by the severity of the torture, and fell to the ground and the torturers, who only desired some pretext whereby they could say that she had recanted, and misrepresenting this fall, cried out, saying, ‘She has yielded, she has yielded!’ Thereupon they took her back to her hut, and the next day to Nangasaqui—­although she opposed them violently and protested that she had not given up the faith, and that they had no reason for torturing her, or for tormenting and killing her mother and the rest.

“The other six remained on that mountain, where they spent twenty-three days, during which Father Antonio, father Fray Francisco, and Beatriz de Acosta were tortured, each one six times, with hot water in the manner that I have described.  Father Fray Vicente was tortured four times, father Fray Bartolome and brother Fray Gabriel twice, without any one of them having made the least movement during the whole time; or shown any sign of feeling the torture.  On the contrary, with wonderful cheerfulness and courage they gave thanks to their torturers, and sometimes told them that the torture had been slight; at others, that they should find some other and more cruel torment, so that their desire to suffer for Christ might be further fulfilled.  As a result, the infidels were as if astounded, for they found them each time more constant, cheerful, and desirous of suffering; and in Nangasaqui and Tacacu nothing was talked of but the invincible courage and valor with which they suffered the torture, whereupon the Christians were full of joy and remained firmer in the faith.  Several of the heathen began to complain and sneer at the governor of Nangasaqui, who had tried to make them deny their faith.  Accordingly Father Antonio writes [94] that, during the time while he was on that mountain, several were brought to the faith; and among the heathen who saw him and listened to the continual sermons which he preached to them, many gave him their word to receive the faith, and all conceived the highest opinion of the faith of God.

“The reason for torturing some oftener than others was that Father Antonio, being a Japanese, had disobeyed the mandate of the emperor, and would not follow the counsels and persuasions of the governor of Nangasaqui and his ministers, nor be affected by the tortures.  Father Fray Francisco suffered because he spoke to them with much Christian freedom, sang, and prayed in a loud voice, contrary to their prohibition; and Beatriz de Acosta because, although a woman, she showed more than a man’s courage, both in the tortures and in resisting the advice which they gave her—­for which reason, beside the torture of boiling water, they inflicted others upon her.  They made her stand upright a long time upon a small rock, threatening her with insults and affronts; but the more they insisted, the stronger they found her.  The others, being weak and infirm, were not tortured so long, because the tyrant did not intend to kill them, but only to conquer them; and for this reason they had, during the whole time, a physician upon the mountain to cure their hurts.