The soldiers were leaving the house and were alone, as they had arrested nothing more than the hen which Sisa had been fattening.

She breathed more freely and took heart again.

"How good they are and what kind hearts they have!" she murmured, almost weeping with joy.

Had the soldiers burned her house but left her sons at liberty she would have heaped blessings upon them! She again looked gratefully toward the sky through which a flock of herons, those light clouds in the skies of the Philippines, were cutting their path, and with restored confidence she continued on her way.

As she approached those fearful men she threw her glances in every direction as if unconcerned and pretended not to see her hen, which was cackling for help.