A BRICK-YARD OPKRATe:d BY BONTOC IGOROTS 



All of the bricks for public buildings at Bontoc, the capital of the Mountain Province, are 

 now burned, and most of them are laid, by wild men 



agent, who sold his products for him at 

 the provincial capital of North Ilocos. 

 The comisionado in turn had a Negrito 

 slave, whom he suspected of designing to 

 escape. When Abaya came in with a 

 back load of tobacco the comisionado di- 

 rected him to take his head-axe and kill 

 the slave, who was cutting firewood in a 

 neighboring grove. The comisionado fur- 

 ther told Abaya that he himself would 

 kill a big hog and give him half of it in 

 payment for his services. Abaya cheer- 

 fully sought out the unsuspecting Neg- 

 rito, whom he attempted to decapitate 

 with a terrific blow. 



The Negrito jumped in the nick of 

 time and the keen edge of the head-axe 

 struck his shoulder instead of his neck, 

 inflicting a dreadful wound. Why he did 

 not drop in his tracks and die no one can 

 explain, but in point of fact he ran away 

 so fast that his would-be executioner 

 could not catch him. 



When Abaya returned from an unsuc- 

 cessful pursuit, he was immediately ar- 

 rested on a charge of attempted murder 

 and incarcerated in the provincial jail. 



On being brought before the judge and 

 interrogated as to whether he had tried 

 to kill the Negrito, he stated that he had 

 made an honest and earnest attempt to 

 carry out the instructions of his comisio- 

 nado, as it was his custom to obey the 

 "authorities !" He further strenuously 

 insisted that he was not to blame for the 

 Negrito's escape, arguing that any ordi- 

 nary well-regulated man would have died 

 promptly, even of such an injury as he 

 had managed to inflict, and that it was 

 no fault of his that the Negrito had dis- 

 played such extraordinary vitality. He 

 further said he had done all in his power 

 to run the Negrito down ; that he was 

 guiltless of any intention to let him es- 

 cape, and was merely the victim of an 

 unprecedented and unforeseeable com- 

 bination of circumstances ! 



What was the judge to do in such a 

 case ? What he did do was to give Abaya 

 the minimum penalty under the law for 

 having afflicted lesiones graves (serious 

 injuries) on the Negrito. 



When I secured his pardon some time 



1248 



