panions were
employed till the evening. The ubas and pirogues, worked by the oars,
traversed the whole surface of the river up to the bar of Frias.

There had been moments of excitement during this spell of work, when
the harrows, catching in something at the bottom, offered some slight
resistance. They were then hauled up, but in place of the body so
eagerly searched for, there would appear only heavy stones or tufts of
herbage which they had dragged from their sandy bed. No one, however,
had an idea of giving up the enterprise. They none of them thought of
themselves in this work of salvation. Benito, Manoel, Araujo had not
even to stir up the Indians or to encourage them. The gallant fellows
knew that they were working for the fazender of Iquitos--for the man
whom they loved, for the chief of the excellent family who treated their
servants so well.

Yes; and so they would have passed the night in dragging the river. Of
every minute lost all knew the value.

A little before the sun disappeared, Araujo, finding it useless to
continue his operations in the gloom, gave the signal for the boats to
join company and return together to the confluence of the Rio Negro and
regain the jangada.

The work so carefully and intelligently conducted was not, however, at
an end.

Manoel and Fragoso, as they came back, dared not mention their ill
success before Benito. They feared that the disappointment would only
force him to some act of despair.

But neither courage nor coolness deserted the young fellow; he was
determined to follow to the end this supreme effort to save the honor
and the life of his father, and he it was who addressed his companions,
and said: "To-morrow we will try again, and under better conditions if
possible."

"Yes," answered Manoel; "you are right, Benito. We can do better. We
cannot pretend to have entirely explored the river along the whole of
the banks and over the whole of its bed."

"No; we cannot have done that," replied Araujo; "and I maintain what I
said--that the body of Torres is there, and that it is there because it
has not been carried away, because it could not be drawn over the Bar of
Frias, and because it will take many days before it rises to the surface
and floats down the stream. Yes, it is there, and not a demijohn of
tafia will pass my lips until I find it!"

This affirmation from the pilot was worth a good deal, and was of a
hope-inspiring nature.

However, Benito, who did