An Eagle Flight Part 46

THE CHASE ON THE LAKE.

"Listen, senor, to the plan I have made," said Elias, as he pulled toward San Gabriel. "I will hide you, for the present, at the house of a friend of mine at Mandaluyong. I will bring you there your gold, that I hid in the tomb of your great-grandfather. You will leave the country----"

"To live among strangers?" interrupted Ibarra.

"To live in peace. You have friends in Spain; you may get amnesty."

Crisostomo did not reply; he reflected in silence.

They arrived at the Pasig, and the little bark began to go up stream. On the bridge was a horseman, hastening his course, and a whistle long and shrill was heard.

"Elias," said Ibarra at length, "your misfortunes are due to my family, and you have twice saved my life. I owe you both grat.i.tude and rest.i.tution of property. You advise me to leave the country; well, come with me. We will live as brothers."

Elias shook his head.

"It is true that I can never be happy in my country, but I can live and die there, perhaps die for my country. That is always something. But you can do nothing for her, here and now. Perhaps some day----"

"Unless I, too, should become a tulisan," mused Ibarra.

"Senor, a month ago we sat in this same boat, under the light of this same moon. You could not have said such a thing then."

"No, Elias. Man seems to be an animal who varies with circ.u.mstances. I was blind then, unreasonable, I know not what. Now the bandage has been torn from my eyes; the wretchedness and solitude of my prison has taught me better. I see the cancer that is eating into our society; perhaps, after all, it must be torn out by violence."

They came in sight of the governor-general's palace, and thought they saw unusual movement among the guards.

"Your escape must have been discovered," said Elias. "Lie down, senor, so I can cover you with the zacate, for the sentinel at the magazine may stop us."

As Elias had antic.i.p.ated, the sentinel challenged him, and asked him where he came from.

"From Manila, with zacate for the iodores and curates," said he, imitating the accent of the people of Pandakan.

A sergeant came out.

"Sulung," said he to Elias, "I warn you not to take any one into your boat. A prisoner has just escaped. If you capture him and bring him to me, I will give you a fine reward."

"Good, senor; what is his description?"

"He wears a long coat, and speaks Spanish. Look out for him!"

The bark moved off. Elias turned and saw the sentinel still standing by the bank.

"We shall lose a few minutes," he said; "we shall have to go into the rio Beata, to make him think I'm from Pena Francia. You shall see the rio of which Francis...o...b..ltazar sang."

The pueblo was asleep in the moonlight. Crisostomo sat up to admire the death-like peace of nature. The rio was narrow, and its banks were plains strewn with zacate. Elias discharged his cargo, and from the gra.s.s where they were hidden, drew some of those sacks of palm leaves that are called bayones. Then they pushed off again, and soon were back on the Pasig. From time to time they talked of indifferent things.

"Santa Ana!" said Ibarra, speaking low; "do you know that building?" They were pa.s.sing the country house of the Jesuits.

"I've spent many happy days there," said Elias. "When I was a child, we came here every month. Then I was like other people; had a family, a fortune; dreamed, thought I saw a future."

They were silent until they came to Malapad-na-bato. Those who have sometimes cut a wake in the Pasig, on one of these magnificent nights of the Philippines, when from the limpid azure the moon pours out a poetic melancholy, when shadows hide the miseries of men and silence puts out their sordid words--those who have done this will know some of the thoughts of these two young men.

At Malapad-na-bato, the rifleman was sleepy, and seeing no hope of plunder in the little bark, according to the tradition of his corps and the habit of this post, he let it pa.s.s. The guard at Pasig was no more disquieting.

The moonlight was growing pale, and dawn was beginning to tint the east with roses, when they arrived at the lake, smooth and placid as a great mirror. At a distance they saw a gray ma.s.s, advancing little by little.

"It's the falua," said Elias under his breath. "Lie down, senor, and I will cover you with these bags."

The outlines of the government boat grew more and more distinct.

"She's getting between us and the sh.o.r.e," said Elias, uneasily; and very gradually he changed the direction of his bark. To his terror he saw the falua make the same change, and heard a voice hailing him. He stopped and thought. The sh.o.r.e was yet some distance away; they would soon be within range of the ship's guns. He thought he would go back to Pasig, his boat could escape the other in that direction; but fate was against him. Another boat was coming from Pasig, and in it glittered the helmets and bayonets of the Civil Guards.

"We are caught!" he said, and the color left his face. He looked at his st.u.r.dy arms, and took the only resolution possible; he began to row with all his might toward the island of Talim. The sun was coming up. The bark shot rapidly over the water; on the falua, which changed its tack, Elias saw men signalling.

"Do you know how to manage a bark?" he demanded of Ibarra.

"Yes. Why?"

"Because we are lost unless I take to the water to throw them off the track. They will pursue me. I swim and dive well. That will turn them away from you, and you must try to save yourself."

"No, stay, and let us sell our lives dear!"

"It is useless; we have no arms; they would shoot us down like birds."

As he spoke, they heard a hiss in the water, followed by a report.

"You see!" said Elias, laying down his oar. "We will meet, Christmas night, at the tomb of your grandfather. Save yourself! G.o.d has drawn me out of greater perils than this!"

He took off his shirt; a ball picked it out of his hands, and two reports followed. Without showing alarm, he grasped the hand Ibarra stretched up from the bottom of the boat, then stood upright and leaped into the water, pushing off the little craft with his foot.

Outcries were heard from the falua. Promptly, and at some distance, appeared the head of the young man, returning to the surface to breathe, then disappearing immediately.

"There, there he is," cried several voices, and b.a.l.l.s whistled.

The falua and the bark from Pasig set out in pursuit of the swimmer. A slight wake showed his direction, more and more removed from Ibarra's little bark, which drifted as if abandoned. Every time Elias raised his head to breathe, the guards and the men of the falua fired on him.

The chase went on. The little bark with Ibarra was left far behind. Elias was not more than a hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e. The rowers were getting tired, but so was Elias, for he repeatedly raised his head above the water, but always in a new direction, to disconcert his pursuers. The deceiving wake no longer told the place of the swimmer. For the last time they saw him, sixty feet from the sh.o.r.e. The soldiers fired--minutes and minutes pa.s.sed. Nothing again disturbed the tranquil surface of the lake.

A half hour later, one of the rowers claimed to have seen traces of blood near the sh.o.r.e, but his comrades shook their heads in doubt.

LIV.

FATHER DaMASO EXPLAINS HIMSELF.