and it is the mountains of the republic of Ecuador which start them on
a course that there are no falls to break until two hundred and ten
leagues from its junction with the main stream.
All this day was spent in descending to the island of Yapura, after
which the river, less interfered with, makes navigation much easier. The
current is not so rapid and the islets are easily avoided, so that there
were no touchings or groundings.
The next day the jangada coasted along by vast beaches formed by
undulating high domes, which served as the barriers of immense pasture
grounds, in which the whole of the cattle in Europe could be raised and
fed. These sand banks are considered to be the richest turtle grounds in
the basin of the Upper Amazon.
On the evening of the 29th of July they were securely moored off the
island of Catua, so as to pass the night, which promised to be dark.
On this island, as soon as the sun rose above the horizon, there
appeared a party of Muras Indians, the remains of that ancient and
powerful tribe, which formerly occupied more than a hundred leagues of
the river bank between the Teffe and the Madeira.
These Indians went and came, watching the raft, which remained
stationary. There were about a hundred of them armed with blow-tubes
formed of a reed peculiar to these parts, and which is strengthened
outside by the stem of a dwarf palm from which the pith has been
extracted.
Joam Garral quitted for an instant the work which took up all his
time, to warn his people to keep a good guard and not to provoke these
Indians.
In truth the sides were not well matched. The Muras are remarkably
clever at sending through their blow-tubes arrows which cause incurable
wounds, even at a range of three hundred paces.
These arrows, made of the leaf of the -“coucourite”- palm, are feathered
with cotton, and nine or ten inches long, with a point like a needle,
and poisoned with -“curare.”-
Curare, or -“wourah,”- the liquor “which kills in a whisper,” as the
Indians say, is prepared from the sap of one of the euphorbiaceæ and the
juice of a bulbous strychnos, not to mention the paste of venomous ants
and poisonous serpent fangs which they mix with it.
“It is indeed a terrible poison,” said Manoel. “It attacks at once those
nerves by which the movements are subordinated to the will. But the
heart is not touched, and it does not cease to beat until the extinction
of the vital functions, and besides no antidote is known to the poison,
which commences by numbness of the limbs.”
Very fortunately, these Muras made no hostile demonstrations, although
they entertain a profound hatred toward the whites. They have, in truth,
no longer the courage of their ancestors.
At nightfall a five-holed flute was heard behind the trees in the
island, playing several airs in a minor key. Another flute answered.
This interchange of musical phrases lasted for two or three minutes, and
the Muras disappeared.
Fragoso, in an exuberant moment, had tried to reply by a song in his own
fashion, but Lina had clapped her hand on his mouth, and prevented his
showing off his insignificant singing talents, which he was so willingly
lavish of.
On the 2d of August, at three o’clock in the afternoon, the raft arrived
twenty leagues away from there at Lake Apoara, which is fed by the black
waters of the river of the same name, and two days afterward, about five
o’clock, it stopped at the entrance into Lake Coary.
This lake is one of the largest which communicates with the Amazon, and
it serves as a reservoir for different rivers. Five or six affluents
run into it, and there are stored and mixed up, and emerge by a narrow
channel into the main stream.
After catching a glimpse of the hamlet of Tahua-Miri, mounted on its
piles as on stilts, as a protection against inundation from the floods,
which often sweep up over these low sand banks, the raft was moored for
the night.
The stoppage was made in sight of the village of Coary, a dozen houses,
considerably dilapidated, built in the midst of a thick mass of orange
and calabash trees.
Nothing can be more changeable than the aspect of this village, for
according to the rise or fall of the water the lake stretches away on
all sides of it, or is reduced to a narrow canal, scarcely deep enough
to communicate with the Amazon.
On the following morning, that of the 5th of August, they started at
dawn, passing the canal of Yucura, belonging to the tangled system of
lakes and furos of the Rio Zapura, and on the morning of the 6th of
August they reached the entrance to Lake Miana.
No fresh incident occurred in the life on board, which proceeded with
almost methodical regularity.
Fragoso, urged on by Lina, did not cease to watch Torres.
Many times he tried to get him to talk about his past life, but
the adventurer eluded all conversation on the subject, and ended by
maintaining a strict reserve toward the barber.
After catching a glimpse of the hamlet of Tahua-Miri, mounted on its
piles as on stilts, as a protection against inundation from the floods,
which often sweep up and over these low sand banks, the raft was moored
for the night.
His intercourse with the Garral family remained the same. If he spoke
little to Joam, he addressed himself more willingly to Yaquita and her
daughter, and appeared not to notice the evident coolness with which
he was received. They all agreed that when the raft arrived at Manaos,
Torres should leave it, and that they would never speak of him again.
Yaquita followed the advice of Padre Passanha, who counseled patience,
but the good priest had not such an easy task in Manoel, who was quite
disposed to put on shore the intruder who had been so unfortunately
taken on to the raft.
The only thing that happened on this evening was the following:
A pirogue, going down the river, came alongside the jangada, after being
hailed by Joam Garral.
“Are you going to Manaos?” asked he of the Indian who commanded and was
steering her.
“Yes,” replied he.
“When will you get there?”
“In eight days.”
“Then you will arrive before we shall. Will you deliver a letter for
me?”
“With pleasure.”
“Take this letter, then, my friend, and deliver it at Manaos.”
The Indian took the letter which Joam gave him, and a handful of reis
was the price of the commission he had undertaken.
No members of the family, then gone into the house, knew anything
of this. Torres was the only witness. He heard a few words exchanged
between Joam and the Indian, and from the cloud which passed over his
face it was easy to see that the sending of this letter considerably
surprised him.
CHAPTER XVII. AN ATTACK
HOWEVER, if Manoel, to avoid giving rise to a violent scene on
board, said nothing on the subject of Torres, he resolved to have an
explanation with Benito.
“Benito,” he began, after taking him to the bow of the jangada, “I have
something to say to you.”
Benito, generally so good-humored, stopped as he looked at Manoel, and a
cloud came over his countenance.
“I know why,” he said; “it is about Torres.”
“Yes, Benito.”
“And I also wish to speak to you.”
“You have then noticed his attention to Minha?” said Manoel, turning
pale.
“Ah! It is not a feeling of jealousy, though, that exasperates you
against such a man?” said Benito quickly.
“No!” replied Manoel. “Decidedly not! Heaven forbid I should do such an
injury to the girl who is to become my wife. No, Benito! She holds the
adventurer in horror! I am not thinking anything of that sort; but it
distresses me to see this adventurer constantly obtruding himself by
his presence and conversation on your mother and sister, and seeking to
introduce himself into that intimacy with your family which is already
mine.”
“Manoel,” gravely answered Benito, “I share your aversion for this
dubious individual, and had I consulted my feelings I would already have
driven Torres off the raft! But I dare not!”
“You dare not?” said Manoel, seizing the hand of his friend. “You dare
not?”
“Listen to me, Manoel,” continued Benito. “You have observed Torres
well, have you not? You have remarked his attentions to my sister!
Nothing can be truer! But while you have been noticing that, have you
not seen that this annoying man never keeps his eyes off my father, no
matter if he is near to him or far from him, and that he seems to have
some spiteful secret intention in watching him with such unaccountable
persistency?”
“What are you talking about, Benito? Have you any reason to think that
Torres bears some grudge against Joam Garral?”
“No! I think nothing!” replied Benito; “it is only a presentiment! But
look well at Torres, study his face with care, and you will see what an
evil grin he has whenever my father comes into his sight.”
“Well, then,” exclaimed Manoel, “if it is so, Benito, the more reason
for clearing him out!”
“More reason--or less reason,” replied Benito. “Manoel, I fear--what? I
know not--but to force my father to get rid of Torres would perhaps be
imprudent! I repeat it, I am afraid, though no positive fact enables me
to explain my fear to myself!”
And Benito seemed to shudder with anger as he said these words.
“Then,” said Manoel, “you think we had better wait?”
“Yes; wait, before doing anything, but above all things let us be on our
guard!”
“After all,” answered Manoel, “in twenty days we shall be at Manaos.
There Torres must stop. There he will leave us, and we shall be relieved
of his presence for good! Till then we must keep our eyes on him!”
“You understand me, Manoel?” asked Benito.
“I understand you, my friend, my brother!” replied Manoel, “although I
do not share, and cannot share, your fears! What connection can possibly
exist between your father and this adventurer? Evidently your father has
never seen him!”
“I do not say that my father knows Torres,” said Benito; “but assuredly
it seems to me that Torres knows my father. What was the fellow doing
in the neighborhood of the fazenda when we met him in the forest of
Iquitos? Why did he then refuse the hospitality which we offered, so as
to afterward manage to force himself on us as our traveling companion?
We arrive at Tabatinga, and there he is as if he was waiting for us! The
probability is that these meetings were in pursuance of a preconceived
plan. When I see the shifty, dogged look of Torres, all this crowds
on my mind. I do not know! I am losing myself in things that defy
explanation! Oh! why did I ever think of offering to take him on board
this raft?”
“Be calm, Benito, I pray you!”
“Manoel!” continued Benito, who seemed to be powerless to contain
himself, “think you that if it only concerned me--this man who inspires
us all with such aversion and disgust--I should not hesitate to throw
him overboard! But when it concerns my father, I fear lest in giving way
to my impressions I may be injuring my object! Something tells me that
with this scheming fellow there may be danger in doing anything until he
has given us the right--the right and the duty--to do it. In short, on
the jangada, he is in our power, and if we both keep good watch over my
father, we can spoil his game, no matter how sure it may be, and force
him to unmask and betray himself! Then wait a little longer!”
The arrival of Torres in the bow of the raft broke off the conversation.
Torres looked slyly at the two young men, but said not a word.
Benito was not deceived when he said that the adventurer’s eyes were
never off Joam Garral as long as he fancied he was unobserved.
No! he was not deceived when he said that Torres’ face grew evil when he
looked at his father!
By what mysterious bond could these two men--one nobleness itself, that
was self-evident--be connected with each other?
Such being the state of affairs it was certainly difficult for Torres,
constantly watched as he was by the two young men, by Fragoso and
Lina, to make a single movement without having instantly to repress it.
Perhaps he understood the position. If he did, he did not show it, for
his manner changed not in the least.
Satisfied with their mutual explanation, Manoel and Benito promised to
keep him in sight without doing anything to awaken his suspicions.
During the following days the jangada passed on the right the mouths of
the rivers Camara, Aru, and Yuripari, whose waters instead of flowing
into the Amazon run off to the south to feed the Rio des Purus, and
return by it into the main river. At five o’clock on the evening of the
10th of August they put into the island of Cocos.
They there passed a -“seringal.”- This name is applied to a caoutchouc
plantation, the caoutchouc being extracted from the -“seringueira”-
tree, whose scientific name is -siphonia elastica.-
It is said that, by negligence or bad management, the number of these
trees is decreasing in the basin of the Amazon, but the forests of
seringueira trees are still very considerable on the banks of the
Madeira, Purus, and other tributaries.
There were here some twenty Indians collecting and working the
caoutchouc, an operation which principally takes place during the months
of May, June, and July.
After having ascertained that the trees, well prepared by the river
floods which have bathed their stems to a height of about four feet, are
in good condition for the harvest, the Indians are set to work.
Incisions are made into the alburnum of the seringueiras; below the
wound small pots are attached, which twenty-four hours suffice to fill
with a milky sap. It can also be collected by means of a hollow bamboo,
and a receptacle placed on the ground at the foot of the tree.
The sap being obtained, the Indians, to prevent the separation of its
peculiar resins, fumigate it over a fire of the nuts of the assai palm.
By spreading out the sap on a wooden scoop, and shaking it in the
smoke, its coagulation is almost immediately obtained; it assumes a
grayish-yellow tinge and solidifies. The layers formed in succession are
detached from the scoop, exposed to the sun, hardened, and assume the
brownish color with which we are familiar. The manufacture is then
complete.
Benito, finding a capital opportunity, bought from the Indians all the
caoutchouc stored in their cabins, which, by the way, are mostly built
on piles. The price he gave them was sufficiently remunerative, and they
were highly satisfied.
Four days later, on the 14th of August, the jangada passed the mouths of
the Purus.
This is another of the large affluents of the Amazon, and seems to
possess a navigable course, even for large ships, of over five hundred
leagues. It rises in the southwest, and measures nearly five thousand
feet across at its junction with the main river. After winding beneath
the shade of ficuses, tahuaris, nipa palms, and cecropias, it enters the
Amazon by five mouths.
Hereabouts Araujo the pilot managed with great ease. The course of the
river was but slightly obstructed with islands, and besides, from one
bank to another its width is about two leagues.
The current, too, took along the jangada more steadily, and on the 18th
of August it stopped at the village of Pasquero to pass the night.
The sun was already low on the horizon, and with the rapidity peculiar
to these low latitudes, was about to set vertically, like an enormous
meteor.
Joam Garral and his wife, Lina, and old Cybele, were in front of the
house.
Torres, after having for an instant turned toward Joam as if he would
speak to him, and prevented perhaps by the arrival of Padre Passanha,
who had come to bid the family good-night, had gone back to his cabin.
The Indians and the negroes were at their quarters along the sides.
Araujo, seated at the bow, was watching the current which extended
straight away in front of him.
Manoel and Benito, with their eyes open, but chatting and smoking
with apparent indifference, walked about the central part of the craft
awaiting the hour of repose.
All at once Manoel stopped Benito with his hand and said:
“What a queer smell! Am I wrong? Do you not notice it?”
“One would say that it was the odor of burning musk!” replied Benito.
“There ought to be some alligators asleep on the neighboring beach!”
“Well, nature has done wisely in allowing them so to betray themselves.”
“Yes,” said Benito, “it is fortunate, for they are sufficiently
formidable creatures!”
Often at the close of the day these saurians love to stretch themselves
on the shore, and install themselves comfortably there to pass the
night. Crouched at the opening of a hole, into which they have crept
back, they sleep with the mouth open, the upper jaw perpendicularly
erect, so as to lie in wait for their prey. To these amphibians it
is but sport to launch themselves in its pursuit, either by swimming
through the waters propelled by their tails or running along the bank
with a speed no man can equal.
It is on these huge beaches that the caymans are born, live, and die,
not without affording extraordinary examples of longevity. Not only can
the old ones, the centenarians, be recognized by the greenish moss which
carpets their carcass and is scattered over their protuberances, but by
their natural ferocity, which increases with age. As Benito said, they
are formidable creatures, and it is fortunate that their attacks can be
guarded against.
Suddenly cries were heard in the bow.
“Caymans! caymans!”
Manoel and Benito came forward and looked.
Three large saurians, from fifteen to twenty feet long, had managed to
clamber on to the platform of the raft.
“Bring the guns! Bring the guns!” shouted Benito, making signs to the
Indians and the blacks to get behind.
“Into the house!” said Manoel; “make haste!”
And in truth, as they could not attack them at once, the best thing they
could do was to get into shelter without delay.
It was done in an instant. The Garral family took refuge in the house,
where the two young men joined them. The Indians and the negroes ran
into their huts and cabins. As they were shutting the door:
“And Minha?” said Manoel.
“She is not there!” replied Lina, who had just run to her mistress’
room.
“Good heavens! where is she?” exclaimed her mother, and they all shouted
at once:
“Himha! Minha!”
No reply.
“There she is, on the bow of the jangada!” said Benito.
“Minha!” shouted Manoel.
The two young men, and Fragoso and Joam Garral, thinking no more of
danger, rushed out of the house, guns in hand.
Scarcely were they outside when two of the alligators made a half turn
and ran toward them.
A dose of buckshot to the head, close to the eye, from Benito, stopped
one of the monsters, who, mortally wounded, writhed in frightful
convulsions and fell on his side.
But the second still lived, and came on, and there was no way of
avoiding him.
The huge alligator tore up to Joam Garral, and after knocking him over
with a sweep of his tail, ran at him with open jaws.
At this moment Torres rushed from the cabin, hatchet in hand, and struck
such a terrific blow that its edge sunk into the jaw of the cayman and
left him defenseless.
Blinded by the blood, the animal flew to the side, and, designedly or
not, fell over and was lost in the stream.
“Minha! Minha!” shouted Manoel in distraction, when he got to the bow of
the jangada.
Suddenly she came into view. She had taken refuge in the cabin of
Araujo, and the cabin had just been upset by a powerful blow from the
third alligator. Minha was flying aft, pursued by the monster, who was
not six feet away from her.
Minha fell.
A second shot from Benito failed to stop the cayman. He only struck the
animal’s carapace, and the scales flew to splinters but the ball did not
penetrate.
Manoel threw himself at the girl to raise her, or to snatch her from
death! A side blow from the animal’s tail knocked him down too.
Minha fainted, and the mouth of the alligator opened to crush her!
And then Fragoso jumped in to the animal, and thrust in a knife to the
very bottom of his throat, at the risk of having his arm snapped off by
the two jaws, had they quickly closed.
Fragoso pulled out his arm in time, but he could not avoid the chock of
the cayman, and was hurled back into the river, whose waters reddened
all around.
“Fragoso! Fragoso!” shrieked Lina, kneeling on the edge of the raft.
A second afterward Fragoso reappeared on the surface of the Amazon--safe
and sound.
But, at the peril of his life he had saved the young girl, who soon came
to. And as all hands were held out to him--Manoel’s, Yaquita’s, Minha’s,
and Lina’s, and he did not know what to say, he ended by squeezing the
hands of the young mulatto.
However, though Fragoso had saved Minha, it was assuredly to the
intervention of Torres that Joam Garral owed his safety.
It was not, therefore, the fazender’s life that the adventurer wanted.
In the face of this fact, so much had to be admitted.
Manoel said this to Benito in an undertone.
“That is true!” replied Benito, embarrassed. “You are right, and in a
sense it is one cruel care the less! Nevertheless, Manoel, my suspicions
still exist! It is not always a man’s worst enemy who wishes him dead!”
Joam Garral walked up to Torres.
“Thank you, Torres!” he said, holding out his hand. The adventurer took
a step or two backward without replying.
“Torres,” continued Joam, “I am sorry that we are arriving at the end of
our voyage, and that in a few days we must part! I owe you----”
“Joam Garral!” answered Torres, “you owe me nothing! Your life is
precious to me above all things! But if you will allow me--I have been
thinking--in place of stopping at Manaos, I will go on to Belem. Will
you take me there?”
Joam Garral replied by an affirmative nod.
In hearing this demand Benito in an unguarded moment was about to
intervene, but Manoel stopped him, and the young man checked himself,
though not without a violent effort.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE ARRIVAL DINNER
IN THE MORNING, after a night which was scarcely sufficient to calm
so much excitement, they unmoored from the cayman beach and departed.
Before five days, if nothing interfered with their voyage, the raft
would reach the port of Manaos.
Minha had quite recovered from her fright, and her eyes and smiles
thanked all those who had risked their lives for her.
As for Lina, it seemed as though she was more grateful to the brave
Fragoso than if it was herself that he had saved.
“I will pay you back, sooner or later, Mr. Fragoso,” said she, smiling.
“And how, Miss Lina?”
“Oh! You know very well!”
“Then if I know it, let it be soon and not late!” replied the
good-natured fellow.
And from this day it began to be whispered about that the charming Lina
was engaged to Fragoso, that their marriage would take place at the same
time as that of Minha and Manoel, and that the young couple would remain
at Belem with the others.
“Capital! capital!” repeated Fragoso unceasingly; “but I never thought
Para was such a long way off!”
As for Manoel and Benito, they had had a long conversation about what
had passed. There could be no question about obtaining from Joam Garral
the dismissal of his rescuer.
“Your life is precious to me above all things!” Torres had said.
This reply, hyperbolical and enigmatical at the time, Benito had heard
and remembered.
In the meantime the young men could do nothing. More than ever they were
reduced to waiting--to waiting not for four or five days, but for seven
or eight weeks--that is to say, for whatever time it would take for the
raft to get to Belem.
“There is in all this some mystery that I cannot understand,” said
Benito.
“Yes, but we are assured on one point,” answered Manoel. “It is certain
that Torres does not want your father’s life. For the rest, we must
still watch!”
It seemed that from this day Torres desired to keep himself more
reserved. He did not seek to intrude on the family, and was even less
assiduous toward Minha. There seemed a relief in the situation of which
all, save perhaps Joam Garral, felt the gravity.
On the evening of the same day they left on the right the island of
Baroso, formed by a furo of that name, and Lake Manaori, which is fed by
a confused series of petty tributaries.
The night passed without incident, though Joam Garral had advised them
to watch with great care.
On the morrow, the 20th of August, the pilot, who kept near the right
bank on account of the uncertain eddies on the left, entered between the
bank and the islands.
Beyond this bank the country was dotted with large and small lakes, much
as those of Calderon, Huarandeina, and other black-watered lagoons. This
water system marks the approach of the Rio Negro, the most remarkable of
all the tributaries of the Amazon. In reality the main river still bore
the name of the Solimoens, and it is only after the junction of the
Rio Negro that it takes the name which has made it celebrated among the
rivers of the globe.
During this day the raft had to be worked under curious conditions.
The arm followed by the pilot, between Calderon Island and the shore,
was very narrow, although it appeared sufficiently large. This was owing
to a great portion of the island being slightly above the mean level,
but still covered by the high flood waters. On each side were massed
forests of giant trees, whose summits towered some fifty feet above the
ground, and joining one bank to the other formed an immense cradle.
On the left nothing could be more picturesque than this flooded forest,
which seemed to have been planted in the middle of a lake. The stems
of the trees arose from the clear, still water, in which every
interlacement of their boughs was reflected with unequaled purity. They
were arranged on an immense sheet of glass, like the trees in miniature
on some table -epergne,- and their reflection could not be more perfect.
The difference between the image and the reality could scarcely be
described. Duplicates of grandeur, terminated above and below by a vast
parasol of green, they seemed to form two hemispheres, inside which the
jangada appeared to follow one of the great circles.
It had been necessary to bring the raft under these boughs, against
which flowed the gentle current of the stream. It was impossible to go
back. Hence the task of navigating with extreme care, so as to avoid the
collisions on either side.
In this all Araujo’s ability was shown, and he was admirably seconded by
his crew. The trees of the forest furnished the resting-places for the
long poles which kept the jangada in its course. The least blow to the
jangada would have endangered the complete demolition of the woodwork,
and caused the loss, if not of the crew, of the greater part of the
cargo.
“It is truly very beautiful,” said Minha, “and it would be very pleasant
for us always to travel in this way, on this quiet water, shaded from
the rays of the sun.”
“At the same time pleasant and dangerous, dear Minha,” said Manoel. “In
a pirogue there is doubtless nothing to fear in sailing here, but on a
huge raft of wood better have a free course and a clear stream.”
“We shall be quite through the forest in a couple of hours,” said the
pilot.
“Look well at it, then!” said Lina. “All these beautiful things pass so
quickly! Ah! dear mistress! do you see the troops of monkeys disporting
in the higher branches, and the birds admiring themselves in the
pellucid water!”
“And the flowers half-opened on the surface,” replied Minha, “and which
the current dandles like the breeze!”
“And the long lianas, which so oddly stretch from one tree to another!”
added the young mulatto.
“And no Fragoso at the end of them!” said Lina’s betrothed. “That was
rather a nice flower you gathered in the forest of Iquitos!”
“Just behold the flower--the only one in the world,” said Lina
quizzingly; “and, mistress! just look at the splendid plants!”
And Lina pointed to the nymphæas with their colossal leaves, whose
flowers bear buds as large as cocoanuts. Then, just where the banks
plunged beneath the waters, there were clumps of -“mucumus,”- reeds with
large leaves, whose elastic stems bend to give passage to the pirogues
and close again behind them. There was there what would tempt any
sportsman, for a whole world of aquatic birds fluttered between the
higher clusters, which shook with the stream.
Ibises half-lollingly posed on some old trunk, and gray herons
motionless on one leg, solemn flamingoes who from a distance looked like
red umbrellas scattered in the foliage, and phenicopters of every color,
enlivened the temporary morass.
And along the top of the water glided long and swiftly-swimming
snakes, among them the formidable gymnotus, whose electric discharges
successively repeated paralyze the most robust of men or animals,
and end by dealing death. Precautions had to be taken against the
-“sucurijus”- serpents, which, coiled round the trunk of some tree,
unroll themselves, hang down, seize their prey, and draw it into their
rings, which are powerful enough to crush a bullock. Have there not been
met with in these Amazonian forests reptiles from thirty to thirty-five
feet long? and even, according to M. Carrey, do not some exist whose
length reaches forty-seven feet, and whose girth is that of a hogshead?
Had one of these sucurijus, indeed, got on to the raft he would have
proved as formidable as an alligator.
Very fortunately the travelers had to contend with neither gymnotus
nor sucuriju, and the passage across the submerged forest, which lasted
about two hours, was effected without accident.
Three days passed. They neared Manaos. Twenty-four hours more and the
raft would be off the mouth of the Rio Negro, before the capital of the
province of Amazones.
In fact, on the 23d of August, at five o’clock in the evening, they
stopped at the southern point of Muras Island, on the right bank of the
stream. They only had to cross obliquely for a few miles to arrive at
the port, but the pilot Araujo very properly would not risk it on that
day, as night was coming on. The three miles which remained would take
three hours to travel, and to keep to the course of the river it was
necessary, above all things, to have a clear outlook.
This evening the dinner, which promised to be the last of this first
part of the voyage, was not served without a certain amount of ceremony.
Half the journey on the Amazon had been accomplished, and the task was
worthy of a jovial repast. It was fitting to drink to the health of
Amazones a few glasses of that generous liquor which comes from the
coasts of Oporto and Setubal. Besides, this was, in a way, the betrothal
dinner of Fragoso and the charming Lina--that of Manoel and Minha had
taken place at the fazenda of Iquitos several weeks before. After the
young master and mistress, it was the turn of the faithful couple who
were attached to them by so many bonds of gratitude.
So Lina, who was to remain in the service of Minha, and Fragoso, who was
about to enter into that of Manoel Valdez, sat at the common table, and
even had the places of honor reserved for them.
Torres, naturally, was present at the dinner, which was worthy of the
larder and kitchen of the jangada.
The adventurer, seated opposite to Joam Garral, who was always taciturn,
listened to all that was said, but took no part in the conversation.
Benito quietly and attentively watched him. The eyes of Torres, with a
peculiar expression, constantly sought his father. One would have called
them the eyes of some wild beast trying to fascinate his prey before he
sprang on it.
Manoel talked mostly with Minha. Between whiles his eyes wandered
to Torres, but he acted his part more successfully than Benito in a
situation which, if it did not finish at Manaos, would certainly end at
Belem.
The dinner was jolly enough. Lina kept it going with her good humor,
Fragoso with his witty repartees.
The Padre Passanha looked gayly round on the little world he cherished,
and on the two young couples which his hands would shortly bless in the
waters of Para.
“Eat, padre,” said Benito, who joined in the general conversation; “do
honor to this betrothal dinner. You will want some strength to celebrate
both marriages at once!”
“Well, my dear boy,” replied Passanha, “seek out some lovely and gentle
girl who wishes you well, and you will see that I can marry you at the
same time!”
“Well answered, padre!” exclaimed Manoel. “Let us drink to the coming
marriage of Benito.”
“We must look out for some nice young lady at Belem,” said Minha. “He
should do what everybody else does.”
“To the wedding of Mr. Benito!” said Fragoso, “who ought to wish all the
world to marry him!”
“They are right, sir,” said Yaquita. “I also drink to your marriage, and
may you be as happy as Minha and Manoel, and as I and your father have
been!”
“As you always will be, it is to be hoped,” said Torres, drinking a
glass of port without having pledged anybody. “All here have their
happiness in their own hands.”
It was difficult to say, but this wish, coming from the adventurer, left
an unpleasant impression.
Manoel felt this, and wishing to destroy its effect, “Look here, padre,”
said he, “while we are on this subject, are there not any more couples
to betroth on the raft?”
“I do not know,” answered Padre Passanha, “unless Torres--you are not
married, I believe?”
“No; I am, and always shall be, a bachelor.”
Benito and Manoel thought that while thus speaking Torres looked toward
Minha.
“And what should prevent you marrying?” replied Padre Passanha; “at
Belem you could find a wife whose age would suit yours, and it would be
possible perhaps for you to settle in that town. That would be better
than this wandering life, of which, up to the present, you have not made
so very much.”
“You are right, padre,” answered Torres; “I do not say no. Besides the
example is contagious. Seeing all these young couples gives me rather
a longing for marriage. But I am quite a stranger in Belem, and, for
certain reasons, that would make my settlement more difficult.”
“Where do you come from, then?” asked Fragoso, who always had the idea
that he had already met Torres somewhere.
“From the province of Minas Geraes.”
“And you were born----”
“In the capital of the diamond district, Tijuco.”
Those who had seen Joam Garral at this moment would have been surprised
at the fixity of his look which met that of Torres.
CHAPTER XIX. ANCIENT HISTORY
BUT THE CONVERSATION was continued by Fragoso, who immediately rejoined:
“What! you come from Tijuco, from the very capital of the diamond
district?”
“Yes,” said Torres. “Do you hail from that province?”
“No! I come from the Atlantic seaboard in the north of Brazil,” replied
Fragoso.
“You do not know this diamond country, Mr. Manoel?” asked Torres.
A negative shake of the head from the young man was the only reply.
“And you, Mr. Benito,” continued Torres, addressing the younger Garral,
whom he evidently wished to join in the conversation; “you have never
had curiosity enough to visit the diamond arraval?”
“Never,” dryly replied Benito.
“Ah! I should like to see that country,” said Fragoso, who unconsciously
played Torres’ game. “It seems to me I should finish by picking up a
diamond worth something considerable.”
“And what would you do with this diamond worth something considerable,
Fragoso?” queried Lina.
“Sell it!”
“Then you would get rich all of a sudden!”
“Very rich!”
“Well, if you had been rich three months ago you would never have had
the idea of--that liana!”
“And if I had not had that,” exclaimed Fragoso, “I should not have found
a charming little wife who--well, assuredly, all is for the best!”
“You see, Fragoso,” said Minha, “when you marry Lina, diamond takes the
place of diamond, and you do not lose by the change!”
“To be sure, Miss Minha,” gallantly replied Fragoso; “rather I gain!”
There could be no doubt that Torres did not want the subject to drop,
for he went on with:
“It is a fact that at Tijuco sudden fortunes are realized enough to turn
any man’s head! Have you heard tell of the famous diamond of Abaete,
which was valued at more than two million contos of reis? Well, this
stone, which weighed an ounce, came from the Brazilian mines! And they
were three convicts--yes! three men sentenced to transportation for
life--who found it by chance in the River Abaete, at ninety leagues from
Terro de Frio.”
“At a stroke their fortune was made?” asked Fragoso.
“No,” replied Torres; “the diamond was handed over to the
governor-general of the mines. The value of the stone was recognized,
and King John VI., of Portugal, had it cut, and wore it on his neck on
great occasions. As for the convicts, they got their pardon, but that
was all, and the cleverest could not get much of an income out of that!”
“You, doubtless?” said Benito very dryly.
“Yes--I? Why not?” answered Torres. “Have you ever been to the diamond
district?” added he, this time addressing Joam Garral.
“Never!” said Joam, looking straight at him.
“That is a pity!” replied he. “You should go there one day. It is a very
curious place, I assure you. The diamond valley is an isolated spot in
the vast empire of Brazil, something like a park of a dozen leagues in
circumference, which in the nature of its soil, its vegetation, and
its sandy rocks surrounded by a circle of high mountains, differs
considerably from the neighboring provinces. But, as I have told you,
it is one of the richest places in the world, for from 1807 to 1817 the
annual return was about eighteen thousand carats. Ah! there have been
some rare finds there, not only for the climbers who seek the precious
stone up to the very tops of the mountains, but also for the smugglers
who fraudulently export it. But the work in the mines is not so
pleasant, and the two thousand negroes employed in that work by the
government are obliged even to divert the watercourses to get at the
diamantiferous sand. Formerly it was easier work.”
“In short,” said Fragoso, “the good time has gone!”
“But what is still easy is to get the diamonds in
scoundrel-fashion--that is, by theft; and--stop! in 1826, when I was
about eight years old, a terrible drama happened at Tijuco, which showed
that criminal would recoil from nothing if they could gain a fortune by
one bold stroke. But perhaps you are not interested?”
“On the contrary, Torres; go on,” replied Joam Garral, in a singularly
calm voice.
“So be it,” answered Torres. “Well, the story is about stealing
diamonds, and a handful of those pretty stones is worth a million,
sometimes two!”
And Torres, whose face expressed the vilest sentiments of cupidity,
almost unconsciously made a gesture of opening and shutting his hand.
“This is what happened,” he continued. “At Tijuco it is customary to
send off in one delivery the diamonds collected during the year. They
are divided into two lots, according to their size, after being sorted
in a dozen sieves with holes of different dimensions. These lots are put
into sacks and forwarded to Rio de Janeiro; but as they are worth many
millions you may imagine they are heavily escorted. A workman chosen by
the superintendent, four cavalrymen from the district regiment, and ten
men on foot, complete the convoy. They first make for Villa Rica, where
the commandant puts his seal on the sacks, and then the convoy continues
its journey to Rio de Janeiro. I should add that, for the sake of
precaution, the start is always kept secret. Well, in 1826, a young
fellow named Dacosta, who was about twenty-two or twenty-three years of
age, and who for some years had been employed at Tijuco in the offices
of the governor-general, devised the following scheme. He leagued
himself with a band of smugglers, and informed them of the date of the
departure of the convoy. The scoundrels took their measures accordingly.
They were numerous and well armed. Close to Villa Rica, during the night
of the 22d of January, the gang suddenly attacked the diamond escort,
who defended themselves bravely, but were all massacred, with the
exception of one man, who, seriously wounded, managed to escape and
bring the news of the horrible deed. The workman was not spared any
more than the soldiers. He fell beneath he blows of the thieves, and was
doubtless dragged away and thrown over some precipice, for his body was
never found.”
“And this Dacosta?” asked Joam Garral.
“Well, his crime did not do him much good, for suspicion soon pointed
toward him. He was accused of having got up the affair. In vain he
protested that he was innocent. Thanks to the situation he held, he was
in a position to know the date on which the convoy’s departure was to
take place. He alone could have informed the smugglers. He was charged,
arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Such a sentence required his
execution in twenty-four hours.”
“Was the fellow executed?” asked Fragoso.
“No,” replied Torres; “they shut him up in the prison at Villa Rica, and
during the night, a few hours only before his execution, whether alone
or helped by others, he managed to escape.”
“Has this young man been heard of since?” asked Joam Garral.
“Never,” replied Torres. “He probably left Brazil, and now, in some
distant land, lives a cheerful life with the proceeds of the robbery
which he is sure to have realized.”
“Perhaps, on the other hand, he died miserably!” answered Joam Garral.
“And, perhaps,” added Padre Passanha, “Heaven caused him to feel remorse
for his crime.”
Here they all rose from the table, and, having finished their dinner,
went out to breathe the evening air. The sun was low on the horizon, but
an hour had still to elapse before nightfall.
“These stories are not very lively,” said Fragoso, “and our betrothal
dinner was best at the beginning.”
“But it was your fault, Fragoso,” answered Lina.
“How my fault?”
“It was you who went on talking about the district and the diamonds,
when you should not have done so.”
“Well, that’s true,” replied Fragoso; “but I had no idea we were going
to wind up in that fashion.”
“You are the first to blame!”
“And the first to be punished, Miss Lina; for I did not hear you laugh
all through the dessert.”
The whole family strolled toward the bow of the jangada. Manoel and
Benito walked one behind the other without speaking. Yaquita and her
daughter silently followed, and all felt an unaccountable impression of
sadness, as if they had a presentiment of some coming calamity.
Torres stepped up to Joam Garral, who, with bowed head, seemed to be
lost in thought, and putting his hand on his shoulder, said, “Joam
Garral, may I have a few minutes’ conversation with you?”
Joam looked at Torres.
“Here?” he asked.
“No; in private.”
“Come, then.”
They went toward the house, entered it, and the door was shut on them.
It would be difficult to depict what every one felt when Joam Garral and
Torres disappeared. What could there be in common between the adventurer
and the honest fazender of Iquitos? The menace of some frightful
misfortune seemed to hang over the whole family, and they scarcely dared
speak to each other.
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