Kabanata Kabanata 33 · Chapter XXXIII

Free Thought

Ibarra was just putting the finishing touches to a change of

clothing when a servant informed him that a countryman was asking

for him. Supposing it to be one of his laborers, he ordered that he

be brought into his office, or study, which was at the same time a

library and a chemical laboratory. Greatly to his surprise he found

himself face to face with the severe and mysterious figure of Elias.

"You saved my life," said the pilot in Tagalog, noticing Ibarra's

start of surprise. "I have partly paid the debt and you have nothing to

thank me for, but quite the opposite. I've come to ask a favor of you."

"Speak!" answered the youth in the same language, puzzled by the

pilot's gravity.

Elias stared into Ibarra's eyes for some seconds before he replied,

"When human courts try to clear up this mystery, I beg of you not to

speak to any one of the warning that I gave you in the church."

"Don't worry," answered the youth in a rather disgusted tone. "I know

that you're wanted, but I'm no informer."

"Oh, it's not on my account, not on my account!" exclaimed Elias with

some vigor and haughtiness. "It's on your own account. I fear nothing

from men."

Ibarra's surprise increased. The tone in which this rustics--formerly

a pilot--spoke was new and did not seem to harmonize with either his

condition or his fortune. "What do you mean?" he asked, interrogating

that mysterious individual with his looks.

"I do not talk in enigmas but try to express myself clearly; for your

greater security, it is better that your enemies think you unsuspecting

and unprepared."

Ibarra recoiled. "My enemies? Have I enemies?"

"All of us have them, sir, from the smallest insect up to man, from

the poorest and humblest to the richest and most powerful! Enmity is

the law of life!"

Ibarra gazed at him in silence for a while, then murmured, "You are

neither a pilot nor a rustic!"

"You have enemies in high and low places," continued Elias, without

heeding the young man's words. "You are planning a great undertaking,

you have a past. Your father and your grandfather had enemies because

they had passions, and in life it is not the criminal who provokes

the most hate but the honest man."

"Do you know who my enemies are?"

Elias meditated for a moment. "I knew one--him who is dead," he

finally answered. "Last night I learned that a plot against you was

being hatched, from some words exchanged with an unknown person who

lost himself in the crowd. 'The fish will not eat him, as they did his

father; you'll see tomorrow,' the unknown said. These words caught my

attention not only by their meaning but also on account of the person

who uttered them, for he had some days before presented himself to

the foreman on the work with the express request that he be allowed

to superintend the placing of the stone. He didn't ask for much pay

but made a show of great knowledge. I hadn't sufficient reason for

believing in his bad intentions, but something within told me that my

conjectures were true and therefore I chose as the suitable occasion

to warn you a moment when you could not ask me any questions. The

rest you have seen for yourself."

For a long time after Elias had become silent Ibarra remained

thoughtful, not answering him or saying a word. "I'm sorry that that

man is dead!" he exclaimed at length. "From him something more might

have been learned."

"If he had lived, he would have escaped from the trembling hand of

blind human justice. God has judged him, God has killed him, let God

be the only Judge!"

Crisostomo gazed for a moment at the man, who, while he spoke thus,

exposed his muscular arms covered with lumps and bruises. "Do you

also believe in the miracle?" he asked with a smile. "You know what

a miracle the people are talking about."

"Were I to believe in miracles, I should not believe in God. I

should believe in a deified man, I should believe that man had really

created a god in his own image and likeness," the mysterious pilot

answered solemnly. "But I believe in Him, I have felt His hand more

than once. When the whole apparatus was falling down and threatening

destruction to all who happened to be near it, I, I myself, caught

the criminal, I placed myself at his side. He was struck and I am

safe and sound."

"You! So it was you--"

"Yes! I caught him when he tried to escape, once his deadly work had

begun. I saw his crime, and I say this to you: let God be the sole

judge among men, let Him be the only one to have the right over life,

let no man ever think to take His place!"

"But you in this instance--"

"No!" interrupted Elias, guessing the objection. "It's not the

same. When a man condemns others to death or destroys their

future forever he does it with impunity and uses the strength of

others to execute his judgments, which after all may be mistaken or

erroneous. But I, in exposing the criminal to the same peril that he

had prepared for others, incurred the same risk as he did. I did not

kill him, but let the hand of God smite him."

"Then you don't believe in accidents?"

"Believing in accidents is like believing in miracles; both presuppose

that God does not know the future. What is an accident? An event

that no one has at all foreseen. What is a miracle? A contradiction,

an overturning of natural laws. Lack of foresight and contradiction

in the Intelligence that rules the machinery of the world indicate

two great defects."

"Who are you?" Ibarra again asked with some awe.

"Have you ever studied?"

"I have had to believe greatly in God, because I have lost faith in

men," answered the pilot, avoiding the question.

Ibarra thought he understood this hunted youth; he rejected human

justice, he refused to recognize the right of man to judge his

fellows, he protested against force and the superiority of some

classes over others.

"But nevertheless you must admit the necessity of human justice,

however imperfect it may be," he answered. "God, in spite of the

many ministers He may have on earth, cannot, or rather does not,

pronounce His judgments clearly to settle the million conflicts

that our passions excite. It is proper, it is necessary, it is just,

that man sometimes judge his fellows."

"Yes, to do good, but not to do ill, to correct and to better, but

not to destroy, for if his judgments are wrong he hasn't the power to

remedy the evil he has done. But," he added with a change of tone,

"this discussion is beyond my powers and I'm detaining you, who are

being waited for. Don't forget what I've just told you--you have

enemies. Take care of yourself for the good of our country." Saying

this, he turned to go.

"When shall I see you again?" asked Ibarra.

"Whenever you wish and always when I can be of service to you. I am

still your debtor."