Terry / A Tale of the Hill People

er of the awkward powerful brutes dawdled up the dusty road, hauling a decrepit two-wheeled cart on which a naked-backed, red-pantalooned native dozed: Padre Velasco, the aged Spanish p

me in from the foothills with the information that a mysterious fever had attacked t

ry fat man, Doctor Merchant, inclined to be fussy about little things but magnificent in big things, and thoroughly imbued with the idea that his work of protecting the natives ag

octor, you ought to wa

all the time-it takes no ti

always look as if you were on your way to a dinner or dance!" Wiping the perspiration from heavy jowl and neck he l

ith me-if I need yo

bighearted doctor ride out into the sun on his errand of mercy. As the tough little pony bore his heavy burden int

Among his official mail Terry received a confidential memorandum

ga, 12/

r Lieut

l, Ignacio Sakay, passed throu

r's most vicious undertakings, was convicted of briganda

ntless. Among the natives he was known as "Malabanan'

from these men: Malabanan has do

this mem

on

he polished mahogany floor. He passed a grim afternoon with the Macabebes on the target range, where the scorers wa

ttentions to his master were even more meticulous than usual, he moved with an air of somber detachment. Terry had oft

k," h

ncholy eyes fixed steadfastly

bout your past life. I am not going to ask you now, unl

nderstood his purpose, the tight muscles of his face relaxed and he slid forward to kneel on one knee and raise Terry's hand to his lips

coast Basilan. Very happy family, master: father, mother, sister, me; three carabaos we have, a little

l him. I-a little boy-see them do it: see them kill my father-with bolos. Then they kill my mother-the same man-the same bolo. I see that, too:

e, too, because I soon be strong boy to work. My sister-they say

her fighting with same big Filipino who kill my father and mother. Anoth

e hurt him, so he draw knife, kill her, and throw her in sea: the

r which furrowed his left shoulder. It had severed the clavi

t morning I take boat, find sister, bury

re of implacable h

nine years ago. Nine years I no laugh, no sing, no play, no talk with Moro girls, no marry-just listen-just look; listen f

him, soon. For I know y

ose, placed his hand upon the Moro's shoulder-the scarre

will help," h

ently on his bare heels and

ire of the heavy fall on iron roofs, the rush of water through shallow dirt gutters; inside, the big house roared, the roof trembled overhead. He paced t

the calendar indicated that Christmas was less than two weeks distant, and for the first time since the days when she had first intrud

he arrival of a spent Bogobo runner

Lie

n, won't do a thing I order, won't take treatment, but are tryi

influence among them is so great

this. The disease is mosquito-borne, and fatal if untreat

cha

he night in town. They rode together several miles to where the trail, soaked with the night's rain, forked t

broke the silence in which they had ridden fol

"you're too young

nto a slow grin: "Lind

ifferent-and you ar

singular sweetness, the queer smile which deep

t you mean, I think.

tinue, but Terry looked away, idly studying the thickly planted hemp fields that extended from the fork to Lindsey's

are doing in taming a soil that was wild in jungle ag

ned by happy Japanese fingers into braided hats to cover lovely heads in Picadilly or Valparaiso or Montreal: or woven into a cord which will fly a kite for some tousle-headed boy in

nderment to this conception of his

my immature plants, lack of labor, poor transportation, fluctuations of pri

sneeze compelled contraction of the expanded chest. Mounted, he see

to look after me, somehow, though I can look after myself, pretty well. I never quite understood why they

. Mounting, he started homeward along the edge of the field trying to interpret the strange appeal this young officer had exerted over him

e exclaimed aloud. "That'

, dripped from his fat face and neck, and his once-starched clothes hung limp from his rolypoly frame. Worn with loss of sleep and fruit

s elicited the measures the doctor wished put into effect, simple curative methods and

d he continued: "It's a good thing you did-the village is swarming with

had ceased a few minutes after Terry went out, the doctor stepped to the door and watched his progress from shack to shack, saw how the picturesque little savages grouped about him. They knew hi

ted off the cuplike scarlet blossoms from hibiscus shrubs. They carried green brush to a series of smudges he lit to cordon the village against the vicious singing horde of germ carriers. Best of all, they ceased their incantations over the sick, u

ared into the woods for an hour, returning with a young buck speared through the lungs and shot mercifully through the head. In an hour a big pot was boiling in t

ere was no attempt at exercise of authority, no raising of voice, no gestures, only pa

ry came, distributed his bulk as comfortably as possible on the bamboo floor, tucked in his m

of the chief's abode. Seated on a stump near the blaze, surrounded by a ring of half-nude Bogobos whose timid eyes seldom wandered from

s with which both men and women were adorned. The first mad panic had abated, but Death had stalked through the settlement six times in as many days, and they listened superstitiously for the stark Tre

n, wrinkled and shrivelled with a number of year

es of a fish. Each year h

o legend. Terry stirred: it was the old

ust them. These white men are Bogobo friends. These white men are strong, wise,

moved uneasily. A young hunter nervously stirred the fla

rgotten how the Giant Agong rang the ni

they wanted white blood in the veins of future chiefs.

simple legend, Terry mov

how many years

but this I know-it happened during the rains before the

re of the Spanish troops, he gently pressed h

erry asleep under the open window, wrapped in his saddle blanket but without the protection of a mosquito net. He cursed, stopping midway in his vehement outburst to cock his head at the absurd angl

tream of invective the doctor poured upon him for sleeping without his net. Suddenly sensing the res

ef's wife: she-she is about to be

mother?" he stormed, refusing to concede the justice of

is half-naked splendor of beads and brass, sauntered with an air

bathroom on a German liner! But he has no pants-why

ster's feet. Merchant stopped to swab the thick perspiration from his face, laughed at Terry's humbugging pose, and desisted. Terry slip

e, he sought to divert him. He sneezed violently, and as the doctor listened with professional inte

t a bad cold,

his handkerchief. "It was awf

e damp in an open sha

osively, then took a few short turns about the

suddenly, Terry held aloft the perspiration-

lly, then dodged the shoe the hoa

was convinced that he could now handle the situation alone and insis

losely for several days and if you di

and into the long homeward trail, the doc

I never thanked