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"I secured it well." I returned with him to the bank. In vain we searched up and down the banks of the water-path. Not a trace of the canoe did we discover. "She must have broken adrift, then, during the night," I observed. "Perhaps she has driven up the igarape." "I will go one way and you the other, then," said John.
"I am very much ashamed of losing my way," he said at length when I joined him. "Setting off through the forest to meet you, I went on and on, expecting every instant to see you. I fancied that I was close to the igarape, but somehow or other had wandered from it. The gloom increasing, I had still greater difficulty in finding my way.
There was a sandy spot where we thought that we could venture into the water, without the risk of being seized by an alligator or anaconda. We were making our way towards it, when we caught sight of a small canoe, in which a man, whom we at once recognised as the recluse, was seated. He was paddling slowly up the igarape.
In some of the bends of the river dark shadows had already begun to fall on the water and to mount up the trunks of the trees. The channel, or igarape, as such passages are called in some parts of the country, became narrower than ever.
We found that Duppo was leading us towards the further end of the igarape, in the direction we had ourselves before proposed going. We had, however, delayed so long, that I feared we should not have time to return. Arthur suggested that we might possibly find a canoe, in which we could go back by water, or, if not, we might build a balsa, such as we had seen used on the Guayas.
Such a marshy forest, with the stumps of the trees still standing erect in the peat, has been laid bare on both sides of the Igarapé Grande by the encroachments of the ocean. That this is the work of the sea is undeniable, for all the little depressions and indentations of the peat are filled with sea-sand, and a ridge of tidal sand divides it from the forest still standing behind.
We were afraid of going into the forest, lest we should lose our way; we therefore turned back and proceeded up the igarape, which would serve as a guide to us. It grew wilder and wilder as we went on. At length we reached a spot which we could not possibly pass.
After our unsatisfactory meeting with the natives, we were anxious not to remain longer on that part of the shore than necessary. Accordingly we once more paddled down the igarape. We soon found, however, that the wind was blowing too hard to allow us to venture out on the main stream.
John was the first to take up a load and proceed with it down to the canoe. I followed. When still at a little distance, I heard him utter an exclamation of dismay. He turned back, and I saw by his countenance that there was something wrong. Now he looked up the igarape, now down. "Harry," he exclaimed, "I cannot see the canoe!" "You must have mistaken the spot where I left it," I answered.
We now entered the igarape Sambo had described. As it was tolerably broad, and the wind still favoured us, we quickly got through it, and entered another lake somewhat similar to the one we had left. With much satisfaction we heard Sambo announce that in another half hour we should reach the end of our voyage.
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