anywhere. But Manoel kept this impression to himself, not wishing to
injure a compatriot whom they were about to oblige.
“Gentlemen,” said Torres, “if you like, I am ready to follow you to
the landing-place.”
“Come, then,” answered Benito.
A quarter of an hour afterward Torres was on board the jangada.
Benito introduced him to Joam Garral, acquainting him with the
circumstances under which they had previously met him, and asked him
to give him a passage down to Manaos.
“I am happy, sir, to be able to oblige you,” replied Joam.
“Thank you,” said Torres, who at the moment of putting forth his hand
kept it back in spite of himself.
“We shall be off at daybreak to-morrow,” added Joam Garral, “so you
had better get your things on board.”
“Oh, that will not take me long!” answered Torres; “there is only
myself and nothing else!”
“Make yourself at home,” said Joam Garral.
That evening Torres took possession of a cabin near to that of the
barber. It was not till eight o’clock that the latter returned to the
raft, and gave the young mulatto an account of his exploits, and
repeated, with no little vanity, that the renown of the illustrious
Fragoso was increasing in the basin of the Upper Amazon.
CHAPTER XIV
STILL DESCENDING
AT DAYBREAK on the morrow, the 27th of June, the cables were cast
off, and the raft continued its journey down the river.
An extra passenger was on board. Whence came this Torres? No one
exactly knew. Where was he going to? “To Manaos,” he said. Torres was
careful to let no suspicion of his past life escape him, nor of the
profession that he had followed till within the last two months, and
no one would have thought that the jangada had given refuge to an old
captain of the woods. Joam Garral did not wish to mar the service he
was rendering by questions of too pressing a nature.
In taking him on board the fazender had obeyed a sentiment of
humanity. In the midst of these vast Amazonian deserts, more
especially at the time when the steamers had not begun to furrow the
waters, it was very difficult to find means of safe and rapid
transit. Boats did not ply regularly, and in most cases the traveler
was obliged to walk across the forests. This is what Torres had done,
and what he would continue to have done, and it was for him
unexpected good luck to have got a passage on the raft.
From the moment that Benito had explained under what conditions he
had met Torres the introduction was complete, and he was able to
consider himself as a passenger on an Atlantic steamer, who is free
to take part in the general life if he cares, or free to keep himself
a little apart if of an unsociable disposition.
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? Many times he asked him about the position of the Garrals at
Iquitos, the sentiments of the daughter for Manoel Valdez, and always
discreetly. Generally, when he was not walking alone in the bow of
the jangada, he kept to his cabin.
He breakfasted and dined with Joam Garral and his family, but he took
little part in their conversation, and retired when the repast was
finished.
During the morning the raft passed by the picturesque group of
islands situated in the vast estuary of the Javary. This important
affluent of the Amazon comes from the southwest, and from source to
mouth has not a single island, nor a single rapid, to check its
course. The mouth is about three thousand feet in width, and the
river comes in some miles above the site formerly occupied by the
town of the same name, whose possession was disputed for so long by
Spaniards and Portuguese.