DAYS OF THE WHIRLWIND
Sev Tabios

After his men had put up tent for the night, Pidengo wanted to rest from a very tiresome journey. He assembled them and informed them of their action plans for their treasure search.

"Tomorrow, we'll get up early." He announced. "Pilo and Poding will stay in the tent and guard our provisions while the rest of us will seek the spot indicated on this map. Nilo who reads the map will guide us on our way. Because the terrain is very rough, we'll have to walk the rest of the way. We'll leave here all equipment that we won't need in our diggings. We'll bring our guns, just in case."


The tom tom beats of jungle drums, which had reverberated through the thick rustling foliage around them, interrupted his briefing. They brought an eerie component to the polyphonic medley caused by intermittent hooting of owls, quacking of night birds, croaking of bull frogs and chirping of cicadas. Many of Pidengo's men shivered when they heard them. But Pidengo did not mind them, as he had been used to hearing them, ever since he was a boy.

"A caniao." Pidengo commented softly, as his men looked around with fear. "They usually do it during full moon."

"What's a caniao?" Pilo inquired, anxious to know what dangers it would bring.

"A native ritual." Pidengo explained. "A boar is slaughtered as a sacrifice to the gods. It's intended to invoke blessings for a good and bountiful harvest."

"Would drum beats also warn others of dangers they've discovered?" Nilo interrupted.

"Could be." Pidengo admitted. "It's like a telegraph message transmitted through the air."

"You think some of them saw us?" Turing was anxious.

"I don't think so." Pidengo replied to calm them.


The tom tom beats had increased in intensity, as it grew louder and sounded nearer. It seemed to come from all over the place around them. It caused ghastly feelings to creep into most of the men, especially those who had joined the expedition for the first time.

"Jungle drums are means of communication among natives." Pidengo explained to convince his men that the tom tom beats were just


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ordinary sounds that should not be feared. "I grew up here and I know
it. It transmits messages to others. Since they have no telephones, they use their drums to get in touch with each other, just like we do when we use our own phones."

When the drumbeats suddenly stopped, Pidengo's men looked at
each other. Their faces mirrored the dread they felt, as a deathly silence descended on them.


It was very bright outside the tent. The full moon, dimming from
time to time, as clouds passed under it, provided brightness to the surroundings. It appeared to roll above them like a crystal ball on top
of the trees. The mountain breeze which had been surging from time to time continued to provide a wind chill to those inside the tent.

"Turing will guard for the first shift until midnight and Poding will
take over from him from midnight till dawn." Pidengo instructed.


When they prepared to retire, the jungle drums resumed their tom
tom beats. This time, the beats were more rapid than before. Pidengo
was about to fall asleep when he heard what sounded as a man's scream amidst the frenzied drum beats.

Everyone heard the scream and they all got up. Most of the men were terrified to hear the uncommon sound that meant danger to them. They got their guns and loaded them with bullets. They were anxious to find out where the scream came from and what could have caused it.

"Let's find out what that scream was about." Pidengo ordered, as they emerged from their tent.


With guns in their hands, they cautiously moved toward the thicket.
They proceeded toward the direction where they thought the scream had originated and discovered a precipice beyond the thick bushes behind their tent. They stopped and carefully inched forward in a crawl toward the edge. They looked down on a valley below and saw on a clearing under the light of a full moon about fifty natives, holding spears, dancing around a bonfire. They also saw a man tied to a pole, with his head bowed down, surrounded by dancing natives.

"They're having a sacrifice." Pidengo whispered.

"Let's pull out camp and get out of here." Poding was alarmed at


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what he had seen. He wanted to escape the dangers which he had thought had become imminent.

"No." Pidengo replied. "We're safer here. We'd meet more dangers while roaming through the jungle during the night. At least, now, we know where they are."

"They're only about fifty with no guns." Nilo butted in. "Why don't we attack and rescue their captive?"

"That's dangerous, Nilo." Pidengo reacted. "We're inviting trouble,
if we do that. Our gunfires will invite other members of their tribe to swarm on us like bees. We're treasure hunters, not warriors. As much
as possible, let's avoid any encounter with these people."

"Suppose they attack us during the night?" Nilo voiced his fears, which he believed was possible to happen.

"That's impossible." Pidengo declared to calm the fears of his men, who had become restless and terrorized by what they had witnessed. "They're in a valley 500 feet below us. They're presently very much occupied. Their ritual will last until daybreak. Let's wait here for daybreak and then we'll move out."

They returned to their tent and put out the light from the gas lamp,
as tom tom beats of jungle drums continued. They lay on their beds but could not sleep. They refrained from talking to each other, fearing that the natives could hear them. Every sound in the forest that they could hear would put them on alert. They waited for dawn with mixtures of hope and trepidation. Hoping the headhunters would not descend on them before the night was over, they kept a vigil, a long wait, for daybreak.