The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LXIII 293
For a long time the boy wept and moaned. When at last he raised his head he saw a man standing over him,
gazing at the scene in silence.
"Are you her son?" asked the unknown in a low voice.
The boy nodded.
"What do you expect to do?"
"Bury her!"
"In the cemetery?"
"I haven't any money and, besides, the curate wouldn't allow it."
"Then?"
"If you would help me--"
"I'm very weak," answered the unknown as he sank slowly to the ground, supporting himself with both hands.
"I'm wounded. For two days I haven't eaten or slept. Has no one come here tonight?"
The man thoughtfully contemplated the attractive features of the boy, then went on in a still weaker voice,
"Listen! I, too, shall be dead before the day comes. Twenty paces from here, on the other side of the brook,
there is a big pile of firewood. Bring it here, make a pyre, put our bodies upon it, cover them over, and set fire
to the whole--fire, until we are reduced to ashes!"
Basilio listened attentively.
"Afterwards, if no one comes, dig here. You will find a lot of gold and it will all be yours. Take it and go to
school."
The voice of the unknown was becoming every moment more unintelligible. "Go, get the firewood. I want to
help you."
As Basilio moved away, the unknown turned his face toward the east and murmured, as though praying:
"I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land! You, who have it to see, welcome it--and forget
not those who have fallen during the night!"
He raised his eyes to the sky and his lips continued to move, as if uttering a prayer. Then he bowed his head
and sank slowly to the earth.
Two hours later Sister Rufa was on the back veranda of her house making her morning ablutions in order to
attend mass. The pious woman gazed at the adjacent wood and saw a thick column of smoke rising from it.
Filled with holy indignation, she knitted her eyebrows and exclaimed:
"What heretic is making a clearing on a holy day? That's why so many calamities come! You ought to go to
purgatory and see if you could get out of there, savage!"
EPILOGUE