a entered Echague on September 22, promptly going to the _convento_
as usual and demanding money of the priest, Father Mata. When the
latter had given him all he had, he received three terrific beatings
at the hands of some twelve men armed with whips and sticks, after
which Leyba himself struck him with his fist and his sabre. He was
finally knocked down by a blow with the sabre and left disabled. It
took six months for him to recover.

Shortly after Leyba's arrival in Nueva Vizcaya on the afternoon of
the 25th, five priests were summoned to Solano and there abused in
the usual fashion in an effort to extort money from them. Only one
escaped ill treatment and one was nearly killed.

Leyba now went to Bayombong to carry out the established programme
with the priests. There he found Governor Perez of Isabela, who had
taken with him certain government moneys and employed them to pay
salaries of soldiers and other employees. He insisted on the return
of the total amount and threatened to shoot Perez if it was not
forthcoming. The Spaniards of the vicinity subscribed $700 which they
themselves badly needed and saved him from being shot. The priests
of the place were then summoned to Leyba's quarters and were beaten
and tortured. One of them was thrown on the floor and beaten nearly
to death, Leyba standing meanwhile with his foot on the unfortunate
man's neck. Another was given six hundred lashes and countless blows
and kicks. Leyba stood on this man's neck also. When the victim's back
ceased to have any feeling, his legs were beaten. Leyba terminated
this period of diversion by kicking Father Diez in the solar plexus
and then mocking him as he lay gasping on the floor. That afternoon
one of the priests, so badly injured that he could not rise unaided,
was put on a horse and compelled to ride in the hot sun to Solano.

Villa and Leyba had their able imitators, as is shown by the following
description of the torturing of Father Ceferino by Major Delfin at
Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, on September 27:--

"They wished to give brave evidence of their hate for the friar before
Leyba left, and show him that they were as brave as he when it came
to oppressing and torturing the friar. This tragedy began by Jimenez
again asking Father Ceferino for the money. The priest answered as
he had done before. Then Jimenez started to talk in Tagalog to the
commanding officer and surely it was nothing good that he told him,
for suddenly Delfin l