The girl leaped out of the bed, let down her hair and hunted a pairof shears. "Cut off my hair, closely," she said.
"I fear you are not yet over the fever," remonstrated Mrs. Rizal.
"I have had no fever," said the girl, "and I am well. I shall bestrong for vengeance and justice. Nay, do not fear, good Mother Rizal,I am sane."
"You have not told me your plan."
"Inasmuch as Ambrosia Lonzello has lost all place in society and onearth, she had the fever and is dead. She is merely another victim ofthe friars. I, who stand before you, am not Ambrosia Lonzello. I ama man, now and henceforth. I feel within me the vigor and courage ofmanhood, proving the transformation. Henceforth I shall live onlyfor vengeance and to assist Saguanaldo, who had been Ambrosia'sfriend. Cut off the hair that belies my sex, and then we all go tothe field to give our lives for the cause."
Mrs. Rizal expostulated, but in vain. She argued as to the girl'slack of strength, but was actually laughed out of the idea. At lastshe fell in with the plan, both as being in accord with her own desireand also as being perhaps the only course open to the girl after whathad happened.
A few hours afterward, then, the transformation was completed. Thegirl, with her hair cropped close and wearing a suit that had belongedin days past to Dr. Rizal, looked very much like a vigorous youngman, and Mrs. Rizal was gratified to find that she showed no sign offailing physical powers. Indeed, she was to all appearance well again.
"You see, I have merely been transformed into a new creature," saidthe youth, smiling and showing two rows of perfect white teeth. "Myname is Hilario Agonoy, at your service." Bowing low.
"When shall we go to the seat of war?"
"Ma?ana [13]," replied the youth, gaily. "Don't you see that Ambrosiais dead?"
XIII.
OFF TO THE WAR.
The next day Mrs. Rizal and her companion, known as Hilario Agonoy,set out into the country to join Saguanaldo.
After they had proceeded a few miles beyond the city they walkedalong through the jungle over a trail that was rough, stumpy, stony,and at places almost overgrown and hidden by bamboo growths, trees,ferns, and tropical grasses. Occasionally they came to a grass hut inthe midst of a little clearing, and here the friendly peasants, who forthe most part, knew Mrs. Rizal, extended their hospitality in the formof invitations to remain with them. In places the women would be atwork in the rice fields or cultivating tobacco or sugar cane. They werebarefoot and bare armed, wearing only shifts that but partly envelopedthem, meagerly concealing their fine physiques. Sometimes a man,barefoot and wearing only two garments, would be seen following thecarabao, the native ox, as it dragged the wooden plow that scratchedthe soil.
There were fields of abace or native hemp, rice and indigo. Sometimesthe pilgrims would pass through groves of mahogany or cashu and seemen at work with bolos, felling trees for lumber, or with sierras[14] slowly cutting boards from teque or mahogany. Sometimes they sawthem grinding cane in the trapiche [15]. Sometimes at night they sawthe zanita, the Philippine bee, working by moonlight and storing itshoney on the underside of slanting branches; and one day, when thebees were asleep Agonoy climbed a tree while the two laughed at hisstruggles, and the honey he obtained constituted their supper. Theypassed haciendas [16] and pueblos [17]. Once they came upon a cemeterywhere a couple of corpses were hanging, because the friends of the deadcould or would not put up enough money to pay for the continuous burialin consecrated ground. Occasionally they were "given a lift," to use anAmerican expression, on a carata, behind a carabao. They saw at timesthe timid galina del monte, the wild chickens that ranged the forests,and at other times were regaled with the anona or custard apple.
Now and then there were streams to cross. For the most part thesewere waded or passed over on logs felled to bridge them, thoughin a few cases there were rustic bridges made of bamboo curiouslywoven together.
Everywhere poverty was visible, poverty abject and pitiable.
Now and then they came to villages where there were fine brick churchesand conventos; and a few other good buildings, beside many huts thatunder the operation of the Spanish law poor people were enabled tobuild. The churches were guarded by American soldiers, and in almostevery village the inevitable convento was occupied by officers of theAmerican army. Invariably the friar lands were better cultivated and ofa better quality than elsewhere, and resembled the old plantations inthe American southern states when they were kept in good condition byslave labor; for the peasants bore the marks of poverty and hard work.
The weather was enervating at all times, and often dismal from thedrenching tropical rains, for it was the rainy season. Streams wereup and the trails were muddy. During the heat of the day a chokingmalarial steam arose from the earth as the moisture evaporated. Thepeople were kept much indoors. It was too disagreeable even for arevolt against Spain.
They inquired in private for Saguanaldo, and were told that he haddeserted the American army and gone into the interior. Others of theFilipinos had followed his lead in desertion, but it seemed thatthey had not yet come together into anything like an army. As tohis exact location, nobody knew. The Americans were looking for him,too, and the natives were careful, even before Mrs. Rizal and Agonoy,to not say too much.
"The Americans are going to force us into fighting them," a Filipinotold them in one of the villages. "They are overbearing and insulting,calling us 'niggers' and treating us as inferiors."
"I feared as much. The Philippines are too rich for them to giveup. They want the islands for themselves."
"Let me show you."
The Filipino led them to a hut where a man lay on a mat within,evidently seriously injured.
"The Americans gave him the water cure. This punishment was firstlearned from the Filipinos themselves." Said the Filipino: "They laidhim on his back and pinioned his limbs. Then they put a funnel in hismouth and held his nose while they poured him so full of water thatit ran out of his nose and eyes and ears. It was horrible torture."
"Why did they do it?" asked Agonoy, with sinking heart.
"In order to force him to reveal the whereabouts of Saguanaldo. Yousee why I have to be careful as to what I say. All I can do is todirect you to go on still further."
On they went passing into the primitive. They went even into theregion of the head hunters, where the beautiful and symmetricalvolcano, Mayon, lifted its green sides against the blue sky beyond;and here they saw the warriors who adhered to the old ways, and,severing the heads of their enemies with the bolos which they usedalso for clearing the roads through the bamboo brakes, dried them andretained the gruesome relics, reduced to a few inches in diameter,as trophies of war.
But the savage tribes were kind to the pilgrims. They, too, were atenmity with Spain and all they regarded as foreigners, ready to takesides with Saguanaldo should he call them forth.
"It seems to me they are more civilized and gentle in their way thanare the people from the West," said Agonoy.
"No people are so destructive and wasteful as those who call themselvescivilized," returned Mrs. Rizal. "I am of them and understand them,and I tremble for the future of the Filipinos. The Americans willbring the foreigner and the natives will disappear before him. Theywill bring the machine, and such as remain will be chained to it,and compelled to render to them a tribute many times in excess ofthat which Spain has exacted from you. You have been poor, but youhave not starved. Civilization brings the slum and abject hunger."
Agonoy answered not. He was thinking about something that to him seemedto be a dream, yet which he knew to be true--of the awful experiencesof a girl, to all intents and purposes dead, who had suffered at thehands of civilization, the apex of possible human suffering.
So the two walked on and on. Sometimes they heard of Saguanaldo,and again lost trace of him. They passed on into wilder regions, intoplaces infested by mosquitoes, snakes and other loathsome things; toregions where mango birds were numerous and where the pigeon of thecrucifixion with the red cross on its
breast had its habitat. Oftenlost, they could go but slowly; sometimes they slept alone in thegreat forests. But ever they pressed on.
Finally, after days out, the two travelers came upon Saguanaldo ina grass hut in a thicket near the southern end of the island. Asthey approached, piloted by a friendly Igorrote, Saguanaldo arose inevident surprise. After exchanging greetings Mrs. Rizal said:
"General Saguanaldo, we came to take with you the fortunes of war."
"Se?ora Rizal, you are welcome. We shall need all the soldiers we cangather, and your advice will be valuable in this time of trouble. Thename of the boy"--
"Hilario Agonoy," said Mrs. Rizal, quickly.
"You are welcome. Se?ora Rizal and the boy; we shall want you bothat the council of war which we are about to hold."
"Private soldiers are not often taken into councils," suggested Agonoy.
"Oh, yes, they are when there are only three present," suggestedSaguanaldo, with grim humor. But Agonoy did not join in the laughthat followed.
By Saguanaldo's side sat Bishop Aglipay, Obispo Maximo, the leader ofthe revolt against the friars. Only these four were left, though otherswere ready to take up arms when Saguanaldo suggested. It was a pitifulremnant of the gay throng that had such a short time ago celebratedPhilippine independence, hailing Saguanaldo as president. Saguanaldobegan:
"We shall need to confer as to the best mode of procedure, because weare in desperate situation. We are in a much worse shape than beforethe American army came. Then we were in possession of more than halfthe churches in the Philippines, and besides that, held Manila. Butnow I have been tricked away from the Philippine capital, and theAmerican troops are protecting the churches for the friars."
"How did they come to get the churches which you had?" Mrs. Rizalwas addressing Aglipay. She knew, but wanted his version of it.
"We were fearing nothing," the leader of the schism explained, "whenin one night, just before the American troops arrived on the scene,Spanish soldiers seized on the churches while we slept. The next daythe American troops came, and as, it appears, they had been orderedto protect in possession of their properties whoever they might findin possession of them, they at once became allies of the friars."
"And here I, who was with them," exclaimed Saguanaldo indignantly,"I, who had given them peaceable possession of Manila, was orderedto protect the friars in possession that they gained by trickery."
"What did you do?" asked Mrs. Rizal.
"Do? I passed the word to as many of my followers as possible, andfled. Not one of them came, though."
"That seems to have been the best thing you could have done--for thefriars," returned Mrs. Rizal. "In doing that you became rebelliousagainst the United States, and now, I understand, have the Americanarmy on your trail."
"That is true; but what else could I have done? Had I done nothing Iwould have been fighting for the Spaniards, and, as it were, againstmyself. I had the Americans against me, anyhow."
"But now the case is hopeless. So long as the Spaniards were yourenemies, without outside help, there was some hope that some dayyou might have beaten them. But, now that the Americans are alliesof the Spaniards the case is hopeless. It is too great a nation foryou to combat. Recall how the Spanish fleet melted away before theAmerican fleet in the bay of Manila and tell me what chance you willhave before the giant foe from across the seas."
"I don't see why the Americans turned against us, when they came hereto fight the Spaniards," said Aglipay gloomily.
"The reason is very plain," returned the woman.
"Was it that they were offended at me because I had been made presidentof the Filipino republic?" asked Saguanaldo.
"No."
"Are the American people, then, not lovers of liberty, and are theymerely waging a war of conquest in the name of liberty?" Aglipay asked.
"The answer is found in the fact that there is not a member of theFilipino Catholic church in all America, while there are ten millionRoman Catholics there."
"Ah, political reasons, then," suggested the bishop. He as an oldenfriar understood something of how politics modified policies.
"Yes. Though your schism might have a greater power here than thefriars have, it commands no influence in America. The American whofavors the other side will have friends at home, while one who wouldfavor you would find enemies there that might destroy his influenceand his future. You are not only fighting the American army here,and the friars here, but also, as it were, all the people of America."
The two men reflected moodily for a few minutes.
"There is nothing to do but to fight until we perish," said Saguanaldo.
"One should not die for a cause unless there is good cause for thesacrifice. Do you find that the people rally to you?"
"No," said the insurgent bitterly. "They sympathize and see thedanger, but it seems they have not the interest that dares to riskall and fight."
"Even the men you can command are not disciplined or drilled orproperly equipped."
"No. The Americans have the equipment I had collected."
"Nor would the various tribes be likely to cling together," suggestedthe woman.
"This cursed race feeling! The only way the tribes will stay togetheris when they war with each other; then they are together in battlingeach other." There was dogged bitterness in Saguanaldo's words.
"I do not see how you can win by fighting. What does a grinningskull care for vengeance? But there is a way in which you may win,General Saguanaldo."
"How," asked the general, eagerly.
"By yielding. It is often the surest way of winning. You have anunexpected ally."
"Who can it be?"
"None other than the Pope at Rome."
"The Pope!" exclaimed both men in a breath.
"Yes. The Pope understands that the Spanish friars are at the bottomof the long trouble in the Philippines and is glad of the war thatwill give him an excuse for removing them. That will be a victoryfor him; and, as he has already managed to get possession of thechurches, it means a victory for the church as well. If you can getthe friendship of America, so that the country will treat you justly,it will also be a victory for the Filipino people."
"And I am to lose all that I have struggled for?" protested Saguanaldo.
"And I to lose the organization which I have built up through theyears?" added the Bishop.
"Better to lose these things alone than to lose both them and yourlives as well," suggested Mrs. Rizal.
"If a common soldier might be permitted to speak"--faltered HilarioAgonoy.
"Say what you wish," suggested the insurgent general. "We are allequal in our love for the cause."
"I prefer to fight even though I know we must lose. There is somesatisfaction in punishing those who have treated us so unjustly, andevery blow we strike will cause them to have the greater respect forthe Filipino people in the future. If we could punish that Jesuit"--
"And Bishop Lonzello," added Aglipay.
"To my mind there is nothing left us to do but fight," added GeneralSaguanaldo, visibly pleased. "We in the interior can conduct aguerrilla warfare that will cause the enemy to respect us, and makethe new masters more inclined to do us justice. I trust, Se?ora Rizal,you will not desert us if we take this action."
Mrs. Rizal arose. "I am with, you to the last," she said. "I am notafraid to die, either, just as my husband died before me. If I maybe asked to designate the service I am to perform, I would ask thatthe youth here and I be permitted to go among the people and arousethem with our songs and speeches. We can rally you a force, General."
"Go, and God bless you. There is one question I would ask you if Imay speak to you in private."
General Saguanaldo and Mrs. Rizal stepped a few paces away.
"Have you seen Ambrosia?" he asked. "Is she well, and does she remaintrue to me?"
"Ambrosia has the strength of a man," returned Mrs. Rizal, "in thecause of Filipino independence. She is true, and will ever be nearyou--in spirit
."
XIV.
THE COLLEGE YELL.
Mrs. Rizal and Hilario Agonoy, after much effort, succeeded inrallying a force to Saguanaldo. It was a motley crowd, composed ofrepresentatives of several different tribes, armed with shot guns,bolos and whatever they could secure, and garbed all the way from asoldier's uniform to breech clouts and feathers. There were perhapsfive thousand of them, all told.
With this force, Saguanaldo began a careful march toward the north partof the island. Mrs. Rizal and Agonoy went ahead and discovered that aforce of Americans were advancing inland to meet them. ConsequentlySaguanaldo stopped at the banks of the Rio Grande, and preparedrifle pits. He also removed from the bridge that crosses the streamthe flooring, leaving only the sills, the girders, and cross piecesabout every seven feet apart. The first night after these preparationshad been made the American troops appeared and encamped on the bankopposite, some 300 feet away.
The Filipinos were not inclined to attack, but relied on the river,which was high and threatening, to keep the enemy from them. Yet thesecond night, about 11 p. m., the cackling and crowing of chickens atfarm houses on the other side, and part way down stream, told themthat some movement was in progress. It was immediately across thestream from where Agonoy had been stationed with some threescorenatives. At the time the clatter began the moon came out, and itwas revealed that a force of Americans was at work on the marginof the river, evidently trying to launch some rafts with a view tocrossing. Agonoy directed the men to fire, and a fusillade from theinsurgents soon drove the Americans to cover. Hiding behind trees,stumps, rocks or anything that would afford protection, they remainedsilent until the fire of the insurgents ceased. Then, after a time,they again made endeavor to launch their rafts, until the forcesunder Agonoy once more drove them away.