THE LAND OF HEMP
In three months the Gulf had laid its spell upon Terry. He had come to
love the great slopes, from the sandy coastline to the last swift
grades to Apo's distant top, the loveliness of the wind-tossed palms
which fringed the water's edge, the sparkle of the ocean's blue
expanse and its quick response to moods of sun and wind.
During the noontime hours the sun was blazing hot but he could order
his work so as to avoid exposure. Out at daybreak, he usually
accomplished the duties of the day during the cool morning hours,
reading through the siesta hours in the coolness of his great open
house.
Seldom did the routine of his work--the drill, the sifting of patrol
reports, the minutiae of the service--overreach into the afternoon
hours: then he was free to range the country, to learn its trails and
towns, its people and its spirit. His big gray pony had become a
familiar sight in every village, on nearly every plantation. Sometimes
he was gone upon two-day trips up or down the coast, or riding the
narrow trails through the deep green shade of the woods, his Stetson
seldom touched by direct sunlight.
There was a never-ending pleasure in the hemp fields, great sweeps of
tall abaca plants glinting in the sun: and in the sluggish, useful
river which drained the levels, its turbid bosom bearing a few silent
native craft, its oily depths suggesting a basis for the legends of
huge crocodiles which no white man had ever seen.
He worked hard, but it was not all work. Many an early evening found
him out on the broad Gulf in an outrigger canoe he had learned to
handle with native skill, sometimes with Matak, oftener with Mercado,
the first sergeant of his Macabebe company. Sometimes, when the
surface was calm, he spent wonderful hours in studying the cool depths
of the waters, the lee-shore coral ledges which bore fairy gardens of
oceanic flora, brilliant-hued, weird-shaped, swaying gently in the
tidal current: strange forms of sea-life moved among the marine
growths,--some beautiful in form and color, others hideous. Once,
while he watched a school of smaller fish playing around a huge
sea-turtle, they disappeared as if by signal and the tortoise drew in
his scaled head and sank to rest on the bottom as a swordfish swam
majestically over the spot, then darted into deeper waters. There were
clams as large as washtubs.
Often, while Mercado--or Matak--paddled, he trolled a flashing bait to
lure the gamefish which swarmed in the depths. Rarely did such an
evening pass without a long fight with a leaping pampano or a sea
bass: with thirty or forty pounds of desperate muscle at the other end
of a hundred-yard line, the song of reel was sweet. One night he
brought in an eighty-pound barracuda but usually the larger fish cost
him line, leader or spoon.
At times the surface of the Gulf was alive with schools of leaping
fish: one evening he saw a great fish, a tanguingi, rise into the air
with nose pointed upward, till, at a height of twenty-five feet, it
reversed for a downward rush to plunge in the exact center of the
ripples its great leap had created. Once, far out on the Gulf with
Matak, he came upon a forty-foot whale asleep on the surface, rolling
dreamily from side to side: the Moro, unafraid of man or devil, turned
Malay-green with terror as Terry prodded the huge black surface with
his paddle. Awakened, it upended in a sluggish dive, the heavy flirt
of its great glistening tail smashing the left outrigger and drenching
them to the skin.
Terry had attended strictly to the affairs which properly came under
his control and in doing this and doing it well, had won the respect
of natives and whites, a respect which had warmed into admiration
among those who knew him better, into affection with those who knew
him best. The loyal Macabebes would have followed him against any foe,
and, better than that, they drilled hard and worked faithfully that
they might be a credit to their leader.
The natives knew him as "_El Solitario_," "The Solitary," partly
because he played his game alone in a quiet competent way, to all
appearances equally friendly to all, regardless of color or condition,
partly because he seemed unconscious of the lures of all those brown
maidens known to be as shady of character as of color.
He had often stopped to spend an hour or two with Ledesma on his
prospering plantation. He liked Ledesma's sincere, old-school
courtesy, and he liked him because Ledesma was known as an
Americanista, looked upon the Americans as God-sent to guide his
people out of their sloth and abysmal ignorance. But he gave up these
visits following a day when he found the dark-eyed, ripe-bosomed
daughter alone in the house and learned, in her flaming passion for
him, that she had misunderstood the reason for his calls.
The frequency of his trips to the outlying plantations had increased
as the weeks went by, especially to the pitiful holdings of some of
the poor natives. Malabanan's coming had been broadcasted across the
land, and an uneasiness had settled over the Gulf, a vague fear Terry
sought to allay. But Malabanan's record, a dark and dismal history of
hideous crime for which he had been but half punished, was known
throughout the country, and was the nightly subject of fearful
conversation in every hut on every isolated plantation.
Terry had ridden, alone, to the neglected settlement up the coast
where the gang of roughs had rendezvous, but Malabanan was away. A
dozen hard-looking natives had sullenly responded to his curt
questions. None were working, though he had arrived during the cool of
the afternoon and the fields cried for attention.
In Davao, the town, he found consuming interest. Sleepy six days in
the week it woke each Wednesday during the couple of hours the weekly
steamer anchored offshore to discharge cargo into a lighter, drop a
passenger or two, and send ashore the exiles' greatest balm--home
mail. He came to know everybody: first the other government
people--Lieutenant-Governor; Scout officers; Dr. Merchant, the
district health officer; school teachers, native postmaster. Seldom a
week passed that he failed to saunter into each of the Chinese
tiendas, making the purchase of matches or other small articles the
excuse for a half-hour's visit. Oftenest he went into Lan Yek's smelly
little shop, for there the Bogobos brought their mountain hemp to
trade for small agongs: tired from their heavy packing, they would
squat down on the floor along the wall, one of them occasionally
stepping to an agong to test it with deft contact of finger, all
joining him in rapt study of its tone, measuring the duration of the
lingering waves of sound. Terry learned, in time, that they found
greatest merit in those agongs which rang longest to lightest stroke.
Even those timid Bogobos who never left the wooded foothills knew him.
He went among them, studying their language, learning their customs
and hopes and fears, listening to their picturesque traditions.
Always, when he met a file of the beaded, braceleted folk upon the
trail, he dismounted to exchange a few words with them. Unbelievably
shy at first, in time they came to know him as word passed through the
foothills of the young white man who understood: so they brought their
problems to him, some pathetic, some ridiculous--recently he had
ridden twenty miles to settle a dispute regarding the ownership of
some yet unborn puppies.
As their confidence increased, they unsealed their tight lips in
relation of strange tales of the Hill People, unbelievable stories of
the wild tribe who lived in the forbidden mountain beyond the Dark
Forest: stories told usually by old men and old women, who shivered as
they whispered their legends to the white man by the campfire. They
told him the dread stories because they liked his quietness, his
slightly twisted, friendly smile, and because, as they told each
other, he listened as one who sees not with the eyes alone.
When he saw that the fear of Malabanan had spread among these widely
scattered, defenseless wildmen, Terry grew grimmer. But as the weeks
passed peacefully by, hope grew within him that Malabanan's presence
in the lovely, fertile Gulf boded no ill.
* * * * *
Major Bronner, arriving unexpectedly, found that Terry had been away
all day on a mission among the Bogobos. Learning from Matak that his
master would return within a few hours the Major left his bag and
crossed over to the Davao Club for dinner. Entering the club, a roomy
house furnished by the planters to provide a comfortable place in
which to put up when forced to town by business or the monotony of
their isolation, he passed straight to the dining room, discovering
Lindsey, Cochran and a dozen others he knew. As he paused in the
doorway Lindsey spied him and called him to the table he shared with
Cochran and two others. After the Major had responded to the greeting
called from all four tables, Lindsey took up the thread of a story the
Major's entrance had interrupted.
"Major, I was just telling of my experiences with the hemp machine I
brought down three months ago. As I was saying, I set the machine up
in my biggest field and tried it out in private--and Man! How she did
strip hemp! Convinced that I had the world by the tail I sent word out
to all the Bogobos in the neighborhood to come in next day to see the
machine work, and sent a special bid to the old chief who lords it
over that section.
"Well, they came all right--ready to see the crazy Americans' newest
devilment--and all set for the feast they knew I'd give! The chief
came, with the bunch who act as a staff for him, and I lined them up
right in front of the machine in the center of a crowd of two hundred
wild men--all about as scared by the machine's appearance as they
could be. I was pretty proud, and pretty happy: I gave them a good
spiel through my interpreter, telling them that from now on all who
worked for me would be free from the hard toil of stripping--nothing
to do but field work--and all that. I thought that they would admire
this new evidence of the American genius, would pile over each other
in their desire to work for me.
"I nodded to the mechanic: he cranked the engine and it got off to a
fine start and before throwing in the clutch that hooked it up with
the stripper I looked out over the silent, brown-faced crowd. I had to
grin at their expectant, half-scared attitude: the old chief stood
right in front of the big machine--he was uncertain about it all, but
game. I threw her in and waved to the feeders, who tossed in the great
stalks as the big iron arms started to revolve in the air. It did make
an infernal racket--but it did strip hemp. The fiber came out of one
end, the juice ran into a trough--oh, it worked great.
"I spent a minute or two seeing that everything worked right, then I
turned triumphantly to the crowd. But, Lord--there wasn't any crowd--I
saw the last of their brown backs disappearing into the brush!
"All but the old chief. He stood right there; stiff with fright, I
guess! I stopped the machine and went over to him to ask him to tell
his young men to work for me as he could see how easy it would be for
them, now that I had this machine."
He paused, laughing ruefully. "But I didn't get a chance to say a
word. He took one last look at the now quiet iron monster, clucked
that peculiar 'Tuk!' in which they express the maximum of emotion,
uttered two words--'_Americano devils!_'--then stalked away as rapidly
as his bent old legs would carry him. He disappeared into the
woods--and hasn't been seen since!
"And worst of all, all of my Bogobos quit me, so that instead of
cornering the labor market in Davao I lost most of what I had! I'm
punching the bag every day now, getting in shape to greet the next
_hombre_ that tries to sell me a machine!"
He joined goodnaturedly in the laugh which filled the room and when it
subsided turned to the Major gratefully.
"Major, my hemp lay rotting in my fields: it meant serious loss to
me--it would have wiped me out. But Lieutenant Terry heard about it
and without saying anything to me, went among the Bogobos and
persuaded sixty of them to work for me--the most I ever had was
thirty-one. He has a wonderful hold upon them--they will do anything
he says: and I'm not the only one he has helped out; am I, boys?"
A dozen planters supported him, enthusiastic, vehement.
Cochran knew the Major intimately, his hobbies and aversions. He
turned to him solemnly.
"Married yet, Major?"
"Who--me? I guess not! No petticoats for mine!"
In the laugh which rose over Cochran's elicitation of the bachelor's
invariable formula, several of the planters moved their chairs near
the Major's table. All of these quiet, efficient Constabulary were
well liked, and the Major had been known to many of these Davao
pioneers since the days when they had fought together against
insurrectos, cholera, torturing sun, treachery; the days when capture
had meant the agony of dissection piecemeal, hamstringing, the ant
hill.
The Major's face had relapsed into gravity: "Lieutenant Terry is well
liked, then?" he suggested.
Lindsey replied, earnestly: "Major, he owns this whole Gulf. He hasn't
an enemy--not counting that gang of Malabanan's up the coast."
Burns, a gruff old planter, interposed: "He had one enemy, once."
Cochran understood that the uncommunicative Burns would go no further
and thought the Major should be enlightened.
"As I was the only witness," he began, "I guess I must tell the story.
One of our planters, Sears, took a dislike to Terry on the way down
from Zamboanga: no reason for it--he was grouchy and sore, had been
drinking too hard trying to forget his troubles.
"You know Sears, Major. His inability to get labor was ruining him and
he went too far in 'persuading' the Bogobos to work for him. Well, he
went after Terry on the boat, and it wound up with Sears threatening
to do Terry up if he came near his plantation: and Terry quietly
assured him that he would go there first of all.
"We were all worried about it for a week, as Sears is a bad man when
aroused and never goes back on his word, and we knew Terry would
go--he was all business, though quiet and white. Well, when Sears got
back to his place all of his Bogobos had left him, the fields were
deserted. It meant the loss of his crop, complete ruin, so he got to
drinking harder and finally, desperate, brought in some Bogobos at the
point of a pistol and put them to work.
"It was pretty raw, of course. Everybody knew of it that night. The
next morning I rode over to offer him some of my men and as I came in
sight of the house I saw Terry, riding his gray pony, enter Sears'
clearing from the east trail.
"I was pretty scared. I knew he was there on business--that he would
be the first one to hear of Sears' coup. I spurred up to see if I
couldn't prevent serious trouble, but when I drew near I pulled up:
there was something in his face that made me keep out, made me
understand that I was an outsider in this affair.
"Well, Sears rushed out just as Terry dismounted, his eyes inflamed
with rage--and with a whiskey hangover, I guess, though he seemed
perfectly sober. He stood at the top of the steps looking at Terry,
his face purple, trembling all over: he had his 45 in his hand. Terry
tied the reins to the lower railing, then stood looking up at Sears
with that queer expression which I couldn't fathom. Sears spoke first,
his voice husky.
"'So you've come, Terry,' he said.
"'Yes, I have come, Sears.' He looked sort of small and white compared
with Sears up there, but somehow I could not worry about him. I
thought Sears would choke for a minute, then he said:
"'If you put a foot on those steps I'll--I'll--'
"Terry didn't give him a chance to finish the threat, but stepped
forward. I noticed that his gray pony sort of nipped at him,
affectionately, as he passed his head and made the first step up.
Sears must have gone clean crazy. He raised the big pistol and fired
pointblank!
"They weren't fifteen feet apart, but he missed, and that shot passed
over Terry's shoulder and tore a great chunk out of the cantle of his
saddle. The pony tore loose and ran away. I just sat there, scared to
death!
"Terry never took his eyes off Sears and he still wore that same
expression I mentioned before: he was white as a sheet but he was not
scared. No, sir! Sears kept the pistol pointed at him and as Terry
came up another step I saw the hammer lift again, but it eased back
and the pistol wavered as Sears fell under the spell of Terry's
upturned eyes. His face changed queerly as Terry kept coming, he
stepped back uncertainly, the pistol dropped to his side. He
understood why Terry had come, and I did also, at the same time.
"Terry was SORRY for him!"
Cochran paused a moment to conquer a little catch that had crept into
his voice, and then concluded his story: "Well, Major, Sears realized
suddenly what he had tried to do and looked down at the gun in his
hands as in a dream, then offered it to Terry. But Terry shook his
head, said something in a low tone I didn't hear, and they went
inside, leaving me to cool my heels in the yard like the rank outsider
I was! They came out in half an hour, arm in arm, and Terry stepped to
the rail and sounded the Bogobo call. In about a minute a big gang of
half-naked Bogobos filed out of the woods into the clearing and
gathered around him at the foot of the steps.
"Terry talked to them awhile in their own lingo, then asked Sears if
he had living accommodations for the whole bunch. Before coming to
Sears' place he had spent the night in the foothills and persuaded
seventy Bogobos to come in and work for Sears--Bogobos, mind you, who
have always feared Sears and refused to approach his place!
"That's the story, Major,--except that Sears harvested his full crop,
is on his feet again, has cut booze and treats his men as well as any
planter in the Gulf. And he sure does worship this young lieutenant
of yours!"
The Major studied the end of his cigar. "He never reports anything
like that," he admitted. "I'm glad you told me."
"You'll hear plenty more such--" Cochran began, but was interrupted by
the loud entrance of little Casey. He tore into the room, breezy,
voluble, greeting every one with short, jerky sentences. He reached
the Major last.
"Hello, Major! How's everything? I passed Lieutenant Terry on the
trail--three miles out--he was leading his pony--said it was lame
though it hardly limped at all! Tried to get him to mount and ride in
with me--but he wouldn't--sure and he's the merciful man to beasts!"
He rambled on till the Major interrupted him with: "How are the
breeding experiments coming on, Casey? Any foals yet--or pigs?"
The little man disregarded the amused grin of the planters, pouring
forth in long eulogy of American mares and boar. "You come down to my
place in about two weeks," he wound up at last, "and I'll show you!
I'll have some cross-bred colts and pigs worth the seeing--and I'm
going to name the first one after Terry!"
"First pig?" Cochran seemed serious.
"No--first colt--the first pig I'll name for you!"
Soon the Major left Casey capably sparring with the plaguing Cochran,
and seated himself on a broad window ledge above the dark plaza,
smoking thoughtfully. He had made no mistake in sending Terry here.
Three phonographs strove against each other from different houses
along the plaza. It is characteristic of the Americans in the
Philippines that most of them take unto their bosoms these mechanical
comforts, instead of the animated talking machines which the Spaniards
affected. The sky was black with the threat of rain, low thunder
rumbled in the west, above Apo.
A few minutes, and the Major distinguished two forms making their way
along the north side of the dark plaza and as they passed under one of
the oil park-lamps he recognized Terry, leading a weary pony which
limped slightly. As the Major secured his cap and waved a cheery
goodnight to the gathering, Lindsey hurried to the door to intercept
him.
"Major, Lieutenant Terry promised to come over to my place to-morrow
afternoon. We were going to have a drive against the wild
pigs--they've been raising the devil with my young plants. You will
come along with him, won't you?"
"You bet! I haven't had any shooting in months. But you won't let that
big snake get me, will you?"
Chuckling, he left the club and crossed the plaza to Terry's quarters.
Entering, he heard Terry splashing under the shower. Terry emerged
soon, kimono clad, his face lighted hospitably when he spied the Major
sitting by the lamp-lit table.
Dressed, Terry ate and listened while the Major smoked and talked.
"Lieutenant," he finally remarked, "there is no more trouble among the
Bogobos?"
"No, sir. It has stopped--as I reported to you."
The Major regarded him closely: "What stopped it?"
"I just talked to some of the planters, and they understood."
Looking up, he flushed under the Major's quizzical gaze.
"Major, those planters at the club have been stuffing you!" he
complained.
The Major gravely discussed Malabanan. "Terry, you may not have to
move against him--I hope not, anyway. But I want you to be in a
position to finish anything he starts. Do you want me to send you an
additional company?"
"No--I can handle anything in reason with the Macabebes."
"What did you do with the secret service man I sent down?"
"I planted him up the coast where he can watch that gang."
Terry unfolded his plans for handling the situation should the
ladrones break loose upon the Gulf, and the Major was satisfied.
"It hardly seems possible," he said, "that they will try it--but with
only one company here to cover the whole Gulf--and in so remote a
settlement--it may look like easy pickings. But if Malabanan
dares--you smash him!"
The threatened rainstorm had passed to the north, leaving the night
clear and cool: a strong breeze fluttered the lamp. Matak entered to
clear the table and Terry, who had not eaten the fried chicken, pushed
it toward the Moro with goodnatured impatience.
"Matak, this chicken is only half cooked: I've warned the cook several
times--tell him to eat it."
Matak, silent and grim as ever, bore the offending dish out, while
Terry turned to the Major to discuss the morrow's sport. In a moment
their voices were drowned by the crash of dishes falling in the
kitchen, then a fearsome shriek reached the startled pair, a moaning
cry terminating abruptly in a choking gurgle. They sprang up and into
the kitchen.
Matak was astride the prostrate Visayan in the midst of the broken
crockery and bent tinware spilled from the upset table. He had the
cook's mouth pried open in determined endeavor to ram what looked like
half a chicken down the Visayan's gullet. Half-strangled and crazed
with fear the cook rolled his eyes beseechingly.
Bronner raised Matak bodily and Terry helped the trembling Filipino to
his feet. He turned to Matak sternly.
"What does this mean?"
"He would not eat it, master."
The cook broke in, almost hysterical: "Matak say I must eat cheecken,
that you say so. I say 'all right, eat to-morrow.' He say 'eat now.' I
say 'no, to-morrow.' Then he fight. I no eat to-day--notheeng--to-day
church fast day!"
As recollection came of his joking instructions to the ever serious
Matak, Terry turned to the Major but he had run from the kitchen,
choking. Having patched up a truce between them, Terry followed the
Major into the sala.
At sight of his rueful face the Major burst into fresh laughter. "His
fast day!" he chuckled. "These Moros are sure literal-minded--they
follow your words exactly. I've had some queer examples in the past
year."
They sat through the cool evening talking of their multi-phased
service, Bronner earnest and unwittingly eloquent in his summing up of
its ideals, its hopes for the future, Terry silent and thoughtful as
the big man talked about plans for Mindanao, for the Gulf.
"And some day, Terry," he concluded, after a stirring account of what
two officers, Case and Gallman, had done among the Luzon headhunters,
"some day we will get to the Hill People: the right man will come
along, and the right combination of circumstances. It is an unusual
combination--the right man plus the right place plus the right time.
Carnegie would probably have been just a tight-fisted Scot had he
lived in Napoleon's time, and Napoleon if born in this generation
might never get a headline.
"I would like to be the man who first wins to the Hills. Think of the
glory of such a life work--opening the doors for a benighted people
and leading them out of savagery into the decencies and comforts and
safety of civilization!"
The steady evening breeze had stiffened, swinging the great airplants
which hung in the big windows. The far howl of a dog sounded through
the dark: the sleepy crowing of scores of gamecocks accurately gauged
the passing of another hour. The Major suggested sleep.
Terry, in pajamas and slippers, came in to see if his guest were
comfortable for the night: assured, he crossed the sala, blew out the
light and entered his own room, closing the door behind him. Shortly,
while the Major lay watching, he threw open the door and the Major
heard him climb into bed and adjust his mosquito net.
The Major mused: "That's queer--I wonder what he does behind the
closed door?"
He fell asleep puzzling over it.