The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

No explanations of the loss of this piece could be got, and the Laguimanoc proceeded with the resident engineer to Cañacao and made fast to the jetty.

A crisis was now reached. The abstraction of the safety-valve could not be overlooked, and some one would have to go. An inquiry was to be made, but on Tuesday morning the patron walked up the jetty, and reported to Mr. Gustav Brown, who was the foreman of the works, that the engine-driver and stoker were absent. He stated that they had gone ashore in the night, and had not returned. Nothing could be learned about them; nobody had seen them; their kits were still on board. As the day wore on they did not come nor send any message; so a report of their disappearance was sent to the judge at Cavite.

An engine-fitter from the works was sent on board to take charge of the engine, and another stoker was engaged; the launch resuming her running. The work of the Varadero proceeded as usual; divers were preparing the foundations to receive the immense gridiron which was shortly to be launched and sunk in place. It was a busy scene of organised labour under a skilful resident engineer; every difficulty foreseen and provided for, materials delivered in good time, notwithstanding obstructions; not an unnecessary auger-hole bored, not a stroke of an adze thrown away.

From the Sleepy Hollow of the naval arsenal opposite jealous eyes watched the work proceed. Every art of vexation and obstruction that bitter envy could devise had for years been employed to prevent the building of this slip, and onerous and unfair conditions had been inserted in the concession. But Anglo-American persistence and industry had succeeded so far, and in the hands of Messrs. Peel, Hubbell & Co. and their advisers, the work was now well advanced.

The obsolete corvette Doña Maria Molina was moored off the coaling-wharf adjoining the Varadero, and when one of her boats was going on shore the sailors noticed two dead bodies floating in the water, and reported this to the officer of the watch, who ordered them to tow the bodies to the shore towards Punta Sangley, and drag them up on the sand above high-water mark. The bodies were lashed together with a piece of new rope having a blue strand in the centre, and had a good-sized piece of white granite attached as a sinker. On looking at the lashings no one could doubt that the work had been done by an able seaman. The bodies presented ghastly wounds, both had fractures of the skull, and gaping cuts on the throat and abdomen; they had also been gnawed by fishes. The swelling of the bodies had sufficed to bring them to the surface, stone and all.

The news of the finding of the corpses did not immediately reach the Varadero, and they were conveyed to Cavite, and buried just as they were found, tied together with the ropes and stone, without being identified. It seemed nobody’s business to trouble about them, notwithstanding the evident fact that they had been murdered. The Manila newspapers did not mention the circumstance.

But at this time other events happened. The patron of the launch disappeared without taking his kit with him. Then the boy disappeared, and I may as well at once say that, from that time to this, that boy has never been heard of by the Varadero Company, who were his employers. Next, that gay and lascivious damsel of San Roque, whose unbridled sensuality had wrought the trouble, also disappeared as mysteriously as the others.

Dr. Juan Perez, of Cavite, was the medical attendant to the staff of the Varadero, and used to call there every afternoon. On hearing from him about the discovery of the bodies, the resident engineer at once thought of his missing men, and the flight of the patron confirmed his suspicions. A minute examination of the launch was made, and revealed some stains of blood which had not been entirely removed by the usual washing down. Several small cuts such as might be made with the point of a bolo were found in the flat skylight of the cabin, and a deeper cut on the bulwark rail, starboard side forward, opposite the skylight. A working rope was missing from the launch. It had only recently been supplied to it, and had been cut off a whole coil purchased a few weeks before from a sailing-vessel, for the use of the Varadero. That rope had a blue strand in the centre. Gustav Brown put on a diving-dress, and went down at the head of the northern jetty, where the launch used to lie, and carefully examined the bottom. Presently his eye rested on an object that he recognised. It was the square steel coal-breaker used by the stoker, and he brought it up.

Meanwhile, a new coxswain had been found for the launch, and as the old patron had left his vessel illegally, there was ground for his arrest on that score, so orders were given to the new patron and to the engine-driver to give him into custody if he came to claim his kit. Next time the launch arrived in Manila, sure enough the old patron appeared to fetch his belongings, and was taken to the calaboose of the captain of the port. The resident engineer called on that official, and, as a result of their conversation, the prisoner was put on board the launch to be conveyed to Cavite.

With all the stoicism of the Malay, he sat quite still and silent; his impassive features betrayed no sign of anxiety or remorse.