"STAR", TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9302, 31 July 1908, Page 4

"STAR", TALES.

KLING.

(By JAMES HOPPER.)

«Te had been riding toward San Juan, all day, beneath, a dome of sky ttacably Sk .For the last hour our ittle native ponies bad been fighting £eir bite witV arched necks and trytog burst* of speed which the Major of KLifcabulary continually curbed, for fe wished to arrive only .just at the Sue set for his conference with the wflen and restive populations mtimiUtedsand Boothed. . , . He was to my left, very etraizhtin fe saddle, his helmet Mding the pper talf of his face and making probent bis square carved chin; and to a right rode Kling, lieutenant of Soots in the secret division— a taciturn nd silent man, -yellow and lean with jrvioe. Behind, pell-mell, the escort (Bowed, their red blankets a warm Dte of colour in the overgreen land»pe. And ahead, lithe as a cat m his aglißh saddle, Manuel turned often wrard ua, like a youth impatient to rriro and yet indulgent of the infirm- [<■ of hie elders; his teeth would ■Jsfa in a smile, and the light oi • blown eyes, with their amber Lntfl passed over us almost in a Teas. He waa a mestizo, with some ood of hidalgos, and he was good to Mk at. . T : Crossing a river, an hour before, I iftd seen Mm stripped — and had been tobomahed at finding his aristocratic jody knife-scarred to the point of mullation. I had been thinking of it ever {no©: it wae so incongruous, this grim barking of the amiable youth. •" How the deuce did he ever get 6O Bit?" 1 asked. . ; «' H© got that killing De La Rama," tttid tie Major. And then, with a sly nance over my horse toward Kling: Hie kUls for Kling ; we call him ! KHng*a murderer. There's some peird understanding between them. "Didn't he kill De La Rama for ■ouP Own up now, Kling," persisted he teasing Major. But Kling rode on, eyes forward ana nscrutable. , We were drawing up to Manuel, wno lad reined in after a dash, and stood h the middle of the road, waiting. He lashed us a smile; then, whirling, he v*B off in another run.

'«' That boy kill I" I said. " I never rill know these Filipinos. He seems Beetle as a girl. And who was this De U RamaP" " ttmph— that's hard to tell—exactly. I never knew the gentleman. Sling here knows all about him — but ie won't tell. During the insurrection te was colonel — head of an independent command, mostly mounted, winch or a while really raised the dickens rith us. Ho was a mestizo, like Mandri over there, half Spanish blood— kttd that half was good stuff, had a few drops of conquistador, perhaps; be--aauae' certainly he was handsome and Siring as the devil, with the manners »f a grandee — and the morals of a kitKhen poullion. He raised the deuce nmultaneously with us in war and with fche women of the country in love. And be had a wife at home, a sweet, darkfcyed little thing^-we'll see her— whom he treated shamefully. He was lnterjßting, anyway; after he wae dead, I found that I had always wanted to fcnow him. , , „ " When the insurrection had collapsed he took the oath of allegiance and went .back to his haciendas about San Jnan; but there he plotted againet us, pontinuously and very murderously. lie ] we* of the Katipunan and head of one of the town's factions — the strongest; % sort of feudal lord in short, with almost unlimited power. And then alo^g eomes this young fellow Manuel, and challenges his supremacy, and ends by lolling him— which is a good riddance, % «emce rendered to the United States and a consummation toward which; I suspect, Kling had been workbur « long time. How did you do it, One. eh? And how did Manuel get to eut npP" ' "When they met." said Kling. without looking, at us, "it was with knives. Manuel's went out of his hand. De La Rama had him for a long time. Manuel was on. his back,- fighting with his feet and De La Rama was cutting him aU oveT, trying to get at his heart. # And all the time he was kicking up m the air Manuel was making little jumps on his back toward the corner of the room where- he had left his belt. De La, ftama did not notice— he was eo blindmad at not finding the heart ; and Manuel got to his belt and shot >I>e La Rama with his revolver, through the head. 'Twasn't quite according to the rules of the game— but it killed De La Rama all right. Manuel's a cata- «' And now he's courting the widow," said the Colonel, glancing ahead at him. ** The widow !" '* Yes, the widow De La Rama. She was tint a little girl when De La Ratna waa playing his same; they say she s developed since. 1 Manuel is courting her, with considerable succe&s, I hear, too. Well dance at her house to-night.

That's the Philippines for you ! I don't know how much of this is luing's work —eh, Kling?" But Kling refused to be drawn out. It was hot. The sun, nearing the feathery tops of a line of cocoa nut6 < to the west, searched us mercilessy with its oblique rays. On all 6ides the humid land exhaled its fragrant and oppressive breath. The horses, trotting and walking, rocked us ; a torpor slowly enwrapped me. I thought of the story T had just been told. I thought of Manuel, with his tender smile, his caressing eyes, land his capacity for murder; of De La Rama, with ms beauty, his bravery, his savagery— De La Rama, who, dead, seemed yet to hover above the drama, stilly the imposing and crushing individuality in it; and T thoueht of "the girl, the shrinking, fawn-like being, whirled helplesslv in the cyclone of these passions. Tt was all coloured, elemental and interesting. v I was aroused with a snap by a sudden lurch beneath me, a clatter of hoofs about me. The Minor bad released the pace; we were arriving: among the trees at the end of the nalm-lined road the zinc roofs of San Juan plittered. The horses loped with curved necks ; the Major's to my left. Kline's to my right ; fbe escort behind was coming in flaming helter-skelter; and ahead, fleeing, fleeing ujjon his dainty little bay, Manuel, "waving his hat above his head, and riding like mad.

After the Major, in the^ halT of +ho Casa Popular, had addrresed the distineuidos of the town with soft voice and paternal words, but with his green eves levelled nmrn tliem all the time — those ojos verdes (so they called tVm) that flashed right through their little dark plots and counterplots, their jeservntions and reticences, their very natural distrust of their conquerors; and after ho had been banqueted by the same distinguidos. suddenly pleased and loving as children, we went to the bfiile at the house of the widow Constancia De La Rama.

The ball had already begun — in that timid, tentative way in which such things do begin before the advent of the real personages That is, in the outer hall, the musicians were purring plaintively on their hempen strings ; within, the wide, glistening sala all the chairs, <-anged etiff along the walls, 1 wore taken — on one 6ide by a row of men, white--jacketed, black-trousered, pomaded, perfumed, and waxen-mous-tached; on the other by a bank of demure maidevs, b^-starched and coloured, their skin playinpr in copper flints beneath their transparent camisas,

their eyes, curtained by long lashee, turned down modestly upon their little feet, which peeped from beneath the hem of their silken sayas. As we entered, a more audacious couple, who evidently had been dancing a few turns alonej dissolved in panic, the girl collapsing in her chair in a cloud of shimmering stuffs, the ohico returning stiffly to his, on the other side of the room. ;

Seats of honour had been reserved' for the Maior and his party; we took them, the Major, Klirig, and I, but Manuel was not with us. I saw him in the corner, on the other side, withdrawn a bit behind the throng, and standing in a posture that was the personification of The "Wait. I could have sworn that he was pale. tco. "Phoo," 6aid the Major, to whom I made this remark. " people in love are always pale." Everything was ready now — hut the widow Constancia ; it was her mother who had,. met us at the thrffihold. and had acted the hostess. There was a moment of silent expectancy, all eves /upon the shining panels of the double doonj of her room ; and then she came in. It w*s a theatrical entry. The double doors swung open ; she stood a moment, framed between them ; then thev closed silently behind her, as, with that rhythmic «moo+hness of motion of the woman still half savage, she flow«d toward ue She was not the timid, fawnlike sir] T had imaging as the wife of the mpsterful De La Rama ; if ever eh© had beeii that, shw had developed into something much bi*rc;er. more «»msmatic and ' splendid. She carne swiftly acmes the room, with a partherlike lithonpss ; the c^and^Her, as she pawed ben°ath it, flashed up into transparency the iridescent vapour of her Erarment ; we had a brief jrlimnee of her Grolr^n arms, her onolden throat, gleaming like metal thin.ots; and her bracelets, striking tocrother, pave one 6harp, announcing click, as of castanet«.

She stood before the Maior, her hand in hiy. and to his elaborate and ultraSpanish compliment murmured some eoft nothing. Then she passed on to me, and I had a plunjrinrr look into two dark, deep and Hoir'd eyes, with pupils. I thought, rather dfctendpd, as by some internal fever. But when 6he oame to TCling, T saw the heavy curtain of her lids drop slowly over them. He stood very erect, stiff with the embarrassment of the man unused to social amenities but with no timidity in his eyes. He was looking straight at her, in a strange, pcrutinising fashion, with almost a question, and to the scrutiny she offered orilv the draped reserve of her heavy, fong-fringed lidis. Then she turned to Manuel.

It was a singular movement in that it was without hesitation ; although Manuel etuod apart ami half hidden, and up to that time she had not given bo much as a rapid glance about the room, the movement was without a trace of indecision. She turned to him with absolute certainty; she went toward him in one long glide, as if drawn; again, as she passed the cluster of lights her skin flashed golden beneath the\coloured transparency of her camisa. and the heavy bracelets, upon her arms came together in one tenee, dramatic click— ana_ then she 6tood before him, bathing him in the splendour of her eyes. He was very much moved, the young fellow; his left hand went behind him, as if seeking the support of a chair, and he was pale. These tropical people feel violently ; I suppcee that far a moment she 6wam before him a mere effulgence, a radiance, the light ineffable. His nostrils distended to his sharp intake of breath ; then the violins in the outer hall struck up in rhythm, and she turned to the Major, who had come across to beg for the honour . of the ceremonial first dance.

She danced the stately rigodon with the Major, then she danced with the Presidente, then with the Gobernador, who had just ridden in, then with several chiocs. vain ve peacocks of their good fortune. I fancied there wa 6 the mature woman's 6erpent wisdom in her subtle evasion of Manuel, who from the corner followed her with his glowing eyes. So that when finally she stood before him and. enlacing, they slid out upon the glistening floor, the thing came to him, I suppose, like a holv ascension.

The music was a Spanish waltz of rapid cadence^- but with that confoutided plaintive undercurrent which all theso Filipinos manage to put into the most rational and joyous tune. It i would take the couples alonor in a | whirling madness, then suddenly ' bing ! — a series of crie s and sobs would fo through it (I don't know the means; 'm no .musician — it may have been merely a matter of discords), which reverberated somewhere deep within you I watched the two. The rhythm, when untrammelled^ carried them off absolutely upon its wings; they slid and turned with an effort slight and imporderable as that of a wilW -the- wisp on a midnight plain ; then would come the plaint, a sort of muffled and stubborn lamentation (it seenjg to exist in the music of all races that feel themselves dying) — and a heaviness descended upon them, a languor ; hardly moving, they almost writhed in it. His head was up; he did not look at her, but straight ahead, with far, hypnotised eyes, at I don't know what entrancing vision.; and her head was inclined a little toward him, and at times her left hand, its fingers sinking into

his 6houlder, brought him nearer with a rapid, nervous little clutch, intimate, imperious, and intoxicating. "How long has this gone on?" I whispered to Kling. He was ''atching then, hie elbows on his kne^s, his chin in his hands. " Months," he said. *

And then, still looking at them, with that alert and understanding scrutiny: " It's coming to the end soon, now," he murmured. " Certainly can't go on much longer," I said.

He gave me a singular 100k — and a complete, realisation came to me suddenly : that I had not understood him.

And we watched on, watched this one couple in the shifting maze of dancers as though they had been alone. And they were alone ; so strange, so compelling waa the thing that now, when 1 look back, I see no other dancers — just the two, flitting like entwined will-o'-the-wisps, then stopping, almost in one place, balancing languidly beneath the oppression of the violin's plaint — and then that sudden little nervous clutch of hers, sweetly intimate and imperious, maddeningly promising " I can eee now the masterfulness of it, the prolongation of it, the cunningly graduated crescendo of it to the calculated climax. What a game! For long intervals she would desert him, drop him as if out of her life — for an hour at a time, ' while she gave her waist to other men, and he, from his corner, looked -on with glowing eyes. Then would come the quick surprise, the re-possession: the enlacing, the whirling madness, the cries of the violins, the swaying in place to the heartpinching of the wail. It was as if alternately he were dashed into a black abyss, and raised in intoxicating ascension into blue altitudes of ineffable hope. It was a torturing game—^-and all of it graduated toward the climax determined by her, already a palpitating reality within her inscrutable souL

It came as a faint cold light, precursor of the dawn, was filtering through the closed shutters, and a cock crowed outside.

They had been dancing la jota — a native dance which, if dancing is representative of life pursuits, is symbolical of wooing; in which the man and the maid, balancing, waving their arms in airy gesture, flit about each other, advancing, retreating, pursuing, fleeing, without touching; till finally the music's last strains throw them into each other's arms. Those two had been dancing it long, elusive of each otJUer, flitting about their desire as butterflies about a rose, the fever of the violins rising in their veins ; her eyes, like abysses, drew him, her suppleness evaded him ; he was mad. The violins stopped in a last wild cry. There was a moment of silence ; they stood before each other, and her bosom, golden beneath the jusi, rose and fell, her eyes were slumbrous pools of melted jade, and he was very palej then the violins swung languorously into a slow waltz, and they clasped. I saw her hand go into her breast and come out flashing ; her bracelets clicked. Then with that same nervous little clutch, she drew him close. Bqt this time her hands were bemiu. him, and simultaneously with that imperious movement there was a slight ripping I sound, and a soft crunch that was norj rible. His head reared back on his shoulders, his arms dropped down along his sides, palms outward, as if in a gesture of surrender, his eyes closed shiveringly; and thus,, head back, arms limp, eyes closed, in an attitude of ecstasy, he turned three times slowly with her, still in her arms, and as these opened, whirled and slapped the floor I with the whole length of his body.

Kling, the Major and I— we found ourselves standing about him : on his back, right between the shoulders, the jewelled hilt of a dainty dagger flashed — the hilt, and nothing else. She stood above him, very stiff, her lids lowered ; but beneath their heavy fringes the black light of her eyes oozed downward to this thing at her feet. "The mouse," she said softly, "the little mouse 1" Her voice was weary and held almost a tenderness; an irony superb' and sombre now came into it. " The mouse," she said, " who killed the Hon. And would mate with the lioness !"

She turned, parted the shuddering throng as a galleon parts the waves; the double doors of her chamber swung open, then slammed shut upon her — and confusion, held tense by her presence, immediately broke out into uproar. , :

" Kling! Kling!"— in the heated silence the voice of the rose with the tone of the man who, dreaming, has come to sudden revelation. " Kling, you brought on this De La Rama aiIt waa two days later. We were riding again along the golden roads, between the palms, beneath the implacable sun. Kling did not answer. But after a while, very quietly, he said, " Manuel was a traitor.'.' "You found Manuel was playing double, and you " I began excitedly. He raised his hand as if to quiet an impertinent child. " Wait," he said. We rode on, the Major and I, silent and crushed. After a win"'*' Klin" iurnped his horse across the ditch bordering the road; we followed idm into a field, along a curtain of willows, and came suddenly upon a trench. It was a neat little trench, commanding, through the screen of willows, a sharp turn of the road along which we had been riding. Upon ite slight risa six forked sticks were set, ready for murderous barrels. A 6hining object at the bottom made me lean toward the ground; it waa a Mauser cartridge. "That's what Manuel had ready for us, Major," Kling said. "He's been in league with the Katipunan for weeks."

"You found this out," I broke in, not yet having learned my le6son. "You found this cit, and you " I stormed before his stolid gaze. And then this lean, humble, obscure and fanatical servitor of the United States made an extraordinary remark.

" I did nothing ply make use of t.

," he said. "I simlie passions of map."