the waist of the ship. He looked upon the sea in silence; its fury terrified him; he lifted his eyes to the heavens, and saw them all cloaked with the deepest blackness. Therewithal, the sea was white with the waves which roared and dashed against one another, sending up spray; it seemed to him that all of the Spaniards must soon be buried in them, so mighty were they, and the vessel so weak. At this point there overcame him a strange consciousness of his sins, which gave him no opportunity to think of those of others, and assured him that his own transgressions only were the cause of this frightful storm. [He went back to his post and fell on his knees before a Christ that was there, prayed to the Lord until he felt assured that He heard him, and turned to the Virgin of the Rosary. She appeared to him in a vision and promised her aid. When the pilot came in, calling out, "Fathers! cast some relics into the sea, for the love of God! Recite some litanies, that the Lord may have compassion upon us! I promise them a lighted lantern," Father Luis replied that they should all be safe. They cast into the sea a relic of Saint Mary Magdalen and an Agnus Dei, and began their litany. The stars began to appear and soon the storm had passed. The report of the vision and the miracle turned the hearts of the seamen and the passengers, for a time, to the good of their souls; but after Easter, as is usual among worldly people, they fell back into their lax way of living, and particularly into gambling, with all the evils that ordinarily accompany it. One frightful sacrilege was committed by a gambler, who mutilated an image of Christ and of the Virgin, to punish them for his losses; but who repented under the ministration of father Fray Luis. At last they all reached Manila safely.] CHAPTER XXV The election of the first provincial, and the first provincial chapter