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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
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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!"
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
CHAPTER XVII. AT ATTACK
77
"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 reasonor less reason," replied Benito. "Manoel, I fearwhat? I know
notbut 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 the forest of
Iquitos? Why did he then refuse the hospitality which we offered, so as to
afterward manage to force himself on us as our traveling companion? We arrive
at Tabatinga, and there he is as if he was waiting for us! The probability is
that these meetings were in pursuance of a preconceived plan. When I see the
shifty, dogged look of Torres, all this crowds on my mind. I do not know! I am
losing myself in things that defy explanation! Oh! why did I ever think of
offering to take him on board this raft?"
"Be calm, Benito, I pray you!"
"Manoel!" continued Benito, who seemed to be powerless to contain himself,
"think you that if it only concerned methis man who inspires us all with such
aversion and disgustI should not hesitate to throw him overboard! But when it
concerns my father, I fear lest in giving way to my impressions I may be
injuring my object! Something tells me that with this scheming fellow there
may be danger in doing anything until he has given us the rightthe right and
the dutyto do it. In short, on the jangada, he is in our power, and if we both
keep good watch over my father, we can spoil his game, no matter how sure it
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may be, and force him
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
CHAPTER XVII. AT ATTACK
78
to unmask and betray himself! Then wait a little longer!"
The arrival of Torres in the bow of the raft broke off the conversation.
Torres looked slyly at the two young men, but said not a word.
Benito was not deceived when he said that the adventurer's eyes were never off
Joam Garral as long as he fancied he was unobserved.
No! he was not deceived when he said that Torres' face grew evil when he
looked at his father!
By what myeterious bond could these two menone nobleness itself, that was
selfevidentbe connected with each other?
Such being the state of affairs it was certainly difficult for Torres,
constantly watched as he was by the two young men, by Fragoso and Lina, to
make a single movement without having instantly to repress it. Perhaps he
understood the position. If he did, he did not show it, for his manner changed
not in the least.
Satisfied with their mutual explanation, Manoel and Benito promised to keep
him in sight without doing anything to awaken his suspicions.
During the following days the jangada passed on the right the mouths of the
rivers Camara, Aru, and
Yuripari, whose waters instead of flowing into the Amazon run off to the south
to feed the Rio des Purus, and return by it into the main river. At five
o'clock on the evening of the 10th of August they put into the island of
Cocos.
They there passed a "seringal." This name is applied to a caoutchouc
plantation, the caoutchouc being extracted from the "seringueira" tree, whose
scientific name is siphonia elastica.
It is said that, by negligence or bad management, the number of these trees is
decreasing in the basin of the
Amazon, but the forests of seringueira trees are still very considerable on
the banks of the Madeira, Purus, and other tributaries.
There were here some twenty Indians collecting and working the caoutchouc, an
operation which principally takes place during the months of May, June, and
July.
After having ascertained that the trees, well prepared by the river floods
which have bathed their stems to a height of about four feet, are in good
condition for the harvest, the Indians are set to work.
Incisions are made into the alburnum of the seringueiras; below the wound
small pots are attached, which twentyfour hours suffice to fill with a milky
sap. It can also be collected by means of a hollow bamboo, and a receptacle
placed on the ground at the foot of the tree.
The sap being obtained, the Indians, to prevent the separation of its peculiar
resins, fumigate it over a fire of the nuts of the assai palm. By spreading
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