by José Rizal
CHAPTER LXI
The Chase on the Lake
"Listen, sir, to the plan that I have worked out," said Eliasthoughtfully, as they moved in the direction of San Gabriel. "I'llhide you now in the house of a friend of mine in Mandaluyong. I'llbring you all your money, which I saved and buried at the foot ofthe balete in the mysterious tomb of your grandfather. Then you willleave the country."
"To go abroad?" inquired Ibarra.
"To live out in peace the days of life that remain to you. You havefriends in Spain, you are rich, you can get yourself pardoned. In everyway a foreign country is for us a better fatherland than our own."
Crisostomo did not answer, but meditated in silence. At that momentthey reached the Pasig and the banka began to ascend the current. Overthe Bridge of Spain a horseman galloped rapidly, while a shrill,prolonged whistle was heard.
"Elias," said Ibarra, "you owe your misfortunes to my family, you havesaved my life twice, and I owe you not only gratitude but also therestitution of your fortune. You advise me to go abroad--then comewith me and we will live like brothers. Here you also are wretched."
Elias shook his head sadly and answered: "Impossible! It's true that Icannot love or be happy in my country, but I can suffer and die in it,and perhaps for it--that is always something. May the misfortunes ofmy native land be my own misfortunes and, although no noble sentimentunites us, although our hearts do not beat to a single name, at leastmay the common calamity bind me to my countrymen, at least may I weepover our sorrows with them, may the same hard fate oppress all ourhearts alike!"
"Then why do you advise me to go away?"
"Because in some other country you could be happy while I could not,because you are not made to suffer, and because you would hate yourcountry if some day you should see yourself ruined in its cause,and to hate one's native land is the greatest of calamities."
"You are unfair to me!" exclaimed Ibarra with bitter reproach. "Youforget that scarcely had I arrived here when I set myself to seekits welfare."
"Don't be offended, sir, I was not reproaching you at all. Wouldthat all of us could imitate you! But I do not ask impossibilitiesof you and I mean no offense when I say that your heart deceivesyou. You loved your country because your father taught you to do so;you loved it because in it you had affection, fortune, youth, becauseeverything smiled on you, your country had done you no injustice;you loved it as we love anything that makes us happy. But the day inwhich you see yourself poor and hungry, persecuted, betrayed, andsold by your own countrymen, on that day you will disown yourself,your country, and all mankind."
"Your words pain me," said Ibarra resentfully.
Elias bowed his head and meditated before replying. "I wish todisillusion you, sir, and save you from a sad future. Recall thatnight when I talked to you in this same banka under the light ofthis same moon, not a month ago. Then you were happy, the plea ofthe unfortunates did not touch you; you disdained their complaintsbecause they were the complaints of criminals; you paid more attentionto their enemies, and in spite of my arguments and petitions, youplaced yourself on the side of their oppressors. On you then dependedwhether I should turn criminal or allow myself to be killed in orderto carry out a sacred pledge, but God has not permitted this becausethe old chief of the outlaws is dead. A month has hardly passed andyou think otherwise."
"You're right, Elias, but man is a creature of circumstances! ThenI was blind, annoyed--what did I know? Now misfortune has tornthe bandage from my eyes; the solitude and misery of my prison havetaught me; now I see the horrible cancer which feeds upon this society,which clutches its flesh, and which demands a violent rooting out. Theyhave opened my eyes, they have made me see the sore, and they force meto be a criminal! Since they wish it, I will be a filibuster, a realfilibuster, I mean. I will call together all the unfortunates, all whofeel a heart beat in their breasts, all those who were sending you tome. No, I will not be a criminal, never is he such who fights for hisnative land, but quite the reverse! We, during three centuries, haveextended them our hands, we have asked love of them, we have yearnedto call them brothers, and how do they answer us? With insults andjests, denying us even the chance character of human beings. Thereis no God, there is no hope, there is no humanity; there is nothingbut the right of might!" Ibarra was nervous, his whole body trembled.
As they passed in front of the Captain-General's palace they thoughtthat they could discern movement and excitement among the guards.
"Can they have discovered your flight?" murmured Elias. "Lie down,sir, so that I can cover you with zacate. Since we shall pass nearthe powder-magazine it may seem suspicious to the sentinel that thereare two of us."
The banka was one of those small, narrow canoes that do not seem tofloat but rather to glide over the top of the water. As Elias hadforeseen, 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 saidto Elias. "But I warn you not to take anybody into your banka. Aprisoner has just escaped. If you capture him and turn him over tome 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 movedaway. Elias looked back and watched the silhouette of the sentinelstanding on the bank of the river.
"We'll lose a few minutes' time," he said in a low voice. "We mustgo into the Beata River to pretend that I'm from Penafrancia. Youwill see the river of which Francisco Baltazar sang."
The town slept in the moonlight, and Crisostomo rose up to admire thesepulchral peace of nature. The river was narrow and the level landon either side covered with grass. Elias threw his cargo out on thebank and, after removing a large piece of bamboo, took from underthe 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 saidto Crisostomo, who had remained silent. "But if you will allow me anobservation, I would say: think well what you are planning to do--youare going to light the flames of war, since you have money and brains,and you will quickly find many to join you, for unfortunately thereare plenty of malcontents. But in this struggle which you are goingto undertake, those who will suffer most will be the defenseless andthe innocent. The same sentiments that a month ago impelled me toappeal to you asking for reforms are those that move me now to urgeyou to think well. The country, sir, does not think of separating fromthe mother country; it only asks for a little freedom, justice, andaffection. 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 countrysuffers, yes, but it still hopes and trusts and will only rebel whenit has lost its patience, that is, when those who govern it wish itto 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 willnot let peace and happiness be torn away from me with impunity,I who desired only what was good, I who have respected everythingand endured everything out of love for a hypocritical religionand out of love of country. How have they answered me? By buryingme in an infamous dungeon and robbing me of my intended wife! No,not to avenge myself would be a crime, it would be encouraging themto new acts of injustice! No, it would be cowardice, pusillanimity,to groan and weep when there is blood and life left, when to insultand 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 ofbrotherhood but only that they are wolves for devouring, I will urgethem to rise against this oppression and proclaim the eternal rightof 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 ofindifferent matters.
"Santa Ana!" murmured Ibarra. "Do you recognize this building?" Theywere passing in front of the country-house of the Jesuits.
"There I spent many pleasant and happy days!" sighed Elias. "In mytime 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 sawmy sister in the near-by college, she presented me with a piece ofher own embroidery-work. A friend used to accompany her, a beautifulgirl. All that has passed like a dream."
They remained silent until they reached Malapad-na-bato. [171] Thosewho have ever made their way by night up the Pasig, on one of thosemagical nights that the Philippines offers, when the moon pours outfrom the limpid blue her melancholy light, when the shadows hide themiseries of man and the silence is unbroken by the sordid accents ofhis voice, when only Nature speaks--they will understand the thoughtsof both these youths.
At Malapad-na-bato the carbineer was sleepy and, seeing that the bankawas empty and offered no booty which he might seize, according to thetraditional usage of his corps and the custom of that post, he easilylet 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 calmlike a gigantic mirror. The moon paled and the east was dyed in rosytints. Some distance away they perceived a gray mass advancing slowlytoward them.
"The police boat is coming," murmured Elias. "Lie down and I'll coveryou 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 towardBinangonan. To his great surprise he noticed that the boat alsochanged its course, while a voice called to him.
Elias stopped rowing and reflected. The shore was still far away andthey would soon be within range of the rifles on the police boat. Hethought of returning to Pasig, for his banka was the swifter of thetwo boats, but unluckily he saw another boat coming from the riverand 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 sunwas 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 themoff the track. They will pursue me, but I swim and dive well. I'lldraw 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 theywould shoot us down like birds."
At that instant the water gave forth a hiss such as is caused bythe falling of hot metal into it, followed instantaneously by aloud report.
"You see!" said Elias, placing the paddle in the boat. "We'll see eachother on Christmas Eve at the tomb of your grandfather. Save yourself."
"And you?"
"God has carried me safely through greater perils."
As Elias took off his camisa a bullet tore it from his hands andtwo loud reports were heard. Calmly he clasped the hand of Ibarra,who was still stretched out in the bottom of the banka. Then he aroseand leaped into the water, at the same time pushing the little craftaway from him with his foot.
Cries resounded, and soon some distance away the youth's head appeared,as if for breathing, then instantly disappeared.
"There, there he is!" cried several voices, and again the bulletswhistled.
The police boat and the boat from the Pasig now started in pursuit ofhim. A light track indicated his passage through the water as he drewfarther and farther away from Ibarra's banka, which floated about asif abandoned. Every time the swimmer lifted his head above the waterto breathe, the guards in both boats shot at him.
So the chase continued. Ibarra's little banka was now far awayand the swimmer was approaching the shore, distant some thirtyyards. The rowers were tired, but Elias was in the same condition,for he showed his head oftener, and each time in a different direction,as if to disconcert his pursuers. No longer did the treacherous trackindicate the position of the diver. They saw him for the last timewhen he was some ten yards from the shore, and fired. Then minuteafter minute passed, but nothing again appeared above the still andsolitary surface of the lake.
Half an hour afterwards one of the rowers claimed that he coulddistinguish in the water near the shore traces of blood, but hiscompanions shook their heads dubiously.