Tragedy at Lumba's Bend
Tragedy at Lumba’s Bend
By: Delfin Fresnosa

Five men were killed early this morning by a prematurely-exploded blast. Words flew fast in the village, and before long there was a crowd gathered near the scene of the accident. However, not one of them could come very near because the rocks and earth on the mountain side still rolled every now and then.
We know were working in the mines did not yet know that there had been an accident. We only came to know of it when we are having our mess. Possibly it was either Demetrio’s gang or Pito’s gang that had perished, but as yet we could not be certain. After the mess we fell to work again, but many of those who were personally acquainted with men of Demetrio’s or Pito’s gang could not work very well. I myself was a great friend of Demetrio, and I could not keep my thoughts away from him. When my shift came, I crawled out of the hole and found that several of my friends had already volunteered to dig out the bodies.
As soon as we entered the village, we were met by a number of excited women and children. They told us that only one of Demetrio’s men had escaped death, and even he was in a very serious condition. He had been taken to the hospital….So it was really true that Demetrio had died.
We passed by the hut where we boarded, and I felt a pang. I could only stare vacantly at the old woman who was looking out of the window. She was our occasional washer woman, and now she had brought a clean suit to the hut so that by the time Demetrio’s body was found we could easily change his clothes. My companions saw her also, but not one of us broke the silence. Instead we hurried to the shop where the company kept it tools, and asked for implements.
There were already a number of men excavating the mountain side, and they were working with furious haste. But as there was still a know what to do, for she just stood there precariously, trembling and widly staring around. She was very pale and her eyes had the vacancy of an...