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 Peñafrancia. 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. 1 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
