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Read Ebook: An Eagle Flight: A Filipino Novel Adapted from Noli Me Tangere by Rizal Jos
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Ebook has 1205 lines and 38963 words, and 25 pages
"Do not be alarmed," said Cris?stomo, losing interest; "I know you are pursued, but I'm not an informer."
"I don't speak for myself, but for you," said Elias, with some haughtiness. "I have no fear of men."
Ibarra grew surprised. This manner of speaking was new, and did not comport with the state or fortunes of the helmsman.
"Explain yourself!" he demanded.
"I am not speaking enigmas. To insure your safety, it is necessary that your enemies believe you blind and confiding."
"To insure my safety?" said Ibarra, thoroughly aroused.
"You undertake a great enterprise," Elias went on. "You have a past. Your grandfather and your father had enemies. It is not criminals who provoke the most hatred; it is honorable men."
"You know my enemies, then?"
Elias hesitated.
"I knew one; the dead man."
"I regret his death," said Ibarra; "from him I might have learned more."
"Had he lived, he would have escaped the trembling hand of men's justice. God has judged him!"
"Do you also believe in the miracle of which the people talk?"
"If I believed in such a miracle, I should not believe in God, and I believe in Him; I have more than once felt His hand. At the moment when the scaffolding gave way I placed myself beside the criminal." Elias looked at Ibarra.
"Yes, when his deadly work was about to be done, he was going to flee; I held him there; I had seen his crime! Let God be the only one who has the right over life!"
"No!" cried Elias. "I exposed the criminal to the risk he had prepared for others; I ran the risk myself; and I did not strike him; I left him to be struck by the hand of God!"
Ibarra regarded the man in silence.
"You are not a peasant," he said at last. "Who are you? Have you studied?"
"I've need of much belief in God, since I've lost faith in men," said Elias, evading the question.
"But God cannot speak to resolve each of the countless contests our passions raise; it is necessary, it is just, that man should sometimes judge his kind."
"For good, yes; not for evil. To correct and ameliorate, not to destroy; because, if man's judgments are erroneous, he has not the power to remedy the evil he has done. But this discussion is over my head, and I am detaining you. Do not forget what I came to entreat; save yourself for the good of your country!" And he started to go.
"And when shall I see you again?"
"Whenever you wish; whenever I can be of use to you; I am always your debtor!"
THE BANQUET.
All the distinguished people of the province were united in the carpeted and decorated booth. The alcalde was at one end of the table, Ibarra at the other. The talk was animated, even gay. The meal was half finished when a despatch was handed to Captain Tiago. He asked permission to read it; his face paled; then lighted up. "Se?ores," he cried, quite beside himself, "His Excellency the captain-general is to honor my house with his presence!" And he started off running, carrying his despatch and his napkin, forgetting his hat, and pursued by exclamations and questions. The announcement of the tulisanes could not have put him to greater confusion.
"Wait a moment! When is he coming? Tell us?"
Captain Tiago was already in the distance.
"His Excellency asks the hospitality of Captain Tiago!" the guests exclaimed, apparently forgetting that they spoke before his daughter and his future son-in-law.
"He could hardly make a better choice," said Ibarra, with dignity.
"This was spoken of yesterday," said the alcalde, "but His Excellency had not fully decided."
"Do you know how long he is to stay?" asked the alf?rez, uneasily.
"I'm not at all sure! His Excellency is fond of surprising people."
Three other despatches were brought. They were for the alcalde, the alf?rez, and the gobernadorcillo, and identical, announcing the coming of the governor. It was remarked that there was none for the curate.
"His Excellency arrives at four this afternoon," said the alcalde, solemnly. "We can finish our repast." It might have been Leonidas saying: "To-night we sup with Pluto!"
The conversation returned to its former course.
"I notice the absence of our great preacher," said one of the clerks, an honest, inoffensive fellow, who had not yet said a word. Those who knew the story of Ibarra's father looked significantly at one another. "Fools rush in," said the glances of some; but others, more considerate, tried to cover the error.
"Somewhat!" cried the alf?rez. "He must be spent, as they say here, malunqueado. What a sermon!"
"Superb! Herculean!" was the opinion of the notary.
"Magnificent! Profound!" said a newspaper correspondent.
In the other booth the children were more noisy than little Filipinos are wont to be, for at table or before strangers they are usually rather too timid than too bold. If one of them did not eat with propriety, his neighbor corrected him. To one a certain article was a spoon; to others a fork or a knife; and as nobody settled their questions, they were in continual uproar.
Their fathers and mothers, simple peasants, looked in ravishment to see their children eating on a white cloth, and doing it almost as well as the curate or the alcalde. It was better to them than a banquet.
"Yes," said a young peasant woman to an old man grinding his buyo, "whatever my husband says, my Andoy shall be a priest. It is true, we are poor; but Father Mateo says Pope Sixtu was once a keeper of carabaos at Batanzas! Look at my Andoy; hasn't he a face like St. Vincent?" and the good mother's mouth watered at the sight of her son with his fork in both hands!
"God help us!" said the old man, munching his sapa. "If Andoy gets to be pope, we will go to Rome! I can walk yet! Ho! Ho!"
Another peasant came up.
"It's decided, neighbor," he said, "my son is to be a doctor."
"A doctor! Don't speak of it!" replied Petra. "There's nothing like being a curate! He has only to make two or three turns and say 'd?minos pabiscum' and he gets his money."
"And isn't it work to confess?"
"Work! Think of the trouble we take to find out the affairs of our neighbors! The curate has only to sit down, and they tell him everything!"
"And preaching? Don't you call that work?"
"Preaching? Where is your head? To scold half a day from the pulpit without any one's daring to reply and be paid for it into the bargain! Look, look at Father D?maso! See how fat he gets with his shouting and pounding!"
In truth, Father D?maso was that moment passing the children's booth in the gait peculiar to men of his size. As he entered the other booth, he was half smiling, but so maliciously that at sight of it Ibarra, who was talking, lost the thread of his speech.
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