“who meet, bow to—-”
“Mademoiselle!” said Manoel, turning to Minha.
“To whom have I the honor to speak, sir?” said she in the most
serious manner possible.
“To Manoel Valdez, who will be glad if your brother will introduce
me.”
“Oh, away with your nonsense!” cried Benito. “Stupid idea that I had!
Be engaged, my friends–be it as much as you like! Be it always!”
“Always!” said Minha, from whom the word escaped so naturally that
Lina’s peals of laughter redoubled.
A grateful glance from Manoel repaid Minha for the imprudence of her
tongue.
“Come along,” said Benito, so as to get his sister out of her
embarrassment; “if we walk on we shall not talk so much.”
“One moment, brother,” she said. “You have seen how ready I am to
obey you. You wished to oblige Manoel and me to forget each other, so
as not to spoil your walk. Very well; and now I am going to ask a
sacrifice from you so that you shall not spoil mine. Whether it
pleases you or not, Benito, you must promise me to forget—-”
“Forget what?”
“That you are a sportsman!”
“What! you forbid me to—-”
“I forbid you to fire at any of these charming birds–any of the
parrots, caciques, or curucus which are flying about so happily among
the trees! And the same interdiction with regard to the smaller game
with which we shall have to do to-day. If any ounce, jaguar, or such
thing comes too near, well—-”
“But—-” said Benito.
“If not, I will take Manoel’s arm, and we shall save or lose
ourselves, and you will be obliged to run after us.”
“Would you not like me to refuse, eh?” asked Benito, looking at
Manoel.
“I think I should!” replied the young man.
“Well then–no!” said Benito; “I do not refuse; I will obey and annoy
you. Come on!”
And so the four, followed by the black, struck under the splendid
trees, whose thick foliage prevented the sun’s rays from every
reaching the soil.
There is nothing more magnificent than this part of the right bank of
the Amazon. There, in such picturesque confusion, so many different
trees shoot up that it is possible to count more than a hundred
different species in a square mile. A forester could easily see that
no woodman had been there with his hatchet or ax, for the effects of
a clearing are visible for many centuries afterward. If the new trees
are even a hundred years old, the general aspect still differs from
what it was originally, for the lianas and other parasitic plants
alter, and signs remain which no native can misunderstand.
The happy group moved then into the tall herbage, across the thickets
and under the bushes, chatting and laughing. In front, when the
brambles were too thick, the negro, felling-sword in hand, cleared
the way, and put thousands of birds to flight.
Minha was right to intercede for the little winged world which flew
about in the higher foliage, for the finest representations of
tropical ornithology were there to be seen–green parrots and
clamorous parakeets, which seemed to be the natural fruit of these
gigantic trees; humming-birds in all their varieties, light-blue and
ruby red; _”tisauras”_ with long scissors-like tails, looking like
detached flowers which the wind blew from branch to branch;
blackbirds, with orange plumage bound with brown; golden[-edged
beccaficos; and _”sabias,”_ black as crows; all united in a deafening
concert of shrieks and whistles. The long beak of the toucan stood
out against the golden clusters of the _”quiriris,”_ and the
treepeckers or woodpeckers of Brazil wagged their little heads,
speckled all over with their purple spots. It was truly a scene of
enchantment.
But all were silent and went into hiding when above the tops of the
trees there grated like a rusty weathercock the _”alma de gato”_ or
“soul of the cat,” a kind of light fawn-colored sparrow-hawk. If he
proudly hooted, displaying in the air the long white plumes of his
tail, he in his turn meekly took to flight when in the loftier
heights there appeared the _”gaviao,”_ the large white-headed eagle,
the terror of the whole winged population of these woods.