rget my vows to you."

"What is your thought?" asked Ibarra, trying to read in her clear eyes.

"The future is obscure. I do not know what I shall do; but I know
this, that I can love but once, and that I shall not belong to one
I do not love. And you? What will you do?"

"I am no longer anything but a fugitive--I shall fly, and my flight
will soon be overtaken, Maria----"

Maria took his head in her hands, kissed his lips again and again,
then pushed him away with all her strength.

"Fly, fly!" she said. "Adieu!"

Ibarra looked at her with shining eyes, but she made a sign, and he
went, reeling for an instant like a drunken man. He leaped the wall
again, and was back in the little bark. Maria Clara, leaning on the
balustrade, watched till it disappeared in the distance.

LIII.

THE CHASE ON THE LAKE.

"Listen, senor, to the plan I have made," said Elias, as he pulled
toward San Gabriel. "I will hide you, for the present, at the house
of a friend of mine at Mandaluyong. I will bring you there your gold,
that I hid in the tomb of your great-grandfather. You will leave
the country----"

"To live among strangers?" interrupted Ibarra.

"To live in peace. You have friends in Spain; you may get amnesty."

Crisostomo did not reply; he reflected in silence.

They arrived at the Pasig, and the little bark began to go up
stream. On the bridge was a horseman, hastening his course, and a
whistle long and shrill was heard.

"Elias," said Ibarra at length, "your misfortunes are due to my
family, and you have twice saved my life. I owe you both gratitude
and restitution of property. You advise me to leave the country;
well, come with me. We will live as brothers."

Elias shook his head.

"It is true that I can never be happy in my country, but I can live and
die there, perhaps die for my country. That is always something. But
you can do nothing for her, here and now. Perhaps some day----"

"Unless I, too, should become a tulisan," mused Ibarra.

"Senor, a month ago we sat in this same boat, under the light of this
same moon. You could not have said such a thing then."

"No, Elias. Man seems to be an animal who varies with circumstances. I
was blind then, unreasonable, I know not what. Now the bandage has
been torn from my eyes; the wretchedness and solitude of my prison has
taught me better. I see the cancer that is eating into our society;
perhaps, after all, it must be torn out by violence."

They