At Ilagan they were given an entertainment and dance, Villa being a skilled hand in this sort of thing, and a few days later he accompanied them to Aparri [288] without allowing them to set foot on land.

The government of Aguinaldo no longer had everything its own way, and secret orders had been given to have every step of the explorers followed.

The commanding and other leading officers of the Valley, supporting the orders of the government, circulated an order throughout the towns which read as follows:-- "'_To All Local Officers_: "'You will not permit any maps to be made or notes to be taken of strategic points by Americans or foreigners; nor will you allow them to become acquainted with the points of defence; you will endeavour to report immediately to this Government any suspicious persons; you will make your investigations secretly, accompanying suspected persons and feigning that their investigations are approved, and finally when it shall seem to you that such suspected persons have finished their work, you will advise without loss of time, in order that their notes may be seized.' "Despite this order the Americans were able to inform themselves very thoroughly of the forces in the Valley and its state of defence, and Filipinos were not lacking who for a few pesos would put them abreast of all information regarding the plans and projects of Aguinaldo's government." Relative to this Wilcox-Sargent trip Taylor says:-- "In October and November, 1898, Paymaster W.B.Wilcox, U.S.N., and Naval Cadet L.R.Sargent, U.S.N., travelled through Northern Luzon from which they returned with a favourable impression of the government which had been set up by Aguinaldo's agents.
"It was realized by the subtle men whom they met that it was highly expedient that they should make a favourable report and accordingly they were well received, and although constant obstacles were thrown in the way of their seeing what it was not considered well for them to see yet the real reasons for the delays in their journey were carefully kept from them.

At least some of their letters to the fleet were taken, translated, and sent to Aguinaldo, who kept them, and constant reports upon them and their movements were made." Blount refers to the fact that Mr.Sargent tells a characteristic story of Villa, [289] whose vengeful feeling toward the Spaniards showed on all occasions.
It would doubtless have interested the travellers to know that the "robbery" consisted in taking the funds out of the province to save them from falling into Villa's hands, and in paying them to soldiers in Nueva Vizcaya to whom money was due.

It would further have interested them to know that this unfortunate Spaniard had been twice tortured within an inch of his life by Villa.
But let us continue our interrupted narrative:-- "The presence of the Americans in Ilagan soon freed us from certain forms of savagery and barbarous intentions on the part of Villa.