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And this was not all. The special cellar of the jangada did honor to Benito, who had been appointed its commander-in-chief. Several hundred bottles of sherry, port, and letubal recalled names dear to the earlier conquerors of South America.
They then descended the left bank of the tributary, avoiding the slowly-filling streets of the town, and reached the jangada. Benito's first care was to see his mother. He felt sufficiently master of himself to dissemble the anxiety which consumed him.
Manoel walked by the side of Minha, who looked most fascinating in her bride's costume, and then came Fragoso, holding the hand of Lina, who seemed quite radiant with joy. Then followed Benito, then old Cybele and the servants of the worthy family between the double ranks of the crew of the jangada. Padre Passanha awaited the two couples at the entrance of the chapel.
"But once your father is out of prison he cannot remain hidden in the town or on the jangada. Where is he to find refuge?" This was the second question to solve: and a very difficult one it was. A hundred paces away from the prison, however, the waste land was crossed by one of those canals which flow through the town into the Rio Negro.
To work the jangada along the windings of the river and between the hundreds of islands and islets which lay in its course required fully as many as were taken, for if the current furnished the motive power, it had nothing to do with the steering, and the hundred and sixty arms were no more than were necessary to work the long boathooks by which the giant raft was to be kept in mid-stream.
Even the timber which forms the jangada, and the cargo it carries, constitute a fortune!" "The Joam Garral and his whole family have just passed the Brazilian frontier?" "Yes," said Fragoso; "his wife, his son, his daughter, and Miss Minha's betrothed." "Ah! he has a daughter?" said Torres. "A charming girl!" "Going to get married?"
I want to know how you recognized him, why you were prowling about our fazenda in the forest of Iquitos, and why you were waiting for us at Tabatinga." "Well! it seems to me nothing could be clearer!" answered Torres, with a grin. "I was waiting to get a passage on the jangada, and I went on board with the intention of making him a very simple proposition which possibly he was wrong in rejecting."
In the first place, then, in the hinder part of the jangada they built the master's house. It was arranged to contain several bedrooms and a large dining-hall. One of the rooms was destined for Joam and his wife, another for Lina and Cybele near those of their mistresses, and a third room for Benito and Manoel.
On this occasion Manoel had declined to accompany him. Fragoso had left the jangada, but instead of mounting to the fort he had made for the village, crossing the ravine which led off from the right on the level of the bank. He reckoned more on the native custom of Tabatinga than on that of the garrison.
On the jangada every one was at his post, in the attitude of repose. The pilot alone, standing in the bow, showed his tall stature, scarcely defined in the earlier shadows. The watch, with his long pole on his shoulder, reminded one of an encampment of Tartar horsemen. The Brazilian flag hung from the top of the staff in the bow, and the breeze was scarcely strong enough to lift the bunting.
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