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But, ere this was done, a ceremony had to take place on the jangada the marriage of Manoel and Minha, the marriage of Lina and Fragoso. To Father Passanha fell the duty of celebrating the double union which promised so happily. In that little chapel the two couples were to receive the nuptial benediction from his hands.
As a last effort his hands convulsively clutched at a clump of reeds, but they could not stop him, and he disappeared beneath the waters of the river. Benito was supported on Manoel's shoulder; Fragoso grasped his hands. He would not even give his companions time to dress his wound, which was very slight. "To the jangada!" he said, "to the jangada!"
The immense stream no longer traverses a desert, but a basin which is being colonized day by day. Danger was not taken into consideration. There were no precautions against attacks. To conclude our description of the jangada, we have only to speak of one or two erections of different kinds which gave it a very picturesque aspect.
"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.
In two hours the jangada was on the other side of the Amazon, a little above the mouth of the Rio Negro, and fairly in the current which was to take it to the lower bank of the vast bay which opened on the left side of the stream.
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.
It was arranged, therefore, that the jangada should remain on this spot till the 27th of July, and that on the morrow the large pirogue should take the whole family to Ega. This would give a rest, which was deservedly due to the hard-working crew of the raft. The night passed at the moorings near a slightly rising shore, and nothing disturbed the quiet.
"Is he alone on board the jangada?" "No," replied Fragoso. "I was going to tell you that he is traveling with all his family and jolly people they are, I assure you. He is accompanied by a crew of Indians and negroes, who form part of the staff at the fazenda." "Is he rich?" "Oh, certainly!" answered Fragoso "very rich.
The important commercial negotiations, ably managed by Benito, were carried through under the best of conditions, and soon of what had formed this jangada that is to say, the huge raft of timber constructed from an entire forest at Iquitos there remained not a trace.
"It would not take much to make us plant trees on the jangada," said Benito. "Oh, trees!" ejaculated Minha. "Why not?" replied Manoel. "Transported on to this solid platform, with some good soil, I am sure they would do well, and we would have no change of climate to fear for them, as the Amazon flows all the time along the same parallel."
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