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The Spirit of Mount Apo · Anting-Anting Stories And Other Strange Tales of the Filipinos by Sargent Kayme

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  Speaker 1: Section eight of Antingantin Stories by Sergeant Kime. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Spirit of Mount Apo.
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  Speaker 1: From the deck of any vessel passing up the southeast
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  Speaker 1: coast of Mindanoo, the voyager can see the gold crowned
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  Speaker 1: summit of Apo, rising like a gilded cone, high above
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  Speaker 1: the dense vegetation of the island at its base next
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  Speaker 1: to Luzon, on which the city of Manila is situated.
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  Speaker 1: Mindanao is the largest of all the islands of the
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  Speaker 1: Philippine Archipelago, lying as it does far to the southeast
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  Speaker 1: and near the slu Islands. The Morros, as the venturesome
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  Speaker 1: Sulus are called, invaded Mindanao more than two hundred years
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  Speaker 1: ago and gradually crept farther and farther along the coasts
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  Speaker 1: and up the river valleys, waging intermitent warfare against the
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  Speaker 1: Visayans who had come from the west to settle on
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  Speaker 1: the island, and against the natives that lived in land,
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  Speaker 1: and keeping up constant, relentless war upon the Spaniards who
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  Speaker 1: claim the sovereignty of the island. There are few islands
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  Speaker 1: of its size in the world where so many different
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  Speaker 1: kinds of people live and perhaps no other where so
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  Speaker 1: many wild deeds have been done, until within the last
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  Speaker 1: two years a man's will there has been likely to
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  Speaker 1: be his only law. Nature has done much for the island.
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  Speaker 1: The soil is of incalculable richness. Fruits and grains grow
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  Speaker 1: luxuriantly where the ground is turned over, and as if
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  Speaker 1: to make the natives laugh at the need of such labor,
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  Speaker 1: the forests yield fruits and nuts with lavish generosity. Deer
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  Speaker 1: and buffalo run wild, and numberless varieties of pigeons live
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  Speaker 1: in the trees. Mount Apo, in the extreme southeastern part
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  Speaker 1: of the island and almost upon the coast, is the
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  Speaker 1: loftiest mountain in the archipelago. Its height is usually estimated
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  Speaker 1: to be not far from ten thousand feet. A spiral
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  Speaker 1: of steam drifting up from the sulfur crowned summit of
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  Speaker 1: the mountain shows that fires still linger in its bosom.
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  Speaker 1: But for many years it has been quiet, and at
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  Speaker 1: no time does history show that it has broken forth
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  Speaker 1: in fury to wreak the awful destruction that is written
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  Speaker 1: down against some of the volcanoes of these islands. My
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  Speaker 1: work as a naturalist had several times brought me where
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  Speaker 1: I could see apple, and each time I had been
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  Speaker 1: more and more fascinated by it, and more desirous of
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  Speaker 1: climbing to its top. When I began to talk of
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  Speaker 1: making the ascent, though, I found it would be no
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  Speaker 1: easy matter. Not only were the sides of the mountains
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  Speaker 1: said to be steep, and the forests which clothed them impassable,
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  Speaker 1: but there were mysterious dangers to be encountered. Men who
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  Speaker 1: had gone with me anywhere else I had asked them
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  Speaker 1: had affairs of their own to attend to. When I
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  Speaker 1: spoke of climbing apo or else flatly refused to go.
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  Speaker 1: I was told that no man that started up the
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  Speaker 1: mountain had ever come back. Enormous pythons drew their green
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  Speaker 1: bodies over its sides, man apes lived in its upper forests,
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  Speaker 1: whose strength no human being could meet. Devils and goblins
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  Speaker 1: lurked in the crevices below the summit. And above all,
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  Speaker 1: and most terrible of all, there was the spirit of
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  Speaker 1: the mountain, whose face to see was death. My questions
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  Speaker 1: as to how they knew all these things. If no
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  Speaker 1: man had lived to come back from the mountain had
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  Speaker 1: no effect. This was not a case for logic it
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  Speaker 1: was one of those where instinct ruled. There is a
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  Speaker 1: queer little animal, something like a sable, which is peculiar
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  Speaker 1: to mindanna. The natives call it gato del monte, which
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  Speaker 1: means mountain cat. I wanted to get some specimens of
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  Speaker 1: this animal, and also a variety of pigeon, which they
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  Speaker 1: call the stabbed dove, because it has a tuft of
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  Speaker 1: bright red feathers, like a splash of blood upon its
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  Speaker 1: otherwise snow white breast. To get these, I settled myself
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  Speaker 1: in a native village a few miles inland from the
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  Speaker 1: town of the Nagao, on the west shore of the
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  Speaker 1: Gulf of Davao. Mount Apo towered just above this place,
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  Speaker 1: and I meant to climb its sides before I left
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  Speaker 1: the valley. After the Bagobos in whose village I was living,
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  Speaker 1: found that all their tales of the terrible dangers on
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  Speaker 1: Apo did not dissuade me from tempting them. Three of
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  Speaker 1: the men agreed to pilot me as far up the
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  Speaker 1: mountain side as they ever went, and to carry there
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  Speaker 1: for me a sufficient supply of food to last me,
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  Speaker 1: as they evidently believed as long as I should need food.
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  Speaker 1: One of them, the best guide and carrier I had
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  Speaker 1: found on the whole island, had screwed his courage up
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  Speaker 1: to where he had promised to go farther with me.
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  Speaker 1: But the morning of our start, a couago bird flew
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  Speaker 1: across our path and hooted, and that settled the matter.
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  Speaker 1: Such an ominous portent as that no intelligent bagobo could
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  Speaker 1: be expected to disregard. The men hardly could be got
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  Speaker 1: to carry my luggage as far as they had agreed,
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  Speaker 1: and as soon as they had put the things down,
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  Speaker 1: they bade me a hasty farewell, and scuttled down the
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  Speaker 1: mountain as fast as their legs could carry them. I
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  Speaker 1: slept that night where the men had left me, and
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  Speaker 1: set out early the next morning, hoping to get to
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  Speaker 1: the top of the mountain and back to the same
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  Speaker 1: place before night overtook me. The climb was more than hard,
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  Speaker 1: for the first mile, harder than I had even feared.
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  Speaker 1: The forest grew so dense as to be practically impassable,
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  Speaker 1: and I finally took to the bed of a rocky stream,
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  Speaker 1: up which the traveling, although dangerous, was not so hard
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  Speaker 1: in time, though by scrambling up this water course I
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  Speaker 1: passed beyond the tree line, and then where there was
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  Speaker 1: only shrubbery, it was fairly easy to get along. I
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  Speaker 1: could see above the vegetation now, and the view even
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  Speaker 1: from here would have repaid me for all my effort.
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  Speaker 1: The side of the mountain swept down in a majestic
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  Speaker 1: curve from my feet to the sea. At its base
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  Speaker 1: was the Nagau, and far up the coast Davao. Beyond
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  Speaker 1: them lay the blue waters of the Gulf of Davao,
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  Speaker 1: and far across this, showing only as a line of
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  Speaker 1: deeper blue upon the water, the mountain ranges of the
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  Speaker 1: Eastern Peninsula. The bushes through which I waded were bent
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  Speaker 1: down with the ripe berries which grew on them. A
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  Speaker 1: herd of small, dark brown deer feeding among the bushes
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  Speaker 1: hardly moved out of my way. I wondered at their tameness.
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  Speaker 1: Bethought it must be because no man had ever come
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  Speaker 1: within their sight before. Above the bushes there was a
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  Speaker 1: zone of rock broken in places into huge boulders. And
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  Speaker 1: then between this and the cone was the sulfur field, glowing,
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  Speaker 1: now that I was near enough to see it, with
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  Speaker 1: a richness of coloring such as no painter's pallet could reproduce,
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  Speaker 1: from darkest green to deepest blue. Through all the tints
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  Speaker 1: and shades of yellow, the colors came went with here
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  Speaker 1: and there a touch of rose. I had stopped a
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  Speaker 1: moment to get breath and to gaze at the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: scene before me, when there came into it, and stood
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  Speaker 1: still between two great rocks, as a living picture might
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  Speaker 1: have stepped up into its frame, a woman, the strangest
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  Speaker 1: to look at that I have ever seen. She was
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  Speaker 1: young and slender. She was dressed in a simple dark
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  Speaker 1: brown hemp cloth garment which fell from neck to feet,
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  Speaker 1: and her round, young arms were bare to the shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: It took me a full minute before I could realize
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  Speaker 1: what it was which made her look so strange to me.
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  Speaker 1: Then I knew it had been so long since I
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  Speaker 1: had seen a white woman that I did not know
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  Speaker 1: one when I saw her. This woman's face and arms
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  Speaker 1: were as white as mine, much whiter indeed, for I
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  Speaker 1: was tanned by months of asiatic sun. And the hair
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  Speaker 1: which fell about her shoulders and down below her waist
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  Speaker 1: was white, not light or golden, but white. For once
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  Speaker 1: in my life, I am willing to confess, my nerves
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  Speaker 1: went back on me, and I could think of nothing
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  Speaker 1: but what the natives in the village at the foot
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  Speaker 1: of the mountain had told me. Pythons and man apes
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  Speaker 1: and devils I had seen no trace of. But here,
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  Speaker 1: beyond question was the spirit of the mountain. A stout
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  Speaker 1: pointed staff of iron wood, which I had been carrying
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  Speaker 1: to help me in my scramble up the mountain, slipped
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  Speaker 1: from my hand and fell clattering to the rocks. The
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  Speaker 1: woman turned her head toward the spot from which the
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  Speaker 1: sound had come, as if she heard the noise of
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  Speaker 1: the stick upon the stones, But although we were only
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  Speaker 1: a little way from each other, there was no expression
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  Speaker 1: in her face to indicate that she saw me. Then
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  Speaker 1: she spoke, Madre. There was no answer, and she called again,
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  Speaker 1: clearer and louder, Madre. There was a sound of swift
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  Speaker 1: steps on the stones, and a moment later another woman,
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  Speaker 1: an older woman, came from behind one of the rocks,
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  Speaker 1: as if in answer to some question in the girl's
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  Speaker 1: The woman looked down and saw me. In an instant
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  Speaker 1: she had sprung before the younger woman, as if to
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  Speaker 1: hide her from me. There are some women in the
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  Speaker 1: world whose very manner carries with it an impression of power.
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  Speaker 1: Such was the woman whom I saw before me, now
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  Speaker 1: not young, dark of skin, clad only in the simplest
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  Speaker 1: possible hemp cloth garment, there was in her face a
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  Speaker 1: dignity which could not but win instant recognition. Who are you?
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  Speaker 1: She asked in Spanish? And why do you come here?
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  Speaker 1: I told her as simply and as plainly as I could,
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  Speaker 1: who I was and why I had come up the mountain.
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  Speaker 1: She kept her place in front of the girl, screening
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  Speaker 1: her from sight during all the time that we were talking.
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  Speaker 1: When I had finished, she stood silent for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: as if thinking what to do. Since you have come here,
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  Speaker 1: she said, at last, where I have thought no one
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  Speaker 1: would ever come, and have learned what I had hoped
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  Speaker 1: no one would ever know. You will not, I feel sure,
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  Speaker 1: deny me an open ortunity to tell you enough of
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  Speaker 1: the reason why two women live in this wild place,
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  Speaker 1: so that I hope you will help them to keep
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  Speaker 1: their secret. May I ask you to go with us
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  Speaker 1: to the place which we call home? I said, I
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  Speaker 1: would be glad to go, without having the slightest idea
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  Speaker 1: where we were going. I should have said it just
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  Speaker 1: the same. I think if I had known she was
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  Speaker 1: going to leave me straight down into the crater of
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  Speaker 1: the volcano. Elena, the older woman said, speaking to the girl.
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  Speaker 1: Then she said something else in a native dialect which
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  Speaker 1: I did not understand. The girl came out from the
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  Speaker 1: place where she had been hidden and passed behind the rocks.
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  Speaker 1: When I saw her face, now I saw what I
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  Speaker 1: had not perceived before. She was blind. When the girl
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  Speaker 1: had gone a little time, the woman said, will you
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  Speaker 1: follow me? She waited until I had climbed up to
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  Speaker 1: where she stood, and then led the way around the
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  Speaker 1: rock behind which the girl had disappeared. A well defined
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  Speaker 1: path led from that place down into the dwarfed vegetation,
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  Speaker 1: and then through that to the forest beyond. The girl
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  Speaker 1: was already some distance down this path, walking rather slowly
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  Speaker 1: as blind people walk, but steadily, and with fingers outstretched
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  Speaker 1: here and there to touch the bushes on each side.
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  Speaker 1: We followed where the trees began to be tall enough
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  Speaker 1: to furnish shelter. My guide stopped, pushed aside the branches
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  Speaker 1: of what appeared to be an impenetrable thicket, and motioned
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  Speaker 1: me to follow her through. The girl had disappeared again.
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  Speaker 1: The opening through which we went was so thoroughly hidden
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  Speaker 1: that I might have gone past it fifty times and
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  Speaker 1: never suspected it was there, or thought that the path
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  Speaker 1: down which we had come was anything but a dear track.
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  Speaker 1: Another short path led us to a cleared space in
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  Speaker 1: the forest, in which a long, low house of bamboo
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  Speaker 1: and thatch had been built. A herd of deer was
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  Speaker 1: feeding near the house. Those directly in our path moved
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  Speaker 1: lazily out of the way. The others did not stir.
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  Speaker 1: I knew then why the deer that I had seen
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  Speaker 1: as I had come up the mountain were so tame.
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  Speaker 1: A broad porch was built against one side of the house,
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  Speaker 1: and under this were hung fiber hammocks. The woman pointed
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  Speaker 1: me to one of these hammocks, and, leaving me there,
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  Speaker 1: went into the house. When she came back, she brought
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  Speaker 1: two gourds filled with some kind of home made wine,
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  Speaker 1: and two wooden cups. The girl, coming just behind her,
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  Speaker 1: brought a basket of fruit, which the woman took from
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  Speaker 1: her and placed upon a bamboo stand beside my hammock. Then,
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  Speaker 1: filling one of the cups from a gourd, she drank
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  Speaker 1: half its contents and set the cup down fixing her
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  Speaker 1: eyes on mine as she did so. I knew enough
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  Speaker 1: of native customs by this time to understand what this meant.
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  Speaker 1: If I took the cup which she had drunk from
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  Speaker 1: and drank, I was a guest of the house and
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  Speaker 1: bound in honor to do it no harm. If I
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  Speaker 1: poured wine from the other gourd into another cup and drank,
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  Speaker 1: I was under obligations as a guest. Only while I
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  Speaker 1: was under the roof, I took the cup from the
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  Speaker 1: table and drank the half portion of wine which she
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  Speaker 1: had left in it. Thank you, the woman said, I
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  Speaker 1: will trust you. Then, sitting on a bamboo stool near
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  Speaker 1: my hammock, she began to talk. Only at times, as
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  Speaker 1: she told me her story, she would rise and walk
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  Speaker 1: up and down the porch, as if she could tell
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  Speaker 1: me some things easier walking than when sitting still. Much
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  Speaker 1: of what she told me I shall not write down here,
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  Speaker 1: but enough for an understanding of the strange things which followed.
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  Speaker 1: My home was once inn, she said, naming one of
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  Speaker 1: the most important towns in the island. My father was
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  Speaker 1: a Spanish officer, rich, proud and powerful. My mother was
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  Speaker 1: a Visayan woman. When I was little more than a girl.
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  Speaker 1: My parents married me to a Spanish officer much older
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  Speaker 1: than myself. So far as I knew then what love was,
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  Speaker 1: I thought I loved him. Afterward I came to know
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  Speaker 1: among the prisoners brought into my husband's care, there came
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  Speaker 1: one day a Moto whose life, for some reason had
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  Speaker 1: been spared longer than was the lot of most prisoners.
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  Speaker 1: I told myself the first time I saw this man
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  Speaker 1: that he was the noblest looking man I had ever seen,
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  Speaker 1: and since that time I have never seen his equal.
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  Speaker 1: Chance made it possible for us to meet and speak,
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  Speaker 1: and then in a little while I came to know
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  Speaker 1: what love really is. One day I learned that the
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  Speaker 1: Moro prisoner was to be beheaded. The next day word
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  Speaker 1: had come that a Spanish prisoner whom the Moros had
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  Speaker 1: captured some time before, with the hope of whose ransom
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  Speaker 1: this man had been held, had been killed. That night,
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  Speaker 1: the woman was walking the floor of the porch. Now
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  Speaker 1: I killed my husband while he was asleep, set the
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  Speaker 1: man I loved free, and we fled the city by day.
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  Speaker 1: We hid in the forests and walked by night, until
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  Speaker 1: we came to a part of the island where the
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  Speaker 1: Moros lived. Nicomedes brought me to the town which had
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  Speaker 1: been his home, and we were married and lived there.
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  Speaker 1: Elena is child, you have seen her. I realized now
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  Speaker 1: the truth about the girl, her strange appearance, the color
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  Speaker 1: of her skin and eyes and hair. In my travels
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  Speaker 1: through the islands, I had once or twice seen other
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  Speaker 1: albino children. The woman had sat down again. Our life
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  Speaker 1: in the Morrow town was never wholly comfortable. My husband's
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  Speaker 1: people distrusted me. I was of a different faith and
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  Speaker 1: from a hostile race. They would rather he would have
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  Speaker 1: chosen a wife of his own people. When the child
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  Speaker 1: was born, things grew worse. Some said the tribe would
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  Speaker 1: never win in war while the child lived. It was
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  Speaker 1: a curse. Then came a year when the plague raged
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  Speaker 1: among the Moros, as it had never been known to
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  Speaker 1: do terrible, as some of its visits before that time
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  Speaker 1: had been. One day, a slave whose life Nicomedis once
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  Speaker 1: had saved when his master would have beaten the man
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  Speaker 1: to death, came to our house and told us that
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  Speaker 1: the people of the town were coming to kill us
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  Speaker 1: all that the curse might be removed and the plague stayed.
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  Speaker 1: My husband would have stood up to fight them all
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  Speaker 1: until he himself was killed. But for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: the child, and because I begged him not to leave
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  Speaker 1: us alone, he did not. Again. We fled into the forest,
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  Speaker 1: and because the trees and the beasts and the birds
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  Speaker 1: were kinder to us than any man, we said we
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  Speaker 1: would come up here where we knew no man dare come,
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  Speaker 1: and would live our lives here. Eight years ago my
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  Speaker 1: husband died. The woman was walking the porch again, and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes she waited a long time between the sentences of
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  Speaker 1: her story. We buried him out there, pointing to where
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  Speaker 1: the forest came up to one side of the enclosure.
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  Speaker 1: It is easy for us to live here. We have
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  Speaker 1: everything we need. We have never been disturbed before. Only
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  Speaker 1: once years ago did any of the natives come as
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  Speaker 1: far up the mountain as this, and it was easy
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  Speaker 1: for us to frighten them, so that no one had
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  Speaker 1: dared to come. Since then, you are the only living
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  Speaker 1: person who knows our secret. Shall we know that it
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  Speaker 1: is to be safe with you? For answer, I filled
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  Speaker 1: the wooden cup from the gourd again, drank half the contents,
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  Speaker 1: and handed the cup to her to drink the rest.
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  Speaker 1: I thank you, she said, my life has had enough
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  Speaker 1: of sin and suffering in it, so that I had
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  Speaker 1: hoped it may not have more of either. I would
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  Speaker 1: not have you think that I am complaining, she said
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  Speaker 1: hastily a moment later, as if she was afraid I
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  Speaker 1: would get that impression. I am not. I do not
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  Speaker 1: regret one day of my life. My hands are stained
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  Speaker 1: with what people call crime, and my heart knows all
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  Speaker 1: the weight which grief can lay upon a heart. But
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  Speaker 1: the joy of my life while my husband lived, paid
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  Speaker 1: for it all. To have been loved by him as
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  Speaker 1: I was loved was well worth crime and grief. Why
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  Speaker 1: do you not go away from here? I asked? Why
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  Speaker 1: not leave this country entirely and go to some new
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  Speaker 1: land where you would be free from danger. I will
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  Speaker 1: help you to get away. We know nothing of other lands,
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  Speaker 1: she said. We should be helpless there. We are better here. Besides.
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  Speaker 1: A moment later, his grave, pointing out toward the trees,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: is here. It had grown dark as we talked, the thick,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: dead darkness of a Philippine forest night. The deer on
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the ground outside the porch had lain down and curled
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: their heads around beside them and gone to sleep. Enormous
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: bats flew past the house. We could not see them,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: but we felt the air which their huge wings set
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: in motion. The woman lighted a little torch of via
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: ow nuts. Lena came out of the house, walked across
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the porch, and disappeared in the darkness, going toward the forest.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Ought she to go, I asked, will she not be
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: lost or hurt? Did you not understand it all? The
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: girl's mother said, she is blind only in the daytime.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: At night she sees as readily as you and I
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: do by day. In a few minutes, the girl came
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: back with her hands filled with fresh picked fruit. She
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: gave me this, and her mother brought out from the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: house such simple food as she could provide. You will
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: sleep here to night, she said, and left me. The
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: next day, I went to the top of the mountain,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and after that, by making two trips to my camp,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: brought up all the articles which had been left there,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: including some blankets, a gun and ammunition, some food, and
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: some medicines. These I asked the woman of the mountain,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: as I called her to myself, to let me give
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to her. She took them and thanked me. I stayed
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: there that night and the next day said good bye
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to the two strange women, and went down the mountain.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: When I reached my house in the village, I found
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: my neighbors getting ready to divide my property among themselves,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: since they were satisfied I would never return to claim it.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: They did not think it strange that I came back
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: empty handed. That I had come back at all was
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: a wonder. For the sake of the security of the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: two women, I let it be know that I had
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: seen strange sights on the volcano's top, and that it
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: was a perilous journey to climb its sides. I planned
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: to stay in the village some weeks longer. My house,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: like most of the native habitations, was built of bamboo,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: and was set upon posts several feet above the ground.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I lived alone. One night, about a month after my return,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I woke from a sound sleep choking. Some one's hand
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: was pressed tightly over my mouth, and another hand on
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: my breast held me down motionless upon my sleeping mat
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Don't speak, some one whispered into my ear. Don't make
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a sound. Lie perfectly quiet until you understand all that
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I am saying. The natives have banded themselves together to
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: kill you, to night. They believe the village has been
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: cursed ever since you came down from Mount Apple, and
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: that you are the cause of it. I could see
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: now that there had been a growing coldness towards me
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: on the part of the people ever since I had
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: come back, and there had been evil luck too. The
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: chief's best horse had cast himself and had to be killed.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Two men out hunting had fallen into the hands of
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: a hostile tribe and been bollowed. Game had been unusually scarce,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: and aquago bird had hooted three nights in succession. They
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: are coming here to night to burn your house, the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: same voice whispered, and kill you with their spears if
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: you try to escape the flames. No matter how I
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: knew or how we came, there is no time to lose.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: You cannot stop to bring anything with you. Come outside
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the house at once, as noiselessly as possible, and Elena
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: will lead us to where you can escape. The hands
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: were taken from my mouth and body, and I felt
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: that I was alone. A few moments later, outside the house,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: when I stepped from the ladder to the ground, a hand,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: a woman's hand, grasped mine firmly. Do not be afraid
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to follow. The same voice whispered, Elena, will lead the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: way and will tell us of anything in the path.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: The hand gave a tug at mine, and I followed.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: We were in abasolute darkness. Sometimes the front of a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: giant fern brushed against my cheek, or the sharp pointed
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: leaf of a palm stung my face, but that was all.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: The girl led us steadily onward through the forest. Stop,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: she said, once, and look back. I turned my face
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: in the direction from which we had come. A ray
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: of light shone in the darkness and quickly became a blaze.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: It was my house on fire. With the light of
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the fire came the sound of savage cries and shouts
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of the men watching with poised spears about the burning house.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: In the dim light which the fire cast where we stood,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I could make out the forms of my two companions.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: A black cloth bound around the girl's head hid her
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: white hair in the dark. Her eyes, so blank in
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the daylight, glowed like two stars. She held her mother
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: by the hand, and the older woman's other hand grasped mine.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: I looked at the girl and thought of Nydia leading
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the fewugitives from out Pompey to safety. Before the light
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: of the fire had died, we were on our way again.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: It seemed to me as if we walked in the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: darkness of the forest for hours, But after a little
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: we were following a beaten track. At times the girl
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: told us to step over a tree fallen across the path,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: or warned us that we were to cross a stream.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: At last, we came out on the hard sand of
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the ocean beach and reached the water's edge. Freed from
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the forest's shade, the darkness was less dense. I could
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: make out the surface of the water, and out on
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: it a little way, some dark object. The girl spoke
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to her mother in their native tongue. There is a bannka,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the woman said, pointing out over the water to the boat.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: No matter whose it is, swim out to it, pull
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: up the anchor, and before day comes you can be safe.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: I tried to thank her. I am glad we could
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: do it. She said simply, I am glad if we
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: could do good. Then they left me and went back
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: up the beach into the darkness. End of section eight.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Recording by maricel Cree