at those islanders, against whom his country was waging
war, after all were guilty of no crime other than that of weakness. The
travelers also arrived at the shores of other peoples, but finding
them strong made no display of their strange pretension. With all
their weakness the spectacle they presented seemed beautiful to him,
and the names of the enemies, whom the newspapers did not fail to call
cowards and traitors, appeared glorious to him, as they succumbed with
glory amid the ruins of their crude fortifications, with greater glory
even than the ancient Trojan heroes, for those islanders had carried
away no Philippine Helen! In his poetic enthusiasm he thought of the
young men of those islands who could cover themselves with glory in
the eyes of their women, and in his amorous desperation he envied
them because they could find a brilliant suicide.

"Ah, I should like to die," he exclaimed, "be reduced to nothingness,
leave to my native land a glorious name, perish in its cause, defending
it from foreign invasion, and then let the sun afterwards illumine
my corpse, like a motionless sentinel on the rocks of the sea!"

The conflict with the Germans [50] came into his mind and he almost
felt sorry that it had been adjusted: he would gladly have died for
the Spanish-Filipino banner before submitting to the foreigner.

"Because, after all," he mused, "with Spain we are united by firm
bonds--the past, history, religion, language--"

Language, yes, language! A sarcastic smile curled his lips. That very
night they would hold a banquet in the _pansiteria_ to _celebrate_
the demise of the academy of Castilian.

"Ay!" he sighed, "provided the liberals in Spain are like those we
have here, in a little while the mother country will be able to count
the number of the faithful!"

Slowly the night descended, and with it melancholy settled more heavily
upon the heart of the young man, who had almost lost hope of seeing
Paulita. The promenaders one by one left the Malecon for the Luneta,
the music from which was borne to him in snatches of melodies on the
fresh evening breeze; the sailors on a warship anchored in the river
performed their evening drill, skipping about among the slender ropes
like spiders; the boats one by one lighted their lamps, thus giving
signs of life; while the beach,

Do el viento riza las calladas olas
Que con blando murmullo en la ribera
Se deslizan veloces por si solas. [51]

as Al