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Scripts of Servitude
CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY STUDIES
Series Editor: Professor Alastair Pennycook (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia) and
Professor Brian Morgan (Glendon College/York University, Toronto, Canada) and Professor Ryuko
Kubota (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)

Critical Language and Literacy Studies is an international series that encourages monographs directly
addressing issues of power (its flows, inequities, distributions, trajectories) in a variety of language-
and literacy-related realms. The aim with this series is twofold: (1) to cultivate scholarship that
openly engages with social, political, and historical dimensions in language and literacy studies,
and (2) to widen disciplinary horizons by encouraging new work on topics that have received little
focus (see below for partial list of subject areas) and that use innovative theoretical frameworks.

Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://
www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31-34
High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.

Other books in the series

China and English: Globalisation and the Dilemmas of Identity
Joseph Lo Bianco, Jane Orton and Gao Yihong (eds)
Language and HIV/AIDS
Christina Higgins and Bonny Norton (eds)
Hybrid Identities and Adolescent Girls: Being ‘Half’ in Japan
Laurel D. Kamada
Decolonizing Literacy: Mexican Lives in the Era of Global Capitalism
Gregorio Hernandez-Zamora
Contending with Globalization in World Englishes
Mukul Saxena and Tope Omoniyi (eds)
ELT, Gender and International Development: Myths of Progress in a Neocolonial World
Roslyn Appleby
Examining Education, Media, and Dialogue under Occupation: The Case of Palestine and Israel
Ilham Nasser, Lawrence N. Berlin and Shelley Wong (eds)
The Struggle for Legitimacy: Indigenized Englishes in Settler Schools
Andrea Sterzuk
Style, Identity and Literacy: English in Singapore
Christopher Stroud and Lionel Wee
Language and Mobility: Unexpected Places
Alastair Pennycook
Talk, Text and Technology: Literacy and Social Practice in a Remote Indigenous Community
Inge Kral
Language Learning, Gender and Desire: Japanese Women on the Move
Kimie Takahashi
English and Development: Policy, Pedagogy and Globalization
Elizabeth J. Erling and Philip Seargeant (eds)
Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of Complexity
Jan Blommaert
Power and Meaning Making in an EAP Classroom: Engaging with the Everyday
Christian W. Chun
Local Languaging, Literacy and Multilingualism in a West African Society
Kasper Juffermans
English Teaching and Evangelical Mission: The Case of Lighthouse School
Bill Johnston
Race and Ethnicity in English Language Teaching
Christopher Joseph Jenks
Language, Education and Neoliberalism: Critical Studies in Sociolinguistics
Mi-Cha Flubacher and Alfonso Del Percio (eds)
CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY STUDIES: 24

Scripts of Servitude
Language, Labor Migration and
Transnational Domestic Work

Beatriz P. Lorente

MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Blue Ridge Summit
 For my father, Felino Lorente (1940–1998) who showed me just how rewarding
asking questions could be

DOI 10.21832/LORENT8996
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Names: Lorente, Beatriz P. author.
Title: Language, Labor Migration and Transnational Domestic Work/Beatriz P. Lorente.
Description: Bristol, UK; Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Multilingual Matters, 2017. |
Series: Critical Language and Literacy Studies: 24 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017023808| ISBN 9781783098996 (hbk: alk. paper) | ISBN
9781783098989 (pbk: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781783099023 (kindle)
Subjects: LCSH: Foreign workers, Filipino–Singapore. | Women foreign workers–
Singapore–Language. | Women household employees–Singapore. | English language–
Social aspects–Singapore. | Language and languages–Economic aspects–Philippines.
Classification: LCC HD6305.F55 L67 2017 | DDC 331.4/864089992105957–dc23 LC
record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023808
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78309-899-6 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78309-898-9 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31-34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: NBN, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, USA.
Website: www.multilingual-matters.com
Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters
Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2018 Beatriz P. Lorente.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that
are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable
forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy,
preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification.
The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been
granted to the printer concerned.
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services Limited.
Printed and bound in the UK by Short Run Press Ltd.
Printed and bound in the US by Edwards Brothers Malloy, Inc.
Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Series Editors’ Preface xi
1 Language and Transnational Domestic Workers 1
Scripts as Templates for Language Practices 6
Scripts as Enactable and Convertible Templates 9
Nodes in the Migration Infrastructure 11
Centering institutions 11
Subjects 12
Transnational Domestic Work 13
Transnational Domestic Workers in Singapore 16
A profile of Filipino domestic workers in Singapore 19
Method 21
Overview of Chapters 24
2 The Making of ‘Workers of the World’: Language and the
Labor Brokerage State 27
The Philippines as a Labor Brokerage State 29
History of labor migration from the Philippines 30
Patterns of labor migration from the Philippines 35
Language in the Philippine Labor Migration Enterprise 40
‘Our labor force speaks your language’ 40
The history of English in the Philippines 42
The making of English-speaking overseas Filipino workers 45
The making of skilled workers of the world 49
Summary 52

v
vi Contents

3 Assembling the ‘Supermaid’: Language and Communication

Skills for ‘Vulnerable Occupations’ 53
Protecting the Filipino Domestic Worker 55
The Supermaid: Rebranding Filipina Domestic Workers 56
Scripting the Supermaid 60
Workplace communication skills 60
The language and culture-specific training 63
Summary 65

4 Marketing Domestic Workers: Maid Agencies in Singapore 66

Transnational Maid Agencies as Mediating Institutions 67
Maid agencies in Singapore 69
Positioning Products 73
Representations of Filipino domestic workers
in Singapore 73
The relative values of English linguistic capital 77
Styling the Domestic Worker 80
Performing the script of servitude 82
Displaying servitude 89
Summary 94

5 The English-Speaking Other Looks Back 96

The Idea of ‘Good English’ 97
Good English is ‘puro Ingles’ 98
Singlish is not ‘good English’ 99
‘You have to use your own accent’ 103
A Hierarchy of Desirable Employers 104
Singaporean Chinese employers 105
‘White’ expat employers 113
A Hierarchy of Domestic Workers 116
More than just a maid 117
 Contents vii

The value of ‘daldal’ 120

‘When we speak to Indonesians, our English is baroque’ 121
Summary 124

6 Translating Selves: The Trajectories of Transnational Filipino

Domestic Workers 126
English in the Philippines 126
English in Singapore 128
‘I have lost my English’ 129
‘You’re the one who adjusts, not them, right?’ 132
Revising the Script 135
‘Yung madam/Madonna ko’ 135
A register for offstage identities 140
‘Pa-English-English’ in the Philippines 142
‘Lord, help me to English my tongue’ 145
Summary 146

7 Conclusion 148
Language and Labor Migration 148
Language and Transnational Domestic Work 149
Developing Alternative Scripts 151
Preferred Futures 152

Appendices 154

References 160

Index 170
Acknowledgments

I am indebted to the migrant women who participated in this study, who

shared their time and stories with me and patiently, thoughtfully and
humorously answered my questions. Their experiences and their stories,
their strength and their laughter are the foundation of this book. I am
indebted as well to the Filipino Overseas Workers Skills Training Program
of the Bayanihan Centre in Singapore where I based most of my fieldwork.
I am especially grateful to Encarnacion Montales who welcomed me to the
Centre and to Lily Sabsalon who helped me make sense of what I observed
and heard, and whose friendship kept me grounded in the everyday realities,
hardships and triumphs of transnational domestic work. Lily passed away
in the Philippines in April 2017 while this book was in production. She is
much missed.
Some parts of this book are based on materials that have been published.
My thanks to the John Benjamins Publishing Company for permission to
use the chapter, Lorente, B.P. (2013) The grip of English and Philippine
language policy. In L. Wee, R.B.H. Goh and L. Lim (eds) The Politics of English:
South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Company, pp. 187–204. This is now part of Chapter 2. Another
part of Chapter 2 is from Lorente, B.P. (2012) The making of “workers of the
world”: language and the labor brokerage state. In A. Duchêne and M. Heller
(eds) Language in Late Capitalism: Pride and Profit. New York: Routledge,
pp. 183–206. Part of Chapter 4 is from Lorente, B.P. (2010). Packaging
English-speaking production: maid agencies in Singapore. In H. Kelly-
Holmes and G. Mautner (eds) Language and the Market. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, pp. 44–55. Every reasonable effort has been taken to contact
copyright holders. Any errors will be rectified in future editions.
I owe a debt of self (utang na loob) to Alastair Pennycook whose interest in
this project, year in and year out, as I conducted the study, presented papers,
submitted the dissertation and wrote the book, inspired me to keep going.
I am very grateful to Jan Blommaert whose ideas and encouragement have
very much shaped this book. I am also very grateful to Alexandre Duchêne
whose critical and incisive comments pushed me to craft a more nuanced final
manuscript, and whose enthusiastic support for this project was invaluable.
Thank you to Ruanni Tupas whose friendship and intellectual generosity

ix
x Acknowledgments

through the years have been vital to this project. I also owe thanks to Anne
Pakir who, as my dissertation adviser, gave me the support and the freedom
I needed to think differently, and to Chng Huang Hoon and Lionel Wee who
read and incisively commented on the dissertation. Last but not least, a big
thank you to the wonderful team at Multilingual Matters: Anna Roderick,
Kim Eggleton, Laura Longworth, Florence McClelland and Sarah Williams.
The research for this book has been presented at a good number of
conferences. Thank you to the many audiences who listened, commented
on and asked questions about my work. Thank you very much to the
community of scholars I have the privilege of knowing and learning
from, especially: Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, Alfonso del Percio, Mi-Cha
Flubacher, Monica Heller, Kasper Juffermans, Bonnie McElhinny, Stefanie
Meier, Sebastian Muth, Gene Segarra Naverra, Shanthini Pillai, Anuradha
Ramanujan, Angela Reyes, Aileen Salonga and Cécile Vigouroux.
Finally, I am grateful to my mother, Amelia Lorente and my sister, Lora
Frances Lorente-Lorenzo for their loving confidence in me. I am especially
grateful to my husband, Bruno Trezzini, who supported this project from
its very start, and whose critical and extensive feedback on earlier drafts of
this manuscript were the crucial turning points in refining my ideas and my
writing. Thank you for everything.
Series Editors’ Preface

This is a significant book and an important addition to our series for a

number of reasons. As the title suggests, it locates the language of servitude
critically within a much larger picture of mobile domestic work. It thus
situates the language, work and mobility of these women in relation
to the global market, shedding light on the intersectionality of gender,
class, ethnicity, migration and language. This work brings important
insights into the commodification and regulation of language within the
neoliberal world order, the gendered nature of particular forms of work, the
implications for employment, abuse and discrimination, and the mobility
of many current workers in insecure and underpaid jobs. Such concerns
matter deeply at this particular historical juncture with the rise of new
forms of populist, xenophobic nationalism and isolationism in wealthy
nations confronting mobile populations of refugees and an emergent class of
itinerant, impoverished and insecure laborers. It is often this precarious and
peripatetic workforce (on construction sites, in private homes, in health care
facilities) who support the growing extravagances of the wealthy, as capital
is concentrated in the hands of the very rich while huge economic disparities
are ideologically normalized, and the very idea of welfare and the public
good is increasingly on the retreat.
Anyone who has spent time in a city such as Hong Kong will know that
its Filipina domestic workers are an ‘issue’, as they flood the city streets
on Sundays to meet and socialize (having little other time or place to get
together), in what might be seen as an alternative precursor to the Occupy
movements that sought to reclaim public space (Martín Rojo, 2016; Chun,
2014). On these Sundays, there is also much of the busy work of globalization
from below (Mathews, 2012), as Balikbayan boxes (to ship goods home from
overseas Filipinos) are filled with items sourced from the lower end of Hong
Kong malls to be sent back to family and friends in the Philippines. While
these boxes may be filled and despatched from the pavements of Hong
Kong, the Balikbayan box system has also become institutionalized, like
other sections of local industries in Singapore’s cheaper malls with their
Thai, Nepalese and Philippine foods, beauty salons and currency transfer
offices (Low, 2009). There is often a certain poignancy to the labels on these
boxes in the disparity between the ‘From’ label (the employers’ address in an

xi
xii Series Editors’ Preface

expensive location in expatriate Hong Kong, where the domestic worker has
only a small room behind the kitchen) and the ‘To’ address (a suburb, say, of
Dumaguete City, where the remittances sent back have allowed the family
to build a larger house). Remittances matter for families and the economy,
with the Philippines ranked 3rd in the world (after India and China) in the
total amount of remittances sent home (Global Remittance Guide, 2017). As
with other Pacific island nations, such as Tonga, these relations of migration,
remittances and mobility have important implications for other flows of
language, religion and popular culture (Pennycook, 2015).
The newspapers in cities such as Hong Kong also provide regular reports
of abused workers, beatings and unpaid wages. Back in colonial times (just
25 years ago, let us not forget), the role and status of these women was played
out amid colonial discourses of servants, language and the public space
(Pennycook, 1998). In response to a letter by Elsa Katarungan (South China
Morning Post, April 23, 1993), which criticized the Ramos administration
in the Philippines and ended ‘We will continue to work like slaves all over
the world because this administration is just as inept and corrupt as all the
others before it’, Sheila Grange (SCMP, April 26, 1993) took umbrage to this
view of slavery: ‘Does Ms Katarungan think that only the Filipino race are
hard workers? Focusing primarily on Hong Kong for the present, what about
the expatriate manager who often leaves the house at 7:30 in the morning,
returning often as late as 8 or 9 at night with a ton of paperwork to get
through before the morning. What about the times he leaves on a business
trip when officially his working day is over, or he travels to a destination on
a Sunday?’
In December 1993, a heated debate started over whether a notice in a
lift in a block of flats was discriminatory. The notice, positioned next to a
sign saying ‘No dogs allowed’ (echoing the infamous signs of colonial Hong
Kong and Shanghai that reportedly said ‘No dogs or Chinese’ – shattered in
a famous Bruce Lee Kung Fu moment), announced (in Tagalog and Chinese)
that maids should use the service rather than the main lifts. Responding to
the outcry over this sign, Robert Thio (SCMP, December 3) defended its use,
arguing that ‘I have observed that many Filipino maids speak loudly among
themselves in the lifts of buildings and on public buses.’ This, he argued, ‘is
a nuisance and generates resentment among other people.’ He went on to
argue that maids needed to be educated about how to behave in public. Not
surprisingly, this letter produced a number of angry responses, though there
were others who could not see a problem here: ‘In the name of common-
sense and reason, what is wrong with requiring service staff – domestic
servants – to use a service lift?’ (R.T.B. Barrie, December 16, 1994); ‘There
 Series Editors’ Preface xiii

are exclusive clubs in this city where maids are designated certain areas and
quite clear notices are put up to this effect. Will the indignant do-gooders
next suggest that the maids now be allowed to sip Gins and Tonic in the
Members’ Bar? In Hong Kong, they are employed as maids and so, what is
all this indignation about asking servants – yes, that’s what they are and
that does not make their contribution any less valuable in their own right
– from being asked to use the service lift?’ (Mina Kaye, SCMP, December
14, 1993). These were the common discourses around maids in Hong Kong
in the 1990s, who had to confront not only difficult working conditions
but also discourses about talking in the public space and their position as
servants within a colonial political economy.
This book takes us into the present lives of these domestic workers.
Things have moved on in various ways (though discursive shift can be slow)
and these domestic workers now have more support and better regulation
than they did 25 years ago, though this also entails, as Lorente makes clear,
an inscription into a neoliberal order of supermaids and scripts of servitude.
This book thus follows on very nicely from the most recent in this series,
Mi-Cha Flubacher and Alfonso Del Percio’s edited (2017) Language, Education
and Neoliberalism: Critical Studies in Sociolingustics which highlights specific
realizations and articulations of neoliberal language practices and their
normalizing effects on identity formation across a range of settings. There
we saw how language becomes commodified, objectified, standardized and
quantified in the service of various neoliberal educational agendas. We also
saw how diversity was appropriated in the marketing of language services,
or what Flores (2017) calls the Coke-ification of bilingual education for Latinx
students in the US. Once English ability starts to add value to the market price
of a domestic worker, and once domestic workers become part of a national
export industry, the role of English in education becomes more important.
For the Philippines, like other countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and
India, with relatively low economic development but relatively strong access
to English, the language becomes one of commercial opportunity, so that
businesses such as call centres on the one hand open up jobs for local college-
educated employees, but on the other hand distort the local economy and
education system and perpetuate forms of global inequality (Friginal, 2009),
and unequal Englishes (Tupas & Salonga, 2016).
Language, as with all books in this series, is crucial, and fortunately
Lorente is not so much interested in bland descriptions of Singapore or
Philippine English but in the ways language and capital are intertwined:
how the export of domestic and other workers affects language and
education policy back in the Philippines, how these domestic workers now
xiv Series Editors’ Preface

market themselves to prospective employers, and how they deal with the
local language politics of places such as Singapore. It is a pity that so much
work has focused on putative varieties of English from a world Englishes
perspective, when what we really need to address are the questions of
unequal Englishes (Tupas & Rubdy, 2015; Tupas & Salonga, 2016). As Kubota
(2015: 33) points out, while pluralist approaches to English have opened up
an understanding of postcolonial diversity, there has also been a tendency
to ‘romanticize the multiplicity of local language use without sufficiently
interrogating inequalities and injustices involving race, gender, class and so
on.’ All varieties of English are in complex relations of power with other
varieties and intertwined with questions of access and discrimination along
lines of class, gender and race.
As Martin (2014) observes, the sociolinguistics of English in the
Philippines is far more complex than merely placing it in the ‘outer circle’
as if that explained the many Englishes used there. There are circles within
circles in the Philippines, amid questions of access, education, style,
disparity and difference (Tupas, 2010). The issue, therefore, is not centrally
about how Philippine English differs from American English but how
English resources are spread and used, and become available or inaccessible
to people of different classes and ethnicities across these islands. ‘Can all
English users regardless of their racial, gender, socioeconomic, and other
background equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid
and fluid linguistic practices?’ (Kubota, 2015: 33). Any claim to a variety of
English, while at one level a defiance of inner circle norms, is also always
a political claim in relation to other varieties, and a claim amid competing
social, economic and political values, a question of unequal Englishes, ‘the
unequal ways and situations in which Englishes are arranged, configured,
and contested’ (Tupas & Rubdy, 2015: 3).
It is the interlocking relations of language, gender, domestic work
and migration that this book engages with. This links to work on how a
new precariat class (Standing, 2014) – a precariously employed and mobile
proletariat that lacks security in relation to the labor market, training, income
and representation – has emerged over the last decades. While this notion
has come in for a reasonable amount of criticism – as Munck (2013) points
out, the idea of precarious global workers has a long history, and the idea
of the precariat overlooks the point that work has always been precarious
for most of the majority world (having a ‘decent job’ is not something that
many can aspire to) – it nonetheless gives us a way of understanding the
difficulties and insecurities of undertaking work under such conditions.
Filipino workers can be found on boats and construction sites among
 Series Editors’ Preface xv

many other workplaces, but it is in domestic and health care that many
women work. Crucial within these wider class formations, therefore, are the
gendered nature of this work and the ways this fits into patterns of domestic
labor and transnational migration (Chang, 2000; Ehrenreich & Hochschild,
2004; Parreñas, 2001). And equally important is how this gets played out in
relation to language, not only in terms of the capital of English and other
languages but also the everyday operations of linguistic diversity in relation
to forms of labor (Duchêne et al., 2013; Gonçalvez & Schluter, 2017; Piller &
Lising, 2014).
What makes Lorente’s book particularly important is the close
relationship she developed with the women in this book. This is in part a
result of the kind of linguistic ethnography that we have favoured in this
series since this allows researchers to dig deeper into the communities they
are exploring. This is also, however, an aspect of the author’s positionality in
relation to these women. Indeed, as with many people from the Philippines,
her own family is intertwined with these histories. This means that not
only do we see how domestic workers are made, produced and scripted,
how their scripts of servitude are anchored in marketing processes that are
part of the discourses that construct desirable workers, and how English as
capital operates in relation to their lives, but we also see the hopes, desires
and trajectories of these women as they come to appropriate English and
forge decent lives for themselves. Like another important book in this series
(Takahashi, 2013), this allows us to appreciate not only the lived experiences
of women who have already moved to study and work elsewhere, but also
that these are part of much wider trajectories, as these women move on
to other places, work and lives. We see how these women cope, how they
struggle, how they make sense of their lives, how they develop strategies
of resistance and everyday antiracism (Aquino, 2018), how their negotiated
status in relation to styles of English is also about the quotidian ways in
which they cope with routine racialized domination (see also Jenks, 2017, in
this series). This book thus links many of the concerns that we have tried to
make central to this series, connecting a critical understanding of language
and power to wider concerns of discrimination and inequality, as well as
resistance and resilience.
Alastair Pennycook
Brian Morgan
Ryuko Kubota
xvi Series Editors’ Preface

References
Aquino, K. (2018) Racism and Resistance among the Filipino Diaspora: Everyday Anti-racism in
Australia. London: Routledge.
Chang, G. (2000) Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy.
Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Chun, C.W. (2014) Reflexivity and critical language education in Occupy L.A. In J.B.
Clark and F. Dervin (eds) Reflexivity in Language and Intercultural Education: Rethinking
Multilingualism and Interculturality (pp. 172–192). London: Routledge.
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and work in multilingual and transnational spaces. In A. Duchêne, M. Moyer and
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Workers in the New Economy. New York: Metropolitan Books.
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global-remittances-guide
Gonçalvez, K. and Schluter, A. (2017) “Please do not leave any notes for the cleaning lady,
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multilingual workplace. Language Policy 16 (3) 242–265.
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Multilingual Matters.
Kubota, R. (2015) Inequalities of Englishes, English speakers, and languages: A critical
perspective on pluralist approaches to English. In R. Tupas (ed.) Unequal Englishes:
The Politics of Englishes Today (pp. 21–42). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Low, K.E.Y. (2009) Scents and Scent-sibilities: Smell and Everyday Life Experiences. Newcastle:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Martin, I. (2014) Philippine English revisited. World Englishes 33 (1), 50–59.
Martín Rojo, L. (2016) Occupy: The spatial dynamics of discourse in global protest
movements. In L. Martín Rojo (ed.) Occupy: The Spatial Dynamics of Discourse in
Global Protest Movements (pp. 1–22). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Mathews G. (2012) Neoliberalism and globalization from below in Chungking mansions,
Hong Kong. In G. Mathews, G.L. Ribeiro and C.A. Vega (eds) Globalization from
Below: The World’s Other Economy (pp. 69–85) London: Routledge.
Munck, R. (2013) The Precariat: A view from the South. Third World Quarterly 34 (5),
747–762.
Parreñas, R.S. (2001) Servants of Globalization. Women, Migration, and Domestic Work.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Pennycook, A. (1998) English and the Discourses of Colonialism. London: Routledge.
 Series Editors’ Preface xvii

Pennycook, A. (2015) Early literacies and linguistic mobilities. In C. Stroud and M.

Prinsloo (eds) Language, Literacy and Diversity: Moving Words (pp. 187–205). New York,
Routledge.
Piller, I. and Lising, L. (2014) Language, employment and settlement: Temporary meat
workers in Australia. Multilingua 33 (1–2), 35–59
Takahashi, K. (2013) Language Learning, Gender and Desire: Japanese Women on the Move.
Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Tupas, R. (2010) Which norms in everyday practice and why? In A. Kirkpatrick (ed.) The
Routledge Handbook of World Englishes (pp. 567–79). London: Routledge.
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Palgrave Macmillan.
Tupas, R. and Salonga, A. (2016) Unequal Englishes in the Philippines. Journal of
Sociolinguistics 20 (3), 367–381.
1 Language and Transnational
Domestic Workers

Myrna, a Filipino domestic worker (FDW),1 had been working in Singapore

for 11 years when I interviewed her. She had left the Philippines in 1993
because she needed a job that could support her three children; her pay as a
factory worker at a plastics factory in Manila was not enough and she had
separated from her husband who was unemployed and unfaithful. Myrna
applied to work in Singapore through an employment agency in Manila
whose advertisement for Singapore-bound domestic workers (DWs) she had
heard over the radio. When the ‘Singaporean owner’ of the maid agency
was in the country for interviews, she went for one:

Myrna: They want to know whether you know English. [BL: How did
you know that they want to know whether you know English?]
Because their questions are in English! Then they touch your
hands, they say it’s so that they know whether you know hard
work. Of course, I know hard work, I’m at a factory!
They want to know whether you know English [BL: Pa’no mo alam na
gusto nilang malaman kung marunong kang mag-Ingles?] Kasi yung
mga tanong nila sa Ingles eh! Tapos hinihipo nila yung kamay mo,
para daw malaman nila kung marunong ka sa hard work. Siyempre,
marunong ako sa hard work, nasa factory ako eh!2

After the interview, Myrna was videotaped so that prospective employers

in Singapore who went to the maid agency could see and listen to her. She
was supplied with a ‘maid’s uniform’ and was required to put her hair up
in a ponytail and wear no make-up or jewelry. She was told to say a few
things about herself in English, using a chart that was a guide for her while
she spoke:

Myrna: I said my name, my age, what were my jobs, why I want to go

to Singapore. It was easy because there was a guide in front of
you, there was a chart so all you have to do is fill in the blanks.
That’s why employers think all Filipina maids know English.
1
2 Scripts of Servitude

[BL: How did you feel when you were videotaped?] I was
nervous because I was not used to it. Then they made us sing
because they said those who take care of children should know
how to sing a lullaby. They said ‘even if it’s just Bahay Kubo’3
so one (of the applicants) did sing Bahay Kubo (laughs). [BL:
What did you sing?] I can’t remember but it was an English
song. We have a lot of English songs back home right? So I
sang…just a few lines because it was not necessary to complete
it as long as you show that you can sing (laughs). And then we
were even in uniform (laughs). It is funny, isn’t it?
Sinabi ko yung name ko, yung age ko, anong mga naging trabaho
ko, why I want to go to Singapore. Madali naman kasi may guide
na sa harap mo, may chart so ang ginagawa mo lang e mag fill in
the blanks. Kaya akala ng mga employers marunong mag-Ingles ang
lahat ng Pinay na maid. Ninenerbiyos ako kasi hindi ako sanay.
Tapos pinakanta pa kami kasi daw pag mag-alaga ng bata dapat
marunong kang kumanta ng lullaby. Sabi nila ‘kahit Bahay Kubo
lang’ so yung isa, kumanta nga ng Bahay Kubo (laughs). [BL: Anong
kinanta mo?] Di ko na maalala pero English na song. Di ba marami
namang English na songs sa atin? So kumanta ako …konti lang na
lines kasi di naman kelangan na kumpleto basta lang mapakita mo
na marunong kang kumanta (laughs). Tapos naka uniform pa kami
(laughs). Nakakatawa ano?

Myrna’s story is a window to how language is embedded in the production

of one of the largest and widest flows of contemporary female migration,
that of women from the Philippines who work as DWs in countries in
Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe and North America (Tyner, 2004).
As of 2010, Filipino women were working as DWs in at least 72 countries,
with significant numbers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong
Kong and Singapore, and a handful in countries as disparate as Angola and
Switzerland (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, 2010).4
Structured by the international division and the persistent gendered
distribution of reproductive labor (Glenn, 1992; Parreñas, 2000, 2001), the
migration of Filipino women like Myrna is at the nexus of long-existing
as well as emerging inequalities between regions in the global economy;
between labor-sending and labor-receiving countries; and between class, race
and gender. This globalization of care has resulted in the emergence of care
chains and DWs as part of a transnational service class (Mirchandani, 2004).
To begin to understand how language is central to the production
of Filipino women into ‘servants of globalization’ (Parreñas, 2001), it
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 “Oh, see here, kid, isn’t this going too far?” said the leader, with
a smile. “We were only joking with you.”
“That’s all right,” was the reply. “But, you see, I’m not joking
with you. Throw the weapons down!”
The words were spoken so peremptorily that the outlaws lost no
time in complying, and the weapons clattered to the ground
together. Alex at once took possession of them.
In the meantime Jule was making as good time as was possible,
hampered, as he was, by the dog, who insisted on stopping every
few rods to note the progress made by his pursuer. The fight was
not yet all out of the dog.
At last he stopped abruptly and refused to budge. While Jule
was doing his best to force him along the sound of pursuing
footsteps ceased. The boy listened intently, but could hear nothing
of either Alex or the men he believed to be in pursuit.
“What’s coming off now?” he mused. “If this is a trick, I’m in
bad, being without weapons and with this confounded dog on my
hands. Captain Joe, why can’t you behave yourself?”
Captain Joe gave an extra tug at the collar and broke away,
disappearing almost immediately in the thick underbrush, with Jule
in hot pursuit and a trail of blood showing where the dog had gone.
The dog was out of sight in a second, but the trail of blood,
instead of leading directly to the rear, wound off to the right. The
trail was growing fainter every minute, which demonstrated that the
wound was closing, or that it was becoming filled with clots.
While Jule hesitated about following on after the dog, thinking
that he had gone crazy, the sound of a revolver came to his ears,
and the pursuit was taken up again.
 The lad reached an opening in the shrubbery just in time to see
the dog and the outlaw in what seemed to be a death struggle. The
man had evidently fired one shot at the dog and been too late to fire
again. He had been seized by the dog and thrown to the ground.
His revolver lay by his side, just beyond his reach. The fellow
was already in the agonies of death.
Jule sprang forward, but it was too late. The blood which was
scattered liberally over the rank grass told him that. The dog had
severed the jugular vein.
“I don’t blame you, Captain Joe,” the boy said, kneeling by the
side of the fast-failing outlaw, “not a little bit! He shot you while you
were running away from him, and you got even in the only way you
knew; still, I wish you had let him live.”
There came a gurgle of blood at the throat, the wounded man
struggled for a second for breath, and all was over.
Jule laid the head of the man back reverently. Whatever he had
been in life, death had canceled. The record was of his own making
and must be judged by One wiser than the combined wisdom of
earth.
Captain Joe, to tell the truth, did not appear in the last
downcast by the manner in which the incident had terminated, for
he frisked about the boy as if expecting to be praised for what he
had done. Seeing that words of commendation were not likely to be
forthcoming, he darted away down the river.
Jule followed on behind, leaving the dead outlaw to be cared for
later on. He reached an opening in the tangle of underbrush just in
time to witness Alex’s capture of the three outlaws.
 When he approached the spot where Alex stood the lad was
facing the three men about.
“What’s doing?” he asked. “Likely pair and a half you have
there! How did you manage it—the capture, I mean?”
“They just came and gave themselves up!” was the reply. “Got a
rope or anything to tie ’em up with?”
“Nothing doing in that way,” answered Jule. The leader of the
outlaws now appealed to the newcomer for release.
“This lad,” he said, “is inclined to take the incident which took
place recently rather seriously. I can’t make him understand that it
was all a joke.”
“Joke, was it?” asked Jule. “Well, the joke cost the life of your
chum!”
And the boy related the scene he had just witnessed.
Just how it was done the boys never knew. One minute the
three men stood facing the lads, the next they were crunching their
way through the underbrush. And Alex had not fired a shot. He had
been too busy listening to Jule’s recital of the scene in the forest.
The boys knew the outlaws would lose no time in making an
effort to regain possession of the weapons, so they took to their
heels.
“Why didn’t you shoot?” demanded Jule.
“I was too much interested in the story you were telling,” was
the panting reply. “I think I must be a chump!”
The river was not far away, and the boys struck out for it with
all the running ability they possessed, halting only when they stood
on its southern bank.
 The outlaws had not yet made their appearance, and the boys
fancied they, too, were running only in an opposite direction.
“Now what?” asked Jule. “We can’t swim across, can we?”
“I should say not!” was the reply, as Alex threw himself down on
the turf. “To tell the truth, I’m about all in! Do you see anything of
Captain Joe?” he added. “I presume the fool dog followed the
outlaws away.”
Jule grinned, thinking of the figure cut by Alex as he stood with
the huge revolver, threatening the three men.
“I wonder if the gun is loaded?” he said, taking it into his hand.
“I have known men to carry empty weapons. For the love of Mike, it
sure is empty!”
The boy rolled over and over on the grass, making faces at his
chum and laughing softly.
“Nice time you would have had if they had turned on you!” he
said tauntingly, but just at that moment the chum was too busy
watching the dog to pay the slightest attention to him.
The dog had again made his appearance on the bank of the
river showing all his teeth, and back of him came the outlaws!
They were laughing uproariously, because they, too,
remembered that the weapons were empty, all save the one in
possession of the outlaw who had set off in pursuit of the dog. They
had discharged them and forgotten all about it.

CHAPTER XVI
JULE IN GREAT DANGER
Case and Thede made the most of the leaky boat, but the most was
not fast enough.
“If we only had the Rambler, and had it in as good condition as
it was at midnight, we could soon learn something of the missing
boys, but there is no knowing how far the boat sailed after they left
it, and so it is all a guess,” said Case, as he set to work bailing out
the boat. “I guess this trip settles the excursions of the Rambler.”
Thede laughed. When Case was blue he was always ready to
cancel all the dates made for the motor boat.
Thede let him sputter away until he was tired of grumbling, and
then suggested:
“The chances are that the Rambler ran only a short distance
after the boys left her. If the boys have the good sense which they
have previously shown, they will follow on down the river, and so
make the distance we shall be obliged to travel in this old tub all the
shorter. In fact, I am looking for them at every bend in the river. We
ought to meet them in a few minutes now.”
“But if they are on the opposite shore, we are going the wrong
away about it,” replied Case. “The river is very wide here, and we
never could paddle this old tub across it in the face of the current. I
don’t see what the boys ever left the boat for. But some people
never will learn by experience.”
Thede’s view of the case was certainly a hopeful one, but it was
hours before they saw any signs of the lads. Then Case saw Captain
Joe running along the river bank barking furiously.
“There’s the first signal!” Thede exclaimed, turning the prow of
the boat toward the south shore. “And the dog seems to be in
trouble. He seems to be wounded and is just about all in.”
 “It strikes me that we had better get to the shore just as soon
as possible.”
As Case spoke Alex came out to the river bank alone. Jule was
nowhere in sight, and Alex’s clothing was so torn that he looked like
a ragman.
“Alex has been up against something pretty strong to give that
tired look to his face,” Thede exclaimed as he turned the boat
toward the south shore. “Did you ever see a more disreputable
human being?”
“Never!” was the reply.
The old tub of a boat struck the beach at last, and was promptly
boarded by Alex, who was gasping for breath.
“Did you bring your automatics?” was the first question.
“Sure!” was Case’s answer.
As the boy spoke he took a weapon from his pocket and handed
it to the lad.
“What’s doing?” he asked as he did so. “And where is Jule?”
“Come with me and I’ll show you where Jule is,” was Alex’s
reply. “Walk softly! There are others with him. When I give the word
you just rush, and rush to some purpose.”
Without knowing what they were to meet, Case and Thede
swept down into a thicket and, in obedience to a motion from Alex,
drew up for a minute and waited.
The three outlaws had captured Jule and were about to burn his
feet if he did not tell where his chum was.
“Oh, he’ll answer fast enough as soon as he feels the flames
tickling his toes,” the leader said. “We’re going to exterminate this
nest of vipers, and don’t you forget it!”
 “Go as far as you like,” Jule answered. “I still refuse to tell. Nice
boy I’d be, if I betrayed my chum!”
“We’ll see about that!”
One of the outlaws was evidently opposed to what was about to
be done, for he drew the leader aside and whispered in his ear for
several minutes. At the end of that time the leader shook his head
and turned, with a sharp order, to an evil-faced, scowling outlaw
who appeared equal to any piece of deviltry.
The man addressed was quick to obey the command. He took a
handful of matches from a pocket and proceeded to light one of
them.
All the time there was a grin upon his face which told how much
he enjoyed the assignment.
Jule did not believe that he would be deserted by his chum. He
had no idea in what shape the assistance would come, but he was
perfectly well satisfied that it would come. Alex had broken away
from the robbers and taken to his heels and would be sure to return
at the critical moment.
As Jule saw the preparations for torture going on he wished that
Alex would hasten to the rescue, but he had no doubt of the final
result. Alex was loyal.
“Now,” said Case, taking out his automatic, “you see what the
intention is. I have a notion that it is the deliberate intention of the
devils to torture the boy to death. How should he know where Alex
is? It is a subterfuge to make the act appear more humane. This
being the case, what ought we to do to the outlaws?”
“If you don’t decide on something pretty soon Jule will get his
feet cooked!” interposed Alex. “What ought we to do with the devils?
Kill ’em, I say!”
“It does seem that drastic measures should be adopted,” the
surgeon put in. “Of course, we can’t decide what to do with them
while they are still at large, but we can make up our minds. It ought
to be an easy thing to catch them.”
“Oh, we’ve got ’em now!” Alex added. “None of them has a
weapon in sight! It will be just like taking candy away from babies!
See! they are taking his shoes off! Mother of Moses! What was that?
Looked like a white flash!”
Captain Joe was once more in evidence.
The dog had appeared astonished at the inaction of the
rescuing party and reached the conclusion that if anything was done
he must do it himself.
As the dog charged in between the leader and the man to
whom the duty of burning the boy’s feet had been assigned the
former drew a revolver and fired, missing the canine by a foot or
more. The others drew their revolvers, too, but did not discharge
them.
A peremptory order came from the bushes and they dropped
the weapons as if they had been red hot.
“Up with your hands!”
Almost before the words were out of the speaker’s mouth, the
firearms were on the ground. But the leader still retained his huge
revolver and was about to use it when the dog seized him by the leg
in a vise-like hold.
The revolver dropped to the ground while the man tumbled
about in agony, saying many things against the character of the dog.
To all of which the dog, who was performing what he regarded as a
sacred duty in defending the boy, paid not the slightest heed.
“Call him off!” the leader cried. “If you don’t want him killed, call
him off!”
By way of reply Alex picked up the long weapon and used it to
such good purpose on the head of the fellow that he was soon quite
unconscious. In fact, so enraged was the boy that there is little
doubt that the man would have been beaten to death if Case had
not interfered to prevent his murder.
“What are you doing?” Case demanded. “Do you want to kill the
man? I think you would better take a rest and cool off a little.”
“Look what was done to Jule by his orders!” answered the lad,
still struggling to continue the attack. “Killing is none too good for
the likes of him!”
“Save him for the hangman!” advised Jule as he cut the cords
which bound him and regained his feet. “We’ll tie the bunch up and
if they get away all right. If they don’t, why that’s all right, too!”
“We ought to kill him,” was Alex’s rejoinder.
“Oh, let him live,” laughed Case. “We can afford that much,
seeing Jule escaped with whole feet. The chances were against that
at one time.”
“What shall we do with the others?” asked the surgeon. “They
are all equally guilty, I presume.”
“The fellow who lighted the match deserves to have his head
knocked off,” Alex answered. “Did you notice the diabolical grin on
his face when given the order?”
One fellow protested in broken Spanish that he had been
opposed to the leader all the time, and it was finally decided to bind
all three outlaws and leave them on the river bank.
“If we should leave the one who interfered in the interest of
mercy,” Thede insisted, “he would release the others as soon as our
backs were turned, so we may as well treat all alike.”
So the outlaws were tied up good and tight, and the four took
to the boat again. It was necessary to bail the row boat out
frequently as it was still leaking badly, but in time the long stretch of
river was passed and the boys came in sight of the Rambler.
The last thing the boys heard of the outlaws was a volley of
curses from the lips of the leader of the party, who had regained
consciousness and was stating in strong words what he would do to
the boys if they ever came in his way again.
“What’s doing on the Rambler?” Jule asked, as they came in
view of the motor boat.
There certainly was “something doing,” for the deck swarmed
with men, and only the cabin was held by Clay and Paul. When the
boat came nearer the boys could hear the voice of the parrot
ordering the men off the boat.
“Cut it out, cut it out!” he cried. “Get back, get back! You ain’t
wanted here! Cut it out!”
“Tommy seems to be doing his part, all right,” said Alex. “I
wonder how long this has been going on?”
“How are we going to get on board the Rambler?” asked the
surgeon. “All the seats seem to be taken.” The men who had taken
possession of the boat were now shaking their fists at the boys in
the rowboat and offering to beat them up on the most liberal terms.
“The boat now belongs to me!” one of the river thieves shouted,
waving his arms in the air. “I take it as abandoned property.”
 “We’ll soon show you!” Alex shouted back.
“Go chase yourself!” shouted Jule. The rowboat kept steadily on
her course toward the Rambler and some of the more timid of the
occupants of the deck began climbing over the rail, but others stood
their ground, making a display of firearms.
The boys were all armed now, Case having thoughtfully
provided himself with arms for all, and for a moment it looked
serious. When the boats touched, however, the Rambler was
abandoned by those who had taken possession of her and not a shot
was fired.
“Had a little mix-up?” asked Case.
“It looked serious about the time you arrived,” Clay responded.
“They had us cooped up in the cabin, and there is no knowing what
would have happened if you had not come.”
“Now,” said Alex, “suppose we celebrate with a good, square,
all-to-the-good meal! It seems about a month since I had anything
to eat.”
“You’re always hungry,” commented Case.
“Always hungry!” responded Alex. “Look here! If you get up
without going to bed, and butt into a crowd of river thieves, and
come near having your feet burned off, wouldn’t that make you
hungry? I’ll bet you it would!”
All this time the men on the shore had been shaking their fists
and shouting out oaths and cuss words.

CHAPTER XVII
ON MEXICAN SOIL AGAIN
This continued for perhaps an hour, the boys paying little attention
to the racket made on the river bank. Then a shot was heard and
the ragamuffins disappeared as if by magic.
Directly a detachment of United States soldiers made its
appearance. The soldiers were warmly welcomed and Alex insisted
on giving them all the food he had prepared.
“It’s only to cook more,” he argued.
“But I’m hungry enough right now to eat one of the outlaws,”
Jule declared.
“If we’d waited a few minutes longer,” Alex laughed, “you might
have had feet fricassee! That was a close call, young man! We got
there in the nick of time.”
In time the soldiers were all fed, and then the boys began the
work of getting the dinner over again.
The lads were warmly thanked for their hospitality.
“You may get into a place it won’t be so easy to get out of,” said
the young lieutenant in charge of the squad. “If you do, and we are
anywhere within reach, don’t hesitate to ask for help.”
The boys thanked the lieutenant for his offer, not even dreaming
of the time when the words so casually spoken were to be made
good.
“They about cleaned us out,” said Alex, glancing ruefully at the
trampled greensward where the soldiers had eaten. “I don’t know
what to do now! The tinned goods are about gone, and there aren’t
any vegetables to speak of.”
“What’s the matter with falling back on the river?” asked Clay,
getting out his fishing tackle with his one well arm. “We have taken
many a fine meal from the river, and I don’t think it will go back on
us now!”
“Who’ll catch the fish?” asked Jule. “I’m actually so hungry that
my stomach is wishing my backbone good afternoon, and I don’t
feel equal to the effort!”
“Suppose we get the Rambler off this mud bank first?” Thede
suggested.
“That’s a good idea!” Alex cried out.
“Wonder we couldn’t have thought of that when we could have
had the help of the soldiers!” grumbled Case.
“Kicker!” laughed Jule. “It will be an easy job to get the boat
into the river again. She went against the bank with very little force,
I take it.”
The lads who were not crippled worked together to such good
purpose that the boat was soon in the water again. Not a thing was
broken except the steering-gear and that was soon repaired.
“Now, about that fish?” Case said. “Who’s going to try for it? I
might be one of the boys to make the effort.”
“I think you had better remain on board,” said Alex, “and let
Jule and I see about the fish. We are the only old and original
fishermen in the party!”
“Go to it, then,” Clay agreed, “but don’t get into any nest of
pirates and get your feet burned!”
The boys were glad to be away on the water again, for there
were things they wanted to talk over. Jule was the first one to open
the conversation.
“Alex,” he began, uncertain how his communication would be
received, “what is going on on board the Rambler?”
 “Why do you ask that?” came the quick reply. “Have you noticed
anything unusual?”
“About Paul and Thede,” Jule went on, “I have a notion that an
understanding of some sort exists between the two.”
“And Rube, too?” asked Alex.
“Yes, and Rube also!”
“What do you know about it?” demanded Alex. “What have you
seen—or heard?”
“You have suspected, then?” asked Jule.
“Sure!” answered Alex.
“Well?”
“There is certainly something between them,” was the reply.
“We must keep a sharp lookout.”
“But it can’t be any plot to capture the Rambler,” suggested
Jule. “They have had plenty of chances to do that.”
“How did they get together so soon?” said Alex. “Why, Rube
was scarcely on the boat before it began.”
“So you noticed that, too, did you?”
“Of course I did!” was the answer. “When you see a man acting
as if his very life depended on that of a boy, and that boy apparently
a stranger, anyone would suspect. The fellow was too eager to know
all about the case! Then, when Thede came on board, didn’t you
think he got to the side of Paul pretty quickly?”
“Yes, I noticed that, and thought it very strange,” was the reply.
“Now, what’s going to be done about it?”
“All we can do is to watch,” declared Alex.
“And where does Buck come in?” Jule asked, after a thoughtful
pause. “You noticed that he had an electric boat handy when we
needed one, and that the boat made pretty good time for an
ordinary river boat! I’d just like to get to the bottom of this thing!”
“And Rube always had his roll out,” added Alex.
“But he explained that by saying that he knew all about us boys
and knew that we were as good as gold,” Jule cut in.
“Well,” laughed Alex, “we’ve got into another mystery! I’d like to
take just one plain adventure trip.”
“The mystery is all right,” Jule concluded, after rather a lengthy
pause. “We shouldn’t know what to think about if there was no
mystery.”
“Perhaps you are right,” was the reply, “but I’d rather not have
the mystery so dense! There’s something going on, and that’s no
joke. But this ain’t catching fish!”
“That’s right!” Jule agreed. “The others will be getting hungry.
As you say, all we can do is to wait for developments and watch
Thede and Paul.”
“Paul appears to be such an innocent little chap that the very
idea of spying on him seems preposterous,” added Alex. “Still, the
innocence may all be assumed.”
“I dislike to think that,” was Jule’s reply.
The boys talked as they fished, but could make nothing of the
situation. As a matter of fact, Rube had appeared out of the
darkness that first night in rather a mysterious fashion.
And he had expressed great solicitude for the wounded boy.
And he had always been ready with his money. And, another thing,
he had had such a pile of it!
And Buck had had the Esmeralda quite ready on short notice! Of
course the episode of Alex being treed by the bear was entirely
unexpected and just happened.
It interfered somewhat with the plans of the party, and
somewhat with Rube’s bank roll, but, as Alex declared, “it made the
company all the tougher, and did no harm in the long run.” It was
only incidental, and did not count for or against Thede or Paul.
The lads fished while they discussed every phase of the matter,
but at last they were obliged to give it up.
“We’ll have to watch and wait,” Jule finally said. “If there is
mischief afloat, it will show itself in time.”
And with this they had to be content.
The Rambler was running downstream very slowly, so as not to
get ahead of the rowboat; still, as the boys took their time, doing
more talking than fishing, it gained on them, and finally turned a
bend in the stream and passed out of sight.
“Where’s the Rambler?” asked Alex, looking up from the
contemplation of a fine string of fish.
“I guess she passed out of sight around that bend,” was the
impatient reply. “Somehow that boat seems to delight in leaving us
behind. Wonder why she didn’t slow up when the boys saw that she
was passing us?”
“We’ll catch her in two jerks of a pig’s tail,” replied Alex, laying
down his fishing tackle and picking up the oars. “There does seem to
be a fatality about the thing, though—the way she sails calmly away
and leaves us!”
The boys had spent a longer time than they had suspected in
the discussion of the mysterious movements of the others, and the
row was a long one. When they finally came in sight of the boat they
were surprised to see no signs of life on board.
 And they were amazed at the speed which she had gained. The
lads looked at each other with questioning eyes.
“There’s something wrong!” almost shouted Jule. “The Rambler
is running away from us!”
“That’s right!” was the quick reply. “Do you think we can catch
her at the pace she is going?”
“Never!” was the discouraged reply.
There was silence for a moment, a silence broken only by the
rippling of the Rio Grande and the call of a bird a-wing. Then Alex
made a hopeful suggestion.
“The river makes a long bend just below,” he explained, “and, if
we can get to the bottom of the turn, perhaps we can catch her.
Nice thing, to run away and leave us like this!”
“There is evidently something wrong on board, though I can’t
for the life of me see what it is,” Jule answered.
“If we cut across this point of land, we’ll have to come back for
the rowboat,” suggested Alex.
“Provided some river character doesn’t see it first we may find
it,” wailed Jule.
“Well, there’s nothing like trying,” Alex returned.
The boat was turned toward the left bank of the stream, but in
a few seconds’ time, before the boat had proceeded more than a
few feet, Jule, who was at the helm, changed her course so as to
make the right side. In answer to Alex’s questioning look he said:
“The current sweeps across to the opposite shore after we
round the bend. The Rambler will naturally follow that.”
“That’s right,” was the reply, “the south side for us. How would
you like to bump into the river thieves again? Say, kid, but that was
a close call for your feet!”
“Well, as long as they didn’t accomplish their purpose, I fail to
see why we should be everlastingly sobbing over it.”
The boat’s keel soon grated on the south shore, and the boys
left her, pausing only long enough to cast a parting glance at the
trim little craft “The chances are that we shall never see the boat
again,” Alex remarked.
“Rats!” was Jule’s reply. “If we find everything all right on board
the Rambler, why can’t we come back and get her? I have a notion
that the boys thought we were a long time catching these fish, and
sent the boat ahead faster than usual just to give us a scare.”
“That’s all right,” replied Alex, “but I’ve got a hunch that you are
wrong. Case would never sail away from his breakfast,” he added
with a laugh, “and I don’t think there’s much left on board in the
eating line.”
“What about the fish?” Jule asked. “We may as well tote them
along, don’t you think?”
“Of course,” replied Alex. “We ain’t going to leave this nice mess
of perfectly good fish in the boat. There may be people along here
who like fish.”
The lads lifted the string of fish out of the rowboat, and, taking
them in hand, struck across the point of land toward the river.

CHAPTER XVIII
A SLIPPERY CUSTOMER
The Rio Grande makes a long bend where the boys left it, and
almost returns upon itself after winding in and out for many miles.
The land is swampy in places as the river approaches Painted Cave,
but mountains show, too, and the country is without any population
to speak of. Its general features are rugged.
As the lads alternated between rocky soil and swamp, they had
little leisure for conversation. It took about all their strength and
agility to make their way, leaping, now, over pools of water, now
climbing over rocky elevations.
The Southern Pacific runs close to the river here, and the boys
could hear the trains moving along the line, on the American side.
Now and then they caught sight of moving cars.
“I’m pretty nearly all in,” Jule complained, as they halted on a
dry elevation to catch their breath. “I don’t suppose we could have
chosen a rougher country than this if we had looked for a thousand
years! It’s fierce!”
“Oh, it’s good enough—for a mountain-climbing goat!” Alex
answered, wrinkling his nose. “What do you think about our being
able to catch that boat?”
“I give it up!” Jule said, beginning to whistle.
He broke off after a minute and remarked:
“In the light of recent developments, what do you think of the
situation? Clay and Case are true as steel, and, between them, they
ought to be able to put Thede and Paul on their backs, especially as
the latter has a broken leg!”
“What’s got into you?” demanded Alex. “You talk like Case! And
Case in his bluest moments! I’ve not given up yet. Thede and Paul
are all right! I’ll bank on it!”
 Jule laughed heartily.
“So will I!” he said. “I’ll bank on it, too! If there is any mischief
afloat, they are not in it. Only, I wish they would come out into the
open, and tell us frankly what it is they are up to. It seems to me
that that would be the honorable way.”
“Let’s not pass judgment until we know all about it,” replied
Alex, taking up the string of fish and going on again.
The way was even rougher than before, now, and the lads were
soon obliged to stop for a breathing spell. In the distance they now
could see the Rio Grande, shimmering under the setting sun.
“We’ve got to make better time if we connect with the Rambler
before night sets in,” Jule said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“If there ever was a rockier road than this, we have never found it I
think we would better dump the fish. They are a good deal of a
burden to carry.”
“There they go!” Alex exclaimed, suiting action to the word, and
tossing the fish down a rocky incline. “I wish we had some of them
cooked! I’m so hungry that I could eat two pirates!”
“Well, here we go, in light marching order!” volunteered Jule. “If
you get there before I do, just tell ’em I’m a-coming!”
The boy hummed the words of the old song over to himself, and
assumed a cheerfulness he did not feel. It was fast growing dark,
and the way was rocky, with pools of river water in places where the
rocks pushed back from the shore.
And so, the lads pressed forward, with Jule still humming his
tune and Alex laughing himself red in the face at thought of the
plight they were in.
“Might as well laugh as cry,” was his comment on the situation.
 At last they came to smoother ground, with the river showing
under the setting sun, and paused to study the scene.
Directly their glances, following the windings of the stream,
came upon the Esmeralda! They regarded each other with eyes
which asked many questions but found no answer.
“How did that boat get here?” asked Alex. “We left her far up
the river.”
“Don’t ask me!” was the reply.
“Well,” continued Alex, “it’s up to us to find out!”
The boat lay rocking in the river only a short distance from
where the boys had halted. The prow light was on, and the craft
gave other indications of occupancy, so the theory that she had
broken loose and drifted to where she lay was not to be thought of.
The motor boat lay close to the right bank of the stream, and
the question how she got there could not be easily answered, so the
lads made haste to gain the little landing where she was tied.
The Rio Grande is a very shallow stream, often spreading out
over a large stretch of country. Indeed, it is navigable for boats of
medium size only below the city of Matamoros.
Therefore Alex and Jule were obliged to wade out to the boat
when they came opposite her. Their first sight of the deck was rather
a surprise.
Instead of showing excitement, it was calm as a morning in
May. Buck sat on the railing of the craft, with his back toward the
shore, pointing out the beauties of the landscape to Rube, who was
standing not far away.
They both turned face about when the noise made by the boys
in climbing to the deck attracted their attention, and advanced to
meet them with hands extended.
“This sure is a sight good for sore eyes!” cried Rube, and the
greeting of Buck was not less friendly.
“Now, will you explain just how the Esmeralda come to be
here?” Jule said, after greetings had been exchanged. “We left her a
long way upstream.”
“And how is it that we find you here, out of reach of the
Rambler, and walking across country?” asked Buck.
“That’s just the point,” Alex answered grimly, “we haven’t seen
the Rambler for several hours, and are walking across country to try
and head her off!”
The boy thought he saw a quick glance of understanding pass
from Rube to Buck, but he could not be certain.
Then he explained about the fishing trip and the flight of the
motor boat. Rube and Buck listened attentively, but with the air of
men who had heard all that story before.
“And so,” Buck said, at the completion of the narration, “you
want to catch the Rambler?”
“That’s precisely the idea,” answered Jule. “But you haven’t told
us yet why you are here. You must have passed us on some dark
night, when there was no one on watch.”
“You are taking it for granted that the Rambler has been
passed,” laughed Buck.
“Well, has she?” questioned Alex.
“Yes, she has, and under the most peculiar circumstances,” was
Buck’s reply. “She had another visit from the man who left the ‘To
the Death’ written on her rowboat.”
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