El Filibusterismo. English

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE TRIBULATIONS OF A CHINESE

  In the evening of that same Saturday, Quiroga, the Chinese, whoaspired to the creation of a consulate for his nation, gave a dinnerin the rooms over his bazaar, located in the Escolta. His feast waswell attended: friars, government employees, soldiers, merchants,all of them his customers, partners or patrons, were to be seenthere, for his store supplied the curates and the conventos withall their necessities, he accepted the chits of all the employees,and he had servants who were discreet, prompt, and complaisant. Thefriars themselves did not disdain to pass whole hours in his store,sometimes in view of the public, sometimes in the chambers withagreeable company.

  That night, then, the sala presented a curious aspect, being filledwith friars and clerks seated on Vienna chairs, stools of black wood,and marble benches of Cantonese origin, before little square tables,playing cards or conversing among themselves, under the brilliant glareof the gilt chandeliers or the subdued light of the Chinese lanterns,which were brilliantly decorated with long silken tassels. On thewalls there was a lamentable medley of landscapes in dim and gaudycolors, painted in Canton or Hongkong, mingled with tawdry chromosof odalisks, half-nude women, effeminate lithographs of Christ,the deaths of the just and of the sinners--made by Jewish houses inGermany to be sold in the Catholic countries. Nor were there lackingthe Chinese prints on red paper representing a man seated, of venerableaspect, with a calm, smiling face, behind whom stood a servant, ugly,horrible, diabolical, threatening, armed with a lance having a wide,keen blade. Among the Indians some call this figure Mohammed, othersSantiago, [34] we do not know why, nor do the Chinese themselves givea very clear explanation of this popular pair. The pop of champagnecorks, the rattle of glasses, laughter, cigar smoke, and that odorpeculiar to a Chinese habitation--a mixture of punk, opium, and driedfruits--completed the collection.

  Dressed as a Chinese mandarin in a blue-tasseled cap, Quiroga movedfrom room to room, stiff and straight, but casting watchful glanceshere and there as though to assure himself that nothing was beingstolen. Yet in spite of this natural distrust, he exchanged handshakeswith each guest, greeted some with a smile sagacious and humble,others with a patronizing air, and still others with a certain shrewdlook that seemed to say, "I know! You didn't come on my account,you came for the dinner!"

  And Quiroga was right! That fat gentleman who is now praising himand speaking of the advisability of a Chinese consulate in Manila,intimating that to manage it there could be no one but Quiroga, is theSenor Gonzalez who hides behind the pseudonym _Pitili_ when he attacksChinese immigration through the columns of the newspapers. Thatother, an elderly man who closely examines the lamps, pictures,and other furnishings with grimaces and ejaculations of disdain,is Don Timoteo Pelaez, Juanito's father, a merchant who inveighsagainst the Chinese competition that is ruining his business. Theone over there, that thin, brown individual with a sharp look and apale smile, is the celebrated originator of the dispute over Mexicanpesos, which so troubled one of Quiroga's proteges: that governmentclerk is regarded in Manila as very clever. That one farther on, heof the frowning look and unkempt mustache, is a government officialwho passes for a most meritorious fellow because he has the courageto speak ill of the business in lottery tickets carried on betweenQuiroga and an exalted dame in Manila society. The fact is thattwo thirds of the tickets go to China and the few that are left inManila are sold at a premium of a half-real. The honorable gentlemanentertains the conviction that some day he will draw the first prize,and is in a rage at finding himself confronted with such tricks.

  The dinner, meanwhile, was drawing to an end. From the dining-roomfloated into the sala snatches of toasts, interruptions, bursts andripples of laughter. The name of Quiroga was often heard mingled withthe words "consul," "equality," "justice." The amphitryon himselfdid not eat European dishes, so he contented himself with drinkinga glass of wine with his guests from time to time, promising to dinewith those who were not seated at the first table.

  Simoun, who was present, having already dined, was in the sala talkingwith some merchants, who were complaining of business conditions:everything was going wrong, trade was paralyzed, the European exchangeswere exorbitantly high. They sought information from the jeweleror insinuated to him a few ideas, with the hope that these would becommunicated to the Captain-General. To all the remedies suggestedSimoun responded with a sarcastic and unfeeling exclamation aboutnonsense, until one of them in exasperation asked him for his opinion.

  "My opinion?" he retorted. "Study how other nations prosper, and thendo as they do."

  "And why do they prosper, Senor Simoun?"

  Simoun replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

  "The port works, which weigh so heavily upon commerce, and the portnot yet completed!" sighed Don Timoteo Pelaez. "A Penelope's web,as my son says, that is spun and unspun. The taxes--"

  "You complaining!" exclaimed another. "Just as the General has decreedthe destruction of houses of light materials! [35] And you with ashipment of galvanized iron!"

  "Yes," rejoined Don Timoteo, "but look what that decree cost me! Then,the destruction will not be carried out for a month, not until Lentbegins, and other shipments may arrive. I would have wished themdestroyed right away, but--Besides, what are the owners of thosehouses going to buy from me if they are all poor, all equally beggars?"

  "You can always buy up their shacks for a trifle."

  "And afterwards have the decree revoked and sell them back at doublethe price--that's business!"

  Simoun smiled his frigid smile. Seeing Quiroga approach, he left thequerulous merchants to greet the future consul, who on catching sightof him lost his satisfied expression and assigned a countenance likethose of the merchants, while he bent almost double.

  Quiroga respected the jeweler greatly, not only because he knew himto be very wealthy, but also on account of his rumored influencewith the Captain-General. It was reported that Simoun favoredQuiroga's ambitions, that he was an advocate for the consulate,and a certain newspaper hostile to the Chinese had alluded to himin many paraphrases, veiled allusions, and suspension points, in thecelebrated controversy with another sheet that was favorable to thequeued folk. Some prudent persons added with winks and half-utteredwords that his Black Eminence was advising the General to avail himselfof the Chinese in order to humble the tenacious pride of the natives.

  "To hold the people in subjection," he was reported to have said,"there's nothing like humiliating them and humbling them in theirown eyes."

  To this end an opportunity had soon presented itself. The guildsof mestizos and natives were continually watching one another,venting their bellicose spirits and their activities in jealousyand distrust. At mass one day the gobernadorcillo of the natives wasseated on a bench to the right, and, being extremely thin, happenedto cross one of his legs over the other, thus adopting a nonchalantattitude, in order to expose his thighs more and display his prettyshoes. The gobernadorcillo of the guild of mestizos, who was seated onthe opposite bench, as he had bunions, and could not cross his legs onaccount of his obesity, spread his legs wide apart to expose a plainwaistcoat adorned with a beautiful gold chain set with diamonds. Thetwo cliques comprehended these maneuvers and joined battle. On thefollowing Sunday all the mestizos, even the thinnest, had largepaunches and spread their legs wide apart as though on horseback,while the natives placed one leg over the other, even the fattest,there being one cabeza de barangay who turned a somersault. Seeingthese movements, the Chinese all adopted their own peculiar attitude,that of sitting as they do in their shops, with one leg drawn backand upward, the other swinging loose. There resulted protests andpetitions, the police rushed to arms ready to start a civil war,the curates rejoiced, the Spaniards were amused and made money outof everybody, until the General settled the quarrel by ordering thatevery one should sit as the Chinese did, since they were the heaviestcontributors, even though they were not the best Catholics. Thedifficulty for the mestizos and natives then was th
at their trouserswere too tight to permit of their imitating the Chinese. But to makethe intention of humiliating them the more evident, the measure wascarried out with great pomp and ceremony, the church being surroundedby a troop of cavalry, while all those within were sweating. The matterwas carried to the Cortes, but it was repeated that the Chinese, asthe ones who paid, should have their way in the religious ceremonies,even though they apostatized and laughed at Christianity immediatelyafter. The natives and the mestizos had to be content, learning thusnot to waste time over such fatuity. [36]

  Quiroga, with his smooth tongue and humble smile, was lavishly andflatteringly attentive to Simoun. His voice was caressing and hisbows numerous, but the jeweler cut his blandishments short by askingbrusquely:

  "Did the bracelets suit her?"

  At this question all Quiroga's liveliness vanished like a dream. Hiscaressing voice became plaintive; he bowed lower, gave the Chinesesalutation of raising his clasped hands to the height of his face,and groaned: "Ah, Senor Simoun! I'm lost, I'm ruined!" [37]

  "How, Quiroga, lost and ruined when you have so many bottles ofchampagne and so many guests?"

  Quiroga closed his eyes and made a grimace. Yes, the affair of thatafternoon, that affair of the bracelets, had ruined him. Simoun smiled,for when a Chinese merchant complains it is because all is going well,and when he makes a show that things are booming it is quite certainthat he is planning an assignment or flight to his own country.

  "You didn't know that I'm lost, I'm ruined? Ah, Senor Simoun, I'm_busted!_" To make his condition plainer, he illustrated the word bymaking a movement as though he were falling in collapse.

  Simoun wanted to laugh, but restrained himself and said that he knewnothing, nothing at all, as Quiroga led him to a room and closed thedoor. He then explained the cause of his misfortune.

  Three diamond bracelets that he had secured from Simoun on pretenseof showing them to his wife were not for her, a poor native shut up inher room like a Chinese woman, but for a beautiful and charming lady,the friend of a powerful man, whose influence was needed by him ina certain deal in which he could clear some six thousand pesos. Ashe did not understand feminine tastes and wished to be gallant, theChinese had asked for the three finest bracelets the jeweler had, eachpriced at three to four thousand pesos. With affected simplicity andhis most caressing smile, Quiroga had begged the lady to select theone she liked best, and the lady, more simple and caressing still,had declared that she liked all three, and had kept them.

  Simoun burst out into laughter.

  "Ah, sir, I'm lost, I'm ruined!" cried the Chinese, slapping himselflightly with his delicate hands; but the jeweler continued hislaughter.

  "Ugh, bad people, surely not a real lady," went on the Chinaman,shaking his head in disgust. "What! She has no decency, while me,a Chinaman, me always polite! Ah, surely she not a real lady--a_cigarrera_ has more decency!"

  "They've caught you, they've caught you!" exclaimed Simoun, pokinghim in the chest.

  "And everybody's asking for loans and never pays--what aboutthat? Clerks, officials, lieutenants, soldiers--" he checked them offon his long-nailed fingers--"ah, Senor Simoun, I'm lost, I'm _busted_!"

  "Get out with your complaints," said Simoun. "I've saved you from manyofficials that wanted money from you. I've lent it to them so thatthey wouldn't bother you, even when I knew that they couldn't pay."

  "But, Senor Simoun, you lend to officials; I lend to women, sailors,everybody."

  "I bet you get your money back."

  "Me, money back? Ah, surely you don't understand! When it's lost ingambling they never pay. Besides, you have a consul, you can forcethem, but I haven't."

  Simoun became thoughtful. "Listen, Quiroga," he said, somewhatabstractedly, "I'll undertake to collect what the officers and sailorsowe you. Give me their notes."

  Quiroga again fell to whining: they had never given him any notes.

  "When they come to you asking for money, send them to me. I want tohelp you."

  The grateful Quiroga thanked him, but soon fell to lamenting againabout the bracelets. "A _cigarrera_ wouldn't be so shameless!" herepeated.

  "The devil!" exclaimed Simoun, looking askance at the Chinese, asthough studying him. "Exactly when I need the money and thought thatyou could pay me! But it can all be arranged, as I don't want youto fail for such a small amount. Come, a favor, and I'll reduce toseven the nine thousand pesos you owe me. You can get anything youwish through the Customs--boxes of lamps, iron, copper, glassware,Mexican pesos--you furnish arms to the conventos, don't you?"

  The Chinese nodded affirmation, but remarked that he had to do a gooddeal of bribing. "I furnish the padres everything!"

  "Well, then," added Simoun in a low voice, "I need you to get in forme some boxes of rifles that arrived this evening. I want you to keepthem in your warehouse; there isn't room for all of them in my house."

  Quiroga began to show symptoms of fright.

  "Don't get scared, you don't run any risk. These rifles are to beconcealed, a few at a time, in various dwellings, then a search willbe instituted, and many people will be sent to prison. You and I canmake a haul getting them set free. Understand me?"

  Quiroga wavered, for he was afraid of firearms. In his desk he hadan empty revolver that he never touched without turning his head awayand closing his eyes.

  "If you can't do it, I'll have to apply to some one else, but then I'llneed the nine thousand pesos to cross their palms and shut their eyes."

  "All right, all right!" Quiroga finally agreed. "But many people willbe arrested? There'll be a search, eh?"

  When Quiroga and Simoun returned to the sala they found there, inanimated conversation, those who had finished their dinner, for thechampagne had loosened their tongues and stirred their brains. Theywere talking rather freely.

  In a group where there were a number of government clerks, some ladies,and Don Custodio, the topic was a commission sent to India to makecertain investigations about footwear for the soldiers.

  "Who compose it?" asked an elderly lady.

  "A colonel, two other officers, and his Excellency's nephew."

  "Four?" rejoined a clerk. "What a commission! Suppose theydisagree--are they competent?"

  "That's what I asked," replied a clerk. "It's said that one civilianought to go, one who has no military prejudices--a shoemaker,for instance."

  "That's right," added an importer of shoes, "but it wouldn't doto send an Indian or a Chinaman, and the only Peninsular shoemakerdemanded such large fees--"

  "But why do they have to make any investigations aboutfootwear?" inquired the elderly lady. "It isn't for the Peninsularartillerymen. The Indian soldiers can go barefoot, as they do intheir towns." [38]

  "Exactly so, and the treasury would save more," corroborated anotherlady, a widow who was not satisfied with her pension.

  "But you must remember," remarked another in the group, a friend ofthe officers on the commission, "that while it's true they go barefootin the towns, it's not the same as moving about under orders in theservice. They can't choose the hour, nor the road, nor rest whenthey wish. Remember, madam, that, with the noonday sun overhead andthe earth below baking like an oven, they have to march over sandystretches, where there are stones, the sun above and fire below,bullets in front--"

  "It's only a question of getting used to it!"

  "Like the donkey that got used to not eating! In our present campaignthe greater part of our losses have been due to wounds on the solesof the feet. Remember the donkey, madam, remember the donkey!"

  "But, my dear sir," retorted the lady, "look how much money is wastedon shoe-leather. There's enough to pension many widows and orphansin order to maintain our prestige. Don't smile, for I'm not talkingabout myself, and I have my pension, even though a very small one,insignificant considering the services my husband rendered, but I'mtalking of others who are dragging out miserable lives! It's notright that after so much persuasion to come and so many hardships incrossing the sea they s
hould end here by dying of hunger. What you sayabout the soldiers may be true, but the fact is that I've been in thecountry more than three years, and I haven't seen any soldier limping."

  "In that I agree with the lady," said her neighbor. "Why issue themshoes when they were born without them?"

  "And why shirts?"

  "And why trousers?"

  "Just calculate what we should economize on soldiers clothed only intheir skins!" concluded he who was defending the army.

  In another group the conversation was more heated. Ben-Zayb wastalking and declaiming, while Padre Camorra, as usual, was constantlyinterrupting him. The friar-journalist, in spite of his respect forthe cowled gentry, was always at loggerheads with Padre Camorra,whom he regarded as a silly half-friar, thus giving himself theappearance of being independent and refuting the accusations of thosewho called him Fray Ibanez. Padre Camorra liked his adversary, as thelatter was the only person who would take seriously what he styledhis arguments. They were discussing magnetism, spiritualism, magic,and the like. Their words flew through the air like the knives andballs of jugglers, tossed back and forth from one to the other.

  That year great attention had been attracted in the Quiapo fairby a head, wrongly called a sphinx, exhibited by Mr. Leeds, anAmerican. Glaring advertisements covered the walls of the houses,mysterious and funereal, to excite the curiosity of the public. NeitherBen-Zayb nor any of the padres had yet seen it; Juanito Pelaez was theonly one who had, and he was describing his wonderment to the party.

  Ben-Zayb, as a journalist, looked for a natural explanation. PadreCamorra talked of the devil, Padre Irene smiled, Padre Salvi remainedgrave.

  "But, Padre, the devil doesn't need to come--we are sufficient todamn ourselves--"

  "It can't be explained any other way."

  "If science--"

  "Get out with science, _punales_!"

  "But, listen to me and I'll convince you. It's all a question ofoptics. I haven't yet seen the head nor do I know how it looks, butthis gentleman"--indicating Juanito Pelaez--"tells us that it does notlook like the talking heads that are usually exhibited. So be it! Butthe principle is the same--it's all a question of optics. Wait! Amirror is placed thus, another mirror behind it, the image isreflected--I say, it is purely a problem in physics."

  Taking down from the walls several mirrors, he arranged them, turnedthem round and round, but, not getting the desired result, concluded:"As I say, it's nothing more or less than a question of optics."

  "But what do you want mirrors for, if Juanito tells us that the head isinside a box placed on the table? I see in it spiritualism, because thespiritualists always make use of tables, and I think that Padre Salvi,as the ecclesiastical governor, ought to prohibit the exhibition."

  Padre Salvi remained silent, saying neither yes nor no.

  "In order to learn if there are devils or mirrors inside it,"suggested Simoun, "the best thing would be for you to go and see thefamous sphinx."

  The proposal was a good one, so it was accepted, although PadreSalvi and Don Custodio showed some repugnance. They at a fair, to rubshoulders with the public, to see sphinxes and talking heads! Whatwould the natives say? These might take them for mere men, endowedwith the same passions and weaknesses as others. But Ben-Zayb, withhis journalistic ingenuity, promised to request Mr. Leeds not toadmit the public while they were inside. They would be honoring himsufficiently by the visit not to admit of his refusal, and besideshe would not charge any admission fee. To give a show of probabilityto this, he concluded: "Because, remember, if I should expose thetrick of the mirrors to the public, it would ruin the poor American'sbusiness." Ben-Zayb was a conscientious individual.

  About a dozen set out, among them our acquaintances, Padres Salvi,Camorra, and Irene, Don Custodio, Ben-Zayb, and Juanito Pelaez. Theircarriages set them down at the entrance to the Quiapo Plaza.