, burned
it, killed many people, captured others, took away the artillery,
and committed great damage, although there were sufficient men in
the shipyard to defend it from a greater force. But the Spaniard can
never be persuaded of any danger, until it is upon him. Juan Martin,
the best and most reliable shipmaster in the Filipinas, was killed
there. It was a great loss, for there was no other who could fill the
position like him. But the Lord did not choose that the champan should
be lost; for the Camucones did not break it up, as is their wont,
but abandoned it after having plundered its articles of value--which
were considerable, and which caused great loss to the province. The
Sangleys, after seeing that the enemy had gone, went out to the
champan, righted it, and returned it to its owner--who never lost hope
of obtaining it, for he believed thoroughly in the saint. Sargento
Jacinto de Lanzacorta, very thankful for this, celebrates a feast to
St. Nicholas every year. Father Fray Pedro de Torres [67] says that
he arrived at Sugbu in the first part of February, where he had been
regarded as lost, for he was more than five months in making the trip
from Manila to Sugbu. During the whole time he suffered very many
hardships, from which St. Nicholas freed him. The most Holy Child
returned to His house, so that He might be served therein.

In the beginning of this triennium, as the fathers of Ilocos were
going to their province, two or three of them feared the horror of
the journey by land, which is terrible. Accordingly, as they found
a suitable boat, father Fray Diego Abalos prior of Narbacan, father
Fray Juan Gallegos, [68] prior of Laguag, and father Fray Francisco del
Portillo, [69] prior of Purao, taking the provision for their convents,
went along the coast to Ilocos. But so furious a storm struck them,
that they gave themselves up as lost. Accordingly, as servants of God,
they had recourse to Him, sincerely confessing themselves and praying
earnestly--as well as their terror allowed--to God to beg pardon
for their sins. The Sangleys already, with loosened hair (which
means their last hope gone), did not attempt to do a thing in the
champan, for they thought that they could not escape from it. At last,
encouraged by the fathers, after setting a scrap of sail, they yielded
to the force of the stern-wind, and in less than thirty hours reached
the Chinese coasts. They made more than three hundred leguas in that
short