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Updated: May 3, 2025
"Piang," murmured a soft voice at the charm boy's elbow, and he turned to find the little slave girl, Papita, timidly looking up at him. "Chiquita?" "Sicto goes with you. Beware of him, for he would kill you!" "I am not afraid," proudly answered Piang, "but why would Sicto kill me?" Solemnly the little girl touched Piang's breast where lay hidden the sacred charm.
The palm-trees whispered and crackled above them, and the river sent a soft accompaniment to the jungle music. To and fro above their heads Piang majestically waved the branch, until finally one bold voice demanded: "Anting-anting!" There was moaning in the crowd, sobs of excitement, and protests of impatience, but every head remained lowered until the august relic was again covered.
There was a slight movement astern; the boat tipped forward, swerved, and before Piang could right himself, a vicious snort startled him. The crocodile was lashing the water with its tail, and the light shell was pitching and rolling dangerously. Piang scrambled to his knees.
"The time has come, Piang. The heavens have watched over you from babyhood, and you have proved your worth and bravery many times. I am ready to reward you. Come!" Trembling, the boy advanced. Kneeling before the hermit, Piang clasped his hands and prayed that he might be worthy of the great honor about to be bestowed upon him.
With a desperate effort, he pulled himself along by vines, hoping to pass the unknown animal before it could leap; but the branches stirred, and he sprang back with a cry. "Babui!" The creature's head shook with fury; its teeth were bared, and the tiny red eyes flamed with anger. The babui had the largest tusks Piang had ever seen, and he grasped his bolo firmly to meet the rush.
A few days later the Moro datos, Piang, Ali and Djimbangan, dropped in with their followers, cut off the head of the Filipino presidente, served a few other leading officials and citizens in the same manner, and proceeded to set up a government of their own which was the only government that the place had prior to the arrival of the American troops.
Selecting a gathering, well sprinkled with Christians, he begins his deadly work, and as long as he breathes, he hews right and left. Piang told them that he had seen one strong Moro juramentado pierced by a bayonet, drive the steel further into himself, in order to reach the soldier at the other end of the gun, whom he cut in two before he died.
Piang uttered a low cry. "So, my little pet, you have frightened Piang, the charm boy! You must not do that." The snake, responding to the voice, stuck its head through the foliage and slipped from sight. The voice! The voice! It had called him the charm boy! Piang's fear abated, and he said tremblingly: "O great Ganassi, will you not show yourself to me, Piang?" Breathlessly the boy listened.
Struggling with the tempest, Piang fought past the islands, reached the shore, turned his banco bottom side up, and crept underneath. The violent wind began to dash loose objects about, tearing limbs off trees and hurling them aloft as if they were mere splinters. A cocoanut crashed down, striking the ground near Piang; another fell, and yet another. Then the rain came in torrents.
But he managed to catch hold of the roots that were twined about the boat and finally cut the banco free. With a bound it started down the river. The empty shell, at the mercy of the waves, danced and frolicked like a crazy thing, and Piang was almost stunned by a blow from the outrigger as it passed him.
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