Chapter 78: News
frёewebnoѵēl.com Pedro was not happy when I told him he would be staying in Santa Cruz for a while. Unlike Capitan Roque in Mogpog, he didn’t have any welcoming relatives in the town, making the distant place feel even more distant from home.
But he eventually agreed when I told him that I had sent men to protect his property and family in Buliasnin—and that he would only need to stay until the new recruits finished their two-week basic training in drills and marksmanship.
In truth, I felt guilty for forcing him into something that wasn’t pre-agreed. But I really had no choice. The soldiers in the town needed an officer present for morale—and, not to mention, someone prominent and related to me had to be around for martial law to be respected.
As a desperate attempt to console him, I left him five of my Mauser-equipped escorts to bolster his force. I suspected that part of his hesitation stemmed from feeling insecure, intimidated by the idea of being in charge of such a large and faraway town.
He was smiling when I left him the following morning.
The fog was still thick when we set out from the port in Buyabod.
I had proudly sat on the central platform at the start of the voyage, only to retreat shortly after from the chill down to the bodega below. A soldier offered me a pillow and blanket, and, slightly hungover, I took the opportunity to get some more sleep.
To my shame, what I intended to be a half-hour nap stretched into three hours.
When I woke up, we had already passed Kasily, and Sargento Guzman and his men had already been picked up. I had intended to make a brief stopover in the barrio to check how it was recovering—and, in the meantime, visit the gobernadorcillo’s father to personally thank him for his gift.