We set the plan in motion. Tirso made his way on the far end of the harbor to the right of the warehouse the tulisanes had just recently plundered, while I made my way near one of the stack of boxes just a little ways to the left where the bandits docked their fishing boats. It didn''t take long before I heard a loud THUD coming from the direction Tirso was hiding. That was my cue.


    I then held my rifle in such a way that its butt can be easily used to ram one of the boxes with it, making a loud enough sound to catch the attention of the tulisanes.


    "Huh! Who''s there?!" shouted one of them. I immediately made myself scarce and relocated myself behind another stack of huge boxes.


    Fortunately, I was lucky enough to decide to move earlier to another position, because this certain tulisan actually unloaded his revolver upon the box.


    He must be very anxious - paranoid, even - that he''d fill an innocent stack of boxes with holes just because of a sudden thud. This, however, doesn''t seem to be the case for Tirso, as more and more of the tulisanes are being dispatched to check the noises that he''s been making and not a shot was fired towards his direction. Glass breaking, discarded metal chains rattling about...Tirso was an expert in this child''s play.


    The fifteen men guarding the boats are now down to ten, and one of them seemed to grow wary as the noises around them become more intense. "Putang ina mo! Lumabas ka diyan, duwag!" he would call out, occassionally wasting his bullets on boxes and stowed carts. I, on the other hand, sees this as an opportunity to taunt them. From time to time, I''d throw out rocks, dirt or scraps of wood and quickly move to another position to elude the men tracking my location by the trajectory of the projectile. The cover of night worked greatly to my advantage, and their lamps can only illuminate so much and they don''t have that much lamps to go around. Now, the entire party of tulisanes are on edge and the men guarding the boats are down to three, with the lot of their comrades scouring the entire harbor. The search party was fairly easy to evade, because the light of their lamps give away their location in the dark, and are thus very easy to track.


    "This search is pointless, Pedro. The rest of the Civil Guard might be here soon." said one of the bandits.


    "This search is over when I say it''s over!" countered the man with a drawn revolver. "Whoever threw that rock earlier at me, I want his head! I''ll drag him back to the hideout and burn him alive!"


    "For all we know, he could''ve been long gone from here, Pedro." argued another. "Besides, whoever that was is no real threat to us. We only came here for the rifles. Let''s get out of here before it''s too late."


    Rifles, eh? They went through all this trouble just for rifles? I wonder what kind of weapons are stored in those crates.


    A few seconds later, I heard a huge crash coming from Tirso''s direction. "There! Near that steamer boat! Get him!"


    A volley of rifle fire followed soon after, and the entire band of tulisanes were suddenly on Tirso''s tail. Even the men guarding the boats left their posts and joined their comrades in the chase. Shit. That one tulisan looked particularly bloodthirsty, and Tirso would be as good as dead if he was caught. I was about to launch myself out of cover to fire my rifle when a thought crossed my mind. I can see the boats yonder, bright as day, are now clear of enemies thanks to the lamps hung near the bows of these boats, and I now have the chance to repossess whatever weapons these tulisanes have acquired. But if I do that, Tirso will be left to his own to face the bandits. That idiot is not used to firefights.Stolen story; please report.


    Goddamn it. What should I do?


    ...wait. I got it! The lamps!


    Slowly and carefully, I left the cover of the boxes to approach the vessels of the tulisanes. I may not be able to retrieve the rifles at this point, but at least I can make sure the tulisanes will not be able to use them. Luckily, the boats, the crates and the stock of the guns are mainly made of wood and if I recall correctly...they do not react well with fire. So I immediately collected all of the three lamps from all the three boats, to throw them later one by one inside the boats'' hulls.


    By now, I can hear more successive gunshots from the distance, but after a few subsequent shots and shouts of pain and death, the port became silent all of a sudden. Shit, they must''ve gotten Tirso, so I have to hurry. But as I was about to throw the first lamp, I heard a sharp clicking sound and felt warm steel pointed right at my nape.


    "That''s far enough. Drop the gun and the lamp." said a deep voice from behind me. "Slowly."


    Nervous, I did as the man asked. Damn, I was careless!


    After doing what he asked, he said, "Put your hands up in the air, and slowly turn around."


    Again, I did as I was told. Turning around, I got a glimpse of some of the man''s features. He had moderate height. He wore a strange combination of a camisa and trousers similar to that of a soldier, and, in my peripheral vision, saw hung on his shoulders a body of a young man, about the same age as I am, wearing an attire similar to the students near the streets that I patrol. But as I was about to get a glimpse of his face, he told me to stop. At this point, my head and body is facing to the left of the boat, and immediately, the man shifted to the right to maintain his position behind me. He then gestured with a light tap of my nape with my gun, saying, "Move, lad. We just need to borrow a boat. I''m not here to kill you."


    "You are a tulisan, are you?" I asked. "You look like it, judging by your attire."


    "I am not, young man. But nevertheless, you don''t want to cross me, lad." he threatened, pushing the barrel of the gun a bit harder on my nape.


    "If...if you''re not a tulisan, then what are you?" I inquired.


    He paused, and then I heard a click, and heard two shots coming from the back, ended by the thumps of bodies collapsing on the ground. "Neither enemy nor friend. You were about to burn these boats, correct?"


    "Y-yes." I answered plainly. "My friend''s life depends on my success."


    "You mean the milksop being chased by tulisanes? I took care of the bandits earlier. Those bastards ran like chickens when I shot six of their friends. Your friend is safe." the man said as he withdrew his gun.


    "You expect me to believe that bullsh-"


    "Marcelo! Marcelo!" called out a familiar voice from a distance.


    Well, I''ll be damned. It is Tirso.


    A few seconds later, I heard footsteps from one of the boats.


    "I''ll be off now, young man. The other boats are yours. Do with the guns as you see fit. Until we meet again, lad."


    I turned around, and I saw one of the boats almost fifty paces away from the docks. How in the world is this man able to do that?!


    "Marcelo! You won''t believe what just happened." called out Tirso, who seemed oddly energetic because of excitement.


    I then began to snicker at these words...because oddly enough, for a man who has seen enough combat, I felt the same as Tirso. One man was able to take on fifteen men without even breaking a sweat.


    Perhaps I haven''t seen it all.