so well, that he made some boats inside the fort, trimming them in the best manner possible. In these he and his men escaped one night, as will be told--a thing that seemed impossible and caused great surprise to the Spaniards, a surprise which was heightened on finding that he had gone with so great cunning, without either the land or sea force hearing it. I shall not relate the events of these three months, although some were most notable, for my purpose is to show the events that gave occasion for the entrance of the Augustinian religious and their companions into the Chinese kingdom, and to tell those things which, they declared, were seen there by them. For this reason I have given the coming of Limahon, and all the rest of the above relation. Omoncon, captain of the Chinese king, coming in search of the pirate Limahon, encounters our Spaniards. Chapter VIII. During the period of the siege, as related in the preceding chapter, certain boats were going to and coming from the city of Manila--distant, as I have said, but forty leagues from the mouth of the Pangasinan River--for the purpose of bringing provisions and other necessities for the support of the army. It happened one day that a vessel under command of Miguel de Loarcha, [26] having on board father Fray Martin de Herrada, provincial of the Augustinians (who had come to Pangasinan to see the master-of-camp, and was returning to Manila to hold a meeting of his order), met in the island and port of Buliano, seven leagues from the Pãgasinan River, as they were going out of the port, a Sangley ship, which was about to enter the port. Thinking it to be a hostile vessel, they bore down upon it, together with another ship in their company. Those aboard the ship were only the said father provincial and five other Spaniards and the sailors. The Sangley ship, seeing them bearing down upon it, tried to take flight; but, the contrary wind not permitting this, as a consequence, the Spanish ships, by means of sail and oar, came within cannon range, and even nearer, in a few moments. On one of the Spanish ships was a Chinese named Sinsay, who had been in Manila many times with merchants, and was very friendly and well known to the Spaniards, and understood their language. When this man saw that the ship was Chinese, and that, from its appearance, it was not a pirate, he requested our men not to fire or do any damage until it was known clearly who its occupants were. He went to the bow of the vessel and hailed them, thus ascertaining that theirs was one of the ships of the fleet sent by their king in search of the pirate Limahon. They had left the fleet behind and put out to sea in order to explore those islands, to ascertain whether the pirate were in any of them. In order to gain this information, they were about to put in to the port of Buliano, whence the Spaniards were coming out with two ships, and from whom they tried to flee, fearful lest they should prove to belong to the pirate.