e,
say in good English (though slowly and with a strong accent),
"Thee--master--has--gone--into--thee--mountains--to--kill--deer--and--pigs."
This was from one of the American's own pupils, an intelligent little
fellow named Camilo. As I learnt that he was not expected back for
two or three days, there was nothing left but to make myself as
comfortable as possible in his house until his return. Camilo was
soon boiling me some water, and I opened some of my provisions,
as I had eaten nothing for eight hours. The house was an ordinary
Filipino one, raised fully ten feet from the ground and built of
native timber, the peaked roof, which had a frame-work of bamboo,
being thatched with palm-leaves. The divisions between the rooms were
of plaited bamboo work, and the sliding windows were latticed, each
division being fitted with pieces of pearl shell. The next morning
I was invaded by quite an army of small boys, who, to my surprise,
all spoke English very prettily in their slow way and with a quaint
accent. I have never come across a more bright and intelligent set
of little fellows, all very friendly and not a bit shy, yet most
polite and well-mannered. They were manly little fellows, with the
faces of cherubs, and they were always smiling. Though the ages of my
five little favourites, Camilo, Nicolas, Fernando, Dranquilino and
Victorio, ranged only from eleven down to seven (the latter being
little smiling-faced Victorio), they did all my errands for me,
bought me little rolls of sweetish bread, eggs and fruit, and were
most honest. They talked to me as if they had known me all their
lives, acted as my guides and showed me all there was to see. They
generally followed me in a row, with their arms round each other's
neck in a most affectionate way, and I never heard any of them use
one angry word amongst themselves. The few days that I spent here,
I wandered through the narrow lanes and collected a few birds and
butterflies. These lanes were very dusty at the time, and were hemmed
in with an uninteresting shrubby growth on each side. The country
round Florida Blanca was for the most part covered with rice-fields,
which, at the time of my visit, were parched and covered with short
stubble, this being the dry season. I was not very successful in my
collecting, and looked forward to my visit to the mountains, which
I could see in the distance, and which appeared well covered with
damp-looking forests. I noticed quantities of w