CHAPTER LVI
Rumors and Beliefs
Day dawned at last for the terrified town. The streets near thebarracks and the town hail were still deserted and solitary, thehouses showed no signs of life. Nevertheless, the wooden panel ofa window was pushed back noisily and a child's head was stretchedout and turned from side to side, gazing about in all directions. Atonce, however, a smack indicated the contact of tanned hide with thesoft 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 windowhad no doubt been heard on all sides, for soon another window openedslowly and there appeared cautiously the head of a wrinkled andtoothless old woman: it was the same Sister Pute who had raised such adisturbance while Padre Damaso was preaching. Children and old womenare the representatives of curiosity in this world: the former froma 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 sheremained gazing out into the distance with wrinkled eyebrows. Then sherinsed out her mouth, spat noisily, and crossed herself. In the houseopposite, another window was now timidly opened to reveal Sister Rufa,she who did not wish to cheat or be cheated. They stared at each otherfor a moment, smiled, made some signs, and again crossed themselves.
"_Jesus_, it seemed like a thanksgiving mass, regularfireworks!" commented Sister Rufa.
"Since the town was sacked by Balat, I've never seen another nightequal 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 cuadrillerosagainst 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 exchangegreetings and make comments. In the clear light, which promised abright day, soldiers could be seen in the distance, coming and goingconfusedly 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 asly-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 thefirst question. "It was the Chinamen who have rebelled." With thishe shut his window.
"The Chinamen!" echoed all in great astonishment. "That's why notone 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 beforeChristmas when they bring around their presents! They should havewaited until New Year's."
Little by little the street awoke to life. Dogs, chickens, pigs, anddoves began the movement, and these animals were soon followed by someragged urchins who held fast to each other's arms as they timidlyapproached the barracks. Then a few old women with handkerchiefstied about their heads and fastened under their chins appeared withthick rosaries in their hands, pretending to be at their prayers sothat the soldiers would let them pass. When it was seen that onemight walk about without being shot at, the men began to come outwith assumed airs of indifference. First they limited their stepsto the neighborhood of their houses, caressing their game-cocks,then they extended their stroll, stopping from time to time, untilat last they stood in front of the town hall.
In a quarter of an hour other versions of the affair were incirculation. Ibarra with his servants had tried to kidnap Maria Clara,and Capitan Tiago had defended her, aided by the Civil Guard. Thenumber of killed was now not fourteen but thirty. Capitan Tiago waswounded and would leave that very day with his family for Manila.
The arrival of two cuadrilleros carrying a human form on a coveredstretcher and followed by a civil-guard produced a great sensation. Itwas conjectured that they came from the convento, and, from the shapeof the feet, which were dangling over one end, some guessed who thedead man might be, some one else a little distance away told who itwas; further on the corpse was multiplied and the mystery of the HolyTrinity duplicated, later the miracle of the loaves and fishes wasrepeated--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 thetown hall, where I've seen Don Filipo and Don Crisostomo prisoners," aman told Sister Pute. "I've talked with one of the cuadrilleros who areon guard. Well, Bruno, the son of that fellow who was flogged to death,confessed everything last night. As you know, Capitan Tiago is goingto marry his daughter to the young Spaniard, so Don Crisostomo in hisrage wanted to get revenge and tried to kill all the Spaniards, eventhe curate. Last night they attacked the barracks and the convento,but fortunately, by God's mercy, the curate was in Capitan Tiago'shouse. They say that a lot of them escaped. The civil-guards burnedDon Crisostomo's house down, and if they hadn't arrested him firstthey would have burned him also."
"They burned the house down?"
"All the servants are under arrest. Look, you can still see the smokefrom here!" answered the narrator, approaching the window. "Thosewho come from there tell of many sad things."
All looked toward the place indicated. A thin column of smoke wasstill slowly rising toward the sky. All made comments, more or lesspitying, 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 forthe 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 enemiesof God, the curates say. Don't you remember? In the cemetery he walkedabout 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 Godhas clearly punished. You'll see how they'll arrest you, too. You'reupholding a falling house."
Her husband became silent before this argument.
"Yes," continued the old lady, "after striking Padre Damaso therewasn'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. Allthose that go to Spain become heretics, as the curates have said."
"Oho!" exclaimed her husband, seeing his chance for a retort, "andthe 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, allpale 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 crossedthemselves. No one could move from his place.
"Yes, sir," went on the trembling servant; "I was going to pickpeas--I looked into our neighbor's garden to see if it was--I sawa man swinging--I thought it was Teo, the servant who always givesme--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 hiscamisa. "Something will happen to you! Is he hanged? Then the worsefor him!"
"Let me see him, woman. You, Juan, go to the barracks and reportit. Perhaps he's not dead yet."
So he proceeded to the garden with the servant, who kept behindhim. The women, including even Sister Pute herself, followed after,filled with fear and curiosity.
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nbsp; "There he is, sir," said the servant, as she stopped and pointed withher finger.
The committee paused at a respectful distance and allowed the oldman to go forward alone.
A human body hanging from the branch of a santol tree swung aboutgently in the breeze. The old man stared at it for a time and sawthat the legs and arms were stiff, the clothing soiled, and the headdoubled over.
"We mustn't touch him until some officer of the law arrives," he saidaloud. "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 heretwo 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 hadfinished staring and examining the body.
"Fool, heretic!" scolded Sister Pute. "Don't you know what PadreDamaso said? It's tempting God to pray for one of the damned. Whoevercommits suicide is irrevocably damned and therefore he isn't buriedin 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 ayoung 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 andthe directorcillo arrived with two cuadrilleros, who took the bodydown and placed it on a stretcher.
"People are getting in a hurry to die," remarked the directorcillowith a smile, as he took a pen from behind his ear.
He made captious inquiries, and took down the statement of themaidservant, whom he tried to confuse, now looking at her fiercely,now threatening her, now attributing to her things that she had notsaid, 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 forpeas but and she called Teo as a witness.
While this was taking place, a rustic in a wide salakot with a bigbandage on his neck was examining the corpse and the rope. The facewas not more livid than the rest of the body, two scratches and twored spots were to be seen above the noose, the strands of the rope werewhite and had no blood on them. The curious rustic carefully examinedthe camisa and pantaloons, and noticed that they were very dusty andfreshly torn in some parts. But what most caught his attention werethe seeds of _amores-secos_ that were sticking on the camisa even upto 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, partlyuncovering, 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 andmoved 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 directorcillofacetiously. "Better pour some water over him."
Amid the laughter of the bystanders the rustic left the place wherehe had played such a ridiculous part and went toward the church. Inthe sacristy he asked for the senior sacristan.
"He's still asleep," was the rough answer. "Don't you know that theconvento was assaulted last night?"
"Then I'll wait till he wakes up." This with a stupid stare atthe sacristans, such as is common to persons who are used to roughtreatment.
In a corner which was still in shadow the one-eyed senior sacristanlay asleep in a big chair. His spectacles were placed on his foreheadamid 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 droppeda piece of money and started to look for it with the aid of a candleunder the senior sacristan's chair. He noticed seeds of _amores-secos_on the pantaloons and on the cuffs of the sleeper's camisa. The latterawoke, rubbed his one good eye, and began to scold the rustic withgreat 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 histone a little at this. "If you want it for tomorrow--is it for thesouls in purgatory?"
"No, sir," answered the rustic, handing him a peso.
Then gazing fixedly at the single eye, he added, "It's for a personwho's going to die soon."
Hereupon he left the sacristy. "I could have caught him last night!" hesighed, as he took off the bandage and stood erect to recover theface and form of Elias.