The elder of the strangers pointed to the basket. “We have brought the head, Senor, the head of Felizardo.”
“Holy Moses!” The captain jumped out of his chair. “What do you bring the beastly thing in here for? Never mind, though. Wait a minute,” and he went to the telephone-box, where he rang up Commissioner Furber.
The answer came back in a curt tone. “The matter is nothing to do with this department. I will not interfere, nor must you. Send them with a guide over to Commissioner Gumpertz’ office. I believe he has the affair in hand.”
The police captain whistled. “Phew! He’s in a sweet temper. Glad I didn’t go and see him myself;” then he called a native constable, and put the two tao and their ghastly burden in his charge.
Mr Gumpertz was pleased—in fact he was more than pleased, delighted; but, none the less, he did not care to inspect the trophy. Instead, he sent for his secretary.
“Who can identify this thing, Hart?” he asked.
Mr Hart scratched his head. “Well, there’s Furber, of course, but I guess he wouldn’t. He’s mighty sore about it all. See here, I’ll get De Vega to have a look round. There must be some one in the town who knew him by sight.”
It was curious how many people there were who had actually seen, and even spoken to, Felizardo; some had been prisoners in his camp, others had done business with him during the Spanish times. Senor de Vega picked six out of twenty or so, all men he knew personally, for whose honour he could vouch, and brought them back to the Palace. Then they took the basket into a small room, and set the head on a table, and all of those six reliable witnesses declared on their oath that it was the head of Felizardo. So there was great rejoicing, and the Press published obituary notices, and the two tao received much praise, and five thousand dollars in United States currency. Yet, curiously enough, those two tao did not go back to the unnamed village whence they had come; but instead made their way to a house in the suburbs, where, that same evening, they were joined by Senor de Vega and all the six witnesses, and the five thousand dollars were forthwith divided into nine parts. Then each man went on his way rejoicing, his pockets bulging with notes.
Up in the Palace, however, Commissioner Furber was almost unsafe to approach, though both the Governor-General and Commissioner Gumpertz were more than usually genial. A week later the position of affairs was somewhat different, for Basil Hayle had sent in a certain dispatch through Lieutenant Stott at Catarman. It ran:—
“The report of Felizardo’s death as having occurred some ten days ago is untrue. I have the best of reasons for knowing, as, only this morning, I received a communication from him, warning me that certain mestizos and natives of Manila had secured the head of a cousin of his own, who had recently died at Calocan, and that they were bringing this in with the idea of claiming the reward for his, Felizardo’s, head. I am sending this by special runner to Catarman, and trust it will reach you in time.”