oked herbs; and when
he discovered that all the religious arose at midnight for matins,
and that they disciplined themselves, and spent much of the night
in prayer before the holy sacrament, he failed no whit in imitating
them, and in doing all he saw them do, and with proofs of very great
devotion. All this aroused in the father custodian and all of his
associates the longing to attain what they so greatly desired, as
stated above. Therefore they had recourse once more to the governor,
and once more was explained, in most urgent terms, what had been
already asked him so often; namely, in regard to his effecting some
arrangement whereby the religious might go to the kingdom of China to
preach the law of God, the father custodian offering himself as one
of these. They stated that, if leave were not given them, they would
go without it, on the first occasion that offered, relying on that
given them by their superiors and by God to work for the salvation
of their neighbors. Neither all this argument, nor the example of the
excellent spirit of the recently-christianized Chinese, was sufficient
to persuade the governor; on the contrary he clung obstinately to his
former opinion, answering them that it was still too early, because
our friendship with the Chinese was but slight; and that already the
Augustinians had tried to effect an entrance to China many times,
but had been unable to attain their desire--on the contrary, the
Chinese who took the latter with them had left them deceitfully on
some islands--until the opportunity afforded by the pirate Limahon and
the coming of the captain Omoncon. Then the latter had conveyed them,
with the good news of the straits to which the pirate was come; and
notwithstanding this they were ordered to return from Aucheo without
being allowed to remain in the country to preach the holy gospel. And
now to make this attempt would give the Chinese opportunity to make
daily jests of the Spaniards. Therefore they should wait until God
should open the door for this entrance, at such time as His holy
will should determine, which could not be much delayed. The father
custodian having received the governor's reply, and seeing that he
persevered in his obstinacy in not seeking means whereby they could
effect their desired entrance upon the mainland, commenced secret
negotiations, with the object of procuring, by all available means,
some way of making the journey--even without the said governor's ord