to the gravity of the act that he had committed. But they obtained
no beneficial result from it; on the contrary, considering as well
founded the fears that they inspired in him, and thinking to justify
his crime, he began to take a residencia of all my life. That lasted
almost two months, and he summoned witnesses, and many of them, who
told all that they knew about me. In order to persuade them to go
into details, perhaps, as to what he desired, he proclaimed that I
was not to be set free or to be an auditor any longer in the country;
but that, on the contrary, he was going to place me aboard ship. By
those efforts, and others--not only by demands on the one hand, but
by fears that he inculcated through third parties, as has been told
me, on the other--he obtained a great number of witnesses. However,
he discharged many of these, in anger at them because they told
him, with forcible arguments, that they were Christians, and
that he should not involve them in matters with which they were
unacquainted. Others of them, who tried to say, as was thought,
many things that appeared to be in my favor, were not allowed to say
these. All that took place under the efficient management of Pedro
Munoz, court scrivener of the Audiencia, with whom the governor was
hand in glove, as I have said. For, in order to do it, I am told that
he suppressed the heading of the process which he had before made on
account of only that word, and substituted another in its place which
comprehended in it scope all the discourses in the life of a man--so
that it might not be understood, as I believe, that he had made so
great a mistake at the beginning, and for other objects that the
governor will know. Notwithstanding that, and his cruelty, violence,
and force, and the fears of the witnesses, I trust in our Lord that
He will not have permitted them to give false testimonies against
me, although the outrageous manner in which the governor proceeds,
and the so mortal fear that all have of him, makes that much to
be dreaded. Finally, at the end of the two months of so serious
and scandalous an imprisonment, our Lord was pleased to perform a
miracle for me, through the intercession of the Virgin, our Lady,
to whom I attribute it (and that miracle is not the first that she
has performed for men as unworthy as I). It occurred thus: One day
I dressed myself in my usual manner for going to the Audiencia; and
at ten I went out among all the soldiers who were