ous;
for, had not the champan made port, they had fallen into the hands of
the men of Jolo, who were sailing about those islands of Burias and
Masbate. They remained there a fortnight, without being able to repair
the champan in order to make their journey until our Lord was pleased
to have the same mast that they cut down in the champan drift into
the port, for the islet contained no suitable trees. They repaired
the champan with that mast, made a half-way rudder and a jury-mast,
and set sail on the sea for Panay, from which they were not very
far. But, after sighting the land of Panay, so furious a storm struck
them that they were unable to contend with it, as the champan lacked
strength in the rudder. They ran aground stern first on the coast of
Camarines, which was very near by, and which they had been prevented
from reaching by a calm, and had been awaiting a slight breeze. It
was our Lord's pleasure that they should be espied by a fleet of
Camucones, who were going through that region, plundering whatever
they might encounter in their raids. These are a very warlike people,
and so cruel that, whenever they capture a Spaniard, they will not
let him escape alive under any consideration; for after they have
tied him to the mast of the boat, they cut off his head and drink
from the skull. They slit the religious up the back and roast them,
or set them in the sun, for they say, just as we do, "So many enemies
the less." Then indeed did they re-commend themselves to St. Nicholas;
as they believed (and rightly) that this was a greater danger than the
past one, because of the less mercy that they could find in the bowels
of those utter barbarians. At length, they boarded the tender of the
champan and rowed ashore. The glorious saint whom they were taking
as patron hid their route from the Camucones in such wise that they
were not followed, for they could have easily been overtaken in two
strokes of the oar. They betook themselves inland to the mountains,
where their sufferings were not abated, for they were barefoot and
naked, until they reached the convents of our father St. Francis,
where they found hospitable welcome, aid, care, and provision. In their
journeyings they reached the shipyard, where a vessel was being built;
for it was necessary to get a champan there to go to Panay, and they
found one. They left the shipyard November 21, and reached Panay next
day. After a few days the enemy from Jolo went to the shipyard