to help them should it prove necessary, as was the case.  But, since nothing is done contrary to God’s will or permission, it was not possible for the pirate Limahon to attain his end with the four hundred soldiers, as he thought to do; for all that night the land-breeze blew, becoming ever stronger as night deepened, and proving contrary to their desires.  Consequently they were unable to disembark that night, although they tried to do so, striving with all their strength and cunning to sail against and overcome the wind.  Had it not been for this, without any doubt they would have attained their evil purpose quite easily, and the city and its inhabitants would have been destroyed; for Limahon’s plan and desire, as was manifest in the order given to his captains, was to raze and destroy the city.

Limahon sends four hundred soldiers as a vanguard to burn the city of Manila, who are resisted by our men.  Chapter V.

Notwithstanding all the trouble caused them by the wind, the four hundred Chinese succeeded in reaching land a league away from the city at eight o’clock on the morning of St. Andrew’s day.  Leaving their boats at this point, they disembarked and immediately began their march in battle-array with the utmost rapidity, placing in the fore part two hundred arquebusiers, and immediately behind these the other two hundred, who were pikemen.  But being espied by some of the inhabitants—­as could not be otherwise, because of the level and open nature of the ground, and the great number of soldiers—­these hastened to give immediate notice of the invasion.  Coming into the city, they cried:  “To arms! to arms! the enemy is upon us!” But their warning availed little, for no one believed it.  On the contrary, they imagined it a rumor that had arisen among the natives themselves, or some jest that they were trying to practice.  At last the enemy had reached the house of the master-of-camp, Martin de Goyti—­his house being the first in the city in the direction taken by the enemy—­before the Spaniards and soldiers within the city caught sight of them, and even before they would put any confidence in the noise and rumor.  The enemy immediately fired the house of the said master-of-camp, killing him and all the inmates, so that no one escaped except the wife, and her they left grievously wounded and stark naked, believing her to be dead, although she was afterward cured of her wounds.  During this time of this their first act of cruelty, the citizens were assured of the truth; and although none of them had ever imagined so unlooked-for an event, finally they sounded the call to arms and began to try to save their lives.  Some soldiers made an immediate sally to the shore, in the lack of order usual in events of this nature.  In consequence, the Chinese killed them all, not even one of them escaping.  Therefore the rest of the Spaniards formed into one organized body, and showed some resistance to the enemy, now entering the city and firing it, the while