Our missionaries were greatly encouraged by that fortunate success, so that they were not dismayed at the work that they had undertaken, although its difficulties were many.  They were confirmed in their intent by another case that happened in a village called Ambagan on that coast of Caragha.  A religious was resting one night when an Indian, instigated by the devil, called together two other companions, who formed a rearguard for him; while he, entering the house, tried to kill the innocent man who was asleep.  It was at midnight, the time that he thought most opportune.  He left those who accompanied him at the foot of the house, while he mounted the ladder.  At the entrance of the room of the gospel minister, a venerable old man accosted him and asked him in his own tongue:  “Where art thou going?  Seest thou not that I am watching this man who is asleep, and who is my son?” Notwithstanding that, the Indian persisted in his evil intent of entering.  But at that juncture the old man raised a staff of gold which he held in his hand, and threatening the aggressor, scared him so that, turning his back to descend the ladder, he could not find it in order to escape, notwithstanding his eager search for it.  Thus did he spend the remainder of the night in great anxiety, and in the morning he was discovered by the people who lived there.  The Indian, conscience-stricken, demanded that they inform the father, to whom with great sorrow he related all that had happened, giving him leave to publish it.  He declared also who were his associates—­who, growing tired of waiting, and seeing that day was dawning, had returned in order not to be discovered.  The bystanders were astonished at hearing the circumstances; and it was believed that that venerable old man was our father St. Augustine, who defended his religious son with the pastoral staff.

Sec.  VIII

Our religious preach in the province of Butuan

The province of Butuan—­so called from the river of that name which flows through it and renders to the sea the tribute of its so abundant waters, while the sea enters the land for one-half legua—­has wide borders and plains where numerous people live who resemble the Caraghas in their customs and ceremonies.  However they are not so rude in their behavior, perhaps because they were softened by the evangelical law, which they once enjoyed.  However, they abandoned that law because the ministers abandoned them. [51] That holy conquest was undertaken with great resolution by father Fray Juan de San Nicolas, one of the eight, who with a spirit apostolically bold planted the standard of the cross in the town nearest the seashore.  He subdued its inhabitants by his gentleness, and attracted them to the bosom of the Church by sermons in their own language.  Those sermons produced a great fruit, not only among those country people, but also among the traders who came from other districts to traffic.