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 walked
along 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 in
the midst of a little clearing, and here the friendly peasants, who for
the most part, knew Mrs. Rizal, extended their hospitality in the form
of invitations to remain with them. In places the women would be at
work in the rice fields or cultivating tobacco or sugar cane. They were
barefoot and bare armed, wearing only shifts that but partly enveloped
them, meagerly concealing their fine physiques. Sometimes a man,
barefoot and wearing only two garments, would be seen following the
carabao, the native ox, as it dragged the wooden plow that scratched
the soil.
There were fields of abace or native hemp, rice and indigo. Sometimes
the pilgrims would pass through groves of mahogany or cashu and see
men at work with bolos, felling trees for lumber, or with sierras
[14] slowly cutting boards from teque or mahogany. Sometimes they saw
them grinding cane in the trapiche [15]. Sometimes at night they saw
the zanita, the Philippine bee, working by moonlight and storing its
honey on the underside of slanting branches; and one day, when the
bees were asleep Agonoy climbed a tree while the two laughed at his
struggles, and the honey he obtained constituted their supper. They
passed haciendas [16] and pueblos [17]. Once they came upon a cemetery
where a couple of corpses were hanging, because the friends of the dead
could or would not put up enough money to pay for the continuous burial
in consecrated ground. Occasionally they were "given a lift," to use an
American expression, on a carata, behind a carabao. They saw at times
the 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 these
were waded or passed over on logs felled to bridge them, though
in a few cases there were rustic bridges made of bamboo curiously
woven together.
Everywhere poverty was visible, poverty abject and pitiable.
Now and then they came to villages where there were fine brick churches
and conventos; and a few other good buildings, beside many huts that
under the operation of the Spanish law poor people were enabled to
build. The churches were guarded by American soldiers, and in almost
every village the inevitable convento was occupied by officers of the
American army. Invariably the friar lands were better cultivated and of
a better quality than elsewhere, and resembled the old plantations in
the American southern states when they were kept in good condition by
slave labor; for the peasants bore the marks of poverty and hard work.
The weather was enervating at all times, and often dismal from the
drenching tropical rains, for it was the rainy season. Streams were
up and the trails were muddy. During the heat of the day a choking
malarial steam arose from the earth as the moisture evaporated. The
people were kept much indoors. It was too disagreeable even for a
revolt against Spain.
They inquired in private for Saguanaldo, and were told that he had
deserted the American army and gone into the interior. Others of the
Filipinos had followed his lead in desertion, but it seemed that
they had not yet come together into anything like an army. As to
his 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 Filipino
told 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 give
up. 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 first
learned from the Filipinos themselves." Said the Filipino: "They laid
him on his back and pinioned his limbs. Then they put a funnel in his
mouth and held his nose while they poured him so full of water that
it 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. You
see why I have to be careful as to what I say. All I can do is to
direct you to go on still further."
On they went passing into the primitive. They went even into the
region of the head hunters, where the beautiful and symmetrical
volcano, 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 used
also for clearing the roads through the bamboo brakes, dried them and
retained 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 at
enmity with Spain and all they regarded as foreigners, ready to take
sides with Saguanaldo should he call them forth.
"It seems to me they are more civilized and gentle in their way than
are the people from the West," said Agonoy.
"No people are so destructive and wasteful as those who call themselves
civilized," returned Mrs. Rizal. "I am of them and understand them,
and I tremble for the future of the Filipinos. The Americans will
bring the foreigner and the natives will disappear before him. They
will bring the machine, and such as remain will be chained to it,
and compelled to render to them a tribute many times in excess of
that which Spain has exacted from you. You have been poor, but you
have not starved. Civilization brings the slum and abject hunger."
Agonoy answered not. He was thinking about something that to him seemed
to be a dream, yet which he knew to be true--of the awful experiences
of a girl, to all intents and purposes dead, who had suffered at the
hands 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, into
places infested by mosquitoes, snakes and other loathsome things; to
regions where mango birds were numerous and where the pigeon of the
crucifixion with the red cross on its breast had its habitat. Often
lost, they could go but slowly; sometimes they slept alone in the
great forests. But ever they pressed on.
Finally, after days out, the two travelers came upon Saguanaldo in
a grass hut in a thicket near the southern end of the island. As
they approached, piloted by a friendly Igorrote, Saguanaldo arose in
evident surprise. After exchanging greetings Mrs. Rizal said:
"General Saguanaldo, we came to take with you the fortunes of war."
"Señora Rizal, you are welcome. We shall need all the soldiers we can
gather, and your advice will be valuable in this time of trouble. The
name of the boy"--
"Hilario Agonoy," said Mrs. Rizal, quickly.
"You are welcome. Señora Rizal and the boy; we shall want you both
at 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," suggested
Saguanaldo, with grim humor. But Agonoy did not join in the laugh
that followed.
By Saguanaldo's side sat Bishop Aglipay, Obispo Maximo, the leader of
the revolt against the friars. Only these four were left, though others
were ready to take up arms when Saguanaldo suggested. It was a pitiful
remnant of the gay throng that had such a short time ago celebrated
Philippine independence, hailing Saguanaldo as president. Saguanaldo
began:
"We shall need to confer as to the best mode of procedure, because we
are in desperate situation. We are in a much worse shape than before
the American army came. Then we were in possession of more than half
the churches in the Philippines, and besides that, held Manila. But
now I have been tricked away from the Philippine capital, and the
American troops are protecting the churches for the friars."
"How did they come to get the churches which you had?" Mrs. Rizal
was addressing Aglipay. She knew, but wanted his version of it.
"We were fearing nothing," the leader of the schism explained, "when
in one night, just before the American troops arrived on the scene,
Spanish soldiers seized on the churches while we slept. The next day
the American troops came, and as, it appears, they had been ordered
to protect in possession of their properties whoever they might find
in 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 ordered
to 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, and
fled. Not one of them came, though."
"That seems to have been the best thing you could have done--for the
friars," returned Mrs. Rizal. "In doing that you became rebellious
against the United States, and now, I understand, have the American
army on your trail."
"That is true; but what else could I have done? Had I done nothing I
would have been fighting for the Spaniards, and, as it were, against
myself. I had the Americans against me, anyhow."
"But now the case is hopeless. So long as the Spaniards were your
enemies, without outside help, there was some hope that some day
you might have beaten them. But, now that the Americans are allies
of the Spaniards the case is hopeless. It is too great a nation for
you to combat. Recall how the Spanish fleet melted away before the
American fleet in the bay of Manila and tell me what chance you will
have before the giant foe from across the seas."
"I don't see why the Americans turned against us, when they came here
to 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 president
of the Filipino republic?" asked Saguanaldo.
"No."
"Are the American people, then, not lovers of liberty, and are they
merely 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 the
Filipino Catholic church in all America, while there are ten million
Roman Catholics there."
"Ah, political reasons, then," suggested the bishop. He as an olden
friar understood something of how politics modified policies.
"Yes. Though your schism might have a greater power here than the
friars have, it commands no influence in America. The American who
favors the other side will have friends at home, while one who would
favor you would find enemies there that might destroy his influence
and 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 the
sacrifice. Do you find that the people rally to you?"
"No," said the insurgent bitterly. "They sympathize and see the
danger, but it seems they have not the interest that dares to risk
all and fight."
"Even the men you can command are not disciplined or drilled or
properly equipped."
"No. The Americans have the equipment I had collected."
"Nor would the various tribes be likely to cling together," suggested
the woman.
"This cursed race feeling! The only way the tribes will stay together
is when they war with each other; then they are together in battling
each other." There was dogged bitterness in Saguanaldo's words.
"I do not see how you can win by fighting. What does a grinning
skull 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 an
unexpected 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 bottom
of the long trouble in the Philippines and is glad of the war that
will give him an excuse for removing them. That will be a victory
for him; and, as he has already managed to get possession of the
churches, it means a victory for the church as well. If you can get
the 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 the
years?" added the Bishop.
"Better to lose these things alone than to lose both them and your
lives as well," suggested Mrs. Rizal.
"If a common soldier might be permitted to speak"--faltered Hilario
Agonoy.
"Say what you wish," suggested the insurgent general. "We are all
equal in our love for the cause."
"I prefer to fight even though I know we must lose. There is some
satisfaction in punishing those who have treated us so unjustly, and
every blow we strike will cause them to have the greater respect for
the 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 General
Saguanaldo, visibly pleased. "We in the interior can conduct a
guerrilla warfare that will cause the enemy to respect us, and make
the new masters more inclined to do us justice. I trust, Señora 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 not
afraid to die, either, just as my husband died before me. If I may
be asked to designate the service I am to perform, I would ask that
the youth here and I be permitted to go among the people and arouse
them 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 I
may 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 remain
true to me?"
"Ambrosia has the strength of a man," returned Mrs. Rizal, "in the
cause of Filipino independence. She is true, and will ever be near
you--in spirit."