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"I left in consternation," resumed Chichoy, "thinking about how, if a mere spark, a cigarette had fallen, if a lamp had been overturned, at the present moment we should have neither a General, nor an Archbishop, nor any one, not even a government clerk! All who were at the fiesta last night annihilated!" "Vírgen Santísima! This young man " "'Susmariosep!" exclaimed Capitana Loleng.
"Then we'd start a real one, now that they're going to massacre us anyhow " The violent fit of coughing that seized the silversmith prevented the rest of this speech from being heard, but Chichoy must have been saying terrible things, to judge from his murderous gestures with the blowpipe and the face of a Japanese tragedian that he put on.
Simoun is the devil and he has bought up the souls of all the Spaniards. Aunt Tentay said so!" Capitana Loleng crossed herself and looked uneasily toward the jewels, fearing to see them turn into live coals, while Capitan Toringoy took off the ring which had come from Simoun. "Simoun has disappeared without leaving any traces," added Chichoy. "The Civil Guard is searching for him."
Her husband himself, the great Capitan Toringoy, a transformation of the name Domingo, the happiest man in the district, without other occupation than to dress well, eat, loaf, and gossip, while his whole family worked and toiled, had not gone to join his coterie, but was listening between fear and emotion to the hair-raising news of the lank Chichoy. Nor was reason for all this lacking.
"All our debtors were there, 'Susmariosep! And we have a house near there! Who could it have been?" "Now you may know about it," added Chichoy in a whisper, "but you must keep it a secret. This afternoon I met a friend, a clerk in an office, and in talking about the affair, he gave me the clue to the mystery he had it from some government employees.
"And we must pay the damages?" asked the indignant Chichoy. "Ahem, ahem, a-h-hem!" coughed the silversmith, hearing steps in the street. The footsteps approached and all in the shop fell silent. "St. Pascual Bailon is a great saint," declared the silversmith hypocritically, in a loud voice, at the same time winking to the others. "St. Pascual Bailon "
Even Isagani, who, when he came, always used to play with her and allow himself to be beautifully cheated, did not come at her call, for Isagani was gloomily and silently listening to something Chichoy the silversmith was relating.
"Aha!" exclaimed one who had a foolish face, "I told you so!" "Ahem!" rejoined a clerk, in a tone of compassion, "the affair of the pasquinades is true, Chichoy, and I can give you the explanation." Then he added mysteriously, "It's a trick of the Chinaman Quiroga's!" "Ahem, ahem!" again coughed the silversmith, shifting his quid of buyo from one cheek to the other.
But Momoy had attended the wedding, so his posthumous emotion can be appreciated: he had been near the kiosk. "That's what no one can explain," replied Chichoy. "Who would have any interest in breaking up the fiesta? There couldn't have been more than one, as the celebrated lawyer Señor Pasta who was there on a visit declared either an enemy of Don Timoteo's or a rival of Juanito's."
Chichoy had gone to deliver some work for Don Timoteo Pelaez, a pair of earrings for the bride, at the very time when they were tearing down the kiosk that on the previous night had served as a dining-room for the foremost officials. Here Chichoy turned pale and his hair stood on end.
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