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Updated: June 3, 2025
Luckily for Piang, the jungle was well supplied with paths here, and he soon found the one leading down to the barrio. His heart was light, now, and he threw back his head and shouted with glee as he remembered Sicto, pale with terror, lest he too be swept over the cataract.
Very quickly his exultation subsided, however, when he realized that Sicto could easily be on this same trail, and he redoubled his efforts as he imagined he heard twigs snapping behind him. What if the boat had already gone. What if its coveted treasures were lost forever? From his customary trot Piang broke into a run, and, panting and sweating, pushed forward.
No wonder his people abstained from the flesh of the boar. "Can you tell me what makes the sea rise and fall, and why the tides rush in and flow out again?" asked Piang. A smile broke over Ganassi's leathery features. "In a far distant sea lives a giant crab; when he goes into his hole, the water is pushed out, and when he comes forth for food, the water rushes in."
True, they may become the slaves of some unscrupulous dato, but there is always the romantic chance that they may fall into the hands of the hero of their dreams and become the favorite of his seraglio. "Where is Piang?" Dato Kali Pandapatan addressed a copper-colored slave who salaamed and replied: "In the jungle, O most high one, searching for the blooming fire branch." "It is well."
Piang felt a quick rush of air, a sickening feeling, as if he were rapidly falling; with a tremendous impetus the vine swung back, crashed into a tree, and, with the agility of the monkey, Piang climbed to safety. "There is no God but Allah!" came from the strained lips, and the boy turned his eyes toward the setting sun as it struggled to pierce the gloom. "Bulutu!"
It was so simple that Piang laughed heartily. The mina-bird, startled, squawked an admonition and fluttered to Piang's lap. "Where do we go when we die," asked the inquisitive boy. Ganassi scouted the Christian's belief that heaven is in the clouds. Were they not in the clouds now? "When a child is born, the soul enters the body through the opening left in the skull.
Reaching the end of his endurance, Piang wheeled, and faced the cave. Something paused, whined, and a streak flew past him. The fetid odor of a living creature brought him to his senses, and his anxious eyes discerned the outline of a civet-cat making its way to the opening.
They had been beaten down by the storm and would remain there until the sun came to coax them into industry again. Swinging lightly from one tree to another, Piang reached one of the numberless brooks that ramble aimlessly about through the jungle, and, dropping to its banks, buried his feet in the healing clay. After a short time the pain grew better, and he continued his journey.
Where the creek empties into the Cotabato River, Piang paused; there were suspicious-looking shadows close to the bank, and he reached for his precious baskets. "Work slowly, Papita," he whispered, and the trembling girl kept the vinta just moving. From its ominous silence, the jungle crashed into chaos. "Lè lè lè lè iiiiiio!" shrieked the echoes. Piang was ready.
A glance at his chief had warned Kali that trouble was in the air. Sicto, Alverez, and Vincente moved off toward the dock. "Sicto, did Piang hear what I said?" asked Alverez. "Does the jungle hear the trumpeting of the elephant?" angrily retorted Sicto. "He hasn't spoken to any one yet," said Vincente, significantly. "We had better get rid of him before "
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