During that triennium I acted as prior of Panay for the second time; for during the intermediary chapter of our father Baraona I went as prior to Aclan, which was a house with a vote.  Soon after the arrival of the said visitor, that priorate falling vacant, he appointed me to it, and for the sake of the vote.  And on returning, that triennium, together with the office of vicar-provincial, while in that convent, and having in my company father Fray Martin de San Nicolas (who I have already said was with Captain Lazaro de Torres at the rout of Mindanao), we were eating one fast day [dia de pescado], when a large fishbone, which must have been as long as a sewing-needle and was thick and bent, and had a very sharp point, lodged in the father’s throat.  Although he said nothing to me for a moment, he stopped, ceased eating and commenced to groan, as one who feels a very great pain.  Afterward he kept changing color, but without saying a word.  I was about to ask him what was the accident that caused his pain.  I saw him rise, for already his breath was failing, and with a loud voice he cried, “Ah! blessed St. Nicholas! help me, for I am choking!” And, upon saying that, he threw from his throat a fishbone of the size above mentioned.  It had been so securely fastened there that it seemed as if that fishbone could not have been dislodged without divine aid, as was proved by the mark of the blood on it.  It was considered as a wonderful thing, and the said father, in token and proof of gratitude, is keeping the fishbone, and tells the circumstance to everyone, while he always celebrates as best he can the feast of that saint.  Of a surety, he shows himself very devout.

I cannot refrain from telling here, although out of place, that in the year in which our father Baraona was elected, when the latter came to visit the Bisayas in the year 1617, Admiral Pedro de Heredia had come, with the governor’s permission, to the district of Aclan, his encomienda, to build a ship.  And although he claimed to do it with only his encomienda, the affair went so well with him that he finished a vessel of greater burden than was reported or believed.  No Indian ran away from him.  On the contrary, the Indians were rich, for he paid them liberally; and Indians even came from other districts to work there, because of his fair treatment of them.  Father Fray Lucas de la Pena, [49] a very devout and zealous religious, as we have written before, was prior of that convent then.  He had encounters with the admiral, for rarely do these fail between the encomenderos and missionaries.  These happened because the Indians were carrying and bringing, and sowing discord, as they can.  The admiral was very indignant, blustered against the missionary, and said that he would oust him from that place, if it cost him his estate.  When the provincial came, the admiral found a good opportunity; he went to the provincial, and told him resolutely that the father must leave there.  The father provincial understood