was steering her.
“Yes,” replied he.
“When will you get there?”
“In eight days.”
“Then you will arrive before we shall. Will you deliver a letter for
me?”
“With pleasure.”
“Take this letter, then, my friend, and deliver it at Manaos.”
The Indian took the letter which Joam gave him, and a handful of reis
was the price of the commission he had undertaken.
No members of the family, then gone into the house, knew anything of
this. Torres was the only witness. He heard a few words exchanged
between Joam and the Indian, and from the cloud which passed over his
face it was easy to see that the sending of this letteer considerably
surprised him.
CHAPTER XVII
AT ATTACK
HOWEVER, if Manoel, to avoid giving rise to a violent scene on board,
said nothing on the subject of Torres, he resolved to have an
explanation with Benito.
“Benito,” he began, after taking him to the bow of the jangada, “I
have something to say to you.”
Benito, generally so good-humored, stopped as he looked at Manoel,
and a cloud came over his countenance.
“I know why,” he said; “it is about Torres.”
“Yes, Benito.”
“And I also wish to speak to you.”
“You have then noticed his attention to Minha?” said Manoel, turning
pale.
“Ah! It is not a feeling of jealousy, though, that exasperates you
against such a man?” said Benito quickly.
“No!” replied Manoel. “Decidedly not! Heaven forbid I should do such
an injury to the girl who is to become my wife. No, Benito! She holds
the adventurer in horror! I am not thinking anything of that sort;
but it distresses me to see this adventurer constantly obtruding
himself by his presence and conversation on your mother and sister,
and seeking to introduce himself into that intimacy with your family
which is already mine.”
“Manoel,” gravely answered Benito, “I share your aversion for this
dubious individual, and had I consulted my feelings I would already
have driven Torres off the raft! But I dare not!”
“You dare not?” said Manoel, seizing the hand of his friend. “You
dare not?”
“Listen to me, Manoel,” continued Benito. “You have observed Torres
well, have you not? You have remarked his attentions to my sister!
Nothing can be truer! But while you have been noticing that, have you
not seen that this annoying man never keeps his eyes off my father,
no matter if he is near to him or far from him, and that he seems to
have some spiteful secret intention in watching him with such
unaccountable persistency?”
“What are you talking about, Benito? Have you any reason to think
that Torres bears some grudge against Joam Garral?”
“No! I think nothing!” replied Benito; “it is only a presentiment!
But look well at Torres, study his face with care, and you will see
what an evil grin he has whenever my father comes into his sight.”
“Well, then,” exclaimed Manoel, “if it is so, Benito, the more reason
for clearing him out!”
“More reason–or less reason,” replied Benito. “Manoel, I fear–what?
I know not–but to force my father to get rid of Torres would perhaps
be imprudent! I repeat it, I am aafraid, though no positive fact
enables me to explain my fear to myself!”
And Benito seemed to shudder with anger as he said these words.
“Then,” said Manoel, “you think we had better wait?”
“Yes; wait, before doing anything, but above all things let us be on
our guard!”
“After all,” answered Manoel, “in twenty days we shall be at Manaos.
There Torres must stop. There he will leave us, and we shall be
relieved of his presence for good! Till then we must keep our eyes on
him!”
“You understand me, Manoel?” asked Benito.
“I understand you, my friend, my brother!” replied Manoel, “although
I do not share, and cannot share, your fears! What connection can
possibly exist between your father and this adventurer? Evidently
your father has never seen him!”
“I do not say that my father knows Torres,” said Benito; “but
assuredly it seems to me that Torres knows my father. What was the
fellow doing in the neighborhood of the fazenda when we met him in