" cried the old man after him. + +"That's not the way out. That's the way to the dead man's house." + +"The fellow's still asleep," remarked the directorcillo +facetiously. "Better pour some water over him." + +Amid the laughter of the bystanders the rustic left the place where +he had played such a ridiculous part and went toward the church. In +the sacristy he asked for the senior sacristan. + +"He's still asleep," was the rough answer. "Don't you know that the +convento was assaulted last night?" + +"Then I'll wait till he wakes up." This with a stupid stare at +the sacristans, such as is common to persons who are used to rough +treatment. + +In a corner which was still in shadow the one-eyed senior sacristan +lay asleep in a big chair. His spectacles were placed on his forehead +amid long locks of hair, while his thin, squalid chest, which was bare, +rose and fell regularly. + +The rustic took a seat near by, as if to wait patiently, but he dropped +a piece of money and started to look for it with the aid of a candle +under the senior sacristan's chair. He noticed seeds of _amores-secos_ +on the pantaloons and on the cuffs of the sleeper's camisa. The latter +awoke, rubbed his one good eye, and began to scold the rustic with +great ill-humor. + +"I wanted to order a mass, sir," was the reply in a tone of excuse. + +"The masses are already over," said the sacristan, sweetening his +tone a little at this. "If you want it for tomorrow--is it for the +souls in purgatory?" + +"No, sir," answered the rustic, handing him a peso. + +Then gazing fixedly at the single eye, he added, "It's for a person +who's going to die soon." + +Hereupon he left the sacristy. "I could have caught him last night!" he +sighed, as he took off the bandage and stood erect to recover the +face and form of Elias. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +Vae Victis! + + + Mi gozo en un pozo. + + +Guards with forbidding mien paced to and fro in front of the door of +the town hall, threatening with their rifle-butts the bold urchins who +rose on tiptoe or climbed up on one another to see through the bars. + +The hall itself did not present that agreeable aspect it wore when +the program of the fiesta was under discussion--now it was gloomy +and rather ominous. The civil-guards and cuadrilleros who occupied it +scarcely spoke and then with few words in low tones. At the table the +directorcillo, two clerks, and several soldiers were rustling papers, +while the alferez strode from one side to the other, at times gazing +fiercely toward the door: prouder Themistocles could not have appeared +in the Olympic games after the battle of Salamis. Dona Consolacion +yawned in a corner, exhibiting a dirty mouth and jagged teeth, while +she fixed her cold, sinister gaze on the door of the jail, which was +covered with indecent drawings. She had succeeded in persuading her +husband, whose victory had made him amiable, to let her witness the +inquiry and perhaps the accompanying tortures. The hyena smelt the +carrion and licked herself, wearied by the delay. + +The gobernadorcillo was very compunctious. His seat, that large chair +placed under his Majesty's portrait, was vacant, being apparently +intended for some one else. About nine o'clock the curate arrived, +pale and scowling. + +"Well, you haven't kept yourself waiting!" the alferez greeted him. + +"I should prefer not to be present," replied Padre Salvi in a low +voice, paying no heed to the bitter tone of the alferez. "I'm very +nervous." + +"As no one else has come to fill the place, I judged that your +presence--You know that they leave this afternoon." + +"Young Ibarra and the teniente-mayor?" + +The alferez pointed toward the jail. "There are eight there," he +said. "Bruno died at midnight, but his statement is on record." + +The curate saluted Dona Consolacion, who responded with a yawn, and +took his seat in the big chair under his Majesty's portrait. "Let us +begin," he announced. + +"Bring out those two who are in the stocks," ordered the alferez in +a tone that he tried to make as terrible as possible. Then turning +to the curate he added with a change of tone, "They are fastened in +by skipping two holes." + +For the benefit of those who are not informed about these +instruments of torture, we will say that the stocks are one of the +most harmless. The holes in which the offender's legs are placed +are a little more or less than a foot apart; by skipping two holes, +the prisoner finds himself in a rather forced position with peculiar +inconvenience to his ankles and a distance of about a yard between +his lower extremities. It does not kill instantaneously, as may well +be imagined. + +The jailer, followed by four soldiers, pushed back the bolt and opened +the door. A nauseating odor and currents of thick, damp air escaped +from the darkness within at the same time that laments and sighs were +heard. A soldier struck a match, but the flame was choked in such a +foul atmosphere, and they had to wait until the air became fresher. + +In the dim light of the candle several human forms became vaguely +outlined: men hugging their knees or hiding their heads between them, +some lying face downward, some standing, and some turned toward the +wall. A blow and a creak were heard, accompanied by curses--the stocks +were opened, Dona Consolacion bent forward with the muscles of her +neck swelling and her bulging eyes fixed on the half-opened door. + +A wretched figure, Tarsilo, Bruno's brother, came out between two +soldiers. On his wrists were handcuffs and his clothing was in shreds, +revealing quite a muscular body. He turned his eyes insolently on +the alferez's woman. + +"This is the one who defended himself with the most courage and told +his companions to run," said the alferez to Padre Salvi. + +Behind him came another of miserable aspect, moaning and weeping like a +child. He limped along exposing pantaloons spotted with blood. "Mercy, +sir, mercy! I'll not go back into the yard," he whimpered. + +"He's a rogue," observed the alferez to the curate. "He tried to +run, but he was wounded in the thigh. These are the only two that we +took alive." + +"What's your name?" the alferez asked Tarsilo. + +"Tarsilo Alasigan." + +"What did Don Crisostomo promise you for attacking the barracks?" + +"Don Crisostomo never had anything to do with us." + +"Don't deny it! That's why you tried to surprise us." + +"You're mistaken. You beat our father to death and we were avenging +him, nothing more. Look for your two associates." + +The alferez gazed at the sergeant in surprise. + +"They're over there in the gully where we threw them yesterday and +where they'll rot. Now kill me, you'll not learn anything more." + +General surprise and silence, broken by the alferez. "You are going +to tell who your other accomplices are," he threatened, flourishing +a rattan whip. + +A smile of disdain curled the prisoner's lips. The alferez consulted +with the curate in a low tone for a few moments, then turned to the +soldiers. "Take him out where the corpses are," he commanded. + +On a cart in a corner of the yard were heaped five corpses, partly +covered with a filthy piece of torn matting. A soldier walked about +near them, spitting at every moment. + +"Do you know them?" asked the alferez, lifting up the matting. + +Tarsilo did not answer. He saw the corpse of the madwoman's husband +with two others: that of his brother, slashed with bayonet-thrusts, +and that of Lucas with the halter still around his neck. His look +became somber and a sigh seemed to escape from his breast. + +"Do you know them?" he was again asked, but he still remained silent. + +The air hissed and the rattan cut his shoulders. He shuddered, his +muscles contracted. The blows were redoubled, but he remained unmoved. + +"Whip him until he bursts or talks!" cried the exasperated alferez. + +"Talk now," the directorcillo advised him. "They'll kill you anyhow." + +They led him back into the hall where the other prisoner, with +chattering teeth and quaking limbs, was calling upon the saints. + +"Do you know this fellow?" asked Padre Salvi. + +"This is the first time that I've ever seen him," replied Tarsilo +with a look of pity at the other. + +The alferez struck him with his fist and kicked him. "Tie him to +the bench!" + +Without taking off the handcuffs, which were covered with blood, +they tied him to a wooden bench. The wretched boy looked about him +as if seeking something and noticed Dona Consolacion, at sight of +whom he smiled sardonically. In surprise the bystanders followed his +glance and saw the senora, who was lightly gnawing at her lips. + +"I've never seen an uglier woman!" exclaimed Tarsilo in the midst of +a general silence. "I'd rather lie down on a bench as I do now than +at her side as the alferez does." + +The Muse turned pale. + +"You're going to flog me to death, Senor Alferez," he went on, +"but tonight your woman will revenge me by embracing you." + +"Gag him!" yelled the furious alferez, trembling with wrath. + +Tarsilo seemed to have desired the gag, for after it was put in place +his eyes gleamed with satisfaction. At a signal from the alferez, +a guard armed with a rattan whip began his gruesome task. Tarsilo's +whole body contracted, and a stifled, prolonged cry escaped from +him in spite of the piece of cloth which covered his mouth. His head +drooped and his clothes became stained with blood. + +Padre Salvi, pallid and with wandering looks, arose laboriously, made +a sign with his hand, and left the hall with faltering steps. In the +street he saw a young woman leaning with her shoulders against the +wall, rigid, motionless, listening attentively, staring into space, +her clenched hands stretched out along the wall. The sun beat down +upon her fiercely. She seemed to be breathlessly counting those dry, +dull strokes and those heartrending groans. It was Tarsilo's sister. + +Meanwhile, the scene in the hall continued. The wretched boy, overcome +with pain, silently waited for his executioners to become weary. At +last the panting soldier let his arm fall, and the alferez, pale +with anger and astonishment, made a sign for them to untie him. Dona +Consolacion then arose and murmured a few words into the ear of her +husband, who nodded his head in understanding. + +"To the well with him!" he ordered. + +The Filipinos know what this means: in Tagalog they call it +_timbain_. We do not know who invented this procedure, but we judge +that it must be quite ancient. Truth at the bottom of a well may +perhaps be a sarcastic interpretation. + +In the center of the yard rose the picturesque curb of a well, +roughly fashioned from living rock. A rude apparatus of bamboo in +the form of a well-sweep served for drawing up the thick, slimy, +foul-smelling water. Broken pieces of pottery, manure, and other +refuse were collected there, since this well was like the jail, +being the place for what society rejected or found useless, and +any object that fell into it, however good it might have been, was +then a thing lost. Yet it was never closed up, and even at times the +prisoners were condemned to go down and deepen it, not because there +was any thought of getting anything useful out of such punishment, +but because of the difficulties the work offered. A prisoner who once +went down there would contract a fever from which he would surely die. + +Tarsilo gazed upon all the preparations of the soldiers with a fixed +look. He was pale, and his lips trembled or murmured a prayer. The +haughtiness of his desperation seemed to have disappeared or, at least, +to have weakened. Several times he bent his stiff neck and fixed his +gaze on the ground as though resigned to his sufferings. They led +him to the well-curb, followed by the smiling Dona Consolacion. In +his misery he cast a glance of envy toward the heap of corpses and +a sigh escaped from his breast. + +"Talk now," the directorcillo again advised him. "They'll hang you +anyhow. You'll at least die without suffering so much." + +"You'll come out of this only to die," added a cuadrillero. + +They took away the gag and hung him up by his feet, for he must go +down head foremost and remain some time under the water, just as +the bucket does, only that the man is left a longer time. While the +alferez was gone to look for a watch to count the minutes, Tarsilo +hung with his long hair streaming down and his eyes half closed. + +"If you are Christians, if you have any heart," he begged in a low +voice, "let me down quickly or make my head strike against the sides +so that I'll die. God will reward you for this good deed--perhaps +some day you may be as I am!" + +The alferez returned, watch in hand, to superintend the lowering. + +"Slowly, slowly!" cried Dona Consolacion, as she kept her gaze fixed +on the wretch. "Be careful!" + +The well-sweep moved gently downwards. Tarsilo rubbed against the +jutting stones and filthy weeds that grew in the crevices. Then the +sweep stopped while the alferez counted the seconds. + +"Lift him up!" he ordered, at the end of a half-minute. The silvery +and harmonious tinkling of the drops of water falling back indicated +the prisoner's return to the light. Now that the sweep was heavier he +rose rapidly. Pieces of stone and pebbles torn from the walls fell +noisily. His forehead and hair smeared with filthy slime, his face +covered with cuts and bruises, his body wet and dripping, he appeared +to the eyes of the silent crowd. The wind made him shiver with cold. + +"Will you talk?" he was asked. + +"Take care of my sister," murmured the unhappy boy as he gazed +beseechingly toward one of the cuadrilleros. + +The bamboo sweep again creaked, and the condemned boy once more +disappeared. Dona Consolacion observed that the water remained +quiet. The alferez counted a minute. + +When Tarsilo again came up his features were contracted and livid. With +his bloodshot eyes wide open, he looked at the bystanders. + +"Are you going to talk?" the alferez again demanded in dismay. + +Tarsilo shook his head, and they again lowered him. His eyelids were +closing as the pupils continued to stare at the sky where the fleecy +clouds floated; he doubled back his neck so that he might still see +the light of day, but all too soon he had to go down into the water, +and that foul curtain shut out the sight of the world from him forever. + +A minute passed. The watchful Muse saw large bubbles rise to the +surface of the water. "He's thirsty," she commented with a laugh. The +water again became still. + +This time the alferez did not give the signal for a minute and +a half. Tarsilo's features were now no longer contracted. The +half-raised lids left the whites of his eyes showing, from his mouth +poured muddy water streaked with blood, but his body did not tremble +in the chill breeze. + +Pale and terrified, the silent bystanders gazed at one another. The +alferez made a sign that they should take the body down, and then +moved away thoughtfully. Dona Consolation applied the lighted end of +her cigar to the bare legs, but the flesh did not twitch and the fire +was extinguished. + +"He strangled himself," murmured a cuadrillero. "Look how he turned +his tongue back as if trying to swallow it." + +The other prisoner, who had watched this scene, sweating and trembling, +now stared like a lunatic in all directions. The alferez ordered the +directorcillo to question him. + +"Sir, sir," he groaned, "I'll tell everything you want me to." + +"Good! Let's see, what's your name?" + +"Andong, [144] sir!" + +"Bernardo--Leonardo--Ricardo--Eduardo--Gerardo--or what?" + +"Andong, sir!" repeated the imbecile. + +"Put it down Bernardo, or whatever it may be," dictated the alferez. + +"Surname?" + +The man gazed at him in terror. + +"What name have you that is added to the name Andong?" + +"Ah, sir! Andong the Witless, sir!" + +The bystander's could not restrain a smile. Even the alferez paused +in his pacing about. + +"Occupation?" + +"Pruner of coconut trees, sir, and servant of my mother-in-law." + +"Who ordered you to attack the barracks?" + +"No one, sir!" + +"What, no one? Don't lie about it or into the well you go! Who ordered +you? Say truly!" + +"Truly, sir!" + +"Who?" + +"Who, sir!" + +"I'm asking you who ordered you to start the revolution?" + +"What revolution, sir?" + +"This one, for you were in the yard by the barracks last night." + +"Ah, sir!" exclaimed Andong, blushing. + +"Who's guilty of that?" + +"My mother-in-law, sir!" + +Surprise and laughter followed these words. The alferez stopped +and stared not unkindly at the wretch, who, thinking that his words +had produced a good effect, went on with more spirit: "Yes, sir, my +mother-in-law doesn't give me anything to eat but what is rotten and +unfit, so last night when I came by here with my belly aching I saw +the yard of the barracks near and I said to myself, 'It's night-time, +no one will see me.' I went in--and then many shots sounded--" + +A blow from the rattan cut his speech short. + +"To the jail," ordered the alferez. "This afternoon, to the capital!" + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +The Accursed + + +Soon the news spread through the town that the prisoners were about to +set out. At first it was heard with terror; afterward came the weeping +and wailing. The families of the prisoners ran about in distraction, +going from the convento to the barracks, from the barracks to the +town hall, and finding no consolation anywhere, filled the air with +cries and groans. The curate had shut himself up on a plea of illness; +the alferez had increased the guards, who received the supplicating +women with the butts of their rifles; the gobernadorcillo, at best +a useless creature, seemed to be more foolish and more useless than +ever. In front of the jail the women who still had strength enough +ran to and fro, while those who had not sat down on the ground and +called upon the names of their beloved. + +Although the sun beat down fiercely, not one of these unfortunates +thought of going away. Doray, the erstwhile merry and happy wife of Don +Filipo, wandered about dejectedly, carrying in her arms their infant +son, both weeping. To the advice of friends that she go back home to +avoid exposing her baby to an attack of fever, the disconsolate woman +replied, "Why should he live, if he isn't going to have a father to +rear him?" + +"Your husband is innocent. Perhaps he'll come back." + +"Yes, after we're all dead!" + +Capitana Tinay wept and called upon her son Antonio. The courageous +Capitana Maria gazed silently toward the small grating behind which +were her twin-boys, her only sons. + +There was present also the mother-in-law of the pruner of +coco-palms, but she was not weeping; instead, she paced back and +forth, gesticulating with uplifted arms, and haranguing the crowd: +"Did you ever see anything like it? To arrest my Andong, to shoot at +him, to put him in the stocks, to take him to the capital, and only +because--because he had a new pair of pantaloons! This calls for +vengeance! The civil-guards are committing abuses! I swear that if +I ever again catch one of them in my garden, as has often happened, +I'll chop him up, I'll chop him up, or else--let him try to chop me +up!" Few persons, however, joined in the protests of the Mussulmanish +mother-in-law. + +"Don Crisostomo is to blame for all this," sighed a woman. + +The schoolmaster was also in the crowd, wandering about bewildered. Nor +Juan did not rub his hands, nor was he carrying his rule and plumb-bob; +he was dressed in black, for he had heard the bad news and, true +to his habit of looking upon the future as already assured, was in +mourning for Ibarra's death. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon an open cart drawn by two oxen stopped +in front of the town hall. This was at once set upon by the people, +who attempted to unhitch the oxen and destroy it. "Don't do that!" said +Capitana Maria. "Do you want to make them walk?" This consideration +acted as a restraint on the prisoners' relatives. + +Twenty soldiers came out and surrounded the cart; then the prisoners +appeared. The first was Don Filipo, bound. He greeted his wife +smilingly, but Doray broke out into bitter weeping and two guards had +difficulty in preventing her from embracing her husband. Antonio, the +son of Capitana Tinay, appeared crying like a baby, which only added to +the lamentations of his family. The witless Andong broke out into tears +at sight of his mother-in-law, the cause of his misfortune. Albino, +the quondam theological student, was also bound, as were Capitana +Maria's twins. All three were grave and serious. The last to come +out was Ibarra, unbound, but conducted between two guards. The pallid +youth looked about him for a friendly face. + +"He's the one that's to blame!" cried many voices. "He's to blame +and he goes loose!" + +"My son-in-law hasn't done anything and he's got handcuffs on!" Ibarra +turned to the guards. "Bind me, and bind me well, elbow to elbow," +he said. + +"We haven't any order." + +"Bind me!" And the soldiers obeyed. + +The alferez appeared on horseback, armed to the teeth, ten or fifteen +more soldiers following him. + +Each prisoner had his family there to pray for him, to weep for him, +to bestow on him the most endearing names--all save Ibarra, who had +no one, even Nor Juan and the schoolmaster having disappeared. + +"Look what you've done to my husband and my son!" Doray cried to +him. "Look at my poor son! You've robbed him of his father!" + +So the sorrow of the families was converted into anger toward the +young man, who was accused of having started the trouble. The alferez +gave the order to set out. + +"You're a coward!" the mother-in-law of Andong cried after +Ibarra. "While others were fighting for you, you hid yourself, coward!" + +"May you be accursed!" exclaimed an old man, running along beside +him. "Accursed be the gold amassed by your family to disturb our +peace! Accursed! Accursed!" + +"May they hang you, heretic!" cried a relative of Albino's. Unable +to restrain himself, he caught up a stone and threw it at the youth. + +This example was quickly followed, and a rain of dirt and stones fell +on the wretched young man. Without anger or complaint, impassively he +bore the righteous vengeance of so many suffering hearts. This was the +parting, the farewell, offered to him by the people among whom were +all his affections. With bowed head, he was perhaps thinking of a man +whipped through the streets of Manila, of an old woman falling dead +at the sight of her son's head; perhaps Elias's history was passing +before his eyes. + +The alferez found it necessary to drive the crowd back, but the +stone-throwing and the insults did not cease. One mother alone did not +wreak vengeance on him for her sorrows, Capitana Maria. Motionless, +with lips contracted and eyes full of silent tears, she saw her two +sons move away; her firmness, her dumb grief surpassed that of the +fabled Niobe. + +So the procession moved on. Of the persons who appeared at the +few open windows those who showed most pity for the youth were the +indifferent and the curious. All his friends had hidden themselves, +even Capitan Basilio himself, who forbade his daughter Sinang to weep. + +Ibarra saw the smoking ruins of his house--the home of his fathers, +where he was born, where clustered the fondest recollections of his +childhood and his youth. Tears long repressed started into his eyes, +and he bowed his head and wept without having the consolation of being +able to hide his grief, tied as he was, nor of having any one in whom +his sorrow awoke compassion. Now he had neither country, nor home, +nor love, nor friends, nor future! + +From a slight elevation a man gazed upon the sad procession. He was an +old man, pale and emaciated, wrapped in a woolen blanket, supporting +himself with difficulty on a staff. It was the old Sage, Tasio, who, +on hearing of the event, had left his bed to be present, but his +strength had not been sufficient to carry him to the town hall. The +old man followed the cart with his gaze until it disappeared in the +distance and then remained for some time afterward with his head bowed, +deep in thought. Then he stood up and laboriously made his way toward +his house, pausing to rest at every step. On the following day some +herdsmen found him dead on the very threshold of his solitary home. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +Patriotism and Private Interests + + +Secretly the telegraph transmitted the report to Manila, and thirty-six +hours later the newspapers commented on it with great mystery and not +a few dark hints--augmented, corrected, or mutilated by the censor. In +the meantime, private reports, emanating from the convents, were the +first to gain secret currency from mouth to mouth, to the great terror +of those who heard them. The fact, distorted in a thousand ways, +was believed with greater or less ease according to whether it was +flattering or worked contrary to the passions and ways of thinking +of each hearer. + +Without public tranquillity seeming disturbed, at least outwardly, +yet the peace of mind of each home was whirled about like the water in +a pond: while the surface appears smooth and clear, in the depths the +silent fishes swarm, dive about, and chase one another. For one part +of the population crosses, decorations, epaulets, offices, prestige, +power, importance, dignities began to whirl about like butterflies +in a golden atmosphere. For the other part a dark cloud arose on the +horizon, projecting from its gray depths, like black silhouettes, +bars, chains, and even the fateful gibbet. In the air there seemed to +be heard investigations, condemnations, and the cries from the torture +chamber; Marianas [145] and Bagumbayan presented themselves wrapped +in a torn and bloody veil, fishers and fished confused. Fate pictured +the event to the imaginations of the Manilans like certain Chinese +fans--one side painted black, the other gilded with bright-colored +birds and flowers. + +In the convents the greatest excitement prevailed. Carriages +were harnessed, the Provincials exchanged visits and held secret +conferences; they presented themselves in the palaces to offer their +aid to _the government in its perilous crisis_. Again there was talk +of comets and omens. + +"_A Te Deum! A Te Deum!_" cried a friar in one convent. "This time +let no one be absent from the chorus! It's no small mercy from God +to make it clear just now, especially in these hopeless times, how +much we are worth!" + +"The little general _Mal-Aguero_ [146] can gnaw his lips over this +lesson," responded another. + +"What would have become of him if not for the religious corporations?" + +"And to celebrate the fiesta better, serve notice on the cook and +the refectioner. _Gaudeamus_ for three days!" + +"Amen!" "Viva Salvi!" "Amen!" + +In another convent they talked differently. + +"You see, now, that fellow is a pupil of the Jesuits. The filibusters +come from the Ateneo." + +"And the anti-friars." + +"I told you so. The Jesuits are ruining the country, they're corrupting +the youth, but they are tolerated because they trace a few scrawls +on a piece of paper when there is an earthquake." + +"And God knows how they are made!" + +"Yes, but don't contradict them. When everything is shaking and moving +about, who draws diagrams? Nothing, Padre Secchi--" [147] + +And they smiled with sovereign disdain. + +"But what about the weather forecasts and the typhoons?" asked another +ironically. "Aren't they divine?" + +"Any fisherman foretells them!" + +"When he who governs is a fool--tell me how your head is and I'll +tell you how your foot is! But you'll see if the friends favor one +another. The newspapers very nearly ask a miter for Padre Salvi." + +"He's going to get it! He'll lick it right up!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"Why not! Nowadays they grant one for anything whatsoever. I know +of a fellow who got one for less. He wrote a cheap little work +demonstrating that the Indians are not capable of being anything but +mechanics. Pshaw, old-fogyisms!" + +"That's right! So much favoritism injures Religion!" exclaimed +another. "If the miters only had eyes and could see what heads they +were upon--" + +"If the miters were natural objects," added another in a nasal tone, +"_Natura abhorrer vacuum_." + +"That's why they grab for them, their emptiness attracts!" responded +another. + +These and many more things were said in the convents, but we will +spare our reader other comments of a political, metaphysical, or +piquant nature and conduct him to a private house. As we have few +acquaintances in Manila, let us enter the home of Capitan Tinong, +the polite individual whom we saw so profusely inviting Ibarra to +honor him with a visit. + +In the rich and spacious sala of his Tondo house, Capitan Tinong was +seated in a wide armchair, rubbing his hands in a gesture of despair +over his face and the nape of his neck, while his wife, Capitana +Tinchang, was weeping and preaching to him. From the corner their +two daughters listened silently and stupidly, yet greatly affected. + +"Ay, Virgin of Antipolo!" cried the woman. "Ay, Virgin of the Rosary +and of the Girdle! [148] Ay, ay! Our Lady of Novaliches!" + +"Mother!" responded the elder of the daughters. + +"I told you so!" continued the wife in an accusing tone. "I told you +so! Ay, Virgin of Carmen, [149] ay!" + +"But you didn't tell me anything," Capitan Tinong dared to answer +tearfully. "On the contrary, you told me that I was doing well to +frequent Capitan Tiago's house and cultivate friendship with him, +because he's rich--and you told me--" + +"What! What did I tell you? I didn't tell you that, I didn't tell +you anything! Ay, if you had only listened to me!" + +"Now you're throwing the blame on _me_," he replied bitterly, slapping +the arm of his chair. "Didn't you tell me that I had done well to +invite him to dine with us, because he was wealthy? Didn't you say +that we ought to have friends only among the wealthy? _Aba!_" + +"It's true that I told you so, because--because there wasn't anything +else for me to do. You did nothing but sing his praises: _Don Ibarra_ +here, _Don Ibarra_ there, _Don Ibarra_ everywhere. _Abaa!_ But I +didn't advise you to hunt him up and talk to him at that reception! You +can't deny that!" + +"Did I know that he was to be there, perhaps?" + +"But you ought to have known it!" + +"How so, if I didn't even know him?" + +"But you ought to have known him!" + +"But, Tinchang, it was the first time that I ever saw him, that I +ever heard him spoken of!" + +"Well then, you ought to have known him before and heard him spoken +of. That's what you're a man for and wear trousers and read _El Diario +de Manila_," [150] answered his unterrified spouse, casting on him +a terrible look. + +To this Capitan Tinong did not know what to reply. Capitana Tinchang, +however, was not satisfied with this victory, but wished to silence him +completely. So she approached him with clenched fists. "Is this what +I've worked for, year after year, toiling and saving, that you by your +stupidity may throw away the fruits of my labor?" she scolded. "Now +they'll come to deport you, they'll take away all our property, just +as they did from the wife of--Oh, if I were a man, if I were a man!" + +Seeing that her husband bowed his head, she again fell to sobbing, +but still repeating, "Ay, if I were a man, if I were a man!" + +"Well, if you were a man," the provoked husband at length asked, +"what would you do?" + +"What would I do? Well--well--well, this very minute I'd go to the +Captain-General and offer to fight against the rebels, this very +minute!" + +"But haven't you seen what the _Diario_ says? Read it: 'The vile +and infamous treason has been suppressed with energy, strength, and +vigor, and soon the rebellious enemies of the Fatherland and their +accomplices will feel all the weight and severity of the law.' Don't +you see it? There isn't any more rebellion." + +"That doesn't matter! You ought to offer yourself as they did in '72; +[151] they saved themselves." + +"Yes, that's what was done by Padre Burg--" + +But he was unable to finish this name, for his wife ran to him and +slapped her hand over his mouth. "Shut up! Are you saying that name +so that they may garrote you tomorrow on Bagumbayan? Don't you know +that to pronounce it is enough to get yourself condemned without +trial? Keep quiet!" + +However Capitan Tinong may have felt about obeying her, he could +hardly have done otherwise, for she had his mouth covered with both +her hands, pressing his little head against the back of the chair, +so that the poor fellow might have been smothered to death had not +a new personage appeared on the scene. This was their cousin, Don +Primitivo, who had memorized the "Amat," a man of some forty years, +plump, big-paunched, and elegantly dressed. + +"_Quid video?_" he exclaimed as he entered. "What's +happening? _Quare?_" [152] + +"Ay, cousin!" cried the woman, running toward him in tears, "I've +sent for you because I don't know what's going to become of us. What +do you advise? Speak, you've studied Latin and know how to argue." + +"But first, _quid quaeritis? Nihil est in intellectu quod prius non +fuerit in sensu; nihil volitum quin praecognitum_." [153] + +He sat down gravely and, just as if the Latin phrases had possessed +a soothing virtue, the couple ceased weeping and drew nearer to him +to hang upon the advice from his lips, as at one time the Greeks did +before the words of salvation from the oracle that was to free them +from the Persian invaders. + +"Why do you weep? _Ubinam gentium sumus?_" [154] + +"You've already heard of the uprising?" + +"_Alzamentum Ibarrae ab alferesio Guardiae Civilis destructum? Et +nunc?_ [155] What! Does Don Crisostomo owe you anything?" + +"No, but you know, Tinong invited him to dinner and spoke to him +on the Bridge of Spain--in broad daylight! They'll say that he's a +friend of his!" + +"A friend of his!" exclaimed the startled Latinist, rising. "_Amice, +amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas_. Birds of a feather flock +together. _Malum est negotium et est timendum rerum istarum +horrendissimum resultatum!_ [156] Ahem!" + +Capitan Tinong turned deathly pale at hearing so many words in _um_; +such a sound presaged ill. His wife clasped her hands supplicatingly +and said: + +"Cousin, don't talk to us in Latin now. You know that we're not +philosophers like you. Let's talk in Spanish or Tagalog. Give us +some advice." + +"It's a pity that you don't understand Latin, cousin. Truths in +Latin are lies in Tagalog; for example, _contra principia negantem +fustibus est arguendum_ [157] in Latin is a truth like Noah's ark, +but I put it into practise once and I was the one who got whipped. So, +it's a pity that you don't know Latin. In Latin everything would be +straightened out." + +"We, too, know many _oremus, parcenobis_, and _Agnus Dei Catolis_, +[158] but now we shouldn't understand one another. Provide Tinong +with an argument so that they won't hang him!" + +"You're done wrong, very wrong, cousin, in cultivating friendship +with that young man," replied the Latinist. + +"The righteous suffer for the sinners. I was almost going to advise you +to make your will. _Vae illis! Ubi est fumus ibi est ignis! Similis +simili audet; atqui Ibarra ahorcatur, ergo ahorcaberis--_" [159] +With this he shook his head from side to side disgustedly. + +"Saturnino, what's the matter?" cried Capitana Tinchang in dismay. "Ay, +he's dead! A doctor! Tinong, Tinongoy!" + +The two daughters ran to her, and all three fell to weeping. "It's +nothing more than a swoon, cousin! I would have been more pleased +that--that--but unfortunately it's only a swoon. _Non timeo mortem +in catre sed super espaldonem Bagumbayanis_. [160] Get some water!" + +"Don't die!" sobbed the wife. "Don't die, for they'll come and arrest +you! Ay, if you die and the soldiers come, ay, ay!" + +The learned cousin rubbed the victim's face with water until he +recovered consciousness. "Come, don't cry. _Inveni remedium_: I've +found a remedy. Let's carry him to bed. Come, take courage! Here I am +with you--and all the wisdom of the ancients. Call a doctor, and you, +cousin, go right away to the Captain-General and take him a present--a +gold ring, a chain. _Dadivae quebrantant penas_. [161] Say that it's +a Christmas gift. Close the windows, the doors, and if any one asks +for my cousin, say that he is seriously ill. Meanwhile, I'll burn all +his letters, papers, and books, so that they can't find anything, +just as Don Crisostomo did. _Scripti testes sunt! Quod medicamenta +non sanant, ferrum sanat, quod ferrum non sanat, ignis sanat._" [162] + +"Yes, do so, cousin, burn everything!" said Capitana Tinchang. "Here +are the keys, here are the letters from Capitan Tiago. Burn them! Don't +leave a single European newspaper, for they're very dangerous. Here +are the copies of _The Times_ that I've kept for wrapping up soap +and old clothes. Here are the books." + +"Go to the Captain-General, cousin," said Don Primitivo, "and leave +us alone. _In extremis extrema_. [163] Give me the authority of a +Roman dictator, and you'll see how soon I'll save the coun--I mean, +my cousin." + +He began to give orders and more orders, to upset bookcases, to tear +up papers, books, and letters. Soon a big fire was burning in the +kitchen. Old shotguns were smashed with axes, rusty revolvers were +thrown away. The maidservant who wanted to keep the barrel of one +for a blowpipe received a reprimand: + +"_Conservare etiam sperasti, perfida?_ [164] Into the fire!" So +he continued his auto da fe. Seeing an old volume in vellum, +he read the title, _Revolutions of the Celestial Globes_, +by Copernicus. Whew! "_Ite, maledicti, in ignem kalanis!_" +[165] he exclaimed, hurling it into the flames. "Revolutions and +Copernicus! Crimes on crimes! If I hadn't come in time! _Liberty in +the Philippines!_ Ta, ta, ta! What books! Into the fire!" + +Harmless books, written by simple authors, were burned; not even the +most innocent work escaped. Cousin Primitivo was right: the righteous +suffer for the sinners. + +Four or five hours later, at a pretentious reception in the Walled +City, current events were being commented upon. There were present +a lot of old women and maidens of marriageable age, the wives and +daughters of government employees, dressed in loose gowns, fanning +themselves and yawning. Among the men, who, like the women, showed +in their faces their education and origin, was an elderly gentleman, +small and one-armed, whom the others treated with great respect. He +himself maintained a disdainful silence. + +"To tell the truth, formerly I couldn't endure the friars and the +civil-guards, they're so rude," said a corpulent dame, "but now that +I see their usefulness and their services, I would almost marry any +one of them gladly. I'm a patriot." + +"That's what I say!" added a thin lady. "What a pity that we haven't +our former governor. He would leave the country as clean as a platter." + +"And the whole race of filibusters would be exterminated!" + +"Don't they say that there are still a lot of islands to be +populated? Why don't they deport all these crazy Indians to them? If +I were the Captain-General--" + +"Senoras," interrupted the one-armed individual, "the Captain-General +knows his duty. As I've heard, he's very much irritated, for he had +heaped favors on that Ibarra." + +"Heaped favors on him!" echoed the thin lady, fanning herself +furiously. "Look how ungrateful these Indians are! Is it possible to +treat them as if they were human beings? _Jesus!_" + +"Do you know what I've heard?" asked a military official. + +"What's that?" + +"Let's hear it!" + +"What do they say?" + +"Reputable persons," replied the officer in the midst of a profound +silence, "state that this agitation for building a schoolhouse was +a pure fairy tale." + +"_Jesus!_ Just see that!" the senoras exclaimed, already believing +in the trick. + +"The school was a pretext. What he wanted to build was a fort from +which he could safely defend himself when we should come to attack +him." + +"What infamy! Only an Indian is capable of such cowardly thoughts," +exclaimed the fat lady. "If I were the Captain-General they would +soon seem they would soon see--" + +"That's what I say!" exclaimed the thin lady, turning to the one-armed +man. "Arrest all the little lawyers, priestlings, merchants, and +without trial banish or deport them! Tear out the evil by the roots!" + +"But it's said that this filibuster is the descendant of Spaniards," +observed the one-armed man, without looking at any one in particular. + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed the fat lady, unterrified. "It's always the +creoles! No Indian knows anything about revolution! Rear crows, +rear crows!" [166] + +"Do you know what I've heard?" asked a creole lady, to change the topic +of conversation. "The wife of Capitan Tinong, you remember her, the +woman in whose house we danced and dined during the fiesta of Tondo--" + +"The one who has two daughters? What about her?" + +"Well, that woman just this afternoon presented the Captain-General +with a ring worth a thousand pesos!" + +The one-armed man turned around. "Is that so? Why?" he asked with +shining eyes. + +"She said that it was a Christmas gift--" + +"But Christmas doesn't come for a month yet!" + +"Perhaps she's afraid the storm is blowing her way," observed the +fat lady. + +"And is getting under cover," added the thin senora. + +"When no return is asked, it's a confession of guilt." + +"This must be carefully looked into," declared the one-armed man +thoughtfully. "I fear that there's a cat in the bag." + +"A cat in the bag, yes! That's just what I was going to say," echoed +the thin lady. + +"And so was I," said the other, taking the words out of her mouth, +"the wife of Capitan Tinong is so stingy--she hasn't yet sent us +any present and that after we've been in her house. So, when such +a grasping and covetous woman lets go of a little present worth a +thousand pesos--" + +"But, is it a fact?" inquired the one-armed man. + +"Certainly! Most certainly! My cousin's sweetheart, his Excellency's +adjutant, told her so. And I'm of the opinion that it's the very same +ring that the older daughter wore on the day of the fiesta. She's +always covered with diamonds." + +"A walking show-case!" + +"A way of attracting attention, like any other! Instead of buying a +fashion plate or paying a dressmaker--" + +Giving some pretext, the one-armed man left the gathering. Two hours +later, when the world slept, various residents of Tondo received an +invitation through some soldiers. The authorities could not consent +to having certain persons of position and property sleep in such +poorly guarded and badly ventilated houses--in Fort Santiago and +other government buildings their sleep would be calmer and more +refreshing. Among these favored persons was included the unfortunate +Capitan Tinong. + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +Maria Clara Weds + + +Capitan Tiago was very happy, for in all this terrible storm no one +had taken any notice of him. He had not been arrested, nor had he been +subjected to solitary confinement, investigations, electric machines, +continuous foot-baths in underground cells, or other pleasantries that +are well-known to certain folk who call themselves civilized. His +friends, that is, those who had been his friends--for the good man +had denied all his Filipino friends from the instant when they were +suspected by the government--had also returned to their homes after a +few days' vacation in the state edifices. The Captain-General himself +had ordered that they be cast out from his precincts, not considering +them worthy of remaining therein, to the great disgust of the one-armed +individual, who had hoped to celebrate the approaching Christmas in +their abundant and opulent company. + +Capitan Tinong had returned to his home sick, pale, and swollen; the +excursion had not done him good. He was so changed that he said not +a word, nor even greeted his family, who wept, laughed, chattered, +and almost went mad with joy. The poor man no longer ventured out +of his house for fear of running the risk of saying good-day to a +filibuster. Not even Don Primitivo himself, with all the wisdom of +the ancients, could draw him out of his silence. + +"_Crede, prime_," the Latinist told him, "if I hadn't got here to +burn all your papers, they would have squeezed your neck; and if I +had burned the whole house they wouldn't have touched a hair of your +head. But _quod_ _eventum, eventum; gratias agamus Domino Deo quia +non in Marianis Insulis es, camotes seminando_." [167] + +Stories similar to Capitan Tinong's were not unknown to Capitan Tiago, +so he bubbled over with gratitude, without knowing exactly to whom he +owed such signal favors. Aunt Isabel attributed the miracle to the +Virgin of Antipolo, to the Virgin of the Rosary, or at least to the +Virgin of Carmen, and at the very, very least that she was willing +to concede, to Our Lady of the Girdle; according to her the miracle +could not get beyond that. + +Capitan Tiago did not deny the miracle, but added: "I think so, Isabel, +but the Virgin of Antipolo couldn't have done it alone. My friends +have helped, my future son-in-law, Senor Linares, who, as you know, +joked with Senor Antonio Canovas himself, the premier whose portrait +appears in the _Ilustracion_, he who doesn't condescend to show more +than half his face to the people." + +So the good man could not repress a smile of satisfaction every +time that he heard any important news. And there was plenty of news: +it was whispered about in secret that Ibarra would be hanged; that, +while many proofs of his guilt had been lacking, at last some one +had appeared to sustain the accusation; that experts had declared +that in fact the work on the schoolhouse could pass for a bulwark of +fortification, although somewhat defective, as was only to be expected +of ignorant Indians. These rumors calmed him and made him smile. + +In the same way that Capitan Tiago and his cousin diverged in +their opinions, the friends of the family were also divided into +two parties,--one miraculous, the other governmental, although this +latter was insignificant. The miraculous party was again subdivided: +the senior sacristan of Binondo, the candle-woman, and the leader +of the Brotherhood saw the hand of God directed by the Virgin of the +Rosary; while the Chinese wax-chandler, his caterer on his visits to +Antipolo, said, as he fanned himself and shook his leg: + +"Don't fool yourself--it's the Virgin of Antipolo! She can do more +than all the rest--don't fool yourself!" [168] + +Capitan Tiago had great respect for this Chinese, who passed himself +off as a prophet and a physician. Examining the palm of the deceased +lady just before her daughter was born, he had prognosticated: +"If it's not a boy and doesn't die, it'll be a fine girl!" [169] and +Maria Clara had come into the world to fulfill the infidel's prophecy. + +Capitan Tiago, then, as a prudent and cautious man, could not decide +so easily as Trojan Paris--he could not so lightly give the preference +to one Virgin for fear of offending another, a situation that might be +fraught with grave consequences. "Prudence!" he said to himself. "Let's +not go and spoil it all now." + +He was still in the midst of these doubts when the governmental party +arrived,--Dona Victorina, Don Tiburcio, and Linares. Dona Victorina did +the talking for the three men as well as for herself. She mentioned +Linares' visits to the Captain-General and repeatedly insinuated +the advantages of a relative of "quality." "Now," she concluded, +"as we was zaying: he who zhelterz himzelf well, builds a good roof." + +"T-the other w-way, w-woman!" corrected the doctor. + +For some days now she had been endeavoring to _Andalusize_ her speech, +and no one had been able to get this idea out of her head--she would +sooner have first let them tear off her false frizzes. + +"Yez," she went on, speaking of Ibarra, "he deserves it all. I told +you zo when I first zaw him, he's a filibuzter. What did the General +zay to you, cousin? What did he zay? What news did he tell you about +thiz Ibarra?" + +Seeing that her cousin was slow in answering, she continued, directing +her remarks to Capitan Tiago, "Believe me, if they zentenz him to +death, as is to be hoped, it'll be on account of my cousin." + +"Senora, senora!" protested Linares. + +But she gave him no time for objections. "How diplomatic you have +become! We know that you're the adviser of the General, that he +couldn't live without you. Ah, Clarita, what a pleasure to zee you!" + +Maria Clara was still pale, although now quite recovered from her +illness. Her long hair was tied up with a light blue silk ribbon. With +a timid bow and a sad smile she went up to Dona Victorina for the +ceremonial kiss. + +After the usual conventional remarks, the pseudo-Andalusian continued: +"We've come to visit you. You've been zaved, thankz to your +relations." This was said with a significant glance toward Linares. + +"God has protected my father," replied the girl in a low voice. + +"Yez, Clarita, but the time of the miracles is pazt. We Zpaniards zay: +'Truzt in the Virgin and take to your heels.'" + +"T-the other w-way!" + +Capitan Tiago, who had up to this point had no chance to speak, now +made bold enough to ask, while he threw himself into an attitude of +strict attention, "So you, Dona Victorina, think that the Virgin--" + +"We've come ezpezially to talk with you about the virgin," she answered +mysteriously, making a sign toward Maria Clara. "We've come to talk +business." + +The maiden understood that she was expected to retire, so with an +excuse she went away, supporting herself on the furniture. + +What was said and what was agreed upon in this conference was so +sordid and mean that we prefer not to recount it. It is enough to +record that as they took their leave they were all merry, and that +afterwards Capitan Tiago said to Aunt Isabel: + +"Notify the restaurant that we'll have a fiesta tomorrow. Get Maria +ready, for we're going to marry her off before long." + +Aunt Isabel stared at him in consternation. + +"You'll see! When Senor Linares is our son-in-law we'll get into all +the palaces. Every one will envy us, every one will die of envy!" + +Thus it happened that at eight o'clock on the following evening +the house of Capitan Tiago was once again filled, but this time his +guests were only Spaniards and Chinese. The fair sex was represented +by Peninsular and Philippine-Spanish ladies. + +There were present the greater part of our acquaintances: Padre Sibyla +and Padre Salvi among various Franciscans and Dominicans; the old +lieutenant of the Civil Guard, Senor Guevara, gloomier than ever; +the alferez, who was for the thousandth time describing his battle +and gazing over his shoulders at every one, believing himself to +be a Don John of Austria, for he was now a major; De Espadana, who +looked at the alferez with respect and fear, and avoided his gaze; +and Dona Victorina, swelling with indignation. Linares had not yet +come; as a personage of importance, he had to arrive later than the +others. There are creatures so simple that by being an hour behind +time they transform themselves into great men. + +In the group of women Maria Clara was the subject of a murmured +conversation. The maiden had welcomed them all ceremoniously, without +losing her air of sadness. + +"Pish!" remarked one young woman. "The proud little thing!" + +"Pretty little thing!" responded another. "But he might have picked +out some other girl with a less foolish face." + +"The gold, child! The good youth is selling himself." + +In another part the comments ran thus: + +"To get married when her first fiance is about to be hanged!" + +"That's what's called prudence, having a substitute ready." + +"Well, when she gets to be a widow--" + +Maria Clara was seated in a chair arranging a salver of flowers and +doubtless heard all these remarks, for her hand trembled, she turned +pale, and several times bit her lips. + +In the circle of men the conversation was carried on in loud tones +and, naturally, turned upon recent events. All were talking, even +Don Tiburcio, with the exception of Padre Sibyla, who maintained his +usual disdainful silence. + +"I've heard it said that your Reverence is leaving the town, Padre +Salvi?" inquired the new major, whose fresh star had made him more +amiable. + +"I have nothing more to do there. I'm going to stay permanently in +Manila. And you?" + +"I'm also leaving the town," answered the ex-alferez, swelling up. "The +government needs me to command a flying column to clean the provinces +of filibusters." + +Fray Sibyla looked him over rapidly from head to foot and then turned +his back completely. + +"Is it known for certain what will become of the ringleader, the +filibuster?" inquired a government employee. + +"Do you mean Crisostomo Ibarra?" asked another. "The most likely and +most just thing is that he will be hanged, like those of '72." + +"He's going to be deported," remarked the old lieutenant, dryly. + +"Deported! Nothing more than deported? But it will be a perpetual +deportation!" exclaimed several voices at the same time. + +"If that young man," continued the lieutenant, Guevara, in a loud +and severe tone, "had been more cautious, if he had confided less +in certain persons with whom he corresponded, if our prosecutors did +not know how to interpret so subtly what is written, that young man +would surely have been acquitted." + +This declaration on the part of the old lieutenant and the tone +of his voice produced great surprise among his hearers, who were +apparently at a loss to know what to say. Padre Salvi stared in +another direction, perhaps to avoid the gloomy look that the old +soldier turned on him. Maria Clara let her flowers fall and remained +motionless. Padre Sibyla, who knew so well how to be silent, seemed +also to be the only one who knew how to ask a question. + +"You're speaking of letters, Senor Guevara?" + +"I'm speaking of what was told me by his lawyer, who looked after the +case with interest and zeal. Outside of some ambiguous lines which this +youth wrote to a woman before he left for Europe, lines in which the +government's attorney saw a plot and a threat against the government, +and which he acknowledged to be his, there wasn't anything found to +accuse him of." + +"But the declaration of the outlaw before he died?" + +"His lawyer had that thrown out because, according to the outlaw +himself, they had never communicated with the young man, but with +a certain Lucas, who was an enemy of his, as could be proved, and +who committed suicide, perhaps from remorse. It was proved that the +papers found on the corpse were forged, since the handwriting was +like that of Senor Ibarra's seven years ago, but not like his now, +which leads to the belief that the model for them may have been that +incriminating letter. Besides, the lawyer says that if Senor Ibarra +had refused to acknowledge the letter, he might have been able to +do a great deal for him--but at sight of the letter he turned pale, +lost his courage, and confirmed everything written in it." + +"Did you say that the letter was directed to a woman?" asked a +Franciscan. "How did it get into the hands of the prosecutor?" + +The lieutenant did not answer. He stared for a moment at Padre Salvi +and then moved away, nervously twisting the sharp point of his gray +beard. The others made their comments. + +"There is seen the hand of God!" remarked one. "Even the women +hate him." + +"He had his house burned down, thinking in that way to save himself, +but he didn't count on the guest, on his _querida_, his _babaye_," +added another, laughing. "It's the work of God! _Santiago y cierra +Espana!_" [170] + +Meanwhile the old soldier paused in his pacing about and approached +Maria Clara, who was listening to the conversation, motionless in +her chair, with the flowers scattered at her feet. + +"You are a very prudent girl," the old officer whispered to her. "You +did well to give up the letter. You have thus assured yourself an +untroubled future." + +With startled eyes she watched him move away from her, and bit her +lip. Fortunately, Aunt Isabel came along, and she had sufficient +strength left to catch hold of the old lady's skirt. + +"Aunt!" she murmured. + +"What's the matter?" asked the old lady, frightened by the look on +the girl's face. + +"Take me to my room!" she pleaded, grasping her aunt's arm in order +to rise. + +"Are you sick, daughter? You look as if you'd lost your bones! What's +the matter?" + +"A fainting spell--the people in the room--so many lights--I need to +rest. Tell father that I'm going to sleep." + +"You're cold. Do you want some tea?" + +Maria Clara shook her head, entered and locked the door of her +chamber, and then, her strength failing her, she fell sobbing to the +floor at the feet of an image. + +"Mother, mother, mother mine!" she sobbed. + +Through the window and a door that opened on the azotea the moonlight +entered. The musicians continued to play merry waltzes, laughter +and the hum of voices penetrated into the chamber, several times her +father, Aunt Isabel, Dona Victorina, and even Linares knocked at the +door, but Maria did not move. Heavy sobs shook her breast. + +Hours passed--the pleasures of the dinner-table ended, the sound of +singing and dancing was heard, the candle burned itself out, but the +maiden still remained motionless on the moonlit floor at the feet of +an image of the Mother of Jesus. + +Gradually the house became quiet again, the lights were extinguished, +and Aunt Isabel once more knocked at the door. + +"Well, she's gone to sleep," said the old woman, aloud. "As she's +young and has no cares, she sleeps like a corpse." + +When all was silence she raised herself slowly and threw a look about +her. She saw the azotea with its little arbors bathed in the ghostly +light of the moon. + +"An untroubled future! She sleeps like a corpse!" she repeated in a +low voice as she made her way out to the azotea. + +The city slept. Only from time to time there was heard the noise of a +carriage crossing the wooden bridge over the river, whose undisturbed +waters reflected smoothly the light of the moon. The young woman +raised her eyes toward a sky as clear as sapphire. Slowly she took +the rings from her fingers and from her ears and removed the combs +from her hair. Placing them on the balustrade of the azotea, she +gazed toward the river. + +A small banka loaded with zacate stopped at the foot of the landing +such as every house on the bank of the river has. One of two men who +were in it ran up the stone stairway and jumped over the wall, and a +few seconds later his footsteps were heard on the stairs leading to +the azotea. + +Maria Clara saw him pause on discovering her, but only for a +moment. Then he advanced slowly and stopped within a few paces of +her. Maria Clara recoiled. + +"Crisostomo!" she murmured, overcome with fright. + +"Yes, I am Crisostomo," replied the young man gravely. "An enemy, +a man who has every reason for hating me, Elias, has rescued me from +the prison into which my friends threw me." + +A sad silence followed these words. Maria Clara bowed her head and +let her arms fall. + +Ibarra went on: "Beside my mother's corpse I swore that I would make +you happy, whatever might be my destiny! You can have been faithless +to your oath, for she was not your mother; but I, I who am her son, +hold her memory so sacred that in spite of a thousand difficulties I +have come here to carry mine out, and fate has willed that I should +speak to you yourself. Maria, we shall never see each other again--you +are young and perhaps some day your conscience may reproach you--I have +come to tell you, before I go away forever, that I forgive you. Now, +may you be happy and--farewell!" + +Ibarra started to move away, but the girl stopped him. + +"Crisostomo," she said, "God has sent you to save me from +desperation. Hear me and then judge me!" + +Ibarra tried gently to draw away from her. "I didn't come to call +you to account! I came to give you peace!" + +"I don't want that peace which you bring me. Peace I will give +myself. You despise me and your contempt will embitter all the rest +of my life." + +Ibarra read the despair and sorrow depicted in the suffering girl's +face and asked her what she wished. + +"That you believe that I have always loved you!" + +At this he smiled bitterly. + +"Ah, you doubt me! You doubt the friend of your childhood, who +has never hidden a single thought from you!" the maiden exclaimed +sorrowfully. "I understand now! But when you hear my story, the sad +story that was revealed to me during my illness, you will have mercy +on me, you will not have that smile for my sorrow. Why did you not +let me die in the hands of my ignorant physician? You and I both +would have been happier!" + +Resting a moment, she then went on: "You have desired it, you have +doubted me! But may my mother forgive me! On one of the sorrowfulest +of my nights of suffering, a man revealed to me the name of my real +father and forbade me to love you--except that my father himself +should pardon the injury you had done him." + +Ibarra recoiled a pace and gazed fearfully at her. + +"Yes," she continued, "that man told me that he could not permit our +union, since his conscience would forbid it, and that he would be +obliged to reveal the name of my real father at the risk of causing a +great scandal, for my father is--" And she murmured into the youth's +ear a name in so low a tone that only he could have heard it. + +"What was I to do? Must I sacrifice to my love the memory of my +mother, the honor of my supposed father, and the good name of the +real one? Could I have done that without having even you despise me?" + +"But the proof! Had you any proof? You needed proofs!" exclaimed +Ibarra, trembling with emotion. + +The maiden snatched two papers from her bosom. + +"Two letters of my mother's, two letters written in the midst of her +remorse, while I was yet unborn! Take them, read them, and you will +see how she cursed me and wished for my death, which my father vainly +tried to bring about with drugs. These letters he had forgotten in a +building where he had lived; the other man found and preserved them +and only gave them up to me in exchange for your letter, in order +to assure himself, so he said, that I would not marry you without +the consent of my father. Since I have been carrying them about with +me, in place of your letter, I have, felt the chill in my heart. I +sacrificed you, I sacrificed my love! What else could one do for a +dead mother and two living fathers? Could I have suspected the use +that was to be made of your letter?" + +Ibarra stood appalled, while she continued: "What more was left for me +to do? Could I perhaps tell you who my father was, could I tell you +that you should beg forgiveness of him who made your father suffer +so much? Could I ask my father that he forgive you, could I tell him +that I knew that I was his daughter--him, who desired my death so +eagerly? It was only left to me to suffer, to guard the secret, and +to die suffering! Now, my friend, now that you know the sad history +of your poor Maria, will you still have for her that disdainful smile?" + +"Maria, you are an angel!" + +"Then I am happy, since you believe me--" + +"But yet," added the youth with a change of tone, "I've heard that +you are going to be married." + +"Yes," sobbed the girl, "my father demands this sacrifice. He has +loved me and cared for me when it was not his duty to do so, and I +will pay this debt of gratitude to assure his peace, by means of this +new relationship, but--" + +"But what?" + +"I will never forget the vows of faithfulness that I have made to you." + +"What are you thinking of doing?" asked Ibarra, trying to read the +look in her eyes. + +"The future is dark and my destiny is wrapped in gloom! I don't know +what I should do. But know, that I have loved but once and that without +love I will never belong to any man. And you, what is going to become +of you?" + +"I am only a fugitive, I am fleeing. In a little while my flight will +have been discovered. Maria--" + +Maria Clara caught the youth's head in her hands and kissed him +repeatedly on the lips, embraced him, and drew abruptly away. "Go, +go!" she cried. "Go, and farewell!" + +Ibarra gazed at her with shining eyes, but at a gesture from her +moved away--intoxicated, wavering. + +Once again he leaped over the wall and stepped into the banka. Maria +Clara, leaning over the balustrade, watched him depart. Elias took +off his hat and bowed to her profoundly. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +The Chase on the Lake + + +"Listen, sir, to the plan that I have worked out," said Elias +thoughtfully, as they moved in the direction of San Gabriel. "I'll +hide you now in the house of a friend of mine in Mandaluyong. I'll +bring you all your money, which I saved and buried at the foot of +the balete in the mysterious tomb of your grandfather. Then you will +leave the country." + +"To go abroad?" inquired Ibarra. + +"To live out in peace the days of life that remain to you. You have +friends in Spain, you are rich, you can get yourself pardoned. In every +way a foreign country is for us a better fatherland than our own." + +Crisostomo did not answer, but meditated in silence. At that moment +they reached the Pasig and the banka began to ascend the current. Over +the Bridge of Spain a horseman galloped rapidly, while a shrill, +prolonged whistle was heard. + +"Elias," said Ibarra, "you owe your misfortunes to my family, you have +saved my life twice, and I owe you not only gratitude but also the +restitution of your fortune. You advise me to go abroad--then come +with me and we will live like brothers. Here you also are wretched." + +Elias shook his head sadly and answered: "Impossible! It's true that I +cannot love or be happy in my country, but I can suffer and die in it, +and perhaps for it--that is always something. May the misfortunes of +my native land be my own misfortunes and, although no noble sentiment +unites us, although our hearts do not beat to a single name, at least +may the common calamity bind me to my countrymen, at least may I weep +over our sorrows with them, may the same hard fate oppress all our +hearts alike!" + +"Then why do you advise me to go away?" + +"Because in some other country you could be happy while I could not, +because you are not made to suffer, and because you would hate your +country if some day you should see yourself ruined in its cause, +and to hate one's native land is the greatest of calamities." + +"You are unfair to me!" exclaimed Ibarra with bitter reproach. "You +forget that scarcely had I arrived here when I set myself to seek +its welfare." + +"Don't be offended, sir, I was not reproaching you at all. Would +that all of us could imitate you! But I do not ask impossibilities +of you and I mean no offense when I say that your heart deceives +you. You loved your country because your father taught you to do so; +you loved it because in it you had affection, fortune, youth, because +everything smiled on you, your country had done you no injustice; +you loved it as we love anything that makes us happy. But the day in +which you see yourself poor and hungry, persecuted, betrayed, and +sold by your own countrymen, on that day you will disown yourself, +your country, and all mankind." + +"Your words pain me," said Ibarra resentfully. + +Elias bowed his head and meditated before replying. "I wish to +disillusion you, sir, and save you from a sad future. Recall that +night when I talked to you in this same banka under the light of +this same moon, not a month ago. Then you were happy, the plea of +the unfortunates did not touch you; you disdained their complaints +because they were the complaints of criminals; you paid more attention +to their enemies, and in spite of my arguments and petitions, you +placed yourself on the side of their oppressors. On you then depended +whether I should turn criminal or allow myself to be killed in order +to carry out a sacred pledge, but God has not permitted this because +the old chief of the outlaws is dead. A month has hardly passed and +you think otherwise." + +"You're right, Elias, but man is a creature of circumstances! Then +I was blind, annoyed--what did I know? Now misfortune has torn +the bandage from my eyes; the solitude and misery of my prison have +taught me; now I see the horrible cancer which feeds upon this society, +which clutches its flesh, and which demands a violent rooting out. They +have opened my eyes, they have made me see the sore, and they force me +to be a criminal! Since they wish it, I will be a filibuster, a real +filibuster, I mean. I will call together all the unfortunates, all who +feel a heart beat in their breasts, all those who were sending you to +me. No, I will not be a criminal, never is he such who fights for his +native land, but quite the reverse! We, during three centuries, have +extended them our hands, we have asked love of them, we have yearned +to call them brothers, and how do they answer us? With insults and +jests, denying us even the chance character of human beings. There +is no God, there is no hope, there is no humanity; there is nothing +but the right of might!" Ibarra was nervous, his whole body trembled. + +As they passed in front of the Captain-General's palace they thought +that they could discern movement and excitement among the guards. + +"Can they have discovered your flight?" murmured Elias. "Lie down, +sir, so that I can cover you with zacate. Since we shall pass near +the powder-magazine it may seem suspicious to the sentinel that there +are two of us." + +The banka was one of those small, narrow canoes that do not seem to +float but rather to glide over the top of the water. As Elias had +foreseen, the sentinel stopped him and inquired whence he came. + +"From Manila, to carry zacate to the judges and curates," he answered, +imitating the accent of the people of Pandakan. + +A sergeant came out to learn what was happening. "Move on!" he said +to Elias. "But I warn you not to take anybody into your banka. A +prisoner has just escaped. If you capture him and turn him over to +me I'll give you a good tip." + +"All right, sir. What's his description?" + +"He wears a sack coat and talks Spanish. So look out!" The banka moved +away. Elias looked back and watched the silhouette of the sentinel +standing on the bank of the river. + +"We'll lose a few minutes' time," he said in a low voice. "We must +go into the Beata River to pretend that I'm from Penafrancia. You +will see the river of which Francisco Baltazar sang." + +The town slept in the moonlight, and Crisostomo rose up to admire the +sepulchral peace of nature. The river was narrow and the level land +on either side covered with grass. Elias threw his cargo out on the +bank and, after removing a large piece of bamboo, took from under +the grass some empty palm-leaf sacks. Then they continued on their way. + +"You are the master of your own will, sir, and of your future," he said +to Crisostomo, who had remained silent. "But if you will allow me an +observation, I would say: think well what you are planning to do--you +are going to light the flames of war, since you have money and brains, +and you will quickly find many to join you, for unfortunately there +are plenty of malcontents. But in this struggle which you are going +to undertake, those who will suffer most will be the defenseless and +the innocent. The same sentiments that a month ago impelled me to +appeal to you asking for reforms are those that move me now to urge +you to think well. The country, sir, does not think of separating from +the mother country; it only asks for a little freedom, justice, and +affection. You will be supported by the malcontents, the criminals, +the desperate, but the people will hold aloof. You are mistaken if, +seeing all dark, you think that the country is desperate. The country +suffers, yes, but it still hopes and trusts and will only rebel when +it has lost its patience, that is, when those who govern it wish it +to do so, and that time is yet distant. I myself will not follow you, +never will I resort to such extreme measures while I see hope in men." + +"Then I'll go on without you!" responded Ibarra resolutely. + +"Is your decision final?" + +"Final and firm; let the memory of my mother bear witness! I will +not let peace and happiness be torn away from me with impunity, +I who desired only what was good, I who have respected everything +and endured everything out of love for a hypocritical religion +and out of love of country. How have they answered me? By burying +me in an infamous dungeon and robbing me of my intended wife! No, +not to avenge myself would be a crime, it would be encouraging them +to new acts of injustice! No, it would be cowardice, pusillanimity, +to groan and weep when there is blood and life left, when to insult +and menace is added mockery. I will call out these ignorant people, +I will make them see their misery. I will teach them to think not of +brotherhood but only that they are wolves for devouring, I will urge +them to rise against this oppression and proclaim the eternal right +of man to win his freedom!" + +"But innocent people will suffer!" + +"So much the better! Can you take me to the mountains?" + +"Until you are in safety," replied Elias. + +Again they moved out into the Pasig, talking from time to time of +indifferent matters. + +"Santa Ana!" murmured Ibarra. "Do you recognize this building?" They +were passing in front of the country-house of the Jesuits. + +"There I spent many pleasant and happy days!" sighed Elias. "In my +time we came every month. Then I was like others, I had a fortune, +family, I dreamed, I looked forward to a future. In those days I saw +my sister in the near-by college, she presented me with a piece of +her own embroidery-work. A friend used to accompany her, a beautiful +girl. All that has passed like a dream." + +They remained silent until they reached Malapad-na-bato. [171] Those +who have ever made their way by night up the Pasig, on one of those +magical nights that the Philippines offers, when the moon pours out +from the limpid blue her melancholy light, when the shadows hide the +miseries of man and the silence is unbroken by the sordid accents of +his voice, when only Nature speaks--they will understand the thoughts +of both these youths. + +At Malapad-na-bato the carbineer was sleepy and, seeing that the banka +was empty and offered no booty which he might seize, according to the +traditional usage of his corps and the custom of that post, he easily +let them pass on. Nor did the civil-guard at Pasig suspect anything, +so they were not molested. + +Day was beginning to break when they reached the lake, still and calm +like a gigantic mirror. The moon paled and the east was dyed in rosy +tints. Some distance away they perceived a gray mass advancing slowly +toward them. + +"The police boat is coming," murmured Elias. "Lie down and I'll cover +you with these sacks." + +The outlines of the boat became clearer and plainer. + +"It's getting between us and the shore," observed Elias uneasily. + +Gradually he changed the course of his banka, rowing toward +Binangonan. To his great surprise he noticed that the boat also +changed its course, while a voice called to him. + +Elias stopped rowing and reflected. The shore was still far away and +they would soon be within range of the rifles on the police boat. He +thought of returning to Pasig, for his banka was the swifter of the +two boats, but unluckily he saw another boat coming from the river +and made out the gleam of caps and bayonets of the Civil Guard. + +"We're caught!" he muttered, turning pale. + +He gazed at his robust arms and, adopting the only course left, +began to row with all his might toward Talim Island, just as the sun +was rising. + +The banka slipped rapidly along. Elias saw standing on the boat, +which had veered about, some men making signals to him. + +"Do you know how to manage a banka?" he asked Ibarra. + +"Yes, why?" + +"Because we are lost if I don't jump into the water and throw them +off the track. They will pursue me, but I swim and dive well. I'll +draw them away from you and then you can save yourself." + +"No, stay here, and we'll sell our lives dearly!" + +"That would be useless. We have no arms and with their rifles they +would shoot us down like birds." + +At that instant the water gave forth a hiss such as is caused by +the falling of hot metal into it, followed instantaneously by a +loud report. + +"You see!" said Elias, placing the paddle in the boat. "We'll see each +other on Christmas Eve at the tomb of your grandfather. Save yourself." + +"And you?" + +"God has carried me safely through greater perils." + +As Elias took off his camisa a bullet tore it from his hands and +two loud reports were heard. Calmly he clasped the hand of Ibarra, +who was still stretched out in the bottom of the banka. Then he arose +and leaped into the water, at the same time pushing the little craft +away from him with his foot. + +Cries resounded, and soon some distance away the youth's head appeared, +as if for breathing, then instantly disappeared. + +"There, there he is!" cried several voices, and again the bullets +whistled. + +The police boat and the boat from the Pasig now started in pursuit of +him. A light track indicated his passage through the water as he drew +farther and farther away from Ibarra's banka, which floated about as +if abandoned. Every time the swimmer lifted his head above the water +to breathe, the guards in both boats shot at him. + +So the chase continued. Ibarra's little banka was now far away +and the swimmer was approaching the shore, distant some thirty +yards. The rowers were tired, but Elias was in the same condition, +for he showed his head oftener, and each time in a different direction, +as if to disconcert his pursuers. No longer did the treacherous track +indicate the position of the diver. They saw him for the last time +when he was some ten yards from the shore, and fired. Then minute +after minute passed, but nothing again appeared above the still and +solitary surface of the lake. + +Half an hour afterwards one of the rowers claimed that he could +distinguish in the water near the shore traces of blood, but his +companions shook their heads dubiously. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +Padre Damaso Explains + + +Vainly were the rich wedding presents heaped upon a table; neither +the diamonds in their cases of blue velvet, nor the pina embroideries, +nor the rolls of silk, drew the gaze of Maria Clara. Without reading +or even seeing it the maiden sat staring at the newspaper which gave +an account of the death of Ibarra, drowned in the lake. + +Suddenly she felt two hands placed over her eyes to hold her fast +and heard Padre Damaso's voice ask merrily, "Who am I? Who am I?" + +Maria Clara sprang from her seat and gazed at him in terror. + +"Foolish little girl, you're not afraid, are you? You weren't expecting +me, eh? Well, I've come in from the provinces to attend your wedding." + +He smiled with satisfaction as he drew nearer to her and held out +his hand for her to kiss. Maria Clara approached him tremblingly and +touched his hand respectfully to her lips. + +"What's the matter with you, Maria?" asked the Franciscan, losing his +merry smile and becoming uneasy. "Your hand is cold, you're pale. Are +you ill, little girl?" + +Padre Damaso drew her toward himself with a tenderness that one would +hardly have thought him capable of, and catching both her hands in +his questioned her with his gaze. + +"Don't you have confidence in your godfather any more?" he asked +reproachfully. "Come, sit down and tell me your little troubles as +you used to do when you were a child, when you wanted tapers to make +wax dolls, You know that I've always loved you, I've never been cross +with you." + +His voice was now no longer brusque, and even became tenderly +modulated. Maria Clara began to weep. + +"You're crying, little girl? Why do you cry? Have you quarreled +with Linares?" + +Maria Clara covered her ears. "Don't speak of him not now!" she cried. + +Padre Damaso gazed at her in startled wonder. + +"Won't you trust me with your secrets? Haven't I always tried to +satisfy your lightest whim?" + +The maiden raised eyes filled with tears and stared at him for a long +time, then again fell to weeping bitterly. + +"Don't cry so, little girl. Your tears hurt me. Tell me your troubles, +and you'll see how your godfather loves you!" + +Maria Clara approached him slowly, fell upon her knees, and raising +her tear-stained face toward his asked in a low, scarcely audible tone, +"Do you still love me?" + +"Child!" + +"Then, protect my father and break off my marriage!" Here the +maiden told of her last interview with Ibarra, concealing only her +knowledge of the secret of her birth. Padre Damaso could scarcely +credit his ears. + +"While he lived," the girl continued, "I thought of struggling, I +was hoping, trusting! I wanted to live so that I might hear of him, +but now that they have killed him, now there is no reason why I should +live and suffer." She spoke in low, measured tones, calmly, tearlessly. + +"But, foolish girl, isn't Linares a thousand times better than--" + +"While he lived, I could have married--I thought of running away +afterwards--my father wants only the relationship! But now that he +is dead, no other man shall call me wife! While he was alive I could +debase myself, for there would have remained the consolation that he +lived and perhaps thought of me, but now that he is dead--the nunnery +or the tomb!" + +The girl's voice had a ring of firmness in it such that Padre Damaso +lost his merry air and became very thoughtful. + +"Did you love him as much as that?" he stammered. + +Maria Clara did not answer. Padre Damaso dropped his head on his +chest and remained silent for a long time. + +"Daughter in God," he exclaimed at length in a broken voice, "forgive +me for having made you unhappy without knowing it. I was thinking +of your future, I desired your happiness. How could I permit you +to marry a native of the country, to see you an unhappy wife and +a wretched mother? I couldn't get that love out of your head even +though I opposed it with all my might. I committed wrongs, for you, +solely for you. If you had become his wife you would have mourned +afterwards over the condition of your husband, exposed to all kinds +of vexations without means of defense. As a mother you would have +mourned the fate of your sons: if you had educated them, you would have +prepared for them a sad future, for they would have become enemies +of Religion and you would have seen them garroted or exiled; if you +had kept them ignorant, you would have seen them tyrannized over and +degraded. I could not consent to it! For this reason I sought for +you a husband that could make you the happy mother of sons who would +command and not obey, who would punish and not suffer. I knew that +the friend of your childhood was good, I liked him as well as his +father, but I have hated them both since I saw that they were going +to bring about your unhappiness, because I love you, I adore you, +I love you as one loves his own daughter! Yours is my only affection; +I have seen you grow--not an hour has passed that I have not thought +of you--I dreamed of you--you have been my only joy!" + +Here Padre Damaso himself broke out into tears like a child. + +"Then, as you love me, don't make me eternally wretched. He no longer +lives, so I want to be a nun!" + +The old priest rested his forehead on his hand. "To be a nun, a +nun!" he repeated. "You don't know, child, what the life is, the +mystery that is hidden behind the walls of the nunnery, you don't +know! A thousand times would I prefer to see you unhappy in the +world rather than in the cloister. Here your complaints can be heard, +there you will have only the walls. You are beautiful, very beautiful, +and you were not born for that--to be a bride of Christ! Believe me, +little girl, time will wipe away everything. Later on you will forget, +you will love, you will love your husband--Linares." + +"The nunnery or--death!" + +"The nunnery, the nunnery, or death!" exclaimed Padre Damaso. "Maria, +I am now an old man, I shall not be able much longer to watch over +you and your welfare. Choose something else, seek another love, +some other man, whoever he may be--anything but the nunnery." + +"The nunnery or death!" + +"My God, my God!" cried the priest, covering his head with his hands, +"Thou chastisest me, so let it be! But watch over my daughter!" + +Then, turning again to the young woman, he said, "You wish to be a nun, +and it shall be so. I don't want you to die." + +Maria Clara caught both his hands in hers, clasping and kissing them +as she fell upon her knees, repeating over and over, "My godfather, +I thank you, my godfather!" + +With bowed head Fray Damaso went away, sad and sighing. "God, Thou +dost exist, since Thou chastisest! But let Thy vengeance fall on me, +harm not the innocent. Save Thou my daughter!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +Christmas Eve + + +High up on the slope of the mountain near a roaring stream a hut built +on the gnarled logs hides itself among the trees. Over its kogon +thatch clambers the branching gourd-vine, laden with flowers and +fruit. Deer antlers and skulls of wild boar, some with long tusks, +adorn this mountain home, where lives a Tagalog family engaged in +hunting and cutting firewood. + +In the shade of a tree the grandsire was making brooms from the fibers +of palm leaves, while a young woman was placing eggs, limes, and some +vegetables in a wide basket. Two children, a boy and a girl, were +playing by the side of another, who, pale and sad, with large eyes +and a deep gaze, was seated on a fallen tree-trunk. In his thinned +features we recognize Sisa's son, Basilio, the brother of Crispin. + +"When your foot gets well," the little girl was saying to him, +"we'll play hide-and-seek. I'll be the leader." + +"You'll go up to the top of the mountain with us," added the little +boy, "and drink deer blood with lime-juice and you'll get fat, and +then I'll teach you how to jump from rock to rock above the torrent." + +Basilio smiled sadly, stared at the sore on his foot, and then turned +his gaze toward the sun, which shone resplendently. + +"Sell these brooms," said the grandfather to the young woman, "and +buy something for the children, for tomorrow is Christmas." + +"Firecrackers, I want some firecrackers!" exclaimed the boy. + +"I want a head for my doll," cried the little girl, catching hold of +her sister's tapis. + +"And you, what do you want?" the grandfather asked Basilio, who at +the question arose laboriously and approached the old man. + +"Sir," he said, "I've been sick more than a month now, haven't I?" + +"Since we found you lifeless and covered with wounds, two moons have +come and gone. We thought you were going to die." + +"May God reward you, for we are very poor," replied Basilio. "But now +that tomorrow is Christmas I want to go to the town to see my mother +and my little brother. They will be seeking for me." + +"But, my son, you're not yet well, and your town is far away. You +won't get there by midnight." + +"That doesn't matter, sir. My mother and my little brother must be +very sad. Every year we spend this holiday together. Last year the +three of us had a whole fish to eat. My mother will have been mourning +and looking for me." + +"You won't get to the town alive, boy! Tonight we're going to have +chicken and wild boar's meat. My sons will ask for you when they come +from the field." + +"You have many sons while my mother has only us two. Perhaps she +already believes that I'm dead! Tonight I want to give her a pleasant +surprise, a Christmas gift, a son." + +The old man felt the tears springing up into his eyes, so, placing +his hands on the boy's head, he said with emotion: "You're like an +old man! Go, look for your mother, give her the Christmas gift--from +God, as you say. If I had known the name of your town I would have +gone there when you were sick. Go, my son, and may God and the Lord +Jesus go with you. Lucia, my granddaughter, will go with you to the +nearest town." + +"What! You're going away?" the little boy asked him. "Down there are +soldiers and many robbers. Don't you want to see my firecrackers? Boom, +boom, boom!" + +"Don't you want to play hide-and-seek?" asked the little girl. "Have +you ever played it? Surely there's nothing any more fun than to be +chased and hide yourself?" + +Basilio smiled, but with tears in his eyes, and caught up his +staff. "I'll come back soon," he answered. "I'll bring my little +brother, you'll see him and play with him. He's just about as big as +you are." + +"Does he walk lame, too?" asked the little girl. "Then we'll make him +'it' when we play hide-and-seek." + +"Don't forget us," the old man said to him. "Take this dried meat as +a present to your mother." + +The children accompanied him to the bamboo bridge swung over the +noisy course of the stream. Lucia made him support himself on her arm, +and thus they disappeared from the children's sight, Basilio walking +along nimbly in spite of his bandaged leg. + +The north wind whistled by, making the inhabitants of San Diego +shiver with cold. It was Christmas Eve and yet the town was wrapped +in gloom. Not a paper lantern hung from the windows nor did a single +sound in the houses indicate the rejoicing of other years. + +In the house of Capitan Basilio, he and Don Filipo--for the misfortunes +of the latter had made them friendly--were standing by a window-grating +and talking, while at another were Sinang, her cousin Victoria, +and the beautiful Iday, looking toward the street. + +The waning moon began to shine over the horizon, illumining the clouds +and making the trees and houses east long, fantastic shadows. + +"Yours is not a little good fortune, to get off free in these +times!" said Capitan Basilio to Don Filipo. "They've burned your books, +yes, but others have lost more." + +A woman approached the grating and gazed into the interior. Her +eyes glittered, her features were emaciated, her hair loose and +dishevelled. The moonlight gave her a weird aspect. + +"Sisal" exclaimed Don Filipo in surprise. Then turning to Capitan +Basilio, as the madwoman ran away, he asked, "Wasn't she in the house +of a physician? Has she been cured?" + +Capitan Basilio smiled bitterly. "The physician was afraid they +would accuse him of being a friend of Don Crisostomo's, so he drove +her from his house. Now she wanders about again as crazy as ever, +singing, harming no one, and living in the woods." + +"What else has happened in the town since we left it? I know that we +have a new curate and another alferez." + +"These are terrible times, humanity is retrograding," murmured Capitan +Basilio, thinking of the past. "The day after you left they found the +senior sacristan dead, hanging from a rafter in his own house. Padre +Salvi was greatly affected by his death and took possession of all +his papers. Ah, yes, the old Sage, Tasio, also died and was buried +in the Chinese cemetery." + +"Poor old man!" sighed Don Filipo. "What became of his books?" + +"They were burned by the pious, who thought thus to please God. I was +unable to save anything, not even Cicero's works. The gobernadorcillo +did nothing to prevent it." + +Both became silent. At that moment the sad and melancholy song of +the madwoman was heard. + +"Do you know when Maria Clara is to be married?" Iday asked Sinang. + +"I don't know," answered the latter. "I received a letter from her +but haven't opened it for fear of finding out. Poor Crisostomo!" + +"They say that if it were not for Linares, they would hang Capitan +Tiago, so what was Maria Clara going to do?" observed Victoria. + +A boy limped by, running toward the plaza, whence came the notes of +Sisa's song. It was Basilio, who had found his home deserted and in +ruins. After many inquiries he had only learned that his mother was +insane and wandering about the town--of Crispin not a word. + +Basilio choked back his tears, stifled any expression of his sorrow, +and without resting had started in search of his mother. On reaching +the town he was just asking about her when her song struck his +ears. The unhappy boy overcame the trembling in his limbs and ran to +throw himself into his mother's arms. + +The madwoman left the plaza and stopped in front of the house of +the new alferez. Now, as formerly, there was a sentinel before the +door, and a woman's head appeared at the window, only it was not the +Medusa's but that of a comely young woman: alferez and unfortunate +are not synonymous terms. + +Sisa began to sing before the house with her gaze fixed on the +moon, which soared majestically in the blue heavens among golden +clouds. Basilio saw her, but did not dare to approach' her. Walking +back and forth, but taking care not to get near the barracks, he +waited for the time when she would leave that place. + +The young woman who was at the window listening attentively to the +madwoman's song ordered the sentinel to bring her inside, but when +Sisa saw the soldier approach her and heard his voice she was filled +with terror and took to flight at a speed of which only a demented +person is capable. Basilio, fearing to lose her, ran after her, +forgetful of the pains in his feet. + +"Look how that boy's chasing the madwoman!" indignantly exclaimed +a woman in the street. Seeing that he continued to pursue her, she +picked up a stone and threw it at him, saying, "Take that! It's a +pity that the dog is tied up!" + +Basilio felt a blow on his head, but paid no attention to it as he +continued running. Dogs barked, geese cackled, several windows opened +to let out curious faces but quickly closed again from fear of another +night of terror. + +Soon they were outside of the town. Sisa began to moderate her flight, +but still a great distance separated her from her pursuer. + +"Mother!" he called to her when he caught sight of her. Scarcely had +the madwoman heard his voice when she again took to flight. + +"Mother, it's I!" cried the boy in desperation, but the madwoman +did not heed him, so he followed panting. They had now passed the +cultivated fields and were near the wood; Basilio saw his mother enter +it and he also went in. The bushes and shrubs, the thorny vines and +projecting roots of trees, hindered the movements of both. The son +followed his mother's shadowy form as it was revealed from time to +time by the moonlight that penetrated through the foliage and into +the open spaces. They were in the mysterious wood of the Ibarra family. + +The boy stumbled and fell several times, but rose again, each time +without feeling pain. All his soul was centered in his eyes, following +the beloved figure. They crossed the sweetly murmuring brook where +sharp thorns of bamboo that had fallen on the sand at its margin +pierced his bare feet, but he did not stop to pull them out. + +To his great surprise he saw that his mother had plunged into the +thick undergrowth and was going through the wooden gateway that opened +into the tomb of the old Spaniard at the foot of the balete. Basilio +tried to follow her in, but found the gate fastened. The madwoman +defended the entrance with her emaciated arms and disheveled head, +holding the gate shut with all her might. + +"Mother, it's I, it's I! I'm Basilio, your son!" cried the boy as he +let himself fall weakly. + +But the madwoman did not yield. Bracing herself with her feet on +the ground, she offered an energetic resistance. Basilio beat the +gate with his fists, with his Mood-stained head, he wept, but in +vain. Painfully he arose and examined the wall, thinking to scale it, +but found no way to do so. He then walked around it and noticed that +a branch of the fateful balete was crossed with one from another +tree. This he climbed and, his filial love working miracles, made +his way from branch to branch to the balete, from which he saw his +mother still holding the gate shut with her head. + +The noise made by him among the branches attracted Sisa's +attention. She turned and tried to run, but her son, letting himself +fall from the tree, caught her in his arms and covered her with kisses, +losing consciousness as he did so. + +Sisa saw his blood-stained forehead and bent over him. Her eyes seemed +to start from their sockets as she peered into his face. Those pale +features stirred the sleeping cells of her brain, so that something +like a spark of intelligence flashed up in her mind and she recognized +her son. With a terrible cry she fell upon the insensible body of +the boy, embracing and kissing him. Mother and son remained motionless. + +When Basilio recovered consciousness he found his mother lifeless. He +called to her with the tenderest names, but she did not awake. Noticing +that she was not even breathing, he arose and went to the neighboring +brook to get some water in a banana leaf, with which to rub the pallid +face of his mother, but the madwoman made not the least movement and +her eyes remained closed. + +Basilio gazed at her in terror. He placed his ear over her heart, +but the thin, faded breast was cold, and her heart no longer beat. He +put his lips to hers, but felt no breathing. The miserable boy threw +his arms about the corpse and wept bitterly. + +The moon gleamed majestically in the sky, the wandering breezes sighed, +and down in the grass the crickets chirped. The night of light and joy +for so many children, who in the warm bosom of the family celebrate +this feast of sweetest memories--the feast which commemorates the +first look of love that Heaven sent to earth--this night when in all +Christian families they eat, drink, dance, sing, laugh, play, caress, +and kiss one another--this night, which in cold countries holds such +magic for childhood with its traditional pine-tree covered with lights, +dolls, candies, and tinsel, whereon gaze the round, staring eyes in +which innocence alone is reflected--this night brought to Basilio +only orphanhood. Who knows but that perhaps in the home whence came +the taciturn Padre Salvi children also played, perhaps they sang + + + "La Nochebuena se viene, + La Nochebuena se va." [172] + + +For a long time the boy wept and moaned. When at last he raised his +head he saw a man standing over him, gazing at the scene in silence. + +"Are you her son?" asked the unknown in a low voice. + +The boy nodded. + +"What do you expect to do?" + +"Bury her!" + +"In the cemetery?" + +"I haven't any money and, besides, the curate wouldn't allow it." + +"Then?" + +"If you would help me--" + +"I'm very weak," answered the unknown as he sank slowly to the ground, +supporting himself with both hands. "I'm wounded. For two days I +haven't eaten or slept. Has no one come here tonight?" + +The man thoughtfully contemplated the attractive features of the boy, +then went on in a still weaker voice, "Listen! I, too, shall be dead +before the day comes. Twenty paces from here, on the other side of +the brook, there is a big pile of firewood. Bring it here, make a +pyre, put our bodies upon it, cover them over, and set fire to the +whole--fire, until we are reduced to ashes!" + +Basilio listened attentively. + +"Afterwards, if no one comes, dig here. You will find a lot of gold +and it will all be yours. Take it and go to school." + +The voice of the unknown was becoming every moment more +unintelligible. "Go, get the firewood. I want to help you." + +As Basilio moved away, the unknown turned his face toward the east +and murmured, as though praying: + +"I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land! You, +who have it to see, welcome it--and forget not those who have fallen +during the night!" + +He raised his eyes to the sky and his lips continued to move, as if +uttering a prayer. Then he bowed his head and sank slowly to the earth. + +Two hours later Sister Rufa was on the back veranda of her house +making her morning ablutions in order to attend mass. The pious woman +gazed at the adjacent wood and saw a thick column of smoke rising +from it. Filled with holy indignation, she knitted her eyebrows +and exclaimed: + +"What heretic is making a clearing on a holy day? That's why so many +calamities come! You ought to go to purgatory and see if you could +get out of there, savage!" + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +Since some of our characters are still living and others have been lost +sight of, a real epilogue is impossible. For the satisfaction of the +groundlings we should gladly kill off all of them, beginning with Padre +Salvi and ending with Dona Victorina, but this is not possible. Let +them live! Anyhow, the country, not ourselves, has to support them. + +After Maria Clara entered the nunnery, Padre Damaso left his town +to live in Manila, as did also Padre Salvi, who, while he awaits a +vacant miter, preaches sometimes in the church of St. Clara, in whose +nunnery he discharges the duties of an important office. Not many +months had passed when Padre Damaso received an order from the Very +Reverend Father Provincial to occupy a curacy in a remote province. It +is related that he was so grievously affected by this that on the +following day he was found dead in his bedchamber. Some said that +he had died of an apoplectic stroke, others of a nightmare, but his +physician dissipated all doubts by declaring that he had died suddenly. + +None of our readers would now recognize Capitan Tiago. Weeks before +Maria Clara took the vows he fell into a state of depression so great +that he grew sad and thin, and became pensive and distrustful, like +his former friend, Capitan Tinong. As soon as the doors of the nunnery +closed he ordered his disconsolate cousin, Aunt Isabel, to collect +whatever had belonged to his daughter and his dead wife and to go to +make her home in Malabon or San Diego, since he wished to live alone +thenceforward, tie then devoted himself passionately to _liam-po_ and +the cockpit, and began to smoke opium. He no longer goes to Antipolo +nor does he order any more masses, so Dona Patrocinia, his old rival, +celebrates her triumph piously by snoring during the sermons. If at +any time during the late afternoon you should walk along Calle Santo +Cristo, you would see seated in a Chinese shop a small man, yellow, +thin, and bent, with stained and dirty finger nails, gazing through +dreamy, sunken eyes at the passers-by as if he did not see them. At +nightfall you would see him rise with difficulty and, supporting +himself on his cane, make his way to a narrow little by-street to +enter a grimy building over the door of which may be seen in large +red letters: FUMADERO PUBLICO DE ANFION. [173] This is that Capitan +Tiago who was so celebrated, but who is now completely forgotten, +even by the very senior sacristan himself. + +Dona Victorina has added to her false frizzes and to her +_Andalusization_, if we may be permitted the term, the new custom +of driving the carriage horses herself, obliging Don Tiburcio to +remain quiet. Since many unfortunate accidents occurred on account +of the weakness of her eyes, she has taken to wearing spectacles, +which give her a marvelous appearance. The doctor has never been +called upon again to attend any one and the servants see him many +days in the week without teeth, which, as our readers know, is a +very bad sign. Linares, the only defender of the hapless doctor, +has long been at rest in Paco cemetery, the victim of dysentery and +the harsh treatment of his cousin-in-law. + +The victorious alferez returned to Spain a major, leaving his +amiable spouse in her flannel camisa, the color of which is now +indescribable. The poor Ariadne, finding herself thus abandoned, +also devoted herself, as did the daughter of Minos, to the cult of +Bacchus and the cultivation of tobacco; she drinks and smokes with +such fury that now not only the girls but even the old women and +little children fear her. + +Probably our acquaintances of the town of San Diego are still alive, +if they did not perish in the explosion of the steamer "_Lipa_," which +was making a trip to the province. Since no one bothered himself to +learn who the unfortunates were that perished in that catastrophe or to +whom belonged the legs and arms left neglected on Convalescence Island +and the banks of the river, we have no idea whether any acquaintance +of our readers was among them or not. Along with the government and +the press at the time, we are satisfied with the information that +the only friar who was on the steamer was saved, and we do not ask +for more. The principal thing for us is the existence of the virtuous +priests, whose reign in the Philippines may God conserve for the good +of our souls. [174] + +Of Maria Clara nothing more is known except that the sepulcher seems +to guard her in its bosom. We have asked several persons of great +influence in the holy nunnery of St. Clara, but no one has been +willing to tell us a single word, not even the talkative devotees +who receive the famous fried chicken-livers and the even more famous +sauce known as that "of the nuns," prepared by the intelligent cook +of the Virgins of the Lord. + +Nevertheless: On a night in September the hurricane raged over +Manila, lashing the buildings with its gigantic wings. The thunder +crashed continuously. Lightning flashes momentarily revealed the havoc +wrought by the blast and threw the inhabitants into wild terror. The +rain fell in torrents. Each flash of the forked lightning showed a +piece of roofing or a window-blind flying through the air to fall +with a horrible crash. Not a person or a carriage moved through the +streets. When the hoarse reverberations of the thunder, a hundred +times re-echoed, lost themselves in the distance, there was heard +the soughing of the wind as it drove the raindrops with a continuous +tick-tack against the concha-panes of the closed windows. + +Two patrolmen sheltered themselves under the eaves of a building near +the nunnery, one a private and the other a _distinguido_. + +"What's the use of our staying here?" said the private. + +"No one is moving about the streets. We ought to get into a house. My +_querida_ lives in Calle Arzobispo." + +"From here over there is quite a distance and we'll get wet," answered +the _distinguido_. + +"What does that matter just so the lightning doesn't strike us?" + +"Bah, don't worry! The nuns surely have a lightningrod to protect +them." + +"Yes," observed the private, "but of what use is it when the night +is so dark?" + +As he said this he looked upward to stare into the darkness. At +that moment a prolonged streak of lightning flashed, followed by a +terrific roar. + +"_Naku! Susmariosep!_" exclaimed the private, crossing himself and +catching hold of his companion. "Let's get away from here." + +"What's happened?" + +"Come, come away from here," he repeated with his teeth rattling +from fear. + +"What have you seen?" + +"A specter!" he murmured, trembling with fright. + +"A specter?" + +"On the roof there. It must be the nun who practises magic during +the night." + +The _distinguido_ thrust his head out to look, just as a flash of +lightning furrowed the heavens with a vein of fire and sent a horrible +crash earthwards. "_Jesus!_" he exclaimed, also crossing himself. + +In the brilliant glare of the celestial light he had seen a white +figure standing almost on the ridge of the roof with arms and face +raised toward the sky as if praying to it. The heavens responded with +lightning and thunderbolts! + +As the sound of the thunder rolled away a sad plaint was heard. + +"That's not the wind, it's the specter," murmured the private, as if +in response to the pressure of his companion's hand. + +"Ay! Ay!" came through the air, rising above the noise of the rain, +nor could the whistling wind drown that sweet and mournful voice +charged with affliction. + +Again the lightning flashed with dazzling intensity. + +"No, it's not a specter!" exclaimed the _distinguido_. + +"I've seen her before. She's beautiful, like the Virgin! Let's get +away from here and report it." + +The private did not wait for him to repeat the invitation, and both +disappeared. + +Who was moaning in the middle of the night in spite of the wind and +rain and storm? Who was the timid maiden, the bride of Christ, who +defied the unchained elements and chose such a fearful night under the +open sky to breathe forth from so perilous a height her complaints +to God? Had the Lord abandoned his altar in the nunnery so that He +no longer heard her supplications? Did its arches perhaps prevent the +longings of the soul from rising up to the throne of the Most Merciful? + +The tempest raged furiously nearly the whole night, nor did a single +star shine through the darkness. The despairing plaints continued to +mingle with the soughing of the wind, but they found Nature and man +alike deaf; God had hidden himself and heard not. + +On the following day, after the dark clouds had cleared away and the +sun shone again brightly in the limpid sky, there stopped at the door +of the nunnery of St. Clara a carriage, from which alighted a man +who made himself known as a representative of the authorities. He +asked to be allowed to speak immediately with the abbess and to see +all the nuns. + +It is said that one of these, who appeared in a gown all wet and torn, +with tears and tales of horror begged the man's protection against +the outrages of hypocrisy. It is also said that she was very beautiful +and had the most lovely and expressive eyes that were ever seen. + +The representative of the authorities did not accede to her request, +but, after talking with the abbess, left her there in spite of her +tears and pleadings. The youthful nun saw the door close behind him +as a condemned person might look upon the portals of Heaven closing +against him, if ever Heaven should come to be as cruel and unfeeling +as men are. The abbess said that she was a madwoman. The man may +not have known that there is in Manila a home for the demented; +or perhaps he looked upon the nunnery itself as an insane asylum, +although it is claimed that he was quite ignorant, especially in a +matter of deciding whether a person is of sound mind. + +It is also reported that General J---- thought otherwise, when the +matter reached his ears. He wished to protect the madwoman and asked +for her. But this time no beautiful and unprotected maiden appeared, +nor would the abbess permit a visit to the cloister, forbidding it +in the name of Religion and the Holy Statutes. Nothing more was said +of the affair, nor of the ill-starred Maria Clara. + + + + + +GLOSSARY + + +_aba_: A Tagalog exclamation of wonder, surprise, etc., often used +to introduce or emphasize a contradictory statement. + +_abaka_: "Manila hemp," the fiber of a plant of the banana family. + +_achara_: Pickles made from the tender shoots of bamboo, green +papayas, etc. + +_alcalde_: Governor of a province or district with both executive +and judicial authority. + +_alferez_: Junior officer of the Civil Guard, ranking next below +a lieutenant. + +_alibambang_: A leguminous plant whose acid leaves are used in cooking. + +_alpay_: A variety of nephelium, similar but inferior to the Chinese +lichi. + +_among_: Term used by the natives in addressing a priest, especially +a friar: from the Spanish _amo_, master. + +_amores-secos_: "Barren loves," a low-growing weed whose small, +angular pods adhere to clothing. + +_andas_: A platform with handles, on which an image is borne in +a procession. + +_asuang_: A malignant devil reputed to feed upon human flesh, being +especially fond of new-born babes. + +_ate_: The sweet-sop. + +_Audiencia_: The administrative council and supreme court of the +Spanish regime. + +_Ayuntamiento_: A city corporation or council, and by extension +the building in which it has its offices; specifically, in Manila, +the capitol. + +_azotea_: The flat roof of a house or any similar platform; +a roof-garden. + +_babaye_: Woman (the general Malay term). + +_baguio_: The local name for the typhoon or hurricane. + +_bailuhan_: Native dance and feast: from the Spanish _baile_. + +_balete_: The Philippine banyan, a tree sacred in Malay folk-lore. + +_banka_: A dugout canoe with bamboo supports or outriggers. + +_Bilibid_: The general penitentiary at Manila. + +_buyo_: The masticatory prepared by wrapping a piece of areca-nut +with a little shell-lime in a betel-leaf: the _pan_ of British India. + +_cabeza de barangay_: Headman and tax collector for a group of about +fifty families, for whose "tribute" he was personally responsible. + +_calle_: Street. + +_camisa_: 1. A loose, collarless shirt of transparent material worn +by men outside the trousers. + +2. A thin, transparent waist with flowing sleeves, worn by women. + +_camote_: A variety of sweet potato. + +_capitan_: "Captain," a title used in addressing or referring to the +gobernadorcillo or a former occupant of that office. + +_carambas_: A Spanish exclamation denoting surprise or displeasure. + +_carbineer_: Internal-revenue guard. + +_cedula_: Certificate of registration and receipt for poll-tax. + +_chico_: The sapodilla plum. + +_Civil Guard_: Internal quasi-military police force of Spanish officers +and native soldiers. + +_cochero_: Carriage driver: coachman. + +_Consul_: A wealthy merchant; originally, a member of the _Consulado_, +the tribunal, or corporation, controlling the galleon trade. + +_cuadrillero_: Municipal guard. + +_cuarto_: A copper coin, one hundred and sixty of which were equal +in value to a silver peso. + +_cuidao_: "Take care!" "Look out!" A common exclamation, from the +Spanish _cuidado_. + +_dalag_: The Philippine _Ophiocephalus_, the curious walking mudfish +that abounds in the paddy-fields during the rainy season. + +_dalaga_: Maiden, woman of marriageable age. + +_dinding_: House-wall or partition of plaited bamboo wattle. + +_director, directorcillo_: The town secretary and clerk of the +gobernadorcillo. + +_distinguido_: A person of rank serving as a private soldier but +exempted from menial duties and in promotions preferred to others of +equal merit. + +_escribano_: Clerk of court and official notary. + +_filibuster_: A native of the Philippines who was accused of advocating +their separation from Spain. + +_gobernadorcillo_: "Petty governor," the principal municipal official. + +_gogo_: A climbing, woody vine whose macerated stems are used as soap; +"soap-vine." + +_guingon_: Dungaree, a coarse blue cotton cloth. + +_hermano mayor_: The manager of a fiesta. + +_husi_: A fine cloth made of silk interwoven with cotton, abaka, +or pineapple-leaf fibers. + +_ilang-ilang_: The Malay "flower of flowers," from which the well-known +essence is obtained. + +_Indian_: The Spanish designation for the Christianized Malay of the +Philippines was _indio_ (Indian), a term used rather contemptuously, +the name _Filipino_ being generally applied in a restricted sense to +the children of Spaniards born in the Islands. + +_kaingin_: A woodland clearing made by burning off the trees and +underbrush, for planting upland rice or camotes. + +_kalan_: The small, portable, open, clay fireplace commonly used +in cooking. + +_kalao_: The Philippine hornbill. As in all Malay countries, this bird +is the object of curious superstitions. Its raucous cry, which may +be faintly characterized as hideous, is said to mark the hours and, +in the night-time, to presage death or other disaster. + +_kalikut_: A short section of bamboo in which the _buyo_ is mixed; +a primitive betel-box. + +_kamagon_: A tree of the ebony family, from which fine cabinet-wood +is obtained. Its fruit is the _mabolo_, or date-plum. + +_kasama_: Tenants on the land of another, to whom they render payment +in produce or by certain specified services. + +_kogon_: A tall, rank grass used for thatch. + +_kris_: A Moro dagger or short sword with a serpentine blade. + +_kundiman_: A native song. + +_kupang_: A large tree of the Mimosa family. + +_kuriput_: Miser, "skinflint." + +_lanson_: The langsa, a delicious cream-colored fruit about the size +of a plum. In the Philippines, its special habitat is the country +around the Lake of Bay. + +_liam-po_: A Chinese game of chance (?). + +_lomboy_: The jambolana, a small, blue fruit with a large stone. + +_Malacanang_: The palace of the Captain-General in Manila: from the +vernacular name of the place where it stands, "fishermen's resort." + +_mankukulan_: An evil spirit causing sickness and other misfortunes, +and a person possessed of such a demon. + +_morisqueta_: Rice boiled without salt until dry, the staple food of +the Filipinos. + +_Moro_: Mohammedan Malay of southern Mindanao and Sulu. + +_mutya_: Some object with talismanic properties, "rabbit's foot." + +_naku_: A Tagalog exclamation of surprise, wonder, etc. + +_nipa_: Swamp-palm, with the imbricated leaves of which the roots +and sides of the common Filipino houses are constructed. + +_nito_: A climbing fern whose glossy, wiry leaves are used for making +fine hats, cigar-cases, etc. + +_novena_: A devotion consisting of prayers recited on nine consecutive +days, asking for some special favor; also, a booklet of these prayers. + +_oy_: An exclamation to attract attention, used toward inferiors +and in familiar intercourse: probably a contraction of the Spanish +imperative, _oye_, "listen!" + +_pako_: An edible fern. + +_palasan_: A thick, stout variety of rattan, used for walking-sticks. + +_pandakaki_: A low tree or shrub with small, star-like flowers. + +_panuelo_: A starched neckerchief folded stiffly over the shoulders, +fastened in front and falling in a point behind: the most distinctive +portion of the customary dress of the Filipino women. + +_papaya_: The tropical papaw, fruit of the "melon-tree." + +_paracmason_: Freemason, the _bete noire_ of the Philippine friar. + +_peseta_: A silver coin, in value one-fifth of a peso or thirty-two +cuartos. + +_peso_: A silver coin, either the Spanish peso or the Mexican dollar, +about the size of an American dollar and of approximately half +its value. + +_pina_: Fine cloth made from pineapple-leaf fibers. + +_proper names_: The author has given a simple and sympathetic touch +to his story throughout by using the familiar names commonly employed +among the Filipinos in their home-life. Some of these are nicknames +or pet names, such as Andong, Andoy, Choy, Neneng ("Baby"), Pute, +Tinchang, and Yeyeng. Others are abbreviations or corruptions of +the Christian names, often with the particle ng or ay added, which +is a common practice: Andeng, Andrea; Doray, Teodora; Iday, Brigida +(Bridget); Sinang, Lucinda (Lucy); Sipa, Josefa; Sisa, Narcisa; Teo, +Teodoro (Theodore); Tiago, Santiago (James); Tasio, Anastasio; Tika, +Escolastica; Tinay, Quintina; Tinong, Saturnino. + +_Provincial_: Head of a religious order in the Philippines. + +_querida_: Paramour, mistress: from the Spanish, "beloved." + +_real_: One-eighth of a peso, twenty cuartos. + +_sala_: The principal room in the more pretentious Philippine houses. + +_salabat_: An infusion of ginger. + +_salakot_: Wide hat of palm or bamboo and rattan, distinctively +Filipino. + +_sampaguita_: The Arabian jasmine: a small, white, very fragrant +flower, extensively cultivated, and worn in chaplets and rosaries by +the women and girls--the typical Philippine flower. + +_santol_: The Philippine sandal-tree. + +_sawali_: Plaited bamboo wattle. + +_sinamay_: A transparent cloth woven from abaka fibers. + +_sinigang_: Water with vegetables or some acid fruit, in which fish +are boiled; "fish soup." + +_Susmariosep_: A common exclamation: contraction of the Spanish, +_Jesus, Maria, y Jose_, the Holy Family. + +_tabi_: The cry of carriage drivers to warn pedestrians. + +_talibon_: A short sword, the "war bolo." + +_tapa_: Jerked meat. + +_tapis_: A piece of dark cloth or lace, often richly worked or +embroidered, worn at the waist somewhat in the fashion of an apron: +a distinctive portion of the native women's attire, especially among +the Tagalogs. + +_tarambulo_: A low weed whose leaves and fruit pedicles are covered +with short, sharp spines. + +_teniente-mayor_: Senior lieutenant, the senior member of the town +council and substitute for the gobernadorcillo. + +_tikas-tikas_: A variety of canna bearing bright red flowers. + +_tertiary brethren_: Members of a lay society affiliated with a +regular monastic order, especially the Venerable Tertiary Order of +the Franciscans. + +_timbain_: The "water-cure," and hence, any kind of torture. The +primary meaning is "to draw water from a well," from _timba_, pail. + +_tikbalang_: An evil spirit, capable of assuming various forms, +but said to appear usually in the shape of a tall black man with +disproportionately long legs: the "bogey man" of Tagalog children. + +_tulisan_: Outlaw, bandit. Under the old regime in the Philippines the +tulisanes were those who, on account of real or fancied grievances +against the authorities, or from fear of punishment for crime, +or from an instinctive desire to return to primitive simplicity, +foreswore life in the towns "under the bell," and made their homes +in the mountains or other remote places. Gathered in small bands with +such arms as they could secure, they sustained themselves by highway +robbery and the levying of blackmail from the country folk. + +_zacate_: Native grass used for feeding livestock. + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] Quoted by Macaulay: _Essay on the Succession in Spain_. + +[2] The ruins of the _Fuerza de Playa Honda, o Real de Paynaven_, are +still to be seen in the present municipality of Botolan, Zambales. The +walls are overgrown with rank vegetation, but are well preserved, with +the exception of a portion looking toward the Bankal River, which has +been undermined by the currents and has fallen intact into the stream. + +[3] _Relation of the Zambals_, by Domingo Perez, O.P.; manuscript +dated 1680. The excerpts are taken from the translation in Blair and +Robertson, _The Philippine Islands_, Vol. XLVII, by courtesy of the +Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, Ohio. + +[4] _"Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas, o Mis Viages por Este Pais_, +por Fray Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga, Agustino calzado." Padre Zuniga +was a parish priest in several towns and later Provincial of his +Order. He wrote a history of the conquest, and in 1800 accompanied +Alava, the _General de Marina_, on his tours of investigation looking +toward preparations for the defense of the islands against another +attack of the British, with whom war threatened. The _Estadismo_, +which is a record of these journeys, with some account of the rest of +the islands, remained in manuscript until 1893, when it was published +in Madrid. + +[5] Secular, as distinguished from the regulars, i.e., members of +the monastic orders. + +[6] Sinibaldo de Mas, _Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas +en 1842_, translated in Blair and Robertson's _The Philippine Islands_, +Vol. XXVIII, p. 254. + +[7] _Sic_. St. John xx, 17. + +[8] This letter in the original French in which it was written is +reproduced in the _Vida y Escritos del Dr. Jose Rizal_, by W. E. Retana +(Madrid, 1907). + +[9] _Filipinas dentro de Cien Anos_, published in the organ of the +Filipinos in Spain, _La Solidaridad_, in 1889-90. This is the most +studied of Rizal's purely political writings, and the completest +exposition of his views concerning the Philippines. + +[10] An English version of _El Filibusterismo_, under the title _The +Reign of Greed_, has been prepared to accompany the present work. + +[11] "Que todo el monte era oregano." W.E. Retana, in the appendix to +Fray Martinez de Zuniga's _Estadismo_, Madrid, 1893, where the decree +is quoted. The rest of this comment of Retana's deserves quotation +as an estimate of the living man by a Spanish publicist who was at +the time in the employ of the friars and contemptuously hostile +to Rizal, but who has since 1898 been giving quite a spectacular +demonstration of waving a red light after the wreck, having become his +most enthusiastic, almost hysterical, biographer: "Rizal is what is +commonly called a character, but he has repeatedly demonstrated very +great inexperience in the affairs of life. I believe him to be now +about thirty-two years old. He is the Indian of most ability among +those who have written." + +[12] From Valenzuela's deposition before the military tribunal, +September sixth, 1896. + +[13] _Capilla_: the Spanish practise is to place a condemned person +for the twenty-four hours preceding his execution in a _chapel_, or +a cell fitted up as such, where he may devote himself to religious +exercises and receive the final ministrations of the Church. + +[14] But even this conclusion is open to doubt: there is no proof +beyond the unsupported statement of the Jesuits that he made a written +retraction, which was later destroyed, though why a document so +interesting, and so important in support of their own point of view, +should not have been preserved furnishes an illuminating commentary +on the whole confused affair. The only unofficial witness present was +the condemned man's sister, and her declaration, that she was at the +time in such a state of excitement and distress that she is unable to +affirm positively that there was a real marriage ceremony performed, +can readily be accepted. It must be remembered that the Jesuits were +themselves under the official and popular ban for the part they had +played in Rizal's education and development and that they were seeking +to set themselves right in order to maintain their prestige. Add to +this the persistent and systematic effort made to destroy every scrap +of record relating to the man--the sole gleam of shame evidenced in +the impolitic, idiotic, and pusillanimous treatment of him--and the +whole question becomes such a puzzle that it may just as well be left +in darkness, with a throb of pity for the unfortunate victim caught +in such a maelstrom of panic-stricken passion and selfish intrigue. + +[15] A similar picture is found in the convento at Antipolo.--_Author's +note_. + +[16] A school of secondary instruction conducted by the Dominican +Fathers, by whom it was taken over in 1640. "It had its first beginning +in the house of a pious Spaniard, called Juan Geronimo Guerrero, +who had dedicated himself, with Christian piety, to gathering orphan +boys in his house, where he raised, clothed, and sustained them, and +taught them to read and to write, and much more, to live in the fear +of God."--Blair and Robertson, _The Philippine Islands_, Vol. XLV, +p. 208.--TR. + +[17] The Dominican friars, whose order was founded by Dominic de +Guzman.--TR. + +[18] In the story mentioned, the three monks were the old Roman god +Bacchus and two of his satellites, in the disguise of Franciscan +friars,--TR. + +[19] According to a note to the Barcelona edition of this novel, +Mendieta was a character well known in Manila, doorkeeper at +the Alcaldia, impresario of children's theaters, director of a +merry-go-round, etc.--TR. + +[20] See Glossary. + +[21] The "tobacco monopoly" was established during the administration +of Basco de Vargas (1778-1787), one of the ablest governors Spain +sent to the Philippines, in order to provide revenue for the local +government and to encourage agricultural development. The operation +of the monopoly, however, soon degenerated into a system of "graft" +and petty abuse which bore heartily upon the natives (see Zuniga's +_Estadismo_), and the abolition of it in 1881 was one of the heroic +efforts made by the Spanish civil administrators to adjust the archaic +colonial system to the changing conditions in the Archipelago.--TR. + +[22] As a result of his severity in enforcing the payment of sums +due the royal treasury on account of the galleon trade, in which +the religious orders were heavily interested, Governor Fernando de +Bustillos Bustamente y Rueda met a violent death at the hands of a +mob headed by friars, October 11, 1719. See Blair and Robertson, +_The Philippine Islands_, Vol. XLIV; Montero y Vidal, _Historia +General de Filipinas_, Vol. I, Chap. XXXV.--TR. + +[23] A reference to the fact that the clerical party in Spain refused +to accept the decree of Ferdinand VII setting aside the Salic law +and naming his daughter Isabella as his successor, and, upon the +death of Ferdinand, supported the claim of the nearest male heir, +Don Carlos de Bourbon, thus giving rise to the Carlist movement. Some +writers state that severe measures had to be adopted to compel many +of the friars in the Philippines to use the feminine pronoun in their +prayers for the sovereign, just whom the reverend gentlemen expected +to deceive not being explained.--TR. + +[24] An apothegm equivalent to the English, "He'll never set any +rivers on fire."--TR. + +[25] The name of a Carlist leader in Spain.--TR. + +[26] A German Franciscan monk who is said to have invented gunpowder +about 1330. + +[27] "He says that he doesn't want it when it is exactly what he +does want." An expression used in the mongrel Spanish-Tagalog +'market language' of Manila and Cavite, especially among the +children,--somewhat akin to the English 'sour grapes.'--TR. + +[28] Arms should yield to the toga (military to civil power). Arms +should yield to the surplice (military to religious power),--TR. + +[29] For _Peninsula_, i.e., Spain. The change of _n_ to _n_ was common +among ignorant Filipinos.--TR. + +[30] The syllables which constitute the first reading lesson in +Spanish primers.--TR. + +[31] A Spanish colloquial term ("cracked"), applied to a native of +Spain who was considered to be mentally unbalanced from too long +residence in the islands,--TR. + +[32] This celebrated Lady was first brought from Acapulco, Mexico, +by Juan Nino de Tabora, when he came to govern the Philippines in +1626. By reason of her miraculous powers of allaying the storms she was +carried back and forth in the state galleons on a number of voyages, +until in 1672 she was formally installed in a church in the hills +northeast of Manila, under the care of the Augustinian Fathers. While +her shrine was building she is said to have appeared to the faithful in +the top of a large breadfruit tree, which is known to the Tagalogs as +"antipolo"; hence her name. Hers is the best known and most frequented +shrine in the country, while she disputes with the Holy Child of Cebu +the glory of being the wealthiest individual in the whole archipelago. + +There has always existed a pious rivalry between her and the +Dominicans' Lady of the Rosary as to which is the patron saint of the +Philippines, the contest being at times complicated by counterclaims +on the part of St. Francis, although the entire question would seem +to have been definitely settled by a royal decree, published about +1650, officially conferring that honorable post upon St. Michael the +Archangel (San Miguel). A rather irreverent sketch of this celebrated +queen of the skies appears in Chapter XI of Foreman's _The Philippine +Islands_.--TR. + +[33] Santa Cruz, Paco, and Ermita are districts of Manila, outside +the Walled City.--TR. + +[34] John xviii. 10. + +[35] A town in Laguna Province, noted for the manufacture of +furniture.--TR. + +[36] God grant that this prophecy may soon be fulfilled for the author +of the booklet and all of us who believe it. Amen.--_Author's note_. + +[37] "Blessed are the poor in spirit" and "blessed are the +possessors."--TR. + +[38] The annual celebration of the Dominican Order held in October in +honor of its patroness, the Virgin of the Rosary, to whose intervention +was ascribed the victory over a Dutch fleet in 1646, whence the +name. See _Guia Oficial de Filipinas_, 1885, pp. 138, 139; Montero +y Vidal, _Historia General de Filipinas_, Vol. I, Chap. XXIII; Blair +and Robertson, _The Philippine Islands_, Vol. XXXV, pp. 249, 250.--TR. + +[39] Members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, whose chief +business is preaching and teaching. They entered the Philippines +in 1862.--TR. + +[40] "Kaysaysay: A celebrated sanctuary in the island of Luzon, +province of Batangas, jurisdiction, of Taal, so called because there +is venerated in it a Virgin who bears that name .... + +"The image is in the center of the high altar, where there is seen an +eagle in half-relief, whose abdomen is left open in order to afford a +tabernacle for the Virgin: an idea enchanting to many of the Spaniards +established in the Philippines during the last century, but which in +our opinion any sensible person will characterize as extravagant. + +"This image of the Virgin of Kaysaysay enjoys the fame of being very +miraculous, so that the Indians gather from great distances to hear +mass in her sanctuary every Saturday. Her discovery, over two and a +half centuries ago, is notable in that she was found in the sea during +some fisheries, coming up in a drag-net with the fish. It is thought +that this venerable image of the Filipinos may have been in some ship +which was wrecked and that the currents carried her up to the coast, +where she was found in the manner related. + +"The Indians, naturally credulous and for the most part quite +superstitious, in spite of the advancements in civilization and +culture, relate that she appeared afterwards in some trees, and +in memory of these manifestations an arch representing them was +erected at a short distance from the place where her sanctuary is +now located."--Buzeta and Bravo's _Diccionario_, Madrid, 1850, but +copied "with proper modifications for the times and the new truths" +from Zuniga's _Estadismo_, which, though written in 1803 and not +published until 1893, was yet used by later writers, since it was +preserved in manuscript in the convent of the Augustinians in Manila, +Buzeta and Bravo, as well as Zuniga, being members of that order. + +So great was the reverence for this Lady that the Acapulco galleons on +their annual voyages were accustomed to fire salutes in her honor as +they passed along the coast near her shrine.--Foreman. _The Philippine +Islands_, quoting from the account of an eruption of Taal Volcano in +1749, by Fray Francisco Vencuchillo. + +This Lady's sanctuary, where she is still "enchanting" in her "eagle +in half-relief," stands out prominently on the hill above the town +of Taal, plainly visible from Balayan Bay.--TR. + +[41] A Tagalog term meaning "to tumble," or "to caper about," +doubtless from the actions of the Lady's devotees. Pakil is a town +in Laguna Province.--TR. + +[42] A work on scholastic philosophy, by a Spanish prelate of that +name.--TR. + +[43] The nunnery and college of St. Catherine of Sienna ("Santa +Catalina de la Sena") was founded by the Dominican Fathers in +1696.--TR. + +[44] The "Ateneo Municipal," where the author, as well as nearly every +other Filipino of note in the past generation, received his early +education, was founded by the Jesuits shortly after their return to +the islands in 1859.--TR. + +[45] The patron saint of Tondo, Manila's Saint-Antoine. He is invoked +for aid in driving away plagues,--TR. + +[46] Now Plaza Cervantes.--TR. + +[47] Now Plaza Lawton and Bagumbayan; see note, _infra.--_ TR. + +[48] The Field of Bagumbayan, adjoining the Luneta, was the place where +political prisoners were shot or garroted, and was the scene of the +author's execution on December 30, 1906. It is situated just outside +and east of the old Walled City (Manila proper), being the location to +which the natives who had occupied the site of Manila moved their town +after having been driven back by the Spaniards--hence the name, which +is a Tagalog compound meaning "new town." This place is now called +Wallace Field, the name Bagumbayan being applied to the driveway +which was known to the Spaniards as the _Paseo de las Aguadas_, +or _de Vidal_, extending from the Luneta to the Bridge of Spain, +just outside the moat that, formerly encircled the Walled City.--TR. + +[49] Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.--TR. + +[50] We have been unable to find any town of this name, but many of +these conditions.--_Author's note_. + +San Diego and Santiago are variant forms of the name of the patron +saint of Spain, St. James.--TR. + +[51] The "sacred tree" of Malaya, being a species of banyan that begins +life as a vine twining on another tree, which it finally strangles, +using the dead trunk as a support until it is able to stand alone. When +old it often covers a large space with gnarled and twisted trunks +of varied shapes and sizes, thus presenting a weird and grotesque +appearance. This tree was held in reverent awe by the primitive +Filipinos, who believed it to be the abode of the _nono_, or ancestral +ghosts, and is still the object of superstitious beliefs,--TR. + +[52] "Petty governor," the chief municipal official, chosen annually +from among their own number, with the approval of the parish priest +and the central government, by the _principalia_, i.e., persons who +owned considerable property or who had previously held some municipal +office. The manner of his selection is thus described by a German +traveler (Jagor) in the Philippines in 1860: "The election is held +in the town hall. The governor or his representative presides, having +on his right the parish priest and on his left a clerk, who also acts +as interpreter. All the cabezas de barangay, the gobernadorcillo, and +those who have formerly occupied the latter position, seat themselves +on benches. First, there are chosen by lot six cabezas de barangay and +six ex-gobernadorcillos as electors, the actual gobernadorcillo being +the thirteenth. The rest leave the hall. After the presiding officer +has read the statutes in a loud voice and reminded the electors of +their duty to act in accordance with their consciences and to heed +only the welfare of the town, the electors move to a table and write +three names on a slip of paper. The person receiving a majority +of votes is declared elected gobernadorcillo for the ensuing year, +provided that there is no protest from the curate or the electors, +and always conditioned upon the approval of the superior authority +in Manila, which is never withheld, since the influence of the curate +is enough to prevent an unsatisfactory election."--TR. + +[53] St. Barbara is invoked during thunder-storms as the special +protectress against lightning.--TR. + +[54] In possibility (i.e., latent) and not: in fact.--TR. + +[55] + + "For this are various penances enjoined; + And some are hung to bleach upon the wind; + Some plunged in waters, others purged in fires, + Till all the dregs are drained, and all the rust expires." + + Dryden, _Virgil's Aeneid_, VI. + + +[56] "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."--Luke xxiii, 43. + +[57] It should be believed that for some light faults there is a +purgatorial fire before the judgment. + +[58] Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth.--Matt, xvi, 19. + +[59] Even up to purgatory. + +[60] Dream or reality, we do not know whether this may have happened +to any Franciscan, but something similar is related of the Augustinian +Padre Piernavieja.--_Author's note_. + +Fray Antonio Piernavieja, O.S.A., was a parish curate in the province +of Bulacan when this work was written. Later, on account of alleged +brutality similar to the incident used here, he was transferred +to the province of Cavite, where, in 1896, he was taken prisoner +by the insurgents and by them made "bishop" of their camp. Having +taken advantage of this position to collect and forward to the +Spanish authorities in Manila information concerning the insurgents' +preparations and plans, he was tied out in an open field and left to +perish of hunger and thirst under the tropical sun. See _Guia Oficial +de Filipinas_, 1885, p. 195; _El Katipunan o El Filibusterismo en +Filipinas_ (Madrid, 1897), p. 347; Foreman's _The Philippine Islands_, +Chap. XII.--TR. + +[61] The Philippine civet-cat, quite rare, and the only wild carnivore +in the Philippine Islands.--TR. + +[62] The common crowd is a fool and since it pays for it, it is proper +to talk to it foolishly to please it. + +[63] "The schools are under the inspection of the parish +priests. Reading and writing in Spanish are taught, or at least it +is so ordered; but the schoolmaster himself usually does not know +it, and on the other hand the Spanish government employees do not +understand the vernacular. Besides, the curates, in order to preserve +their influence intact, do not look favorably upon the spread of +Castilian. About the only ones who know Spanish are the Indians who +have been in the service of Europeans. The first reading exercise +is some devotional book, then the catechism; the reader is called +_Casaysayan_. On the average half of the children between seven and ten +years attend school; they learn to read fairly well and some to write +a little, but they soon forget it."--Jagor, _Viajes por Filipinas_ +(Vidal's Spanish version). Jagor was speaking particularly of the +settled parts of the Bicol region. Referring to the islands generally, +his "half of the children" would be a great exaggeration.--TR. + +[64] A delicate bit of sarcasm is lost in the translation here. The +reference to _Maestro Ciruela_ in Spanish is somewhat similar to a +mention in English of Mr. Squeers, of Dotheboys Hall fame.--TR. + +[65] By one of the provisions of a royal decree of December 20, +1863, the _Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristina_, by Gaspar Astete, +was prescribed as the text-book for primary schools, in the +Philippines. See Blair and Robertson's _The Philippine Islands_, +Vol. XLVI, p. 98; _Census of the Philippine Islands_ (Washington, +1905), p. 584.--TR. + +[66] The municipal police of the old regime. They were thus described +by a Spanish writer, W. E. Retana, in a note to Ventura F. Lopez's +_El Filibustero_ (Madrid, 1893): "Municipal guards, whose duties are +principally rural. Their uniform is a disaster; they go barefoot; +on horseback, they hold the reins in the right hand and a lance in +the left. They are usually good-for-nothing, but to their credit it +must be said that they do no damage. Lacking military instruction, +provided with fire-arms of the first part of the century, of which one +in a hundred might go off in case of need, and for other arms bolos, +talibons, old swords, etc., the cuadrilleros are truly a parody on +armed force."--TR. + +[67] Headman and tax-collector of a district, generally including +about fifty families, for whose annual tribute he was personally +responsible. The "barangay" is a Malay boat of the kind supposed to +have been used by the first emigrants to the Philippines. Hence, at +first, the "head of a barangay" meant the leader or chief of a family +or group of families. This office, quite analogous to the old Germanic +or Anglo-Saxon "head of a hundred," was adopted and perpetuated by +the Spaniards in their system of local administration.--TR. + +[68] The _hermano mayor_ was a person appointed to direct the +ceremonies during the fiesta, an appointment carrying with it great +honor and importance, but also entailing considerable expense, +as the appointee was supposed to furnish a large share of the +entertainments. Hence, the greater the number of _hermanos mayores_ +the more splendid the fiesta,--TR. + +[69] Mt. Makiling is a volcanic cone at the southern end of the Lake +of Bay. At its base is situated the town of Kalamba, the author's +birthplace. About this mountain cluster a number of native legends +having as their principal character a celebrated sorceress or +enchantress, known as "Mariang Makiling."--TR. + +[70] With uncertain pace, in wandering flight, for an instant +only--without rest. + +[71] The _chinela_, the Philippine slipper, is a soft leather sole, +heelless, with only a vamp, usually of plush or velvet, to hold +it on.--TR. + +[72] "All hope abandon, ye who enter here." The words inscribed over +the gate of Hell: Dante's _Inferno_, III, 9.--TR. + +[73] "Listening Sister," the nun who acts as spy and monitor over +the girls studying in a convent.--TR. + +[74] "Mas sabe el loco en su casa que el cuerdo en la ajena." The fool +knows more in his own house than a wise man does in another's.--TR. + +[75] The College of Santo Tomas was established in 1619 through a +legacy of books and money left for that purpose by Fray Miguel de +Benavides, O. P., second archbishop of Manila. By royal decree and +papal bull, it became in 1645 the Royal and Pontifical University +of Santo Tomas, and never, during the Spanish regime, got beyond the +Thomistic theology in its courses of instruction.--TR. + +[76] Take heed lest you fall! + +[77] Ferdinand and Isabella, the builders of Spain's greatness, +are known in Spanish history as "Los Reyes Catolicos."--TR. + +[78] These spectacular performances, known as "Moro-Moro," often +continued for several days, consisting principally of noisy combats +between Moros and Christians, in which the latter were, of course, +invariably victorious. Typical sketches of them may be found in +Foreman's _The Philippine Islands_, Chap. XXIII, and Stuntz's _The +Philippines and the Far East_, Chap. III.--TR. + +[79] "The Willow." + +[80] The capital of Laguna Province, not to be confused with the Santa +Cruz mentioned before, which is a populous and important district in +the city of Manila. Tanawan, Lipa, and Batangas are towns in Batangas +Province, the latter being its capital.--TR. + +[81] "If on your return you are met with a smile, beware! for it +means that you have a secret enemy."--From the _Florante_, being the +advice given to the hero by his old teacher when he set out to return +to his home. + +Francisco Baltazar was a Tagalog poet, native of the province of +Bulacan, born about 1788, and died in 1862. The greater part of his +life was spent in Manila,--in Tondo and in Pandakan, a quaint little +village on the south bank of the Pasig, now included in the city, +where he appears to have shared the fate largely of poets of other +lands, from suffering "the pangs of disprized love" and persecution +by the religious authorities, to seeing himself considered by the +people about him as a crack-brained dreamer. He was educated in the +Dominican school of San Juan de Letran, one of his teachers being Fray +Mariano Pilapil, about whose services to humanity there may be some +difference of opinion on the part of those who have ever resided in +Philippine towns, since he was the author of the "Passion Song" which +enlivens the Lenten evenings. This "Passion Song," however, seems to +have furnished the model for Baltazar's _Florante_, with the pupil +surpassing the master, for while it has the subject and characters +of a medieval European romance, the spirit and settings are entirely +Malay. It is written in the peculiar Tagalog verse, in the form of a +_corrido_ or metrical romance, and has been declared by Fray Toribio +Menguella, Rizal himself, and others familiar with Tagalog, to be +a work of no mean order, by far the finest and most characteristic +composition in that, the richest of the Malay dialects.--TR. + +[82] Every one talks of the fiesta according to the way he fared at it. + +[83] A Spanish prelate, notable for his determined opposition in +the Constituent Cortes of 1869 to the clause in the new Constitution +providing for religious liberty.--TR. + +[84] "Camacho's wedding" is an episode in _Don Quixote_, wherein a +wealthy man named Camacho is cheated out of his bride after he has +prepared a magnificent wedding-feast.--TR. + +[85] The full dress of the Filipino women, consisting of the _camisa, +panuelo_, and _saya suelta_, the latter a heavy skirt with a long +train. The name _mestiza_ is not inappropriate, as well from its +composition as its use, since the first two are distinctly native, +antedating the conquest, while the _saya suelta_ was no doubt +introduced by the Spaniards. + +[86] The nunnery of St. Clara, situated on the Pasig River just east +of Fort Santiago, was founded in 1621 by the Poor Clares, an order of +nuns affiliated with the Franciscans, and was taken under the royal +patronage as the "Real Monasterio de Santa Clara" in 1662. It is still +in existence and is perhaps the most curious of all the curious relics +of the Middle Ages in old Manila.--TR. + +[87] The principal character in Calderon de la Barca's _La Vida +es Sueno_. There is also a Tagalog _corrido_, or metrical romance, +with this title.--TR. + +[88] The Douay version.--TR. + +[89] "Errare humanum est": "To err is human." + +[90] To the Philippine Chinese "d" and "l" look and sound about +the same.--TR. + +[91] "Brothers in Christ." + +[92] "Venerable patron saint." + +[93] _Muy Reverendo Padre_: Very Reverend Father. + +[94] Very rich landlord. The United States Philippine Commission, +constituting the government of the Archipelago, paid to the religious +orders "a lump sum of $7,239,000, more or less," for the bulk of +the lands claimed by them. See the _Annual Report of the Philippine +Commission to the Secretary of War_, December 23, 1903.--TR. + +[95] _Cumare_ and _cumpare_ are corruptions of the Spanish _comadre_ +and _compadre_, which have an origin analogous to the English "gossip" +in its original meaning of "sponsor in baptism." In the Philippines +these words are used among the simpler folk as familiar forms of +address, "friend," "neighbor."--TR. + +[96] Dominus vobiscum. + +[97] The Spanish proverb equivalent to the English "Birds of a feather +flock together."--TR. + +[98] For "filibustero." + +[99] _Tarantado_ is a Spanish vulgarism meaning "blunderhead," +"bungler." _Saragate_ (or _zaragate_) is a Mexican provincialism +meaning "disturber," "mischief-maker."--TR. + +[100] _Vete a la porra_ is a vulgarism almost the same in meaning +and use as the English slang, "Tell it to the policeman," _porra_ +being the Spanish term for the policeman's "billy."--TR. + +[101] For _sospechoso_, "a suspicious character."--TR. + +[102] _Sanctus Deus_ and _Requiem aeternam_ (so called from their +first words) are prayers for the dead.--TR. + +[103] Spanish etiquette requires that the possessor of an object +immediately offer it to any person who asks about it with the +conventional phrase, "It is yours." Capitan Tiago is rather overdoing +his Latin refinement.--TR. + +[104] A metrical discourse for a special occasion or in honor of some +distinguished personage. Padre Zuniga (_Estadismo_, Chap. III) thus +describes one heard by him in Lipa, Batangas, in 1800, on the occasion +of General Alava's visit to that place: "He who is to recite the _loa_ +is seen in the center of the stage dressed as a Spanish cavalier, +reclining in a chair as if asleep, while behind the scenes musicians +sing a lugubrious chant in the vernacular. The sleeper awakes and +shows by signs that he thinks he has heard, or dreamed of hearing, some +voice. He again disposes himself to sleep, and the chant is repeated +in the same lugubrious tone. Again he awakes, rises, and shows that +he has heard a voice. This scene is repeated several times, until at +length he is persuaded that the voice is announcing the arrival of the +hero who is to be eulogized. He then commences to recite his _loa_, +carrying himself like a clown in a circus, while he sings the praises +of the person in whose honor the fiesta has been arranged. This _loa_, +which was in rhetorical verse in a diffuse style suited to the Asiatic +taste, set forth the general's naval expeditions and the honors he +had received from the King, concluding with thanks and acknowledgment +of the favor that he had conferred in passing through their town and +visiting such poor wretches as they. There were not lacking in it +the wanderings of Ulysses, the journeys of Aristotle, the unfortunate +death of Pliny, and other passages from ancient history, which they +delight in introducing into their stories. All these passages are +usually filled with fables touching upon the marvelous, such as the +following, which merit special notice: of Aristotle it was said that +being unable to learn the depth of the sea he threw himself into its +waves and was drowned, and of Pliny that he leaped into Vesuvius +to investigate the fire within the volcano. In the same way other +historical accounts are confused. I believe that these _loas_ were +introduced by the priests in former times, although the fables with +which they abound would seem to offer an objection to this opinion, +as nothing is ever told in them that can be found in the writings +of any European author; still they appear to me to have been suited +to the less critical taste of past centuries. The verses are written +by the natives, among whom there are many poets, this art being less +difficult in Tagalog than in any other language."--TR. + +[105] "The old man of the village," patriarch.--TR. + +[106] The secular name of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the +Franciscan order.--TR. + +[107] A Spanish official, author of several works relating to the +Philippines, one of which, _Recuerdos de Filipinas_ (Madrid, 1877 and +1880), a loose series of sketches and impressions giving anything but +a complimentary picture of the character and conduct of the Spaniards +in the Islands, and in a rather naive and perhaps unintentional way +throwing some lurid side-lights on the governmental administration +and the friar regime,--enjoyed the distinction of being officially +prohibited from circulation in the archipelago.--TR. + +[108] "_Magcanta-ca!_" "(You) sing!"--TR. + +[109] Europea: European woman.--TR. + +[110] In 1527-29 _Alvaro_ de Saavedra led an unsuccessful expedition to +take possession of the "Western Isles." The name "Filipina," in honor +of the Prince of the Asturias, afterwards Felipe II (Philip II), was +first applied to what is probably the present island of Leyte by Ruy +Lopez de Villalobos, who led another unsuccessful expedition thither +in 1542-43, this name being later extended to the whole group.--TR. + +[111] A barrio of Tanawan, Batangas, noted for the manufacture of +horsewhips.--TR. + +[112] The actors named were real persons. Ratia was a Spanish-Filipino +who acquired quite a reputation not only in Manila but also in +Spain. He died in Manila in 1910.--TR. + +[113] In the year 1879.--_Author's note_. + +[114] A similar incident occurred in Kalamba.--_Author's note_. + +[115] "The Maid of Saragossa," noted for her heroic exploits during +the siege of that city by the French in 1808-09.--TR. + +[116] A region in southwestern Spain, including the provinces of +Badajoz and Caceres.--TR. + +[117] Author of a little book of fables in Castilian verse for the +use of schools. The fable of the young philosopher illustrates the +thought in Pope's well-known lines: + + + "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, + As to be hated needs but to be seen; + Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, + We first endure, then pity, then embrace."--TR. + + +[118] Bones for those who come late. + +[119] According to Spanish custom, a matron is known by prefixing +her maiden name with _de_ (possessive _of_) to her husband's name.--TR. + +[120] The marble-shop of Rodoreda is still in existence on Calle +Carriedo, Santa Cruz.--TR. + +[121] There is a play on words here, _Campanario_ meaning belfry and +_Torre_ tower.--TR. + +[122] The Roman Catholic decalogue does not contain the commandment +forbidding the worship of "graven images," its second being the +prohibition against "taking His holy name in vain." To make up the ten, +the commandment against covetousness is divided into two.--TR. + +[123] The famous Virgin of Saragossa, Spain, and patroness of Santa +Cruz, Manila.--TR. + +[124] In 1883 the old system of "tribute" was abolished and in its +place a graduated personal tax imposed. The certificate that this +tax had been paid, known as the _cedula personal_, which also served +for personal identification, could be required at any time or place, +and failure to produce it was cause for summary arrest. It therefore +became, in unscrupulous hands, a fruitful source of abuse, since any +"undesirable" against whom no specific charge could be brought might +be put out of the way by this means.--TR. + +[125] Tanawan or Pateros?--_Author's note_. The former is a town in +Batangas Province, the latter a village on the northern shore of the +Lake of Bay, in what is now Rizal Province.--TR. + +[126] The Spanish Parliament.--TR. + +[127] _Lasak, talisain_, and _bulik_ are some of the numerous terms +used in the vernacular to describe fighting-cocks.--TR. + +[128] Another form of the corruption of _compadre_, "friend," +"neighbor."--TR. + +[129] It is a superstition of the cockpit that the color of the victor +in the first bout decides the winners for that session: thus, the red +having won, the _lasak_, in whose plumage a red color predominates, +should be the victor in the succeeding bout.--TR. + +[130] The dark swallows will return. + +[131] General Carlos Maria de let Torte y Nava Carrada, the first +"liberal" governor of the Philippines, was Captain-General from 1869 +to 1871. He issued an amnesty to the outlaws and created the Civil +Guard, largely from among those who surrendered themselves in response +to it.--TR. + +[132] After the conquest (officially designated as the "pacification"), +the Spanish soldiers who had rendered faithful service were allotted +districts known as _encomiendas_, generally of about a thousand +natives each. The _encomendero_ was entitled to the tribute from the +people in his district and was in return supposed to protect them and +provide religious instruction. The early friars alleged extortionate +greed and brutal conduct on the part of the _encomenderos_ and made +vigorous protests in the natives' behalf.--TR. + +[133] Horse and cow. + +[134] Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, O.S.A., who came to the Philippines +in 1668 and died in Manila in 1724, was the author of a history +of the conquest, but his chief claim to immortality comes from a +letter written in 1720 on the character and habits of "the Indian +inhabitants of these islands," a letter which was widely circulated +and which has been extensively used by other writers. In it the +writer with senile querulousness harped up and down the whole gamut +of abuse in describing and commenting upon the vices of the natives, +very artlessly revealing the fact in many places, however, that his +observations were drawn principally from the conduct of the servants +in the conventos and homes of Spaniards. To him in this letter is +due the credit of giving its wide popularity to the specious couplet: + + + El bejuco crece (The rattan thrives + Donde el indio nace, Where the Indian lives,) + + +which the holy men who delighted in quoting it took as an additional +evidence of the wise dispensation of the God of Nature, rather +inconsistently overlooking its incongruity with the teachings of Him +in whose name they assumed their holy office. + +It seems somewhat strange that a spiritual father should have written +in such terms about his charges until the fact appears that the letter +was addressed to an influential friend in Spain for use in opposition +to a proposal to carry out the provisions of the Council of Trent by +turning the parishes in the islands over to the secular, and hence, +native, clergy. A translation of this bilious tirade, with copious +annotations showing to what a great extent it has been used by other +writers, appears in Volume XL of Blair and Robertson's _The Philippine +Islands.--_ TR. + +[135] The Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion Concordia, situated +near Santa Ana in the suburbs of Manila, was founded in 1868 for +the education of native girls, by a pious Spanish-Filipino lady, +who donated a building and grounds, besides bearing the expense of +bringing out seven Sisters of Charity to take charge of it.--TR. + +[136] The execution of the Filipino priests Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, +in 1872.--TR. + +[137] The fair day is foretold by the morn. + +[138] _Paracmason_, i.e. freemason. + +[139] Scholastic theologians.--TR. + +[140] And yet it does move! + +[141] I am a man and nothing that concerns humanity do I consider +foreign to me. + +[142] A portion of the closing words of Virgil's third eclogue, +equivalent here to "Let the curtain drop."--TR. + +[143] "Whatever is hidden will be revealed, nothing will remain +unaccounted for." From _Dies Irae_, the hymn in the mass for the dead, +best known to English readers from the paraphrase of it in Scott's +_Lay of the Last Minstrel_. The lines here quoted were thus metrically +translated by Macaulay: + + + "What was distant shall be near, + What was hidden shall be clear."--TR. + + +[144] A common nickname. See the Glossary, under _Nicknames.--TR_. + +[145] The Marianas, or Ladrone Islands, were used as a place of +banishment for political prisoners.--TR. + +[146] "Evil Omen," a nickname applied by the friars to General Joaquin +Jovellar, who was governor of the Islands from 1883 to 1885. It fell +to the lot of General Jovellar, a kindly old man, much more soldier +than administrator, to attempt the introduction of certain salutary +reforms tending toward progress, hence his disfavor with the holy +fathers. The mention of "General J----" in the last part of the +epilogue probably refers also to him.--TR. + +[147] A celebrated Italian astronomer, member of the Jesuit Order. The +Jesuits are still in charge of the Observatory of Manila.--TR. + +[148] "Our Lady of the Girdle" is the patroness of the Augustinian +Order.--TR. + +[149] This image is in the six-million-peso steel church of +St. Sebastian in Manila. Something of her early history is thus given +by Fray Luis de Jesus in his _Historia_ of the Recollect Order (1681): +"A very holy image is revered there under the title of Carmen. Although +that image is small in stature, it is a great and perennial spring +of prodigies for those who invoke her. Our religious took it from +Nueva Espana (Mexico), and even in that very navigation she was able +to make herself known by her miracles .... That most holy image is +daily frequented with vows, presents, and novenas, thank-offerings +of the many who are daily favored by that queen of the skies."--Blair +and Robertson, _The Philippine Islands_, Vol. XXI, p. 195. + +[150] The oldest and most conservative newspaper in Manila at the +time this work was written.--TR. + +[151] Following closely upon the liberal administration of La Torre, +there occurred in the Cavite arsenal in 1872 a mutiny which was +construed as an incipient rebellion, and for alleged complicity in it +three native priests, Padres Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, were garroted, +while a number of prominent Manilans were deported.--TR. + +[152] What do I see? ... Wherefore? + +[153] What do you wish? Nothing is in the intellect which has not first +passed through the senses; nothing is willed that is not already in +the mind. + +[154] Where in the world are we? + +[155] The uprising of Ibarra suppressed by the alferez of the Civil +Guard? And now? + +[156] Friend, Plato is dear but truth is dearer ... It's a bad business +and a horrible result from these things is to be feared. + +[157] Against him who denies the fundamentals, clubs should be used +as arguments. + +[158] Latin prayers. "Agnus Dei Catolis" for "Agnus Dei qui tollis" +(John I. 29). + +[159] Woe unto them! Where there's smoke there's fire! Like seeks like; +and if Ibarra is hanged, therefore you will be hanged. + +[160] I do not fear death in bed, but upon the mount of Bagumbayan. + +[161] The first part of a Spanish proverb: "Gifts break rocks, and +enter without gimlets." + +[162] What is written is evidence! What medicines do not cure, iron +cures; what iron does not cure, fire cures. + +[163] In extreme cases, extreme measures. + +[164] Do you wish to keep it also, traitress? + +[165] Go, accursed, into the fire of the kalan. + +[166] The first part of a Spanish proverb: "Cria cuervos y te sacaran +los ojos," "Rear crows and they will pick your eyes out."--TR. + +[167] Believe me, cousin ... what has happened, has happened; let +us give thanks to God that you are not in the Marianas Islands, +planting camotes. (It may be observed that here, as in some of his +other speeches, Don Primitivo's Latin is rather Philippinized.)--TR. + +[168] The original is in the _lingua franca_ of the Philippine Chinese, +a medium of expression _sui generis_, being, like, Ulysses, "a part +of all that he has met," and defying characteristic translation: +"No siya osti gongon; miligen li Antipolo esi! Esi pueli mas con tolo; +no siya osti gongong!"--TR. + +[169] "Si esi no homole y no pataylo, muje juete-juete!" + +[170] The Spanish battle-cry: "St. James, and charge, Spain!"--TR. + +[171] The "wide rock" that formerly jutted out into the river just +below the place where the streams from the Lake of Bay join the +Mariquina to form the Pasig proper. This spot was celebrated in the +demonology of the primitive Tagalogs and later, after the tutelar +devils had been duly exorcised by the Spanish padres, converted into +a revenue station. The name is preserved in that of the little barrio +on the river bank near Fort McKinley.--TR. + +[172] A Christmas carol: "Christmas night is coming, Christmas night +is going."--TR. + +[173] Public Opium-Smoking Room. + +[174] January 2, 1883.--_Author's note_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Social Cancer, by Jose Rizal + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL CANCER *** + +***** This file should be named 6737.txt or 6737.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/3/6737/ + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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