to-morrow"). In each case there was an extra last scene not on the
programme. Secret police and American spectators besieged the stage,
and after a free fight, a cracking of heads, and a riotous scuffle
the curtain dropped (if there were anything left of it) on a general
panic of the innocent and the arrest of the guilty. The latter were
brought to trial, and their careers cut short by process of law.

The simple plot of _Hindi aco patay_ is as follows, viz.:--_Maimbot_
(personifying America) is establishing dominion over the Islands,
assisted by his son _Macamcam_ (American Government), and _Katuiran_
(Reason, Right, and Justice) is called upon to condemn the conduct
of a renegade Filipino who has accepted America's dominion, and
thereby become an outcast among his own people and even his own
family. There is to be a wedding, but, before it takes place, a
funeral cortege passes the house of _Karangalan_ (the bride) with
the body of _Tangulan_ (the fighting patriot). _Maimbot_ (America)
exclaims, "Go, bury that man, that Karangalan and her mother may see
him no more." _Tangulan_, however, rising from his coffin, tells them,
"They must not be married, for I am not dead." And as he cries _Hindi
aco patay,_ "I am not dead," a radiant sun appears, rising above
the mountain peaks, simultaneously with the red flag of Philippine
liberty. Then _Katuiran_ (Reason, Right, and Justice) declares that
"Independence has returned," and goes on to explain that the new
insurrection having discouraged America in her attempt to enslave the
people, she will await a better opportunity. The flag of Philippine
Independence is then waved to salute the sun which has shone upon
the Filipinos to regenerate them and cast away their bondage.

The theme of _Cahapon, ngayon at Bucas_ is somewhat similar--a protest
against American rule, a threat to rise and expel it, a call to arms,
and a final triumph of the Revolution. About the same time (May,
1903) a seditious play entitled _Cadena de Oro_ ("The golden chain")
was produced in Batangas, and its author was prosecuted. It must,
however, be pointed out that there are also many excellent plays
written in Tagalog, with liberty to produce them, one of the best
native dramatists being Don Pedro A. Paterno.

There will probably be for a long time to come a certain amount of
disaffection and a class of wire-pullers, men of property, chiefly
half-castes, constantly in the background, urging the masses f