to ask for
thirty soldiers, as he perceived that the Sangleys living in Tondo
and Minondo, where he usually lived, were in rebellion. He had learned
that a band numbering three hundred had assembled, mostly gardeners;
and, although he wished to reconnoiter them, he did not dare to,
because of the few men that he had. The messenger reached Don Pedro de
Acuna, and a little later came a Christian Sangley, one Baristilla,
then governor of the Sangleys, both Christian and pagan. He craftily
informed Don Pedro de Acuna of the news, and was heartily thanked,
as the matter was not understood. The Spaniards immediately called a
council of war, where it was resolved to send the help asked by Don
Luys de las Marinas. That same day the reenforcement left, and all the
companies were assembled with the utmost silence, in the guard-room,
and were given their orders. Some of the inhabitants were ordered
to be on their guard, and to sound the alarm if they perceived any
extraordinary excitement. Accordingly, it happened that the alarm
was sounded very suddenly, between one and two o'clock that night;
they had been obliged to give it because of a fire that they saw
near the city. There was a great commotion, as there were so few
inhabitants in the country. Every man hastened to his banner, and
all went to the guard-room, where they were ordered to take their
stations. Having manned the walls, and keeping on the alert, it was
discovered that the fire was in certain summer-houses, where Captain
Estevan de Marquina was living with his children and wife. A troop
of four thousand Sangleys went to this house, and killed him and his
wife, four children, and twenty slaves, with great cruelty, although
he defended himself as a good soldier and Spaniard. He had confessed
that afternoon, for it was the jubilee of St. Francis. Only one little
girl, his daughter, escaped from his house, whom a slave carried
out in his arms, although she was badly wounded and burned. Having
inflicted this damage, the Sangleys invested another house near by,
where the archdean, Francisco Gomez de Arellano, was living, as well
as the father-commissary of the Holy Office, and Father Fernando
de los Reyes. The Sangleys were very determined to kill those men,
but they, hearing the noise, fired two loaded arquebuses. When
the enemy perceived that they were firing arquebuses, imagining
that they had many of them, they passed by, and at one-half legua
reached a village calle