396 FATHER JOHN DE BRITTO,
The harvest corresponded with the labour. After administering the sacraments to a great number of Christians, he baptized two thousand seven hundred catechumens, whom the catechists had prepared in the absence of the missionary. Father De Britto spent two months in these important duties ; but whilst he was joyfully collect. ing these fair fruits, hell, jealous of the conquests thus gained over it, rekindled the fury of the persecutor against him who was defending the faith both by his toils and by his example.
The father was traversing the rural districts of his mission when he fell into the snare which had long been planned for him by the commander of the royal troops. This was owing to the malice of the Bonzes, who, by their intrigues and accusations, were perpetually inciting the hatred of the Regulo against the Christians. The father was accompanied by six of his neophytes at the time of his arrest. No sooner was he presented to the chief officer, than he had to undergo all the outrages which spite and rage could dictate to the tyrant and his satellites. He was treated as @ magician,—as one guided by the evil spirit, the author of the new creed which he was promulgating. To this audacious accusation, he gave but one short and modest answer: “The law that I preach,” he meekly replied, “is the law of the true God, of that supreme and Almighty Master who Himself taught it to us. It is not man’s invention; neither is it the work of the spirit of darkness, as you assert.” The commander-in-chief did not answer him, but noticing
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