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.
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 pañuelo 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 pañuelo and stung her face. When these travelers had finally passed she sighed and raised the pañuelo 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 fiancée 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 Æolian 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! Jesús! 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."
"María Santísima! 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? Diós! 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, señora," 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, señora," 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 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," 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.
"Jesús, María, y José!" 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 guingón 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?"
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.
"Jesús! 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, señor 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, señor 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--"
"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, Señor 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."
