e they remained a long time on their
knees, offering their penance to God our Lord. The children had
practiced this penance before; for during the Shrovetide festival
(at which time there are so many disorders among our Christians of
long standing) they formed themselves in pairs, and went forth with
great devotion, having their hands extended, in the form of a cross,
on a piece of wood, with heavy stones hanging at each side. For this
purpose one child bound the other, accompanying him until he returned
to the door of the church; there, unfastening the other's bonds, he
himself took the stick and stones, and thus they again went forth,
and he who had first borne the stones now accompanied the other. Thus
did each one acquit his obligation to the other, with more devotion
and understanding than the Shrovetide season demands from persons
of greater age, judgment, and obligations. In this way does our Lord
bestow upon them His mercy--as happened to a young boy, whose story,
as it is very attractive, I am unwilling to omit. There was a child,
about five or six years old, who was suffering from a disease of
the eyes; the little one in his pain went to a father, to whom he
tenderly made his plaint. The father, inasmuch as a few days before
he had taught the child the _Ave Maria_, bade him enter the church,
and on his knees to say that prayer and offer it to the most blessed
Virgin, our Lady. The child did thus, and when his prayer was concluded
went out from the church, and began to play contentedly with the other
children of his age. The father, perceiving him so merry with the rest,
called to him and asked him if he were well. He answered that as soon
as he had said the _Ave Maria_ to our Lady, the pain left him and he
became well."

Among the occasions when Ours have gone to make excursions into
the country, and to despoil the enemy of his former possessions,
there is one which Father Mateo Sanchez describes in a letter to the
father vice-provincial, as follows: "The voyage of the fathers who
were sailing for Ogmuc and Sebu proved to be unfortunate; for they
suffered many hardships through contrary winds, being finally driven
into a small bay, where they remained as long as their provisions
lasted. When these were consumed, they determined, as the weather
remained unfavorable, to return to Carigara. The two of us who remained
had made, in the meantime, some important visits, especially in Tunga,
where the village was in