After this fearful piece of daring, she swept on:
“Hasn’t the Comandante promised you peace and protection and a good government for all? And do not your men continue to remain in the hills from which the Macabebes, for whom he sent, will dislodge them at last?”
“Come!” commanded the Old Maid. “Gather your children about you, and go down on your knees to the Comandante, and don’t rise till he promises to order back those devils from the North. You, Maestra, will lead us and speak for us!”
Julie glanced about her impotently. This desperately misguided swarm of women had put themselves into her hands. She was terribly sorry for them, for after all they were only women who, uninformed as to the motives of the men in the hills, had through weary months held their families together. A thought struck her. Her face lighted with some inner vision. She halted the female mob. Was it possible to make simple creatures like these revolutionary? The women looked at her, and waited.
“It is useless to go to the Comandante empty-handed,” she declared. “He is angry over the death of his lieutenant. And many times your men have promised to lay down their arms, only to break every time their promise. On this island no crops are growing, no towns are flourishing. Those of you who have property have had it seized by outlaws, and those of you who are poor must continue to support alone your children, and to endure your anxiety as well as the tax levied by Andegas upon every soul of you. It has all grown worse and worse until you can not bear it any longer.
“The new government does not extort; it protects the poorest among you. It will give you liberty, schools, the right to accumulate property without fearing any man. It seeks to make you a happy people, and the most enlightened in the East.
“Make your choice between the two, you women. Deliver to the men your ultimatum—that you have decided in favor of government instead of anarchy. What! Cannot the women who, deserted and unprotected, have borne the brunt of the war, take a stand alone? Each one of you has power over one man who must himself already be weary of hardship and separation. Rouse yourselves to act, for in this way and in this way only can the Macabebes be kept away! Stop the war, the outlawry, and the destruction of a beautiful island. Give your word to the Major—the sworn word of the women of Nahal—that if he will countermand his order for the Macabebes, the men will come in and deliver up their arms.”
Into the silence that surrounded her she continued to exhort. “You, Marianna Tectos!” addressing the Old Maid, “are rich and powerful. Many men will listen to you, especially if you say that your purse will be closed against them if they do not go over to the new government. You, even, Nemecia Victoria who have power over many men, we ask you to help. And Señora Pandilig, tell your nephews you will disinherit them and give your money to the government if they do not come around. Oh, you all have your lever, if you are courageous enough to apply it. Do you agree?”
The women stood in thoughtful silence.
“We must defy our men for the government!” Señora Pandilig exclaimed.