CHAPTER XXXI
ELIAS'S FAMILY.
"Some sixty years ago my grandfather lived in Manila and kept booksfor a Spanish merchant. My grandfather was then very young, but wasmarried and had a son. One night, without any one knowing the cause,the store-house was burned. The fire spread to the store and from thestore to many others. The losses were very heavy. Search was made forthe incendiary, and the merchant accused my grandfather. In vain heprotested and, as he was poor and could not pay celebrated lawyers,he was condemned to be whipped publicly and to be led through thestreets of Manila. It was not a great while ago that this infamouspunishment was still in use here. It was a thousand times worse thandeath itself. My grandfather, abandoned by everybody except his wife,was tied to a horse and, followed by a cruel multitude, was whipped onevery corner, in the sight of men, his brothers, and in the vicinity ofthe numerous temples of the God of Peace. When the unfortunate man,disgraced forever, had satisfied the punishment by his blood, histortures and his cries, they untied him from the horse, for he hadbecome unconscious. Would to God he had died! As a refined cruelty,they gave him liberty. His wife, embarrassed with a child at the time,begged in vain from door to door for work or alms that she might carefor her sick husband and the poor son. But who would have confidencein the wife of an infamous man guilty of arson? The wife, then,had to give herself up to prostitution."
Ibarra started from his seat.
"Oh! do not be disturbed! Prostitution was not the only dishonorwhich she and her husband suffered. Honor and shame no longer existedfor them. The husband cured his wounds, and, with his wife and son,hid in the mountains of this province. Here the woman brought fortha still-born child, deformed and full of disease. In the mountains,they lived for several months, miserable, isolated, hated and fleeingfrom all. Unable to endure the misery, less valorous than his wife,and growing desperate at seeing her ill and deprived of all aid andcomfort, my grandfather hanged himself. The body rotted in the sight ofthe son, who was now scarcely able to take care of his sick mother. Thebad odor of the rotting corpse disclosed it to Justice. My grandmotherwas accused and condemned for not having given notice. The death ofher husband was attributed to her and people believed it. For, whatis a wife of a wretch not capable of doing after having prostitutedherself? If she took oath, they said she perjured herself; if she wept,they said that it was false; and if she invoked God, they said sheblasphemed. However, they had some consideration for her and waitedfor her to give birth to a child before whipping her. You know thatthe friars spread the belief that the only way to deal with thenatives is with the whip. Read what Father Gaspar de San Augustin says.
"Thus condemned, the woman cursed the day when she would givebirth to the child, and this not only prolonged her punishment, butviolated her maternal sentiments. The woman delivered the child, andunfortunately the child was born robust. Two months later the sentenceof whipping which had been imposed upon her was carried out, to thegreat satisfaction of the people, who thought that in this way theywere fulfilling their duty. No longer able to be at peace in thesemountains she fled with her two sons to a neighboring province andthere they lived like wild beasts: hating and hated. The older boy,remembering his happy infancy and its contrast with such great misery,became a tulisan as soon as he had sufficient strength. Before longthe bloody name of Balat extended from province to province; it wasthe terror of the towns and the people, for he took his revenge withfire and blood. The younger boy, who had received from Nature a goodheart, resigned himself to his lot at his mother's side. They livedon what the forests afforded them; they dressed in the rags thattravellers threw away. The mother had lost her good name, she was nowknown only by such titles as the 'criminal,' the 'prostitute,' and the'horse-whipped woman.' The younger brother was known only as the son ofhis mother, because he had such a pleasant disposition that they didnot believe him to be the son of the incendiary. Finally the famousBalat fell one day into the hands of Justice. Society had taught himno good, but he was asked to account for his crimes. One morning asthe younger boy was looking for his mother, who had gone to gathermushrooms from the forest, and had not yet returned, he found herlying on the ground by the roadside, under a cotton-tree. Her facewas turned toward the sky, her eyes were torn from their sockets, andher rigid fingers were buried in the blood-stained earth. It occurredto the young man to raise his eyes and follow the direction in whichhis mother had been looking, and there from a limb of a tree he sawa basket, and in that basket the bloody head of his brother."
"My God!" exclaimed Ibarra.
"That is what my father must have exclaimed," continued Elias,coldly. "The men had cut the highwayman into quarters and buried himin a trunk of a tree. But the limbs were saved, and were hung up indifferent towns. If you go some time from Calamba to Santo Tomas youwill still find the rotting leg of my uncle hanging from a lomboytree. Nature has cursed the tree and it neither grows nor givesfruit. They did the same thing with the other members of his body,but the head, the head, as the best part of the man and that part whichcan be most easily recognized, they hung before the mother's cabin."
Ibarra bowed his head.
"The young man fled like one that is accursed," continued Elias. "Hefled from town to town, through mountains and valleys, and when atlast he thought he was not recognized by any one, he began to workin the store of a rich man in the province of Tayabas. His activity,his agreeable disposition, won for him the esteem of those who didnot know his past life. By working and saving he managed to makea little capital, and, as the misery had passed away, and, as hewas young, he thought that he would be happy. His good appearance,his youth, and his quite unencumbered position won for him the loveof a girl in the town, but he did not dare to ask for her hand, forfear that she might learn of his past. But love became too strongand both erred. The man, in order to save the honor of the woman,risked all; he asked her to marry him, the papers were looked up andall was disclosed. The girl's father was rich and began to prosecutethe man. The latter, however, did not try to defend himself, admittedit all and was sent to jail. The young woman gave birth to a boy and agirl. They were brought up in seclusion and made to believe that theirfather was dead. This was not difficult, for while the children werestill young they saw their mother die, and they thought little aboutinvestigating their genealogy. As our grandfather was very rich, ouryouth was happy. My sister and I were educated together, we loved eachother as only twins can when they know no other love. While very young,I went to study in the Jesuit College, and my sister, in order thatwe might not be entirely separated, went to the Concordia boardingschool. Our short education having been ended, for we only wishedto be farmers, we returned to the town to take possession of theinheritance which was left us by our grandfather. We lived happilyfor some time; the future smiled on us; we had many servants; ourfields bore good crops; and my sister was on the eve of being marriedto a young man who loved her and to whom she was well suited. Onaccount of some pecuniary questions, and, because my character wasthen haughty, I lost the good will of a distant relative, and hethrew in my face one day my dark birth and my infamous ancestry. Ithought it a calumny and demanded satisfaction. The tomb in which somuch grief was sleeping was opened again and the truth came out. Iwas confounded. To make the misfortune greater, we had had for someyears an old servant who had always suffered all my caprices withoutever leaving us. He contented himself by weeping and crying whilethe other servants jested with him. I do not know how my relativefound it out; the fact is that he summoned this old man before thecourt and made him tell the truth. The old servant was my father,who had stuck fast to his dear children and whom I had maltreated manytimes. Our happiness disappeared: I renounced our fortune; my sisterlost her lover; and with our father we abandoned the town to go tosome other point. The thought of having contributed to our disgraceand misfortune, cut short the life of the old man, from whose lipswas learned all the sorrowful past. My sister and I were left alone.
"She wept a great deal, but, amid such grief
as they piled upon us,she could not forget her love. Without complaining, without saying aword, she saw her old lover marry another girl, and I saw her a littlelater gradually become ill, without being able to console her. Oneday she disappeared. In vain I searched for her everywhere; in vainI asked for her for six months. Afterward I learned that during thetime while I was searching for her, one day when the water had risenin the lake, there had been found on the beach at Calamba the body ofa girl, either drowned or assassinated. She had, they say, a knifepiercing her breast. The authorities of Calamba published the factin the neighboring towns. Nobody presented himself to claim the body;no young woman had disappeared. From the description which they gaveme afterward, from the dress, the rings, the beauty of her face andher very abundant hair, I recognized her as my poor sister. From thattime, I have been wandering from province to province. My fame andhistory are in the mouths of many people; they attribute all sortsof deeds to me; at times they calumniate me; but I take no notice ofmen and continue on my way. I have here briefly related my history,and that of a judgment at the hands of mankind."
Elias became silent and continued rowing.
"I believe that you are not wrong," murmured Ibarra, in a low voice,"when you say that justice ought to procure the welfare of thepeople by lifting up the criminals and by raising the standard oftheir morality. Only ... that is impossible--a Utopia. And then,where is the money for so many new employees to come from?"
"And what are the priests for, the priests who proclaim peace andcharity as their mission? Is it more meritorious for a priest to wetthe head of a child, to give it salt to eat, than to awaken in thedarkened conscience of a criminal that spark, given by God to everyman, that he may seek to do good? Is it more human to accompany acriminal to the gallows than to accompany him through the difficultpath which leads from vice to virtue? Are not spies, executioners andGuardias Civiles paid? The latter institution, besides being an evil,also costs money."
"My friend, neither you nor I, although we wish it, can accomplish it."
"Alone we are nothing, it is true. Take up the cause of the people,unite them, listen to their voices, give others an example to follow,give them the idea of what is called a fatherland, a patria!"
"What the people ask for is impossible. We must wait."
"To wait, to wait, is equivalent to suffering!"
"If I should ask it, they would laugh at me."
"And if the people should sustain you?"
"Never! I would never be the one to lead the multitude and accomplishby force what the Government does not believe is opportune. No! If Iever saw the multitude armed for such a purpose, I would put myself onthe side of the Government. And I would fight it, for in such a mob Iwould not see my country. I wish for its welfare: that is the reasonthat I am erecting the school-house. I look for it through means ofinstruction, education and progress. Without light there is no road."
"Nor without fighting is there liberty," replied Elias.
"I do not care for that kind of liberty."
"Without liberty there is no light," replied the pilot withenthusiasm. "You say that you know very little about our country. Ibelieve it. You do not see the fight that is impending. You do not seethe cloud on the horizon. The combat begins in the sphere of ideas, andthen descends to the arena to tinge it with blood. I hear the voice ofGod. Woe to them who resist it. History has not been written for them."
Elias was transformed. As he stood up, his head uncovered, his manlyface illumined by the moonlight, there was something extraordinaryabout him. He shook his long hair and continued:
"Do you not see how all is awakening? Sleep has lasted for centuries,but one day a thunderbolt will fall and new life will be calledforth. New tendencies are animating the spirits, and these tendenciesto-day separated, will be united some day, and will be guided byGod. God has not failed other peoples, nor will he fail ours. Theircause is liberty."
A solemn silence followed these words. In the meantime, the bancacarried along imperceptibly by the waves, neared the shore. Eliaswas the first to break the silence.
"What have I to say to those who have sent me?" he asked, changingthe tone of his voice.
"I have already told you that I greatly deplore their condition,but for them to wait, since evils are not cured by other evils. Inour misfortune, we are all at fault."
Elias did not insist further. He bowed his head, continued rowing and,bringing the banca up to the shore, took leave of Ibarra saying:
"I thank you, Senor, for your condescension. For your own interestsI ask you in the future to forget me, and never to recognize me inwhatever place you may meet me."
And saying this, he turned his banca and rowed in the direction of adense thicket on the beach. He seemed to observe only the millions ofdiamonds which his paddle lifted and which fell back into the lake,where they soon disappeared in the mystery of the blue waves.
Finally, he arrived at the place toward which he had been rowing. Aman came out of the thicket and approached him:
"What shall I tell the captain?" he asked.
"Tell him that Elias, if he does not die before, will fulfill hisword," he replied gloomily.
"Then when will you meet us?"
"When your captain thinks that the hour of danger has come."
"All right. Good-bye!"
"If I do not die before," murmured Elias.