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The man beneath the liquid mass can easily bear the additional pressure, and if anything was to be feared below the waters it was rather some cayman who might there be met with. But, as had been observed by Araujo, not one of these amphibians had been seen, and they are well known to prefer the black waters of the tributaries of the Amazon.
To get back to the mouth of the Rio Negro was easy enough, and the pirogue would be able to pass unnoticed among the numerous craft continually descending the river. Araujo had no objection to offer to the idea of following the Amazon down to its confluence with the Madeira.
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.
And Manoel left her, for the tears were also welling up in his eyes and witnessing against the words of hope to which he had just given utterance. And now the time had arrived for them to make their daily visit to the prisoner, and Yaquita and her daughter set off to Manaos. For an hour the young men were in consultation with Araujo.
The second was that the body of Torres should be got out of the water as quickly as possible so as to regain undamaged the metal case and the paper it ought to contain. At this juncture Araujo displayed not only zeal and intelligence, but also a perfect knowledge of the state of the river at its confluence with the Rio Negro.
"No!" at length exclaimed Benito; "to remain here would look as though we were abandoning my father and doubting his innocence as though we were afraid to make common cause with him. We must go to Manaos, and without delay." "You are right," replied Manoel. "Let us go." Araujo, with an approving nod, began his preparations for leaving the island. The maneuver necessitated a good deal of care.
This canal afforded an easy way of gaining the river if a pirogue were in waiting for the fugitive. From the foot of the wall to the canal side was hardly a hundred yards. Benito and Manoel decided that about eight o'clock in the evening one of the pirogues, with two strong rowers, under the command of the pilot Araujo, should start from the jangada.
Of the smallest ledges in the banks in which a body could rest, not one escaped the scrutiny of Araujo and his Indians. But all this labor produced no result, and half the day had elapsed without the body being brought to the surface of the stream. An hour's rest was given to the Indians. During this time they partook of some refreshment, and then they returned to their task.
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.
This was fortunate, it must be admitted. But was Araujo mistaken? The old pilot of the Amazon could be relied on. For the thirty years that he had followed his profession the crossing of the Bar of Frias, where the current was increased in force by its decrease in depth, had often given him trouble.
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