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"The raft which is to take us to Belem! It will float if all the cataracts of the sky have to open to flood the Amazon!" Joam Garral was on the raft with the pilot and some of the crew. It was for him to take all the necessary measures at the critical moment. The jangada was moored to the bank with solid cables, so that it could not be carried away by the current when it floated off.
A serious incident hastened the solution. Magalhaes was one day superintending a clearance and was mortally wounded by the fall of a tree. Carried home helpless to the farm, and feeling himself lost, he raised up Yaquita, who was weeping by his side, took her hand, and put it into that of Joam Garral, making him swear to take her for his wife.
Joam Garral would probably wish the marriage to take place at Iquitos, with grand ceremonies and the attendance of the whole staff of the fazenda, but if such was to be his idea he would have to withstand a vigorous attack concerning it. "Manoel," Minha said to her betrothed, "if I was consulted in the matter we should not be married here, but at Para.
Like everything else, that has changed; heads have re-taken their natural form, and there is not the slightest trace of the ancient deformity in the skulls of the chaplet-makers. Every one, with the exception of Joam Garral, went ashore. Torres also remained on board, and showed no desire to visit San Pablo d'Olivenca, which he did not, however, seem to be acquainted with.
The latter, leaning slightly forward and maintaining a becoming attitude, neither careless nor humble, waited with dignity for the questions to which he was expected to reply. "Your name?" said Judge Jarriquez. "Joam Dacosta." "Your age?" "Fifty-two." "Where do you live?" "In Peru, at the village of Iquitos." "Under what name?" "Under that of Garral, which is that of my mother."
The family, who were still appalled, respected the silence of its chief; but Fragoso, comprehending scarce half the gravity of the situation, and carried away by his customary vivacity, came up to Joam Garral. "If the wedding of Miss Minha and Mr. Manoel is to take place to-morrow on the raft " "Yours shall take place at the same time," kindly answered Joam Garral.
Here Torres, with crossed arms, gave the whole family a look of inconceivable insolence. "So that is you last word?" said he, extending his hand toward Joam Garral. "No, that is not my last word." "What is it, then?" "This, Torres. I am master here. You will be off, if you please, and even if you do not please, and leave the jangada at this very instant!"
And addressing his wife: "Yaquita," he said, "peculiar circumstances oblige me to alter what we have formerly decided as to the marriage of Minha and Manoel." "At last!" exclaimed Torres. Joam Garral, without answering him, shot at the adventurer a glance of the deepest scorn. But at the words Manoel had felt his heart beat as if it would break.
"I do not know," answered Manoel, "and everything leads me to think that your father did not know that." "But Torres knew that Garral was the name under which Joam Dacosta was living?" "Evidently." "And he knew that it was in Peru, at Iquitos, that for so many years my father had taken refuge?" "He knew it," said Manoel, "but how he came to know it I do not understand."
It was noticed, at least during the first few days, that Torres did not try to become intimate with the Garral family. He maintained a good deal of reserve, answering if addressed, but never provoking a reply. If he appeared more open with any one, it was with Fragoso. Did he not owe to this gay companion the idea of taking passage on board the raft?
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