and know from him how he found out my father's retreat. There
is something inexplicable about it. Did he know it before? I cannot
understand it, for my father never left Iquitos for more than twenty
years, and this scoundrel is hardly thirty! But the day will not close
before I know it; or, woe to Torres!"

Benito's resolution admitted of no discussion; and besides, neither
Manoel nor Fragoso had the slightest thought of dissuading him.

"I will ask, then," continued Benito, "for both of you to accompany me.
We shall start in a minute or two. It will not do to wait till Torres
has left Manaos. He has no longer got his silence to sell, and the idea
might occur to him. Let us be off!"

And so all three of them landed on the bank of the Rio Negro and started
for the town.

Manaos was not so considerable that it could not be searched in a
few hours. They had made up their minds to go from house to house, if
necessary, to look for Torres, but their better plan seemed to be to
apply in the first instance to the keepers of the taverns and lojas
where the adventurer was most likely to put up. There could hardly be a
doubt that the ex-captain of the woods would not have given his name;
he might have personal reasons for avoiding all communication with
the police. Nevertheless, unless he had left Manaos, it was almost
impossible for him to escape the young fellows' search. In any case,
there would be no use in applying to the police, for it was very
probable--in fact, we know that it actually was so--that the information
given to them had been anonymous.

For an hour Benito, Manoel, and Fragoso walked along the principal
streets of the town, inquiring of the tradesmen in their shops, the
tavern-keepers in their cabarets, and even the bystanders, without any
one being able to recognize the individual whose description they so
accurately gave.

Had Torres left Manaos? Would they have to give up all hope of coming
across him?

In vain Manoel tried to calm Benito, whose head seemed on fire. Cost
what it might, he must get at Torres!

Chance at last favored them, and it was Fragoso who put them on the
right track.

In a tavern in Holy Ghost Street, from the description which the people
received of the adventurer, they replied that the individual in question
had put up at the loja the evening before.

"Did he sleep here?" asked Fragoso.

"Yes," answered the tavern-keeper.

"Is he here now?"

"No. He has gone out."