Mexico weekly ledger., 1909-04-08

danao to suppress the Moro uprising.
l did good service, for / vas the
strongest man IN the regiment and
had a beautiful 'bolo' with a blade Ia
inches long and as broad ~ your
grace's hand; and on the back Of the
blade l filed a notch for every Moro
l killed with II. It was a beautiful
bolo, and the Spanish officers offered
me many pesos for It, but l would not
sell It, for 1t had belonged to my
father, and he had carved the hilt as
none but he could carve hits Of bolos.
When we returned to Manila there
were nine notches In the back Of tho
blade, and | was a corporal, for 1t does
not suit F1lipinos to fight as the Span
iards fight, by shooting at great dis
tances, and we used to leave the white
soldiers far behind and wait for them
to come up after the fighting was over.
For good conduct | was transferred
into the Guardia Civil of Manila. and.
as a guardia, | served many years. |
had been married, and we had one
son, and he was more than the idol
and Joy of his mothers heart,-for my
wife is a Visayan, and the love Of a
Visayan woman for her lrst-born is
beyond the knowledge of a man. He
grew TO be like me in strength and
stature. a marvel among men, and /
was proud Of him, and prouder yet to
see how my mujer gloried in and loved
him for his strength and size, for 1t
made him like meme, a member OF
the ever-to-be-trusted Guardia Civil,
with my Mindanao medal to wear at
the fiestas.
"And at last he, our Jose, vas en-
listed in the infantry as | had been,
and my mujer wept as she stood be-
side me and saw him march in the
ranks. from pride that her 'muchacho'
was the tallest man in the line, and
his shoulders were those of a man and
a half,--and a Visayan woman seldom
weeps. But l, l who had been a sol.
der, did not weep, though l felt sad
and doubtful, for l knew that the
Spanish officers were o as they had
been in my day, and that there raj
discomfort among the lines. But l
gave him my bolo to wear and use,-
the one with the nine notches in the
back of the blade, senior, with the hilt
which had been carved by my father.
1--WE saw him but seldom after that,
and knew not where he was stationed,
for the infantry soldier in the service
of Spain has little time but to serve,
and sometimes his mother would
grieve because he was not there with
her, and then rejoice because another
day had gone and the end of his serv-
ice was nearer.
Then came the mutiny. Your grace
knows, sin dude, how it was arranged
that the regiments in Cavite should
kill their officers and the white resi-
dents, and then send up a rocket as a
signal to the troops in Manila to do
the same and capture the city. But
your grace, perhaps, does not know
that 1t was through the Guardia Civil
that word of the uprising was sent to
the commandante in Manila; for the
| NuATuld OlNllt-Ol hulCh L Wdo INV
senor,-whatever its sympathies are,
is true to the cause to which 1t Is
sworn-as true as the steel of the
bolo-and some loco among the mu-
tineers had told a friend who was a
guardia. And when the rocket went
up from Cavite, the troops in Manila
had been disarmed, and we, with the
white troops, were on our way to Ca
vite.
when we landed, the mutineers
t had fed and were hiding, but they had
. done their work, and when | saw it
ah, senior, the poor white senoras and
little c~hildren!-my blood became like
the hot yellow wine which the Ingleses
|. drink with soda-water, and cared moi
/, that the mutineers we're my country
men or that the bodies were those Of
Y Spanish. Our hearts cried out fol
vengeance, and we obeyed the orders
: to enter every nipa-hut in Cavite ant
drive our bayonets through the floor
D for 1t was under them that he mu
s tineers were hiding-and the scars o
j our DdyDntLb are lhOi IA NV u v
Cayite to-day. / entered two huts ant
q thrust my bayonet through the fool
l of each until the screams elo Ia
4 ceased. Then | entered a third, ant
t thrust, and there were no screams
3 but a hand with a bolo came VI
:, through the floor and gashed my leg
as your grace sees. / put my foot OF
the bolo and thrust again with all my
great strength; and then the hand re
Taxed and the fingers opened and shui
d and tore at the bamboo strips on the
Z floor like a cats claws-and saw tina
:, the bolo had nine notches in the bach
of the blade and that the handle haC
been carved by my father.
+ aOur son, the pride and joy of hii
mothers heart-a Visayan woman'i
t heart, senor-was buried in the DITCH
in Cavite with the others, and |, hii
father, who had loved him and killed
a him-I placed him in it-for l was 6
member of the Guardia Civil.
That is the cause, senior, of the
scar on my leg, and also the cause
I of my not ~resenting the insults from
my mujer; for / had killed her first
born and destroyed her joy in life, The
insults of a woman to a man are bu'
little to the loss of her flrst-born to 1
t Visayan woman; and If she can beal
g her loss the better that should beal
in meekness what she says or does t
Q me in her anger, may we both live
n thousand years"
The 5aIdheaded Man.
The shafts of wit of the professional