The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
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CHAPTER LVIII 264<br />
CHAPTER LVIII<br />
<strong>The</strong> Accursed<br />
Soon the news spread through the town that the prisoners were about to set out. At first it was heard with<br />
terror; afterward came the weeping and wailing. <strong>The</strong> families of the prisoners ran about in distraction, going<br />
from the convento to the barracks, from the barracks to the town hall, and finding no consolation anywhere,<br />
filled the air with cries and groans. <strong>The</strong> curate had shut himself up on a plea of illness; the alferez had<br />
increased the guards, who received the supplicating women with the butts of their rifles; the gobernadorcillo,<br />
at best a useless creature, seemed to be more foolish and more useless than ever. In front of the jail the women<br />
who still had strength enough ran to and fro, while those who had not sat down on the ground and called upon<br />
the names of their beloved.<br />
Although the sun beat down fiercely, not one of these unfortunates thought of going away. Doray, the<br />
erstwhile merry and happy wife of Don Filipo, wandered about dejectedly, carrying in her arms their infant<br />
son, both weeping. To the advice of friends that she go back home to avoid exposing her ba<strong>by</strong> to an attack of<br />
fever, the disconsolate woman replied, "Why should he live, if he isn't going to have a father to rear him?"<br />
"Your husband is innocent. Perhaps he'll come back."<br />
"Yes, after we're all dead!"<br />
Capitana Tinay wept and called upon her son Antonio. <strong>The</strong> courageous Capitana Maria gazed silently toward<br />
the small grating behind which were her twin-boys, her only sons.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was present also the mother-in-law of the pruner of coco-palms, but she was not weeping; instead, she<br />
paced back and forth, gesticulating with uplifted arms, and haranguing the crowd: "Did you ever see anything<br />
like it? To arrest my Andong, to shoot at him, to put him in the stocks, to take him to the capital, and only<br />
because--because he had a new pair of pantaloons! This calls for vengeance! <strong>The</strong> civil-guards are committing<br />
abuses! I swear that if I ever again catch one of them in my garden, as has often happened, I'll chop him up,<br />
I'll chop him up, or else--let him try to chop me up!" Few persons, however, joined in the protests of the<br />
Mussulmanish mother-in-law.<br />
"Don Crisostomo is to blame for all this," sighed a woman.<br />
<strong>The</strong> schoolmaster was also in the crowd, wandering about bewildered. Ñor Juan did not rub his hands, nor<br />
was he carrying his rule and plumb-bob; he was dressed in black, for he had heard the bad news and, true to<br />
his habit of looking upon the future as already assured, was in mourning for Ibarra's death.<br />
At two o'clock in the afternoon an open cart drawn <strong>by</strong> two oxen stopped in front of the town hall. This was at<br />
once set upon <strong>by</strong> the people, who attempted to unhitch the oxen and destroy it. "Don't do that!" said Capitana<br />
Maria. "Do you want to make them walk?" This consideration acted as a restraint on the prisoners' relatives.<br />
Twenty soldiers came out and surrounded the cart; then the prisoners appeared. <strong>The</strong> first was Don Filipo,<br />
bound. He greeted his wife smilingly, but Doray broke out into bitter weeping and two guards had difficulty<br />
in preventing her from embracing her husband. Antonio, the son of Capitana Tinay, appeared crying like a<br />
ba<strong>by</strong>, which only added to the lamentations of his family. <strong>The</strong> witless Andong broke out into tears at sight of<br />
his mother-in-law, the cause of his misfortune. Albino, the quondam theological student, was also bound, as<br />
were Capitana Maria's twins. All three were grave and serious. <strong>The</strong> last to come out was Ibarra, unbound, but<br />
conducted between two guards. <strong>The</strong> pallid youth looked about him for a friendly face.<br />
"He's the one that's to blame!" cried many voices. "He's to blame and he goes loose!"