THE PYTHON
Nothing could be more impersonal than the manner in which the Major
inspected the company. He was very curt and official: no detail eluded
his attention, no fault of equipment, quarters, drill or training
escaped comment and correction. The command was in fine shape but it
is a service in which there is but one standard--perfection, and
perfection may never be attained. The inspection consumed the morning,
but when they sat at lunch in Terry's quarters, rank had perished
again.
At two o'clock they set off leisurely for Lindsey's, Terry quiet, the
Major jovial at the prospect of a drive at the wild boar. They jogged
through the hot afternoon over a trail winding under a canopy of
foliage shrill with the plaint of myriad insect life. An hour out and
the Major was nearly unseated as his pony shied violently from a
three-foot iguana that scurried across their path in furious haste.
Farther into the woods, and they drew rein, listening to the mystic
tone of a Bogobo agong rung at minute intervals: Terry judged the gong
to be six miles distant westward, the Major contended for half a mile,
north of them. Such is the weird quality of the agong in the forest.
At four o'clock they drew up at Lindsey's roomy, thatched house set in
the middle of his clearing and in a few minutes Lindsey, soaked with
perspiration, hurried out of the tall growth of hemp ripening in his
south field.
"I feared you might not be able to make it," he smiled. "You can never
tell what the next day may bring you Constabulary fellows!"
He called his head native, a stocky Visayan, and ordered him to start
the beaters out, explaining to his guests that they would take their
places in an hour. The three then strolled through the streets of the
little village Lindsey had built for his laborers and their families,
a double row of neat bamboo huts, grass roofed, of which he was very
proud. Returning, they passed a huge machine rusting under a rough
shed, Lindsey's ill-fated hemp machine, introduced a little too early
to an ignorant people.
Lindsey unlocked a trunk and brought out three high-powered rifles,
two of them borrowed, contrary to the law of a land where firearms
must be zealously protected against falling into hostile hands. He led
the way through the long rows of abaca which drooped listless fronds
in the quivering heat, and into the cool woods which surrounded his
fields. They went on for a half-hour into deeper jungle, emerging into
a strip of natural clearing from which they could hear the beaters
converging toward them. Lindsey stationed Terry at the left end of the
break, Bronner in the center where the shooting should be best,
himself taking the right end.
As the beaters approached, crashing the underbrush and shouting
lustily, the three stood motionless, guns ready: the suspense grew
tense and the beaters grew silent as they hurried, unseen, from the
line of fire. A moment of dead silence, then Lindsey heard to his
right a dry twig snap and turning saw a big boar slip out from the
brush and pause, its ugly tusks foam-flecked. His heavy gun crashed,
the boar leaped convulsively across the clearing, falling at a second
shot. As it dropped he whirled to cover a big buck which sped across
his field of fire: as it fell he heard the cracking of a lighter
weapon to his right and thought, as he shot again and again, that his
guests were not being disappointed in their sport.
It was fast work while it lasted. Lindsey inspected with keen
satisfaction the bag of two pigs and one deer that had fallen to his
gun: he had missed one boar and another, which he had wounded, had
escaped down the trail which led to his house. He turned to see how
his friends had fared.
The Major was known as a crack shot but no game lay before him.
Approaching him, surprised, Lindsey saw that he was absent-mindedly
putting his rifle at safe the while he stared at Terry.
"Major, I'm sorry you had no chances--" Lindsey began but the Major
interrupted him.
"Chances! Chances? Sus-marie-hosep! Some of those pigs almost ran up
my breeches!" He was as nearly excited as Lindsey had ever seen him,
and they had served together in a Kansas regiment.
"Lindsey, I'm sure glad you asked me to come--I've seen something
worth seeing. I've seen him shoot!"
He pointed to Terry. His borrowed rifle stood nearby against a tree
and he was busy clipping fresh ammunition into his pistol magazines.
Five wild pigs lay in front of him near the opposite side of the
clearing. Lindsey looked his unbelief.
"Yes, he did!" asserted the Major. "I watched him do it--that's why I
drew a blank. Five pigs, five shots,--and after each shot he holstered
the gun till the next pig hove in sight! I've seen good shooting, but
such drawing--such certainty--
"Sus-marie-hosep!" he wound up, lamely.
Terry, having replenished his magazine, clipped it into the big
automatic with a deft snap, and turned round toward them. Noting their
attitude, he colored boyishly.
"Pretty lucky, wasn't I?" he said.
"Yes," agreed the Major, drily, "you were pretty lucky!"
The beaters had come up. Lindsey ordered them to carry the game for
distribution among his villagers. The sun was dipping behind the hills
as the three started back the trail through the dense woods, Lindsey
leading the way and searching for signs of the wounded boar. Every few
rods he found a pool of blood where it had paused in flight.
They entered the deep shadow cast by the spread of a great banyan tree
from whose thick branches a score of accessory trunks were sent down
to seek root in the soil. Rooting, they grew into smooth, heavy
supports for the wide-spread limbs which towered above the surrounding
forest. Terry paused a moment in the twilight of the tree, studying
appreciatively the miniature forest of trunks parented by the one
ancient growth. Suddenly a warning cry escaped his lips as he saw one
of the long dark trunks, a foot in diameter, loosen from a branch
where it hung suspended high over the Major's head.
"LOOK OUT, MAJOR!"
He leaped forward, expecting to find the Major crushed, but
involuntarily halted midway in his stride as the heavy trunk, landing
at the Major's feet with a slithering thud, writhed a terrible length
into massive folds. No eye could follow the inconceivably swift
contortions that wrapped the Major in a triple fold.
Two heavy coils prisoned his legs, a third passed round his back up
over his right shoulder to curve to the trail in front of him and rear
again in a length which terminated in a massive head poised six feet
from the Major's blanched face. Demon-eyed, unwinking, its thin lips
bisected the thick-boned jaws in frightful, moist grimace.
Lindsey, horror-stricken, stood helpless while the hammer head
catapulted at the sickened face of its victim. The Major's free left
arm, raised instinctively to blot out the sight of the living horror,
took the terrific impact, then dropped to his side, paralyzed. Still
bearing that hideous grin the flat head drew back for another blow at
the exposed face. The Major, faint with the terror of his helplessness
and the crushing weight of the quivering masses of muscle about him,
would have fallen but for their dread support. His consciousness fast
deserting him, fascinated, he watched the monstrous leer as the head
drew farther back, poised. He felt the agonizing pressure as the
great muscles steeled for the blow, and in the moment before his
senses departed, heard two crashing shots that sounded from behind
him. With the smashing reports the poised head thudded to the ground,
the folds fell from about him and he slid down among the great
quivering coils.
Recovering consciousness, the horror crept back into his face but
receded when he saw Terry standing by him. Still faint and sick he
struggled to his feet, leaning against the trunk of the banyan and
stamping his feet weakly to restore the still numb legs. Terry helped
him hobble over to where the Bogobos, who had come up at the shots,
were grouped about the dead monster. Lindsey, kneeling to examine the
head of the great reptile, struck a match to point out the jagged
wounds that had shattered the base of the head.
"Cut the spinal cord," he explained quietly. He was as pale as the
Major. "Any other wound, even fatal,--it's death struggles would
have--I hate to think of it, Major."
At the Major's questioning look he pointed toward Terry: "He shot it.
Pistol."
The Major surveyed Terry steadfastly, striving for appropriate
expression of what was in his heart.
Then, "Terry, I am much obliged. If I ever--if ever you--I'm much
obliged!"
It was dark when they reached the house. Later they heard the
triumphant shouts which announced the arrival in the village of the
men bearing the carcass of the snake, which had haunted the
neighborhood for a generation. The celebration of its passing lasted
far into the night. After dinner Lindsey and Terry strolled to the
village to measure the python, and Lindsey ordered it skinned
immediately.
You may still see the trophy in the Davao Club, its scaly length
stretched along the molding on two sides of the library, where the
Major asked Lindsey to place it with this legend:
This python attacked Major John Bronner, P.C.,
on the Lindsey Plantation.
Length................24 feet, 9 inches
Greatest diameter.............14 inches
Major Bronner owes his life to the wonderful
pistol marksmanship of his friend,
Lieut. Richard Terry, P.C.
The ride home through the dewy night stiffened the Major's sore
muscles and strained joints intolerably. Terry called in the Health
Officer, fat Doctor Merchant, who looked him over and pronounced him
uninjured, leaving some vile-smelling liniment. The Major winced under
Matak's too efficient rubbing of bruised areas.
"Horse dope!" he snorted.
Later, dozing, he waked to see Terry's door close and open again after
a few minutes. Puzzled as on the preceding night, he fell asleep over
the problem.
* * * * *
Governor Mason had dropped the Major at Davao while he went on to
Mati, planning to return for a short stop at Davao in forty-eight
hours, but as they finished their leisurely breakfast they heard the
whistle of his cutter approaching Davao from the south.
"Wonder what's up," said the Major. "He's twelve hours ahead of his
schedule."
They walked slowly to the dock, the Major still stiff-legged, arriving
just as the launch was lowered over the side of the trim white boat
which lay anchored a half-mile offshore. As the launch neared shore
they saw the Governor standing on the stern seat.
He stepped up on to the little dock and greeted the Major, then turned
his smile upon Terry, apologizing:
"I planned to spend a day here with you all, but have been recalled.
As usual my departure from the capitol was the signal for a dato to
start a row!"
A group of officials and more prominent natives had gathered at the
pier. He shook hands with each, calling each by name, then gathered
the officials about him in a brief conference which disclosed his
grasp of conditions in the Gulf. At the end of the short discussion he
drew Terry aside.
"No trouble yet with that gang of roughs--with Malabanan?"
"No, sir."
The Governor's face bore a look Terry had not seen in it, an
unrelenting determination, a grimness: "Major Bronner has told you how
I want this matter handled?"
"Yes, sir. Wait, let him make the first move, then move against
them."
"Exactly! I want to demonstrate for all time that this province is as
unhealthy now for criminals as during Army days!"
For a moment he studied Terry keenly, then his gaze traveled over the
splendid vista of the Gulf appreciatively, mounting higher and higher
till it rested on Apo's dim crest. A moment and he turned to Terry
again, to find that he, too, was lost in a rapt contemplation of the
Hills.
"Lieutenant, some day ... somehow...."
"Yes, Governor."
The Major fidgeted uncomfortably in the presence of the two dreamers.
Two short blasts of the cutter's whistle restored the Governor's urban
manner. In a minute he and the Major had said their good-bys and were
bobbing over the little seas toward the ship.
The group of Americans and natives split up as they returned toward
the town but Terry lingered at the dock watching the cutter as it got
under way and raced toward the horizon, leaving a white ribbon of wake
on the blue gulf waters. Three large bancas were approaching the
shore, belated fishermen returning with the night's catch: a fleet
vinta, bearing Moro traders, bore toward Samal, its little sail
glaring white in the actinic sunlight: the morning air was hot and
filled with the heavy odors of sea and shore. It was a fair spot,
Davao, productive, peaceful.... He looked up the coast toward the
north where Malababan had settled with his unsavory crew.
* * * * *
He spent the day at the _cuartel_, correcting all the little defects
the Major's stiff inspection had uncovered. The Macabebes responded
eagerly--they, too, wanted to be perfect. They felt trouble in the
air, scented impending combat, and Macabebes thrive on combat.
Sergeant Mercado, veteran of seven campaigns in Samar and Cavite,
drilled them tirelessly, his eyes afire with the old fighting glint.
And that night he donned his starchiest uniform, pinned on his bright
service medals, and made the round of the tiendas, throwing chests at
the black-haired girls behind the counters. Great fighting blood is
usually great loving blood.
* * * * *
Terry ate dinner alone. The house seemed too big without the Major.
Restless, reading failed of its usual absorption. After a while he
took up a letter the last mail had brought from Deane and reread it.
DEAR DICK:--
Your letter telling of transfer to the Moro Province has
just come. I had to study the map to find out where it is!
If it means advancement I am glad--though we had all hoped
that when you left Sorsogon it would be to come home.
Your letters are so funny, so interesting. You write such
nice things about the natives that I am becoming fond of
them too. But the other day I read an article written by a
cynical woman who has lived in the Islands only a few
months. I read part of it to father, the part which says
that "the Filipinos are a worthless, shiftless, lazy people;
improvident, untrustworthy and immoral!" After I had read
that he thought a moment and then said:
"Well, Deane, people are just about the same as that around
here!"
Everything is going about as usual around Crampville. They
are tearing down the old watering trough in the square--it
is a nuisance to automobiles. They had some trouble over on
the South Side last week among the foreigners but Father
Jennings smoothed things out. He told me that he has a
harder time keeping them contented since you left. I learned
from him that you used to spend a good deal of your time
among them, that they idolized you.... Why did you never
talk to me about such things, Dick?
Bruce is earning a great reputation but insists on staying
in Crampville. He has been called to Albany twice during the
month to perform some special operation. He finds time to
run in on us nearly every day.
Susan and Ellis do not change: they are quite the happiest
couple we have--though they both do miss you terribly.
You never mention the native girls. Are they attractive,
lovely? Do not let one of them fascinate you. We need you
here, Dick,--Susan and Ellis, Father Jennings, the
foreigners--all of us.
DEANE.
His deft fingers fumbled as he folded the letter and locked it in the
drawer. Vainly smoothing at the lock of hair which always stuck out
from the crown of his head, he stared vacantly at the lamp shade,
oblivious to the entrance of the silent, morose Matak, who carried the
bottle of boiled drinking water into the bedroom and then went out for
the night.
A hoarse ghekko lizard croaked its raucous six-song from a rafter
overhead: a giant bat flapped through an open window, fluttered,
crazy-winged, thrice about the big room and blundered through another
window into the night: the low voweled voices of native passersby
floated up from the dark street.
But Terry heard nothing, nor felt the scent-laden breezes which roused
the heat-soaked town to life.... He was walking up Main Street again,
with rifle and snowshoes and fox, of a Sunday morning just as the
heavy church doors swung wide to the emerging congregation....
A strong gust flickered the lamp. He rose, slid shut the exposed
window and returned to his desk. In a few moments he took pen and
paper, and wrote.
DEANE-DEAR:--
Your letters come to me across the thousands of miles of
land and sea, carried by sooty train and boat, buried in a
dross of mail in prosy canvas sacks: I open them with the
delight one feels when he brushes aside the mat of damp and
frosty withered leaves to find the timid beauty of arbutus.
You think, perhaps, you might grow fond of these people? I
know that you would love this Gulf as I do. The humid heat
of the day oppresses me but little: I love the sparkling
hours of dawn, the cool of the evenings; the great tangled
stretches of green which clothe the slopes from sea to the
edge of the mountains that loom gray in the distance, like
the rim of the world. And I like the courageous planters,
toiling that the world may have its hemp: the young-old wild
tribes, emerging from their primitive mental shallows, a bit
bewildered, pathetic.
Yes, I think that you would like it all, too,
though--sometimes--I am not quite sure.
The mountains are not like our Vermont hills: more rugged,
wilder, more--what shall I say!--unsolved.... Thinking of
the home hills I can almost conceive the vast significance
of the word "eternity": but thoughts of these primeval hills
sweeps my mind backward, to the infinity of creation.
Untamed, untraveled, mysterious by day as by night, they
threaten as they beckon.
Nearly every evening, near sundown, I see a pair of wild
pigeons homing toward the crest of Apo. "Limoçons," the
Bogobos call them--"leem-o-sahns": the word falls limpid
from their lips, unaccented. They say the limoçon never was
heard to sing in the lowlands, and tell a strange legend
that it is an oracle of the Hill People, its song a
harbinger of good or evil tidings.
An old Bogobo woman told me of this one night, in a little
foothill village, when the spell of dusk had unlocked her
lips: and she told, whisperingly, of twice having heard the
Giant Agong of the Hill dwellers, once when she was a child,
again when she was grandmother to nineteen. I wish you could
have been there to watch and to listen: sitting near the
fire in front of her hut, surrounded by a circle of almost
naked wildmen who moved, uneasy, she told quaveringly of how
the booming tones had rumbled down the forested slopes, and
of how ill had befallen her people both times; when she
ceased, they stood breathless, their whole beings strained
to catch the dread sound none but she had ever heard. Yes,
she moved me, queerly ... I scarce know why.
I am lonely--a little--at times. But who is not? Yet I have
my work to keep me busy, usually happy. Just now I am facing
less pleasant duty--but it is, I fear, a work that must be
done. It is good to know that one is needed, as I am
here,--just now.
But never a day is born or dies but that I miss you all, as
I love you all ... Susan and Ellis, Father Jennings, the
foreigners ... all of you.
DICK.