The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LXIII 290
The old man felt the tears springing up into his eyes, so, placing his hands on the boy's head, he said with
emotion: "You're like an old man! Go, look for your mother, give her the Christmas gift--from God, as you
say. If I had known the name of your town I would have gone there when you were sick. Go, my son, and may
God and the Lord Jesus go with you. Lucia, my granddaughter, will go with you to the nearest town."
"What! You're going away?" the little boy asked him. "Down there are soldiers and many robbers. Don't you
want to see my firecrackers? Boom, boom, boom!"
"Don't you want to play hide-and-seek?" asked the little girl. "Have you ever played it? Surely there's nothing
any more fun than to be chased and hide yourself?"
Basilio smiled, but with tears in his eyes, and caught up his staff. "I'll come back soon," he answered. "I'll
bring my little brother, you'll see him and play with him. He's just about as big as you are."
"Does he walk lame, too?" asked the little girl. "Then we'll make him 'it' when we play hide-and-seek."
"Don't forget us," the old man said to him. "Take this dried meat as a present to your mother."
The children accompanied him to the bamboo bridge swung over the noisy course of the stream. Lucia made
him support himself on her arm, and thus they disappeared from the children's sight, Basilio walking along
nimbly in spite of his bandaged leg.
The north wind whistled by, making the inhabitants of San Diego shiver with cold. It was Christmas Eve and
yet the town was wrapped in gloom. Not a paper lantern hung from the windows nor did a single sound in the
houses indicate the rejoicing of other years.
In the house of Capitan Basilio, he and Don Filipo--for the misfortunes of the latter had made them
friendly--were standing by a window-grating and talking, while at another were Sinang, her cousin Victoria,
and the beautiful Iday, looking toward the street.
The waning moon began to shine over the horizon, illumining the clouds and making the trees and houses east
long, fantastic shadows.
"Yours is not a little good fortune, to get off free in these times!" said Capitan Basilio to Don Filipo. "They've
burned your books, yes, but others have lost more."
A woman approached the grating and gazed into the interior. Her eyes glittered, her features were emaciated,
her hair loose and dishevelled. The moonlight gave her a weird aspect.
"Sisal" exclaimed Don Filipo in surprise. Then turning to Capitan Basilio, as the madwoman ran away, he
asked, "Wasn't she in the house of a physician? Has she been cured?"
Capitan Basilio smiled bitterly. "The physician was afraid they would accuse him of being a friend of Don
Crisostomo's, so he drove her from his house. Now she wanders about again as crazy as ever, singing,
harming no one, and living in the woods."
"What else has happened in the town since we left it? I know that we have a new curate and another alferez."
"These are terrible times, humanity is retrograding," murmured Capitan Basilio, thinking of the past. "The day
after you left they found the senior sacristan dead, hanging from a rafter in his own house. Padre Salvi was
greatly affected by his death and took possession of all his papers. Ah, yes, the old Sage, Tasio, also died and
was buried in the Chinese cemetery."