CONTINUED…

She remained alone in her room all that day. At twilight, she stole

out of her house to meet the Chamorro boy who loved her. As agreed,

she joined him at the high point where they first met and watched

stars appear.

She was late and the boy thought she would never come again. He feared

she had forgotten him already for the royal suitor she had mentioned.

When he heard her steps in the dark, he rushed to her and they held

each other in their arms.

His keen joy suddenly turned to anxiety when he saw her face in the

moonlight, her cheeks streaked with tears. She then told him of her

impending marriage to the grandee.

His large, gentle eyes were defeated now, the light in them dead. He

believed she was saying goodbye forever. Because he loved her truly,

he swallowed his grief and tried to wish her happiness, but the words

died in his mouth.

She understood without words, and she whispered something that assured

him that she was all his own. They embraced, kissed, cried and held on

to each other, not knowing if it was for the last time.

As the night grew longer, they knew they would not part to go their

seperate ways to live without each other. They would run away together

even though it meant certain death for the boy if they were caught.

 

They would need some things to give them a chance to survive. He would

fetch a canoe, a net, some fishing gear and a weapon. She would get

some money and other necessary things. In a few days, they would make

their escape to another island where no one would ever find them.

At home the next day, the young girl was worried about the recent

events. the ever present captain took her distraction as a sign of

modesty and of submission. His unsatisfied desire for her made him

persuade the father to hasten the preparations for the ceremony so

that it would take place before the week was out. One night when she

thought she could stand the man's advances no more, she tried to go

out to see her Chamoro lover, but her father forbade her to leave the

house until after the wedding. To be sure of it, he posted a guard at

her door and the captain's men around the walls of the large mansion.

The days passed with the girl being unable to go out. The boy did not

know what to think. Fearing the worst, he thought that she had given

in to her father's wishes. Finally, unable to endure the silence and

not knowing what to think anymore, the boy went to the estate and

slipped past the guards to seek out her window. He remembered that her

balcony faced toward the sunrise. When he thought he had found it, he

took his life into his hands and called out her name softly to the

open window. A face appeared in the dark opening. It was hers.

 

How she got out of the house and how the guards failed to see them are

not known, but the next morning, the mother discovered that her

daughter was gone. The mother knew immediately what her daughter had

done. But she did not know where the girl could have fled. She delayed

some time before going to her husband.

When the father learned what had happened, he became furious. He

informed the captain that his daughter had been kidnapped by a low

rowdy and together the elderly men set out with soldiers and horsemen

to scour the hills of Tumon Bay.

Toward noon, the young couple was sighted fleeing through the

tangantangan. Searching soldiers kept them from getting to the canoe

the boy had hidden in a cave. The captain, in shrewd military stlye,

had his mounted men circle ahead as far as the high peninsula above

the caves.

The two lovers sighted their pursuers behind them. Instinctively, they

felt their only escape was at the top of the point. They climbed

through the underbrush and over the sharp volcanic rock which cut

their hands and feet. When they reached the summit, their hearts were

glad. Their relief was short-lived. they were surrounded on all sides.

The horsemen slowed as they neared the jutting peak because they saw

that the youngsters were trapped. On the great black horse rode the

captain, who was very angry. Next to him rode the stern father who

suddenly became uneasy because his daughter was so close to the edge

of the cliff. Still advancing, he called to hear but she did not hear

him. The lovers knew there was one thing left for them to do. The boy

shouted a warning for the men to stay back, and the father signaled

the men to halt and to watch. The couple stood at the very edge of the

precipice. The men were puzzled when the boy and girl tied their hair

together.

 

The two acted as if they were utterly alone. They looked deeply into

each other's eyes and kissed one last time. The anxious father shouted

a warning to the girl to obey, and the captain spurred his horse

forward to try to seize the boy. In that instant, the young couple

leaped down the long, deep cliff into the roaring tide below.

When the father galloped to the edge, all he could see was the

floating hair and the yellow wedding ribbonhis daughter had used to

make the final bow with the unknown boy's hair. Too late the father

understood the meaning of their hair tied together.

The men, in their canoes and boats, searched for them the rest of the

day, but they did not find their bodies.

Since that day, the islanders looked at the jutting peak by Tumon Bay

with a kind of reverence. They are paying homage to the young couple

who showed them that real love comes from the entwining of two souls,

true to one another in life and in death.