As they refused to receive me, I returned to the shore, where a Chinese trader who had been in Manila on various occasions received me into his house. He got me the loan of one hundred taes of silver, payable with interest; and that night I went clad as a Chinese, so that I might not be recognized, to the Portuguese ships. On my word--which I pledged on that of General Don Luis, in whose cause I was acting--they lent me two hundred more. I sent that whole sum to the inspector next day by my host, who was a man of esteem in the city; I also had him ask that the inspector would be satisfied with that amount, as I had borrowed it as an alms, and could find no more, and that he would be pleased to liberate the prisoners, and grant us permission to go to our ship. That was a just petition, but it was ill received and worse despatched; for although I thought that that gift would soften that heart of stone, I discovered that it had been like throwing a little water on the forge which blazes all the fiercer. The inspector sent a constable with his chapa to summon me that afternoon. It was necessary to go; and, thanks to my host, who accompanied me, they took me to the entrance by another gate of the city, as it was nearer his house. But when the guards saw me they refused to allow me to enter, and although the constable showed them the chapa of the inspector, they declared that that concerned me, and not them; accordingly, they refused me entrance. It was necessary for the constable to go to his master, and report the matter to him. The latter gave another chapa for the gatekeepers, and they, taking it, copied it and allowed me to enter. I did not find the inspector in his court, but in a lodging nearer the center of the city. He was the only one seated, while all his officials were standing. The money which I had had sent to him was on a desk. I knelt down, at a considerable distance from him, whereupon he began to chide me, and to say many things to me that I did not understand. It seemed to me that he was asking questions of me, and I only answered Purhiautet--that is to say, "I do not understand." He rose from his chair, and came toward me, in order to address me from a shorter distance. It seemed from his actions that he meant to scratch out my eyes with his fingers (they are great men for such deeds, the more when they are angry). He finally satisfied his wrath by ordering me to be taken straight to the prison where the soldiers were. An iron chain was therefore quickly put about my neck, and fastened with a padlock; and one of the executioners, holding the end of it, walked before me, obliging me thus to follow him as a captive. The prison was at a considerable distance, and was under the orders of another mandarin, to whom he sent me, so that the latter might incarcerate me. In such guise, I crossed all those streets, which swarmed with people, at four o'clock in the afternoon,