"'He has abused you,' I said. 'Why?'
"'He took me into the storeroom and lashed me, and the rawhide cut me. I bleed.'
"'Why did he punish you?'
"'The porter told him he found me neglecting my work by hiding away and fighting cocks. It was not true. The porter lied; he hates me.'
"'Go to the marshal and make a complaint against the landlord. Go now, before the blood dries. A master has no right to beat one like that. It is inhuman. Justice ought to be done.'
"'But I do not blame him; he is not to blame. The porter is to blame. The porter lied.'
"'But the marshal would hardly take up your case against the porter; he would hold him to be a person of slight consequence.'
"'But wrong is wrong whether it be done by a landlord or his porter. The porter should go to prison for twenty years!'"
The case then dropped, but the boy carried a case for revenge against the porter in his heart. He was quick to discern justice.
Cockfighting is a favorite diversion among the Filipinos. A traveler says that he has seen Filipinos going to mass carrying gamecocks under their arms to set fighting in the cemetery after the service.