The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LIX 272
"What's that?"
"Let's hear it!"
"What do they say?"
"Reputable persons," replied the officer in the midst of a profound silence, "state that this agitation for
building a schoolhouse was a pure fairy tale."
"Jesús! Just see that!" the señoras exclaimed, already believing in the trick.
"The school was a pretext. What he wanted to build was a fort from which he could safely defend himself
when we should come to attack him."
"What infamy! Only an Indian is capable of such cowardly thoughts," exclaimed the fat lady. "If I were the
Captain-General they would soon seem they would soon see--"
"That's what I say!" exclaimed the thin lady, turning to the one-armed man. "Arrest all the little lawyers,
priestlings, merchants, and without trial banish or deport them! Tear out the evil by the roots!"
"But it's said that this filibuster is the descendant of Spaniards," observed the one-armed man, without looking
at any one in particular.
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed the fat lady, unterrified. "It's always the creoles! No Indian knows anything about
revolution! Rear crows, rear crows!" [166]
"Do you know what I've heard?" asked a creole lady, to change the topic of conversation. "The wife of
Capitan Tinong, you remember her, the woman in whose house we danced and dined during the fiesta of
Tondo--"
"The one who has two daughters? What about her?"
"Well, that woman just this afternoon presented the Captain-General with a ring worth a thousand pesos!"
The one-armed man turned around. "Is that so? Why?" he asked with shining eyes.
"She said that it was a Christmas gift--"
"But Christmas doesn't come for a month yet!"
"Perhaps she's afraid the storm is blowing her way," observed the fat lady.
"And is getting under cover," added the thin señora.
"When no return is asked, it's a confession of guilt."
"This must be carefully looked into," declared the one-armed man thoughtfully. "I fear that there's a cat in the
bag."
"A cat in the bag, yes! That's just what I was going to say," echoed the thin lady.
"And so was I," said the other, taking the words out of her mouth, "the wife of Capitan Tinong is so